BurmaNet News, July 14-16, 2007

[Editor]

July 14-16, 2007 Issue # 3247

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Closed door trial for six labour rights activists in Insein
prison
The Nation: Burmese dissidents launch "anti-stealing" campaign
AFP: Myanmar to resume charter talks
Xinhua: Myanmar cracks down on illegally imported mobile phones
DVB: Shan residents fear forced removal from dam site

ON THE BORDER
AP: Burmese opposition group in exile opposes constitution plan
Irrawaddy: Authorities restrict movement in refugee camp following
assassination of KNU official
IMNA: Twenty one Thai phone owners arrested in Karen State

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Despite Chinese ban, Myanmar timber still crosses border
VOA: 10% of registered companies are operating
New Age via BBC Monitoring: Bangladesh plans gas import from Myanmar

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Dhaka-Naypidaw hydropower plan draws criticism
Irrawaddy: Junta nixes visas for foreign journalists

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: India-Myanmar helicopter sale threatens EU ban: NGOs

INTERVIEW
Mizzima News: Interview with Nay Tin Myint

OPINION / OTHER
Christian Science Monitor: When dictators drive disasters

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 16, Mizzima News
Closed door trial for six labour rights activists in Insein prison - Ko Dee

Anxious family members of six labour rights activists gathered outside the
Insein prison today after they learnt that there would be a closed door
trial of the group arrested for taking part in discussions on labour law
on May Day.

Four family members of the activists gathered in front of Insein prison,
eagerly waiting for the tribunal's decision, said an 88 generation student
Min Zeya, who is following the case closely.

The six activists – Nyi Nyi Zaw, Thurein Aung, Kyaw Kyaw, Wai Linn, Kyaw
Linn and Myo Min – were arrested for their participation in a discussion
on labour laws in Burma at the American Centre in Rangoon on May 1. They
were detained in the Augn Tha Pyay interrogation centre.

Despite waiting the whole day, the family members did not get confirmation
regarding the trial or its results, said Min Zeya.

While the transfer of the activists to Insein prison was not known, the
order showed to the families by prison guards include their names along
with an order restricting meetings and receiving anything from families
and friends.

"It is certain that the activists have been transferred to Insein prison.
But it is still unclear whether the trial was held today or not. They were
not told anything by the prison guards," Min Zeya said.

The news of the secret trial triggered concern among the family members as
it is characteristic of the junta to sentence victims where they are
denied a defence counsel, said Aung Thein, a lawyer and member of Burma's
biggest opposition party, the National League for Democracy.

"If the trial is held inside the prison, there cannot be a fair trial as
most of the accused are denied a defense counsel," Aung Thein said.

____________________________________

July 15, The Nation
Burmese dissidents launch "anti-stealing" campaign

Rangoon - Burmese dissidents on Sunday staged a merit-making ceremony at a
Buddhist temple in Rangoon where they urged the government to curb rampant
inflation by reducing "stealing and lying," observers said.

Win Naing, a self-decribed "independent politician," led the religious
ceremony at which saffron robes were donated to monks at the
Tharthanagonye temple in Rangoon, with more than 100 Burmese activists in
attendance including representatives from the opposition National League
for Democracy and the 88 Generation Students group.

Win Naing was the chief organiser behind several anti-inflation marches
held in Rangoon last February. As a dissident, he has chosen to highlight
Burma's deplorable economic situation rather than the political stalemate
that has characterized the country since 1990.

In previous speeches he has criticised Burma's military junta for
corruption and mismanagement that has led to spiraling inflation over the
past year.

On Sunday, Win Naing called on Burmese to practice two of the Buddha's
five moral precepts, namely to not steal and not lie. The other three
precepts prohibit killing, adultery and consumption of alcohol.

"As the prices are skyrocketing, we have to reduce buying, let us also
reduce the number of observing Sila (Buddha's precepts) to the minimal
two, that is, not to steal and not to tell lies," said Win Naing. "Let
this practice proliferate throughout the length and breath of the nation
to make the prices of commodities fall so that peace, unity, progress and
democracy processes are expedited."

The anti-stealing, anti-lying campaign was seen as a veiled criticism of
government corruption and mis-information, observers at the rally said.

Inflation has been on the rise in Burma since April 2006, when the
military junta hiked government salaries by as much as 500 per cent.

Although the government estimated inflation at 10.7 per cent in 2006,
Western embassies said it was closer to 50 per cent.

Protests are rare in Burma, which has essentially been under martial law
since 1988. All public gatherings of more than five people banned unless
they have received official permission.

Crackdowns on all shows of dissent were intensified after the 1990 general
election, which was won by the National League for Democracy party of
Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The regime has ignored that election result for the past 17 years, arguing
that a new constitution would be needed before an elected government could
take over.

____________________________________

July 16, Agence France Presse
Myanmar to resume charter talks

Myanmar's military rulers on Wednesday are set to open what they say will
be the last round of talks on a new constitution, which analysts criticise
as a tool to tighten the junta's grip on power.

The military's hand-picked delegates at the National Convention have been
meeting on and off since 1993 to draft the guidelines of a new charter,
purportedly the first step on the generals' "road map" to democracy.

But the junta has laid out no timeline for eventual elections, and
analysts say the charter itself will serve only to formalise the
military's role in government.

The talks, which were last held in December, have been derided by the
European Union, the United States, and the United Nations for failing to
include detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), has boycotted the
convention to protest against her house arrest, which the military has
used to silence her for most of the last 17 years.

"This is all completely meaningless without the NLD," said Walter Lohman,
a senior research fellow for Southeast Asia at the Heritage Foundation in
Washington.

An Asian diplomat in Yangon said the convention had "no credibility" for
the international community, which has repeatedly demanded the junta free
the 62-year-old Nobel peace laureate.

"It is a consensus in the international community that the National
Convention lacks legitimacy because of the absence of Aung San Suu Kyi,"
said the diplomat, who declined to be named.

The convention draws more than 1,000 hand-picked delegates at a secluded
military compound outside Yangon, where they stay with resort-like
comforts including a cinema and golf course.

During the final session, expected to last about a month, delegates are
rarely allowed to leave the compound and have no contact with the outside
world.

"This whole process is not democratic since it has been orchestrated by
the military," said Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar analyst based in neighbouring
Thailand.

Writing a constitution is the first stage of the junta's movement to
democracy that, in theory, would eventually lead to free elections in
Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

But Aung Naing Oo said the constitution was just another tool for the
junta to strengthen its hold on power.

"The ruling generals want to make sure that no one can challenge the
military under the new constitution," he said.

The junta says it will hold a referendum on the new charter following the
convention, and then call for free elections. But the regime has never
laid out a timetable for such steps.

The Asian diplomat said Myanmar was unlikely to speed up efforts on the
charter referendum or elections.

"The convention has been held for more than 10 years, and given the
regime's record, I really doubt Myanmar will hold elections anytime soon,"
he said.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but
the military never allowed it to govern.

Debbie Stothard from the Alternative ASEAN Network on Myanmar, a regional
pro-democracy group, also dismissed the convention, saying: "This is part
of the junta's plans to stay in power."

____________________________________

July 15, Xinhua General News Service
Myanmar cracks down on illegally imported mobile phones

Myanmar is cracking down on using mobile phones illegally imported across
border from some neighboring countries, local reports reaching here Sunday
said.

Available in low cost and its coverage of wave signal within a radius of
about 50 kilometers, such imported foreign mobile phones controlled by
other sides of the border are widely and illegally used in some Myanmar
border areas such as Muse and Tachilek in Shan state, Myitkyina in Kachin
state and Myawaddy in Kayin state, according to the Newsweek journal.

The authorities warned that use of mobile phones in the country can only
be granted by the Ministry of Communications, Posts and Telegraphs.

There has been over 140,000 mobile phones in Myanmar as of now since the
1990s when such phones were first introduced.

According to the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications, GSM
(global system for mobile) phones in Myanmar can auto-roam 21 townships
far up to the border areas also mainly covering Monywa, Mawlamyine, Bagan,
Ngwesaung, Chaungtha, Taunggyi, Kyaingtong, Tachilek, Lashio and Muse in
addition to Yangon and Mandalay.

Official statistics show that the number of various types of telephones in
Myanmar has reached 513,300.

Of the total, mobile phones such as cellular, CDMA and GSM accounted for
146,321, while the auto fixed telephones remained at 303,228.

In Yangon alone, GSM phones stood at 81,000 in number.

Mobile phones were first introduced in Myanmar with cellular ones in 1993,
the DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunication) and CDMA in 1997
and the GSM in 2002.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has planned to introduce 140,000 more GSM phones or
double the present figures to facilitate communication links in the
country, projecting to complete in the years ahead. The installation of
the GSM phones covers more than 10 areas such as Myitkyina, Pakkokku,
Shwebo, Tounggoo, Kawthoung, Myawaddy and Pha-an, and the project will
extend to include more areas in Yangon, Mandalay and Pyin Oo Lwin, reports
said.

Under the current population in Yangon which stands at 6 million now,
there will be about one GSM phone per 40 persons in the near future, up
from one GSM phone per 74 persons now, the authorities predicted. Enditem

The official figures indicate that there is vast development in the
telecommunications but it is still far from meeting the demand of the
consumers, businessmen and experts said.

____________________________________

July 16, Democratic Voice of Burma
Shan residents fear forced removal from dam site

The residents of 18 villages in southern Shan State said today that they
feared being forcibly relocated from their homes as the Burmese military
prepares to launch a new dam on the Paung-Laung creek.

Located south of Shan State’s Aung Pan township, the villages are likely
to be flooded as a result of the project, and locals forced to find new
places to live, according to residents in the area.

“The authorities told us through our chairman, that once the dam is built,
our villages will be under water and we will have to move,” one local man
said on condition of anonymity.

“Surveying started in April this year but we wanted to expand our villages
and build more permanent structures,” the resident said.

State Peace and Development Council surveyors have reportedly been
visiting the area regularly. It is not clear what size or capacity the dam
will be since the government has not yet officially announced the
commencement of the project.

“It is almost sure that we will have to leave with place but [the
authorities] still haven’t talked to us about where we will have to go to.
We don’t know what to do,” the resident told DVB.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 16, Associated Press
Burmese opposition group in exile opposes constitution plan

A group of Burmese opposition members in exile in Thailand has dismissed
regime plans to resume drafting a constitution later this week, saying
that the finished document would not deliver promised democratic reforms
nor protect minority groups.

Speaking at a press conference in the northern Thai border town of Mae
Sot, six Burmese leaders said Sunday that they initially took part in the
National Convention to draft the constitution believing it was the best
hope for democracy.

However, they said they became disenchanted over concerns that the
junta—known officially as the State Peace and Development Council—was
using the convention to remain in power, so they fled to Thailand.

"This is a sham constitution because only 12 of the convention
representatives are elected members of parliament. The rest were
hand-picked by the SPDC," said Myint Tun, a member of the country's
opposition National League for Democracy who left the convention in 2005
and fled to Thailand. "They are just trying to gain the upper hand so the
army can continue ruling the country."

Another convention delegate, Shay Rae, said he was forced by the junta to
take part and was called on to represent farmers even though he was a
teacher. He abandoned the convention seven years ago and also fled to
Thailand.

Most of the six are members of the National Council of the Union of Burma,
an exiled pro-democracy group based in Thailand which routinely criticizes
the junta. All but Myint Tun have been in Thailand for several years.

A government spokesman could not be immediately reached for comment.

The attack is likely to rattle the junta, as it comes before the National
Convention is set to resume drawing up guidelines for the constitution
this week. The junta has not said when it will be finished nor when a vote
will be held o­n the document.

The junta says the convention is the first of seven steps o­n a "roadmap
to democracy" which is supposed to culminate in free elections. The junta
hand-picked most of the convention's 1,000 delegates.

Critics say the proceedings have been manipulated and should not be taken
seriously because opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest
and cannot attend. Her National League for Democracy party has boycotted
the convention to protest her detention and that of other NLD leaders.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house
arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

Burma has been without a constitution since 1988, when its 1974 charter
was suspended.

The junta first convened the convention in 1993, but it was aborted in
1996 after NLD delegates walked out in protest, saying it was undemocratic
and the military was manipulating the proceedings. The convention was
resurrected in 2004.

____________________________________

July 16, Irrawaddy
Authorities restrict movement in refugee camp following assassination of
KNU official - Violet Cho

Thai authorities are restricting Burmese refugees from leaving a
containment camp after a senior Karen National Union intelligence official
was assassinated by an unknown armed group near the Mae Lah camp along the
northern Thai-Burmese border.

According to Mae Lah residents, Thai officials have enforced restrictions
on movements both exiting and entering the Mae Lah camp since Saturday.

On Friday evening, Maj Tha Shee, a long-time military intelligence officer
in the Karen National Union, was killed near the refugee camp.

Adun Nuipakdee, a Thai district security official in Tasongyang District,
said a second Karen soldier who accompanied Tha Shee died of his injuries
following the attack.

He said the 17th Regiment Infantry Task Force has stepped up security in
the area.

Sources in the area said it's likely Tha Shee was assassinated by members
of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, a splinter group of the KNU.

However, other Karen sources said that Thai authorities suspect he may
have been killed by people from his own organization. KNU sources said an
investigation is underway.

____________________________________

July 16, Independent Mon News Agency
Twenty one Thai phone owners arrested in Karen State- Banyal Kin

Local Burmese military authorities in Karen State arrested 21 wireless
Thai telephone owners in, Zarthapyin village, Hpa-an Township near
Moulmein (Mawlamyine) over the last two weeks.

“We don’t know why they arrested these 21 people,” said a Zarthapyin
villager.

They asked local telephone owners on July 1 whether they would pay a fine
or be jailed, said a source who attended the meeting between the local
administration and phone owners.

“They identified themselves as multi local government groups and arrested
them,” he continued.

They sent the arrested people to Hpa-an jail, but nobody knows what will
happen to them.

The telephone sets of the arrested people are being seized by the local
authorities since the beginning of this year.

More than 30 Thai phones were confiscated by the local authorities over
the last two months around Mon State, Mudon Township.

Hundreds of Thai cordless phones are still being used in Mon State, some
of which have the permission of cease-fire groups. Telephone owners paid
thousands of Kyat in tax to local military authorities and ethnic
cease-fire groups to be allowed to use the phones.

Dealing in cordless phones is become a business in southern Burma, the
area where a majority of migrant workers in Thailand hail from. Migrant
workers in neighbouring countries use these phones due to cheaper phone
bills.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 15, Agence France Presse
Despite Chinese ban, Myanmar timber still crosses border - Mon Mon Myat

Environmentalists in Myanmar have expressed their shock at seeing
mountains of logs being transported on trucks across the border into China
despite efforts to halt the trade to save the country's forests from total
destruction.

"I was shocked to see mountains of logs and big timber trucks" heading
from Laiza into China, the spokeswoman for one local environment group,
the Pan Kachin Development Society (PKDS), said.

On condition that she not be named, she told AFP she had counted up to 80
trucks crossing the border each day during a visit to the town in April.
Stacks of teak, tamalan and other woods lined the roads waiting to go, she
said.

"It seems they have set up sawmills in the forest and chopped the trees to
be easier to carry," she said. "Some logs were only about one and a half
feet (0.45 metres) in circumference," although China usually wants trees
nearly twice that size.

"That means that people even cut small trees because there are no more big
trees left," she said.

The trade endures despite China's efforts to stop it because of a complex
mix of interests.

For Myanmar's junta, timber is one of its major sources of desperately
needed foreign currency.

Two main ethnic Kachin groups who have partial control over the region
also see the timber trade as a key source of income and have shown varying
degrees of willingness to stop it.

Local Chinese authorities along the border have not consistently enforced
the year-old ban, creating pockets where timber still flows across the
border.

Laiza, a village about 1,000 kilometres (675 miles) north of Yangon, is
the base for the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), one of 17 armed
ethnic groups to have signed ceasefires with the military junta that runs
Myanmar.

After the KIO signed its ceasefire in 1993, the group received a degree of
autonomy in their part of Kachin state, a region sandwiched between China
and India that is home to virgin forests as well as jade, gold and other
mineral reserves.

-- Myanmar timber reserves help feed China's insatiable appetite --

Laiza quickly turned into a significant trading town, especially for
timber which once flowed freely across the border about 160 kilometres
(100 miles) away to feed China's insatiable appetite for raw materials.

Some 1.5 million cubic metres (53 million cubic feet) of timber worth 350
million dollars was exported from Myanmar to China in 2005, most of it
illegal, according to Britain-based forestry watchdog Global Witness.

That was a 12 percent gain over the amount of timber shipped to China the
year before, and rougly double the amount exported in 2000, Global Witness
said.

China, which has imposed stiff limits on logging in its own forests amid
fears of deforestation, uses the wood to supply its construction boom and
its soaring exports of wooden furniture.

But in the face of international pressure that followed the Global Witness
report, China decided a year ago to officially close its borders to
Myanmar's timber.

Global Witness said one of its teams spent a couple weeks on the border in
April, and they believed the ban has had a major effect on the Chinese
side, although some problems remain.

"What we are seeing from the Chinese side is there has been a ban in all
areas along the border, no question about it," said Mike Davis, Global
Witness team leader for the Southeast Asia forest campaign.

With scant data from Myanmar's government, environmental groups analyse
Chinese import and logging data to estimate the size of the trade, but no
precise data has been made available since the ban took effect last year.

But to illustrate the ban's overall effectiveness, Davis pointed to the
town of Pianma, a major border timber town.

Migrant workers flocked to the city a decade ago when the illegal trade
turned it into a boom town, driving its population from 3,000 to about
40,000. Since last year, Davis said the town was down to 10,000 people as
migrant workers found the logging business drying up.

"That said, there is stuff still coming across in various places, and in
some places at times in quite large volume. We are concerned, I think
these types of activity are on the increase."

-- Government support for ban undermined by commercial interests --

At government level China appeared to be genuinely working at shutting
down the illicit trade, Davis said, but he added that those efforts had
been hampered by Chinese companies fiddling with their quotas or hunting
for loopholes in the ban.

Some of the trade is just plain smuggling, he said.

"Chinese businesses involved in the trade are increasingly choosing to buy
pieces of forested land within Kachin state in order to clear-fell all
tree cover," Davis said.

"This is a particularly destructive approach to logging that causes huge
environmental damage."

Clear-cutting in Myanmar's interior also makes it difficult to estimate
the extent of the deforestation because outsiders have so little access to
the area.

But Global Witness says huge swathes of land along theborder have been
logged.

One former military man who was involved in the trade in Myanmar said that
logging was still possible if big enough bribes were paid to local police,
forestry officials, military personnel, and local militia groups.

"If we got a logging permit for 10 tonnes from an official, we would cut
at least 30 tonnes of trees just from that permit paper," the former
military source said, speaking on condition of anonymity.

He said he had left the armed services after the pro-democracy uprising in
1988, and like many other former soldiers ended up taking a job in logging
where he used his military connections to facilitate the passing of bribes
from companies to the government.

He believes his company made a lot of money, but says that wealth didn't
trickle down. He finally quit the business in 2000 because he was fed up
with the corrupt system.

Sometimes, he said, he had received permits to log in areas that had
already been clearcut. "What we did then, we'd just find a place where
there were still trees and cut them down," he said.

Despite the concersn about the future of the Myanmar forests, Global
Witness's Davis said he believes the Chinese authorities had managed to
significantly curb the trade, in part because they wanted to avoid
negative publicity ahead of next year's Beijing Olympics.

"We think that although the restrictions that the Chinese imposed are not
an end solution in themselves, they are an encouraging start."

___________________________________

July 15, Voice of America
10% of registered companies are operating

Burma's acting prime minister says only 10 percent of the country's
registered companies are actually operating.

In an article published by the state-run "New Light of Myanmar" newspaper
today, Lieutenant General Thein Sein said 4,000 of 40,000 registered
companies are open for business.

He said most of those companies have little capital and weak access to
foreign markets. The general said outside the cities of Rangoon and
Mandalay, most provinces only have one or two companies with international
contacts.

He said the state is ready to help increase the number of companies that
can do business globally.

The military-run government is isolated internationally and is under U.S.
and European economic sanctions because of alleged human rights abuses and
the detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

____________________________________

July 16, New Age via BBC Monitoring
Bangladesh plans gas import from Myanmar

Bangladesh is planning to import natural gas from Myanmar [Burma] to meet
the future demand, Energy Adviser Tapan Chowdhury said.

Bangladesh ambassador in Yangon [Rangoon] has been instructed to discuss
the issue with the Myanmar authorities, he told reporters Sunday, 15 July.

"As the country is set to face gas shortage from 2011, we are exploring
the option of importing gas from Myanmar," said Tapan.
Energy secretary A.M.M. Nasir Uddin told New Age on Sunday that he had
already informed the Power Division that no new gas supply connection
would be possible to any power plant after 2011 with the current reserve
of gas.

Daily demand for gas is over 1700 mmcfd [million cubic feet per day],
which is higher than estimated earlier, he said.

The country has proven gas reserve of around 8.26 trillion cubic feet.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 16, Irrawaddy
Dhaka-Naypidaw hydropower plan draws criticism - Khun Sam

An agreement between Burma’s military government and neighboring
Bangladesh to collaborate on a hydropower project in Burma’s Arakan and
Chin states will lead to further human rights abuses in the region,
according to non-governmental and environmental organizations.

Wong Aung, the global coordinator of the Thailand-based Shwe Gas Movement,
said he was concerned that local people would suffer more human rights
abuses since the Burmese military government has never honored the rights
of local people who live in the affected area.

“Though Burma has large amounts of natural gas and oil, as well as many
hydropower plants, Burmese citizen still live in darkness,” Wong Aung told
The Irrawaddy on Monday. “These projects are designed to sell natural
resources to foreign countries and to strengthen the military.”

The agreement was reached last week during a visit to Naypyidaw by a
high-level Bangladeshi delegation.

The accord identified potential sites for hydropower plants in the
Michaung and Lemro areas of Arakan State and near the ethnic Naga Hills
region in Chin State, a report in The Hindustan Times quoted Dr. M Fouzul
Kabir, head of the delegation and secretary of Bangladesh’s Power
Development Board and Power Grid Company, as saying.

The report said that Bangladesh would seek funds from the World Bank and
the Asian Development Bank for the expected 500-600 megawatt hydroplant
projects. A memorandum of understanding to explore feasible sites and to
build the plants would be signed during a follow-up visit by the
Bangladeshi delegation in November.

Wong Aung said there is no need to build in Arakan State or other areas in
Burma, and that Burmese citizens should not have to face the possible
risks from damming the country’s rivers.

He added that Burma has at least 14 trillion cubic tons of gas in Arakan
State—plenty, he said, to generate more than enough electricity for all of
Burma’s estimated 60 million people.

Burma is currently cooperating with neighboring countries, particularly
China and Thailand, on several hydropower projects across the country. It
expects hydropower projects to double production of electricity in the
military-ruled country by 2009.

Burma’s ruling junta is expected to make an official visit to Dhaka in the
last week of July to discuss the hydropower issue. Wong Aung said that the
Shwe Gas Movement has planned to hold protests during that visit.

____________________________________

July 16, Irrawaddy
Junta nixes visas for foreign journalists - Htet Aung

The Burmese Embassy in Bangkok has suspended a plan to invite
Bangkok-based foreign journalists to cover the final session of the
constitution-drafting National Convention later this month, according to
one foreign journalist in the Thai capital.

“The staff from the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok said they had already been
directed by their government to issue visas for the journalists, and they
accepted my visa application last week,” the journalist told The Irrawaddy
on Monday.

“But the same day as my inquiry, the embassy told another journalist who
went there to apply that the issuing of visas for all foreign journalists
to attend the press conference of the National Convention has been
suspended.”

He added that the embassy refunded all visa fees for all journalists who
had applied and explained that the decision was based on new instructions
from Naypyidaw.

Rangoon-based reporters for foreign news agencies have not yet been
invited to attend the National Convention. “We are also waiting for the
government’s invitation, but haven’t received it so far,” said one
Rangoon-based reporter.

The regime had previously planned to invite foreign journalists from about
20 countries to attend the press conference of the National Convention.
They were to receive a o­ne-week visa from July 12-18. The dates were
later changed to July 21-27, according to the Bangkok-based foreign
journalist.

He said the visa schedule included a two-day state-sponsored trip to Mon
and Karen states to show development projects in these areas.

The regime allowed more than 50 foreign and local journalists to attend
the press conference of the last session of the National Convention, which
was convened in early October 2006.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 16, Agence France Presse
India-Myanmar helicopter sale threatens EU ban: NGOs

A European Union arms embargo to Myanmar is under threat from an Indian
project to sell an attack helicopter to the military regime, Amnesty
International said in a report published Monday.

The London-based rights group said France, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, Italy
and Britain provide components and technology for the Advanced Light
Helicopter (ALH), potentially flouting the 19-year-old ban on arms sales.

Its report, "Indian helicopters for Myanmar: making a mockery of the EU
arms embargo?" was compiled by European and international non-governmental
organisations, including Saferworld, which works to prevent armed
violence.

The document said the Indian-manufactured helicopter would not be
operational without vital components from EU member states and highlights
the urgent need for stricter arms controls.

It said variants of the ALH contain rocket launchers from Belgium;
rockets, guns and engines from France; brake systems from Italy; fuel
tanks and gearboxes from Britain and self-protection equipment from a
Swedish company.

German companies, meanwhile, are said to have been "crucial" to the
development of the aircraft's design, while also manufacturing controls
for the ALH's engine.

"The EU embargo explicitly states that no military equipment should be
supplied, either directly or indirectly, for use in Myanmar," said
Saferworld's team leader on transfer controls and small arms, Roy
Isbister.

"What's the point in having an arms embargo if it is not going to be
implemented or enforced?"

The United Nations has described human rights violations in Myanmar,
formerly known as Burma, as "widespread and systematic", including summary
executions, torture and the recruitment of child soldiers.

Amnesty's arms control researcher Helen Hughes said: "Greater attention
has to be given to the end-use agreements and the re-export of components
from EU member states.

"Otherwise, these states could find themselves indirectly propping up a
brutal regime which they themselves have condemned and whose violations
have amounted to crimes against humanity."

US companies are also identified in the report for making military
equipment for the ALH, despite a similar arms embargo. India does not have
any such restrictions.

The report calls on Brussels to begin immediate talks with India with a
view to preventing any future sales of the ALH, components or technology
to Myanmar.

Amnesty called for all future production co-operation with India that
could lead to banned items ending up in Myanmar to be discontinued, and
any future arms deals with India to prohibit the transfer of the
technology to Myanmar.

____________________________________
INTERVIEW

July 16, Mizzima News
Interview with Nay Tin Myint - Christopher Smith

For a man who has spent fifteen years in Burma's notorious prisons, a
majority of the time shackled and in isolation, 41-year old Nay Tin Myint
looks surprisingly young and well as he begins his new life as an exile,
joining the swelling ranks of Burmese refugees around the Thai town of Mae
Sot.

After nearly twenty years in Burma as a leading activist for democratic
change and human rights, this prominent 88 Generation figure was, last
month, finally forced to flee the country.
Asked why he was pushed to take this dramatic step, Nay Tin Myint simply
said that he was not free in Burma. "The Special Branch visited me several
times. They also visit my family and village. My father and mother are
afraid."

The pervading atmosphere of fear eventually took its toll on him as well.
Nay Tin Myint felt increasingly threatened by the junta's civilian
orchestrated Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA). "The
USDA wanted to fight me, so I too was afraid." And this is not idle fear,
as the USDA has in the past been accused of being behind mob attacks on
democracy and human rights activists, most notably the attack on Aung San
Suu Kyi's cavalcade at Depayin.
However even as Nay Tin Myint finds himself across the border from Burma,
he still is not safe.

He, and other persons active as opposition activists, tells of the slew of
Burmese spies operating along the border and within the town of Mae Sot.
He credits this espionage network with being partly responsible for
articles in the state run New Light of Myanmar following his escape and
highly critical of both himself and the 88 Generation movement he helped
to found.

88 Generation, co-founded by activists who first rose to prominence during
the uprisings of 1988 and including such personages as Min Ko Naing, seeks
to promote democracy and human rights through civil activism inside Burma.
Their projects to date have included successful prayer, signature and
letter writing campaigns.

The organization came into being following the release, in recent years,
of Nay Tin Myint and others from lengthy prison terms. Ironically, a key
issue that led to Nay Tin Myint's arrest in 1992 is again taking center
stage this summer: the National Convention.

In 1992, Nay Tin Myint was a vocal opponent of the soon to be convened
National Convention, highly critical of the composition of delegates and
the refusal of the authorities to involve Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy in the process.

Now, fifteen years later, he delivers the same message as the National
Convention looks to possibly reach its much protracted conclusion. "Our 88
Generation has decided that the National Convention is not real talk. It
is fake because the military government does not allow NLD members to
attend."

"The 88 Generation demands that the military government discuss with the
NLD leadership to achieve national reconciliation. This is the most
important thing," continues Nay Tin Myint.
Though 88 Generation does voice political views, Nay Tin Myint is quick to
point out that 88 Generation is not a political party. "We are not
politicians, we are activists." He stresses that the group is not looking
to better the position of any set of individuals, but rather promoting the
role of human rights throughout Burma.

Speaking of the direction in which he envisions the movement taking, Nay
Tin Myint explains that "in the future our leadership will participate
with the NLD leadership and other leaders, for example with the Shan and
other ethnic groups."

Nay Tin Myint believes that the Burmese authorities have treated himself
and 88 Generation harshly because of what they represent: an internal
voice. He says that while the government is not overly worried with the
many voices raised beyond the border in opposition, an internal movement
such as 88 Generation and the support it draws genuinely scares the junta.

As for Nay Tin Myint's youthful appearance and apparent good health, he
attributes it to the tenets of Buddhism and his regimen of daily
meditation during his period of incarceration. As he says, "They can
control me physically, but they cannot control my mind. My mind does not
belong to them. My mind belongs to me."

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 16, Christian Science Monitor
When dictators drive disasters

Not all iron fists are clumsy at the economic helm. Chile's economy did
well under Pinochet's rule, and many Asian strongmen reigned over tiger
economies. Not so today in Burma and Zimbabwe, where misrule is driving
many toward starvation. The world should take more notice.

Both countries have top-ranked inflation rates. In Burma, the military's
erratic policies have caused prices to rise 40 to 50 percent a year. In
Zimbabwe, hyperinflation is in the four digits, pushing President Robert
Mugabe to order police to arrest shopkeepers who raise prices on basic
goods.

Food scarcity has driven people to desperate measures. In Zimbabwe, many
more people poach wildlife, from hippos to squirrels, simply to eat. In
Burma, many parents go without food for one or two days at a time to feed
their children.

These are not nations that lack natural resources or suffer many natural
disasters. Policy is to blame - the kind caused by leaders who make big
economic mistakes as they cling to power. Fortunately, the international
cry for action on these humanitarian crises is intensifying.

The International Committee of the Red Cross issued a rare public censure
last week by accusing Burma's rulers of causing "immense suffering,"
partly as a result of abuse of farmers in minority areas. The UN
Humanitarian Coordinator for Burma, Charles Petrie, says that
"ill-informed and outdated socio-economic policies" in Burma (also known
as Myanmar) have produced chronic malnutrition.

Zimbabwe appears closer to near collapse. The World Bank says the country
has the fastest contracting peacetime economy. Such news has caused South
Africa to intervene. But its foreign minister said last week that outside
powers will find it "very difficult to rebuild an economy in a country
where there is a serious divide and polarization."

Mr. Mugabe has beaten down his political opposition, leaving the nation's
Roman Catholic church as his chief critic. Archbishop Pius Ncube has
called for nonviolent street protests to bring down the government. That
appears unlikely.

Rescuing people from hunger under a ruthless regime poses a moral dilemma
for world diplomats. Mass starvation in North Korea in the 1990s was
largely a result of policy, and many nations found it hard to send food
aid - especially after some was found with the military.

Even more difficult is outside military intervention. In 1992, the United
Nations approved a US-led force into Somalia to relieve starvation. But
the UN is still debating an "international right" for such humanitarian
intervention. Despite genocide in Darfur, it hasn't sent in forces without
Sudan's permission.

These days, China's veto power in the Security Council remains an obstacle
to pressure on dictatorships where China is doing business. China has
beefed up trade with both Burma and Zimbabwe in its rapid pursuit for
resources. That makes it difficult for the UN to act.

But more international pressure on these regimes is needed, even as food
and other humanitarian aid continue to flow directly to the people.
Neighboring nations especially must turn up the heat.

The ultimate solution is a return to democracy - not that democracies
don't make economic mistakes, but they generally fare better in avoiding
such trouble.