BurmaNet News, August 27, 2007

[Editor]

August 27, 2007 Issue # 3277

INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Key Burmese activist flees to Thai-Burma border
AFP: Myanmar junta arrests 50 after new protest
DVB: 88 generation student calls for UN action
Irrawaddy: National Convention to wrap final session in September
AFP: At least 100 arrested in Myanmar: activists
Irrawaddy: Junta urges monks not to protests
Mizzima News: Anti-government posters appear in Aung Lan, central Burma
Irrawaddy: Burmese citizen-reporters create direct link to international
media
Mizzima News: Demonstrations in Pegu
Narinjara News: Akyab University authorities ask students not to walk to
school

ON THE BORDER
DVB: More than 1000 Karen flee their homes
Irrawaddy: Exile Burma rights group calls for int’l action on Burma

BUSINESS / TRADE
AFP: Myanmar wants to quench Asia's thirst for oil and gas

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Thai Army Chief, Burma junta to discuss border policy

INTERNATIONAL
AP: United Nations warns fuel price hikes could worsen Myanmar's economic
situation
AP: UN rights chief tells Myanmar to release protesters
Editor & Publisher: Egyptian Blogger, Burmese reporter named Knight
International Journalism Award Winners

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Time for action, not words
The Nation: Uproar in Burma, silence in Asean

STATEMENT
AHRC: Burma: "Arrest" in Rangoon epitomises lawlessness of a country
UNOG: High Commissioner for Human Rights urges Myanmar authorities to
release student leaders and other protesters

Editor’s note: BurmaNet News for August 26, 2007 was mistakenly dated
“July 26, 2007.”  However, the dates for all news and stories at
www.burmanet.org are accurate.  Sorry for any inconvenience.

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 27, Mizzima News
Key Burmese activist flees to Thai-Burma border

Htay Kywe, a student activist who had the Burmese military junta hot on
his heels, for his key role in the recent protests over the fuel price
hike, fled to the Thai-Burma border, a colleague told Mizzima today.

Htay Kywe had gone underground because junta officials were in hot pursuit
following last week's arrest of 13 prominent student leaders, including
Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi. He fled to theThai-Burma border on Monday
afternoon.

In the midst of tight security and orders to arrest him, where his
photographs were sent to all border check points, Htay Kywe made a
dramatic exit from Burma and was able to avoid being caught after local
residents helped, a colleague who until this morning accompanied Htay Kywe
and requested anonymity for security reasons told Mizzima.

According to the junta's mouthpiece and propaganda machine the New Light
of Myanmar, Htay Kywe, one of the main 'offenders' responsible for
organsiing the sporadic protests in Rangoon following the recent fuel
price hike , faces a warrant of arrest and likely detention of up to 20
years in prison along with Min Ko Naing and the other 12 student leaders
who were rounded up to crush the on going demonstrations.

____________________________________

August 27, Agence France Presse
Myanmar junta arrests 50 after new protest - Hla Hla Htay Mon

About 50 pro-democracy activists were arrested Monday outside Yangon, as
the Myanmar junta clamped down on dissent following a series of protests
last week against a sharp hike in fuel prices.

The protest was the latest in a series of bold demonstrations against the
military, which for 45 years has ruled this impoverished country with an
iron fist and kept a tight lid on any dissent.
The activists marched in silence from a market in Bago, a town about 75
kilometres (45 miles) northeast of Yangon, witnesses told AFP by
telephone.

They did not chant slogans or wave banners, but people on the sidewalks
clapped as they walked by. After about 30 minutes, the entire group was
arrested and taken to local authorities for questioning, witnesses said.

The activists were all released after two hours, in part because a crowd
of about 100 bystanders had followed them to make sure the authorities
would not mistreat them, according to Kyaw Win, one of the protest
leaders.

"People who had gathered to watch our protest followed us after we were
arrested. The guarded us and waited outside the authorities' offices until
we were released," Kyaw Win told AFP by telephone.

Authorities made them promise not to stage any more rallies. Kyaw Win said
they were not mistreated in custody.

He and other members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD)
said they would continue to protest against the August 15 fuel price hike,
which doubled transport costs overnight.

"The NLD will stand in front of the people, because we NLD members want to
solve their problems," he said.

The march in Bago came after four days of protests last week, mainly in
Yangon, over the price increase.

A Myanmar government official told a seminar in Singapore that the price
hike was needed to cut back on government fuel subsidies.

"The government just wants to relieve some of the burden to the customer,
to the user," said Soe Myint, director-general of the energy planning
department.

Transport costs doubled after the fuel price increase, leaving many
workers in Yangon unable to afford even the cost of bus fare to their
jobs.

Plain-clothes security forces have been deployed across Yangon to try to
quell the protests, leaving the nation's economic hub shrouded in fear.

State media said 56 people had been arrested over last week's protests,
but Thailand-based political dissidents on Monday said it was at least
100.

"I am sure those arrested are now being tortured by the junta," said Tate
Naing, of the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners (Burma).

"We know from firsthand experience that those arrested in Burma are always
brutally tortured -- both physically and psychologically -- immediately
upon arrest," he added.

Among those arrested last week was Min Ko Naing, who is considered
Myanmar's most prominent pro-democracy leader after detained opposition
leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Min Ko Naing was arrested along with 12 activists for leading about 500
protesters in a peaceful march in Yangon on August 19 -- the biggest
anti-government rally here in at least nine years.

Myanmar's state media has said only that authorities were interrogating
Min Ko Naing and the 12 others and that the junta would take legal action
against them. Most of them have already spent more than a decade in
prison.

The 13 were members of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group,
which is made up of former student leaders who led an uprising against
military rule in 1988.

That uprising, which initially began as a protest over Myanmar's harsh
economic conditions, ended with soldiers firing into a crowd of students,
killing hundreds if not thousands.

The uprising led to the creation of the NLD, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi.
The party won a landslide victory in 1990 elections, but the junta never
recognised the result.

____________________________________

August 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
88 generation student calls for UN action

Ko Htay Kywe, the only 88 Generation Students member to have avoided
arrest in the past week, has joined calls from a number of groups for
United Nations action on Burma.

Ko Htay Kywe, who is currently in hiding, told DVB on Saturday that it was
time for the UN to take action against the military regime over the
ongoing arrests of activists in Burma.

“Many of us have already been arrested and it is clear that there is no
security or rule of law in Burma. The political and economic hardships in
the country are also very clear,” Ko Htay Kywe said.

“We are trying to help the Burmese people liberate themselves from the
situation they are in now. We know that the international community is
watching the situation here and we would like to extend an invitation to
UN special envoy (Ibrahim) Gambari,” he said.

Ibrahim Gambari, the UN secretary general’s special envoy to Burma, is
reportedly scheduled to meet Burmese military officials in Naypyidaw in
the near future but it is unclear whether his trip will be allowed in
light of recent protests.

Ko Htay Kywe’s calls for UN action on Burma were echoed today by several
rights groups including the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
in Burma and Burma Campaign UK.

“The problems in Burma today are only because of the fuel price hikes but
also because of the failure of the economic, administrative and political
systems in place and the people of Burma have shown that they want
change,” Ko Htay Kywe said.

____________________________________

August 27, Irrawaddy
National Convention to wrap final session in September - Khun Sam

Burma’s long-running National Convention to draw up guidelines for
drafting a new state charter will finish its final session next week,
according to a delegate attending the current assembly.

“The convention will finish in early September,” Dr Manam Tu Ja, head of
the Kachin Independence Organization’s convention delegation, told The
Irrawaddy on Monday by phone from the Nyaung Hnapin convention center,
about 45 km north of Rangoon. “The exact date has not been determined, but
it should be around September 3 or 4.”

“There is no more discussion,” added Manam Tu Ja. “What we are doing now
is combining the materials to publish a book, and alternative chairpersons
are reading out the final editions.

Manam Tu Ja also serves at the convention as an alternate chairperson and
is responsible for presiding on a rotational basis over the assembly’s
daily discussions.

In his announcement of the beginning of the latest session of the
convention, which started on July 19, Lt-Gen Thein Sein—chairman of the
National Convention—said this assembly would be the last.

The National Convention began in 1993 to draw up guidelines for the
creation of a new state constitution—the first step in the Burmese junta’s
seven-step “roadmap to democracy.”

Critics say the proceedings are a sham because the junta handpicked most
of the delegates and because pro-democracy leaders such as Aung San Suu
Kyi remain under arrest and are not allowed to attend. The National League
for Democracy, headed by Suu Kyi, has boycotted the convention because it
deems the proceedings as undemocratic.

At the opening of the current session, the KIO submitted an amendment
comprising 19 articles that said the basic principles adopted by the
convention ignore ethnic minority rights and the emergence of a genuine
federal union of Burma.

There has been no discussion of the KIO’s proposed amendments, and as
discussions have now ended, the issue will not be addressed, according to
Manam Tu Ja.

Burma’s military leaders have claimed that a referendum on the draft
constitution and free elections will follow the close of the convention,
but they have given no indication of a time table for these
developments—also numbered among the junta’s seven steps to democratic
reform.

The KIO has expressed concern over the fairness of the convention process
and believes it will not bring genuine reform.

“We have not had much hope since the beginning [of the convention] because
we knew the situation,” said Manam Tu Ja. “What we expected was that it
would offer the junta an alternative way out of real political reform in
Burma.”

He added: “No matter what, we will have a constitution if the public
approves it. That means that we will have a new government. If this
doesn’t happen, then the current military government will retain control.”

Reports that the junta will try to force ethnic ceasefire groups to disarm
following the convention’s close remain speculative. Manam Tu Ja said
there has been no indication of such a move during the current session.

____________________________________

August 27, Agence France Presse
At least 100 arrested in Myanmar: activists

At least 100 people have been detained over last week's anti-government
protests in Myanmar, according to exiled dissidents who released a report
Monday documenting the cases.

Most of the arrests were made in Myanmar's main city Yangon from August 21
to 25, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) said.

"I am sure those arrested are now being tortured by the junta," said Tate
Naing, the secretary of AAPP and a former political prisoner.

"We know from firsthand experience that those arrested in Burma are always
brutally tortured -- both physically and psychologically -- immediately
upon arrest," he added.

State media in Myanmar have said that 56 people are now in detention for
interrogation over last week's protests against a massive hike in fuel
prices.

The AAPP is operated by dissidents freed from Myanmar's jails, who try to
keep tabs on the estimated 1,100 political prisoners being held in the
country formerly known as Burma.

Among those arrested last week was Min Ko Naing, who is considered
Myanmar's most prominent pro-democracy leader after detained opposition
leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

Min Ko Naing was arrested along with 12 activists for leading about 500
protesters in a peaceful march in Yangon last Sunday -- the biggest
anti-government rally here in at least nine years.

They were sent to Myanmar's notorious Insein prison in northern Yangon,
where international rights groups have alleged abuse and torture are
rampant.

Myanmar's state media has said only that authorities were interrogating
Min Ko Naing and the 12 others and that the junta would take legal action
against them.

The 13 were members of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group,
which is made up of former student leaders who led an uprising against
military rule in 1988.

That uprising, which initially began as a protest over Myanmar's harsh
economic conditions, ended with soldiers firing into a crowd of students,
killing hundreds if not thousands.

____________________________________

August 27, Irrawaddy
Junta urges monks not to protests - Aye Lae

Burma’s military leaders have been trying to persuade monks in Mandalay
not to take part in protests that began last week in response to a sharp
rise in fuel and commodity prices, according to local monks.

Novice monks in Mandalay prepare to receive alms for the morning meal
[Photo: victorianweb.org]

Maj-Gen Khin Zaw, commander of Mandalay Division, requested abbots of
several monasteries in Mandalay not to join protesters, according to War
So Sayadaw, the abbot of War So Monastery.

The abbot told The Irrawaddy that military authorities came to his
monastery and requested that monks and novices don’t take part in any
demonstrations. The abbots usually hold considerable influence with junior
monks and novices.

So far, monks have not participated in the sporadic demonstrations that
began in major cities across Burma on August 19. During the nationwide
pro-democracy uprising in 1988, monks played a major role in the
demonstrations.

U Kavarinda, the abbot of Ma Soe Yein Monastery in Mandalay, said
authorities made the same request of him.

“If the public demonstrates, we will support them until they reach their
goal,” U Kavarinda told The Irrawaddy by phone from Mandalay on Monday.
“We are also supporting current demonstrations in Rangoon. They are
demanding their own rights.”

Since last week, small groups of protesters led by the 88 Generation
Students group and some members of the opposition National League for
Democracy have staged demonstrations against the steep increase in fuel
and commodity prices in Rangoon and other cities.

In 1988 when the military regime launched a heavy crackdown on the
nationwide uprising, more than 3,000 protesters are believed to have been
killed—among them, many monks and novices.

Following the government’s crackdown on monasteries, monks across Burma
refused to accept alms from military leaders. Hundreds of monks and young
novices who participated in the movement were later arrested and given
lengthy prison terms.

Mandalay residents say that some of the city’s monasteries have been under
surveillance by pro-government civilian groups such as the Union
Solidarity and Development Association.

Security forces have also been tightened around monasteries in Rangoon,
according to residents in the former capital.

Many monasteries in Rangoon and elsewhere served as rallying points during
the 1988 pro-democracy uprising.

____________________________________

August 27, Mizzima News
Anti-government posters appear in Aung Lan, central Burma

The continuing protests over the massive hike in prices of fuel have now
spawned anti-government posters. They were pasted in market places and
schools in Aung Lan Town of Magwe in central Burma on Sunday, residents
said.

The posters read – 'Military junta must be down', 'Democracy must
succeed', and 'Commodity prices must decrease'. They were seen on the
walls of the market, high school and some wards at about 5 a.m. (local
time) on Sunday, an eyewitness told Mizzima.

However, not long after the discovery of the posters, police, special
branch and military security affairs officers came and pulled down all the
posters, the eyewitness added.

"The posters were pasted in Aung Lan market, high school and some parts of
the wards. They contained three points and were pasted in the early hours
of August 26. But soon, uniformed policemen, military security affairs and
special police officers went to all the places and removed the posters,"
the eyewitness said.

Following the sudden hike in fuel prices on August 14, there has been
acute consternation among the people of Burma with a few hundreds coming
out on to the streets in Rangoon and other parts of Burma in protest
against the sharp rise in prices of essential commodities triggered by the
fuel price hike.

Despite the anti-government posters in Aung Lan, locals said there has
been no public demonstration.

However, following the fuel price hike, public vehicular transport has
come to a near standstill as vehicle owners in Aung Lan said they could
not afford fuel.

"The fuel price increase took vehicle owners by surprise, In fact they
were shocked and they called back their drivers with the vehicles which
stopped plying. So, transport is at a stand still. And essential commodity
prices have also shot-up," another local resident told Mizzima.

He added that bus fares from Aung Lan to Rangoon shot up to 4500 kyat (US$
3.46) from 3300 kyat (US$ 2.53).

____________________________________

August 27, Irrawaddy
Burmese citizen-reporters create direct link to international media

Photographs, video clips and firsthand news reports about the recent
protest demonstrations against the Burmese government's fuel prices
increases appeared in some international media on the same day.

Such instantaneous images and information is a sign of a shift in the
ability of the reclusive regime to control reports of events within the
country.

Thanks to the availability of new communication technologies among
citizen-reporters and even demonstrators themselves, the repressive acts
of the military regime—which the outside world knew little of in the
past—are now able to be reported by the world media almost as they happen.

Compared to the communication standards of the neighboring countries,
however, the draconian control of all communication channels in Burma,
including mobile phone, e-mail and Internet Web-sites, is still one of the
worst in the world.

But, in spite of such controls and the watchdogs of the regime’s extensive
intelligence network, citizen-reporters and demonstrators were able to
report the latest human rights violations committed by the regime and
their organized thugs.

The Irrawaddy team recognizes the fact that it is mainly because of these
citizen-reporters’ increasing awareness and their ability to use the
international and exiled Burmese media that the country's plight was
publicized so widely during the past week.

What’s perhaps even more important is that these citizen-journalists are
becoming more brave, recognizing that they are performing an important
task. They dare to report the regime’s injustice, oppression and
violations of international humanitarian law and basic human rights.

The Irrawaddy, as members of the exiled Burmese media community, regards
their emerging role as indispensable in the long struggle for
democratization in Burma.

International media such as BBC World Services and The New York Times are
now able to broadcast and publish rare photographs and video clips of the
oppression by the military regime, even in remote cities.

For instance, it was impossible for a prominent leader, such as Htay Kywe,
to send a political message to the world community in the late 1990s. But
now he is able to communicate with the foreign media while in hiding.

During the recent demonstrations, foreign journalists and local reporters
were under strict limitations imposed by the regime. But the story went
out.

The world knows about the protests in Rangoon and other cities throughout
the country: the photographs, the video clips and the news reports
appeared in the international media thanks to the will, the commitment and
the courage of individual Burmese citizens who understand that truthful
accounts of events in their country are powerful weapons that can weaken
the repressive regime.

____________________________________

August 27, Mizzima News
Demonstrations in Pegu

Indian standard Time – 3:46 p.m - For security reasons, high school
students in Thone Guah Township, in Rangoon Division, have been restricted
since Saturday from returning home during lunch break.

3:00 pm - Mandalay remains quiet; Junta orders monks to stay silent

A resident of Mandalay, Burma's second largest city, spoke with Mizzima;

"I have been through the city and it remains quiet. I do not see anything
unusual. But I haven't been to Phayargyi Pagoda or the Mya Taung area. I
am not sure what it looks like in those areas. I have been to the 14th
Street junctions and all, where there is no heavy security and all remains
quiet."

Visibly there is no security up to Mingalardan. Now I am heading to Zyecho
[Mandalay's main market in the west], and I am travelling on 35th and
there is also nothing. I also do not think there would be anything on 26th
Street. I heard that 26th Street is going to be repaired. But I am not
sure what will happen at the monasteries.

Yesterday I heard that the Mandalay Division commander informed the
monasteries, where there are over 100 monks, to stay in peace and not get
involved in anything – and to request whatever they need from the
government. We heard that the commander of the Mandalay Division yesterday
came to Pahnihtharyone Monastery in the east and informed the monks."

1:00 p.m - Hundreds of activists today, for about three hours, protested
against the doubling of fuel prices in Pegu, 50 miles north of Rangoon.

About 50 people, wearing white shirts, on Monday shouted demands to
decrease fuel prices in the town, sources said.

The march started from Pegu Myoma market at 9:00 a.m and onlookers joined
the demonstration when it reached the road linking Pegu with the
neighboring town of Thanatpin.

"The crowd grew in size to several hundred," said the President of the
Pegu Division National League for Democracy.

According to him, people from Thanutpin, Tarwa and Waw joined the
demonstration.

Local authorities summoned key leaders of the protestors, holding
discussions with them for about an hour.

At least 65 people, mainly in Rangoon and including prominent
pro-democracy activists, have been detained in spontaneous peaceful
protests since last week. This comes after fuel prices rose two-fold from
prices two weeks previously and without any prior announcement by the
junta regarding the reduction in state subsidies.

11:30 a.m - Junta undecided on how to deal with detained student leaders

The Burmese junta is reportedly still undecided over how best to handle
detained 88 generation student leaders.

Sources close to the military say the Burmese junta held a closed door
cabinet meeting on Sunday in Naypyidaw over how to handle the detained
student activists, but failed to reach a decision.

Security tightened in Rangoon

Security has been tightened in Burma's former capital city of Rangoon.
Observers say soldiers have been posted at 300 meter intervals along Pyi
Street in Rangoon. Meanwhile, eyewitness say, two army vehicles and
several pro-junta thugs can be seen in front of Rangoon City Hall.

____________________________________

August 27, Narinjara News
Akyab University authorities ask students not to walk to school

Akyab: The Principal of Akyab University has requested that students who
use buses to refrain from walking to school during school hours, said a 
student.

"The request of the principal came about after several students in Akyab
were walked to Akyab University from their homes to protest against the
school's bus fare, which was recently increased by authorities after the
fuel price hike," he said.

Because many students were walking to Akyab University from their homes on
August 22 to protest the school bus fare increase, the situation in Akyab
became tense. Small pockets of unrest spread among the people.

Afterwards, the authority decided to reduce the school's bus fare to the
normal, previous rate, in order to avoid untoward incidents in Akyab.

The school's bus fare was only 50 kyat from downtown Akyab to the
University, but authorities increased it to 150 kyat after the fuel prices
were increased. But the school's bus fare has been reverted, the student
said.

The student said the request from the Principal to the students is
informal, and was made through teachers in the classrooms.

The Principal has also instructed teachers in the university to persuade
students to travel by the school's buses during school times and avoid
walking from home.

Most students have accepted the Principal's request but some are still
walking to school to show their solidarity with the 88 Generation Group,
who have been holding peaceful protests in Rangoon against the recent
increase in fuel prices.

However, in Akyab, there are no government backed organizations to foil
the plan of students walking to Akyab University as there are in Rangoon.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
More than 1000 Karen flee their homes

More than 1000 people have fled Burmese military attacks in northern Karen
State since the start of the month, according to fresh reports from aid
groups operating in the area.

A report released today by the Free Burma Rangers, a grass-roots relief
group operating in several states in Burma, said that waves of Karen
villagers had fled their homes in the face of attacks by troops from the
military’s division 88 infantry battalions 83 and 77.

“Two villages have been burned down during the last ten days along the
border of Toungoo and Papun districts of northern Karen State . . . Burma
Army Light Infantry Division 88 has remained very active in this area,”
the FBR report said.

“The Burma Army has also continued the rapid expansion of its road and
military camp network which it uses to partition the areas it wishes to
clear, squeezing the local population into increasingly smaller pockets
and facilitating further attacks.”

The FBR report also said that villagers in Karen State’s Kyauk Kyi
township faced ongoing forced relocation at the hands of the Burmese
military and that several people had been maimed this month after stepping
on Burmese army landmines.

____________________________________

August 27, Irrawaddy
Exile Burma rights group calls for int’l action on Burma - Shah Paung

A Thailand-based Burmese rights group on Monday called on the
international community and the UN Security Council to address political
and economic reforms in Burma.

The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma) appealed to
members of the UN Security Council—particularly the US, the UK, France,
Italy and Indonesia—to take immediate action on Burma in a statement
released on Monday.

The statement urged the Security Council to “discuss the situation in
Burma immediately and to ask the UN Secretariat to brief the council on
Burma and to take collective action to stop regime-sponsored violence in
Burma once and for all.”

The AAPP also urged Burma’s ruling State Peace and Development Council to
release all pro-democracy activists currently in detention
“unconditionally and immediately.”

“We call on the regime to release the detainees recently arrested
immediately and not to commit further unlawful arrests,” Tate Naing, the
secretary of the AAPP, told The Irrawaddy on Monday.

During five days of demonstrations sparked last week by a sharp rise in
fuel and commodity prices, an estimated 100 human rights activists and
peaceful protesters were arrested by members of the pro-junta group Union
Solidarity and Development Association and the paramilitary organization
Pyithu Swan Arr Shin, according to the AAPP statement.

State-run The New Light of Myanmar, an English language daily newspaper,
put the number of arrests at 63 in an article on August 25.

“We remind the SPDC that under international law, governments cannot
commit torture under any circumstances, even ‘during a time of public
emergency that threatens the life of the nation,’” the AAPP statement
said.

Demonstrations against the fuel and commodity price hikes began on August
19, with leaders from the 88 Generation Students group and the National
League for Democracy leading several protests in Rangoon and other major
cities in Burma.

The peaceful protesters were met in several locations by USDA and other
pro-government crowds, which attacked and detained some of the protesters,
forcing them into trucks and taking them to unknown locations, according
to sources involved in the protests.

“I am sure those arrested are now being tortured by the junta,” said Tate
Naing, who spent more than four years in prison for his political
activities. “We know from firsthand experience that those arrested in
Burma are always brutally tortured—both physically and psychologically —
immediately upon arrest,” he added.

Meanwhile, about 30 people in Pegu—about 80 km (50 miles) north of
Rangoon—continued demonstrating against the fuel hike on Monday. Most of
the participants were members of the local NLD office.

Plainclothes police watched the protest from a distance. The protesters
were arrested by police about 30 minutes later and taken to the townships
Peace and Development Council office, where they were questioned and
released.

Reports emerged of another protest in Yenanchaung, Magwe Division, but The
Irrawaddy could not contact protest organizers to confirm because their
phone lines had been cut.

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour released a statement
on August 26 expressing concern over reports that student leaders and
other protesters were being arrested. Arbour called on Burmese authorities
to immediately release the detainees and engage in dialogue with
demonstrators about their concerns.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

August 27, Agence France Presse
Myanmar wants to quench Asia's thirst for oil and gas - Bernice Han

Endowed with vast energy resources, military ruled Myanmar wants to be a
major supplier of oil and gas to its neighbours, a government official
said Monday.

"Our dream is Myanmar would eventually become a major energy supplier in
this region," Soe Myint, director-general with the country's energy
planning department, said at a seminar jointly organised by the Institute
of Southeast Asian Studies and Institute of South Asian Studies.

"We hope to become a sort of bridge between Southeast Asia and South
Asia," he said.

Figures given by Soe Myint said the impoverished country has proven crude
oil reserves of more than 508 million barrels in onshore areas and 100.8
million barrels offshore.

For natural gas, the country has almost 15.85 trillion cubic feet of
reserves offshore and more than 768 billion cubic feet onshore, he said,
adding the search for energy supplies is to intensify next year.

"Next year in 2008, we will have a very busy drilling programme for both
onshore as well as offshore," he said.

"With all these drilling programmes both onshore and offshore, we are
quite confident that we may have some more discovery in the year 2008 or
early 2009."

Soe Myint said 16 foreign companies including Russian, Chinese and South
Korean energy firms have signed contracts to drill for energy supplies
offshore.

Myanmar's vast energy resources have proven to be an economic salvation
for the impoverished country which has been hit by United States and
European economic sanctions imposed over the junta's human rights abuses
and the detention of democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

But the impact of the sanctions has been weakened as energy-hungry
neighbours such as China, India and Thailand are spending billions of
dollars for a share of Myanmar's vast energy resources to solve their
power problems.

Myanmar's military rulers have awarded a raft of oil and natural gas
exploration contracts, following major discoveries by South Korea's Daewoo
International.

Daewoo said the blocks in the Bay of Bengal near the border with
Bangladesh have been certified to hold up to 219.2 billion cubic meters
(7.7 trillion cubic feet) of exploitable gas.

Impoverished locals have yet to see the benefits of the energy deals. Most
have been left in the dark as blackouts stretch through much of the day,
even as reclusive officials in the new administrative capital Naypyidaw in
central Myanmar enjoy an abundance of energy.

But Soe Myint said income earned from energy exports has brought
much-needed funds to improve the country's infrastructure and
telecommunications network.

"Before, the infrastructure in Myanmar is so very much limited," he said.

International direct dial telephone service is now available to almost all
of the country, and road connections have been extended to remote areas,
he said.

He said the income from energy sales has also gone towards the building of
water reservoirs to aid the country's agricultural sector, which has
raised hopes Myanmar can again be a rice exporter.

"There are many, many reservoirs now and we are hoping that we will be
able to export rice again in the next few years' time because of the water
supply that we are going to enjoy from the new water reservoirs that we
constructed out of these earnings."

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 27, Irrawaddy
Thai Army Chief, Burma junta to discuss border policy - Sai Silp

Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin, Thailand’s army commander-in-chief, is expected
to discuss border policy with Burma’s top generals during a state visit to
Naypyidaw that also marks part of the outgoing army chief’s farewell tour
of the region.

Sonthi arrived in Burma’s new capital on Monday and was scheduled to meet
Burma’s two top leaders, Snr-Gen Than Shwe and Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye.

The Thai army chief told the press before his departure that the visit
aimed to strengthen cooperation between the two countries’ armed forces
and to affirm that Thailand’s existing border policy will remain in effect
after Sonthi’s retirement.

“Even though the Royal Army will have a new chief, the [military’s border]
policy will remain the same,” Sonthi told reporters on Monday.

“Previously, we (Thailand and Burma) agreed that local battalions have to
cooperate and have regular meetings. Any border problems should be settled
there,” Sonthi said.

He added that the delicate issues of trans-border drug trafficking and
illegal migrants were tentatively scheduled for discussion.

Sonthi last visited Burma in September 2006, at which time he raised the
issues of drug and arms trafficking. Prior to that visit, he said
relations with Burma had “developed quite smoothly with no major disputes
to date.”

Burma is the latest in a series of state visits by Sonthi, who is set to
retire in September. He has made previous visits to Malaysia, Indonesia
and Singapore.

Sonthi will spend the night in Naypyidaw before heading to Rangoon on
Tuesday, according to a press report from the Thai News Agency on Monday.

The state visit comes amid growing international pressure on Burma’s
ruling junta over its efforts to suppress protests that erupted in Rangoon
and other cities last week following a sharp rise in fuel and commodity
prices.

About 90 protesters on Sunday gathered outside the Burmese embassy in
Bangkok to call for the release of protesters and activists arrested in
the wake of the protests.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 27, Associated Press
United Nations warns fuel price hikes could worsen Myanmar's economic
situation

The United Nations Monday warned fuel price hikes in Myanmar could worsen
the country's precarious economic situation, as dozens of pro-democracy
activists resumed their protests against the increase.

Witnesses said about 50 people, wearing white, marched in the bustling
township of Bago, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) north of the country's
commercial center, Yangon.

Demonstrators shouted slogans calling for lower consumer prices, as
plainclothes police watched from a distance without intervening or making
arrests, the witnesses said.

The demonstrators dispersed without incident after marching along a busy
street in Bago for more than half an hour.

Earlier this month, the military junta increased fuel prices overnight by
as much as 500 percent, by slashing subsidies that had kept domestic oil
prices low for years. The hikes resulted in increases in prices of public
transport some since rolled back and also higher prices for some basic
commodities due to higher transport costs.

Charles Petrie, the U.N. humanitarian chief in Myanmar, said the price
hike will hit most Myanmar families hard, since almost 90 percent live
below or near the poverty line, which he defined as living on a US$1 a
day.

"It's going to make things more expensive and make it more difficult for
people to survive," Petrie told The Associated Press. "It will contribute
to the continued deterioration of the standard of living for a significant
portion of the population."

Petrie also said the fact the increase was imposed all at once, rather
than phased in over time, showed the regime was "out of touch" with the
average citizen.

"It's a policy that has been applied in a draconian matter that doesn't
take into account the fact that people lack the reserves necessary to
absorb such shocks," he said.

The price hike triggered a number of small, peaceful protests last week,
mainly in Yangon. Police subsequently detained at least 65 activists,
including several leaders of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement.

Among them was a protest Saturday in Mogok, about 680 kilometers (420
miles) north of Yangon, in an area famous for gemstone mining.

Mogok residents said more than 200 people, including members of detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party,
marched Saturday to protest the fuel price hike and dispersed peacefully
without any arrests.

Myanmar's ambassador to the Philippines, Thang Tun, told The Associated
Press on Sunday that Myanmar could no longer afford to subsidize fuel so
heavily due to steep oil price increases worldwide. He said cutting the
subsidies was not a political move.

Myanmar activists have speculated that the government needed to slash the
subsidies to remedy a cash shortage. Some analysts said the measure could
be a prelude to privatization, or that it may even reflect conflict within
the junta and could be a deliberate attempt to provoke unrest, further
stalling the approval of a long-awaited constitution and embarrassing
military ruler Gen. Than Shwe.

Myanmar's ruling junta has been widely criticized for human rights
violations, including the extended detention of Suu Kyi and more than
1,200 other political prisoners.

Economic dissatisfaction sparked the country's last major upheaval in
1988, when mass demonstrations broke out seeking an end to the military
rule that began in 1962.

The army violently subdued those protests. Hundreds, perhaps thousands, of
people were killed.

The current protests are nowhere near the scale of those in 1988, and the
junta appeared to be taking no chances in trying to clamp down on them.

The military rulers held a general election in 1990, but refused to honor
the results when the National League for Democracy won in a landslide.

____________________________________

August 27, Associated Press
UN rights chief tells Myanmar to release protesters

Myanmar should immediately release about 65 protesters arrested earlier
this month during a demonstration against fuel price increases, the top
U.N. human rights official said.

Louise Arbour, the high commissioner for human rights, said the
military-led government should "engage in consultation and dialogue with
the demonstrators," according to a statement released by her office
Monday.

Arbour also "stressed that the freedoms of expression and association are
touchstones of human rights."

Fuel price increases of as much as 500 percent earlier this month led to
higher prices for public transport and some basic commodities, provoking
protests by pro-democracy opposition groups.

Myanmar, one of the world's most isolated countries, has been at odds for
years with the United Nations, whose organizations have accused the
southeast Asian nation of practicing torture and forced labor, and of
using its armed forces to target ethnic minorities.

In May, Arbour called for the release of more than 1,000 political
prisoners, including the Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who has
been held under house arrest off and on for 11 of the 19 years since the
military junta first took control of Myanmar in 1988.

____________________________________

August 24, Editor & Publisher
Egyptian Blogger, Burmese reporter named Knight International Journalism
Award Winners

Washington, DC The International Center for Journalists (ICFJ) has named
Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas and Burmese investigative reporter May
Thingyan Hein as the 2007 Knight International Journalism Award winners.

The award, given by the Knight International Journalism Fellowships
Program recognizes individuals who have raised the standards of media
excellence in their countries.

Abbas, 32, is the first blogger to win the award. His blog, Misr Digital ,
regularly breaks stories on subjects generally avoided by local media,
such as protests, corruption, and police brutality. His first-hand
reports, videos and photographs have attracted thousands of readers and
the attention of mainstream news outlets, which have begun to pick up his
hard-hitting stories.

Burma’s May Thingyan Hein, 33, stands out for her coverage of
controversial topics such as corruption, HIV/AIDS and poverty. A freelance
journalist for several publications, she specializes in investigative
stories in a country where journalists must submit their reports in
advance to officials.

Her breaking coverage of the spread of the bird flu into Burma, for
example, forced officials to acknowledge the epidemic.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 27, Irrawaddy
Time for action, not words

The heavy-handed political crackdown and brutal physical attacks on
democracy groups in Burma have drawn headlines in the international media,
prompting the EU, individual Western governments and the UN to respond
with statements of censure and demands for detainees to be released.

However, press releases and calls on the regime to respect human rights
and free activists are no longer enough. More than 20 years of such verbal
disapproval have achieved nothing—it is time that the international
community, governments and policymakers engaged in deep thought on what to
do with the regime in Burma.

It is also time to admit that we have all failed on Burma, and the latest
events and the reaction to them will sadly not be the last.

It is appalling to witness how Asean and Burma’s giant neighbors, India
and China, have remained silent about the continuing crackdowns in the
country. But it is, of course, understandable that neighbors who have been
benefiting from resource-rich Burma stay conspicuously quiet. Less
understandable is the behavior of some other governments, for Burma’s
repressive regime has no shortage of ill-informed and opportunistic
neighbors who have no qualms about exploiting its natural resources at the
expense of people’s lives.

For example, Thailand Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand said during a
meeting of Asean Energy Ministers last week that he had discussed with his
Burmese counterpart progress in negotiations for natural gas trading
between Thailand and Burma through a joint venture. This “business as
usual” attitude is shameful.

Nearly 20 years ago, in December 1988, Thailand’s then army chief Gen
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh broke Burma’s diplomatic isolation as he led a
veritable army of businesspeople and high-ranking officials on a visit to
Rangoon only a few months after the bloody coup there. A red carpet
welcome awaited him, of course, although the international community was
shocked by the visit.

Gen Chavalit returned to Bangkok with lucrative trade deals, including
fishing rights in Burmese waters. Now we learn that Gen Sonthi
Boonyratglin, the leader of the coup that ousted former Prime Minister
Thaksin Shinawatra, will visit Burma this week. Would it not be wiser for
the Thai coup maker who pledged to return power to the Thai people and
democracy to the kingdom to postpone the visit?

Shamefully, Burma’s two giant neighbors are also quiet. India, an
established democracy, and China are sitting idly by, while busily selling
arms to the Naypyidaw regime, reaching trade and gas deals and lending
political support to the military government.
In short, China and India have proved themselves to be dishonest neighbors
of the Burmese people.

China’s veto of a US-led resolution on Burma in the UN Security Council in
January and the continuing failure to pressure the regime into freeing
Aung San Suu Kyi are symptoms of its approach to democracy. Without
China’s assistance and backing, Burma would have no leverage with the
international community and would be unable to commit its human rights
transgressions against its own people.

There is no doubt that the regime’s senior leaders and hardcore members
were happy about the UN veto and interpreted it as a signal to adopt a
more aggressive policy towards dissidents and pro-democracy groups inside
Burma.

For instance, Industry Minister Aung Thaung, who is considered to be close
to Snr-Gen Than Shwe, is one of the key organizers of the thuggish attacks
on pro-democracy activists ,which have increased in number and ferocity
since the UN Security Council vote. The Irrawaddy has now learned that he
probably played a key role in last week’s attacks on civilians and
peaceful demonstrators.

Burma’s neighbors are not alone in preserving the regime. UN bureaucrats,
so-called peace-brokers and special envoys who have been jetting in and
out of Burma for decades, have also failed to achieve tangible results.

Moreover, the regime’s apologists, dim-witted scholars and “Burma experts”
brought the debate of sanctions and constructive engagement to the table.
The UN, international aid agencies and well-paid non-Burmese consultants
loudly discuss the humanitarian crisis in Burma and advocate the need for
urgent aid and assistance, while conveniently ignoring the fact that the
crisis and the refugee problems of Burma are a man-made disaster.

The UN’s special envoy on Burma, Ibrahim Gambari is soon to visit
Naypyadaw, where he is scheduled to meet Snr-Gen Than Shwe and top brass.
The visit is part of his routine schedule and has nothing to do with the
recent protests.

During his trip to Thailand last month, Gambari, who is UN
Secretary-General Ban Ki- moon's special Burma adviser, voiced hope that
there would be progress in Burma on several issues, including the release
of political prisoners. The irony is that on his next visit to Burma the
UN envoy will probably again talk about “progress.”

Twenty years ago, when young Burmese students took to the streets, they
naively hoped that the UN and the international community would help end
the suffering and military oppression.

Two of those young idealists, Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi both served long
prison sentences, and now they are back behind bars, together with many
arrested other activists and civilians. They are likely to receive severe
punishment for staging a peaceful protest. They’ll probably be comforted
by all these official expressions of concern about their plight and
condemnation of the regime—and resigned to the fact that none of these
well-intentioned statements will do anything to win their freedom.

____________________________________

August 27, The Nation
Uproar in Burma, silence in Asean

Rare public protests against hike in fuel prices indicate rare opportunity
to bring about change

The whole world has condemned the suppression of peaceful demonstrations
in Burma in the past week. The detention of leaders of the 88 Generation
Students by the military regime in Rangoon has also been taken up by the
United Nations, European Union and the international community. There have
been protests before in Burma, mostly small and sporadic since 1988, but
this time around the protests were bigger and prolonged. It was a
watershed in Burmese politics and could mark the beginning of the end of
one of the world's rogue regimes.

The Rangoon regime is used to suppressing its own people without worrying
about the consequences. After all, why should they? They have everything
under control with their armed security forces and thousands-strong
civilian gang - the Union Solidarity and Development Association - whose
members are on the streets ready to beat up democracy-loving people and
ordinary civilians at a moment's notice. For decades, the Burmese students
and people have wanted to express what went wrong in their society. They
could not do it. When the paranoid junta leaders decided to move from
Rangoon to Naypyidaw in 2005, the Burmese people were shocked.

They knew the junta leaders had spent a fortune to create the
Disneyland-like new capital. And to further burden the already tight
budget, the junta has grand plans to build a cyber city and, of course, a
nuclear plant. But the junta leaders do not have the kind of money they
claim to have. Revenues from gas and oil are not expected to come in
abundantly until 2010. What else was left but to end fuel subsidies and
further squeeze the ordinary people.

So when the junta decided to increase fuel prices, the Burmese people
decided they had had enough. Most of the people earn meagre incomes to
live from day to day. With the rise in fuel prices, the cost of food and
other necessities also shoot skyward. The prices of eggs and garlic have
increased by 90 per cent, meat by over 50 per cent. It means the people
have to spend at least 90 per cent of their income on food. How can they
survive like that? Ending the fuel subsidies will not bring the junta much
revenue anyway.

The International Monetary Fund has been advising the junta on how to
modernise its economic management and tax collection system. In normal
circumstances, the junta's latest move would have been considered sound
economic policy. But given the long-standing suppression and suffering of
the Burmese people, the fuel-price hike represents a small window to speak
out. It could be the straw that broke the camel's back. The students and
the public sensed correctly that the time had come to show solidarity on
the streets. If there was a lesson learned from the 1988 pro-democracy
uprising, it was that one must not look down on the suppressed and
hopeless Burmese people because they can rise up. The junta's spell was
broken.

As usual, Asean has been dead silent. Senior Asean officials are meeting
now in Singapore to finalise the draft of the Asean Charter, a document
meant to strengthen the grouping. But it is hypocritical for Asean to talk
about making Asean one community or one family. Since its admission in
1997, Asean has had traumatic dealings with Burma. The Burmese regime has
never behaved in a way that would enhance a close-knit Asean family. The
junta does not care a hoot what Asean thinks. When Thailand had a coup
last year, quite a few Asean leaders had strong views on Thai democracy.
When it comes to Burma, the leaders are more willing to keep their mouths
sealed. It would not be wrong to say that Asean has been always more
sympathetic to the Burmese junta. Obviously, a future collapse of the
junta would impact on the grouping's democratic space and openness. Asean
must have a clear awareness of Burma's situation. The group can no longer
sit idle. How can Asean be people-oriented and have a charter that is
people-centred if the current suppression of the Burmese people continues
without the grouping voicing strong concern?

____________________________________
STATEMENT

August 27, Asian Human Rights Commission
Burma: "Arrest" in Rangoon epitomises lawlessness of a country

The Democratic Voice of Burma radio has posted a video on its website that
vividly illustrates the true nature of the recent "arrest" of protestors
against the price hikes in fuels there. The footage, shot by an
unidentified person at around 1pm on 25 August 2007, shows at least six
unidentified plain-clothed men carrying protest leader Ko Htin Kyaw
struggling as he is literally lugged away and bundled into to a waiting
vehicle in the centre of downtown Rangoon, within sight of the famous Sule
Pagoda. The video can be viewed at:
http://dvb.cachefly.net/tv/all/htinkyaw.wmv

The film shows the undeniable reality that "arrest" in Burma today is
nothing other than state-sponsored abduction. Htin Kyaw and another man,
Ko Zaw Nyunt, had together been standing peacefully outside the Theingyi
market when they were taken. Had the authorities wished, they could have
sent uniformed police officers to make an arrest under any of the terms
set down in section 54 of the country's Criminal Procedure Code and taken
the two men on foot to the nearest police station. Instead, an unknown
gang, presumably consisting of ununiformed Special Branch police but
perhaps also comprising of other persons--such as members of the army,
quasi-government agencies, local councils and gangs organised by the
state--came out of nowhere to grab and drag off their quarry in the manner
of criminals.

The apprehension of Ko Htin Kyaw epitomises the lawlessness that is Burma
today. The Asian Human Rights Commission has for some time raised and
demonstrated through numerous detailed cases how, quite apart from its
completely empty rhetoric about democratisation and human rights, the
military regime there cannot even claim to subscribe to the tenets of its
own "law and order" agenda. Burma is neither a country of law nor order.
Contrary to the exterior image, it is a country whose population--from the
daily wage earners of the rundown industrial zones at its centre to the
villagers hiding in the jungles of its hinterlands--is subjected to
relentless, arbitrary violence and bullying, sometimes by known and
identifiable others, but often by nameless, unknowable assailants and
their abettors.

Regrettably, the international community has responded to the recent wave
of protest with deafening silence. Despite the risks to their lives and
liberty taken not only by the protestors but also by the persons
documenting and sending audio and video footage and written details
abroad, the reaction of the United Nations has been non-existent. The
European Union, normally a staunch and vocal supporter of human rights in
the country, has been little better: three short paragraphs from the
presidency on August 25 condemned the arrests but did not indicate that
the union would do anything more. Only the representatives of a few
individual governments have spoken out more strongly, but again given no
indication of any pending action.

As the generals have become used to such pathetic and worthless reactions
from abroad, no matter what they do, they will naturally feel no
compunction to continue using their nameless goons to drag people from
houses, buses and street corners. They will continue with the fraud that
has characterised all aspects of their rule, and the implementing of a
national agenda that has nothing to do with the interests of the people of
Burma, or even those, including law and order, to which they pretend to
subscribe.

The blatant and violent abduction of Htin Kyaw and Zaw Nyunt from the
street in Rangoon cannot be denied. The global community also cannot
afford to ignore it. Every one of those concerned international officials
should take a long hard look at this footage and then ask themselves what
sort of "arrests" they are "concerned" about. They must cease to pretend
that they are dealing with a government with whom "constructive dialogue"
can be had on "mutual engagement" and devise more determined strategies to
support the efforts of people in Burma themselves to see international
standards of law and rights given meaning in their country, with or
without the acquiescence of the state.

About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional
non-governmental organisation monitoring and lobbying human rights issues
in Asia. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

____________________________________

August 27, United Nations Office at Geneva
High Commissioner for Human Rights urges Myanmar authorities to release
student leaders and other protesters

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour issued the
following statement on Saturday, 26 August 2007:

"United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour,
expressed concern over reports that student leaders and other protesters
have been arrested by the Myanmar Authorities following a series of
peaceful demonstrations against the sharp increase in the prices of fuel.

The High Commissioner stressed that the freedoms of expression and
association are touchstones of human rights. Allowing greater space for
citizens to express their views and discontent will be essential in
fostering the way towards a democratic transition and reconciliation in
the country.

In this spirit, the United Nations High Commissioner called on the
authorities of Myanmar to immediately release those detained and to engage
in consultation and dialogue with the demonstrators on their concerns."

http://www.unog.ch/80256EDD006B9C2E/(httpNewsByYear_en)/8608E0954726E984C1257344003024F8?OpenDocument