BurmaNet News, March 27, 2007

[Editor]

March 27, 2007 Issue # 3170


INSIDE BURMA
Jane’s Defence Weekly: Myanmar army document spotlights low morale
AFP: Might, defiance as Myanmar vows to crush opponents
AFP: Myanmar opposition urges junta to focus on economy
Irrawaddy: Land grab in Pegu division
Irrawaddy: Karen rights group reports new cases of forced labor
Irrawaddy: KNPP lambasts junta over mortar fire on its camp
Xinhua: Myanmar drafting new anti-corruption law

ON THE BORDER
Mizzima: Burmese junta sanctions rape of Chin women: report
Thai Press Reports: Thailand protests to Myanmar over ranger's death
Irrawaddy: Karen rights group reports new cases of forced labor

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: Gas won’t save Burma economy, says ADB

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Proposed sanctions in Asean charter dropped

INTERNATIONAL
Narinjara: Worldwide demonstration staged in 15 countries against India
and Daewoo

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 4, Jane's Defence Weekly
Myanmar army document spotlights low morale - Samuel Blyt

Bangkok: An internal document obtained by Jane's shows that Myanmar army
battalions are poorly managed and resourced and plagued by desertion

Battalion commanders have been told to change recruitment practices and
ease conditions of service, but resources are lacking

A confidential internal document obtained by Jane's shows that the Myanmar
Armed Forces suffer from false reporting, haphazard inspections and poor
record keeping.

Battalion commanders are chastised for drinking excessively and for being
fixated on profit making and womanising, according to the document. It
further states that morale among enlisted ranks is low, contributing to
high rates of desertion.

The document summarises an 11-15 September 2006 meeting in Kyatpyay,
Naypyidaw. Meetings are normally convened every four months, with typical
attendance involving some 200 senior military officers, including the 12
members of the ruling council and the 13 regional commanders.

General Shwe Mann, the government's third highest-ranking official,
reported manpower losses of 9,497 during a four-month period preceding
September 2006, much of this due to desertions. This is up 8 per cent from
the same period in 2005, when 8,760 troops were lost from service. The
latter figure includes 4,701 personnel absent without leave and 2,000
arrested for unknown reasons.

Measures were taken to improve service conditions in response to high
desertion rates in 2005. Battalion commanders were instructed to revise
recruitment practices and ease conditions, with wet rations subsequently
increased threefold.

A pay raise in April 2006 saw the salary of privates grow fivefold to
MMK15,000 (USD11.5) per month, while officers' salaries increased by up to
10 times. This restored purchasing power to roughly 2000 levels, when
salaries were last adjusted, but double-digit inflation has already
lessened the impact of the rise.

To further discourage desertions, weekly inspections have been ordered,
with officers warned to report honestly. Battalion commanders are to
convene weekly organisational meetings and should respond seriously to any
complaints.

Battalion commanders who break discipline or who fail to meet standards in
inspections should have their commands terminated, the document adds.

High desertion rates are partly ascribed to hard conditions, infrequent
field inspections and vacations, inadequate rations and the lack of a
"parental attitude" among commanding officers. The report states that
conditions should be eased by allowing troops one month in rear areas for
each four to five months of frontline duty.

Battalion commanders were further ordered to increase their welfare funds
in order to supplement central salary and rations budgetary disbursements.
The document states that regiments should continue to raise funds through
agriculture and the sale of seized goods, with commanders who failed to do
so criticised for "sucking oil" from the War Office. According to human
rights groups, the army often obtains land and materials extra-legally,
with minimal or no compensation.

Adjutant General Thein Sein reported at the meeting that 13,764 soldiers
were enlisted during the preceding four months: an increase of more than
15 per cent. This indicates that recruitment has intensified. Jane's
reported last year that a recruitment campaign during the second
four-month period of 2005 produced just 6,275 new personnel.

Recruitment drives are expected to persist for the foreseeable future. An
officer with a newly created air-defence battalion interviewed by Jane's
said that regiments are expected to actively recruit in appointed areas
and are fined when they fail to meet quotas. However, maintaining current
staffing levels is a challenge due to the high desertion rate, the officer
added.

Comprehensive data is not available for the year to September 2006 but it
appears that armed forces staffing may have declined over this period.

The report states that average battalion strength was 140-150, with some
frontline units staffed by as few as 15 troops. This compares with a 2005
internal document showing 200-300 personnel in 220 of the army's 504
infantry battalions and fewer than 200 in each of the remaining units.
Doctrinally, each battalion should have 826 personnel.

Adjutant General Thein Sein reportedly stated at the commander's meeting
that more than 7,000 soldiers must be recruited monthly from the country's
population of 6-7 million males aged 18-25.

Elsewhere, the document notes that males can be recruited up to 35 years
of age. Adjutant General Thein Sein proscribed against disturbing villages
in this campaign and said that offerings should be made to local leaders
and monks, adding that the army's civilian arm - the Union Solidarity and
Development Association - should be involved in recruitment.

However, recruiters were told to emphasise quality and avoid recruiting
"simpletons who are difficult to use, and difficult to get rid of".
Recruitment efforts are to focus on rural areas.

Human rights groups have documented the Myanmar Armed Forces' use of
systematic forced recruitment practices since the early 1990s, when a
rapid expansion of infantry regiments was launched.

Local law states the minimum age for military service is 18 and the
document makes no mention of child conscription. However, a 2002 Human
Rights Watch report documented the systematic use of child soldiers and
estimated that up to 20 per cent of army personnel could be under age.

Myanmar responded to such criticism by establishing in 2004 the Committee
for Prevention against Recruitment of Minors. This body co-operates
formally with several UN agencies and has met six times since its
foundation, most recently in February 2007. However, one officer who spoke
to Jane's acknowledged that child conscription remains widespread,
although better concealed.

HIV/AIDS and hepatitis infections among armed forces personnel further
complicate staffing problems. During the second tri-annual meeting in
2006, Adjutant General Thein Sein reported that more than 13,700 soldiers
were infected with HIV or Hepatitis B, including 2,182 officers. This is
thought to reflect an infection rate of more than 4 per cent of the armed
forces.

Vice-Senior General Maung Aye reported 93 combat-related deaths during the
period, the document states, including 11 officers. There were also 179
wounded, including 20 officers, and 136 "enemy" reported killed.

_____________________________________

March 27, Agence France Presse
Might, defiance as Myanmar vows to crush opponents - Charlotte
McDonald-Gibson

Myanmar put on a show of might and defiance at its annual military parade
Tuesday, with junta chief Than Shwe displaying few signs of his reported
ill health in his new capital city.

Some 15,000 troops took to the echoing parade ground of the military-ruled
nation's new capital Naypyidaw for Armed Forces Day, marching in the
shadow of statues of old Burmese kings and flags bearing army crests.

Senior General Than Shwe, who stood in the morning sun without faltering
for about one hour, delivered a speech rebuking countries such as the
United States which have taken the junta to task over human rights and
democratic reform.

"Judging from lessons of the history, it is certain that powerful
countries wishing to impose their influence on our nation will make any
attempt in various ways to undermine national unity," he said.

He also vowed to "crush, hand-in-hand with the entire people, every danger
of internal and external destructive elements obstructing the stability
and development of the state."

After his 10-minute speech Than Shwe inspected the troops, standing
upright out of the sun roof of his stretch Mercedes.

The parade began as the sun rose over Naypyidaw, a city the military
carved out of the jungles of central Myanmar and which now stretches over
a vast area dotted with ministries, military buildings and apartment
blocks.

The public is barred from attending the event, but the annual ceremony is
one of the few times of the year when Than Shwe allows his image to appear
in official media, giving Myanmar's people a rare glimpse of the man who
tightly controls almost every aspect of their lives.

They will look at him especially closely this year, amid widespread
rumours that the 73-year-old's health may be failing.

He spent two weeks in Singapore for medical checks in January, and upon
his return staged an unusual series of appearances in state media to
dissuade any concerns about his health.

In a country where ageing generals rule with absolute power, the health
scare highlighted fears of a power struggle within the military that could
erupt if he or other top generals were to suddenly pass.

Myanmar's Prime Minister Soe Win, thought to be about 58, is currently
hopistalised in Singapore. The government insists he is healthy, but that
has failed to stop widespread speculation about who would succeed him.

But Soe Win's job is largely ceremonial. More worrying is the jockeying
within the military to establish a clear successor to Than Shwe, who has
ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since 1962.

Thailand-based analysts had speculated that this year would see the most
extravagant Armed Forces Day because it may be the general's last.

"Many people in Rangoon are speculating that this could be the last Armed
Forces Day (for Than Shwe) because of his health condition," Myanmar
military analyst Win Min said, referring to Yangon by its previous name.

"I'm not sure if it will be the last time for him, it depends on his
health," Thailand-based Win Min added.

If Than Shwe was in any discomfort, he gave no sign to the gathered
ministers, generals, foreign defence attaches and international and local
media.

During his speech his voice was contestant and hardly wavered. After
inspecting the troops, he gently exited the Mercedes before ascending the
podium, where he stood still for about an hour, periodically saluting as
the 15,000 troops marched by, garlands of jasmine around their necks.

"It was quite a show," US Defence Attache Colonel Daniel Tarter told AFP
after the general had left the grounds.

He shrugged Than Shwe's criticism of western countries, which the general
repeats every year, saying: "It was a fairly typical Armed Forces Day
speech."

____________________________________

March 27,  Agence France Presse
Myanmar opposition urges junta to focus on economy

Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition Tuesday urged the ruling junta to focus
on improving the nation's crumbling economy, as the generals staged a
major military parade in their new capital.

The National League for Democracy also called on the military to free
detained party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate who has
spent more than a decade in confinement.

"Today we call for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other prisoners,
and we also call to solve the economic problems of the people," NLD
spokesman Nyan Win said.

"We know the people are suffering today from economic hardships," he added.

While Myanmar's junta leader Than Shwe held a lavish parade in the new
capital Naypyidaw to mark Armed Forces Day, the NLD had a simple ceremony
with some 400 activists and diplomats at the party's dilapidated
headquarters in Yangon.

The NLD calls the holiday Resistance Day, because it marks the beginning
of the uprising againt Japan's occupation during World War II. The
struggle was led by Aung San Suu Kyi's father, General Aung San, and
eventually resulted in the country's independence from Britain.

Myanmar is one of the poorest countries in the world, despite its vast
natural resources, after decades of mismanagement by successive military
governments.

While the military carved its new capital out of the jungles of central
Myanmar, basic infrastructure in Yangon continued to decay, with lengthy
power outages a daily occurrence across the nation's largest city.

Frustration at soaring prices for basic foods turned into a small protest
last month in Yangon, the first public demonstration against the junta in
a decade.

A group of former student leaders, who led a pro-democracy uprising 1988
and now call themselves the 88 Generation Students, also denounced the
country's "fascist" government.

"The fascists organized groups of assailants who torture the dissidents
without hesitation," they said in a statement.

"Fascism reached our land with the fake promise of independence. All our
people suffered from the arbitrary detentions, torture and other cruel,
inhuman treatments and even killings of the fascists' affiliated agents,"
they added.

During his speech to the military parade, Than Shwe rejected allegations
of rights abuses by his government and vowed to "crush" anyone who stood
in the way of his plans for the country.

____________________________________

March 27, Irrawaddy
Land grab in Pegu division - Yeni

Legal representatives for villagers of Kawa Township in Burma’s Pegu
Division say residents are being exploited by local authorities through
the mismanagement of land rights.

Since 1970, villagers near the Sittang River estuary have lost tracts of
cultivable land to soil erosion and have been forced to seek land in other
villages in the region, while local authorities have made no provision for
resettling affected villagers.

Instead, the legal representatives say, new alluvial land created on the
western bank of the Sittang River in the last several decades—totaling
some 6,000 acres—that could have been used to relocate villagers has
instead been divided up between high-ranking members of the local State
Peace and Development Council, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation
and the military.

These are the conclusions of Pegu-based social and legal advocacy group
Guiding Star, which monitors and documents human rights abuses in Burma.

“So far, villagers are allowed to have nothing to do with this new rich
soil,” said Aye Myint, head of the legal group.

Coastal erosion is common enough at the mouth of the Sittang River, which
rises on the edge of the Shan Plateau and flows south for 260 miles to
empty into the Gulf of Marteban in the Andaman Sea. But such changes have
a dramatic impact on the administration of land rights, from the
distribution of small or communal plots to conflicts between traditional
and legal land use rights.

Irrigation projects managed by the MAI do not favor those residents
displaced by flooding in the area, Aye Myint said.

“Instead, authorities share the land themselves,” he told The Irrawaddy by
phone on Tuesday. “To avoid legal restrictions imposed by the government,
they sell the land to businessmen.”

Burma’s military government last updated its rights and procedures
relating to land management in September 1998. According to those
regulations, land cannot be mortgaged, sold or otherwise transferred or
divided without approval by the MAI’s Central Committee for the Management
of Culturable Land, Fallow Land and Waste Land.

The per acre market value of land sold by government officials is around
600,000 kyat (US $480), and they have been allowed to profit from the sale
of land without interference from the state, while villagers affected by
land loss or flooding have received no compensation for their losses,
according to Guiding Star.

In recent weeks, Burmese government bodies such as the ministries of Home
Affairs and Energy have invited public complaints about abuse by personnel
in a drive to “ensure clean administrative machinery,” as state-run The
New Light of Myanmar put it.

Last month, Prime Minister Gen Soe Win, in a meeting with judges and legal
professionals, stressed the need for the judicial sector to adapt to
reforms in order to conform to the regulations of the forthcoming new
state constitution.

Actions by authorities in Pegu Division, however, run counter to the
government’s anti-corruption drive, Aye Myint said.

Villagers, he claims, have lost their homes or have effectively become
internally displaced, while the government reaps the financial benefits of
illegal land sales.

____________________________________

March 27, Irrawaddy
KNPP lambasts junta over mortar fire on its camp - Kantarawaddy Times

The Burmese military junta came in for flak from the Karenni National
Progressive Party after a battalion under the command of Division 55 of
the Burmese Army yesterday evening opened mortar fire over the Nya Mo
military camp of the Karenni Army on the Thai-Burma border. The firing
occurred at a time when the KNPP and the junta are negotiating a fresh
ceasefire. A KNPP spokesman said, “We don’t want to continue the talks
anymore.”

Three rounds of mortars--MA-8, were fired by the Burmese troops. It sailed
over the Nya Mo camp and landed near Mae Shwe Oo village in Thailand,
according to a commander of the Karenni Army.

“They opened fire because it’s a significant day for them. They used to
open fire like this earlier,” the source said.

Khu Oo Reh, secretary 2 of the KNPP said the offensive ‘should not happen’
during the process of negotiation between the KNPP and the Burmese
military junta.

“Today is the junta’s Armed Forces Day. Maybe they opened fire to mark
it,” said Khu Oo Reh, “but they shouldn’t open fire over [Karenni Army’s]
a military camp because there is currently a round of talks on between the
two parties. It shows that they don’t care about the negotiation.”

The offensive will create obstacles in the process of negotiation between
the two sides, the source added.

“It’s not a problem if we see it from an optimistic point of view. But we
don’t want to continue the talks anymore,” said Khu Oo Reh.

Last Wednesday, General Secretary Rimond Htoo of KNPP led a four-member
delegation to negotiate with a group of government officials led by Col
Myat Win of Burma’s intelligence wing, the Military Affairs Security.

Though a day’s negotiations on the Thai-Burma border town of Tachilek did
not show progress for a ceasefire, talks between the two parties are said
to continue.

The KNPP reached a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military junta in
1995, but the truce was broken three months later after Burmese troops
were deployed in KNPP territory.

____________________________________

March 27, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar drafting new anti-corruption law

Myanmar is drafting a new anti- corruption law in a bid to help install a
clean administrative machinery, a local weekly reported Tuesday.

Expected to come out before the end of this year, the law is being drafted
by the Ministry of Home Affairs in cooperation with legal experts since
last year, the Weekly Eleven News said.

The new law would not only apply to government servants but also private
company employees as well as other individuals who are non-government
employees, the report said, adding that the new law will substitute the
outdated one enacted in 1948 when the country regained independence.

Since late last year, as part of the government's measures aimed at
eliminating malpractice and misconduct within the government mechanism, a
number of ministries, including those of Home Affairs, Energy, Finance and
Forestry, have invited complaints from the public about malpractices of
personnel with the ministries.

Earlier official reports said the Myanmar government has suspended posts
of more than 100 officials and staff from the Customs Department in a
crack down on corruption and bribery since last November. Of them, over
three dozens have been sentenced to long-year prison terms, according to
legal sources.

Official statistics also show that the government punished 1, 247 service
personnel for malpractice in 2005 and 2006.

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

March 27, Mizzima News
Burmese junta sanctions rape of Chin women: report - Mungpi

The Burmese Army is committing with impunity, savage and rampant sexual
violence on ethnic Chin women, said a new report released today.

The Burmese Army commits brutal sexual crimes against Chin women even in
the presence of witnesses and sometimes torture and even murder the
victims with impunity, said the report, titled 'Unsafe State:
State-sanctioned sexual violence against Chin women in Burma'.

The report, compiled and released by the Women's League of Chinland, an
umbrella ethnic Chin women's group, documents 38 cases of rape committed
by the Burmese Army during the past five years.

While some victims were murdered, at least a third of them were
gang-raped, and many tortured and savagely raped in the presence of local
communities, said the report.

In one case, the report said, a woman was stripped naked and tied to a
cross, in a shocking act of mockery against the Chin's belief in
Christianity.

Cheery Zahau, coordinator and spokesperson of WLC told Mizzima, "Rape
committed by Burmese soldiers is acceptable and there is no action taken
even if the victims file a report."

"These horrors are being sanctioned by the state in Burma." Cheery added.

Meanwhile, the junta backed Myanmar Women Affairs Federation in a meeting
held in Chin State earlier this month said peace and tranquility prevails
in Chin state and citizens are free to practice religions of their choice.

It also said that under the current government, Chin State has seen
various developments and accused groups in exile including women's
organisations of trying to create unrest among the people. It further
states that women groups in exile do not represent women folk inside
Burma.

"This women's group [The Myanmar Women Affairs Federation] is sponsored by
the junta and are puppets of the junta," said Zahau.

The report, launched today by former Indian Defence Minister, George
Fernandez, is in keeping with the trend of earlier reports by other ethnic
women of Burma including the Shan Women Action Networks' "License to Rape"
which documented widespread rape committed by the Burmese Army in Shan
state.

The 'License to Rape' report evoked an international outcry against the
Burmese junta's appalling human rights violations. However, the Burmese
Army unabashedly continues to commit sexual violence against women.

In February, four teenage girls from Putao of Kachin State in upper Burma
were gang-raped by Burmese soldiers including an officer. Instead of
taking action against Burmese soldiers the girls were arrested and
detained when the news was leaked to the foreign media.

"How can the civilized world accept this junta in their ranks? And how can
countries like India and China arm these rapists?" Zahau asked, urging
India and other neighbouring countries to stop supplying military hardware
to the junta.

India, which is cosying up to the junta in terms of bilateral
relationship, is supplying armaments to Burma. These include field guns,
mortars, surveillance equipment, aircraft, tanks, and air-defence guns.

Economic and military support to the Burmese junta by neighboring
countries such as India are directly fuelling militarization in Burma's
ethnic areas, Zahau said.

____________________________________

March 27, Thai Press Reports
Thailand protests to Myanmar over ranger's death

The Thai Foreign Ministry has submitted an aide-memoire to Myanmar
ambassador to Thailand U Ye Win, protesting the death of a Thai Army
Ranger who was killed earlier this week during fighting between Myanmar
government forces and anti-Myanmar government ethnic Karen fighters near
the common border.

Anuson Chinwanno, director-general of the Ministry's East Asian Affairs
Department, Friday summoned the Myanmar ambassador to Thailand to the
Foreign Ministry and submitted the aide-memoire protesting the death of
the Ranger during the clash between Myanmar forces and Karen fighters near
the Thai border district of Khun Yuam of Mae Hong Son province on
Wednesday.

In the aide-memoire the Thai government called for a meeting of the
Township Border Committee to investigate the incident, and urged the
Myanmar government to strictly follow internationally recognised 'Rules of
Engagement' before committing military forces to action.

Thailand also affirmed that it hopes that both sides could find ways to
prevent a similar incident from occurring again.

Meanwhile, Col. Suthas Jarumanee, commander of the 7th Infantry Task Force
in Mae Hong Son, told a press conference yesterday that three spent shells
and a grenade were found in the area of fighting by Thai soldiers. One of
the spent shells are made by Myanmar Armed Forces with some Myanmar
characters on it.

Col. Suthas said his unit had submitted a protest through the Township
Border Committee asking the Myanmar military to admit its guilt, a
punishment must be imposed on every Myanmar soldier on the intrusion into
the Thai territory and a compensation paid.
So far there has been no reply from Myanmar, Col. Suthas added.

____________________________________

March 27, Irrawaddy
Karen rights group reports new cases of forced labor - Shah Paung

A grassroots Karen rights group has issued a report claiming the Burma
Army has begun to implement new projects to construct roads and camps
using forced labor.

The Karen Human Rights Group, based on the Thai-Burmese border, said
Burma's military is starting to implement three main objectives in areas
where displaced communities are living—the construction and upgrading of
outpost camps, stocking them with ammunition and food supplies and road
building. The construction projects were planned in late 2006.

The military activity is causing further displacement, as villagers flee
to avoid being forced to work on the army projects, according to the KHRG
report. Areas affected are in Papun and Nyaunglebin districts.

“With the ongoing expansion of road networks and search and destroy
missions targeting those communities attempting to evade military forces
in Papun and other districts, the SPDC has made it clear that it will not
tolerate anyone living outside of state control,” the report said.

The report, issued on Monday, came as Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw
Hsan dismissed reports of human rights abuses.

Speaking at a press conference in Naypyidaw on Monday, Kyaw Hsan said some
Western nations and anti-government groups claimed the military government
“is threatening regional and international peace and security by
committing acts such as ethnic cleansing, rapes, forced labor and forced
resettlement at border areas.

“In reality, those accusations are totally false and no such incidents
occurred in Myanmar [Burma].”

The KHRG report said researchers in the field reported that villagers had
been ordered to collect rocks for the construction of roads between Ler Mu
P'law and Taw Koh Mu Der, and between Kay P'lu and Na Yoh Hta. The work
was being supervised by Light Infantry Division 88, which replaced
Military Operations Commands 1 in February.

A Free Burma Rangers report on Saturday, meanwhile, said that between
March 15 and 18 the Burmese army's MOC 1 had attacked areas in Papun
District, causing more than 1,000 people to flee and seek refuge in the
jungle.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

March 27, Irrawaddy
Gas won’t save Burma economy, says ADB - Aung Lwin Oo

A report released on Tuesday by Manila-based Asian Development Bank said
Burma continues to face significant economic challenges despite a
lucrative trade in natural gas exports.

“High prices for natural gas exports and a good harvest led to a modest
pickup in economic activity. But macroeconomic stability remains elusive
with monetized fiscal deficits feeding high inflation,” the ADB report
said.

Among the economic challenges in Burma cited by ADB are the country’s
monetary management of a dual currency exchange system and the
decentralization of the agricultural sector—obstacles, the bank says, that
have crippled the nation’s economy.

The report, titled “Outlook 2007: Growth amid Change,” also stressed that
inefficiencies in public expenditure management as well as capital
spending associated with a shift of the new capital to Naypyidaw have
attributed to poor economic performance.

According to the ADB, Burma needs economic reform. “The cushion provided
by the gas exports makes now an opportune time to embark on structural
reforms,” says the report.

Despite the military government’s projection of 12.2 percent growth, the
bank said that economic growth was “significantly less than officially
estimated.”

ADB predicts that continuing macroeconomic fragility will keep the economy
vulnerable to sharp downturns in gas prices while political strife, poor
harvests and instability in the banking system will harm development.

An eightfold jump in fuel prices in 2005 boosted inflation, as has a spike
in public sector wages last year. The bank, however, notes that growing
trade relations with neighboring China and India may inject new life into
Burma’s ailing economy.

ADB forecasts a growth rate of 10 percent for China this year and 9.8
percent in 2008. India is expected to achieve 8 percent growth in 2007 and
8.3 percent the following year. In total, growth throughout Southeast Asia
will slow to 5.6 percent this year and climb modestly to 5.9 percent in
2008.

Meanwhile, inflation rates in developing Asia are expected to drop to
around 3.0 percent this year before edging up to 3.2 in 2008.

____________________________________
ASEAN

March 27, Irrawaddy
Proposed sanctions in Asean charter dropped - Jim Gomez

Southeast Asian foreign ministers have rejected calls to consider
sanctions—including expulsion from their regional bloc—against erring
governments in a proposed charter, a Philippine diplomat said Tuesday.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations has been urged by an
advisory group to deal more sternly with serious breaches of its
principles by suspending or even expelling members.

Asean foreign ministers, however, turned down the proposed sanctions
during an annual retreat in Cambodia early this month, fearing they would
spark confrontations within the bloc, Philippine diplomat Rosario Manalo
said.

"It is divisive, confrontational and we don't want any provision that
would embarrass any member state," Manalo told The Associated Press in an
interview.

Asean heads of state also failed to reach a consensus on those proposals
during their annual summit in the Philippines in January, she said.

Even without provisions for penalties, Asean members were expected to
follow the charter because it would be legally binding, she said.

Manalo heads an Asean task force that was to begin drafting the charter in
Manila on Tuesday. Asean leaders are expected to sign the charter in
November during the bloc's 40th anniversary in Singapore.

The task force will receive recommendations from private Southeast Asian
policy groups, which are likely to seek guarantees for human rights and
civil liberties.

Manalo said such principles would be enshrined in the charter.

Asean, formed in 1967, has sought to become a more rules-based
organization with better bargaining power in international negotiations.

It has long been criticized for failing to effectively deal with issues
such as human rights violations in military-ruled Burma, which has been
condemned by the US and European countries for political repression.

Burma has become a source of embarrassment to Asean, largely because the
junta has failed to fulfill promises to restore democracy and free
political prisoners, including Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi.

Any human rights provision in the charter, however, should not be seen as
targeting Burma, Manalo said, citing widespread violations among Asean
member states.

"All of us are violating human rights," Manalo said. "We're putting it
there because we want our governments to respect it."

The government-appointed advisers also have asked Asean to relax its style
of decision-making by consensus, which allows just one member to stymie
any proposal, and adopt a more flexible approach, such as voting.

They also oppose extra-constitutional ways of changing governments in a
region with a history of coups and army-backed public uprisings.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

March 27, Narinjara News
Worldwide demonstration staged in 15 countries against India and Daewoo

Shwe Gas Movement activists on Monday staged demonstrations in 15
countries condemning Daewoo and India for cooperating with the Burmese
junta in the Shwe gas project off the Arakan coast in Burma.

Shwe Gas activists around the world joined hands with the international
community supporting Burmese democracy and marched to South Korean
embassies in 15 countries yesterday, according to activists.

In Bangladesh, a group of Shwe Gas activists went the South Korean embassy
in Dhaka to present a letter to the ambassador requesting that Daewoo
withdraw its investment in the Shwe gas fields in Arakan.

Ko Soe Lunn, who is in charge of the Shwe Gas Movement in Bangladesh, said
that the appeal letter was transferred to the Korean ambassador through an
official from the embassy in Dhaka.

In Bangkok, Shwe Gas and Western activists picketed the South Korean
embassy, demanding that both Daewoo and India withdraw from deals worth up
to US $ 17 billion in taxes and fees to the ruling military in Burma.

Wong Aung, the global coordinator of the Shwe Gas Movement said,
"International standards are being ignored and there is no public
participation in these gas projects. Real participation can only come
through a sound, democratically elected government in Burma."

In Seoul, Korea, about 20 Burmese staged a demonstration in front of
Daewoo headquarters and demanded withdrawal of their investments from the
Shwe gas project because the project will cause large scale human rights
violations and environmental damage across the length of the pipeline.

In the Seoul demonstration, well-known retired professor, Dr Salai Than
Tun and ABSDF president Than Kae attended and joined hands with Burmese
democratic activists to show solidarity against Daewoo and India's
cooperation with the Burmese junta.

The same day, other Shwe Gas activists from Japan, USA , the Netherlands,
India , Australia, France and the UK also staged demonstrations in front
of their respective South Korean embassies to protest Korean Daewoo and
India cooperating with the Burmese junta in the Shwe gas project.

The government of India and the South Korean Daewoo company are supply
arms to the military regime in Burma that are used against the people of
the country. Daewoo executives have been charged by the Korean government
for illegal trading of military hardware for a weapons factory in Burma.
India also supplies field guns, mortars, surveillance aircrafts,
helicopters, and tanks, as well as other military hardware.

It learnt that the South Korean company Daewoo International holds a 60
percent stake in the Shwe Gas Consortium, established for developing the
A-1 and A-3 blocks in Arakan's offshore area, while 10 percent of the
consortium is held by Korea Oil and Gas, 20 percent is held by the Indian
company ONGC, with the remaining 10 percent being held by the Indian
company GAIL.