BurmaNet News, January 12-14, 2008

[Editor]

January 12-14, 2008 Issue # 3379

INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: KNU and regime trade charges over bomb attacks
AP: Myanmar junta blames foreigners for recent bomb blasts
Mizzima News: Burma bomb blasts aims to bring back unity among the
military: Analyst
Mizzima News: Frequent meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi vital: NLD
Los Angeles Time: Monk's words stir the spirit of Myanmar's resistance
DVB: Rangoon municipality removes CCTV cameras
Irrawaddy: Junta to sell teachers mobile phones as ‘Bonus’
SHAN: From Orphan to Soldier, another life in Shan State

BUSINESS / TRADE
Irrawaddy: New gem auction scheduled in Rangoon

HEALTH / AIDS
Irrawaddy: Japan supports health care in Burma
Associated Press: Grants to help refugees from Myanmar obtain health care

REGIONAL
Mizzima News: Civil societies urge Indonesia to stand tough on Burma

INTERNATIONAL
Pretoria News: SA mag joins panty plan to oust Myanmar junta

OPINION / OTHER
Boston Globe: Burma's unlucky number 8 [editorial]
Open Democracy: India and Burma: time to choose - Meenakshi Ganguly
Mizzima News: Bully at the home: Demoralized Burmese Military regime -
Aung Thu Nyein

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 14, Irrawaddy
KNU and regime trade charges over bomb attacks - Wai Moe

The Burmese regime and the Karen National Union (KNU) have traded
accusations of responsibility for three bomb attacks over the past three
days.

Two people died and several were injured in the attacks in Rangoon,
Naypyidaw and Pyu in Pegu Division.

Passengers ride a train near Mandalay. A blast at a railway station in
Burma's main city of Rangoon has injured a woman [Photo:AFP]

In separate reports on the attacks, the regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light
of Myanmar, blamed “terrorist saboteurs” from abroad and a KNU
“insurgent.” It said the accused “insurgent” had died while planting the
Pyu bomb.

KNU spokesman David Taw denied the organization had anything to do with
the attacks. Only military personnel with experience of explosives could
plant such devices, he told The Irrawaddy.

“When something [like this] happens in Burma, they [the junta] accuse
dissident groups, such as the KNU, the SSA [Shan State Army-South], the
KNPP [Karenni National Progressive Party], based on the Thai-Burmese
border,” Taw said.

The junta had been unable to track down those responsible for previous
bomb attacks, he said—“then we are easily accused.”

The first bomb exploded last Friday at the main railway station of
Naypyidaw, the Burmese capital. One woman died in the blast.

A second bomb exploded on Friday at a football ground in Pyu Township,
near the site of a circus.

The third bomb exploded near the ticket office of Rangoon’s main railway
station on Sunday. The New Light of Myanmar reported that a 73-year-old
woman was injured by the blast, although an eyewitness said at least two
people had been hurt.

The New Light Myanmar said: “Terrorist saboteurs have been sent into the
nation across the border together with explosives to perpetrate
destructive acts under the scheme of a group from abroad.” It did not name
the accused group.

In its report on the Pyu bomb, The New Light of Myanmar said: “A KNU
insurgent, [aged] about 25, was killed when the bomb he was planting to
detonate exploded prematurely. People nearby seized a US-made 0.22
revolver in a holster [and] 20 rounds of ammunition.”

The New Light of Myanmar claimed the dead man was a member of the KNA’s
Third Brigade.

The KNU has been fighting for half a century for autonomy for Karen State.
It is the only major ethnic rebel group not to have agreed to a ceasefire
with the junta.

In May, 2005, a series of bombs exploded in two supermarkets and a
convention center in Rangoon, with an official toll of 19 dead and 162
injured. It’s thought that the real toll is higher.

Information Minister Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan claimed at a Rangoon press
conference: that it was “crystal clear” that the perpetrators and the
bombs “originated from training conducted with foreign experts at a place
in a neighboring country by a world-famous organization of a certain
superpower nation.” The “certain superpower nation” was understood to be
the US and the “world famous organization” consequently the CIA.

Analysts said the attacks could only have been carried out by well-trained
operatives. Some believed that since the ouster of military intelligence
chief Gen Khin Nyunt in October 2004, enemies of the junta had been
planning to take advantage of internal conflicts and possible security
lapses.

____________________________________

January 14, Associated Press
Myanmar junta blames foreigners for recent bomb blasts

Myanmar's ruling junta blamed a string of recent bombings on a foreign
organization and called on the public to report any sightings of
terrorists, a state-run newspaper said Monday.

Three bombings in different parts of Myanmar since Friday have killed two
people and wounded five.

"Information has been received that a foreign organization has sent
terrorist saboteurs with explosives across the border to perpetrate
destructive acts inside the country," the Myanma Ahlin newspaper reported.
Articles carried in Myanmar's tightly controlled state-run media closely
report the government line.

The junta "urged the people to come forward" with any information about
perpetrators of the attack, the newspaper said, stepping up calls from the
weekend for the public to cooperate with officials to expose alleged
terrorists.

The junta routinely blames acts of violence on foreigners, including last
year's street rallies led by Buddhist monks that the government suppressed
with a violent crackdown. After troops fired on peaceful protesters in
September, the junta accused Western powers and the foreign media of
fomenting the protests.

Several newspapers have said that recent blasts were made possible by
"U.S.-made explosives." The United States and European Union countries,
all of which have widened sanctions against Myanmar, draw frequent
criticism in state-run media.

A blast Sunday in a public bathroom at a railway station in Yangon,
Myanmar's commercial capital, wounded a 73-year-old woman.

There were no immediate claims of responsibility for Sunday's blast or the
two that occurred Friday.

One of the bombs Friday exploded at a railway station in the junta's new
administrative capital, Naypyitaw, killing a 40-year-old ethnic Karen
woman, according to newspaper reports.

Another bomb Friday hit a circus in the northern rural township of Pyu,
injuring four civilians and killing an ethnic Karen man, believed to be a
separatist rebel who allegedly planted the explosive, state media reported
Sunday.

The Karen National Union has been fighting for half a century for greater
autonomy from Myanmar's military government. It is the only major ethnic
rebel group not to have agreed to a cease-fire with the junta.

Terrorism is rare in Myanmar, which has been under military rule almost
continuously since 1962.

The government often blames political opponents and ethnic rebels for
bombings but has never produced firm evidence.

______________________________________

January 14, Mizzima News
Burma bomb blasts aims to bring back unity among the military: Analyst -
Maung Dee

The recent bomb blasts in Burma including former capital Rangoon could be
the junta's plot in an effort to re-unite its military, which reportedly
suffers a rift during the crackdown on protestors in September, analysts
said.

Since last Friday, three bombs have reportedly exploded in various places
of Burma including its commercial hub Rangoon and its new administrative
head, Pyinmana, killing at least two and injuring five people, the
government-owned New Light of Myanmar said.

The government's quick reaction in pointing fingers at the Karen National
Union (KNU) an ethnic Karen armed rebel groups based along the eastern
borders, could be another way of finding 'common enemy' to re-unite the
military after it has reported a rift on the brutal treatment of
protesting monks in September, Htay Aung, a Thailand based Burmese
analyst.

"It is like a tradition in the army to find a common enemy for unity as
there are disagreements among themselves. Earlier they [the junta] would
declare the Burma Communist Party [BCP] as common enemy and later the
west. Now it looks like they are targeting the KNU in order to divert the
attention," Htay Aung said.

On Friday a small bomb exploded at the toilet of Pyinmana railway station,
near the junta's new jungle capital Nay Pyi Taw, killing one woman. In the
evening of the same evening, another bomb exploded at a filed in Phyu town
of Pegu division, killing one person and injuring three women and a child,
the New Light of Myanmar said.

Further on Sunday, a bomb exploded near the Rangoon railway station
injuring a woman, the paper. The paper accused all the three incidents to
be instigated by the KNU members and warned the people to be aware and to
inform of any suspects.

However, the KNU denied any involvement in al the three incidents and
rejected all allegations as false and bias.

Pado Manh Shar, general secretary of the KNU said, "Our policy is not to
harm innocent people. And since we did not give any orders to carry out
such activities, we strongly reject all this allegations."

Win Min, another Burmese analyst in Thailand said, while the culprit
behind the bomb explosion cannot be confirm, the junta might be quick in
blaming the KNU in an effort to provoke a sense of patriotism among the
army and bring back unity.

"If the military feels that there is an enemy, it is easier to unite. So,
it might be possible that the junta wants to put this sense by declaring
the KNU as a common enemy for the military," Win Min added.

The Burmese military, which has maintained an un-broken rule of more than
45 years in Burma, was reported to have suffered a rift among the low
raking soldiers on its hard handedness on protestors led by monks in
September.

While the rift and power struggle between Burma's top two military men,
Snr. Gen Than Shwe and Vice Snr. Gen Maung Aye, has been reported for
sometimes, the September event was the first rift it suffered among low
raking soldiers, who were reluctant to brutally suppress the highly
revered Buddhist monks.

"If any group [armed insurgents] wants to explode bombs, why would they
want to do it in toilets and in dustbins? They would directly place their
bombs near their target. So, to me I think the junta has purposely placed
the bombs," Htay Aung added.

____________________________________

January 14, Mizzima News
Frequent meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi vital: NLD - Than Htike Oo

Burma's chief Opposition party today said there was need for frequent
meetings with detained pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, for
discussions on the future course of political negotiations with the ruling
junta.

Following the fourth meeting between Burmese junta's Liaison Minister Aung
Kyi and detained party leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday, spokesperson
of the National League for Democracy (NLD), Nyan Win, said they would like
more frequent meetings with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as it was crucial for the
party leadership to plan the process of negotiation.

"Though we do not see any prospect for a meeting with her [Aung San Suu
Kyi], as a party we should be allowed to meet frequently to discuss
matters related to the party. So, we are hoping that such a thing would be
allowed," Nyan Win told Mizzima. Details of the last meeting between the
Burmese democracy icon and the junta's relation officer remains unknown,
he added.

Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who was last arrested in May 2003, met
her party leaders – Aung Shwe, U Lwin, Nyunt Wai and Nyan Win, for the
first time – on November 9, 2007, after more than four years.

The NLD leaders, during their last meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
discussed measures with regard to Junta Chief Snr Gen. Than Shwe's demands
and the situation after the September protests, Nyan Win said.

In a rare statement issued following the bloody crackdown on protestors in
September, Junta head Senior General Than Shwe said he was personally
willing to meet the detained Burmese pro-democracy leader, if she
abandoned "Confrontation", gave-up "obstructive measures" and stopped her
support for "sanction" and "utter devastation".

In what seems to be the first response to Than Shwe's demands, Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi, in a statement released through the visiting UN special envoy
Ibrahim Gambari, expressed her desire to cooperate with the ruling junta
for national reconciliation and also welcomed the junta's appointment of a
liaison officer and hoped that the meetings between them would be
fruitful.

However, the government, in December said it was ready to go ahead with
its planned roadmap to democracy and would not allow any other group to
derail the process, which it claimed would lead to democracy.

Aung Naing Oo, a Thailand based Burmese analyst, said, "It is very much
possible that the junta will continue to hold meetings with Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, while not bothering to produce any results. Like what we have
seen in the National Convention, which the junta used to buy time and
delay the process of negotiation for about 14 years."

Aung Naing Oo said the current talks could be another of the junta's ways
of delaying the process of political reforms.

"Even after rounds and rounds of talks, it is very much possible that
there would still be no results. Even now, some observers are of the
opinion that the junta is holding the meeting as a preparation for the
next visit of UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari," Aung Naing Oo added.

During a press conference in Burma's new Jungle capital, Nay Pyi Taw, on
December 3, the junta's Liaison Minister Aung Kyi said, the first meeting
with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was to gain an understanding of one another, the
second was to discuss the framework for the future, while the third was to
discuss the facts that should be included in the framework.

However, so far the junta has made no announcement of the fourth meeting
with the Burmese opposition leader.

____________________________________

January 14, Los Angeles Time
Monk's words stir the spirit of Myanmar's resistance - Paul Watson

Cloaked in allegory and drawing on history, his lectures give Buddhists
hope after a bloody crackdown by generals.

Sagaing, Myanmar -- In one of his most talked-about lectures, Buddhist
monk Ashin Nyanissara tells the legend of a king who ruled more than 2,500
years ago. The king believed that spitting on a hermit brought him good
fortune.

At first, it worked like a charm, but before long his realm was
annihilated under a rain of fire, spears and knives.

Today's audiences easily find the hidden message: The assault by Myanmar's
military government on monks leading protests last fall looks like a
modern version of the ancient monarch's abuse. And they hope the ruling
generals will suffer the same fate.

In the recent crackdown, many monks were beaten and defrocked in prison.
Human rights activists say several monks were among the 31 people the
United Nations says were killed by the government.

It was a traumatic wound to a mainly Buddhist society, one that forced a
lot of soul searching among people who practice one of the oldest forms of
the religion, which emphasizes critical thought and reasoning over blind
faith.

The stern-faced Nyanissara, a 70-year-old monk in owlish glasses and a
maroon robe, is able to stare down generals with chests full of medals by
stepping carefully through the minefield that makes free speech lethal
here.

Shielding himself with allegory, he crisscrosses the country giving
lectures that draw on history and legend to remind people that rotten
regimes have fallen before. As the generals try to crush the last remnants
of resistance, he is cautiously keeping the fire alive.

But he knows it isn't the first time in 45 years of military rule that the
government has attacked monks who challenged its absolute authority. In at
least four previous crackdowns, dating back to 1965, the military rounded
up thousands of monks, killing some, defrocking others, while closing
monasteries and seizing property.

Each time, the brutal repression outraged many people, but in the end they
felt powerless to do anything about it, the crises passed, and the
generals continued to oppress with an iron fist.

It's the nature of any government's leaders to "strongly test their
political power. They don't want to lose it," he said in a recent
interview at the International Buddhist Academy, which he founded in this
riverside town whose forested hills the faithful believe Buddha walked on
his path to enlightenment.

"But in any faith, when politics and religion come into competition,
religious leaders always defeat anything. Religion is the leader. Jesus
Christ was killed, but which was more powerful? Religion or politics?"

The institute sits in a valley beneath the Sagaing Hills, where hundreds
of golden spires, called stupas, rise like spiritual beacons from
monasteries and pagodas that dot the hillsides, 12 miles southwest of
Mandalay.

The first monks to demonstrate against the government last year took to
the streets in Pakokku, 60 miles southwest of Sagaing.

Still trapped in the latest cycle of political turmoil, many of Myanmar's
people are looking to Nyanissara for more than spiritual guidance.

At midday recently, he had just returned from addressing hundreds of the
faithful in a village pagoda and was hurrying to leave for an afternoon
lecture, a daily routine that keeps him constantly on the move to meet the
demand for his wisdom.

Barefoot in a corridor of the university where student monks and nuns are
trained for missionary work, the monk ran a disposable razor over his
tonsured head and down across his face and neck, removing the faintest
midday stubble as he spoke.

Then, flanked by young aides and walking as straight and sure-footed as a
man half his age, the monk got into his black sport utility vehicle, which
sped on a 110-mile journey to his next stop.

Nyanissara draws large, rapt audiences wherever he goes, whether they are
poor villagers crowded into small monasteries or city residents sitting in
orderly rows on a side street.

On a recent night, a few thousand people filled a street in Yangon,
Myanmar's largest city, sitting quietly as they waited for the monk to
arrive.

When he emerged from his SUV, people bowed their heads to the ground as he
made his way to a stage, where he sat cross-legged on a gilded chair as
big as a throne.

In large public gatherings such as these, when the generals' spies lurk in
the audience and listen for any hint of trouble, his lectures are often
built around the same lesson: Cruel rulers create bad karma. And they will
suffer for what they have done.

That's a moral not easily shrugged off by a government whose leader,
Senior Gen. Than Shwe, is intensely superstitious: He consults astrologers
to make important decisions.

The ruling generals also churn out propaganda images portraying themselves
as devoted Buddhists, receiving the blessing of sympathetic monks. If
their faith is true, they know their actions will determine their next
life in reincarnation's endless cycle of death and rebirth.

"They have to be afraid they'll be coming back as cockroaches,"
wisecracked one Western envoy.

Several of Nyanissara's lectures have been burned onto DVDs, with titles
such as "Last Days of Empire." The generals have arrested people caught
selling them, but they are still widely available across Myanmar, also
known as Burma.

"The DVDs are very popular," the Western diplomat said. "A lot of people
have mentioned watching them, or knowing of them."

To most people here, the pain of seeing monks beaten up in the streets is
more than just an insult to religious faith. To many, it's as if the
military had harmed their own family, and the anger does not ease quickly.

Almost any Buddhist with a son has watched with pride as his head is
shaved to make him a novice monk in an initiation ceremony called
shin-pyu, a moment as life-defining as a baptism, christening or bar
mitzvah.

It is a religious duty for Buddhist boys to become novice monks from age
7, and most in Myanmar answer the calling, Nyanissara said.

Just as Buddha left his own family to seek enlightenment, they live in a
monastery for a few weeks, during which they are allowed to have only
eight possessions: a robe, a belt, footwear, a razor, an umbrella, a glass
for water, a begging bowl and a filter to make sure no living thing slips
into their food to be eaten.

"They learn morality and how to pay respect to their elders, and Buddhist
monks too," said U Kondala, abbot of a monastery with a library of 16th
century copies of Buddha's laws and philosophy, handwritten on palm fronds
folded like Chinese fans. "After understanding the ways of the Buddha,
they are more polite and clever, and consider the welfare of other
people."

Novices return to normal life with a profound respect for monks who were
their teachers. When thousands joined protest marches last fall, their
chants gave comfort to people who had known them since childhood.

"All of the monks who came out of the monasteries into the streets only
recited verses from the teachings of the Buddha," Kondala said. "The
people are suffering, they are getting poorer and poorer, so the monks
wanted to protect them against any danger."

Nyanissara said the region surrounding Sagaing is now home to one out of
every 10 of Myanmar's 400,000 monks, robed legions that listen carefully
to his lectures to see the right path ahead.

"It's a very big army," the monk said, and he laughed a little. But he
wasn't smiling.

____________________________________

January 14, Democratic Voice of Burma
Rangoon municipality removes CCTV cameras

Closed circuit television cameras installed at busy traffic junctions in
Rangoon have now been removed by the city authorities due to high
maintenance costs, said sources.

An official from the Rangoon city development committee said the CCTV
cameras were installed in Rangoon at the beginning of 2007 as part of a
more effective surveillance system in the former capital, but only lasted
10 months before vanishing in October.

"There is no budget for maintenance of the equipment," said the official,
speaking on condition of anonymity.

“It’s not only the cameras - the two LCD traffic warning signboards near
the Sedona hotel and Inya lake bank have been broken for some time as well
and there have been no repairs yet,” he said.

"I think the authorities are embarrassed to take them down as it hasn't
been long since they were installed."

The official said this kind of technical equipment was not suitable for
Rangoon, where electricity is not consistently available.

A Rangoon taxi driver said the CCTV cameras previously installed at Sule,
Shwebontha, Kokkine, Hle Dan and 8-mile junctions in Rangoon have now
disappeared.

"The traffic police already have to harass drivers on a daily basis
because of the need to earn extra money to cover their force's costs,”
said the driver.

“It would be a struggle for them to also bear the burden of maintaining
the CCTV cameras."

____________________________________

January 14, Irrawaddy
Junta to sell teachers mobile phones as ‘Bonus’ - Min Lwin

Burmese authorities are in the process of offering 7,000 senior assistant
teachers in state high schools in Rangoon Division a chance to buy GSM
mobile phones at below market value, according to a teacher from No.1
Basic Education High School in Dagon Township.

“The authorities will give the teachers a permit so that they can buy the
phones for 1,550,000 kyat (US $1,200),” said a teacher who asked for
anonymity. “Now they [the authorities] are collecting a list of teachers
from the headmasters of the schools.”

Selling the teachers GSM mobile phones at a price below market value is
seen as a “bonus” or reward from the authorities and a way to encourage
loyalty to the military government, said one teacher.

A teacher in North Okalarpa Township confirmed to The Irrawaddy on Monday
that teachers will pay 1.5 million kyat and an additional 300,000 “for
welfare” to the No.3 basic education department that is in charge of the
schools and teachers.

Currently, a GSM phone costs around $1,700 (2.1 million kyat) on the black
market.

“If some teachers don’t want to have the phone, they can sell the permit
on the black market,” said the teacher.

“It seems the generals are trying to ‘buy’ teachers’ loyalty,” said one
Rangoon resident.
“They [the authorities] want the teachers to help to keep the students in
check.

“The GSM phone is an award for the teachers because they did not encourage
the students to join the monk-led protests in September.”

The 1988 democracy uprising was led by university and high school students.

Meanwhile, a teacher in Prome, Min Min, was sentenced to three years in
prison for his involvement in a human rights workshop in July 2007.

Traditionally, teachers and authorities are at odds. Teacher salaries are
low, and they are prohibited from offering private tutoring classes.

There are nearly 6,000 high school teachers in Rangoon Division, serving
in 2667 schools.

____________________________________

January 14, Shan Herald Agency for News

>From Orphan to Soldier, another life in Shan State - Antonio Graceffo


He lives his life surrounded by landmines, trapped on one side by Burmese
soldiers who would kill him if they had the chance and on the other side,
by Thai police who would arrest him as an illegal alien. His entire world
is approximately two miles long and eighty feet wide, along a fortified
ridge top, where the soldiers, orphans, widows, amputees, and refugees,
men, women, and children wage a defensive war, praying for the day that
the SPDC reign of terror will end.

Tong Yi is only 21 years old, but he has seen more than many people twice
his age. In 1986 the SPDC burned his village and drove the villagers out.

“It sounded like a battle, but only one side was shooting. We didn’t have
any weapons. Soldiers were shooting the men who ran away.  Some people
were captured and made to work as porters. Like slaves, they had to work
for free, carrying weapons and ammunition to kill other Shan people.”

“The SPDC soldiers gang raped some girls in our village. I saw SPDC take
one woman, 40 years old, and raped her. They tied her up in the house and
burned it.”

Tong Yi’s parents were away from the village, out in the rice fields, so
today, he doesn’t know if they are alive or dead. He has one brother who
would be twenty-five now, but they haven’t had any contact since that
terrible day, more than ten years ago.

“Some villagers went to city, some to the jungle, others escaped to
Thailand.”

Shan monks found Tong Yi in the jungle and took him to Thailand.

“It took us three months walking through the jungle to get to the border.
Every morning, the monks went begging for food and they shared it with
me.”

Tong Yi spent the next five years serving as a novice monk in a Wat in
Thailand. At the temple Tong Yi learned to read for the first time.

“Back in the village, we didn’t have a school.”

There are approximately 1.5 million Shan people living in Northern
Thailand, where they are referred to as Tai Yai, belonging to the Tai
ethnic group. Many of the military and political leaders inside of Shan
State received their education at temples in Thailand. Thai is a lingua
franca among the Shan nationalities (ethnic groups living within Shan
State include Pa-o, Palaung, and Lahu). The monks at Tong Yi’s temple were
Shan, so they were able to teach him Shan literacy in addition to Thai.

For most boys from Shan State, the only opportunity to learn to read and
write their native tongue is either at the school in Loi Tailang or a Shan
temple on the Thai side of the border.

The Shan spoken language is about 60% similar to Thai, so it was not
difficult for Tong Yi to become fluent. The two languages use distinct
alphabets, which although both derived from Pali (Sanskrit) are extremely
different. Tong Yi learned to read Thai as well as Shan, which is a great
accomplishment.

“The Thai police don’t ask children for an ID card. But once I turned 15 I
had to leave Thailand.”

Since his village was gone and his family was dead, Tong Yi went to live
at Shan State Army (SSA) headquarters, at Loi Tailing. On the military
base there is a temple, a school with nearly 1,000 students (250 of whom
are orphans), and a village for IDP Internally Displaced Persons, which is
currently giving shelter to 350 families.

At age 15, Tong Yi entered a school for the first time in his life. In Loi
Tailang, however, it is not unusual to see teenagers attending elementary
school, since most of them didn’t have a school in their village before
coming to live under the protection of the SSA army. Some boys are as old
as 24 when they finish high school.

For the most part, once people have taken refuge at Loi Tailang, it would
not be safe for them to return to Burmese controlled areas. If the SPDC
knew that these people had been to Loi Tailang they would be subject to
arrest, torture, imprisonment, and possibly execution because they have
had contact with the rebels. Most of the Shan don’t have a Burmese
identity card anyway, so returning to the interior of Burma to work or
attend university wouldn’t even be a possibility.

Fortunately, an outside NGO established the SSSNY, School for Shan State
Nationality Youth, a kind of college open to the best and the brightest of
any ethnicity living in Shan State. The school is fully sponsored by
donations and only accepts a limited number of students. Tong Yi was lucky
enough to qualify for one of 36 spots. This year, because of budget and
security problems, only 24 Shan youngsters will have the opportunity to
attend SSSNY. Said another way, only twenty-four children, of the nearly
8.5 million inhabitants of Shan State will have access to higher
education.

Lack of access to education is just one more human cost of this long and
destructive war, which has been ragging in secret for more than forty
years.

In the nine month long SSSNY course, Tong Yi and his classmates attended
intensive classes, taught entirely in English, with foreign teachers.

Many of the students were orphans. Others didn’t know if their families
were alive or dead.

“They have no contact with their family. Farmer families don’t know about
telephones.”

Thanks to the kind intervention of the foreign teachers, one SSSNY student
was reconnected with his younger brother he hadn’t seen since his parents
were murdered. The boy was now 16 years old, but living a terribly
difficult life as an exploited undocumented alien.

“His brother was alive, but working illegally as a construction worker in
Thailand. He was earning exactly enough to eat but couldn’t save anything
and had no education.”

Tong Yi speaks excellent English now and works for the foreign department
of the Shan State government. He is extremely bright and enjoys reading.
He has an insatiable curiosity about the outside world, but because he is
officially a stateless person, his reality is limited to the confines of
Loi Tailang.

Tong Yi wanted to send this message out to the world.

“I hope some day all Shan people will have freedom and peace. I hope the
American people will help us. Now we are waiting for the US or other
countries to come to help. We are far away from the international
community, so very few foreigners can come here. That is why we are
suffering at the hands of the SPDC.”

The Shan have respect for Thai king and for Thailand but the other group
they talk about is the Americans. To a man, they have all asked me when
the Americans will come to help them.

I didn’t want to tell them the Americans won’t come until the Shan
discover oil.

Antonio Graceffo (USA): Host, writer, and fixer for American television
Adventure and martial arts author, Antonio Graceffo has lived in Asia for
more than  six years, publishing four books, available on amazon.com and
several hundred articles in magazines and websites around the world. He
has worked as a consultant and writer for shows on the History and
Discovery Channel and appears on camera in “Digging for the Truth,” and
“Human Weapon.” For the last several months, Antonio has been embedded
with the Shan State Army rebels in Burma. Antonio is host of the web TV
show, “Martial Arts Odyssey.” The latest episode, shot inside of Burma
with the Shan State Army, is running on youtube, click here. 
http://youtube.com/watch?v=rCjNaHnk7Jw  Antonio is the author of four
books available on amazon.com Contact him Antonio at speakingadventure.com
see his website www.speakingadventure.com

Checkout Antonio’s website http://speakingadventure.com/

Get Antonio’s books at amazon.com
The Monk from Brooklyn
Bikes, Boats, and Boxing Gloves
The Desert of Death on Three Wheels
Adventures in Formosa

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 14, Irrawaddy
New gem auction scheduled in Rangoon - Violet Cho

Amid criticism and boycotts of Burma's popular gem and precious stone
auction by International activists, the Burmese military government will
again hold a gem show from Tuesday to Saturday in Rangoon.

Human Rights Watch released a statement recently calling for a boycott of
the gem auction and urged consumers and merchants not to buy jade, rubies
and other gems from Burma until the military government ends its
oppression, which is partly supported by gem sales.

“Sales of rubies and jade help to bankroll Burma’s repressive military,”
said Arvind Ganesan, the director of the Business and Human Rights Program
at Human Rights Watch. “Consumers should insist that their jewelry is not
made with Burmese gems.”

The show is organized by the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Company
Ltd, a Burmese military corporation.

According to Human Rights Watch, the holding company is owned by the
Ministry of Defense and members of the armed forces. Several senior
military officers are included on the board of directors.

“Burma’s generals are counting on gem sales to help pay for their abusive
rule,” Ganesan said. “They deserve to be disappointed.”

The Burmese regime used deadly force in response to peaceful protests by
monks, pro-democracy activists and civilians in August and September of
last year. Hundreds of protesters remain in detention centers.

In its statement, Human Rights Watch suggested consumers ask gem sellers
about the origin of the jewelry they sell and decline to buy from dealers
who are not able to offer informed answers or who are unwilling to
identify the country of origin of the gems in writing.

According to the Myanmar Gems Enterprise, the government received about US
$300 million from the sale of gems in fiscal year 2006-2007.

Burma jade sales alone is one of the country’s major sources of foreign
exchange, ranking fourth in exports in fiscal year 2005-2006 with sales of
US $205 million.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

January 14, Irrawaddy
Japan supports health care in Burma

Japan has pledged US $1.79 million to support a project for the
improvement of maternal and child health care services in Burma.

In a ceremony at the Sedona Hotel in Rangoon on Monday, a Memorandum of
Understanding concerning the grant aid of the Japanese government for the
project was signed between the Japanese ambassador to Burma, Yasuaki
Nogawa, and Ramesh Shrestha, representative of the United Nations
Children’s Fund in Burma.

According to a press release by the Japanese embassy in Rangoon, the
Japanese government will provide grant aid of $1.79 million for: the
purchase of rapid test kits and medicines to treat malaria; vaccines for
measles and tetanus; essential medication and equipment for reproductive
health care; and other maternal and child health care. The press statement
said the material will be distributed to township hospitals and rural
facilities in Burma through UNICEF, in collaboration with the Burmese
regime.

In his remarks, the UNICEF representative said, "This latest pledge will
support our collective effort to protect Myanmar's [Burma’s] children
against vaccine-preventable diseases, malaria and other fatal diseases,
and save their mothers from pregnancy-related deaths."

"UNICEF will ensure that this assistance will target those most in need,"
added Shrestha.


>From 1999 to 2006, the government of Japan already provided a series of

assistance packages for seven consecutive phases of those same projects,
amounting to some $31.9 million, according to the Japanese ambassador.

Japan, one of the largest donors to Burma, in October cancelled nearly $5
million in aid in protest at the military's bloody crackdown on peaceful
demonstrations, in which 31 people died, according to a UN official,
including Kenji Nagai, a video journalist for Tokyo-based APF News, who
was shot dead on September 27 as he filmed the crackdown in Rangoon.

Burma spends just 0.3% of its gross domestic product on health, the latest
UN figures show, while economic sanctions by the United States and the
European Union leave the country as one of the developing world's lowest
recipients of foreign aid.

____________________________________

January 14, The Associated Press
Grants to help refugees from Myanmar obtain health care

Northeastern Indiana charities bracing for another wave of refugees
fleeing Myanmar's repressive regime say $133,000 in grants from Catholic
Charities will help provide health care to the often sickly new arrivals.

Catholic Charities, the local State Department-approved refugee-sponsoring
agency, expects about 30 refugees to arrive in Fort Wayne in early
February from Myanmar, also known as Burma.

Those arrivals will be the first of an estimated 800 to 1,000 new refugees
from Myanmar who will settle in the city this year, said Debbie Schmidt,
executive director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Fort
Wayne/South Bend.

"We have a massive amount of refugees coming in," said Schmidt, who was in
Washington, D.C., last week to lobby for additional aid for Catholic
Charities and other local agencies serving the refugees.

Fort Wayne is home to an estimated 3,000 to 3,500 people from Myanmar who
have fled the Southeast Asian nation, where a military junta has cracked
down on supporters of democracy.

In an average year, 100 to 200 refugees from Myanmar settle in Allen
County. But secondary migration from other communities accounts for an
even greater portion of the refugee population.

About 40 percent of the adult refugees from Myanmar are likely to be
infected with latent tuberculosis and hepatitis, officials have said. Many
of the children will likely suffer from low body weight and will need
standard childhood vaccinations, the foundation said.

About $98,000 of the new grant money will create a Refugee Health Program
and pay for a coordinator and an administrative aide. Another $35,000 will
help coordinate medical interpreters, said the St. Joseph Community Health
Foundation, which announced the grants Friday.

The new health program will coordinate medical follow-ups for refugees by
setting appointments, providing help with Medicaid, arranging for
transportation and interpreters.

The grant money will also help to enhance electronic medical records
shared among local free or low-cost medical providers and the Fort
Wayne-Allen County Department of Health.

Fort Wayne's city-county health department anticipates asking the Allen
County Council for additional money to help pay for disease screening and
follow-up services for refugees. Health officials are also seeking a
waiver to charge Medicaid for services provided to covered patients.

Information from: The Journal Gazette, http://www.journalgazette.net

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 13, Mizzima News
Civil societies urge Indonesia to stand tough on Burma - Mungpi

Over 20 civil organizations today urge Indonesia to stop dealing with the
Burmese military junta and exert pressure for political reforms starting
with the release of detained pro-democracy leader Daw Sung San Suu Kyi.

In a press conference, conducted a head of the scheduled visit by Burmese
Prime Minister Lt Gen Thein Sein to Indonesian capital Jakarta, Coalition
of Civil Society Organizations on Burma, today said Indonesia should
utilize its influence on the Burmese junta to pressure for concrete
reforms in the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation.

Tri Agus, spokesperson of the coalition, said, "We are boycotting [Prime
Minster] Thein Sein's visit to Burma and calling our [Indonesian]
government to exercise strong stand on the regime."

Agus said, though the coalition has planned to stage a protest rally on
Monday, in time with the arrival of the Burmese Prime Minister, the group
have temporarily postpone the protests as Thein Sein's visit has been
postpone to further dates.

"We don't why but the visit has been postponed. And we will conduct the
protest only during his [Thein Sein] visit," Agus said.

The Burmese Prime Minister is earlier scheduled to arrive Jakarta on
Monday on a two day visit, in what seems to be effort by the junta to
lobby for support on their declared roadmap for changes.

Indonesia, one of the most influential countries among the ten-member
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), has earlier rejected
western sanctions on the Burmese military regime and suggested for
constructive engagement for changes in the country.

Thein Sein's visit will be the first Burmese high level official visit to
Indonesia after the ruling junta's bloody crackdown on protestors in
September 2007. Following the ruthless suppression on monk-led protests,
the junta in what seems to be an effort to gain the support of regional
countries has been sending its high level officials to neighboring
countries including India.

Burmese foreign minister Nyan Win, in early January visited Indian capital
of New Delhi for talks with Indian Prime Minster and Foreign Minister.

Even as the west, including US and EU has up sanctions against the Burmese
military regime following the September crackdown, Asean, in which Burma
is a member, has rejected the idea of sanctions.

However, Asean, which has been following a policy of 'constructive
engagement' on Burma, has come under heavy attacks by the human rights
groups as well as the west including EU and US for protecting the Burmese
military regime, who is notorious for its human rights abuses against its
own citizens

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 12, Pretoria News
SA mag joins panty plan to oust Myanmar junta - Melanie Peters

A popular South African women's magazine has joined the global call for
people to join the "panty protest" against Myanmar's regime by sending
women's underwear to the junta's embassy in Pretoria.

Marie Claire's current issue calls on its readers to send their knickers
to the embassy as a form of protest against human rights abuses.

Thein Win, chairperson of the Free Burma Campaign South Africa, said: "It
is an excellent idea. Send more panties to sap more power so that they
know people do not support them."

The worldwide protest started late last year after Lanna Action for Burma,
a pro-democracy group based in Thailand, urged supporters around the world
to join its "Panty Power" campaign.

Its website urged supporters to "post, deliver or fling" underwear to, or
at their nearest embassy to insult the country's leadership.

Activists seeking to pressure the regime are targeting the "superstitions"
of its senior generals.

It is reported that the 73-year-old head of the military, Than Shwe, and
members of the military junta believe that contact with women's panties -
clean or dirty - will sap them of their strength. Embassies have received
underwear from Thailand, Australia, Singapore and the UK.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 14, Boston Globe
Burma's unlucky number 8 [editorial]

The government of China has been striving to make certain that Aug. 8,
2008, the start of this summer's Olympic Games in Beijing, will be an
auspicious date. The Communist authorities have even set the start of
their gala for 8 p.m. on 8/8/08.

For the people of Burma, that same date has a grievous meaning. On the day
Beijing stages its ultimate coming-out party, victims of the junta ruling
Burma will commemorate the 20th anniversary of a popular uprising against
military dictatorship that was violently suppressed. Leaders of that
freedom movement, known as the 88 Student Generation, were among the first
to be arrested when Buddhist monks led popular protests against the junta
in September. They are among the 700 September protesters still
incarcerated, joining more than 1,100 other political prisoners who were
already suffering torture and abuse in junta prisons.

The numerological coincidence of China's Olympic gala and Burma's mournful
memory will serve a positive purpose if it reminds the world of Burma's
agony in the two decades since Aug. 8, 1988 - and of the shameful
symbiosis between China's government and the Burmese junta. Beijing has
been the principal arms seller and commercial partner of the
narco-trafficking generals in Burma. In the United Nations Security
Council, it is the threat of a Chinese veto that shields the junta from an
international arms embargo.

The bosses of Beijing, who are trying to put on their best face between
now and the '08 games, have to be happy that the International Olympic
Committee has declined to make respect for human rights a criterion for
hosting the games. But they cannot be happy that the other rising power in
Asia, democratic India, has shown a decent respect for international
opinion by halting arms sales and transfers to Burma's military dictators.

Until recently, India appeared to be competing with China to see which
could be the bigger weapons peddler to the junta. But then something
unusual happened. The Hindustan Times recently reported that India had
stopped selling arms to Burma. Laura Bush, the president's wife, referred
to India's arms cutoff during a videoconference observation of Human
Rights Day on Dec. 10. And citing diplomatic sources, The Washington Post
reported that India has privately confirmed its policy change to US
officials.

For unknown reasons, the Indian government has declined to acknowledge
publicly its laudable act of solidarity with the people of Burma. Perhaps
India, the birthplace of Buddhism, could not bear to go on selling weapons
to uniformed thugs who were beating and killing Buddhist monks last fall.
But India should be proud to be defending its cultural heritage by
aligning itself with the freedom movement of Burma. Meanwhile, the world
must see that when it comes to violations of human rights, Beijing's
number is up.

____________________________________

January 12, Mizzima News
Bully at the home: Demoralized Burmese Military regime - Aung Thu Nyein

I read an article in 1999. It's about an English girl, 27 years old Rachel
Gowing went to Burma and staged a solo protest in Rangoon calling for a
democratic change in Burma. She handcuffed herself to the lamppost and
sang a pro-democracy song in Burmese. She was sentenced to seven years in
prison for this crime by Burmese military junta. (She was later released
after serving two months). In a leading newspaper, it wrote about her
story, and in that article, I still remember the idea, not in exact word,
"How can tourists visit to Burma today? The regime might arrest the person
who may have just whistled 'We shall overcome", a widely popular song of
world activists and NGOs". After 9 years, this scenario became real.

Nowadays the regime is scared of mere chanting prayers and Metta Sutra.
"May all harms vanish
May all anger vanish
May all sufferings vanish". The prayers in just about loving kindness and
non-threatening to the junta. The regime is afraid of even monks who chant
prayers and Metta Sutra of Lord Buddha. They are suffering from a
delusion. They see someone wearing religious clothes --Traditionally
Burmese men and women wear earth-tone clothes in religious ceremony--. are
and feel they may be trouble makers; see someone tying Sutta thread
(cotton wrist band), it may be as a signal for anti government movement.

These days, when the senior abbots talked about Dewadat (apostate monk who
defied Lord Buddha), they thought they were being targeted. Then they
banned preaching of sermons by the abbots and seizing the audio tapes of
these popular sermons distributed widely among the population.

Similarly they still show no guts to talk with the opposition. They
defended themselves from talking with the opposition leader by issuing
Announcement (1/2007) which set pre-conditions for talks with opposition
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. On the other hand, the opposition forces have
already told them that there will be ample room for the armed forces in
future Burma with due dignity and pride. More importantly, the democratic
opposition makes it clear that the struggle is not aimed at abolishing the
armed forces, but just calling for reforms in governance and negotiation
instead, in consideration for the sake of the country and its people. Even
then, they are still reluctant to meet the opposition.

Addtionally, world media is their enemy, they think which is threatening
to their survival. Then they are trying to control and restrict the use of
internet by issuing draconian rules and regulations and switching
connection off and on. Recently, the regime hiked the license fees of
satellite dishes drastically, which is tantamount to a virtual ban of the
use of these dishes. They seem to believe that if the people were isolated
and dozed with state propangada, the people will believe what they say.
But obviously, the people don't rely news in their state-media outlets and
state-run newspaper 'New Light of Myanmar' just mere nothing to them.
Since violent crackdown on sangha protest, Burmese people will no longer
believe all their propaganda.

Furthermore, since after September sangha protest, Burma issue reaches
attention to international community's radar. The violent crackdown makes
the legitimacy of the regime in all time low and currently in
international relations, it hurts them as the most serious setback. In
whatever regional and some bilateral meeting, in international
conferences, Burma becomes an agenda to be discussed. Burma issue is now
on the UNSC's radar screen as well. Literally, international policy makers
are asking to the SPDC, "what's your points?".

Former Singapore leader Lee Kuan Yew called the regime's generals as
'rather dumb' in his recent interview. But the regime failed to launch a
diplomatic protest against Singapore. If they have self-confidence, they
must summon the Singapore ambassador to the Foreign Ministry and must hand
over a protest note for this insult. And even more they can say a strong
condemnation to island-state and can threaten that lee's loose tongue
might hamper bilateral relation between the two countries. Now how they
responded to this remark seems self-admitting. In comparism, there was
diplomatic tension between Thailand and Singapore recently. The Singapore
government gave a democracy lecture when Thai military staged a coup in
September 2006 and then the Singapore received ousted former Thai PM
Thaksin Shinawatara in Singapore on a private visit. The Thai government
protested to Singapore through diplomatic channels and the Thai caretaker
government threatened to stop the ongoing military training programs to
Singapore soldiers in Thailand under the ASEAN plan. Tension between Thai
and Singapore was heightened considerably and could be resolved only after
some months. In addition, last year, Indonesian government retialiated
island state for one diplomatic hitch by ending their sand export to the
island's construction business.

But the Burmese military regime which losts their self-esteem dare not do
such diplomatic manoeuvres. If say so, they might even lose their heaven
for their precious medical tourism site.

Moreover the US Secretary of State Ms. Condolezza Rice put the Burmese
junta in a box of 'the last outposts of tyranny' in her speech. And the
first lady Laura Bush publicly called for the regime to step down if they
cannot fulfill democratic reforms. But the regime did not dare respond to
these two ladies in anyway even by way of diplomatic protest. If they have
self-confidence, they can still do something, but when they know they are
wrong they just have to suffer. It is very much obvious that the regime
morlae is all the time lowest and losing its self-confidence.

The regime is like the pampered and spoiled child of a family. It's like
the bully at the home who lost its self-confidence and bullies other
younger and weaker children, but kowtow to bigger and stronger children.
They rule at home, but turn tail abroad. But the bully regime of Burma is
more dangerous than the spoiled child. They holds 400,000 strong army to
bully its owned people and racklessly spoiling and damaging its natural
resources and its future potential. The spoilt child may break toys and
dolls, but the regime damage the whole country and its generations.

After the September monk-led movement, the regime's self-confidence has
reached its lowest ebb. Though they say something they know well
themselves they cannot do it. They dare not arrest some people, especially
the artistes of 'Thee Lay Thee' variety
dance troupe. The regime first sacked them out for their performance and
then recalled and reinstated them in their previous posts.

At the same time the people have become bolder knowing that they cannot
tolerate the bully anymore. It is obvious from their voices from radio
interviews on their grievances more vividly and boldly. The regime doesn't
want to hear these voices. They are just pretending they hear nothing and
they are so close to the camel in Aesop's fables, digging its head in the
sand. They cannot survive any longer in this way and cannot find a
solution either.

____________________________________

January 14, Open Democracy
India and Burma: time to choose - Meenakshi Ganguly

A change of policy towards Burma's military dictatorship is needed to put
India on the right side of history, says Meenakshi Ganguly.

India's prime minister Manmohan Singh once despaired out loud that India
was surrounded by failed states. The rest of the sub-continent, concerned
about the military and economic might of India, was outraged. Yet, the
neighbourhood is in more trouble than ever. Pakistan is in crisis, Sri
Lanka is at war with itself, Bangladesh remains in a state of emergency
under de facto army rule, the peace process in Nepal has stumbled and
Burma's generals used abusive and at times lethal force to put down a
peaceful campaign to demand democracy.

At the same time, India's claims that its standing in the region and
growing economic power should give it more clout in global diplomacy are
under the microscope. India often calls for peace, negotiations, or early
elections. Oddly, though proud of its standing as the "world's largest
democracy", when it comes to human-rights violations in neighbouring
countries, officials in New Delhi describe the situations as "internal
affairs" of those countries. India does not want to be seen as the
regional bully, they explain.

When it is pushed to do more, New Delhi retreats into belligerence. Its
officials, told of widespread "disappearances" in Sri Lanka, respond by
pointing to the secret renditions that have been carried out by the United
States during its global war on terror. Allegations of torture in
Bangladesh are compared to the practices at Abu Ghraib. The ill-advised
support to the Burmese junta draws comparisons to US support of
dictatorships in Pakistan and the middle east.

While these are satisfying debating points, they do not make good or
sensible policy. As with every government that tries to hide behind the
faults of others, the Indian government should certainly not emulate what
it criticises. Instead, India should show that it can take the lead.

This is particularly crucial when it comes to the repressive junta in
Burma. Although Burma has dropped off from network news-cycles and
newspaper editorials since the protests of August-September 2007, the
global community is largely united on this issue, saying that human-rights
abuses are no longer acceptable. But unless China, India and Thailand take
a strong stand, the regime will simply ride out the storm, stuffing
dissidents in jail and getting away with the killings of unarmed
protestors.

Little was ever expected of China and Thailand, but India is celebrated as
a democracy, one that accommodates religious and ethnic diversity, boasts
of its active civil society and free media. So it has come as a great
shock for many around the world to see India continue with a business as
usual approach. Burmese foreign minister U Nyan Win visited New Delhi on 2
January 2008, and Manmohan Singh apparently urged political reform in a
process that included detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
all the various ethnic groups. However, a $100 million project to provide
a transit route to India's northeastern states was also discussed.

In December 2007, Human Rights Watch called upon members of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), China, India, the European
Union, the United States and other countries that have economic ties to
Burma to suspend any further development of Burma's oil and gas sector and
for targeted financial sanctions on companies owned and controlled by the
Burmese military or whose revenues substantially benefit the military. It
is lucrative revenues from gas sales that help allow the regime to ignore
demands to return to civilian rule and improve the country's human-rights
record. India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) is among the
twenty-seven companies based in thirteen countries as having investment
interests in Burma's oil and gas fields.

Do the right thing

This is an opportunity for India to show leadership. Under pressure from
the international community, India has suspended military assistance to
Burma. India should insist to the generals that they show flexibility and
begin serious negotiations for a return to civilian rule. The regime has
allowed the United Nations special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and human-rights
envoy Paulo Pinheiro to visit Burma. But these tightly controlled visits
will mean little for a regime that is determined to consolidate its
repressive rule.

India can no longer afford embarrassing friendships. It should say that
without tangible progress on democracy, release of political prisoners and
accountability for violations in recent crackdown, all business deals (and
not just military sales) will be put on hold. Given the massive poverty in
Burma - remember, the spark for the protests was a sharp rise in fuel
prices that meant that many were paying more than half of their daily wage
just to take the bus to work - and the plundering of the country's wealth
by the country's leaders, it should be clear that doing business with
Burma is not helping average Burmese. Instead, it is lining the pockets of
the elite.

The protests have been silenced for now. But the clamour for freedom in
Burma will re-emerge. This is the fifth time in nineteen years that major
protests have erupted. Ultimately, the will of the people will be heard.

Doing the right thing in Burma could be the beginning for India to take a
leadership role in global politics. It will also send a message that India
will not support human-rights abuses, whether in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or
Nepal. It will put India on the right side of history.

Meenakshi Ganguly works on south Asia for Human Rights Watch.