BurmaNet News, November 18-20, 2006

[Editor]

November 18-20, 2006 Issue # 3090


INSIDE BURMA
Thai Press Reports: Myanmar (Burma) wants foreign embassies to move to new
capital

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Karen groups warn of intensified dry season attacks

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: Nagaland takes a leaf out of Manipur’s book

REGIONAL
AP: Bush urges Southeast Asian leaders to pressure Myanmar on democratic
reforms
AFP: Rice tells N Korea, Myanmar to follow Vietnam's example
AFP: Thai PM to meet Myanmar junta leader at new capital
AFP: Malaysia urges Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi

INTERNATIONAL
Washington Post: U.S. wants U.N. resolution on Burma

OPINION / OTHER
The Independent: Unscrupulous investments

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

November 20, Thai Press Reports
Myanmar (Burma) wants foreign embassies to move to new capital

The military rulers of Myanmar (Burma) are keen to have foreign embassies
relocate to the new capital, the Bangkok Post reports.

The Burmese junta is busy persuading foreign embassies in Rangoon to
explore the new administrative capital of Naypyidaw, which means "the
place of a king", and quickly grab land plots when they are ready for
leasing from Jan 1, 2008.

Each embassy is expected to acquire the standard plot of five acres in the
new capital, which is located some 400km north of Rangoon.

"First come, first to get a good plot. And if you need more than five
acres, you can apply for more," the junta told the diplomats, who listened
to the news in a sombre mood.

After all, "the place of a king" has yet to install a workable
infrastructure within the new town and good   transportation links with
Rangoon, where business and trade deals are still being conducted as
normal.
Besides, there are logistics problems, such as the availability of
reliable hospitals and communications links, among others.

The planned relocation has left Thai diplomats speechless.

The Foreign Ministry has spent 139 million baht over the past two years to
build a new three-storey building in  Rangoon, with more than 4,300 square
metres of space for the embassy and commercial office, which are on a
six-rai plot   of land where the Thai ambassador's residence is also
situated.

The embassy in Rangoon planned to officially open the facilities in
January next year.

Bangkok has to give the final say on the relocation.

It is likely that the decision will come when the new ambassador, Bansarn
Bunnag, takes office.

Eventually, the Thai diplomats might have to follow their diplomatic
colleagues in sending an official to the new capital, where replicas of
scenic Rangoon, including the landmark Golden Shwedagon stupa, are being
built.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

November 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Karen groups warn of intensified dry season attacks

The Karen Human Rights Group and the Karen National Union are warning of
increased Burmese military attacks against Karen civilians during the dry
season as troops amass in Toungoo district.

In November 2005, the Burmese military launched their largest offensive
against the Karen resistance since 1997, resulting in the forced
displacement of more than 20,000 civilians from Toungoo, Nyaunglebin, and
Mutraw Districts.

A report released by the KHRG on Friday, titled 'One year on: Continuing
abuses in Toungoo District', says that attacks against the Karen are
likely to increase with the end of the rainy season.

". . . The [State Peace and Development Council] has moved thousands more
soldiers into Toungoo District to assist the soldiers already present . .
.," the report says.

"Many new army camps have been built and the soldiers have continually
ordered villagers to re-supply these and existing camps with food and
munitions. The combination of these factors suggests that the SPDC is
preparing to launch renewed attacks on the villages of Toungoo District as
soon as the weather permits them to do so."

The ongoing attacks in Karen State have sparked increased condemnation of
the military regime with stories of village burnings, beatings, rape,
torture and forced relocation sweeping the international media.

The Free Burma rangers—a grassroots humanitarian group operating in Karen
State—released fresh reports from Toungoo District on the weekend,
detailing the deaths of more than 50 civilians at the hands of the
military in the past few months.

According to the reports, a 47-year-old Karen father of six was burned
alive in his home by Burmese troops in Toungoo District on November 1.

"Burma Army troops are murdering villagers and porters, burning down
houses and farms, looting and destroying property, and using forced
labor," the FBR report says.

General Secretary of the KNU Padoh Manh Shar told DVB today the group's
armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army was involved in daily
skirmishes with Burmese troops in northern Nyaunglebin District.

"There are three of four bursts of fighting now everyday around our
northern base . . . The fighting is increasing with the coming dry
season," Padoh Manh Shar said, despite a gentlemen's ceasefire agreement
between the KNU and the SPDC.

Touted as the world's longest running insurgency, the KNU has fought the
Burmese military since 1949. Since then, dry season attacks against the
Karen have been frequent but this year the military continued assaults
against villages throughout the monsoon.

"The very fact that SPDC Army columns have continued to mount patrols
under these conditions can not be dismissed nor taken lightly," the KHRG
report said.

The group says the number of Burmese military battalions operating in
Toungoo District has increased in the past few months, resulting in the
construction of a number of new army camps.

Both the KHRG and the FBR say the increased military presence in the area
means increases in forced labour, relocations and portering. The groups
also say the military has laid thousands of landmines in the area.

"One year on, and the situation has far from improved; if anything, the
opposite has occurred. The conditions facing villagers living in
SPDC-controlled villages as well as those confronted by the internally
displaced have deteriorated and are expected to decline even further
before the year is out," the KHRG report warns.

"Attacks on civilian villages and all associated human rights violations
perpetrated by SPDC Army soldiers must therefore be entirely stopped.
Without an immediate cessation of such abuses, many more villagers will
continue to suffer at the hands of the SPDC."

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

November 20, Mizzima News
Nagaland takes a leaf out of Manipur’s book - Subhaschandra M

Nagaland, another northeastern state in India has joined the race in
boosting trade between India and Burma. Following in the footsteps of
Manipur it has expressed keen interest in promoting trade between villages
of the two countries through Pangsa, a tiny border hill town.

Villagers of the two neighbouring nations are still largely dependent on
barter trade at the border trade points.

Given the age old relationship between villagers residing in the border
areas and the future prospect of barter trade, Mr. S C Jamir, the former
Chief Minister of Nagaland, who is the present Governor of Goa, another
Indian state in the west of the country established a permanent
International Trade Centre at Pangsa on November 15,1996.

The Nagaland Transport Minister Mr. Imtilemba Sangtam who visited the
International Trade Centre recently during his tour of Tuensang district,
expressed his desire to promote the place. He urged the villagers to
encourage residents on the other side of the international border to
approach the Myanmarese government to develop roads so as to enable them
to bring more goods to trade at the trade centre. This would benefit the
people on both sides.

"Similarly we will take up development of roads leading to the trade
centre and the villages located along the border," Mr. Imtilemba said. He
stressed on the need to develop roads and provide road connectivity to
these remote villages.

The main reason behind efforts to improve and upgrade the Pangsa trade
centre is to have direct trade instead of importing through Moreh town in
Manipur, another Indian border state. The Nagaland Chief Minister, Neiphiu
Rio at the meeting of chief ministers of north east India in New Delhi on
Wednesday also highlighted the importance of opening up of trade with
South Asian countries not only to boost trade and the economy but also to
remove the sense of isolation and neglect felt so long by the people of
the region.

Villagers of four Myanmar villages Khiamniungan, Chiu, Shep and Law which
are close to Nagaland's Pangsa trade centre also come for barter trade at
the centre twice a month in a big way. Villagers decide on a specific date
for barter and make a list of items that are in demand on their respective
sides. The major trade items include guns, gunpowder, diamonds, gold,
precious stones, and meat among others. Although village elders insist
that they have banned the sale and smuggling of drugs, heroin and opium
are also said to be coming to India from this part of the border.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

November 18, Associated Press
Bush urges Southeast Asian leaders to pressure Myanmar on democratic
reforms - Jim Gomez

Hanoi, Vietnam: U.S. President George W. Bush urged Southeast Asian
leaders on Saturday to exert more pressure on military-ruled Myanmar to
restore democracy and respect human rights, calling conditions there
"totally unacceptable," officials said.

In a lively meeting with seven leaders from the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations on the sidelines of a Pacific Rim summit, Bush welcomed
reforms in Thailand, where a bloodless Sept. 19 military coup ousted
former leader Thaksin Shinawatra, but frowned on the situation in Myanmar,
which is also called Burma.

"As far as the Myanmar situation, this is something that's totally
unacceptable," Philippine presidential spokesman Ignacio Bunye quoted Bush
as saying.

U.S. National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley said Bush asked ASEAN to
"put on their agenda dealing with Burma and getting the junta that is in
charge there to move in a positive direction toward giving their Burmese
people an opportunity for participation in their government and greater
freedom."

The ASEAN leaders made no response, said Philippine Trade Secretary Peter
Favila, who was at the meeting.

On Friday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Myanmar was
marring economically dynamic Southeast Asia.

Bush and Rice are attending the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
summit in Hanoi. ASEAN members Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam belong to APEC, but Cambodia,
Laos and Myanmar do not.

ASEAN has spent years unsuccessfully cajoling Myanmar's military leaders
into being more democratic and less repressive.

Some ASEAN members Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have become
more blunt in their criticism.
In July, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said Myanmar was
"impacting upon the image and credibility" of ASEAN and urged its junta to
"move forward" with the rest of ASEAN and take the "necessary steps"
toward democracy.

A founding rule of ASEAN is non-interference in each other's domestic
affairs. The United States and the European Union have accused ASEAN of
not doing enough, and critics call it a toothless tiger. ASEAN holds its
annual summit next month.

Myanmar's military rulers seized power in 1988 after violently crushing a
pro-democracy movement. The junta called elections in 1990 but refused to
hand over power to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party after it
won a landslide victory. Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.

Suu Kyi has become one of the world's most famous political prisoners,
spending nearly 11 of the last 17 years in detention, mostly under house
arrest. Rights groups, many Western nations and U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan have called for her release.

____________________________________

November 18, Agence France Presse
Rice tells N Korea, Myanmar to follow Vietnam's example

Hanoi: US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Saturday urged North
Korea and Myanmar to follow the example of its enemy turned trade partner
Vietnam and overcome their "adversarial" attitude.

The United States has led the global push to sanction the communist regime
in North Korea, which tested a nuclear bomb last month, and the military
junta ruling the Southeast Asian country also known as Burma.

"The United States continues to look to the day when cooperation is
possible with Burma and with North Korea," Rice told a forum on the
sidelines of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Hanoi.

"So far these governments have chosen to reject the path of cooperation,
violating their agreements and isolating their countries from the
prosperity of the region," she said.

But Rice said the new partnership between the United States and Vietnam
"shows how the past can be overcome for the benefit of countries."

"There are other countries with which we hope to overcome difficult
circumstances too," she said, naming the two military-ruled pariah
regimes.

"If the leaders of Burma and North Korea would follow the example of
Vietnam and the example of other adversaries throughout history who have
overcome their adversarial history... it will open a new path of peace and
opportunity."

____________________________________

November 20, Agence France Presse
Thai PM to meet Myanmar junta leader at new capital

Bangkok: Thailand's military-installed premier will visit neighboring
Myanmar later this week for talks with its junta leader at the country's
new administrative capital, officials said Monday.

Surayud Chulanont will make a one-day trip to Myanmar's new capital Nay
Pyi Taw, some 350 kilometers (215 miles) north of Yangon, on Thursday to
meet junta leader Than Shwe, the official said.

The state-run daily New Light of Myanmar also said Monday the Thai premier
would "pay a goodwill visit" to the country and hold talks with Prime
Minister Soe Win. It gave no further details.

Surayud was installed by the military, which ousted premier Thaksin
Shinawatra in a bloodless coup on September 19, while Myanmar has been
ruled by the military since 1962.

Myanmar is the last of Surayud's trips to the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Analysts had seen his avoidance of Myanmar as a snub to the junta, and an
effort to avoid uncomfortable comparisons with the military dictatorship.

The two neighbors have close relations, although Surayud's efforts to curb
drug trafficking on the border when he was Thailand's army chief had
angered Myanmar.

Thailand is increasingly turning to Myanmar to tap the country's vast
natural resources to fuel its own growing economy.

____________________________________

November 19, Agence France Presse
Malaysia urges Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi

Kuala Lumpur: Malaysia Sunday made fresh demands on Myanmar to free
democratic icon Aung San Suu Kyi and expressed hope a recent top UN
envoy's visit would bring democratic reforms in the military-run country.

"Yes, I think she should be released," Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar
told reporters.
"If they can move towards democracy and they have more confidence and
trust in the UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari ... we hope he will be successful,"
he added.

Gambari, a Nigerian diplomat, met Aung San Suu Kyi, 61, last week in a
rare visit allowed by the ruling junta.

Gambari told reporters in Bangkok he had urged junta leader Senior General
Than Shwe to release her.

His meeting with her last weekend was his second this year. He was the
only outsider allowed to see her in more than two years.

After his four-day visit to Myanmar, he said the junta should take
"concrete steps" on human rights, democratic reform and national
reconciliation.

Malaysia in June signalled the region was close to washing its hands of
Myanmar, saying the military regime had snubbed efforts to push for
democracy and urging the UN to take over the case.

Syed Hamid said Malaysia, a member of the 10-member Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), urged the military junta, also a member,
to implement democratic reforms as pushed by the UN.

"For the sake of Myanmar, we hope they begin to change in accordance to
what the international community wants, in particular the UN," he said.

"Myanmar has so much potential. They should be in the mainstream of
international affairs. I am very happy that there is some visible positive
development. I hope this will be continued," he added.

The military regime thumbed its nose at Syed Hamid in March when he
travelled to Yangon as an ASEAN envoy to check on its claims that it was
shifting towards democracy.

Syed Hamid was denied access to Aung San Suu Kyi, prompting him to say
that regional leaders were "frustrated and disillusioned" with their
intransigent neighbour.

US President George W. Bush told key Southeast Asian leaders Saturday, on
the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific summit in Vietnam, the situation in
Myanmar was "totally unacceptable".

Washington has imposed investment and trade bans on Myanmar, where the
ruling junta is accused of massive human rights violations, suppression of
political dissent and refusal to adopt democratic reforms.
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent most of the past 17 years under house arrest.

Her National League for Democracy won 1990 elections in a landslide
victory, but the military has refused to recognize the result.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

November 18, The Washington Post
U.S. wants U.N. resolution on Burma -Glenn Kessler

Envoy's Meeting Fails to Yield Much Progress, Official Says

A top State Department official said yesterday that a U.N. envoy's meeting
with Burma's leadership this month has yielded little progress and that
the United States will push ahead next month for passage of a "strongly
critical" U.N. Security Council resolution.

Ibrahim Gambari, the U.N. undersecretary general for political affairs,
spent four days last week in Burma, where he said he urged officials to
ease restrictions on humanitarian aid efforts, take steps to end forced
labor and consider releasing a "significant number" of the 1,100 political
prisoners.

He has yet to brief the U.N. Security Council on his trip, but R. Nicholas
Burns, U.S. undersecretary of state for political affairs, said that "from
what we've heard" on the trip, "the Burmese have not given anyone any
reason to think they are going to change their stripes."

Burns made his comments on the same day that the International Labor
Organization, a U.N. agency, said that it will consider referring Burma to
the International Court of Justice for its continued use of forced labor
and that it will provide documents to the International Criminal Court to
consider possible war-crimes prosecution.

Burns said that the United States supports the unusual move by the ILO,
which expressed "great frustration" after six years of negotiations with
the military junta that rules the Southeast Asian nation.

"We've made Burma into a real object of concern," Burns said. Though China
is seen as a roadblock to U.N. action on Burma, Burns said that he held
"long conversations" with Chinese officials about Burma during a trip to
Beijing this month.

"We have made this front and center in our relationship" with China, he said.

The United States scored a diplomatic victory in September when, after
months of lobbying, the Security Council for the first time added Burma to
its permanent agenda, on the grounds that the junta's behavior threatened
regional peace and security. The Security Council resolution advocated by
the administration would call attention to Burmese human rights abuses and
demand the release of political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, the
1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Burma, also known as Myanmar, is regarded as one of the world's most
repressive nations. The National League for Democracy, Suu Kyi's party,
won a landslide electoral victory in 1990, which the military leadership
refused to accept. She has been held in confinement repeatedly since then.
Gambari met with Suu Kyi last week and during a May visit to Burma.

The ILO said that Burma continues to violate the international convention
on forced labor and has refused its request to bring in more expatriate
staff and to hold confidential talks with Burmese citizens. The ILO also
said it will submit its documentation of Burmese abuses to the Security
Council.

Gambari told council members on Sept. 29 that Burma had made progress
recently in some areas, including the release of a prominent political
prisoner and forced labor. But he said more progress was still required
from the Burmese government and that "engagement" with the junta "should
not be for the sake of engagement."

Advocates of pressure on Burma have feared that time is running short for
action because the makeup of the Security Council will change in January,
when the terms of some of the countries that have backed the U.S. push
will expire, forcing a rebuilding of the diplomatic effort.

Burns acknowledged that this was a problem, which he said is why the
administration will press for action in December.

The U.S. action was put on hold until after Gambari completed his trip.
Burns met with Gambari before he left for Rangoon and said he warned him
that, unless he achieved dramatic improvements, the U.S. push would
resume.

Gambari's briefing for the Security Council has not yet been scheduled, a
U.N. official said.

After his trip, Gambari told the Financial Times that "the outcome of my
visit  --  and the concrete results  --  are still being awaited." He said
that "the ball is clearly back in the court of" Burmese authorities.

Suu Kyi told Gambari that she needed more regular medical visits, and
yesterday her doctor visited her for the first time in three months.

Though Gambari met with Suu Kyi, he did not meet with members of a youth
movement known as the 88-Generation Students. In September, five leaders
of the movement were arrested. In a daring appeal, three other leaders
sent a private message to a U.N. official asking that Gambari meet with
them and the arrested leaders, according to a copy of the letter.

The U.N. official said that Gambari would have liked to have met with
representatives of the group but a meeting could not be arranged.

He said that Gambari did receive a petition from the group, said to
contain more than 500,000 signatures, calling on the international
community to allow the "real desire of the people of Burma."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

November 18, The Independent (London)
Unscrupulous investments

Rumours were circulating earlier this year that the grip of the Burmese
generals was finally slipping. In May, the country's military rulers
allowed a UN representative to visit the imprisoned opposition leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi. Talk of change was in the air. But now the shutters have
come down anew. One of the most repressive regimes in the world appears to
be firmly back in control.

To understand why, we must examine how the international climate has
changed. To the West, Burma remains a pariah. But Asian nations are
increasingly willing to do business with the generals. A race is on for
access to Burma's abundant oil and gas resources. A pipeline to carry oil
to China from the Middle East through Burma was agreed in April. India,
also thirsty for energy, is making friendly overtures to the generals,
too. Meanwhile, Thailand is paying $1.2bn a year in cash to the regime for
natural gas.

All this investment is propping up the regime, allowing it to continue its
vicious repression of the Burmese population and funding its ethnic war
against the Karen people. There are echoes here of the way Chinese energy
contracts with Sudan are freeing Khartoum to pursue its murderous campaign
in Darfur, in spite of international condemnation.

Among Burma's rulers there is evidence of new confidence. The most senior
general, Than Shwe, recently put on an opulent wedding reception for his
daughter. And the pressure on Ms Suu Kyi has resumed. Her access to
health-care has been sharply restricted in recent months. The prospects of
a democratic handover of power have rarely looked more distant. It is
tempting to conclude from all this that the strategy of isolating the
regime is failing and to wonder whether, in light of the apparent
unscrupulousness of other Asian economies, it can ever work. Could it be
time for the West to join the likes of China and India by engaging
economically with Burma? Absolutely not. All the evidence suggests that
Burma is not at a stage where engagement will be productive. There are no
moderate generals poised to take over. Western engagement will only shore
up the regime further.

The moral duty of the West is to attempt to persuade China and others that
ignoring the brutalisation of the Burmese people for the sake of a few
energy contracts will ultimately prove a very bad investment.