BurmaNet News, October 18-20, 2008

[Editor]

October 18-20, 2008 Issue # 3580


INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Man killed in second Yangon blast in 24 hours: Myanmar police
Irrawaddy: KNU appoints Karen woman General-Secretary
Irrawaddy: Nargis still taking a toll on children in the Delta
DVB: NLD hopes to reconcile with youth members
Mizzima News: Zarganar's family anxious about his health
Mizzima News: Humour magazine censored, publishing deferred

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Burmese migrant women in Thailand targeted by rape gangs
Thai News Agency: Three Thai security wounded in DKBA attack on Thai
border village

BUSINESS / TRADE
Mizzima News: Campaigners overjoyed at success of garment boycott

HEALTH / AIDS
Bernama (Malaysia): Myanmar media stress promotion of maternal, child
health services

INTERNATIONAL
DVB: EU to raise Burma at Asia-Europe meeting

OPINION / OTHER
IHT: With aid money going to the Delta, an imbalance forms in Myanmar
New Statesman (UK): Burma's resolve – David Hockaday

PRESS RELEASE
ICG: Burma/Myanmar after Nargis: Time to normalise aid relations



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

October 20, Agence France Presse
Man killed in second Yangon blast in 24 hours: Myanmar police

One man was killed on Sunday in a small bomb blast in northeast Yangon, a
police official said, the second such bombing in Myanmar's main city
within 24 hours.

"A man was killed during a bomb blast in Shwe Tyi Tha township," said the
Yangon police official, who did not want to be named as he was not
authorised to speak to the media.

He said the explosion hit a residential area at about 5:30 pm (1100 GMT),
but gave no further details.

A similar bomb exploded near a football field in northeast Yangon at about
7:00 pm on Saturday, causing minor damage but no injuries. Police said
they also managed to defuse a second explosive device that night.

Sunday's blast was in the same suburb as an explosion at a pro-government
office in July, which state media blamed on two members of detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
party.

Myanmar's junta had in the past blamed bombings on armed exile groups or
ethnic rebels who have been battling the military rulers for decades.

The NLD won elections in 1990, but the junta never allowed them to govern
and has kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the years
since.

Myanmar saw four bomb blasts last month, one of which killed two people
and wounded 10 at a video cafe in Yangon. Authorities later arrested an
ethnic Karen rebel fighter in connection with the bombing.

____________________________________

October 20, Irrawaddy
KNU appoints Karen woman General-Secretary – Saw Yan Naing

An ethnic Karen woman, Zipporah Sein, was elected general-secretary of the
Karen National Union on Friday, according to Karen sources in Mae Sot,
Thailand.

Zipporah Sein was named the first woman leader to serve as
general-secretary at the 14th KNU Congress held in Karen State in eastern
Burma.

She assumes the position of the late KNU General-Secretary Mahn Sha who
was assassinated on February 14, 2008, by two gunmen hired by Karen
breakaway rebel groups.

Zipporah Sein also serves as general-secretary of the Karen Women’s
Organization (KWO). One of the KWO missions is to collect data on human
rights abuses committed by the junta against ethnic Karen.

In June 2007, she received the Perdita Huston Human Rights Award for her
work to aid women’s struggle for freedom, democracy and equality in Burma.
She was nominated by an international women’s organization for the Nobel
Peace Prize in 2006.

Nang Yain, the general-secretary of the Women’s League of Burma, welcomed
the appointment. “It is the acknowledgement that the KNU recognizes the
role of women in the political movement,” she said.

At the congress meeting, the KNU elected 11 executive committee members.
Gen Tamla Baw was named chairman while David Takapaw was named
vice-chairman, according to KNU sources who attended the meeting.

Former Vice-Chairman Gen Tamla Baw served as former head of the KNU’s
military wing, the Karen National Liberation Army. He was a close
colleague of the late Gen Bo Mya.

Maj Hla Ngwe was appointed joint secretary (1) and Saw Daw Lay Mu was
appointed joint secretary (2). Other executive committee members are David
Htaw, Roger Khin, Mutu Say Poe, Arr Toe, Lah Say and Kay Hser.

The KNU, one of the oldest surviving rebel groups in Southeast Asia, has
been struggling for autonomy since 1949. The KNU has never signed a
ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government.

In 1995, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army split from the KNU and reached
a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese military government.

In early 2007, another splinter group known as the KNU/ KNLA Peace Council
led by former KNLA Brigade 7 leader Maj-Gen Htain Maung also signed a
ceasefire agreement with the Burmese regime.

Since the KNU/ KNLA Peace Council split from the KNU, assassinations
between the KNU and its breakaway groups have frequently occurred.

In 2004, former KNU chairman Gen Bo Mya visited Rangoon for peace talks
with former Burm’s Premier Khin Nyunt. The result was the so-called
“gentlemen’s agreement.”

However, in early 2006, Burmese troops launched major military offensives
against Karen civilians in northern Karen State and forced an estimated
30,000 Karen villagers to flee into the countryside as well as to cross
the Thai-Burmese border.

In February 2007, the KNU broke off all contact with the Burmese regime
when Maj-Gen Htain Maung and some 300 KNU soldiers defected to the Burmese
army.

____________________________________

October 20, Irrawaddy
Nargis still taking a toll on children in the Delta – Aung Thet Wine

Many children in the Irrawaddy delta are still suffering from the
psychological effects of Cyclone Nargis nearly six months after the
disaster struck, according to local and international aid workers.

The failure to restore a sense of normalcy to the region has severely
impacted on children’s ability to recover from the trauma of living
through Burma’s worst recorded natural disaster, said relief workers, who
observed disturbing signs that continuing neglect was causing lasting
damage to children’s emotional and educational development, as well as
endangering their physical health.

In some of the hardest-hit areas of the delta, children still have
difficulty sleeping at night, and many react to strong wind and overcast
skies with evident fear, said Burmese staff working with UNICEF. They said
it was not unusual to see children crying when the weather turned stormy,
reminding them of the cyclone that struck on the night of May 2-3.

“Children in cyclone-affected areas are not like normal kids,” said a
volunteer relief worker involved in an education project for children in
Laputta Township. “They are not so playful. They seem to be living in
constant fear.”

The relief worker said that many children showed a lack of interest in
their education, and some simply stared into space, completely withdrawn
from their surroundings.

“The psychological trauma and fear caused by the cyclone is having a
significant impact on their ability to learn,” said an official from the
Bogalay Township Red Cross Association. “They feel insecure, and for that
reason they can’t enjoy learning. Moreover, many are physically weak, and
this is causing health problems.”

Most observers said that the key reason children haven’t been able to
return to their normal lives is that they are still living in an
environment that bears the scars of the disaster. They note that the
military authorities have done little or nothing to improve living
conditions, leaving the work of rebuilding to local or international
non-governmental organizations (NGOs).

“UN agencies and local and international NGOs are doing as much as they
can, but the government isn’t moving at all,” said a schoolteacher from a
village primary school in Laputta. “They stopped doing anything three
months after the cyclone.”

Volunteers from a Rangoon-based NGO working for childcare and development
said more projects were needed to help children recover from their
psychological problems, and that these projects would require cooperation
between the government and NGOs.

At least at the ground level, some officials appeared to appreciate the
need to do more to get children back on track.

“To help the children recover, we need more gardens and places for them to
play. Above all, we should create more enjoyable spaces for them. And we
need more trained teachers who understand their psychological problems,”
said an official from the central government’s Basic Education Department.

But it looks like the task of actually creating such spaces will be met
primarily by international NGOs such as Save the Children, which plans to
construct 20 child-friendly centers in villages around Laputta Township.
These centers will be stocked with games, storybooks and drawing
materials, and staffed with teachers specially trained to help children
overcome their lingering insecurity.

Save the Children has also officially announced that it will give monthly
funding to the centers so that they can provide nutritious food to the
children.

But local residents say that boosting children’s morale is not enough—that
more needs to be done to meet their basic need for secure places to live
and study.

“The primary schools in Laputta Township can’t give children a sense of
security,” said one resident. “Their temporary learning centers are just
tarpaulin walls covered with sheets of zinc. There are no chairs, so they
just sit on the floors.”

According to official figures, there are now 365 primary schools in 500
villages in Laputta Township, operated jointly by the government and local
communities. Most, however, are flimsy constructions built by private
companies close to the ruling military regime.

“The private companies assigned for reconstruction of schools repaired
some schools, but they did it superficially and minimally,” said one
official from the Laputta Education Department, adding that there was also
a shortage of books, stationery, teaching aids and qualified teachers.

The official said that children in cyclone-hit areas should receive free
education, and that their families should receive additional assistance to
help them meet their daily living expenses—a view that others working in
the area shared.

“Now that the UN agencies and international NGOs are gradually stopping
their food assistance programs, it will surely have a negative effect on
their kids’ education,” said a 27-year-old volunteer relief worker from
Rangoon. “For that reason, the assistance programs should continue until
households strong bases for their livelihood.”

____________________________________

October 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
NLD hopes to reconcile with youth members – Yee May Aung

Efforts have been made to resolve the problems between National League for
Democracy youth members and party chairman Aung Shwe after 109 youth
activists resigned last week.

The NLD youth members submitted their resignation letters on 16 October
due to disagreements over the restructuring of the youth wing.

Youth members said that the reforms were being forced through with no
consultation.

NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said that the central executive committee would
meet for discussions next week to find a solution.

Nyan Win said that currently only three or four of the nine members were
fully abreast of the issues, the others having been unable to attend
meetings last week for health reasons.

The NLD spokesperson added that the party believed in solving problems
within the party and with the regime through dialogue.

“I can say that the majority wants reconciliation between the two sides,”
Nyan Win said.

“This is an internal party problem and I know that the CEC members will
try to solve it amicably,” he went on.

“The NLD has always been demanding ‘dialogue’ with the regime. If we use
dialogue within the party, face to face, there is no reason we can’t solve
this.”

“The most important thing is that both sides have the right attitude – if
they think about the country and the people first, then they can be
united.”

Khin Tun, one of the youth members who quit the party who was in charge of
NLD youth affairs for Lower Burma, agreed that there was hope for
reconciliation.

“The people who could solve this problem amicably are U Win Tin and U Khin
Maung Swe,” Khin Tun said.

“The two sides need to cooperate. From our perspective, if we have
permission to have a free and open discussion based on democratic
principles and mutual respect, this matter can be solved.”

Khin Tun said it would have been preferable if the dispute could have been
dealt with without the need for resignations.

“It is true that that shouldn’t have happened, but we need change,” Khin
Tun said.

“Instead of forcibly making the change, if we can have a form of change
emerging from what has happened, this is good government,” he said.

“Our main aim is the emergence of a democratic government, elected by the
people, a civilian government following a democratic system,” he went on.

“Democratic principles must be a part of our organisation and should be
applied as much as possible.”

____________________________________

October 20, Mizzima News
Zarganar's family anxious about his health – Than Htike Oo

Imprisoned comedian Thura a.k.a. Zarganar's family members are extremely
worried because he asked for medicines a couple of days ago.

Zarganar asked for a liver extract and medicines for gastric ulcer from
his family through a security guard when he was produced before the
Rangoon West District court on October 15 inside the Insein prison where
he is being held.

"We are worried about his health. We don't know why he asked for the
medicines and are wondering whether it is a preventive measure or for
emergency use. We could not meet him in court. A security guard said that
Thura had asked for the medicines," Zarganar's mother Kyi Oo told Mizzima.

"We couldn't go because it is far, so we sent my elder son to see him. He
seemed to be thinner. We can send the medicines on Monday," she added.

"The prison authorities usually provide some common medicines such as
'paracetamol' (common cold drug) to all patients in the prison
irrespective of the diseases they are suffering from. The prisoners can't
expect other medicines, " Teit Naing, Secretary of the Thailand based
Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners – Burma' (AAPP-B), said.

"Since the International Red Cross Committee (ICRC) was barred from making
visiting prisons, the health care situation for political prisoners has
deteriorated severely. We have compiled a list of political prisoners
whose health has deteriorated. The number stands at about 50," he added.

Though his condition was fine when he appeared in court, he has been
suffering from many chronic diseases, his defence lawyer Khin Maung Shein
pointed out.

Zarganar hade been suffering from hypertension, gastric ulcer,
spondilysis, heart disease among other ailments before he was arrested.
Once he collapsed from hypertension and was sent to Maharmyaing clinic by
his friends before his arrest.

Nine Special Branch Police personnel and local administrative officials of
the Ward Peace and Development Council came to his home in early June this
year and searched his house following which he was arrested.

He was actively engaged in relief operations for Cyclone Nargis victims
when he was arrested. Individual donors and well-wishers like Zarganar
exposed the actual situation in the aftermath of the cyclone to the
foreign media even as the junta was trying to cover up both the casualty
figures and the devastation caused.

He offered water and alms to protesting monks during the monk-led Saffron
Revolution in September 2007 along with famous politician Win Naing and
actor Kyaw Thu among others.

He was frequently called, arrested and interrogated by the authorities for
his outbursts over the oppression and mismanagement of the junta.

He is now charged on seven counts including 'disaffection towards the
State and government'.

His family members were not allowed to witness the court proceeding like
family members of other political prisoners who were produced before the
court two days ago.

The family members of 88 Generation Student leaders and other political
activists being held in Insein prison collectively submitted an appeal to
the Chief Justice at Naypyitaw (new capital city) to let them be present
in the courtroom and witness the trial.

____________________________________

October 20, Mizzima News
Humour magazine censored, publishing deferred – Nem Davies

A monthly humour magazine was forced to postpone publishing of its October
issue after the censor board cut over 23 per cent of its contents.
The Rangoon based humour magazine 'Pyaw Pyaw Shwin Shwin' had to defer the
publishing date of this month's issue as the board censored six forms of a
total of 26 forms submitted for clearance.

"They cannot publish in time as the censorship on this month's issue is
too heavy. Most of the censored sections are from poems and stories. They
are likely to suspend publishing for about two months," a person close to
the magazine said. But the magazine refused to release any news regarding
the cuts for fear of further action against them.

The censor board, popularly known as 'Literary Kempetai' named after the
atrocities committed by the Japanese military intelligence during the
Japanese occupation in Burma, did not give any reason for the censorship.
But media circles speculated that the authorities censored it as they did
not understand what the poems meant. So they simply said that it was not
in accordance with the guidelines laid down by the censor board.

"The poems usually use cryptic language so the authorities did not know
exactly what they meant. They censored these manuscripts arbitrarily," a
veteran magazine editor said.

Similarly many poems from this month's issue of 'Kalyar', 'Cherry',
'Myanmar Thit', 'Mahaythi' and other magazines were also censored so only
a few poems appeared in these magazines.

"Many poems were censored this month. Only four poems appeared in this
month's issue of 'Kalyar', only five poems were passed by the censor board
out of a total of 11 submitted by 'Mahaythi', only two poems appeared in
'Myanmarthit'. Earlier at least seven poems used to appear in these
monthly magazines," a writer from one of the magazines said.

In July this year, editor U Htay Aung of 'Cherry' magazine, was forced to
resign from his post by the authorities after 'Depayinga' a poem written
by Khin Maung Than appeared in the magazine. After this the censor board
has imposed tighter restrictions on these magazines.

"A lot of censorship made the magazine difficult to publish and they lost
their market as a consequence. The market is shrinking for them now," a
veteran magazine editor said.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

October 20, Irrawaddy
Burmese migrant women in Thailand targeted by rape gangs – Lawi Weng

Burmese migrant women working in the factories of Mahachai, in Thailand’s
Samut Sakhon, run a high risk of being sexually abused and raped,
according to Thai human rights groups.

Mahachai has the highest concentration of Burmese migrant workers in
Thailand, most of them employed in the area’s seafood processing plants.

A lawyer with the Mahachai-based Raks Thai Foundation said about 30
Burmese migrant women had been raped in the area in the first eight months
of 2008.

Another rights group, the Labor Rights Promotion Network, said it was
working on the investigation of six cases of alleged rape.

The Network’s Director, Sompong Srakawe, said about two women fell victim
to gang rape in the Mahachai area every month.

The Raks Thai Foundation lawyer said legal proceedings were now under way
in the case of two Burmese women who complained they had been held against
their will and raped by members of a human trafficking gang.

Rights groups accuse the Thai authorities of failing to take rape
complaints seriously enough.

“Street gangs say ‘the Burmese women are illegal migrants and we can’t be
arrested if we rape them’,” said Sompong.

According to the Raks Thai Foundation lawyer, only five percent of rape
complaints are followed up by the authorities. “If you are Burmese, your
case is delayed and you can’t get fair justice,” he said.

Victims are often dragged from their rooms and taken away in trucks to be
gang-raped, he said.

Hong Son, a factory worker from Ye Township, in Mon State, said a
14-year-old acquaintance had been abducted by a gang, beaten up and raped.

A member of the Raks Thai Foundation said shame and the fear of
deportation caused some victims to remain silent.

Around one million Burmese migrants are registered to work legally in
Thailand, while about the same number are illegally employed, according to
the Mahachai-based Labor Protection Department, which is based in
Mahachai.

____________________________________

October 19, Thai News Agency
Three Thai security wounded in DKBA attack on Thai border village

Three Thai village security personnel all were wounded Saturday night when
soldiers from the Burma-based Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA)
attacked a Thai border village, the second incident involving the faction
in the same village in the past two weeks.

The DKBA soldiers late Saturday penetrated the Thai village and fired
rocket propelled grenades and used small arms fire against a Thai security
patrol, wounding three. The trio were evacuated to a district hospital and
are now out of danger.

The incident involved a unit of the Democratic Buddhist Karen attacked
Thai security personnel on patrol in Mae Klong Khee border village in
Thailand's Umphang district of Tak province.

The surprise attack took place about 50 metres from the house of village
chief Boonlert Duanmaeklong whose house was attacked on October 4 when
armed Myanmar soldiers, backed by DKBA, attacked the Karen National Union
rebels with heavy weaponry. Mr. Boonlert, acting on a tip, had fled his
home before the earlier attack.

Col. Padung Yingpaiboonsuk, task force commander from the 4th Infantry
Regiment, has lodged a protest with the Thailand-Burma Border Township
Committee (TBC) in Naypyidaw in response to the October 4 attack. Border
authorities in Thailand have tightened security along the border in
Thai-Burma border in Tak following the ambush.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

October 20, Mizzima News
Campaigners overjoyed at success of garment boycott – Solomon

United Kingdom retailer Cotton Traders has said it will sever business
links with military-ruled Burma, less than a week after campaigners
launched a boycott against the clothing company for sourcing merchandise
from the troubled Southeast Asian country.

An official in the Director's Office of Cotton Traders in Cheshire,
England, told Mizzima that the company will pull out all business from
Burma, as they have received numerous calls inquiring as to their links
with Burma.

"We have already issued press statements on it [the company's plan to pull
out of Burma]," the official, who did not identify herself, told Mizzima
by telephone.

Cotton Traders' decision to pull out of Burma came only days after The
Burma Campaign UK launched a public boycott against the clothing retailer
for sourcing products from Burma, whose military rulers maintain a dubious
human rights record.

The Burma Campaign UK, a group advocating for human rights and democracy
in Burma, said they welcome the decision by Cotton Traders, whose Product
Director, Paul Hawkins, informed them that, "No new styles will be placed
in Burma and as such Cotton Traders has ceased to source product from
Burma."

"They [Cotton Traders] stopped because of the boycott campaign we launched
and thanks to the hundreds of our supporters," Johnny Chatterton,
Campaigns Officer at the rights group, told Mizzima.

Chatterton said that according to the British government there are around
30 million U.S. dollars worth of clothing imported to the United Kingdom
every year from Burma, though the exact figures related to Cotton Traders
are unknown.

"Cotton Traders haven't disclosed to us just how much they have been
importing," said Chatterton, adding that his group will continue to
investigate other companies who may be sourcing from Burma.

He said they have officially inquired into several companies, including
The Animal, Bay Trading By Design Plc, Ciro Citterio, Etam, First Sport,
Harrods, Intersport, Jane Norman, Jeffrey Rogers, Jo Bloggs, Liberty,
Lillywhites and Mambo, as to whether or not they maintain business links
with Burma.

"We have urged them to disclose if they have merchandise from Burma, but
those companies have refused to reply us. We will continue to investigate
them," he added.

The British Government has a decade-long policy of discouraging trade with
Burma and has called on British companies not to operate there. In 2003,
the United States banned imports of clothing from Burma.

According to The Burma Campaign UK, over 140 major high street clothing
retailers, including M&S, Next, ASDA, H&M, Harrods, Debenhams, House of
Fraser and BHS, have policies not to source from Burma.

"Cotton Traders have made the right decision and pulled out of Burma.
However, they should never have been in the country at all," remarked
Chatterton.

"By sourcing clothes from Burma they have helped to fund a dictatorship
that uses rape, torture and murder to oppress its own people," he added.

In September, Lloyd's of London informed all of their agents to reconsider
their business links with Burma after the financial behemoth came under
similar pressure from both activists and Parliamentarians.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

October 20, Bernama (Malaysia)
Myanmar media stress promotion of maternal, child health services

The official newspaper New Light of Myanmar Monday stressed the need to
promote community-based maternal and child healthcare services, calling
for training more skilled health staff.

"In Myanmar, there are over one million pregnant women every year and the
government promotes its healthcare services for mothers and newborn
babies," China's XINHUA news agency quoted the paper as saying in its
editorial, adding that midwives are being trained to reach the target of
having one skilled midwife per village.

Courses on antenatal and new born babies care are also being conducted for
auxiliary midwives, the editorial noted.

The editorial emphasized that priority is being given to holding of
educative talks on antenatal and post-natal care, baby care under five,
nutrition for mother and child and vaccination at healthcare centers in
urban and rural areas.

The editorial went on to say that measures are being taken with regard to
systematic healthcare services during pregnancy and before and after
birth, prevention of infectious diseases through sex as well as
reproductive health.

Meanwhile, Myanmar health authorities also stressed the implementation of
breast feeding project as a prime task in boosting the health of women and
babies.

Since the project started in 1993, a total of 445 hospitals in Myanmar
were acknowledged as Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative and 159 townships
as Baby Friendly Home Delivery, the newspaper said.

According to the department, 42.4 percent of the country's hospitals were
covered by the breast feeding plan.

To promote dissemination of breast feeding information and education,
Myanmar's world breast feeding week campaign this year was launched across
Myanmar in August by the ministry involving the cooperation of United
Nations agencies and domestic non- governmental organizations.

Earlier statistics of the ministry indicated that 97 percent of mothers in
Myanmar breast-fed their babies but only 70 percent are methodical.

The ministry has called for systematic breastfeeding habit to get benefits
derived from the feeding.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

October 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
EU to raise Burma at Asia-Europe meeting – Khin Maung Soe Min

The European Union has been preparing to raise the issue of Burma at the
upcoming ASEM in China, according to National League for
Democracy-Liberated Area member Nyo Ohn Myint.

The EU Council is to hold a preparatory meeting on 22 October to discuss
the Asia-Europe Meeting, which opens on 24 October.

The NLD-LA and National Council of the Union of Burma has prepared a draft
to be sent to the meeting, Nyo Ohn Myint said.

The draft emphasises that the number of political prisoners has increased
significantly to more than 2000, including NLD leader Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, and that the Burmese regime is avoiding dialogue with the opposition.

When asked whether host country China could obstruct discussion of Burma,
Nyo Ohn Myint said that he thought China could itself come under pressure.

"Although the SPDC prime minister will be there, I expect that there could
be a form of pressure on the Chinese government from Europe and Asia
countries over the unfair detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” Nyo Ohn
Myint said.

“This is because China is expected to practise a fair foreign policy after
the Olympics and the continued detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will
become a focus for pressure."

But former Burmese ambassador to China and veteran politician, Thakhin
Chan Tun thinks differently.

"The EU might broach the subject but none of the ASEAN members will want
to talk about it,” Thakin Chan Tun said.

“So I think that they will try to avoid the subject. China will not talk
about the good and bad things about Burma,” he said.

“I don't think that it will be allowed to get to a point where actions are
taken."

The main topics for discussion in the coming ASEM will be the global
financial crisis, the energy crisis and regional security.

Burmese prime minister major-general Thein Sein is due to attend the
meeting, though Burmese state-run media have reported that he is going to
Beijing to attend the China-ASEAN trade fair.

ASEM comprises 45 partners including the European Commission and 27
European Union member states, the ASEAN secretariat and 10 ASEAN members
and six other Asian countries, including China.

ASEM 7, the seventh Asia-Europe Meeting, is being held in Beijing, China,
from 24 to 25 October.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

October 20, International Herald Tribune
With aid money going to the Delta, an imbalance forms in Myanmar

In some spots, the road that leads to Kobi Ramau's village looks as if it
has more potholes than pavement.

Not that it matters too much to Ramau, a farmer and father of four: He
does not have a car, let alone a bicycle. And Myanmar's military
government bans him from traveling outside his district without a permit.

Like the more than 720,000 Muslims who live in Rakhine State, this
rain-soaked western corner of Myanmar, Ramau is stateless. His parents and
grandparents were born here in British colonial times, but the military
government does not recognize him as a citizen.

Ramau's life is an extreme example of the deprivation, hunger and general
poverty that many people in this country face. Soldiers expropriated
Ramau's land a decade ago and took his 80 buffalo. He is now paid the
equivalent of $25 a month by the military to till the land he once owned.
"They took everything," he said.

But a few hundred miles southeast, in another low-lying, rice-growing area
of Myanmar that was no better off - until recently - a very different
picture has emerged.

The cyclone that ravaged Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta five months ago has
unexpectedly opened the door to foreign money and foreign aid workers who
are leading projects to "rebuild better" the roads, schools, houses and
water storage tanks that were destroyed or damaged during the storm.

After initial resistance by Myanmar's junta, dollars are cascading into
the Delta on a scale that this country has perhaps never seen.

Britain, the European Union, the United States and Australia - all of
which have long been considered the sworn enemies of the ruling junta -
have led donors in a fund-raising effort that has so far provided $240
million, or about $100 for every person who survived Cyclone Nargis, an
amount that the United Nations hopes to double in the coming months.

Aid workers say that this intensive rebuilding effort in the Delta, where
only a small fraction of the country's population lives, has opened up the
possibility to expanded humanitarian operations in the country.

But, in the here and now, the assistance to the Delta has created a stark
imbalance in the country.

"There's a serious amount of money flowing into this country and it's all
for Nargis victims," said Frank Smithuis, head of the aid group Médecins
Sans Frontières in Myanmar, which tends to the sick both inside and out of
the Delta. "That is great, but it is strange that nobody seems interested
in the needs of the rest of the country."

The list of those in need of food and medical attention in Myanmar is long
and distressing.

Here in this city overlooking the Bay of Bengal, a half-dozen men have as
their only employment an umbrella repair business, fixing battered
"made-in-China" models that would be tossed into the trash in neighboring
countries.

A household survey carried out in June for UN agencies found a "worsening
and alarming economic situation" in villages near the border with
Bangladesh. With bad weather last year leading to crop failures, families
cut back from three to two meals a day. Only 60 percent of boys and less
than half of girls had "normal" body mass - the rest were severely
malnourished. And only 12 percent of households had soap.

In northern Myanmar, erstwhile opium farmers who gave up the heroin
business in recent years in exchange for promises that they would be given
food aid have now returned to planting opium because they are hungry, aid
officials say.

Across the country, out of a quarter of a million people infected with
HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, 80,000 are in urgent need of retroviral
drugs and only 15,000 will receive them, according to Smithuis. "The
others will die," he said.

In Chin State, near the border with India, villagers are suffering what
has the ring of a biblical plague. Thousands of rats, attracted to a rare
blooming of bamboo flowers, have eaten through rice fields and other
crops. Farmers in some villages are now living off of wild tubers in the
jungle.

"The rats ate everything," said Pyi Kyaw, a 38-year-old villager who rowed
a boat loaded with bamboo and other timber for several days downstream to
exchange the wood for large bags of rice. It will take nine days to row
back home against the currents, he said.

For years, Western countries were reluctant to provide aid to Myanmar for
fear that it would strengthen the grip of the junta and its repressive
policies. But the shocking toll of the cyclone, which struck on May 2 and
3 and left an estimated 130,000 people dead or missing, was a watershed
moment because Western governments believed that the plight of the victims
overrode concerns about ways that the junta might benefit. Today, 26
international aid organizations are operating in one district of the Delta
alone.

In past years Myanmar has received tiny levels of aid compared with its
neighbors. In 2005, the latest year for which comparable data are
available, Myanmar received $3 per person in aid compared with $9 per
capita in Bangladesh, $38 in Cambodia, $49 in Laos and $22 in Vietnam.

The quandary for aid organizations is that assistance pledged for the
Delta must be spent in the Delta, aid workers say. The World Food Program,
a United Nations agency that delivers rice, beans, cooking oil and iodized
salt, is fully funded through January for victims of the cyclone. But the
organization will have to cut back programs in northern areas of the
country because of an immediate shortfall of $11.2 million, partly caused
by the increase in global food prices.

"We haven't been able to convince donors to give us money for projects in
the northern areas," said Chris Kaye, the head of the Myanmar operations
of the World Food Program.

The cyclone has also drained resources away from areas outside the Delta.
Trucks, aid personnel and equipment were channeled to the cyclone-hit
regions from northern areas of the country. And with a key rice-growing
area in the Delta damaged by the storm the government forbade the World
Food Program from buying cheaper locally produced rice, fearing food
shortages. The United Nations is now forced to buy more expensive foreign
rice, further straining budgets.

In perhaps the most stark example of the imbalance between the Delta and
the rest of the country, impoverished villagers here along the border with
Bangladesh have been forced by the government to donate money for the
victims of Cyclone Nargis - a philanthropic gesture, couched as patriotic
duty, they can hardly afford.

Ramau, the farmer, seems initially startled when asked what types of
things he needs.

"We need so many things," he said, pausing to respond. "We have no money."

____________________________________

October 20, New Statesman (UK)
Burma's resolve – David Hockaday

The Burmese people have shown astonishing resilience in the wake of
cyclone Nargis, but the international community must do more to support
them.

It is a given that for every force there is an equal and an opposite
reaction. So when the destructive force of cyclone Nargis devastated the
Ayeyarwady Delta on the night of the 2 May this year, the question arising
was: "how would the country respond?"

Although the cyclone left 140,000 people dead or missing, and seriously
affected 2.4 million more, the answer was quick and definitive.

Within two days, monasteries, individuals, self help groups, staff of
national charities, international non–governmental organisations and
United Nations agencies (many of whom had families and homes affected by
this disaster) had dusted themselves off and launched an incredible aid
effort. They took food and essential relief items to absolutely isolated
villages, by any means possible.

Although there was a tragic lack of readiness for this cyclone – an all
too frequent event in this region – and although the government request
for international assistance was delayed, there was, and remains a massive
humanitarian response.

This disaster has shown that when the extraordinary resilience of a local
population is backed up by international support, a powerful and
constructive force for good can be unleashed.

The Delta is full of stories of courage; how people climbed trees and hung
on for hours despite the lashing and stinging saline rain and howling
winds; how friends pulled loved ones from the swollen rivers; how people
sat out the cyclone on rooftops; how people went to extraordinary lengths
to find missing members of their families to reunite in the rubble.

I heard from three brothers who survived a capsized ship by treading water
and floating on logs for hours. They survived for three days by eating
coconuts and drinking rain water and were finally reunited at a temporary
camp 14 days later.

The international community, local government and national staff of
non-governmental organisations have undoubtedly played largely successful
roles in the aid effort through the provision of essential humanitarian
aid in the days following the cyclone – distributing much needed
tarpaulins for shelter, soap and cooking utensils, mosquito nets and jerry
cans for fetching water to hundreds of thousands of people. This was all
carried out across a vast geographical area typified by swamps and huge
interconnecting rivers.

The job of the aid workers has been made easier by the incredible spirit
of the local population. It was observed as early as July that in many
areas, over 75% of people affected by the cyclone had rebuilt their homes.

Despite the chaos following the immediate days after the cyclone, rice was
planted and in some areas a reasonable harvest is expected. Even in some
of the most heavily affected and remote locations, such as Middle Island
in the Western Delta which bore the full brunt of the storm, markets are
springing back up again.

Tea rooms and restaurants are full of the bustle of daily life. I even
stumbled upon a landowner who had managed to rig up a satelitte TV system
and was showing English Premier League football – for a price of course -
to a willing and animated crowd.

There is much more to be done in Burma and the reconstruction effort will
be a long, painful and difficult road not helped by the fact that the
United Nations appeal stands pitifully half-empty. This means that
essential recovery and reconstruction work such as re-building roads,
health services and schools will not take place on the scale necessary.
Access to fresh clean water in the Delta is also going to be an issue as
the dry season progresses, as is the availability of food in some areas.

Humanitarians will point to the fact that in neighbouring Bangladesh a
similar cyclone this year killed far fewer people because of simple
preparedness initiatives supported by the government. Basic lessons from
Bangladesh can be used to improve future preparation in Burma and
elsewhere.

But concentrating on the terrible loss of life in Burma does a disservice
to the incredible acts of heroism and tenacity of the people who actually
survived that night.

The people of Burma have shown that through resolve, enterprise and
bravery in the face of adversity, a constructive force for good can be
achieved that runs as powerful as the force of nature that caused this
devastation in the first place. It is time for the international community
to recognise this and to go that next step with further support.

David Hockaday is Emergencies Adviser Burma (Myanmar) for Save the
Children UK

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

October 20, International Crisis Group
Burma/Myanmar after Nargis: Time to normalise aid relations

The international community should build on the unprecedented cooperation
between the Myanmar government and humanitarian agencies following cyclone
Nargis and reverse longstanding, counterproductive aid policies.

Burma/Myanmar After Nargis: Time to Normalise Aid Relations,* the latest
report from the International Crisis Group, argues that the recent
cooperation has proved that it is possible to work with the military
regime on humanitarian issues and to deliver assistance in an effective
and accountable way. If the current opening can be used to build
confidence and lay the basis for a more effective aid structure, it may be
possible not only to meet the immediate needs, but also to begin to
address the broader crisis of governance and human suffering.

“Political reform remains vital but withholding aid has done nothing to
promote this”, says John Virgoe, Crisis Group’s South East Asia Project
Director. “Aid is valuable in its own right for alleviating suffering, as
well as a potential means of opening up a closed country, improving
governance and empowering people to take control of their own lives”.

The government’s initial response to cyclone Nargis shocked the world,
with international agencies and local donors denied access to the affected
areas. But, little noticed, the situation subsequently improved markedly,
to the point where the UN humanitarian chief was able to describe it in
July as “a normal international relief operation”. Communication between
the government and international agencies has much improved. Visas and
travel permits today are easier and faster to get than before.
Requirements for the launch of new aid projects have been eased. By and
large, the authorities are making efforts to facilitate aid, including
allowing a substantial role for civil society.

The international community should commit to continuing its support for
post-cyclone recovery. But Myanmar faces a much deeper developmental
crisis, with millions of households living on the edge of survival. Donors
should end aid restrictions, which have seen Myanmar receiving twenty
times less assistance than similar countries – and which have weakened,
not strengthened, the forces for change. This means more aid, but also
different aid, aimed at raising income and education as well as health
levels, fostering civil society and improving economic policy and
governance.

“Aid alone will not bring sustainable human development, never mind peace
and democracy”, says Robert Templer, Crisis Group’s Asia Program Director.
“Yet, due to the limited links between Myanmar and the outside world, aid
has unusual importance as an arena of interaction among the government,
society and the international community”.

Contacts: Andrew Stroehlein (Brussels) +32 (0) 2 541 1635
Kimberly Abbott (Washington) +1 202 785 1601
To contact Crisis Group media please click here
*Read the full Crisis Group report on our website: http://www.crisisgroup.org