BurmaNet News, August 29, 2007

[Editor]

August 29, 2007 Issue # 3279

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Security presence stifles protests in Myanmar's biggest city
AFP: Myanmar protests must draw wider public: analysts
Irrawaddy: Mandalay monk slams junta on demonstration crackdown
The Independent: Junta 'frees prisoners for anti-protest mobs'
Mizzima: Burmese authorities in hot pursue of student and youth leader Tin
Htoo Aung
DPA: Myanmar's National Convention writing final draft of constitution
KNG: Five Kachin teenagers inducted in Burma Army in Shan State
Narinjara News: Arakanese politician sentenced to 20 years in prison

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: KNLA commander's body found in river with bullet wound to head

REGIONAL
Bangkok Post: Sonthi to help peace process in Burma

INTERNATIONAL
AP: US comedian does public service YouTube video for Suu Kyi
Mizzima News: Japan to give over $1 million to cash-strapped WFP Burma
project

OPINION / OTHER
Irrawaddy: Uprising looms unless world community acts now on Burma
Bangkok Post: How to bring an end to Burma's civil unrest - Htet Aung Kyaw
Irrawaddy: Burma’s NLD leadership must take a stronger stand

PRESS RELEASE
Reporters Without Borders and Burma Media Association: Military
authorities use all means possible to prevent coverage of current events

STATEMENT
AHRC: Burma: What will it take for the UN to act?
WLC: Statement of WLC on Junta’s arrest of peaceful demonstrators

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 29, Associated Press
Security presence stifles protests in Myanmar's biggest city

Myanmar's military government employed menacing gangs of civilians to keep
watch at key points in the country's biggest city Wednesday as it sought
to crush a rare wave of protests by pro-democracy activists against fuel
price hikes.

While the protesters showed no sign of giving up, their movement — the
best organized and sustained in a decade — appeared to be sputtering as
the general public remained reluctant to join in.

Rumors swept the city of further planned protests despite the government's
strong-arm tactics, but no demonstrations were known to have taken place
Wednesday in Yangon, the country's commercial center.

"The struggle thus far is one-sided, with numbers, organization and will
in the hands of the rulers," Josef Silverstein, a Myanmar expert and
retired professor of Rutgers University in New Jersey, said earlier.

He predicted that under such circumstances the current wave of protests
could not last very long. Bystanders are reluctant to join the activists,
he said, because, "Everyone knows that to be arrested is to be punished
and jailed, tortured and even killed."

Demonstrations triggered by fuel price hikes began Aug. 19 and have
continued almost daily. Government efforts to crush the dissenters have
drawn international condemnation.

Tension was especially high at Yangon's busy Hledan Junction, where
security officials and their civilian auxiliaries clamped down Tuesday on
a protest within minutes of its start.

They pushed through crowds of onlookers to rough up about 15 demonstrators
before tossing them into waiting trucks to take them away for detention,
witnesses said.

Three trucks, each carrying about 20 tough-looking young men, were parked
on either side of the road Wednesday, watching for any protesters in what
has become a familiar scene on the city's streets over the past week.
About 20 plainclothes security officials roamed nearby sidewalks at the
intersection, a traditional site for protests.

Protests were said to have taken place in two or three other towns, but
information about them could not be independently confirmed.

The European Union presidency said in a statement Tuesday that it was
concerned about recent arrests of leading activists and the "decision to
detain individuals who were exercising their right to peaceful
demonstration."

Many of the protests have been spearheaded by members of detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for
Democracy.

A spokesman for the party, Nyan Win, said 20 of its members marched in
protest against the fuel hike Tuesday in the central town of Meikhtila
after attending a morning prayer session for Suu Kyi's release. He was
unable to say whether a new protest had been held there Wednesday.

"The group staged a peaceful protest, shouting slogans calling for a
reduction of the fuel price but no arrests were made," he said.

Mizzima News, an online news service operated by Myanmar exiles in India,
quoted Thein Lwin, an NLD official in Meikhtila, as saying the protesters
had been followed and photographed by people belonging to the
pro-government Swan Arrshin and Union Solidarity and Development
Association groups, but allowed to march unmolested.

Members of the two government-sponsored groups are widely believed to be
the civilians responsible for the violent swoops on protesters in Yangon.

Mizzima News also reported that hundreds of people protested for a second
straight day in Sittwe, the capital of Rakhine State in western Myanmar.
On Tuesday, 200 to 300 people, including many Buddhist monks, demonstrated
there.

Monks were active in past movements against British colonialism and
military dictatorship, and the government is said to have warned senior
abbots around the country against letting monks participate in the current
demonstrations.

Another report that university students in the city of Dawei, also known
as Tavoy, in southern Myanmar staged a protest Wednesday could not be
confirmed.

In 1988, public protests over rising rice prices were a prelude to a burst
of major demonstrations.

Those protests, which sought an end to military rule that began in 1962,
were violently subdued by the army, with thousands of people estimated to
have been killed around the country. The junta held general elections in
1990, but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's party won.

The Paris-based press freedom group Reporters Without Borders called on
European countries on Wednesday to publicly defend the rights of Myanmar's
journalists to work without obstruction.

It accused the junta of employing "heavy-handed repression, intimidation
and censorship" against the press.

____________________________________

August 29, Agence France Presse
Myanmar protests must draw wider public: analysts - Griffin Shea

Myanmar's junta is struggling to stamp out more than 10 days of protests
by pro-democracy supporters, but analysts said Wednesday that the rallies
could fizzle unless the wider public joins in.

Since some 500 activists staged a march through Yangon on August 19, small
protests have rippled through the nation's economic hub and across into
key provincial cities.

Even though more than 100 people have been arrested, including some of the
nation's top pro-democracy leaders, protesters continue to defy the threat
of beatings and arrests to attempt new rallies in Yangon.

The question now, analysts say, is whether other parts of society will
also take to the streets of the impoverished country formerly known as
Burma.

"The problem is the activists alone cannot continue this. They will be
arrested and arrested until they disappear," said Thailand's former
ambassador to Myanmar, Asda Jayanama.

"If they manage to be the rallying point and draw out the crowd... that
would have a good effect. But if the people have the same apathy in Burma,
then activists alone can only do so much," he said.

The military, which has ruled Myanmar for 45 years, tolerates no dissent.
Plainclothes police and pro-junta militia are patrolling the streets of
Yangon to quickly break up the demonstrations, which have remained small.

In at least three provincial towns, where security is lighter, hundreds of
people have marched in the streets and received only official warnings.

On Tuesday, scores of Buddhist monks joined a protest in the key port city
of Sittwe, which is a hub for Myanmar's growing petroleum industry.

Myanmar analyst Win Min said activists believe they have popular support,
but that he was unsure if the public was ready to risk their lives by
joining the protests.

"People are clapping from the roadsides, from the apartments. That I think
is significant," he said. "The activists know the people support them, so
they will be encouraged."

Memories of a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 remain strong in Myanmar. As
with the current protests, that movement began as a demonstration against
the nation's crushing economic conditions.

Soldiers opened fire on the crowd, killing hundreds if not thousands. The
student leaders who spearheaded the uprising were sentenced to more than a
decade in prison, but several have been released over the last three
years.

Top leaders of the earlier uprising, including Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi,
were arrested again last week for organising the rally on August 19.

Debbie Stothard, of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma pressure group,
said activists still fear the military could start shooting at any time.

"A lot of activists and observers are both excited and also concerned that
we're going to have another '88 on our hands, and like '88, we're
concerned about the military's use of force," said Debbie Stothard.

"If people still keep on demonstrating, even though the ring leaders have
been taken, the regime may actually panic and start shooting."

Most analysts say it is too soon to say whether the protests will achieve
the scale of the 1988 uprising.

Many of the middle-class government workers who might have joined rallies
moved two years ago to the new administrative capital Naypyidaw, some 400
kilometres (250 miles) away.

Win Min said the protesters would have to convince other other groups,
such as factory workers and especially Buddhist monks, to join the
rallies.

"There are many people supporting them, even though they don't dare to
participate," he said.

Monks, who have a special role as cultural standard-bearers in Myanmar,
could have a great impact if they start taking to the streets, he said.

"The authorities have to listen to the monks. When the monks join, it's
very difficult for the military to crack down," Win Min said.

____________________________________

August 29, Irrawaddy
Mandalay monk slams junta on demonstration crackdown - Shah Paung

The violent crackdown on demonstrations by Burma’s ruling junta following
a steep rise in fuel prices drew criticism on Wednesday from a senior monk
in Mandalay.

 “It is like we [Burmese] are daubed with soot and fight against each
other,” a senior monk from the Ma Soe Yein Monastery in Mandalay told The
Irrawaddy on Wednesday on condition of anonymity.

The monk was referring to the government’s use of plainclothes officials
and pro-government civilians to bully and detain protesters during
peaceful demonstrations intended to express their dissatisfaction over
fuel price hikes and the resulting spike in transportation and commodity
costs.

“If the government doesn’t have the skills or ability to do something, it
should hand power over to someone who can,” the monk said.

So far, there have been no demonstrations or associated violence in
Mandalay, according to the monk. He added that if there were, the city’s
monks would not be silent or stand idly by.

“For the benefit of the people, monks will not ignore the true,” the monk
said. “Everyone wants to see our country develop. We will do what we
should do if the opportunity arises.”

The monk’s criticism of the government followed a request on Sunday by
Maj-Gen Khin Zaw, the Burmese military commander of Mandalay Division,
that the city’s monks avoid participating in or supporting the recent
demonstrations.

Throughout Burmese history, the country’s monks have taken an active role
in political dissent and public efforts to stand up for the needs of the
people.

On Tuesday, about 200 monks in Sittwe in western Arakan State staged a
peaceful demonstration by marching for several hours through the city. The
protest ended peacefully and without interference from local authorities
or their civilian proxies.

A resident in Sittwe told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that two men were
arrested by authorities for providing drinking water to monks during the
demonstration.

Since August 19, members of the pro-democracy 88 Generation Students group
and the National League for Democracy have led several small protests in
Rangoon and other cities across Burma to express their outrage over a
massive rise in fuel prices as well as a concurrent rise in the cost of
commodities and transportation fees.

____________________________________

August 29, The Independent
Junta 'frees prisoners for anti-protest mobs' - Daniel Howden

Burma's military junta has been freeing prisoners from jail and then
recruiting them to bolster gangs that have been used attack prodemocracy
activists on the streets of Rangoon, campaigners and diplomats say. Before
last week's protests, the government released hundreds of prisoners in
preparation for the arrest of dozens of activists whoa are campaigning
against the country's soaring inflation and lack of political process, it
is claimed.

Sources suggest, although there is no proof, that the prisoners may have
been recruited to join the shadowy Swan Aah Shin or "capable strong
person" or-ganisation."It's an underground organisation and I don't know
who would admit to it existing, but it exists and it exists in force, and
it has been evident over the last week," one diplomat told Reuters.

"Basically, they are junta-backed thugs. They come from anywhere, and are
the unemployed underclass. And they've been really effective - they are
threatening. Everywhere you go, there are groups and truckloads of
grubby-looking men looking bored and looking for a fight." The claims came
as campaigners again took to the streets of Rangoon yesterday but were
only able to march a short way before being set upon by pro-government
gangs. Many were punched as they were dragged away and thrown into waiting
trucks.

A former political prisoner, Su Su Nway, took part in the protest but
managed to escape arrest in a taxi with several colleagues. "Peaceful
protests are brutally cracked down upon and I want to tell the
international community that there is no rule of law in Burma," she told
reporters.

Although she has a heart condition, the 35-year-old said she believed it
was her duty to join the protests since so many other activists had been
arrested and detained by the government last week. About 60 are believed
to still be in jail. "I will continue to stand in front of the public and
I am ready to face government persecution," she said. Campaigners have
said that, in the past week, the government has been boosting its military
forces in the capital, raising fears that troops could be used against
protesters - much as they were in 1988 when scores of people were killed.

So far, however, the government has been using the Swan Aah Shin, believed
to be organised by the military-created Union Soli-darity and Development
Association (USDA). While the Swan Aah Shin operates mainly in Rangoon,
the USDA and its networks of informers cover the provincial parts of the
country.

Meanwhile, Buddhist monks were among up to 300 people who took part in a
separate protest yesterday in the city of Sittwe, capital of Burma's
western Rakhine State. A report on the website of Democratic Voice of
Burma, an opposition radio station based in Norway, said the protest had
lasted for at least an hour without government interference.

____________________________________

August 29, Mizzima News
Burmese authorities in hot pursue of student and youth leader Tin Htoo Aung

The residence of student and youth leader Ko Tin Htoo Aung has been raided
and searched by Rangoon Special Branch Police and members of the Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA).

An ethnic Arakan, Ko Tin Htoo Aung, who actively participated in the 1996
student movement, resides on Oat Kyin Station Road in Rangoon's Hlaing
Township. Authorities reportedly raided and searched the residence of the
student activist twice.

Tin Htoo Aung's aunt said more than twenty persons, including a police
commander, the ward chairman, members of USDA and Swan Arrshin, and
Military Affairs Security (MAS) personnel raided the house.

"They said they wanted to interrogate and arrest him. They warned me, as a
government employee, to be careful. I told them I live with integrity as a
government employee. And I also told them that I am about to retire," Tin
Htoo Aung's aunt told Mizzima.

On both August 24th, at about 11:00 p.m. (local time) and on August 25th,
early in the morning at about 2:00 a.m. (local time), authorities forcibly
entered the residence of Ko Tin Htoo Aung without any warrant and searched
the entire house.

"The boy is a disciplined boy. They [authorities] said they wanted to ask
him a question and when I asked them what it was about, they did not
reply. They just searched the whole house, even his [Tin Htoo Aung's]
room. When we asked them to show us the warrant they could not. It is sad
the boy has had to flee. I want justice. He is just a young boy," said Tin
Htoo Aung's aunt.

____________________________________

August 29, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar's National Convention writing final draft of constitution

Myanmar's constitution-drafting process will be concluded next week,
supposedly paving the way for an eventual election in the military-run
state, delegates said Wednesday.

Delegates attending the National Convention in Nyang Hna Pin camp, on the
outskirts of Yangon, said the final session was scheduled to wrap up on
Monday, although authorities have yet to confirm the date.

The session began on July 18 with 1,058 military-appointed delegates in
attendance. It's conclusion comes at a time of growing signs of discontent
with Myanmar's military rulers, especially for mishandling the economy.

A decision to double fuel prices on August 15 has sparked angry
demonstrations in Yangon, the former capital, and led to crackdowns and
over 100 arrests over the past 10 days.

It is likely that Myanmar's ruling junta will use the conclusion of the
national convention to calm discontent with the promise of an eventual
election in the country which has been under military rule since 1962.

The National Convention - dubbed a "sham" by many western observers and
Myanmar's chief opposition party the National League for Democracy (NLD) -
was launched on October 2, 1992, to draft a new charter for the country
which had by then been under military rule for the past 30 years.

The military argued that a new constitution was necessary before it could
hand over power to a civilian government, a manoeuvre that was quickly
seen as a ploy to hang on to power in the aftermath of the 1990 general
election which the NLD, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, had already won by a
landslide.

The convention process, stalled in 1996 by an NLD walkout, was resurrected
in 2004 as the first step in the junta's "roadmap" to democracy.

There have been five sessions since 2004, at which most of the crucial
articles on the constitution, such as providing a dominant role for the
military in the next government and how to handle power sharing among
Myanmar's myriad minority groups, have been settled.

At the final session the role of political parties, declaration of state
of emergency, creation of the national flag, national emblem and national
anthem and amendments were discussed.

The junta has yet to set a date for the country's next polls.

Myanmar's military has been universally criticized for holding a general
election in 1990 and then ignoring its outcome for the past 17 years. The
regime has also kept NLD leader Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate and the
daughter of Myanmar independence leader Aung San, under house arrest for
nearly 13 of the past 18 years.

____________________________________

August 29, Kachin News Group
Five Kachin teenagers inducted in Burma Army in Shan State

Five Kachin teenaged schoolboys in Man Ping village near the Sino-Burma
border in Northeast Shan State were forcibly recruited last Saturday by
the Burma army, said villagers.

According to the boys' parents, Mangshang La Awng (16) Hpauje Ma Yaw (14)
and three 15 year old boys - Lamu La Doi, Mwihpu Ma Naw and Ma La were
forcibly detained after being picked up from their homes near midnight .

The recruitment drive is being conducted by a local Burma military post
near Man Ping controlled by No.322 Light Infantry Battalion (Kha Ma Ya)
based in Laukkaing under the Northeast Military Command (Ya Ma Kha) with
the help of Mong Baw militia leader Du Doi, said villagers.

One of the teenagers' parents told KNG today, they are extremely worried
about their fifteen-year-old son Ma La. They have no idea whether he was
killed or alive. They learnt that their son was with the Burma Army but is
reportedly missing whereas the other four boys have been sent to the
Northeast Command Headquarters for military training in Lashio Town.

There are over 60 Kachin families in Man Ping village which is situated
near Muse Town, the main Sino-Burma border trade zone of the country in
Northeast Shan State . They have been forced to send a total of 15 young
men to the Burma Army, local villagers said.

Fresh recruitment is on by the Burma Army in the villages along the
Sino-Burma border near the Muse trade zone since last Saturday, according
to locals.

Renewed recruitment is also being done by the local Burma military bases
in Kachin State and Sagaing Division in Northern Burma, said local
sources.

There is a military recruitment rule which allows both single and married
young men of the ages of between 18 and 35 years to be recruited but the
army ignores the rule, said local sources.

The ruling junta is famous for using child soldiers and there are now more
than 50,000 child soldiers in the country' army, according to regional and
international Child Rights Groups' figures.

____________________________________

August 29, Narinjara News
Arakanese politician sentenced to 20 years in prison

Rangoon: An Arakanese politician belonging to the Arakan League for
Democracy, the third winning party in the 1990 Burmese elections, was
sentenced by the military authorities to 20 years in prison last month,
said his relative in Rangoon over the phone to Narinjara.

"He was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment in Insein jail without a chance
to defend himself or allowed lawyers," he said.

Ko Ban Chan Pru, (54), was arrested from his house in South Okkalarpa
Township in Rangoon on January 22, 2007 on suspicion of having connections
with an opposition group in exile.

The arrest came after two Arakanese youth had been arrested by authorities
on their way to the Thailand border from Rangoon.

Ko Ba Chan Pru's relative said the authorities reportedly found a letter
from Ko Ba Chan Pru to an Arakanese opposition group in Thailand in the
possession of the two youths.

The authorities arrested Ko Ba Chan Pru from his house in Rangoon for
having sent the letter to the exiled Arakanese group and six months later
sentenced him to 20 years in prison.

Ko Ban Chan Pru is not only a member of the Arakan League for Democracy
but also a member of the United National Alliance, an ethnic alliance
group.

The Burmese authorities have not made an official declaration of the 20
year sentence of the politician; family members only received word of Ko
Ba Chan Pru's long prison term from the prison authorities.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 28, Irrawaddy
KNLA commander's body found in river with bullet wound to head - Shah Paung

The body of the commander of the 18th Battalion of the Karen National
Liberation Army was found with a bullet wound to the head in the
Haungthayaw River in Kawkareik Township of Karen State on August 20.

The commander, Lt Col Kyi Linn, was reported missing by the Karen National
Union 6th Brigade on August 16, amid speculation that he had been involved
in a boat accident. His body was found entangled in fishing net.

He had been shot in the head, according to a lieutenant colonel in the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army who asked to remain anonymous.

He said there are suspicions the commander was killed by his own soldiers.
The DKBA broke away from the KNU in 1995.

Mahn Sha, the general secretary of the KNU, said the KNU has not confirmed
the events surrounding Kyi Linn's death.
Pictures of the body were widely available in the Burmese community in Mae
Sot, Thailand.

Anonymous sources said unconfirmed reports speculate that he was shot by
business partners in the logging business or by his own soldiers over a
leadership dispute.

Kyi Linn was heavily engaged in the timber business, and he had also been
holding meetings with officials from the Burmese State Peace and
Development Council, the DKBA and other groups.

Kyi Linn owned two houses in villages near Kawkareik, but he usually lived
at a home in Thounzethounsu Village. Villagers in the area are reluctant
to speculate about how he died.

A former KNU soldier who lives in Kawkareik said Burmese army soldiers
have repeatedly questioned him about the death, trying to establish the
circumstances.

Kyi Linn was interviewed by The Irrawaddy on August 15. He said he had met
with Lt Col Min Chit Oo of the Burmese Southeast Military Affairs Security
department on August 11. He said he was not considering any plan to
surrender to the Burmese military government.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 29, Bangkok Post
Sonthi to help peace process in Burma - Wassana Nanuam
To encourage rebels to talk, but won't mediate.

Army commander Gen Sonthi Boonyaratkalin has agreed to help bring peace
between the Burmese junta and armed ethnic groups in Burma. Gen Sonthi
said that during his two-day visit to Burma he accepted a request from the
Burmese military to help the junta reconcile with ethnic groups such as
the Karen National Union (KNU) and the Shan State Army (SSA).

He had promised to do everything he could to encourage the rebel groups to
come to the table and talk with the Burmese government.

''We have helped create harmony in Burma quietly and we do that with
sincerity. We would like to see peace between them so that our country can
be peaceful as well,'' said Gen Sonthi, also the chairman of the Council
for National Security.

Residents near the border are frequently troubled by incursions from Burma.

The army chief declined to elaborate on how he would help. He said only
that he would not act as a mediator in the peace progress, otherwise the
Thai army could be viewed as getting involved with ethnic minorities. ''We
will let them do the talking because they are people of the same
country,'' Gen Sonthi said.

An army source said the army chief had ordered troops along the
Thai-Burmese border to prevent Burmese minorities from launching
anti-government campaigns on Thai soil. If they do not comply the military
will not let them move freely along the border.

The military is also urging minorities to cooperate with the Burmese
government and share benefits from the exploitation of Burma's rich
natural resources.

Gen Sonthi had also instructed battalion commanders to befriend the
Burmese soldiers so that border problems will be easier to solve, the
source said.

Gen Sonthi's visit was his third to Burma as army chief. He met Snr Gen
Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), and
Gen Maung Aye, deputy SPDC chairman and the Burmese army chief.

Gen Sonthi said they discussed the border situation as well as Burmese and
Thai political issues.

Gen Than Shwe and Gen Maung Aye were very satisfied with Thailand's
handling of policies towards Burma during his two years as army chief, he
said.

The policies include the decision not to support Burmese minorities. This
was why there had been no border problems in the past two years, said Gen
Sonthi, who will retire at the end of next month.

He assured Burma that his successor would follow the same policy.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 29, Associated Press
US comedian does public service YouTube video for Suu Kyi

Actor-comedian Jim Carrey has made a straight-to-YouTube video. And it is
not funny at all.

The 45-year-old Carrey—in a rare serious mode—appears in a new public
service announcement on behalf of the Human Rights Action Center and the
U.S. Campaign for Burma. The goal: To free Nobel laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi, who has been confined by Burma's ruling military junta for 11 of the
last 17 years.

"Even though she's compared to a modern-day Gandhi or Nelson Mandela, most
people in America still don't know about Aung San," Carrey says in the
filmed message, posted Tuesday on YouTube.

"And let's face it: the name's a little difficult to remember. Here's how
I did it: Aung San sounds a lot like `unsung,' as in unsung hero. Aung San
Suu Kyi is truly an unsung hero."
Suu Kyi, who is under long-term house arrest in the city of Rangoon,
received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her nonviolent efforts to bring
down the military regime that rules over the Southeast Asian country.

The regime, led by Gen Than Shwe, has destroyed more than 3,000 villages
in eastern Myanmar, also known as Burma—forcing more than a 1.5 million
people to leave their homes—and recruited more child soldiers than any
other country in the world, Carrey says in the video.

"People around the world need to come to her aid, just as they supported
Mandela when he was locked up," said Jeremy Woodrum, a co-founder of the
U.S. Campaign for Burma, in a statement Tuesday.

"This announcement contributes to an upsurge in activism around Aung San
Suu Kyi in the United States and throughout the world," he said.

____________________________________

August 29, Mizzima News
Japan to give over $1 million to cash-strapped WFP Burma project

Japan has agreed to supply approximately $1.1 million toward the World
Food Programme's (WFP) money-starved project targeting vulnerable persons
and families in Burma, according to the WFP and the United Nations.

The funds are "critically needed" by the cash-strapped operation,
according to a statement released today by the United Nations on behalf of
the WFP.

In a country where one-third of the population is believed to subsist
below the poverty line, "WFP food assistance activities provide an
essential lifeline for thousands of impoverished and marginalized
communities," says Chris Kaye, WFP country Director and Representative.

Currently in the first of its projected three years of supplying
desperately needed food stores, the total projected cost of the program is
listed at $52 million. However, inclusive of the latest donation from the
Japanese government, a mere $11.6 million has been raised to date.

According to the WFP, at risk populations are especially vulnerable at
this time of the year, during the monsoon and prior to the next harvest.

At present the WFP's Burma program benefits communities in Shan and
Rakhine States, as well as Magway Division, reaching some 55,500
beneficiaries.

The project is conducted in coordination and cooperation with 20 partner
organizations.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 29, Irrawaddy
Uprising looms unless world community acts now on Burma

Burma’s repressive regime is once again, and assuredly not for the last
time, cracking down violently on its own people as they engage in peaceful
protests. And again, the oppression has prompted statements of
condemnation and concern from the international community, notably the UN,
US and EU.

Unfortunately for the people of Burma, however, the world body is too
concerned with another geo-political agenda, the fight against
international terrorism, to react effectively to the military regime’s
systematic state terrorism against its own population.

The regime’s use of state-organized thugs to crack down on peaceful
demonstrations in Rangoon and other cities against drastic increases in
the price of fuel and other staples is a violation of existing laws. These
physical attacks on innocent civilians are clearly terrorist acts
committed by the state itself.

No legal action has yet been taken as a consequence of these attacks, even
though the thugs wear no uniforms and have no legal authority to beat and
detain other members of the public. The regime actually names these thugs
“dutiful citizens.”

At its 99th plenary session on September 8, 2006, the UN condemned
“terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever,
wherever and for whatever purposes.”

The resolution on the “United Nations Global Counter-Terrorism Strategy”
stated that “acts, methods and practices of terrorism in all its forms and
manifestations are activities aimed at the destruction of human rights,
fundamental freedoms and democracy.”  By this definition, the Burmese
junta’s use of organized groups of thugs to attack peaceful demonstrators
is nothing short of terrorism.

Yet, while such terrorist acts are deemed to constitute one of “the most
serious threats to international peace and security,” the only response to
emerge from the world body are statements of concern and condemnation.

The regime’s use of bullies in plainclothes to counter democracy movements
actually began in 1996, when thugs armed with swords, iron bars, sharpened
bamboo sticks and catapults attacked the motorcade of pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi as she returned from a visit to the late National League
for Democracy leader Kyi Maung.

Aung San Suu Kyi was again the target of regime-backed thugs in 2003 when
her motorcade was attacked near Depayin Township, resulting in the violent
deaths of scores of NLD members and innocent civilians. The perpetrators
have never been brought to justice.

Among the international reactions to the latest outrages, an appeal has
been directed to the British government by the opposition Conservative
Party, calling on it to bring the issue immediately before the UN Security
Council.

Such a move by Britain could, theoretically, result in the UN spotlight
falling on the situation in Burma, since Rule 2 of the Provisional Rule of
Procedure of the Security Council states: “The President shall call a
meeting of the Security Council at the request of any member of the
Security Council.”

But the chances of the British government taking it this far are slim,
following the failure of the joint US-British proposal on Burma that was
vetoed by China and Russia, two UN Security Council members with business
interests and close relations with the Burmese generals.

The Burmese regime knows full well how weak the UN is in the face of the
combined might of China and Russia, and feels free to step up its
oppression at home, caring nothing for international criticism and
pressure.

In the present state of affairs, Burma’s peaceful transition to democracy
won’t occur while extreme militarism and state-sponsored terrorism hold
the country in sway. The world community will surely see another bloody
uprising unless international efforts are urgently stepped up to tackle
the Burma issue concertedly and effectively.

____________________________________

August 29, Bangkok Post
How to bring an end to Burma's civil unrest - Htet Aung Kyaw

Burma's recent history is repeating itself with the 88 Generation Students
group once again leading an uprising. But the question that remains now is
how this demonstration will end - at the negotiating table with the
military junta, as the UN recommends, or in uncontrolled bloody civil
unrest, as happened in 1988.

On August 15, the government, which holds a monopoly on fuel sales,
doubled the price for diesel from 1,500 kyats (Bt40) to 3,000 kyats per
gallon, and raised the price of gasoline (petrol) to 2,500 kyats. The
price of a 65-litre canister of natural gas was raised from 500 to 2,500
kyats.

Authorities made these increases without any public announcement and most
people only found out about them when they were asked to pay double their
usual bus fare. Many bus services were suspended and hundreds of commuters
could be seen lining up at bus stops. In addition, students could not go
to school, workers were unable to go their factories, and monks were late
for their meals. Pandemonium reigned.

"It is very hard to understand their [the military junta's] mindset and we
were all shocked when we heard the news," said Khin Maung Nyo, an
economist in Rangoon. Fuel prices should have been increased step by step
rather than by this sudden drastic move, he suggested. "Anyway, I wish the
authorities would make an adjustment to it as soon as possible".

His wish has not been realised. "This is challenging us," shouted Htin
Kyaw, leader of the Myanmar Development Committee. He has been detained
often in recent months for protesting over the high price of commodities.
He has demanded that authorities cancel the fuel price increases within
seven days - "otherwise they must face our forces" he said in a telephone
conversation with the Democratic Voice of Burma.

Five days later, more than 500 people led by the 88-Generation Student
group staged a rare protest in Rangoon, marching against the fuel-price
hike. "We are staging this performance to reflect the hardships our people
are facing due to the government's fuel-price hike," Min Ko Naing, leader
of the 88-Generation Student group told the Democratic Voice of Burma.


>From then until now, the fearless youths have led demonstrations in

Rangoon, and these have spread to other parts of the country even though
authorities arrested Min Ko Naing and a dozen of his followers.

"Today, we, the 88-Generation Students, will jointly be staging protests
together with democracy activists," said Htay Kyew, one of the remaining
figures of the group now hiding in Rangoon. "Members of the National
League for Democracy, monks, students who are currently attending
universities, and people who love the country and want to see change in
Burma, please join us," he told the Democratic Voice of Burma from his
hiding place by cell-phone on Friday.

While activists have been brave enough to protest, neither MPs nor
high-profile officials have joined the current demonstrations.

"We have no plan to rally publicly rally, although we have sympathy for
them," said Nyan Win, a spokesperson for detained opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). However, members of his
party's youth wing have led the demonstrations and dozens have been
arrested.

Hla Myo Naung, another 88-Generation Students group leader also in hiding,
said that the NLD were representatives of the people and "they must
understand what people need now".

However, the NLD's aged leading figures have not been in much of a rush to
act in the current situation, though they did issue statements.

"Using violence to crack down on the protests will not provide a solution
to the hardships people are facing today... These problems can only be
solved when political parties and the government can discuss this together
to find an answer," the statement said.

United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon released a statement last
week calling on the military to respond to peaceful demonstrations with
restraint as protests spread across the country. "The secretary general
calls on the authorities to exercise maximum restraint in responding to
any demonstrations, and encourages all parties to avoid any provocative
action. He calls for a constructive dialogue towards national
reconciliation at this important time in [Burma's] history," the statement
read.

The UN leader's statement followed similar calls from the US, UK, Norway
and human-rights groups earlier this week. The US State Department's
director of press relations Gonzalo Gallegos told reporters in Washington
on Wednesday: "We call on the regime to engage in a meaningful dialogue
with the leaders of Burma's democracy movement and ethnic minority groups
and to make tangible steps toward a transition to civilian democratic
rule."

However, Asean countries, China, India, Japan and other parts of the world
continue to remain silent.

How should this situation be brought to an end?

There are three ways in which the current unrest could end:

1) The protests will not be supported by enough people and, also lacking
the support of MPs, it will end unsuccessfully with all leading activists
arrested;

2) A sufficient number of people join the current demonstrations but some
of them disobey their leaders' commands and fight back against
pro-government mobs attempting to beat them. The authorities might bring
in police and army forces and if that happens, the current unrest could
lead to uncontrollable bloodshed;

3) A sufficient number of people join the protests and MPs from the NLD
use these demonstrations as pressure to to push the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) to the negotiating table, as all are
requesting.

The time is now running out for the correct choice to be made. This is not
only in the demonstrators' hands but also in those of leading politicians
from the NLD and ethnic parties. But even more, the crisis is in the hands
of the SPDC. Either side may, in addition, need suggestions or
intervention from the UN-led international community.

Htet Aung Kyaw is a senior journalist for the Oslo-based Democratic Voice
of Burma radio and TV station.

____________________________________

August 28, Irrawaddy
Burma’s NLD leadership must take a stronger stand

The current series of rarely-seen protest demonstrations in Burma against
sharp fuel price rises are small in scale but have nevertheless won
support and sympathy locally and internationally. The protests have mainly
been led by prominent activists of the 88 Generation Students group and
rank-and-file members of the opposition National League for Democracy.
Sadly and ironically, however, they received no substantial support from
the NLD leadership.

NLD Secretary U Lwin confirmed in a recent interview that the protests
were small scale and said they were not the way to solve the country’s
problems. He seems to forget how the 1988 nationwide pro-democracy
uprising began—also on a small scale, initiated by scattered protests by
groups of young students. U Lwin’s assessment of the current protests
echoes utterances of the junta’s apologists.

There are only two sides to this issue—dissent and consent. While the
junta has tried to crack down on the protests, the Burmese people and most
pro-democracy groups within and outside Burma have supported the
demonstrators.

It’s not at all surprising that the protesters have been brutally attacked
by the military and its mob, while earning only depreciation and
diminution from the junta’s apologists. But it’s odd and sad to hear
negative and discouraging comments from the leadership of the NLD, which
committed itself to restore democracy and work for the welfare of the
people.

“We will stage demonstrations if they can solve our problems,” U Lwin told
Washington-based Radio Free Asia’s Burmese service on Aug 25—but then
added: “In fact, they won’t be solved just through protests.”

U Lwin also questioned the degree of support for the protest
demonstrations. “How many people are protesting in Rangoon and across the
country?” he asked. “There are many people who don’t take part. How can we
measure if they [the protests] are an expression of the majority?”

U Lwin missed the point, failing to recognize that those small groups of
protesters had taken to the streets knowing they would be brutally beaten
and thrown into jail.

U Lwin’s broadcast comments uncovered within the Radio Free Asia audience
deep frustration with the leadership of the NLD, contrasting with the
support it has built up, both in the Burmese community and
internationally, for its stand against the military dictatorship.

The NLD has been under fire since its foundation in 1988. The regime has
tried to destroy its work and has harassed and imprisoned most of its
leaders. Currently, the party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and Vice Chairman
Tin Oo are under house arrest.

It is the junta’s job to destroy or hamper the work of the NLD and the
pro-democracy movement; the military leaders are only doing what they have
to. The NLD, on the other hand, has to adopt the same kind of
single-mindedness in carrying on its work in the face of difficult and
dangerous circumstances.

It’s the NLD’s job to make the party stronger, more organized and able to
conduct party business despite the obstacles imposed by the generals.
Otherwise, the party is not doing what it is supposed to do.

We have sympathy for the party’s executive leaders, many of whom face and
have faced detention. Most of them are in their 70s and 80s. They have
strong commitment to the movement. But to be frank, this does not qualify
them to be seen as leaders of the party.

They are not doing enough politically, apart from trying to keep the party
alive in the absence of their leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The NLD’s senior
leadership seems to regard itself as the “caretaker” of the party,
although it has no mandate from the people.

In the 1990 election, more than 80 percent of the voters gave a huge
mandate to the NLD to continue to carry out its task of tackling the
economic and political problems of the country.

Now, however, it cannot be the party’s current political goal just to keep
itself alive. What will the NLD leadership do as long as Aung San Suu Kyi
is under house arrest? Nobody knows how long the junta will keep her
detained. Besides, will the party carry on, and as what, if Aung San Suu
Kyi is gone?

In his Radio Free Asia interview, U Lwin said the party had been working,
within the limits imposed by the junta, on demands for dialogue. On
Monday, the NLD issued an outspoken statement condemning the junta’s
brutal attack on the protesters. But it needs to do more than that.

The current NLD leadership has the responsibility to lead the movement.
Instead, it is the rank-and-file members of the party who have bravely
come out in protest against the regime, without any command of their
leadership.

The NLD’s critics take the line: “Without Suu Kyi, the party is nothing.”
It should not, and must not, be like that. The party, its members and the
public at large need reliable leadership.

The example of South Africa comes to mind. When the head of the African
National Congress, Nelson Mandela, was in prison, its other leaders were
able to carry on the movement.

Without Aung San Suu Kyi or other leaders like her, the opposition
movement in Burma must continue under a strong leadership. If the NLD
leadership seriously thinks it has to change its policy with reflecting
the desire of the people, it’s time for change at the top.

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

August 28, Reporters Without Borders and Burma Media Association
Military authorities use all means possible to prevent coverage of current
events

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association firmly condemn
the methods being used by the military government to prevent journalists,
including those working for foreign media, from covering a wave of unrest
in response to an increase in the price of fuel. The two organisations
call on European embassies in Rangoon to publicly defend the right of
Burmese journalists to work without obstruction.

“The military’s response to the wave of protests against price increases
since 19 August has again been heavy-handed repression, intimidation and
censorship of Burmese journalists,” the two organisations said. “Despite
the violence by the military and their bully-boys, reports and pictures of
the demonstrations are being seen abroad. This testifies to the courage of
the Burmese journalists and demonstrators.”

The censorship bureau and the police stepped up controls after the
government decided to raise the price of fuel on 15 August.

The Burmese correspondents of foreign news media say they been subjected
to a great deal of intimidation from plain-clothes police and members of
the Union Solidarity and Development Association (the regime’s militia)
while covering the recent demonstrations in Rangoon. Armed with spades and
iron bars and circulating in army trucks, police and militiamen have been
insulting and threatening journalists.

An unidentified journalist was roughed up by men in plain clothes as he
took pictures of people lining up to take public transport in the capital
on 22 August. USDA members and police prevented journalists from
approaching a group of street demonstrators in Rangoon the next day. USDA
thugs jostled and insulted journalists. A Reuters reporter was forbidden
to take pictures of arrests and the police finally seized his cameras.

As a result of this intimidation, Agence France-Presse has described
coverage of the current events as “delicate.” A journalist working for a
foreign news organisation based in Bangkok told Reporters Without Borders
that its Burmese stringer had been forced to stay away from the
demonstrations because of the constant intimidation.

“Men in plain clothes impose an atmosphere of fear around the
demonstrations which prevents us from working,” said one Burmese
journalist employed by a foreign news organisation. “It is hard to risk
being arrested for a photo.”

The Rangoon military command has banned journalists from taking photos of
demonstrations and has ordered the seizure and destruction of cameras from
those who do not comply. In order to hamper the dissemination of reports,
the authorities are said to have slowed Internet traffic, even for private
companies. According to some accounts, it has become increasingly
difficult to access gmail.com and gtalk. Mobile phone networks have also
been disrupted since demonstrators began gathering every day in Rangoon
last week.

Lots of the images and reports of the demonstrations seen abroad have come
from demonstrators or amateur journalists. The magazine Irrawaddy has paid
homage to them and is talking of the emergence of “citizen-journalists” in
Burma.

After banning the Burmese media from publishing any reports about the
demonstrations, the government announced that their leaders, known as the
Generation 88 activists, will be prosecuted for trying to start an
uprising. They face up to 20 years in prison. After a 10-day news
blackout, the media have also been told they can now refer to the fuel
price increase, albeit only in positive terms.

____________________________________
STATEMENT

August 29, Asian Human Rights Commission
Burma: What will it take for the UN to act?

To the surprise of many, the protests against sharp fuel rises in Burma
have continued for a second week, despite constant arrests and harassment
of demonstrators and their leaders by plain-clothed police, government
officials and gangs of thugs mobilised for the purpose, while soldiers are
reported to be watching and waiting in the wings in case events prove
uncontrollable.

The protests have now spread to parts of at least six out of the country's
14 states and divisions, and for the first time members of the Buddhist
monastic order have come out in force: over 150 monks and novices marched
in the capital of the western Arakan State on 28 August 2007, joined by
another 50 to a hundred ordinary citizens. Fittingly, they chose to walk
along U Ottama Street, named after a monk from the region who led the
struggle against British colonial rule and was imprisoned with hard labour
for three years as a consequence.

Meanwhile, another 500 persons marched peacefully across Pegu, north of
Rangoon, where further sporadic protests that were held outside of market
places in downtown and suburban areas were met with violence and persons
were taken away in the by now omnipresent Dyna flat-back trucks that are
being used in lieu of vehicles with official markings. Courageous
individuals have video taped many of the marches and abductions of
participants, and have sent the images abroad for the world to see.

What can no longer be denied is that there is in this the spark that could
ignite another mass uprising against Burma's atrocious military regime. As
virtually all of the leaders from the initial protests after the
unannounced August 15 price hike are now in illegal detention, it is clear
that the continued rallies are not being organised through any one group
or body of leaders but rather are an expression of deep and swelling
resentment at the army government. The marches in Sittwe and Pegu in
particular were organised by local monks and ordinary citizens and did not
apparently include among them any of the prominent leaders from the 1988
generation who began walking in Rangoon on August 19, or their allies.

Persons who have so far denied that the current protests bear a
resemblance to those of 1988 also appear to have forgotten that the mass
demonstrations of that year did not happen overnight: on the contrary,
they slowly built up over a period of about six months, and were spread
over about a further five months before being crushed through the use of
undisguised sheer brutality of an unexceptional scale.

One of the differences between then and now is the capacity for news to be
spread outside and inside the country with unprecedented speed and
coverage. Every small incident is known to persons outside of Burma within
hours of it taking place, and is soon broadcast back into the country via
the short wave radio services that keep the population informed of what
their government does not wish them to hear. These same services report in
detail on the reaction of the international community, and reports of
strong interest from abroad serve to galvanise the spirit and efforts of
people there.

Unfortunately, the world leaders who speak so often about democracy and
human rights appear not to understand this. Since its open letter of
August 24 calling on the Secretary General of the United Nations to take
intervene in the worsening situation in Burma, the Asian Human Rights
Commission (AHRC) has received messages from people in all parts of the
world asking why the UN has so far sat on its hands.

The AHRC is asking the same question: ironically, the fleeting expressions
of concern by the Secretary General and High Commissioner for Human Rights
about the current situation in Burma have served no purpose other than to
give further confidence to its dictatorship. It has heard such remarks
countless times before and will no doubt be reassured that yet again empty
rhetoric is all that the United Nations has to offer its fifty million
long-suffering people. And not only the UN but also other multilateral
agencies, notably the European Union, deserve criticism for the complete
lack of timely and meaningful intervention at this critical time.

The Asian Human Rights Commission iterates its call for firm and
deliberate action by the United Nations on Burma: now, today. It proposes
that the Secretary General and High Commissioner each call urgent strategy
meetings with concerned personnel and informed advisers--not merely
persons with diplomatic credentials but those who know what is actually
going on in the country--to discuss and propose immediate steps. It also
echoes calls for an emergency session of the Security Council to be held
on the same, as the consequences of the recent hikes in prices will under
any circumstances have ramifications for the region.

Finally, the AHRC earnestly calls upon concerned fellow members of the
public everywhere to lobby their governments to act, before it is again
too little, too late for Burma. It is confident of the genuine interest in
their wellbeing among other ordinary persons throughout the world, and is
convinced that if the global popular outrage at what is happening there
today can be translated into strong demands upon representative
governments for a unified and coherent response to these events then this
will make a big difference: in fact, it could be the difference between
survival and disaster for the people of Burma.

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 29, Women’s League of Chinland
Statement of WLC on Junta’s arrest of peaceful demonstrators

1)	We, the Women’s League of Chinland, condemn Burma’s military regime for
its unreasonable increase of fuel prices, which is causing extreme
hardship for ordinary people.

2)	We also condemn the Junta’s ongoing arrests during 22nd to onwards
August 2007 of activists who were peacefully demonstrating against the
economic mismanagement of the regime.

3)	We condemn the regime for making the lives of women insecure whether
they are at home or on the streets, in Rangoon or other parts of Burma.

4)	We strongly condemn the arrest and harassment of unarmed women
demonstrators who were followed by the regime’s gangs to their residences
and raided at night, a time of increased vulnerability for women.

5)	We are concerned for the security of the women and the consequences for
the families of the women who have been arrested, detained and harassed.

6)	We demand that Burma’s military regime release all these women,
prominent student activists Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Kyi and other student
activists and allow people to practise freedom of expression in Burma.

7)	We request the international community to take stronger action against
the regime for harassing unarmed civilians and the United Nations Security
Council to take action on Burma.

8)	We request the government of India to reconsider their ties with
Burma’s military regime. It is a shame for India to engage with a regime
that has acted so undemocratically against its own civilians.

9)	We salute the spirit of the people inside Burma who are consistently
fighting against the brutal regime despite the risks of being threatened,
arrested, detained and tortured.

To contact:

0091-9436383265 - Cheery Zahau (Coordinator)
0091-9862358097- Lalmalsawmi (Asst. Coordinator I)
0091-0871520833- Mai Nu Nu Ping (Asst. Coordinator II)

Copy to: 1) The Chief Minister of Mizoram and other members of House of
Assembly
              2) Members of Rajya Sabha and Lok Sabha of India