BurmaNet News, December 14, 2006

[Editor]

December 14, 2006 Issue # 3106


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Fighting intensifies in ethnic areas
AFP: Myanmar junta allows Red Cross to reopen field offices, aid agency says
DVB: NLD starts nation-wide search for new members
New Light of Myanmar: Information minister receives Chinese broadcasting
delegation

DRUGS
People’s Daily Online: 70 kg of heroin seized in SW China; Myanmar
national arrested

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy via BBC: Australian media investor reportedly signs Burmese
energy deal

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: US circulates UN draft calling for release of political detainees in
Myanmar
Embassy: Tories to review Canadian investments in Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Asian Tribune: Muslims Must Support Strong UN Security Council Action on
Burma - Djoko Susilo MP, Indonesia

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Campaign UK: European Parliament calls for Security Council Burma
resolution

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

December 14, Irrawaddy
Fighting intensifies in ethnic areas - Khun Sam

Clashes between Burmese army troops and armed ethnic groups are increasing
in many areas, forcing thousands of civilians to flee and raising fears of
a sustained dry-season offensive by the Tatmadaw, the Burmese armed
forces.

Fighting is reported from Karen, Mon and Shan States, while military
maneuvers are being held in Kachin State. Padoh Mahn Sha, general
secretary of the Karen National Union, Burma’s oldest ethnic insurgent
group, told The Irrawaddy on Thursday that four or five clashes a day were
occurring in areas such as Taunggoo and Nyaunglebin townships, in Pegu
Division, and Thandaung and Papon townships, Karen State.

Mahn Sha said about 500 farms had been destroyed in Thandaung Township and
a further 283 in the Papon area. More than 2,000 civilians fleeing the
fighting have arrived at refugee camps near the Thai border and up to
2,500 others are in hiding, without food or shelter, he said.

In eastern Shan State, clashes were reported between the Shan State
Army-South and Burmese troops in the vicinity of Tachilek, which sits on
the border with northern Thailand. At least seven deaths were reported in
three days of fighting.

Shan sources say Burmese troops have recently deployed near the SSA’s Doi
Kor Wan base, the Shan rebels’ second largest military stronghold, causing
a heightened military alert in neighboring Thailand.

On Tuesday, the Human Rights Foundation of Monland (HURFOM) reported a
recent clash between the Burma army and a splinter group of the New Mon
State Party in Khaw-Zar Township, Mon State. Around 100 villagers had been
arrested and maltreated, HURFOM said.

“In order to cut off support from civilians for Mon rebels, troops of the
Burmese regime have treated innocent Mon civilians inhumanely and
cruelly,” HURFOM said in a statement calling on the junta to stop the army
assaults.

Meanwhile, Kachin Independence Organization sources said Burmese army
military exercises involving about 17 battalions were taking part in
military exercises in Samar Region, near Wai Maw township of Kachin State.

____________________________________

December 14, Associated Press
Myanmar junta allows Red Cross to reopen field offices, aid agency says

Yangon: Myanmar's military junta has told Red Cross officials that the
humanitarian group can reopen its field offices that the government had
ordered shut in October, the aid agency said Thursday.

The Southeast Asian country's military government ordered the
International Committee of the Red Cross on Oct. 23 to shut five field
offices that provide humanitarian assistance to people in sensitive border
areas. The offices also support prisoners and their families, and work
with land-mine victims.

The move drew criticism from international rights groups.

A group of ICRC representatives met with government officials last week
but no details of the meeting were made public at the time.

Thierry Ribaux, deputy head of the ICRC delegation, said Thursday that
during the meeting Home Minister Maj. Gen. Maung Oo "confirmed that our
field offices in border areas could reopen, and we take good note of
that."

"It is indeed an improvement," he said, but noted that "modalities of
works in border areas and how to continue with the activities in remote
border areas still need to be discussed."

The ICRC remains barred from accessing prisons in the country, a ban
imposed last December. Discussions with Myanmar's military government have
failed to end that ban.

Ribaux said the ICRC will continue dialogue with the junta to gain access
to prisons.

Since 1999, when the ICRC began working in Myanmar, it made more than 450
visits to about 90 prisons and labor camps across Myanmar, meeting
detainees and providing them with medicine, soap and other assistance.

____________________________________

December 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD starts nation-wide search for new members

Burma's leading opposition party, the National League for Democracy, has
started a bold recruitment drive in the face of military attempts to
pressure members to resign.

NLD spokesman U Myint Thein told DVB the party was in a state of
'reorganisation'.

". . . we have been instructed that the reinforcement of our forces is
needed for the reorganisation (of the party)," U Myint Thein said.

According to U Myint Thein, NLD offices across Burma have already started
signing up new members and encouraging those pressured to resign by the
military to remain with the party.

"The prospects for this are very good . . . [We are] very encouraged to
see that they are still surviving resiliently. [We are] especially proud
of the enthusiasm, the spirit and the beliefs of NLD members at township
and state levels . . .," U Myint Thein said.

Elected member of parliament and NLD member U Nyunt from Aunglan township
told DVB membership numbers in the area were increasing.

“There are quite a lot of people who want to join. More people have come
forward to do work from individual wards and villages," U Nyunt said.

State-run newspapers in Burma have for several months been publishing
reports of NLD members resigning en masse around the country. The NLD says
many of the reports are false and that those members who have quit did so
under duress.

The party says the military has launched a campaign to force people to
denounce the NLD's political stance. U Tin Win, an NLD organiser from
Shwebo township said the group's lack of legal status also worried some
members.

“There is a situation in which their subconscious makes them feel as if
their own organisation is not legal," U Tin Win said.

". . . We go down to the rural areas. We invite rural people and let them
meet with township organising members and brief them on these matters. We
are substantiating what we are doing—(promoting) national reconciliation
and a democratic era that could give us basic human rights.

"After briefing them the fact that our organisation is carrying out just
activities, there is no reason (for members) to quit whatever the
pressure.”

____________________________________

December 14, The New Light of Myanmar
Information minister receives Chinese broadcasting delegation

Yangon: Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan received Mr An Xiao
Yu, deputy director-general of Asian languages of Beijing International
Broadcasting Service, of People's Republic of China, at Myanma Radio and
Television here today.

Also present at the call were directors general and managing directors of
the departments and enterprises under the ministry and officials of
Chinese embassy to Myanmar.

____________________________________
DRUGS

December 14, People’s Daily Online (China)
70 kg of heroin seized in SW China; Myanmar national arrested

Police in southwest China's Yunnan Province, which borders the notorious
"Golden Triangle", said on Wednesday they recently arrested a suspected
Myanmar drug trafficker and seized 70.72 kg of heroin.

Yunnan frontier police said they received a tip-off last Wednesday saying
a large amounts of drugs would be smuggled across the border with Myanmar.

On Saturday night, they arrested a Myanmar national leading a mule loaded
with 104 bags of heroin that weighed 70.72 kg near Chashanjiao Village,
Zhenkang County that borders Myanmar.

The police didn't release any further details of the case.

Yunnan is a major route for drugs smugglers of the "Golden Triangle",
which lies along the Mekong River in Laos, Myanmar and northern Thailand
and is one of the world's most productive poppy growing regions.

The frontier police in Yunnan announced early this month they had arrested
3,764 suspected drug traffickers and seized 1,429 kg of heroin, 763 kg of
methamphetamine, or "ice", and 866 kg of opium this year.

Last year, Yunnan police seized more than four tons of drugs and arrested
4,600 suspected drug dealers in the region.

In 2005, Chinese police nationwide seized 6.9 tons of heroin and 5.5 tons
of "ice".

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

December 14, Irrawaddy via BBC
Australian media investor reportedly signs Burmese energy deal

An energy company headed by an Australian investor in Rangoon-based The
Myanmar Times has agreed to an oil and gas production sharing contract
with the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise. Danford Equity Corporation's
chief executive, William Clough, signed a deal in November to explore
Yetagun East Block, a 21,000 square-kilometre shallow water block in
Burma's far south, state press reported. Clough is a long-time investor in
The Myanmar Times. Christopher Drew, Danford's project manager, has worked
closely with a Burmese geologist based in the newspaper's head office in
downtown Rangoon since the end of 2004, shortly after leaving Focus
Energy, an oil company operating in central Burma. Although Clough has
considerable experience in mining and energy in Australia and other parts
of Asia as a director of Clough Limited - a family-owned entity - this is
believed to be his first venture into Burma's largely untapped oil and gas
sector. Speaking to The Myanmar Times following the deal, Clough said he
was "confident of success" in the new venture. "There are considerable
commercial hydrocarbons to be discovered" in the Yetagun East Block, he
added.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL
December 14, Agence France Presse
US circulates UN draft calling for release of political detainees in
Myanmar - Gerard Aziakou

United Nations: The United States cranked up the pressure on Myanmar's
rulers Wednesday by introducing a UN Security Council draft resolution
urging them to release all political prisoners and end the use of rape as
an instrument of war.

The text, a copy of which was obtained by AFP, does not call for sanctions
against Myanmar's military junta, which has been accused of political
repression and serious human rights abuses. There was no indication from
the council of when the draft might be put to a vote.

The draft expresses "grave concern that the overall situation in Myanmar
has deteriorated and poses serious risks to peace and security in the
region."

It also calls on the ruling junta to "cease military attacks against
civilians in ethnic minority regions and in particular to desist
immediately from the use of systematic rape of women and girls as an
instrument of armed conflict."

The text further urges Yangon to "take concrete steps to allow full
freedom of expression, association and movement by unconditionally
releasing (democracy icon) Aung San Suu Kyi and all political prisoners,
lifting all constraints on all political leaders and citizens, and
allowing the (opposition) League for Democracy (NLD) and other political
parties to reopen their offices."

Last month, UN Under Secretary General for Political Affairs Ibrahim
Gambari said that in his talks with Myanmar leaders he stressed the need
for them to release all political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi,
allow all-inclusive political participation and cease hostilities against
ethnic minorities, particularly in the Karen state.

During his November visit, his second this year, to Myanmar, Gambari met
Aung San Suu Kyi, the 61-year-old Nobel peace laureate and NLD, who told
him that she was in good health but needed more regular medical visits.

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.

The US draft also says Myanmar authorities should "begin without delay a
substantive political dialogue which would lead to a genuine democratic
transition" and allow international humanitarian groups "to operate
without restrictions" in the country.

It presses Yangon to "cooperate fully" with the International Labor
Organization "in the eradication of forced labor".

The former US ambassador to the UN, John Bolton, had lobbied hard to put
the Myanmar issue on the agenda of the 15-member council despite strong
opposition from China, an ally of the Yangon regime.

Last month, he said Yangon's policies, including human rights violations
and political repression, "continue to contribute to instability in the
region and therefore in our view constitute a threat to international
peace and security".

But Myanmar rulers warned in late November that UN action against the
junta would "destroy the peace" and accused the Security Council of trying
to interfere in its domestic affairs.

"The situation in Myanmar is something that does not need to be handled by
the Security Council," the country's national police chief, Brigadier
General Khin Yee told reporters.

____________________________________

December 13, Embassy
Tories to review Canadian investments in Burma - Brian Adeba

Burma activists and opposition critics welcome a government pledge to
review its economic policy in the Asian nation, while one MP wants to
grant Aung San Suu Kyi Canadian citizenship.
When Jason Kenney, parliamentary secretary to Prime Minister Stephen
Harper, said the government would review its economic policy regarding
Burma last week, he garnered praise from Burma activists in Canada who say
it is time the government used current legislation to curb the activities
of Canadian companies with investments in the southeast Asian country.

Mr. Kenney made the comments at a seminar on forced labour in Ottawa on
Dec.7. He said the government will examine a motion passed last year by
the House of Commons, which calls for a ban on Canadian investment in
Burma.

"It is no secret our government is interested in actively supporting human
rights," he said in an interview yesterday.

Kevin McLeod, who sits on the board of directors of the Canadian Friends
of Burma (CFOB), urges the government to look at the motion passed in May
last year, which urges the government to ban Canadian investment in Burma,
to support democracy in the southeast Asian country, and to implement
sanctions on the military junta that rules the country now known as
Myanmar.

According to the CFOB, there are about 17 Canadian companies with
investments in Burma ranging from textiles, air transport and mining. Tin
Muang Htoo, executive director of the CFOB, says he is particularly
concerned about the investments of Ivanhoe Mines, a company based in
British Columbia, because it has a 50-50 venture with the ruling junta in
Burma. Mr. Htoo estimates that since the late 1990s when the company
started operating in Burma, it must have invested between $150–200
million (US).

"We have talked to Ivanhoe many times and their argument is that to pull
out won't do anything good for the people of Burma," he says.

Mr. Htoo adds that the company says it employs 500 people and has built
hospitals and schools in the area it operates in. "But employing 500
people doesn't mean it is beneficial to all the people of Burma," he
argues.

"The question is where does the junta spend all the millions of dollars?"

Mr. Htoo points out that most of this money is spent on the military.
However, he opposes the idea of blanket sanctions, arguing that the
Canadian government should aim for targeted sanctions instead.

Alex McDonough, foreign affairs critic for the NDP, welcomed the move to
"shine the spotlight on the horrors in Burma," but insists the government
should maintain a sustained effort to bring Canadian companies to toe the
line of corporate social responsibility.

"What we have seen from this government is a sort of drive-by diplomacy,
which is about playing it up here for the folks at home," she said, adding
that a much tougher line is needed, as well as a concerted effort
internationally.

"Canada should be providing leadership," she said.

Liberal MP Keith Martin, the official opposition critic for foreign
affairs, says Burma is one of the world's forgotten tragedies, and that
greater pressure must be brought to bear on the junta. But while calling
for targeted sanctions, Mr. Martin also said the government should be
ready to "use carrots" if the junta stops human rights abuses, releases
all prisoners of conscience and introduces multiparty elections.

On Monday, Mr. Martin introduced a private member's motion which requests
the government of Canada bestow honorary citizenship on pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 16 years under house arrest in
Burma. Mr. Martin says he is seeking unanimous support for the motion and
hopes all the parties in the House will back it. So far, he says there is
support from the NDP and the Bloc Québécois.

Though he said he has not seen the motion, Mr. Kenney said he has great
respect for Ms. Suu Kyi. "I think Canada should look at ways of honouring
her," he said.

Honorary Canadian citizenship is bestowed on individuals of exceptional
merit. If the motion passes, Ms. Suu Kyi will become the fourth foreigner
to receive the honour. Past recipients have included Swedish diplomat
Raoul Wallenberg, who saved thousands of Jews during the Second World War,
former South African president Nelson Mandela, and Tibet's spiritual
leader, the Dalai Lama.

List of Canadian Companies Investing in Burma

Air Canada
CHC Helicopter Corporation
East Asia Gold Corp
Export Packers Company Ltd.
Good Harvest Seafood Inc.
Jet Gold Corp.
Ivanhoe Mines
Kayjet Promotions
Leeward Capital Corp.
Midland Foods (Winnipeg) Inc.
Midland Seafoods Inc.
Saan
Tai Foong International Ltd.
Taiga Consultants Ltd.
TG World Energy Corp.
Trimark Athletic Supplies
Wah Loong Ltd.

Source: Global Unions
Compiled by Brian Adeba

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

December 15, Asian Tribune
Muslims Must Support Strong UN Security Council Action on Burma - Djoko
Susilo MP, Indonesia

In September the United Nations Security Council debated the situation in
the Southeast Asian country of Burma for the first time in history. Our
Muslim brothers and sisters inside Burma and around the world welcome this
major step forward.

The rulers of Burma are the State Peace and Development Council, one of
the world's most brutal military regimes. The supreme leader of this
regime, General Than Shwe, has brutalized the Burmese people, forcing over
1 million refugees to flee the country, burning down and relocating over
3,000 villages, using modern-day slave labor, holding more child soldiers
than any other country in the world, and locking up over one thousand
political prisoners.

To top it off, the regime has made Aung San Suu Kyi the world's only
imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient - locking her up under house
arrest.

Suu Kyi is not just a charismatic, nonviolent leader; she led a political
party, the National League for Democracy, to a landslide victory in
Burma's last democratic election. The military regime has refused to
recognize these election results.

Than Shwe's regime represses all the peoples of Burma, but as Human Rights
Watch has thoroughly documented, the regime especially targets Burma's
Muslim population in Arakan state. Our brothers and sisters in Burma's
northern Arakan state are murdered, imprisoned, and raped on a systematic
basis by soldiers of the military regime. They are also denied any freedom
of movement, are robbed of food and land, are forced to convert from
Islam, and are often penalized for even marrying and having children.

Muslim couples are harassed, fined, and jailed for marrying without
permission from the regime, or forced to pay draconian fees for simple
government documents.

But the repression does not end there. Muslim land is being confiscated by
the military regime, leading to chronic food shortages on almost famine
levels, and as a result, serious and chronic malnutrition.

Than Shwe's regime has armed and incited mob violence to destroy mosques,
desecrate the Koran, and terrorize Muslim communities in Northern Arakan
state through sexual violence against Muslim women.

When forces of the Burmese regime captured central Dooplaya District,
Muslims were driven en masse out of their villages, copies of the Koran
were torn up in front of them and their mosques were dynamited and
bulldozed.

Even worse, soldiers and military-backed thugs from the military regime
often rape Muslim women and girls. This can happen for days on end, and
the soldiers do not discriminate amongst their victims.

Soldiers of Than Shwe's regime even rape girls and pregnant women. The
perpetrators of these vicious crimes are almost never prosecuted.

Survivors of such heinous acts as rape by the military cannot seek justice
in Burma because the Burmese regime's Citizenship Law denies citizenship
rights to Muslims in Arakan state. Amnesty International calls this
"grossly discriminatory" and "in clear violation" of Burma's "obligation
as a state and member of the United Nations". As Human Rights Watch
reports, the law prevents these Muslims from becoming citizens solely on
the basis of their religion, when the reality is that the Muslims in
Arakan State "have had a well-established presence in the country since
the twelfth century".

Intense and systematic discrimination by the regime against Muslims in
northern Arakan state leaves these people without any protections and
freedoms. The regime has rendered these people stateless in their own home
country. Amnesty reports that "tens of thousands have fled to neighboring
Bangladesh and other countries."

Those who have no choice but to stay in northern Arakan state cannot
travel from village to village without special passes, which are almost
impossible to attain. To underline the severity of these travel
restrictions, the government refuses to issue many passports so Muslims
can travel to perform the Haj.

There are some whom have claimed that the UN Human Rights Council should
deal with the situation in Burma. But the matter is far more serious than
this, and the United Nations human rights mechanisms have already
miserably failed over the past 14 years. The UN General Assembly and UN
Commission on Human Rights have passed 28 consecutive resolutions calling
for change in Burma.

The Commission has appointed 4 special envoys to Burma, while UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan has appointed 2 full-time envoys. The regime has
ignored every single resolution and envoy. The last envoy, Malaysian Tan
Sri Razali Ismail resigned in frustration. Even Mr. Annan himself has
called for change in a direct meeting with Than Shwe, but the call fell on
dear ears. Than Shwe's oppression must not be allowed to continue. It is
long past-due for the international community to respond to his illegal
rule.
The Burmese military regime is no longer simply threatening its own people.
It has become a problem for the world. Muslims want the United Nations
Security Council to immediately pass a resolution to bring about national
reconciliation, and we strongly urge the government of Qatar, who is
presently a member of the Council, to support such action. The people of
Burma deserve no less than a serious, binding UN Security Council
resolution.

Djoko Susilo is a member of parliament from Indonesia where he serves on
the Committee on Foreign Affairs. He is the Chairperson of the Indonesian
Parliamentary Caucus for Democracy in Burma.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

December 14, Burma Campaign UK
European Parliament calls for Security Council Burma resolution

The Burma Campaign UK today welcomed a resolution passed by the European
Parliament calling on the United Nations Security Council to pass a
binding resolution on Burma. The move by the European Parliament comes as
the United States is circulating a draft resolution on Burma to Security
Council members.

Members of the European Parliament called for a Security Council
resolution that would require the restoration of democracy and release of
Aung San Suu Kyi. The EU Parliament resolution also notes that current EU
sanctions have failed to target areas where the regime earns significant
revenue.

“We hope this will encourage Security Council members to vote in favour of
a resolution,” said Mark Farmaner, Campaigns Manager at the Burma Campaign
UK.

“The regime in Burma is a threat to international peace and security as
well as a threat to its own population. We have had almost 20 years of the
UN talking about Burma, now it is time for action.”

The regime in Burma has consistently defied the United Nations, ignoring
over a dozen calls for Aung San Suu Kyi¹s release by the Secretary
General, and 29 resolutions by the UN General Assembly and Human Rights
Commission.

The regime has also defied repeated calls by the International Labour
Organisation to end forced labour. Demands for UN Security Council
intervention increased following the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi in 2003.
The campaign was given fresh momentum following publication in September
2005 of a report ­ A Threat to the Peace - commissioned by former
archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech President Vaclav Havel from
global law firm DLA Piper.

The report found that Burma does fit the criteria for UNSC intervention,
and called on the UNSC to pass a binding resolution requiring the
restoration of democracy to Burma, and the release of all political
prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi. The Security Council held its first
discussion on Burma in December 2005. The first formal discussion on Burma
was held on 29th September 2006, after the USA asked for Burma to be
placed on the formal agenda, and 10 of the 15 members voted in favour.

For more information contact Mark Farmaner, Media Manager, on 07941239640.