BurmaNet News, November 11-13, 2006

[Editor]

November 11-13, 2006 Issue # 3086


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Burden now on SPDC to reform, says Gambari
AFP: Myanmar hopes pressure will ease with Aung San Suu Kyi meeting
AP: Nobel laureate under house arrest in Myanmar needs more medical
attention: U.N. official
Irrawaddy: Junta says NLD ‘meddling in judicial affairs’
DVB: Two organizers of Burma signature campaign said to get 14-year jail
terms
Irrawaddy: More forced labor reports as ILO meets

BUSINESS / TRADE
AP: Australia's Danford Equities signs oil-gas exploration deal with Myanmar
AFX: No foreign firms bidding for Myanmar gold mine; 8 local cos vying -
official

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Surayud to visit Burma
AFP: UN envoy's visit creates opportunity for Myanmar: Singapore
Mizzima: Ancient Silk Route to be replaced by Trans-Asian Railway Network

OPINION / OTHER
South China Morning Post: China's role key to securing change in Myanmar

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 13, Irrawaddy
Burden now on SPDC to reform, says Gambari - Clive Parker and Ko Thet

UN Under Secretary-General for Political Affairs Ibrahim Gambari on Monday
increased pressure on the Burmese regime, saying it was up to the
government to produce results following his four-day visit to Burma that
ended on Sunday.

Meeting with the new Thai Foreign Minister Nitya Phibulsonggram on Monday
to discuss Burma and the situation in Thailand’s restive south, Gambari
said he was now engaged in “hard bargaining and give and take” with the
regime, the Public Relations Department of Thailand said.

A UN statement following Gambari’s meeting with the top two in the Burmese
junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, on Saturday said that
discussions in the new capital Naypyidaw had been “frank and extensive.”
Gambari was “pleased at the willingness of the leadership to continue to
engage with the United Nations in this way,” it added.

The Irrawaddy understands that the regime was not prepared to acknowledge
that the general humanitarian situation in the country was cause for
concern during talks with the UN diplomat, which included the chief UN
coordinator in Burma Charles Petrie, although it did recognize that the
ongoing stalemate with National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi was a problem.

Meeting with Gambari in Rangoon the same day, Aung San Suu Kyi said “that
she welcomes continued UN engagement” on Burma, the UN statement said.

However, her party expressed frustration at the limited amount of time it
had been given with the UN diplomat. Speaking on Monday, spokesperson
Myint Thein noted that during four days in Burma, Gambari had only spent
two hours with the opposition—one hour with Aung San Suu Kyi and another
hour with seven prominent members of the party.

“I’m not sure he [Gambari] could do everything he wanted during his trip,”
said 88 Generation Students leader, known as Jimmy, on Monday.

His group was unable to secure a meeting with Gambari and was therefore
unable to hand to the UN the more than half a million Burmese signatures
collected in a recent campaign designed to garner support for the release
of five student leaders detained at the end of September. The group will
instead attempt to submit the petition through alternative channels in
three parts, the first of which has already been sent.

____________________________________

November 12, Agence France Presse
Myanmar hopes pressure will ease with Aung San Suu Kyi meeting - Shino Yuasa

Bangkok: Military-run Myanmar hopes to relieve growing pressure from the
UN Security Council by allowing a rare meeting between detained democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and envoy Ibrahim Gambari, analysts said.

But Saturday's meeting was unlikely to result in freedom for the
61-year-old Nobel peace laureate, who has been under house arrest for most
of the past 17 years, they said.

The top UN envoy met for one hour with the opposition leader at a state
guesthouse. It was the first time she was able to leave her lakeside house
in Yangon since May 20, when she met with Gambari during his previous
visit.

During the meeting, Aung San Suu Kyi told Gambari that she was in good
health but needed more regular medical visits, said a statement from the
United Nations, which also released recent photographs of her, the first
in three years.

But analysts said the junta allowed Gambari's second meeting with Aung San
Suu Kyi in a bid to appease the UN Security Council, which had discussed
Myanmar in September and was weighing the need for stronger action against
the regime.

"By allowing Mr Gambari to see Aung San Suu Kyi, they are hoping this will
ease international pressure," said Debbie Stothard of the Alternative
ASEAN Network on Myanmar, a regional democracy lobby.

"This is a regular trick by the regime and we should not be fooled by it,"
she added.

Putting Myanmar on the Security Council's agenda means greater UN scrutiny
of the junta. The United States, a vocal critic of the regime, is calling
for a resolution on Myanmar's human rights abuses and lack of reforms.

"The junta was shocked that the Security Council managed to put the issue
of Burma on its agenda," said Thailand-based Myanmar analyst Win Min,
referring to the old name for Myanmar.

"They thought China would block any efforts to bring Burma before the
Security Council, so they took Mr Gambari's visit very seriously this
time," Win Min said. China is a close ally of Myanmar's junta.

US ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, known for his hawkish
views, lobbied hard to put Myanmar on the council's agenda despite strong
opposition from China, and has said the US resolution would likely come
after Gambari's visit.

"Gambari's visit is very important in terms of advising the Security
Council of the situation in Myanmar," said Asda Juyanama, a former Thai
ambassador to the UN.

"If they (Myanmar) have done nothing (to reform), it will justify the
international community in doing something" against the junta, including
passing a Security Council resolution, Asda said.

On the eve of Gambari's mission, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan urged the
junta to show "tangible steps forward" on human rights, democratic reform
and national reconciliation.

When Gambari met Aung San Suu Kyi in May, the Nigerian diplomat became the
only foreigner allowed to see her in more than two years, raising hopes
that the military government might finally set her free.

But just a week after the surprise meeting, the junta extended her house
arrest for another year.

Apart from her live-in maid, Aung San Suu Kyi is still allowed no contact
with the outside world, except for once-a-month visits from her doctor,
Tin Myo Win.

Stothard, from the Alternative ASEAN Network, said the junta would
continue to detain Aung San Suu Kyi because of her wide popularity at home
and abroad.

"The regime has been fearful of releasing Aung San Suu Kyi. They are
immensely afraid of her popularity, and the respect she commands inside
and outside Burma," she said.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won 1990 elections in a
landslide victory, but the military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962,
refused to recognize the result.

The country's state-run media, in a rare reference to the detained icon,
said in July that freeing Aung San Suu Kyi would endanger the country and
derided as "meaningless" international outcry at her detention.

"The government is worried that if she goes free, she can organize people.
 She can still command huge public support and the government is very
afraid of that," Win Min said.

____________________________________

November 12, Associated Press
Nobel laureate under house arrest in Myanmar needs more medical attention:
U.N. official - Rungrawee C. Pinyorat

Bangkok: A U.N. official who held a rare meeting with Myanmar's detained
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Sunday she seemed "reasonably
well" and alert but that she needs more regular medical attention.

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N.'s undersecretary-general for political affairs,
met Suu Kyi for an hour on Saturday before wrapping up a four-day mission
to press the leaders of Myanmar's military junta for democratic reforms.

Gambari's visit came two months after the U.N. Security Council took the
historic step of putting the country on its agenda in September, meaning
that Myanmar's ruling junta is subject to greater U.N. scrutiny.

The United States has said it plans to introduce a resolution on Myanmar
to the Security Council this year. John Bolton, the U.S. ambassador to the
U.N., said Washington would wait until after Gambari's visit before
deciding on the contents of the resolution.

Gambari told reporters in Bangkok after arriving from Yangon that his
talks with junta leaders were "frank, and very constructive" and included
dialogue on Suu Kyi's continued detention and the need for political
reforms in Myanmar.

"It was a very good meeting," he said of his talks with junta chief Senior
Gen. Than Shwe. "It laid out the concerns of the international community
and the U.N."

The visit was Gambari's second since May, when he became the first
foreigner to see Suu Kyi in two years.

"She is reasonably well, considering that she has been in detention for 10
of the last 17 years or so," Gambari said. "Of course, she needs to be
allowed to see her doctors much more regularly."
Suu Kyi has spent 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly under house
arrest.

Gambari's comment followed up on a statement issued by the United Nations
on Saturday, which said Suu Kyi had conveyed to Gambari that she is in
"good health but requires more regular medical visits." Neither the
statement nor Gambari elaborated on her health condition.

"She is very alert," he told reporters. "She has concern not only about
her own welfare but the welfare of the people of Myanmar, all of them."

Myanmar's junta took power in 1988 after crushing the democracy movement
led by Suu Kyi. In 1990, it refused to hand over power when Suu Kyi's
party won a landslide election victory. Since then, Suu Kyi, winner of the
1991 Nobel peace prize, has been in and our of detention. She is kept in
near-solitary confinement at her home, and is generally not allowed
telephone contact or outside visitors.

Suu Kyi looked gaunt in a rare photo released by the United Nations after
her meeting with Gambari.

The photograph is believed to be the first image of Suu Kyi released to
the outside world since her latest detention began in May 2003. It shows
Suu Kyi standing beside Gambari with her hands clasped in front of her,
staring at the camera without smiling. She is wearing a light purple silk
traditional shirt and a violet silk floral-patterned formal sarong, known
as a longyi.

Suu Kyi's physician, Tin Myo Win, is one of her only connections with the
outside world. Until recently, he was allowed to visit about once a month.
However, he was recently quoted as saying that he had not seen her since
Aug. 24 because of political developments in the country. He did not
elaborate.

____________________________________

November 13, Irrawaddy
Junta says NLD ‘meddling in judicial affairs’ - Shah Paung

A report in Burma’s state-run media on Monday accused opposition National
League for Democracy party members of interfering in the prosecution of a
lawsuit in Rangoon’s Kawhmu Township.

State-run The New Light of Myanmar reported that Khin Win, with the help
of NLD members and others, filed false claims in a lawsuit against a local
official, which resulted in the dismissal of her case.

“The accusations [of filing false information] are totally false,” said
rights activist Su Su Nway, a former political prisoner who assisted Khin
Win in her suit, and who was criticized in Monday’s New Light report. NLD
spokesperson Nyan Win also dismissed the allegations of judicial
interference as untrue.

Khin Win initiated the lawsuit in November 2005 against Win Shein, a local
member of the Nyaungbintha Village Peace and Development Council, in which
she accused him of extortion, illegally buying and selling state land, and
acquiring diesel and fertilizer by falsifying data about the cultivation
of summer rice paddy.

The report also said that local residents have criticized the NLD and Su
Su Nway’s alleged attempts to influence the outcome of the lawsuit.

Su Su Nway said that wherever she traveled in the region, villagers showed
her their support, and the alleged criticism over the lawsuit was a
willful attempt to misrepresent her involvement and that of others
concerned by the lawsuit.

Su Su Nway was previously charged with threatening local authorities when
she attempted to bring a lawsuit for forced labor. She was jailed in
Insein Prison but later released in June 2006 after pressure from the
International Labour Organization.

According to the report, the defendant, Win Shein, has since filed a
countersuit against Khin Win in neighboring Kungyangon Township, scheduled
for November 16.

Su Su Nway said that if authorities would allow her to meet freely with
local people in Kawhmu Township, then the facts in the case could be
verified.

But the report said that the informations were wrong. Because of this on
September 27, Win Shein again prosecutes her at District court charged her
under section 211. Later the case was transferred to Kungyangon Township
court and on November 6, she was release on bell.

But Su Su Nway said that if the government said that people were not
agreed on this prosecute and complained to the authorities she want the
authorities to let her meet with the local people in freely.

“I want the authorities to let me meet with local people to organize them
and give her freely discussion,” she said, “The real answer will come
out.” Khin Win is woman who loves the justice she was prosecutes the
authorities and face the lawsuit during she is in prison she added.
According to her the trial will held again on November 16.

____________________________________

November 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Two organizers of Burma signature campaign said to get 14-year jail terms

[Presenter] Dear listeners, we have learned that Ko Win Ko and Ko Phyo Zaw
Latt of Yethabya Village of Monyo Township, Pegu Division, who had been
detained for their involvement in the mass signature campaign, have now
been sentenced to 14 years imprisonment each.

Charging them under Sections 420 and 468 for fraud and conspiracy to
commit fraud, respectively, the Tharawaddy Township Court handed down the
14-year sentences yesterday, according to the '88 Generation Students.

For Ko Win Ko, the 14-year prison term is in addition to the 3-year term
he was sentenced earlier for allegedly violating laws pertaining to
gambling and obstruction of justice.

The '88 Generation Students said there is dishonesty behind the handing
down of 14-year prison term to Ko Win Ko and Ko Phyo Zaw Latt.

[Ko Mya Aye] To be factual, senior [military] officials said at the press
conference that Ko Phyo Zaw Latt had earlier been set free on parole and
was only arrested later. This information was reported in the newspapers
and people   who listened to the radio know about it also. But, the fact
is he was never set free. He remained in a lockup all along.  The words
and deeds do not match at all. This fact alone proves that there is
insincerity at play. This is the first point. Second, if Ko Win Ko was
indeed charged with (criminal activities), why was not he allowed to meet
with his family members while he was in the police lockup? Why he was not
allowed to have a lawyer? On top of not informing the family or having a
lawyer to defend him, why was he brought before the court and sentenced to
jail secretly? This is totally unfair. And, it is quite plain for all to
see. My personal view is that the charges brought against the two were
what they concoct at the time. The law is to protect the people. The day
the law stops protecting the people or the day the people become insecure
is the day when things turn sour. How will the people trust the law?

[Presenter] That was Ko Mya Aye, a leader of the '88 Generation Students.

____________________________________

November 13, Irrawaddy
More forced labor reports as ILO meets - Khun Sam

Villagers in southern Kachin State are being ordered to build a road
leading to a forested area which military authorities are suspected of
planning to open up for logging.

Work began last year on constructing the new road, leading from Hopin
eastwards to Sinbo and the plain of Gau Gwi Pa and its large areas of
virgin forest. Seven miles of the road were completed up until the end of
October.

Villagers in Hopin, Nan-Yin, Ta-Gwin, Ywa-Tit-Gyi are being called on to
contribute “voluntary labor” without pay. Those unable or unwilling to
work on the road can hire a replacement “volunteer” or face a fine of
10,000 kyats (US $8).

“Villagers have to cut down trees and bamboo and clean undergrowth,” said
one resident. Apart from working without pay, “volunteers” have to provide
their own rations and shelter.

The issue of forced labor in Burma is to be discussed by the Governing
Body of the International Labour Organization in Geneva this week. If the
Burmese government fails to offer a workable approach to deal with forced
labor, the Governing Body could refer the issue to the International Court
of Justice in the Hague or take other punitive measures under
“international criminal law.”

The Burmese government describes the practice of enlisting people to work
without pay on local projects as a “self-reliance program,” and says the
villagers are contributing “voluntary labor.”


_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 11, Associated Press
Australia's Danford Equities signs oil-gas exploration deal with Myanmar

Yangon: Australia's Danford Equities Corporation has signed a
production-sharing contract with Myanmar's state-owned gas enterprise for
oil and gas exploration in southeastern Myanmar, media reported Saturday.

Under the contract, Danford Equities will help with production and
exploration of oil and gas in an area called the Yetagun East Block off
Myanmar's coast , the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported. It did not
give further details.

The agreement was signed Friday between the Australian company's Chief
Executive William M. Clough, and U Myint Kyi, managing director of the
Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise, the paper said.

Since Myanmar began allowing foreign investment in 1988, it has signed
exploration contracts with France's Total SA, Unocal Corp. of the United
States, Malaysia's Petronas, Thailand's PTT Exploration & Production PCL
and Daewoo of South Korea.

It also has deals with companies from India, Australia, Canada and Indonesia.

____________________________________

November 13, AFX
No foreign firms bidding for Myanmar gold mine; 8 local cos vying - official

Yangon: Eight local companies are bidding for the country's largest gold
mine, which the military government wants to privatize, but no foreign
firms have made any offers, an official said.

'All together eight companies submitted their tender forms. All are from
local companies, no foreigners at all,' an official of the No. 2 Mining
Enterprise told Agence France-Presse.

The winning bid will be determined by the end of the month, the official
added, while declining to say which companies had made offers.

The No. 2 Mining Enterprise currently operates the Kyaukpahto gold mine in
the central division of Sagaing.

Myanmar's junta announced Oct 17 it would privatize at least part of the
mine, and invited proposals for investments starting at 2 mln usd. The
deadline for proposals was Friday.

But the government wants to keep more than half of the gold produced,
demanding some 12 kilograms per month from the mine that the government
says can produce about 19 kilos per month.

The Kyaukpahto mine is the first gold mine in Myanmar to be privatized.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 13, Irrawaddy
Surayud to visit Burma

Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont on Monday told reporters at the
Government House that he plans to visit Burma after the conclusion of next
week’s Asia-Pacific Economics Cooperation meeting in Vietnam. He added
that he discussed the visit with his Burmese counterpart, Gen Soe Win,
during the Asean-China summit in Nanning, China last month. Surayud told
reporters that he intends to urge Burma’s military government to move more
quickly on democratic reforms, using Thailand’s plan to hold general
elections within a year as an example. Leaders from the 21-member APEC
will meet in Hanoi from November 18-19.

____________________________________

November 13, Agence France Presse
UN envoy's visit creates opportunity for Myanmar: Singapore

Singapore: The visit of top UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari to Myanmar presents
"an important opportunity" for the military-run state, Singapore said
Monday.

"His visit marks a further stage in the development of a dialogue between
Myanmar and the UN," Singapore's ministry of foreign affairs said in a
statement.

"This is an important opportunity for the Myanmar authorities. We hope
that Myanmar will continue to work closely with the UN."

Gambari on Sunday wrapped up a four-day visit to Myanmar after meeting
detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi and military leaders to press the
junta for democratic reform.

"My visit is to continue the process of dialogue between the United
Nations and the government of Myanmar," Gambari said in Yangon before
flying to Bangkok.

Washington is pushing for a UN resolution on Myanmar over human rights
abuses and the slow pace of democratic reform, while ASEAN countries have
advocated a less confrontational approach.

Both Singapore and Myanmar are members of the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations.

_____________________________________

November 10, Mizzima News
Ancient Silk Route to be replaced by Trans-Asian Railway Network -
Siddique Islam

A move to revamp the ancient Silk Route is underway with the singing of an
Intergovernmental Agreement on the Trans-Asian Railway Network (TAR)
linking national systems from Armenia to Vietnam, according to United
Nations (UN) officials.

The UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP)
adopted the move to improve port efficiency through integration of rail
and shipping in the region.

About 300 high-ranking officials are now at a meeting in Busan, a southern
port city of the Republic of Korea (ROK), ahead of the ministerial meeting
scheduled for November 10 to 11. More than 50 ministerial-level
representatives from 43 of UNESCAP's 61 members are expected to attend.

According to reports, 18 Asian nations on Friday, the first day of a
two-day annual ministerial meeting on transport, signed the agreement in
South Korea to integrate the continent into a single railway network,
moving a step closer to realizing a decades-old dream.

The 81,000-kilometre network, first mooted by the UN way back in 1960, is
also dubbed the 'Iron Silk Road' after the ancient trade route. It would
link capitals, ports and industrial hubs across 28 Asian countries all the
way to Europe.

UN officials cited procedural matters rather than disagreement over the
project as the reason why 10 of the 28 states did not sign. They have
another two years to do so.

An authorized representative of the government or ambassador of the
country concerned to the United States can sign the agreement any time
during November 16, 2006 to December 31, 2008. The treaty would be kept at
the UN headquarters during this time, sources close to the initiative say
in Dhaka.

"We are here because we dare to dream of revitalizing the spirit of
enterprise that symbolizes the ancient Silk Route," UNESCAP Executive
Secretary Kim Hak-Su said while addressing the meeting on the opening day
at Busan in South Korea on Monday.

UNESCAP experts believe that port efficiency can be enhanced through the
integration of rail and shipping to avoid port congestion, a key factor in
Asia, which is home to 13 of the world's top 20 container ports.

TAR is also crucial for landlocked countries whose access to world markets
is heavily dependent on efficient links to the region's main international
ports. Twelve of the world's 30 landlocked countries are in Asia, and 10
are TAR members.

TAR members are Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cambodia, China,
Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Georgia, India, Indonesia, Iran,
Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Burma (Myanmar), Nepal,
Pakistan, Republic of Korea, Russia, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan,
Thailand, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

The establishment of Trans-Asian Railway network got inter-governmental
agreement in 2005. The programme was finally approved at the 62nd session
of UNESCAP in April 2006.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 13, South China Morning Post
China's role key to securing change in Myanmar

Senior UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari has returned to New York after visiting
Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the second time
this year. That he was allowed to see the Nobel Peace Prize winner by the
ruling military junta is a small step, but it must not sideline the UN
Security Council from doing its utmost to ensure that human rights and
democratic freedoms are restored to the country's people.

The junta is, after all, adept at playing the card of optimism to ward off
action by critics. Until now, only the European Union and the United
States have imposed diplomatic and economic sanctions, while Asian
neighbours and the international community at large have reserved judgment
pending the outcome of years-long pledges to install a democratic system
of government.

Patience is running out, as the Security Council's decision in September
to put Myanmar on its agenda for discussion for the first time showed. Mr
Gambari's hour-long meeting with Ms Suu Kyi was clearly aimed at appeasing
the council's members, who will shortly consider a push by the US for
wide-ranging sanctions.

What will come of such a move is uncertain as Myanmar's staunch ally,
China, has the power of veto on the council. The EU and US sanctions have
meant little while China and India have competed for interests in Myanmar,
and its Association of Southeast Asian Nations partners and Japan have
continued to trade with the junta.

Whether Myanmar's people have democracy has generally been of little or no
concern to the country's neighbours. For years, though, they have been
dealing with an outpouring of refugees escaping the regime's abuses of
human rights and basic freedoms. UN agencies have long been struggling to
contain the spread of HIV/Aids and malaria, while human rights groups have
extensively documented military abuses against ethnic minorities, women
and children and pro-democracy activists.

Ms Suu Kyi, under detention and house arrest for much of the time since
her National League for Democracy party won elections and was denied the
right to take office in 1990, symbolises the suffering. Her release would
only be the start of a process of returning Myanmar to the hope it was
offered 16 years ago.

China is the key to that hope. That it permitted Myanmar to be put on the
Security Council's agenda shows that it is starting to live up to the
responsibility of its growing international standing.

Whatever action results from the UN discussion, the council must send an
unambiguous message to Myanmar's junta. As an important player in
formulating that, China should ensure that it is the strongest possible
signal.