BurmaNet News, May 1, 2007

[Editor]

May 1, 2007 Issue # 3194


INSIDE BURMA
DVB: Censorship board issues warning over guidelines
DVB via BBC Monitoring: Four reported killed in Burma ambush
Xinhua: Workers urged to join efforts for roadmap implementation in Myanmar
RFA: Burmese activist decries treatment after attack

ON THE BORDER
Religious Intelligence: Burmese relief worker 'executed'
Nagaland Post: NSCN (K) belittles Myanmar move

BUSINESS / TRADE
Xinhua: Yamethin becomes region of good prospects for gold mining in Myanmar
Daily Star via BBC monitoring: Dhaka to allow passage to Burma-India gas
pipeline
Nation: 'Thaksin insisted on loan for Burma'

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: The invisible enemy

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

May 1, Democratic Voice of Burma
Censorship board issues warning over guidelines

Burma's press scrutiny board has warned the media that any publications
attempting to violate the censorship guidelines will be banned as tougher
enforcement of the rules starts today.

The Press Scrutiny and Registration Division under the Ministry of
Information released a formal statement last month, warning that while it
had previously been lenient on magazines and journals that tried to break
the rules, it was about to get tougher.


>From today, any publications trying to violate the strict censorship rules

could find themselves banned.

An official on the press scrutiny board told DVB that in the past, many
journals that tried to include politically sensitive information in their
publications had been allowed several warnings before action was taken
against them.

When something happens, we will have to report it to the ministry,
depending on the level of disobedience . . . The minister will decide . .
. some magazines write things not related to the policies. We told them
not to include them, but some did,¡± the official said on condition of
anonymity.

Several Burmese magazines have had trouble getting permission to publish
in the past few months, particularly Padauk Pwint Thit, which was forced
to hold back its March edition until June because the cover featured a
picture of nationalist author Thakin Kodaw Maing.

But publishers in Burma were ambivalent this week about the press scrutiny
board's warning, saying they were already aware of the censorship rules
and the consequences of breaking them.

The policies are those that existed long ago. They are all rules to be
obeyed . . . if they tell us to correct things, we have to correct them,
one publisher told DVB.

Another publisher said avoiding being banned depended on a publications'
ability to justify their attempts to break the rules.

You just give them the reasons when you didn't omit the things they want
you to. If the director general is satisfied once or twice, it is okay. If
he is not, you might have action taken against you.

____________________________________

May 1, DVB via BBC Monitoring
Four reported killed in Burma ambush

We have learned that a unit of the Karen National Liberation Army's (KNLA)
6th Brigade under the Karen National Union (KNU) ambushed a car belonging
to the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) near Thingan Nyi Naung on
Kawkareik-Myawadi road in Karen State.

Details of the news are in this dispatch by Democratic Voice of Burma
(DVB) Correspondent Ko Htet Yarzar:

Around noon today, a Central Company under the KNLA's 6th Brigade ambushed
a car belonging to the 6th Company of the DKBA's 907th Battalion while it
was heading for Myawadi from Kawkareik.

The ambush killed several DKBA members and critically wounded several
others on the car.

The news was confirmed by a top KNU military leader, Major Saw Ba Ngwe.

[Begin Saw Ba Ngwe recording] A special unit under the tactical operations
column of the 6th Brigade Headquarters attacked a car belonging to the
DKBA today, killing four DKBA men and wounding seven others. [End
recording]

He also said there were no casualties on the KNU side. When asked if the
ambush could intensify the fighting between the KNU and the DKBA, he said:

[Begin Saw Ba Ngwe recording] Yes, that can happen since both sides are
taking advantage of the opportunities available to attack each other. [End
recording]

The ambush blocked traffic on the road and cars entering Myawadi were
delayed by many hours. A female commuter who came to Myawadi said:

[Begin unidentified female recording] Yes, we were late. We were supposed
to arrive at noon but our car was delayed until 1500. [End recording]

I also contacted the DKBA for its response and a DKBA officer said:

[Begin unidentified DKBA officer recording] Yes, it was the KNU which
launched the attack. It was not the DKBA. [End recording]

The last skirmish between the KNU and the DKBA was on 24 April and there
had been a lull in the fighting for several days until the ambush today.

The attack today was the second time that the KNU had launched against
cars belonging to the DKBA. A battalion under the KNLA's 7th Brigade also
ambushed three cars belonging to the DKBA on 23 February.

That was a dispatch by Ko Htet Yarzar about the KNU units attacking a car
belonging to the DKBA.

____________________________________

May 1, Xinhua General News Service
Workers urged to join efforts for roadmap implementation in Myanmar

Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe on Tuesday urged workers in
the country to join government efforts for the smooth implementation of
the nation's seven-step roadmap.

Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, made the
call in his message observing the International Labor's Day which falls on
Tuesday.

"Workers are required to take part in the national endeavor to smoothly
implement the seven-step roadmap in unity with other national forces from
the stage of the successful convening of the national convention to the
emergence of a new peaceful, modern and developed discipline-flourishing
democratic state -- the national goal," Than Shwe said.

"The roadmap will lay a durable foundation for the firm existence of
workers' rights and human rights, the emergence of a fair and just Myanmar
society based on the worldly value -- justice, freedom and equality, and
to uphold the national policy -- non-disintegration of the union;
non-disintegration of the national solidarity; and perpetuation of
sovereignty -- till the end of the world," he said.

The convening of the national convention has been in progress, he said,
noting the workers have been enjoying the right to participate in it.

He called on all blue- and white- collar workers to take part in the vital
sector in the transitional period together with the entire national races
to strive for the development of the industrial sector of the country and
national economic growth as well as for the success of the roadmap, while
warding off attempts of neo-colonialists to drive a wedge.

Myanmar's seven-step roadmap, declared in 2003, was outlined as
reconvening the constitutional national convention as the first step,
followed by a national referendum on the constitution drafted and then a
new general election to produce parliament representatives and form a new
democratic government.

The country's ongoing national convention to lay down detailed basic
principles for drawing up a new state constitution is to go into its final
phase when its session resumes later this year after adjournment since
Dec. 29 last year.

____________________________________

April 30, Radio Free Asia
Burmese activist decries treatment after attack

An outspoken Burmese activist says doctors repeatedly ignored his requests
for care when he was hospitalized after a severe beating at the hands of
government-backed thugs.

Two senior UN officials have expressed deep concern over the April 18
attack on human rights activists in lower Burma, in which witnesses say
dozens of thugs set upon them without provocation near Hinthada township,
some 100 kms (60 miles) northwest of Rangoon.

Activists Myint Naing and Maung Maung Lay were beaten up at Oakpon village
17 kms (10 miles) from Hinthada, witnesses say. The assault was led by Ko
Nyunt Oo, township leader of the junta-backed group blamed for a deadly
2003 attack on a convoy led by opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Taloke Htaw police chief was also present, they said, as thugs
attacked the activists with bamboo stakes and slingshots.

“I was examined once at the time of my admission [to hospital on April
18],” Myint Naing, also known as Ko Myint Hlaing, told RFA’s Burmese
service.

“But from then until April 20, no physical examination was done. Then on
April 20, I had a severe pain in my abdomen, and
the doctor on duty came
to examine me. I was seen separately by one doctor only. The doctors
making rounds with other patients did not see me.”

“That particular doctor who was assigned to me came daily. But he just
asked my name, looked at the chart and walked away. He never did an
examination,” Myint Naing said. “I was examined a total of three times
during my week in hospital—when I was admitted, when I had severe
abdominal pain, and when I was discharged.”

Myint Naing said he had asked to remain at Rangoon General Hospital, but
his doctor refused, saying he had no neurological problems and could
safely go home. But Myint Naing said he had suffered repeated dizziness
and vomiting after the beating, during which his attackers kicked him
repeatedly. Doctors also ignored his request for treatment of open wounds,
he said.

Unprovoked attack

“I showed them my slingshot injuries and asked for a local medication. I
made repeated requests but they were ignored,” Myint Naing said.
“Eventually, a nurse who didn’t have the heart to ignore my condition came
and wrote the name of an ointment for my open wounds and my friend bought
it from an outside drugstore.”

“One member of the hospital staff broke down after observing the care I
received over several days,” he added.

According to Myint Aye, leader of the Human Rights Defenders and Promoters
Network, the attack was unprovoked and aimed at assassinating his team of
human rights activists.

Deadly 2003 attack
“We didn’t attack anyone
. It happened as we were leaving after a meal. We
saw the police there. People from the [government-backed] Union Solidarity
and Development Association (USDA) were there
 This was an attempt to
assassinate us,” Myint Aye said.

Myint Aye said one member of the group working from Taloke Htaw, Ko Thaung
Sein, had filed a police complaint at the Taloke Htaw police station.

UN speaks out
The USDA also played a key role in the deadly May 2003 attack on
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters at Depayin in
Upper Burma. Aung San Suu Kyi and U Tin Oo, another National League for
Democracy leader, have remained under house arrest since then.

The USDA claims a reported 23 million members nationwide. Public servants,
local officials, and even university students have been coerced into
joining the organization, according to New York-based Human Rights Watch.

Junta's version differs sharply
In a statement, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the Special Rapporteur on human
rights in Burma, and Hina Jilani, the UN Secretary-General’s Special
Representative on Human Rights Defenders, voiced “deep concern over the
brutal attack.”

Reports of the incident “have highlighted the level of violence and the
absence of intervention by the local police to protect the victims and
remind us of the circumstances surrounding the tragic incident of Depayin
in 2003,” they said.

Government officials couldn’t be reached to comment on the incident, but
the junta’s official English-language newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar,
blamed the activists for incitement.

On April 17, it said, Myint Aye gathered some 20 villagers to explain “the
International Human Rights Declaration
saying that they could make a
complaint to them if there was any violation of human rights and they
would subsequently file the complaint to the International Human Rights
Commission. With that regard, the villagers replied that there was no such
complaint nor violation of human rights in the village.”

“As they were unable to create problems over human rights, Myint Aye and
his group on 18 April left Ingapo village for Otpon village where they
incited the villagers to quarrel over possession of Theinkyaung
Monastery...” the paper said.

“As they were inciting the villagers and interfering in religious affairs,
villagers of Otpon village drove them out of the village, shouting, ‘The
arrival of you all amounts to harming the village and sowing discord among
villagers.’” It added that officials were interrogating "those who created
riots" and urged the people of Burma to crush "destructive elements."

Original reporting by RFA’s Burmese service. Written in English by Sarah
Jackson-Han and edited by Luisetta Mudie

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

May 1, Religious Intelligence
Burmese relief worker 'executed' - Nick Mackenzie.

A Christian human rights organisation has claimed that the Burmese army
has executed a relief worker there.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide claimed today that Saw Lee Reh Kyaw, who
was a relief worker with the Free Burma Rangers, was executed on April 10,
two days after being captured by Burmese (Myanmar) forces.

The agency said that Lee Reh was providing humanitarian relief to
villagers in the Karenni state. On his capture he was taken to army
headquarters where, they claim, he was tortured and interrogated before
being shot.

Two others from the village were also captured, but their wherabouts are
unknown. CSW said today that the latest execution followed a month of
similar attacks against villagers in the northern Karen state. More than
1,000 people fled the attacks and are now reported to be in hiding.

Christian Solidarity Worldwide’s National Director, Stuart Windsor, said:
“The tragic and brutal death of Saw Lee Reh Kyaw, who was providing much
needed assistance to the Karenni people, illustrates the brutality of the
Burmese regime. Their total disregard for the lives and needs of the
Burmese people is horrifying.

“The international community, and particularly Burma’s neighboring
governments, must send a clear signal to the ruling military junta that
these violations of human rights cannot be tolerated.”

The Burmese claim the Karen state as their own and have continued to clamp
down on any dissent there.

____________________________________

April 30, Nagaland Post
NSCN (K) belittles Myanmar move

Dimapur: The Khaplang faction of the NSCN has dismissed Delhi's efforts to
clear out its camps and flush out ULFA militants from Myanmar, claiming
that the military junta in that country would not fully co-operate with
Indian security forces, The Telegraph reported on April 30.

It also distanced itself from ULFA as far as mutual logistical
arrangements within Myanmar are concerned. The NSCN (K) said the Assam
outfit had already shifted to the Kachin area from Sagaing division of
Myanmar.

A spokesman for the NSCN (K), Wangmi Pangmei, said his organisation still
had "respect and regard" for ULFA and its "revolutionary" cause, but there
was no tie-up of the kind that is often alluded to by Indian security and
intelligence agencies.

On reports of an impending joint military operation by India and Myanmar
to flush out Northeast militants holed up across the border, the NSCN (K)
said such an offensive would be unable to replicate the success of
Operation All Clear in Bhutan.

It argued that unlike ULFA and NDFB militants, Naga rebels were not aliens
but an integral part of that country.

He was specifically reacting to the Myanmar military administration's
assurance last week that it has accepted Delhi's request to flush out
militants of the Northeast from its territory.

"Please don't be fooled by these reports. Myanmar will never work
according to Delhi's will. We don't think there will be much co-operation
from Myanmar,” the spokesman said.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

May 1, Xinhua General News Service
Yamethin becomes region of good prospects for gold mining in Myanmar

A remote township called Yamethin in Myanmar's Mandalay division has
become a region of good prospects for gold mining especially in most
recent years when gold production in the region has been on rise, reported
the Voice journal for this week.

Known as the "golden village" now, Yemathin has been packed with
entrepreneurs from various regions, creating good opportunities for gold
mining, local residents and some gold explorers were quoted as saying.

The golden village lies east of Yamethin where there are hills and rivers
and creeks.

Although gold mining was undertaken in the area since over a decade ago,
gold output there was little, local residents said.

As gold output has become high now, many gold mining companies are seeking
to officially engage in the sector with more and more mining workers
pouring in the region and turning the small silent township into a very
booming business one, the report said.

Myanmar has been encouraging the country's private sector to mine gold,
allowing more such engagement by them at many prospective small gold
mining blocks across the country.

So far, there has been 380 small blocks for gold mining already granted to
the private entrepreneurs and most of the gold are produced from those
blocks in Sagaing and Mandalay divisions, according to the state-run
Myanmar Mining Enterprise (MME)-2 which also disclosed that besides the
two divisions, there are also other small blocks under exploration in
Kachin, Mon and Bago states and divisions.

As set by the state, private enterprises are allowed to conduct gold
exploration activities on 8-hectare blocks under a lease term with the MME
for at least three years for the undertaking, the MME said.

It said 35 percent of the gold output from the blocks is to be shared by
the state, while the rest can be sold by the private investor freely in
domestic market.

Meanwhile, the MME is also making arrangement to privatize the largest
state-run gold mine in Kawlin, northwestern Sagaing division, in a bid to
transform it from a poor operating status to a better and effective one.

The 2.66-square-kilometer Kyaukpahtoe Gold Mine currently operating under
the MME will be the first of its kind to be transferred to the local
private sector. The gold mine, which started operation in 1980, currently
produces two bars of gold or less than that as compared with four bars
previously, it was revealed.

Official statistics show that foreign contracted investment in Myanmar's
mining sector has so far amounted to about 534.19 million dollars since
the country opened to such investment in late 1988, accounting for 7
percent of the total foreign investment and standing as the fifth largest
sectorally.

Other foreign firms engaged in mineral exploration in Myanmar include
those from Australia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and the
United States.

____________________________________

May 1, Daily Star via BBC monitoring
Dhaka to allow passage to Burma-India gas pipeline

Text of report by UNB news agency "Dhaka Keen to Negotiate Tri-Nation Gas
Pipeline; Bangladesh Seeks Myanmar Land on Lease for Farming" published by
Bangladeshi newspaper The Daily Star website on 1 May

Bangladesh is willing to negotiate the much-talked-about tri-nation
pipeline passing through the country's territory for transmission of gas
from Myanmar to India.

"We are ready to negotiate for allowing the pipeline if Myanmar sells gas
and India agrees to buy...We'll obtain best possible advantage through
negotiations-we'll get revenue:" Foreign Affairs Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed
Chowdhury told reporters after return from Myanmar.

Iftekhar said the tri-nation pipeline issue came up during his meetings
with Myanmar leaders, including Acting Prime Minister Lt Gen Thein Sein,
in the Myanmar capital.

According to the previous estimate, Bangladesh was to receive 100 million
dollars to 120 million dollars as transmission charge or "wheeling charge"
annually for the 950-km pipeline.

However, the former BNP-led alliance government put three conditions to
allow the gas pipeline.

The conditions: Bangladesh's passage to export its products to Nepal and
Bhutan through India, reduction of Dhaka's trade deficit with New Delhi
and allowing the import of electricity from Nepal and Bhutan crossing over
the Indian territory.

However, there had not been any fruitful negotiations between India and
Bangladesh on the tri-nation pipeline. Consequently, Myanmar signed
agreement with China to sell its gas.

Recently, the issue of tri-nation gas pipeline again came up as a
reference at the Delhi meeting on regional cooperation in energy sector.

India has also planned energy import from central Asia, passing through a
long pipeline that proves expensive.

LEASE OF MYANMAR LAND

Bangladesh has sought some unused lands from Myanmar on lease for
agricultural farming. The leasehold price has been proposed at 8 dollars
to 25 dollars per acre, reports UNB.

The proposal was made during the official talks between Foreign Affairs
Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury and his Myanmar counterpart Nyan Win in
Yangon.

"It is still at a preliminary stage": the adviser told reporters at the
foreign ministry yesterday after his return from Yangon where the two
neighbouring countries signed a deal for building a cross-border road.

Briefing on the outcome of the meeting, the adviser said border trade,
delimitation of maritime boundary with Myanmar and repatriation of the
Rohingya refugees figured prominently during the meeting.

Both sides have agreed to set up a joint commission at the foreign
minister level to discuss all these bilateral issues between the two close
neighbours, he said.

About the direct road link between Bangladesh and Myanmar, the adviser
said the two sides signed a draft agreement to construct a 25-km road from
Guandhum in Cox's Bazar to Baulibazar in Myanmar with the funding from
Bangladesh government.

He said a formal agreement will be signed after completing some procedural
matters by the two governments.

Communications Secretary Mahbubur Rahman, who initialed the draft
agreement, told the reporters that it would take another year to start the
construction while the road would be completed in three years at an
estimated cost of 20.2 million dollars.

The foreign adviser said the proposed road will also connect Bangladesh
with Thailand and China through Myanmar.

Source: The Daily Star website, Dhaka, in English 01 May 07

____________________________________

May 1, The Nation
'Thaksin insisted on loan for Burma'

Former minister tells AEC he tried to stop deal to lease satellite feed:
source

Former foreign minister Surakiart Sathirathai, a key member of Thaksin
Shinawatra's Thai Rak Thai Party, told the Assets Examination Committee
(AEC) yesterday the former premier gave an order to lend Bt4 billion to
the Burmese junta in spite of his objections, according to a source.

Surakiart told the AEC he voiced objection to the plan because the money
was going to the Burmese for the lease of satellite transmission signals
from the iPSTAR satellite, which was owned by the Shinawatra family, the
source said.

Moreover, Surakiart said the now ousted PM further instructed the
Export-Import Bank of Thailand not only to approve the loan, but to raise
the amount by Bt1 billion, so the Burmese could purchase extra
telecommunications equipment and services from Thailand, the source said.

The decision for the approval came after a Bangladesh-India-Myanmar-Sri
Lanka-Thailand Economic Cooperation meeting in Phuket in February 2004.

Surakiart was with Thaksin at the UN in New York when the military
launched the coup against him on Sept 19.

Surakiart appeared on CNN to defend his boss and slam the junta but broke
away from Thaksin just days later after it became evident he would not be
returning to power anytime soon.

Thaksin and Surakiart came up with a policy that was favourable to
Rangoon, but out of step with Western nations and some within Asean.
Relations were also hurt by historical mistrust.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

May 1, Irrawaddy
The invisible enemy - Aung Lwin Oo

Burma struggles to keep bird flu at bay

The pandemic risk is great, the timing is unpredictable and the severity
is uncertain,” said Margaret Chan, a senior official of the World Health
Organization, about the international threat posed by bird flu. The
international community is fighting an invisible enemy, and nowhere is the
foe harder to discern than in Burma.

The military government first announced detection of the deadly virus H5N1
in March 2006, after outbreaks at hundreds of farms in Mandalay and
Sagaing divisions.

Breaking its tradition of silence when disaster strikes—whether natural or
man-made—Burma was frank about the discovery of bird flu, and the official
press carried announcements of the outbreak and of prevention measures.
Whether the measures were enough to protect the country’s population
remains an open question.

Burma’s latest outbreak was reported in early April after laboratory tests
confirmed that the H5N1 virus killed 1,000 chickens at a poultry farm in
Htaukkyant, on the outskirts of Rangoon. More than 6,000 chickens at farms
near the outbreak were destroyed as a precaution. The April outbreak was
the country’s fifth and the third this year. Officials suspected that the
virus has spread through the sale and transport of poultry in the area.

Prior to the April outbreak, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization had
called for more stringent measures to control the movement of poultry,
products and chicken feed in Burma in order to contain the spread of H5N1.

Following the Burmese outbreaks, the country’s Livestock Breeding and
Veterinary Department announced a series of preventive measures that
extended as far as advisories against sleeping in farms and depots where
live poultry are kept. Other measures were aimed at restricting the
movement not only of domestic poultry but of wild birds such as crows,
pigeons and even sparrows.

The department also warned against eating, selling and discarding dead
birds. That warning came after the discovery of dead chickens, geese,
crows, pigeons, sparrows and doves in areas of Rangoon and Pegu divisions.
No trace of the H5N1 virus was found in the dead birds, however.

Although no evidence has been found in Burma of the transference of the
H5N1 virus from infected poultry to humans, workers in the poultry
industry are still thought to be at risk during the process of butchering
birds, plucking them and preparing them for the kitchen.

“We can’t afford to buy gloves or masks for protection,” said a chicken
farm owner in Mandalay. She said such additional costs could lead to
losses in the trade.

Despite all the official announcements and warnings, chickens are still
being transported around, also in urban areas such as Rangoon and
Mandalay. A local weekly, The Voice, reported in April that small traders
continued to transport fowls by public transport in Rangoon.

Although poultry-raising is not a major industry in Burma, it is still a
reliable source of  income for many households, who typically keep
chickens in their backyards, where they come into ready contact with
humans while also mingling with wild birds.

The government is reportedly discussing a reimbursement plan for farmers
who suffer financial loss during outbreaks. Meanwhile, poultry farmers
continue to sell their birds whenever sickness is detected and before they
are ordered to destroy their flocks.
The World Bank reported early last year that to control the virus, the
international community needs to raise an additional US $1.5 billion, some
of it for a compensation system for farmers. Alex Thiermann, president of
the standards committee at the Paris-based World Organization for Animal
Health, said that a similar compensation system for livestock farmers in
Thailand and Vietnam had contributed toward those countries’ success in
controlling the spread of bird flu.

In Thailand, farmers were compensated 70 to 100 percent of the market
value of their lost poultry during outbreaks, according to the WHO. Health
experts maintain that the absence of compensation to farmers for destroyed
birds encourages owners to hide their birds during culling operations.

“The junta’s refusal to reimburse farmers who have to kill their animals
has kept the country more vulnerable to bird flu,” said Dr Chris Beyrer of
the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who co-authored a
report on Burma’s health crisis last year.

Burma’s state-run press has reported that officials have visited poultry
farms to inform farmers about the disease and have posted alerts in public
places, describing the precautions necessary to prevent the spread of the
disease. But many remain skeptical.

“It’s a joke,” said one Rangoon resident. “There are people who are
over-fearful about the disease and there are others who haven’t paid
attention at all to those warnings.”

Bird Flu in Burma—Timeline

March 13, 2006
Burma’s Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department announces the first
detection of H5N1 strain in central Burma. Following outbreaks at four
townships in Sagaing and Mandalay divisions in early February and March,
authorities destroy a total of 342,000 chickens, 32,000 quails and 180,000
eggs, as well as 1.3 tons of feedstuff at 545 poultry farms.

September, 2006
The LBVD declares Burma is free of bird flu.

March 04, 2007
Burma’s military government orders the slaughter of 1,500 chickens after
68 birds die from avian flu in Rangoon. Burmese officials say there is no
evidence of human infection.

March 21, 2007
About 1,600 chickens contract the virus and die at a farm in Nyaunghnapin,
about 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Rangoon

April 02, 2007
A new outbreak of bird flu is reported when about 1,000 chickens die at a
poultry farm in Htaukkyant on the outskirts of Rangoon. Nearly 60,000
chickens and other birds are slaughtered.

Some ludicrous official statements haven’t helped. Following last year’s
outbreaks, for instance, Agricultural Minister Maj-Gen Htay Oo told
reporters in Rangoon that Burma is safe from succumbing to a bird flu
pandemic because migratory birds are prevented from flying into Burma by
the mountains along its borders.

Dr Beyrer said the Burmese government’s lack of credibility and its
control over information had made things worse. “Independent media could
help with this credibility gap, but that domain is very limited,” he said.

Poverty is also a source of concern. Many poorer households in Burma
cannot afford to waste food and consume poultry even when their domestic
chickens are dying or show signs of the disease. Chicken prices have been
depressed by outbreaks of bird flu, and what was once a relatively
expensive food is now being widely eaten by the poor.

Since the first outbreaks were reported last year, the government has
sought assistance with quarantine and culling supplies and equipment, and
some international agencies and NGOs have responded positively. Burma has
also asked the World Bank for $1.3 million to help finance its fight
against bird flu, and a decision is expected in May.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization and other international agencies
have provided health workers and technicians to join the fight. Burma has
formed 17 rapid response teams with health expertise to conduct
surveillance and rapid containment at state and division levels and plans
to expand at district levels, according to Dr Myo Lwin, the WHO’s national
consultant for avian influenza.

Rangoon’s Waibargi infectious hospital and Mandalay’s Kandawnadi hospital
have been designated for the treatment of any human infection cases. Two
laboratories—the National Health Laboratory and the Department of Medical
Research Lab—were upgraded following last year’s outbreaks and are now
capable of H5N1 diagnosis.

Nevertheless, Johns Hopkins lamented in a report last year that laboratory
infrastructure in Rangoon and Mandalay remained weak and lacking in staff
and equipment.

Following this year’s outbreaks, USAID granted Burma $600,000 through the
UN’s agricultural agency in March. The grant will be used to buy medical
equipment and to increase surveillance.

Dr Beyrer, however, stressed that the need to ease the junta’s tight grip
on humanitarian operations in Burma remained a crucial one. The US was
able to offer rapid aid because it was channeled directly to the
responsible authorities, he said

Dr Myo Lwin said that in the case of a pandemic “no country can stop the
disease, [it] can only slow the spread of the disease and mitigate it. If
the outbreak occurs on a larger scale in one country, neighboring
countries will surely be affected.”

The WHO said more than 30 countries worldwide had reported outbreaks among
wild birds or domestic poultry. Health experts predict that because of its
highly pathogenic nature and its capability to survive in some species of
wild birds for long periods, the virus will continue threatening the world
in years to come.

Among Asian countries, where the pandemic is more prevalent than other
parts of the world, Burma, with its poor public health care system, will
remain particularly vulnerable.