BurmaNet News, September 13-15, 2008

[Editor]

September 13-15, 2008 Issue # 3556


INSIDE BURMA
Mizzima News: Aung San Suu Kyi agrees to accept fresh food supplies
Irrawaddy: Food delivery yet to reach Suu Kyi
Irrawaddy: Election in 18 months
Irrawaddy: Cyclone Refugees forced to leave camps
DVB: Authorities arrest relatives of activists
Narinjara News: Monks' demonstration plans foiled
Narinjara News: Five political prisoners on hunger strike moved

ON THE BORDER
Kachin News Group: Junta withdraws deadline to relocate baptist church in
Muse

BUSINESS/TRADE
Xinhua: Myanmar pushes projects for agricultural development

HEALTH
New Light of Myanmar: Health minister attends WHO meetings in India
Kachin News Group: Insects bred in castor oil plants kill people in
northern Burma

INTERNATIONAL
Bangkok Post: Surin seeks more UN relief aid for Burma
Telegraph (UK): Exiled Burmese monks dream of new uprising
Financial Times: UN envoy defies call to scrap Burma mission
IHT: Amnesty says Myanmar detainee at risk of torture

OPINION / OTHER
Mizzima News: Burma seat should be questioned
BNI: What is the UN's next game-plan? - Myat Soe


____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 15, Mizzima News
Aung San Suu Kyi agrees to accept fresh food supplies - Solomon

Burma's detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will accept fresh
food supplies on Monday, after refusing deliveries for a month, her party
– National League for Democracy – spokesperson said.

"She has agreed to accept food supplies again, so preparations are on to
send food this evening," Nyan Win, spokesman of the NLD told Mizzima.

Nyan Win said, the Nobel Peace Laureate has decided to accept food after
the ruling junta partially granted some of her demands including her right
to receive international news magazines and to receive mails from families
and to allow her aides to go out.

"She decided to accept food again because the authorities allowed some
points of her demands," said Nyan Win.

But Nyan Win failed to clarify why the Burmese democracy icon has been
refusing fresh food supplies since mid-August.

Rather, he said, the detained party leader had made her demands known to
the junta authorities through her personal lawyer Kyi Win, who in two
months was allowed four visits to her.

Following his fourth visit on Thursday, Kyi Win said the government had
partially granted some of Aung San Suu Kyi's demands.

In early September, rumours began circulating that the detained
pro-democracy leader is staging a hunger strike against her illegal
detention.

Nyan Win on Monday, said it was not true saying, "[Aung san Suu Kyi] told
her lawyer that she is not on hunger strike but managed by eating a very
limited amount of food in those days."

He added that due to the limited food that she had to manage with for a
month, Aung San Suu Kyi is now feeling weak and needed rest.

"She also told her lawyer that she wants to meet U Aung Kyi, when she is
in better health," said Nyan Win.

Earlier, Aung San Suu Kyi had turned down a meeting with Aung Kyi, the
junta's liason minister, on the ground that she is weak and needed rest,
her lawyer Kyi Win said.

On Sunday, Aung San Suu Kyi was allowed a visit by her family doctor Tin
Myo Win, who examined her for more than four hours.

While Dr. Tin Myo Win could not be reached for comment, Nyan Win said,
"According to a recent agreement [between the government and Aung San Suu
Kyi] Tin Myo Win will be allowed to visit her once a month."

Aung San Suu Kyi has spent more than 12 of the past 19 years under house
arrest. She was last arrested in May 2003. Her lawyer and her party
members said the Burmese law does not permit her to be detained for more
than five consecutive years.

But the ruling junta in May renewed her detention period saying their
interpretation of the Burmese law allows them to detain her up to a
maximum of six years.
__________________

September 15, Irrawaddy
Food delivery yet to reach Suu Kyi – Saw Yan Naing

The promised delivery of food supplies, personal mail and international
magazines have not reached Burma’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
as of Monday, according to Rangoon opposition sources.

Reports said on Monday that the detained leader is malnourished after
having refused food supplies for four weeks.

Nyan Win, the National League for Democracy spokesperson, told The
Irrawaddy Suu Kyi did, however, meet with her doctor on Sunday for about
four and half hours.

Her doctor made no statement on her medical condition following his visit.

In protest against her detention and draconian restrictions, Suu Kyi has
refused to accept food deliveries since August 15.

The detained pro-democracy leader also met with her lawyer during the
weekend to discuss an appeal against her extended detention.

Her lawyer, Kyi Win, suggested on Friday that Suu Kyi would begin
accepting food deliveries, personal mail and news magazines on Monday,
following an agreement worked out with the military regime.

Suu Kyi has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.
Her current term of detention began in May, 2003.
__________________

September 15, Irrawaddy
Election in 18 months – Wai Moe

Burma’s first election in nearly two decades will be held 18 months from
now, according to a source in the Union Solidarity and Development
Association (USDA), a mass organization formed by the country’s ruling
junta.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the source said that senior officials
of the USDA told its members that the organization has only eighteen
months from now to prepare to win the election.

“The USDA may have two parties in the election—the National Prosperity
Party and the National Security and Development Party,” the source said.
“But nobody, except top members of the USDA, will know exactly until the
regime introduces a law on political party registration for the election.”

The law is expected to be announced by the end of this year, he added.

Htay Aung, a Burmese researcher with the Network for Democracy and
Development, based in Thailand, also said that he had heard Burma’s
military rulers were planning to promulgate the election law for the 2010
election by end of this year or early next year.

“But the junta won’t allow hundreds of parties to register, as they did in
1990. They will copy China, which has eight political parties,” he said.

He added that he didn’t think the whole USDA would be transformed to
political parties for the election, but said he believed the USDA would
form at least two proxy parties. “The USDA will still be a national
organization after the election,” he said.

During his latest visit to Burma from August 18 to 23, the United Nations
Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari met with members of other pro-junta
political groups that are also likely to participate in the 2010 election.

These include the 88 Generation Students Youths (Union of Myanmar), a
splinter group of the democratic opposition led by former student activist
Aye Lwin, and the Wun Tha Nu (Patriotic) National League for Democracy,
also sponsored by the Burmese junta.

“We can expect to see people like Ko Aye Lwin in the election,” said Htay
Aung. “But I think the junta will only allow them to join the election
under a pro-junta party banner, not as in freely formed political
parties.”

Htay Aung pointed to the fact that the junta stopped Aye Lwin’s group from
putting up a signboard in Mandalay as evidence that it wasn’t prepared to
allow independent political activity.

Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan, the information minister, said at a press conference
on September 8 that arrangements were being made for the multiparty
general election in 2010.

“Every political party which is in conformity with the prescriptions of
the already approved constitution and rules and laws on political parties
to be prescribed in the future will have rights to stand for the 2010
election,” the information minister was quoted as saying in the state-run
New Light of Myanmar.

Asked when the election law would be introduced, Kyaw Hsan said:
“Authorities concerned are making arrangements for all the matters in
time.”

In the last election in 1990, several pro-regime parties, led by the
National Unity Party (NUP), were registered. Allied parties of the NUP
were the Worker Unity Party, the Farmer Unity Party and the Youth Unity
Party.

Although those parties were strongly supported by the military regime, the
opposition National League for Democracy won a landslide victory, getting
more 80 percent of the seats.
________________________

September 15, Irrawaddy
Cyclone refugees forced to leave camps – Violet Cho

Burmese military authorities have ordered around 5,000 people to leave two
refugee camps in Laputta Township, according to local residents and
international nongovernmental organizations (INGOs) operating in the area.

Staff working for INGOs in Laputta confirmed that local authorities closed
the two camps—the Three-Mile and Five-Mile camps—in early September.

Refugees sheltering at the camps were relocated to new sites near the
villages of Panae Tong and Mingone Tong, between Laputta and Myaungmya,
said sources.

“The relocation sites are in remote areas, a bit far from the main road
from Laputta to Myaungmya,” said an aid worker. “With limited support from
humanitarian group, refugees have to be self-sufficient and build up new
villages.”

Relief workers in Laputta also said that it was difficult for outsiders to
gain access to the new sites because they are under military guard.

“The military has taken responsibility for camp security, so even INGOs
have to ask permission from military strategic command offices if they
want to open clinics or provide other forms of assistance to refugees
living in the camps,” said an aid worker in Laputta.

An army sergeant based in Laputta said, however, that humanitarian
agencies were still permitted to enter the camps. He added that the
tightened security was necessary because of a recent murder.

“A girl was raped and murdered on the road between Laputta and Myaungmya,”
said the sergeant, referring to an incident that occurred on September 4.
“Military security at the camps is needed to prevent this kind of thing
from happening again.”

Meanwhile, as some INGO groups in Laputta said that they hoped to continue
providing assistance to people living in the new sites, others said that
they would soon be pulling out of the area.

“We are planning to leave this community by the end of October, after we
hand over our work to another organization,” said a local staffer working
for the Netherlands-based medical relief agency Artsen Zonder Grenzen, one
of the first groups to provide emergency relief in the area affected by
Cyclone Nargis.

There are also concerns about the international community’s commitment to
meeting relief and reconstruction needs in the Irrawaddy delta, where more
than two million people where affected by Cyclone Nargis when it struck on
May 2-3.

Surin Pitsuwan, the secretary-general of the Association of Southeast Asia
Nations (Asean), said that financial aid of US $1 billion promised by the
UN and international humanitarian organizations over the next three years
would most likely not be enough because of the magnitude of the
destruction in the Irrawaddy delta.

As the chairman of the Humanitarian Task Force coordinating relief and
reconstruction efforts by Asean, the UN and the Burmese regime, Surin said
he would ask Asean leaders to raise the issue at a meeting of the UN
General Assembly in New York in late September.

“We have to help them survive,” Surin said of the victims of Cyclone
Nargis, according to a report in the Bangkok Post.
____________________________________

September 15, DVB
Authorities arrest relatives of activists - Yee May Aung

Friends and relatives of high-profile monk U Gambira and the mother of 88
Generation Student leader Ko Ant Bwe Kyaw have been arrested over the past
week.

Fourteen people including relatives and friends of U Gambira were arrested
last week in Rangoon and Meikhtila in Mandalay.

U Gambira’s sister Ma Khin Thu Htay said her husband Ko Moe Htet Hlyan and
five of his friends were arrested in Rangoon by about 15 police officers
on 9 September.

"They raided our house at around 7.30pm on Tuesday evening and began
searching the house before they took my husband away," Ma Khin Thu Htay
said.

"They also seized his computer, a memory stick, a paper-cutter, a bag
containing discs and an MP4 player," she said.

"I don't know where my husband is being held – the officials haven’t
contacted us again."

She said the officials had wanted to arrest her too but decided to let her
go because she is seven months pregnant.

"The officials said they had received information that my husband was
planning to raise a lantern on the anniversary of last year's Saffron
Revolution," she said.

Authorities also arrested eight local youths including U Gambira's younger
brother Ko Aung Ko Ko Lwin from their houses in Meikhtila on last
Thursday, Ma Khin Thu Htay said.

Daw Tin Tin Win, 75, mother of 88 Generation Student leader Ko Ant Bwe
Kyaw, was arrested on Friday afternoon, according to neighbours.

Well-known writer Daw Kyi Oo, who lives next door to Daw Tin Tin Win and
is the mother of comedian Zarganar, said she was concerned about Daw Tin
Tin Win’s health.

"Daw Tin Tin Win has been really unwell – I was thinking of telling her
son, if he is ever let out again, to just concentrate on his mother and
take care of her instead of doing other things," Daw Kyi Oo said.

"A lot of her neighbours and people who know her are sorry to hear about
her arrest –but arresting a person like this who can't even walk is not
even strange to us any more," she said.

"I just hope they release her very soon."

U Gambira, leader of the All Burmese Monks Alliance, has been detained
since November last year for his role in instigating public protests in
September.

Ko Ant Bwe Kyaw is one of the leaders of the 88 Generation Students group
and was arrested with other group leaders in August last year.
___________________________________

September 14, Narinjara News
Monks' demonstration plans foiled - Sittwe

About 50 monks in Sittwe gathered on Saturday at Gissapa Nadi playground
to stage a demonstration against the Burmese military government, but
their plans were foiled when security forces besieged the playground and
set up road blocks to prevent a march.
A witness from Sittwe said, "The plan of monks to march in the streets of
Sittwe from the playground was foiled after many security forces were
deployed in the areas surrounding the playground."

The security forces, including police and riot police, rushed to the scene
when they received information that the monks were preparing to stage a
demonstration.

"I heard monks had plans to march in the streets peacefully while holding
religious flags, demanding a reduction in commodity prices and a release
of their colleague U Ithiriya from custody."

U Ithiriya is now in Buthidaung prison serving a seven-and-a-half year
jail term, but his health is reportedly poor due to a lack of food and
inadequate health care in prison.

The monks abandoned their plan and dispersed at the playground when
security forces besieged the area.

The woman said, "No one was arrested at the scene but I do not know what
happened after the monks left for their respective monasteries from the
playground."

There is currently no information on whether security forces arrested any
monks, but the authorities have beefed up security near many monasteries
and temples in Sittwe.

This is the third effort by monks to stage a demonstration since the
beginning of August. Twice in the last month monks attempted to stage a
demonstration against the present military government.
___________________________________

September 14, Narinjara News
Five political prisoners on hunger strike moved - Sittwe

Five political prisoners from Thandwe prison in southern Arakan were moved
to Sittwe prison in the capital of Arakan State in response to a hunger
strike they have been staging since 9 September.

A relative from Sittwe said, "They arrived at Sittwe Jetty at 11 am on
Saturday from Thandwe on Aung Tan Khun ferry ship and were sent to Sittwe
prison from the jetty by a prison vehicle."

According to a prison source, the five young political prisoners began a
hunger strike on Ottama memorial day on 9 September at Thandwe prison to
oppose their unjust punishment by the authorities.

After two days, on 11 September, the authorities shifted them to Sittwe
out of fear that their hunger strike might spread to other prisoners at
Thandwe.

The young political prisoners have been identified as Ko Moe Nay Soe, Ko
Than Htay, Ko Chit Maung Maung, Ko Maung Maung Thet, and Ms. Ni Ni May
Myint.

All prisoners are from the town of Taungup and were arrested by police
while they were marching in the streets to protest the military government
on the 20th anniversary of the 8-8-88 uprising in Burma.

After their arrest, the authorities sent them to Thandwe prison from
Taungup and sentenced them to serve one year in prison there.

There is a report that they are likely to be moved to Buthidaung prison,
another notorious prison located in northern Arakan State, but this
information remains unconfirmed.

____________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 15, Kachin News Group
Junta withdraws deadline to relocate baptist church in Muse - KNG

The Burmese military junta today withdrew its orders on an ethnic Kachin
Baptist Church in a corner of the main China-Burma border trade zone in
Muse in the country's northeast to demolish and relocate the church by
September 15, said Church sources.

The withdrawal of the deadline on the 25th memorial Bumsan Kachin Baptist
Church was explained by U Than Zaw Latt, Deputy Director of Religion
Department in Muse District along with U Tin Aung Kyi, director of 105
Miles Border Trade Zone in a short meeting with Church leaders in Mong Yu
(Mineyu) Township Administrative Office (Ma-Ya-Ka) from 9:30 a.m. to 10:30
a.m. local time, a Church leader said.

U Than Zaw Latt said “As I am in-charge of religious affairs in Muse
District, please inform me whenever there is any construction activity
concerning the Church.  Other else the local military officers under me
will disturb you like this time.”

At the meeting, the Church also handed over a letter including the three
main topics “Mentioning the Church's relocation is irrational and the
Church will not move unless there is a direct order from the military
under the junta,” to the two Burmese officials, said Rev. Brang Mai, the
chief pastor who led Church's leaders in the today's meeting.

Regarding the withdrawal of the deadline, Rev. Brang Mai said, “Firstly, I
want to say that the deadline has failed because of God's blessings. 
Secondly, all the Church's followers have faith in God.  They participated
and prayed deeply whenever the authorities threatened to remove Church in
many different ways since 2005.”

According to participants U Than Win, Deputy Director of 105 Miles Border
Trade Zone was absent at the meeting today. He is the one who set the
deadline to remove the Church by September 15 at a meeting between Church
leaders and authorities on August 30 at the Mong Yu Ma-Ya-Ka office.

The location of the Bumsan Baptist Church in Mongyo Township has come
inside 105 Miles Border Trade Zone, the new border export-import trade
zone since 2005.  Earlier, it was outside the trade zone, said Church's
leaders.

The Church is combined with four main villages in Mong Yu under the Kachin
Baptist Convention (KBC)'s Mungmau District Baptist Convention in
northeast Shan State. The Church has over 200 followers, according to
Church leaders.


____________________________
BUSINESS/TRADE

September 14, Xinhua
Myanmar pushes projects for agricultural development - Feng Yingqiu

Myanmar is pushing some projects for agricultural development and planning
to set up a special agricultural zone in Dagon Myothit, one of the several
satellite towns in Yangon division.

Private companies are being encouraged by the government to take part in
the regional project, according to Sunday's newspaper New Light of
Myanmar.

At a coordinating meeting here on Saturday, Prime Minister General Thein
Sein said that "Despite a lot of arable land and manpower (in the
country), the yield of paddy is not as good as it should be because of
farmlands with different type of soil, growing of conventional paddy
strains and lesser use of fertilizer." There are 20 million acres (8.1
million hectares) of monsoon and summer paddy in the country, according to
the report.

"If systematic measures are to be taken by using high yield strains and
modern farm machinery, the paddy yield will increase thereby contributing
to the development of agricultural sector," Thein Sein said.

The prime minister stressed the need for cooperation between local farmers
and private entrepreneurs to set up such cultivation areas as a special
agricultural zone in the satellite town.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is making arrangements to introduce a contract farming
project in the division, and so far, 10 private entrepreneurs have joined
the project, the Biweekly Eleven quoted the Rice Producers Association as
saying.

Foreign technical know how relating agricultural production will be
obtained through the farming system, the rice producers said.

Under the plan, the country's biggest business organization -- the Union
of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry (UMFCCI) has
taken some steps to ensure sufficient rice supply at home by initiating
inter-agreements with rice traders.

The rice traders, who signed the agreements with the UMFCCI on the normal
rice supply within the country, were from Yangon, Mandalay and Magway
divisions and Kachin state.

The agreement would also help block smuggling of rice to border areas,
merchants said.

According to official statistics, in the fiscal year of 2007-08which ended
in March, Myanmar grew 8.1 million hectares of paddy, producing 30.02
million tons of rice.

Myanmar has planned to expand cultivation of paddy in the present fiscal
year of 2008-09, projecting to grow 8.26 million hectares in the year to
yield 31.59 million tons of rice to meet the demand of a population of
56.5 million.

The country's per capita rice consumption stands 510 kilograms (kg) per
year which are for rural people, while 408 kg for urban people. The annual
consumption of rice by the entire country people reached over 17 million
tons.

Its agricultural exports amounted to 1.14 billion U.S. dollars in 2007-08,
rising by 22.5 percent from 2006-07.

The country's foreign trade volume in the 2007-08 totaled 8.851billion
dollars, of which the exports took 6.043 billion dollars with agricultural
produces contributing 18.8 percent of the total.

In 2006-07, Myanmar exported over 930 million dollars of agricultural
produces mostly to neighboring China and India.

Myanmar's principal crops are paddy, beans and pulses, oil crops, cotton,
sugarcane and culinary crops.

With over 70 percent of Myanmar's population being engaged in agricultural
undertakings, the sector represents the mainstay of the country's economy,
contributing 50.1 percent to the national economy and achieving an average
annual growth rate of 9.8 percent during the past five years, statistics
reveal.

____________________________________
HEALTH

September 14, New Light of Myanmar
Health minister attends WHO meetings in India

A Myanmar delegation led by Minister for Health Dr Kyaw Myint arrived back
here this morning after attending the 26th Health Ministers' meeting of
Southeast Asian Regional WHO and the 61st Regional Committee's meeting
held in New Delhi, the Republic of India from 8 to 11 September.

The 26th Health Ministers' meeting was held at Ashoka Hotel in New Delhi
on 8 September, attended by ministers of health, deputy ministers, health
secretaries and officials of Myanmar, Bangladesh, India, Indonesia,
Maldives, Nepal, Bhutan, North Korea, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Timor Leste,
the Director-General of WHO in Geneva, Switzerland and officials, the
Director of the Office of WHO those from UN agencies and social
organizations.

In his address, Minister Dr Kyaw Myint said that Myanmar is carrying out
work programmes to be implemented under the International Health
Programmes (2005), and it has drawn plans to ad-dress health problems.
Myanmar has formed a group of O & G specialists and paediatricians and
efforts are being made for reducing the child mortality while striving for
success of anti-tobacco campaign as a national duty, he added. In that
regard, the government laid down the anti-tobacco law on 4 May 2006 and
steps are being taken for the people to abide by the law.

In the afternoon of 8 September, Minister Dr Kyaw Myint met with
Director-General of WHO Dr Margaret Chan at Ashoka Hotel. At the meeting,
Dr Margaret Chan said that she was pleased to hear that Myanmar was able
to cope with relief and rehabilitation of storm-hit regions as quickly as
possible and WHO wishes to continue to provide assistance to the nation.

Minister Dr Kyaw Myint said that Myanmar thanked WHO for its medical
equipment and technological assistance in relief and rehabilitation of
storm-ravaged regions, and that in reconstruction of health
establishments, durable buildings were built in accord with the guidance
of the Head of State.

Minister Dr Kyaw Myint and party on 9 September attended the 61st Regional
Committee meeting held at the office of SEA Regional WHO in New Delhi.

The 26th Health Ministers' meeting continued and the meeting approved the
New Delhi Declaration.

On 10 September, the 61st Regional Committee's meeting continued. In his
speech, Minister Dr Kyaw Myint said that hospitals, dispensaries and
health care centres were destroyed in the storm on 3 May 2008, and the
storm also left health staff homeless. The Ministry of Health in
cooperation with UN agencies, local and international social organizations
was able to carry out relief and rehabilitation tasks in time, he added.
And Myanmar thanked ministries of health of ASEAN nations and neighbouring
countries for their participation in the relief and rehabilitation tasks.

On 11 September, the 61st Regional Committee's meeting continued and those
present approved Nepal as a host nation to hold the 27th Health Ministers'
meeting and the 62nd Regional Committee's meeting, and Thailand as a host
nation to hold the 28th Health Ministers' meeting and the 63rd Regional
Committee's meeting.

Members of Myanmar delegation Deputy Director-General of Health Department
Dr Kyaw Nyunt Sein, Director Dr Saw Lwin, Deputy Director Dr Win Maung and
Assistant Director Dr Kyaw Khine also arrived back on the same flight.
____________________________________

September 15, Kachin News Group
Insects bred in castor oil plants kill people in northern Burma

In an alarming situation, insects breeding in bio-fuel plants called
Castor oil plants also called Jet Suu in Burmese have killed at least a
dozen people in northern Burma, said local sources.

Recently a widow and her daughter died after being bitten by unidentified
insects in Castor oil plants or Physic nut trees (Jatropha curcas) on
September 13 in Myitkyina Township, the capital of Kachin State, residents
in Myitkyina told KNG today.

According to locals, they were bitten by the green-coloured and
earthworm-like insects and died of the poison in the insects within three
minutes while they were selling snacks under the Castor oil trees in front
of No. 5 State High School in Thidar quarter in Myitkyina.

About 10 people including children in Shatapru and Jan Mai Kawng quarters,
and a bicycle trishaw driver also reportedly died early this month after
they were bitten by the same insects from Castor oil trees in the
township, loal sources added.

Meanwhile, alarmed school teachers in Myitkyina have cautioned students to
stay away from Castor oil trees in the school compound and other places, a
resident said.

Unusually, the military authorities in Myitkyina cleaned the Castor oil
trees around Myitkyina Public General Hospital, Du Mare, Thidar and
Tatkone quarters by cutting the stems early this month, said local
eyewitnesses.

On the other hand, the new Northern Military Command commander of the
military junta, Maj-Gen Soe Win has issued a warning that strong action
would be taken on residents who report about the deadly insect in Castor
oil trees, according to residents.

In June, several children and adults were hospitalized and the patients
felt nausea and were dazed after they ate the poisonous fruits of Castor
oil trees.

Because of the junta's state-project for future bio-fuel production, it is
mandatory to grow Castor oil plants  in  vacant place near government
buildings, schools, offices, roadsides as well as open spaces outside the
townships, quarters and villages in Myitkyina, added locals.

However, there are no warning signboards and posters in Castor oil
plantations from military rulers, rather signboards and posters exhort
people to grow the trees for income, residents said.

Residents of Myitkyina are alarmed and extremely scared of the insects
because they are surrounded with Castor oil trees, said residents.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 15, Bangkok Post
Surin seeks more UN relief aid for Burma - Anucha Charoenpo

Members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) need to
convince the United Nations, which will hold its annual meeting this
month, to provide more humanitarian aid for the two million victims of
Cyclone Nargis in Burma, Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said
yesterday.

Mr Surin, who chairs the grouping's Humanitarian Task Force, is
coordinating with Asean, the UN and the Burmese government. He said he
will ask Asean leaders at the UN meeting in New York to raise the issue in
the General Assembly, as the cyclone victims are struggling to survive.

''We have to help them survive,'' Mr Surin said at Seik Gyi village in Burma.

He said financial aid of US$1 billion (34.5 billion baht) earlier promised
by the UN and international humanitarian organisations over the next three
years would most likely not be enough because of the magnitude of the
destruction in the Irrawaddy delta, including the village he recently
visited.

Seik Gyi in the Irrawaddy delta is a three-hour drive from Rangoon. The
disaster there claimed 67 lives, leaving 17 children orphaned. It also
destroyed fishing boats and nets, houses, a primary school, a temple and
the betel plantations in the 1,300 villagers there.

The Thai community and embassy in Burma have pledged financial support of
$5,000 and other necessities to help the cyclone victims at Seik Gyi.

''We want to help bring back their lives,'' Thai ambassador to Burma
Bansarn Bunnag said.

Four months ago Asean, the UN and the Burmese government chose the village
as a model to carry out community-based projects, which will end next
July.

The three parties involved in the project will spend $170,000 getting the
lives of the villagers back to normal. They will get new fishing boats and
nets, the 30 community wells will be cleaned and they will be given
saplings of the betel leaf plant.

''Three months ago we didn't see anyone smiling or anyone with hope in
their eyes. Now you can see their excitement, confidence and hope for
their future. I think it's a big difference,'' Mr Surin said.

A similar project will be set up in two more villages deeper in the delta
in the next two months.

Win Myint, 40, a Seik Gyi villager, said her life is now better and
thanked the international community for helping her and the other
villagers get back to normal.

''I had never seen this kind of storm before. It was horrible,'' she
recalled.

The school in the village has recently reopened after renovations.

''All the children at the school here are happy when they see
international volunteers come to help rebuild their school and village,''
said Zin Thu Soe, a teacher.

_________________________________

September 14, Telegraph (UK)
Exiled Burmese monks dream of new uprising - Philip Sherwell

It is a ritual played out each morning in temples across Burma. But the
two holy men are conducting their worship 8,500 miles from home in a
highly improbable setting - a converted bedroom in a run-down clapboard
boarding house in the upstate New York town of Utica.

U Gawsita, 28, and Abbot Pyinnya Jota, 48, played key roles in the Saffron
Revolution when thousands of monks led mass peaceful demonstrations
against the brutal junta that rules their homeland a year ago this week.
But they were forced to flee into exile after the bloody suppression of
the protests.

In scenes that captivated the world, ranks of shaven-headed barefoot young
men turned their alms bowls upside down in a symbol of defiance then
marched through the streets at the head of crowds that grew from hundreds
into hundreds of thousands.

The generals who have run the country since 1962 originally appeared
stunned by the remarkable displays of civil disobedience that began on
September 18. But after eight days, they retaliated with characteristic
viciousness, quashing the dreams of democratic change.

The monks, considered sacrosanct across the Buddhist world, bore the brunt
of the regime's fury - hundreds were beaten, rounded up and detained and
monasteries were raided and closed.

"Raiding monasteries is like raping Buddhism," said Pyinnya Jota, a
veteran regime critic and founder of the All Burma Monks' Alliance who
spent 11 years in jail and co-drafted the list of reform demands that
fired the protests. "It is an unspeakable offence."

And U Gawsita became one of the most familiar faces of the protests when
he was pictured in foreign news reports - on video footage smuggled out of
the country - rousing the crowds with impassioned speeches.

The scar on the top of head is testimony to the harshness of the crackdown
- the result of a baton smashed across his skull as, microphone in hand,
he led a demonstration at Rangoon's Shwedagon Pagoda, the most sacred site
in Burma.

In Utica, a depressed former textile mill town which has recently seen a
large influx of Bosnian and Burmese exiles arranged by a local Lutheran
refugee centre, preparations are underway for a rally today celebrating
the anniversary of the Saffron Revolution.

But in Burma, alarming news is emerging of a fresh round of arrests of
monks and raids on monasteries by a regime fearful of new protests marking
the date.

There are also unconfirmed reports that Aung San Suu Kyi, the
pro-democracy leader and Nobel peace prize winner who has spent much of
the past 20 years under house arrest, is conducting a hunger strike.

A year after Pyinnya Jota and U Gawsita took incredible risks in the hope
of inspiring a revolution in the former British colony, it is their own
lives that have been turned upside down.

Both fled, separately and in disguise, through the jungle to seek
sanctuary first in monasteries on the Thai border before being granted
refugee status by the United States, where First Lady Laura Bush's
personal interest in Burma has ensured that the country's plight is a
White House priority.

Pyinnya Joya arrived just 10 days ago and in Utica last week he was being
given an introduction to the complexities of the US banking system by a
Burmese student who has also been granted asylum.

U Gawsita has been here since March and proudly shows visitors a signed
photograph of President George W Bush with him in the White House, a
memento of a recent trip there as part of delegation of Burmese exiles.
"It was an honour to meet Mr Bush," he said proudly. "He is very committed
to the freedom of the Burmese people."

But while he admires and praises American principles of democracy and
freedom, he often strikes the melancholic note of an émigré robbed of his
roots and culture.

"Burma is a country where you can be detained for one day or 10 years.
People just disappear. There is no freedom," he said.

"That's the big difference with America. You can feel the freedom. You can
see it in people in the street. But still I can't say that I'm happy here.
I was born in Burma, I miss Burma, I belong in Burma."

He is still struggling with the culture shock of his new surroundings. He
has learned little English and rarely leaves the house - when he does, his
monk's robes draw curious stares, although he says people have been
friendly. "And everyone here is always rushing. They are in a rush to be
somewhere or do something. That's very different from Burma," he says with
a sigh.

Both men talk with particular dread about the prospect of their first
Utica winter, where heavy snows draw skiers to the town slope. Pyinnya
Jota is already bemoaning the autumnal weather - temperatures dropped
below 10C at night last week - but his new friends have warned him to
expect much worse.

Before he was forced to flee, Pyinnya Jota was deputy abbot of Rangoon's
Maggin monastery, renowned for providing hospice care for Aids patients.
The monastery remains shuttered after a series of raids by the
authorities. He was forced into hiding because of his high profile.

He knew from painful first-hand experience the fate of those arrested by
the regime after he was beaten and tortured during previous terms of
imprisonment. So reluctantly he opted for exile when word came that his
safe house was about to be raided. He took a circuitous route to Thailand
to avoid the security checkpoints set up to catch dissident monks, and a
network of sympathisers hid him in towns along the way.

U Gawsita had also required subterfuge to get him through the road checks
- he pretended to be a mechanic working on a bus driven by a friend and
hence was not required to show his identity papers to the police.

The dejection as they fled was a bitter contrast to the incredible sense
of exuberance and hope at the height of the protests. "Everyone was so
happy and cheerful and hopeful," said U Gawsita. "The people finally felt
the time had come and they could be free of the junta after all the years
of discontent. I couldn't stand the oppression and injustice anymore. This
was the time."

And he is bitter at the failure of the United Nations or the
"international community' to come to their help. "The Burmese people will
go back on the streets. They must do that to change things. But they will
need support too," he said.

Pyinnya Jota is also in reflective mood after his recent arrival in the
US. "We truly believed we could bring democracy to Burma. We knew that we
couldn't rely on other countries or the United Nations to force change so
we pushed it ourselves. But we also needed some outside help," he said.

"We thought we would win but then it all changed when the junta staged the
crackdown. They sent spies into the monasteries, rounded up the monks and
put the army on the streets. Nobody thought they would attack the monks.
Then it was over."

He rejects the regime's accusation that the monks were playing politics.
"Our actions were not about politics, they were about compassion and care
for our fellow humans," he said, speaking in gentle but firm tones. "We
often talk about metta (the Buddhist tenet of 'loving kindness') but this
principle also needs to be practised. That is what we were doing."


>From their unlikely new base Utica's Elm Street, the two monks defiantly

insist that they will return home when the junta falls. But given the
depressing durability of the dictatorship, propped up financially by China
in return for allowing Red Army-owned companies to exploit Burma's
lucrative supplies of timber and jade, it seems certain that U Gawsita and
Pyinnya Jota will have plenty of time to get used to the local winters.
_________________________________

September 13, Financial Times
UN envoy defies call to scrap Burma mission - Harvey Morris

Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations special envoy to Burma, said on Friday
he would continue his role of mediator despite opposition accusations that
he has failed to dent the ruling junta’s resistance to restoring
democracy.

Ban Ki-Moon, UN secretary-general, has faced pressure to scrap the Gambari
mission since the Nigerian diplomat returned from his latest visit to
Burma last month without securing meetings with either Than Shwe, head of
the military regime, or Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader.
It was the first time she had declined to meet the envoy.

The United Nationalities Alliance, grouping ethnic opposition groups, last
week wrote to Mr Ban noting that despite Mr Gambari’s six missions to
Burma “his visits have not yielded any tangible outcome yet”.

“One view is that the good offices mission has failed,” Mr Gambari told
the FT. “But to terminate it would be to give up on the people of Myanmar
and we don’t have that luxury.”

His cautious approach towards the military junta has been interpreted as
appeasement by elements of the opposition who are demanding freedom for
all political prisoners. “He is not doing his job properly,” said Aung
Din, a US-based opposition leader. “He has changed his mission to
supporting the junta.”

The envoy’s efforts to secure a political settlement intensified after
opposition protests a year ago were violently suppressed by the regime.
However, Burma’s military rulers rejected UN calls to abandon a
controversial constitutional referendum in May days after a devastating
cyclone.

Some diplomats defended Mr Gambari and said he had a tough job in the face
of the regime’s intransigence. Jean-Maurice Ripert, French envoy to the
UN, said criticism should not be directed at Mr Gambari, but rather at the
ruling junta for failing to engage in a political dialogue with the
opposition.

Mr Gambari said he had no plans for an early return to Burma until there
was a prospect of progress. Western diplomats say some members of the UN
Security Council, including China and Russia, who are opposed to
sanctions, would like the Gambari mission to maintain business as usual.
The existence of the UN-sponsored process is seen as easing pressure to
impose tougher measures on Burma.

But Mr Gambari appeared to favour firmer demands on the regime on the key
issues of freedom for political prisoners and a return to political
dialogue. “We always said the process is not an end in itself. It should
deliver tangible results.”

Zalmay Khalilzad, US envoy, said this week: “More pressure needs to be
applied on the regime, since on both of these issues the obstacle is the
policies of the regime.”
_________________________________

September 14, International Herald Tribune
Amnesty says Myanmar detainee at risk of torture

A prominent anti-government activist recently arrested in Myanmar is at
risk of torture, the human rights group Amnesty International said.

Nilar Thein, 36, had been on the run for more than a year after the
military government cracked down on activists from the 88 Generation
Students movement, the London-based group said Saturday. She was arrested
Wednesday in Myanmar's biggest city, Yangon, as she was going to visit the
mother of a detained comrade.

"She is under interrogation in Aung Tha Pyay Detention Center in Yangon
... and is at risk of torture and other ill-treatment," Amnesty said in an
e-mailed statement.

Myanmar officials authorized to speak on security matters could not
immediately be reached for comment. But in presentations to the U.N. Human
Rights Council in Geneva, Myanmar diplomats have repeatedly denied there
are any political prisoners in the country, and say laws barring the use
of torture are observed.

Some members of the 88 Generation Students group were arrested soon after
organizing anti-government demonstrations in August last year to protest
economic hardships and demand democratic reform. Nevertheless, the
demonstrations continued and grew as monks and ordinary civilians joined
to call for democratic and economic change.

The army violently suppressed the protests in late September 2007. The
U.N. estimated at least 31 people were killed.

Hundreds of demonstrators were arrested and many fled the country or went
underground. Nilar Thein's husband, Kyaw Min Yu — also known as Ko Jimmy —
was one of 13 members of the 88 Generation group arrested on Aug. 22 last
year.

Amnesty said Nilar Thein led a demonstration of about 500 people the day
after his arrest, then went into hiding, leaving their baby daughter
behind in the care of her in-laws.

According to Amnesty, Nilar Thein was imprisoned twice before for her
pro-democracy activities. In December 1996 she was arrested for
participating in student demonstrations and sentenced to 10 years'
imprisonment. She was released in 2005.

Authorities have tightened security since the last week of August to
pre-empt any demonstrations marking the first anniversary of last year's
protests.

The junta have arrested nearly 300 people for peaceful political
activities in 2008, Amnesty International said.

_________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

September 15, Mizzima News
Burma seat should be questioned

When the United Nations considers the petition to strip Burma's junta of
their seat in the international body's General Assembly, the United
Nations should act on the appeal as an opportunity to jumpstart a flailing
mediation process.

While commitment to a process is important, as oft repeated by United
Nations representatives, such a commitment needs to be confirmed following
the adoption of a correct process. Leaving the seat of Burma vacant at the
General Assembly is a step along the correct process, a process that is
intended to address both the political stalemate as well as the livelihood
of the general population.

The current United Nations approach, adherence to the moribund "roadmap to
democracy" as proposed by the governing generals, holds out no hope that
Burma's ills will be fundamentally addressed. Any process adopted by the
United Nations must realistically be assessed to be in agreement with the
goals of the body – including, in the case of Burma, a meaningful
political dialogue and a cessation to rights abuses incurred by Burma's
general populace. Supporting the junta's 2010 general election plan, the
next step in the "seven-step roadmap," singularly affirms a junta-outlined
process and ignores the responsibilities of the United Nations to the
country.

One responsibility of the United Nations in Burma, often lost amidst a
bombardment of political gambits, is to help in alleviating the pervasive
poverty across much of the country. An argument for the need to do
whatever is possible to address the country's endemic economic crisis
should meet with more immediate broad-based support than any wide ranging
political affirmation. And here, depriving the Burmese regime of their
seat in the General Assembly can be an effective tool at the disposal of
the United Nations to pressure the generals to the negotiating table and
into reforms in how the country is managed.

Talks to bandage the gaping wounds of the Burmese body politic would
likely be heated and lengthy, but while such a process of political
dialogue is being convened there is no reason for the daily plight of the
Burmese population to be held hostage to the exchange.

To assist in expediting a dialogue between the junta, opposition parties
and the United Nations, the removal of the junta's representative should
thus be undertaken for reasons stressing the importance of how a state's
authority apparatus interacts with and affects the general populace – as
opposed to fixating upon the 1990 election results.

This is an important distinction to make, as Naypyitaw would surely be
confounded, and treat with ridicule, a United Nations ruling stripping it
of its place in the General Assembly and based on a call of respect for
democratic norms; not with supporters of the regime – and far from
democratic stalwarts – such as Russia and China likely to be seated on the
Credentials Committee. Yet the point can be made to Burma's generals, by
stressing the importance of how power is exercised, that they cannot
simply expect to hide behind the international protection or obstruction
of the powerful illiberal governments of today. Legitimacy must be clearly
articulated to also derive from how power is perceived to be exercised.

However, such an emphasis on the nature of a government's functioning does
not ignore the political crisis holding the country in limbo. A vacant
seat in the General Assembly, far from assigning good and bad labels to
the sides in the conflict, simply acknowledges that there is a conflict
which must be addressed. An empty seat thus provides both a reason and a
forum for dialogue between disparate parties to the countries prolonged
political crisis. This would be a valuable asset in the United Nation's
continued involvement in Burma, as the body's current endeavors are sorely
in need of further and alternative channels of interaction between
competing Burmese voices.

Stripping the junta of representation in the General Assembly can thus be
inferred as an effective tool to be utilized in reinforcing the United
Nation's effort in helping to mediate a solution to the Burmese
conflagration. The message would be clear: any Burmese authority desiring
to be recognized as legitimate by the international community must
understand that how power is exercised is just as, if not more, pivotal
than from where the power is deemed to originate.
____________________________________

September 15, BNI
What is the UN's next game-plan? - Myat Soe

Though the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has expressed frustration at
the failure of Burmese generals--to take "tangible steps" to include Aung
San Suu Kyi and other political opposition parties in their roadmap to
democracy, and to open up the political process; the military junta
continues arresting members of the NLD-National League for Democracy and
human rights activists in Burma. It is clear that the military regime is
bent on excluding the entire NLD, its leadership, and other political
opposition organisations from the planned 2010 general elections.

Since the brutal and unprovoked mob attack on the NLD on 30 May 2003,
which became known as the Depeyin Massacre, the generals became
increasingly more distrustful and unwilling to hold a dialogue with Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, or other political opposition parties. Even after the
September 2007 people's uprising, led by the revered Burmese monks, which
was dubbed 'Saffron Revolution', no tangible political progress has been
made. The regime did not free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi or other political
prisoners as the international community headed by the UN has urged.

The house arrest of U Tin Oo, the deputy leader of Aung San Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy (NLD) party was extended. More political
prisoners have been locked up. Therefore, we, the people of Burma, insist
that by using their power and influence the international community,
governments, and institutions, the United Nations increase the pressure on
the Burmese junta to stop the ongoing political oppression and violation
of human rights inside Burma.

By continuing to arrest members of the opposition, Burmese generals are
defying the wishes of the international community to pursue
democratization and national reconciliation in Burma. The actions of the
Burmese junta indicate a major turnaround from the demand of the United
Nations. They are intentionally undermining the on-going regional and
international efforts to end the political conflict peacefully.

It is important for the UN to be aware that the Burmese opposition and
pro-democracy forces have lost faith in the good offices of the United
Nations after Mr. Gambari's latest futile mission, where he is believed to
have given into full exploitation by the military regime. It is clear that
Gambari's recent mission to resolve the political impasse between the
military junta and detained opposition leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has
come to a standstill.

However, according to Mr. Gambari-- Mr. Ban Ki-moon will visit Burma in
December to attempt to resolve the conflict between the military and the
opposition. But to make Mr. Ban's visit meaningful the regime must show
that they are committed to a genuine political reform. Mr. Ban Ki-Moon's
trip is a encouraging step, but he should not participate in the charade
that will portray him as playing a harp in front of the buffaloes, again.
The previous United Nations' soft approach to Burmese Generals is not
working and it is time for tougher measures by using the maximum UN
leverage on this notorious junta.

How can there be free and fair general elections when real representatives
of the people, together with 2,000 other prisoners of conscience, are
still under lock and key? The UN and regional leaders must understand that
unconditional release of all political prisoners, and lifting of all
restrictions on their political activities, along with an unfettered and
independent media, are necessary prerequisites to begin a genuine
political process to end this violent and protracted conflict in Burma.