BurmaNet News, January 27, 2009

[Editor]

January 27, 2009, Issue #3639


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: Burmese opposition views Gambari visit with skepticism
Irrawaddy: Junta promises to address Rohingya exodus
Kachin News Group: UN envoy should push junta for free and fair polls in
2010: KIO
Mizzima News: NLD holds lecture on Law Affairs in Rangoon
DVB: ILO concerned by jailing of labour activist
Xinhua: Myanmar starts building national wildlife park

ON THE BORDER
Xinhua: 78 Rohingya boat people arrested off coast of southern Thailand

BUSINESS / TRADE
AsiaNews.it: Myanmar, children exploited for less than 30 cents a day

HEALTH / AIDS
New Light of Myanmar: MRD, WHO conduct health course

DRUGS
DVB: Crab exporter arrested for heroin trafficking

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: Are Malaysian officials trafficking Burmese migrants?

INTERNATIONAL
Irish Times: Situation in Burma critical, says exiled prime minister
AFP: Britain 'deeply concerned' by Myanmar boat people allegations
Vancouver Sun: Burmese refugees struggle to resettle in Canada
Wall Street Journal: Fiat draws attention to a cause -- Along with car

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: Constitution and the ethnic nationalities – Aung Htoo
Burmese Perspectives: Letter from Guildford, Surrey

STATEMENT
Burma Partnership: Strengthening Cooperation for a Free Burma

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Rivers Network: Burma Rivers Network launches groundbreaking website



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

January 27, Irrawaddy
Burmese opposition views Gambari visit with skepticism – Lalit K Jha

Burmese opposition politicians and commentators view with skepticism the
news that UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari is to return to Burma at the
end of this month.

It will be Gambari’s seventh visit to Burma on a long-running mission,
begun in 2006, to break the deadlock between the regime and pro-democracy
forces. He last visited Burma in August 2008, failing to meet either junta
chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe or detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Confirming on Monday that the Burmese government had invited Gambari back
to Burma, UN Spokeswoman Marie Okabe said “discussions are ongoing about
the details of the visit."

One leading opposition figure, Aye Thar Aung, an Arakan leader and
secretary of the Committee Representing the People’s Parliament, told The
Irrawaddy, he did not expect anything from Gambari’s visit.

“In the past, the UN could do nothing for the Burmese political process,”
he said, charging that the military government had used Gambari as “their
mouthpiece before the international community.”

Thakin Chan Tun, a veteran politician and former Burmese ambassador to
China, was also skeptical about Gambari’s latest visit, saying it would be
“just another UN envoy’s trip to Burma.” Gambari’s previous six visits had
produced no political progress, he said.

One open issue is the refusal by Suu Kyi’s party, the National League for
Democracy, to participate in the 2010 election unless there is first of
all a review of the junta-sponsored constitution.

Gambari reportedly told the NLD and other opposition groups in August that
if the NLD wanted to participate in the 2010 general election he would
discuss the issue with the regime—prompting charges that he was favoring
the regime and neglecting his role as mediator.

The NLD’s Win Tin said on Monday the party would not discuss the 2010
elections with Gambari, according the Norway based Democratic Voice of
Burma.

“If the UN wants to give us their opinions and tell us their concerns
about the 2008 constitution, we would at least like to listen to them. We
would strongly encourage the UN if they will put in the effort for
negotiations on this issue," Win Tin was quoted in a report by the
Democratic Voice of Burma. "But if they are only here to talk about the
elections, then we won't listen to them.”

Win Min, a Burmese political analyst based in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said
he didn’t expect much to result from Gambari’s visit—although the
resumption of his mission was better than doing nothing.

UN spokeswoman Okabe said Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon believes more
progress is necessary on the issues that Gambari raised with the Burmese
military junta during his last visit.

Prominent among these is the need for dialogue between the regime and Aung
San Suu Kyi, she said.

"He [the Secretary General] has, therefore, asked Mr Gambari to return to
continue his discussions and engagement with the Myanmar government,
opposition and other stakeholders as an integral part of this process in
the implementation of the Secretary-General's mandate," she said.
____________________________________

January 27, Kachin News Group
UN envoy should push junta for free and fair polls in 2010: KIO

A senior leader of the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) said, the
United Nations (UN) envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari should push the ruling
junta to hold free and fair elections in 2010, during his visit to the
country soon.

Gambari's visit to Burma is aimed at discussing political reconciliation
in the Southeast Asian nation and was announced on January 26 by the UN
office in New York.  During his earlier visit in August, 2008, he was
denied a meeting with the junta supremo Senior General Than Shwe while
democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi who is under house-arrest in Rangoon,
spurned his efforts to meet her.

Dr. Manam Tu Ja, Vice-president No. II of KIO and Chairman of Kachin State
Interim Committee (KSIC) which was formed in preparation for the 2010
elections by forming a Kachin state political party, told KNG today,
"Gambari can advise the ruling junta to obey the wishes of  the majority
of the Burmese people while it is implementing the seven-step roadmap.  He
should not only suggest to the junta to hold free and fair elections in
2010 but also that the election rules should be accepted by the public."

Dr. Tu Ja said that he believed Gambari can advice the junta given the
current political condition while ushering in democracy in the country
through its seven-step roadmap. However the junta is known to reject any
suggestion from inside and outside Burma which they think will affect the
seven-step roadmap.

While supporting the junta's seven-step roadmap, the KIO had tried to take
a neutral stand on the junta's referendum in May 10, 2008 on the country's
new constitution. However the KIO changed its stand on the constitution
and ordered its people to cast 'approval votes' on the referendum day.

On June 20, 2008, the KSIC was formed by the three main Kachin ceasefire
groups the KIO, New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), the Lasang Awng Wa
Ceasefire Group, and the Kachin National Consultative Assembly (KNCA). 
The KSIC is ready to announce the name of its political party which will
contest the 2010 elections as soon as the junta authorizes forming of
political parties in the country, said Chairman Dr. Tu Ja.

Meanwhile, the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association
(USDA) and ethnic ceasefire groups are waiting for the announcement of the
junta to form political parties for participating in the 2010 elections.

Brig-Gen Thein Zaw Minister of Post, Telegraph and Communication Ministry
of the junta officially said that the USDA will be transformed to a
political party soon to contest the 2010 elections during his visit to
Kachin Cultural Manau Festival in Kachin state's capital Myitkyina on the
61st anniversary of Kachin State Day on January 10 where he delivered a
short speech.

Currently, the KSIC is looking at a 'step by step policy' for genuine
democracy in the country through negotiation and it believes that the
policy will be possible, added Dr. Tu Ja.

____________________________________

January 27, Irrawaddy
Junta promises to address Rohingya exodus – Saw Yan Naing

Burma’s No 2 leader, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, has promised the Thai
military supreme commander during an official visit to Burma that
authorities will try to stem the flow of Rohingya refugees who try to
reach neighboring countries illegally, according to the Thai News Agency
(TNA).

A Thai delegation led by Supreme Commander Gen Songkitti Jaggabatara
visited Naypyidaw, the Burmese capital, on Monday.

A wounded Rohingya migrant is treated by a Thai nurse at the provincial
hospital in Ranong province, southern Thailand, on Tuesday. A new boatload
of the 78 ethnic Rohingya migrants was detained in Thailand, several with
lacerations, burns and other wounds they said were inflicted by Burmese
soldiers. (Photo: AP)
Gen Songkitti was quoted by TNA that Maung Aye agreed with Thailand’s
request to address the issue of Rohingya Muslims who have sought refuge in
Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, often risking dangerous journeys by sea
in small boats.

Maung Aye said authorities will try to prevent the Rohingya from leaving
Burma for other countries.

Burma’s state-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, mentioned the visit
by the Thai supreme commander, but disclosed no details about the meeting.

Meanwhile, Al-Jazeera television reported on Tuesday that a boat with 78
ethnic Rohingya migrants was detained in Thailand. Some Rohingya had
lacerations, burns and other wounds.

According to the report, the migrants fled Burma about a month ago, and
the Burmese military intercepted their vessel as it sailed south toward
Thailand.

A Rohingya, speaking through a translator, said the Burmese military beat
them with sticks. Others said the soldiers tried to set their boat on
fire, and they showed severe body burns.

A senior Thai navy official told The Associated Press news agency that the
migrants would be repatriated once their boat was fixed. "We will send
them back through legal channels," he said.

On Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said
that it is still awaiting a response from the Thai government one week
after it requested access to Rohingya refugees in Thailand to examine
whether they are in need of international protection.

NGOs have alleged that up to 300 Rohingya are missing after the Thai navy
denied them refuge and turned them back out to sea.

According to the Thai Ministry of Foreign Affairs, it is estimated that up
to 20,000 illegal Rohingya migrants have entered Thailand over recent
years and remain in the country.

Last week, Thailand offered to host a regional conference to discuss the
mass migration of Rohingya refugees.

Foreign Ministry officials met with envoys from India, Indonesia,
Bangladesh, Malaysia and Burma to discuss the exodus of the Rohingya from
Burma, where they say they are persecuted economically and denied basic
rights of citizenship.

____________________________________

January 27, Mizzima News
NLD holds lecture on Law Affairs in Rangoon – Ko Wild

The fortnightly lecture on Law Affairs was held this afternoon at the
National League for Democracy (NLD) HQ in Rangoon.

Thingangyun constituency (1) NLD MP and Central Legal Aid Committee member
advocate U Thein Nyunt, delivered his lecture on the title 'Burmese Laws
and Practical Problems' and he led the discussions on his lecture.

Central Executive Committee (CEC) member U Win Tin told Mizzima that U
Thein Nyunt had based his lecture on the official strategy of the NLD,
national reconciliation, restoring democracy and human rights, and also on
the NLD's tactics of working within the legal framework, resolution of
political issues by political means and other legal issues.

"NLD has resolved all political issues within the legal framework and by
legal means throughout its history. We are also following this line. He
explained and discussed all these things by blending them with his
experiences and legal matters," U Win Tin said.

In the Q&A section, he discussed South Africa's experience of the 'Truth
Commission' exercised by those who toppled the apartheid government for
national reconciliation. In this programme, the people, who admitted their
crimes, were pardoned.

The lecture was attended by youths, women's wing members and CEC members
including U Win Tin, U Nyunt Wai, Thakin Soe Myint, U Khin Maung Swe among
others. There were a total of over 150 people.

Today's lecture and talk was jointly organized by the Rangoon Division
Assistance to Youth Organization and Township and NLD Youth Organizations
in 'Youth Education Programme'.

____________________________________

January 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
ILO concerned by jailing of labour activist – Khin Maung Soe Min

A representative of the International Labour Organisation has the ILO is
concerned by the recent sentencing of labour activist Zaw Htay after he
helped farmers in Magwe file a report to the organisation.

Zaw Htay was sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment by Magwe court on 23
January on charges of leaking sensitive information.

He has worked with farmers in Nat Mauk township to file a report to the
ILO on the seizure of more than 5000 acres of land by the military.

Steve Marshall, the ILO’s liaison officer in Rangoon, said the
organisation was doing what it could for Zaw Htay.

"ILO is working on Ko Zaw Htay's case with particular concern.
Negotiations are ongoing with the Burmese government on this," Marshall
said.

"This is a very sensitive issue for us so it's hard to say anything now,"
he said.

"ILO's priority in Burma is to end forced labour in the country and to
stop the use of child soldiers. Other issues are outside our mandate, but
we will do as much as we can to solve this."
____________________________________

January 27, Xinhua
Myanmar starts building national wildlife park

Myanmar has started building a national wildlife park in its northern Chin
state of Putao to undertake conservation work with wild animals, sources
with the Ministry of Forestry said on Tuesday.

The park, to be built by the ministry and the private Tun foundation, lies
between the two mountains of Mularoti and Zayar covering an area of 405
hectares.

Wildlife and rare animals such as panda, red panda, deer, tiger will be
kept in the park, a manager from the Tun foundation said, adding that the
park will be barred from hunting.

There is also a large tiger reserve called Hukuang in the same state
established in 2004. The reserve covers an area of about 22, 000 square
kilometers.

However, only 150 tigers reportedly remain alive in the reserve.

In the wake of tiger extinction threat, Myanmar wildlife police and forest
rangers have also planned to step up combating wildlife trade and crimes
in the tiger reserve and special training programs have been introduced
jointly by the Myanmar forest ministry and the Wildlife Conservation
Society (WCS).

Besides, elephant conservation is also carried out at the Bago Yoma
mountain range in the country's central part, where most of the elephants
take sanctuary.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is planning to modify the Po-Kyar elephant sanctuary
into one of the attractive tourist sites of the country to boost tourism.

Po-kyar elephant sanctuary lying at a location in Bago division, 346
kilometers north of Yangon, is accommodating 86 elephants of different
ages ranging from 1 year old to 68 years' as well as various kinds of rare
bird species, 100-year-old aged trees and wild butterflies.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

January 27, Xinhua
78 Rohingya boat people arrested off coast of southern Thailand

The Thai Navy arrested some 78 Rohingya boat people off the coast of
Thailand's southern province of Ranong Tuesday.

These people were found on a boat southwest from Surin Island of Phang Nga
province Tuesday morning while it was heading towards Ranong, the website
by The Nation newspaper reported.

The Thai Navy arrested them and handed them over to a police station in
Ranong's Muang district, the website said.

Meanwhile, Thailand's Supreme Commander Gen. Songkitti Jaggabatara
disclosed in Bangkok Tuesday after returning from Myanmar that Myanmar
would cooperate with Thailand in solving the Rohingya migrant problem, the
website by the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported Tuesday.

Gen. Songkitti said he met with Myanmar's Vice Chairman of the ruling
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and Army Chief Deputy Senior
General Muang Aye and discussed with him about the Rohingya problem.

He said that Gen. Muang Mye had accepted Thailand's request to help
address the Rohingya issue even though the Rohingya ethnic group was not
on the official list of 120 ethnic minorities in Myanmar, the website
said.

Initially, Myanmar would help prevent the Rohingya people from approaching
the Thai territory, the TNA's website quoted Gen. Songkitti as saying.

However, Gen Songkitti did not give further detail about measures that
Myanmar would take to solve the problem in the long term, the TNA's
website reported.

The Royal Thai Navy has increasingly been under criticism after many
foreign media reported claims saying that the Thai armed forces had
mistreated the Rohingyas from Myanmar and Bangladesh who sought work or
asylum in Thailand by pushing them out to sea and setting them adrift.

Thai military officials reiterated that the Thai Navy had not committed
any harsh or inhumane acts against Rohingyas and had treated them with
international standards, but could not absorb the burden of the high cost
of letting them take refuge in the country.

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

January 27, AsiaNews.it
Myanmar, children exploited for less than 30 cents a day

They work as farmhands, waiters, on building sites and in the fishing
industry. Their “wage” varies from 0.25 to 0.85 US dollars a day.
According to Save the Children over 400 children have abandoned school.

Small children forced to work for a “wage” less then 30 cents of a US
dollar a day.  The alarm is being sounded by a non governmental
organisation – that asks to remain anonymous for security reasons – in
Myanmar, according to who the practise of the forcing minors to work, in
slave-like conditions, is still widespread today.  Among those worst hit
are children in the Irrawaddy delta region, badly hit by cyclone Nargis
last May.

Burmese businessmen, fishermen, and farmers use male workers aging between
10 and 15 in order to pay out below minimum wages: for one working day the
children receive a wage that varies between 300 and 1000 kyat ( 0.25 –
0.85US dollars), compared to an adult wage that varies between 1500 and
3000 kyat (1.50 – 2.50 US dollars).

“Children willingly work for 300 kyat and a meal”, says a member of the
NGO, while local sources add “they are easier to control and they put up
with heavy workloads”. In Myanmar it is not uncommon to meet children as
young as eight who work aboard fishing boats, as waiters in the building
industry or in the fields.

 “I am tired but I am happy that I survived”, 10 year-old orphan Myo Min
tells The Irrawaddy. Now he lives with his brother and works full time on
a fishing boat. 11 year-old Po Po, also lost a brother and his father
last May: he has abandoned his studies and now works as a waiter in a
restaurant in Labutta. He earns 5000 kyat a month (equal to 4.20 US
dollars) as a dishwasher and says he cries “every night” because he
misses his mother.

According to the international organisation Save the Children An estimated
400,000 children did not return to school after the cyclone; about 40
percent of the 140,000 people who were killed or disappeared in the
cyclone disaster were children. Many who survived were orphaned or
separated from their parents.

____________________________________
HEALTH / AIDS

January 27, New Light of Myanmar
MRD, WHO conduct health course

A course on health research information and methodologies organized by
Medical Research Department (Central Myanmar) and WHO, was opened at the
Medical Research Department (Central Myanmar) here at 9 a.m. today. Deputy
Minister for Health Dr Paing Soe spoke on the occasion.

Present were Directors-General, Deputy Directors-General of Ministry of
Health and 29 trainees of Departments, General Hospital (Nay Pyi Taw) and
Directorate of Medical Services of the Ministry of Defence.

Compiling proposals and seeking information about health research will be
taught at the course.

____________________________________
DRUGS

January 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Crab exporter arrested for heroin trafficking – Naw Say Phaw

A crab exporter from Irrawaddy division's Bogalay township was arrested
yesterday for smuggling heroin aboard a container ship, according to a
witness to the arrest.

The witness said Kyaw Kyaw Min was arrested by officer from the Rangoon
police crime suppression division.

"Kyaw Kyaw Min, the owner of KTM crab exporting business in town, was
arrested by a group of police officers from the Crime Suppression
division,” the witness said.

“The officers said he was being arrested for smuggling drugs," he explained.

"Apparently, 32 kilos of heroin was found hidden inside container boxes on
a ship heading to Rangoon carrying exports."

Authorities in Bogalay were reportedly given no advance notice of the
arrest by the Rangoon officers.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

January 27, Irrawaddy
Are Malaysian officials trafficking Burmese migrants? – Baradan Kuppusamy

A scandalous trade in Burmese migrant labor involving Malaysian officials
and international human traffickers is now coming to light, investigators
say.

Like thousands of Burmese migrant workers, That Zin Myint travelled
overland from Rangoon to Bangkok and reached the Thai border where local
syndicates, for a hefty bribe, helped him cross into northern Malaysia and
move overland to the capital where cheap, unskilled labor is in great
demand.

‘'Don't take my photographs... they will come after me,'' Zin Myint said,
referring to Malaysian authorities who now closely monitor local and
overseas publications for anti-Malaysia sentiments expressed by migrant
workers.

On arrival Zin Myint “celebrated” with others from his village and joined
some three million—documented and undocumented—Asian migrant workers who
live and work here in deplorable conditions.

An estimated 150,000 of these workers are Burmese migrant workers, many of
them Kachins and Muslim Rohingyas from Burma's northern Rakhine region.

‘'We Burmese migrants are sold like fish and vegetables,'' Myint told IPS
in an interview in Pudu market, a big wet market in the capital where
Burmese migrant workers predominate.

Myint had been arrested, taken to the Thai border, and officially
“deported” which actually means getting sold to human traffickers. “I was
robbed of all my cash by both Malaysian and Thai officials and sold to
traffickers,'' Myint told IPS.

“I was held in a jungle camp near the border for three weeks until my
relatives bought me from the traffickers. I bribed my way back into
Malaysia,'' he said, adding that while conditions are tough in Malaysia,
they are better than Burma or Thailand. ‘'There is food, work and a roof
over my head.''

Myint is one of the luckier ones to be arrested and “deported” only once.
He is now considered a leader in the Pudu area and much sought after by
other Burmese workers for “assistance” in avoiding arrest and deportation
all over again.

Burmese migrant workers call the trade “bwan” (thrown away) or one of the
worst forms of human trafficking.

“Malaysia does not recognize key international agreements on the
protection of refugees and foreign nationals. Nor does it apply to foreign
migrants the same rights and legal protections given to Malaysian
citizens,'' said Irene Fernandez, executive director of Tenaganita, a
rights NGO that protects migrant workers.

Human rights activists have long charged that immigration, police and
other enforcement officials, including the unpopular voluntary force
called RELA, have been “trading'' Burmese migrants, especially Rohingyas,
to human traffickers in Thailand who then pass them on to deep sea fishing
trawler operators in the South China Sea.

The women are generally sold into the sex industry.

“They are treated as a commodity and frequently bought and sold, and we
have been condemning this practice for a long time,'' Fernandez said.

“Our demands have always fallen on deaf ears despite the accumulating
evidence of the involvement of uniformed officials in the trade,''
Fernandez told IPS.

It has become commonplace for the authorities to use the vigilante RELA 
force to periodically arrest and “deport” Rohingyas, but since Burma does
not recognize them as citizens, the practice is to take them to the Bukit
Kayu Hitam area on the Thai-Malaysia border and force them to cross over
into Thailand.

“They are arrested, jailed and deported, but since they are stateless they
are taken to the Thai border and often sold to Thai traffickers,'' said
Fernandez. Invariably, the “deported'' Rohingyas bribe Thai and Malaysian
officials and return to Malaysia.
The accusation against corrupt Malaysian officials is long standing and
made frequently by refugees, human rights activists, opposition lawmakers
and is even the subject of one official probe.

Malaysian television channels have also investigated and exposed the
“sale” of the Rohingya refugees on the Malaysia-Thai border, although they
did not finger Malaysian officials for fear of reprisals.

A U.S. probe being conducted into trafficking by the powerful Senate
foreign relations committee has stimulated interest in the plight of
Rohingyas when its findings are relayed to key U.S. enforcement agencies
and Interpol for possible action, Senate officials have said.
“U.S. Senate foreign relations committee staff are reviewing reports of
extortion and human trafficking from Burmese and other migrants in
Malaysia, allegedly at the hands of Malaysia government officials,'' a
staff official told international news agencies in early January.

“The allegations include assertions that Burmese and other
migrants—whether or not they have UNHCR documentation—are taken from
Malaysian government detention facilities and transported to the
Thailand-Malaysia border,'' the official had said.

At the border, they alleged, “money is demanded from them, or they are
turned over to human traffickers in southern Thailand.”

“If they pay, they return to Malaysia. If not, they are sold to
traffickers,'' the official said, adding that teams had visited Malaysia,
Thailand and Burma to collect evidence on the human trade.

Some of the immigrants from Burma and other countries are refugees
recognized by the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) which has an office in Kuala Lumpur.

Since 1995, about 40,000 Rohingya refugees from Burma have been settled in
the U.S., most of them after passing through Malaysia, while the
emigration applications of thousands more have been rejected by third
countries.

“They are left stranded, unable to return to Myanmar (official name for
Burma) where they face certain persecution by the military regime and
rejected from immigrating to third countries,” said opposition lawmaker
Charles Santiago who has raised their plight in parliament.

“They need urgent help and understanding of their plight,” he told IPS,
urging Malaysia to sign U.N. refugee conventions and accord refugees due
recognition. ”We can no longer close our eyes to their plight.”

“We are trapped in a foreign country without papers and without
recognition,'' said Habibur Rahman, general secretary of the Myanmar
Ethnic Rohingya Human Rights Organization Malaysia, an organization that
speaks for stateless Rohingyas in Malaysia.

“We have been looking for a way to escape this dilemma but without
success,'' he told IPS.

“We are denied citizenship and made stateless by the Myanmar military
junta and persecuted and forced to flee to neighboring countries like
Thailand, Malaysia and Bangladesh,'' he said.

The involvement of the U.S. Senate in the issue has upset Malaysian
officials who have warned the U.S. to ‘'take their hands off'' the
country, saying such action violated Malaysian sovereignty.

However, Prime Minister Abdullah Badawi has asked the U.S. to pass on
information pertaining to the allegations, saying the government does not
tolerate extortion from migrants by officials.

“The U.S. authorities have evidence we would be very thankful for, if they
can pass the information to us for investigation and appropriate action,''
he told Bernama, the official news agency, on Jan. 15.

An upset foreign minister, Rais Yatim, told local media on Jan. 19 that
the allegations were “baseless, ridiculous and farfetched.”

“We are a civilized country. We are not living in barbaric times when
people are sold off at the whims and fancies of people with power. It is
certainly unfair of the U.S. Senate to accuse us of doing such outrageous
things,'' Yatim said.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

January 27, Irish Times
Situation in Burma critical, says exiled prime minister – Fiona Gartland

BURMA IS in crisis, its exiled prime minister said in Dublin yesterday. Dr
Sein Win, who was re-elected prime minister of the exiled National
Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) last week, said
repression under the military regime has worsened.

Political prisoners are receiving longer sentences, he said, and even
social workers are being arrested for carrying out humanitarian work.

Dr Win was attending the Members of the Parliamentary Union (MPU),
four-yearly congress, held in Malahide, Co Dublin, over the weekend and
funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs.

Some 33 Burmese exiled MPs, making up the MPU, travelled from the US,
Thailand, India, Norway, Australia and other countries to the seaside town
to elect a prime minister and to discuss the situation in Burma. It was
the second time the congress was held in Ireland.

The NCGUB was formed after the military regime in Burma would not allow
elected representatives of the National League for Democracy to take power
following the 1990 elections, when they won 80 per cent of the
parliamentary seats.

The party’s chairman, U Tin Oo, was jailed and its general secretary Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, was put under house arrest.

Many members of parliament were also arrested and some became exiles,
forming a government abroad and promising to dissolve once democracy and
human rights were restored in Burma.

Dr Win said the Irish Government was very sympathetic to their cause.

The situation in Burma had become critical, he said; the economic
situation was at its worst following the global recession and cyclone
Nargis, which caused devastation in the country last year.

“The repression is very high with serious [prison] sentences given to MPs,
also to activists and monks, and even to social workers because they tried
to help the people in the Nargis,” he said.

Only half of the financial aid promised by the international community
after the cyclone has reached Burma, Dr Win said, because donors did not
trust the military government. There were issues with misuse and problems
such as artificial exchange rates.

Aung San Suu Kyi, still under house arrest in Burma, is occasionally able
to get a message out to the exiled cabinet.

Dr Win, who is her first cousin, said they understand she is in good health.

“The situation inside is very sensitive and you have to be very careful of
what you say . . . but we believe she is in good health,” he said.

The military regime in Burma has said it will hold democratic elections in
2010. Dr Win said the process is not an inclusive one.

“What we are saying is ‘you release Aung San Suu Kyi, start talking and
then make this process inclusive’ . . . up to now the military is ignoring
the call,” he said.

He said the fundamental problem is not with the elections as such, but
with the country’s constitution. It stipulates the country’s president
must have military experience, must not be married to a foreigner, and the
commander-in-chief of the army may stage a coup when he thinks necessary.

“Of course we have hope that things will change, but we don’t know how,”
he said.

“It depends on the military . . . the only thing that is failing is a
serious talk with the military.”

He thanked the Irish Government for its support and said Ireland could do
many things to help Burma, including working with the EU to talk to
Burmese neighbours “to make them convinced a solution in Burma is best for
all of us”.

He also called on the UN to secure the release of political prisoners as
soon as possible.

____________________________________

January 27, Agence France Presse
Britain 'deeply concerned' by Myanmar boat people allegations

Britain said Tuesday it was "deeply concerned" by allegations that the
Thai navy abandoned hundreds of boat people from Myanmar and left them to
die.

"We are deeply concerned by allegations that refugees from Burma were
abandoned at sea by the Thai navy," Foreign Office Minister Bill Rammell
wrote, in a written reply to a parliamentary question.

"We have raised the issue with the Thai authorities and welcome Prime
Minister Abhisit's assurances of an investigation into the matter.

"Working with EU partners, and in close consultation with the UN High
Commissioner for Refugees, we will continue to press the Thai authorities
to establish the facts and take appropriate action."

Britain, Myanmar's colonial power until 1948, refers to the country by its
former name Burma, though it was changed by the junta to Myanmar in 1989.

Media reports accuse Thailand's military of towing hundreds of the
Rohingya migrants out to sea in poorly equipped boats with scant food and
water.

Accusations of mistreatment surfaced earlier this month after nearly 650
Rohingya were rescued off India and Indonesia, some claiming to have been
beaten by Thai soldiers before being set adrift in the high seas to die.

Hundreds of the boat people are still believed to be missing at sea.

Rights groups say the Rohingya are stateless and face persecution from
Myanmar's military regime, forcing thousands into rickety boats each year
to try to escape poverty and oppression.

Thailand has for the past few years taken a harsh stance on Rohingya
landing on its shores, in part to discourage further migration through
Thailand.
____________________________________

January 27, Vancouver Sun
Burmese refugees struggle to resettle in Canada – Marianne White

Rahima Begum holds a crumpled sheet in her hands that seems to have been
folded and looked at dozens of times.

She tells the translator it is a precious item. It’s a pale photocopy of
headshots of members of her family, including her mom, her dad, her sister
and her children. There are 14 photos on the page.

They are the ones she left behind at a refugee camp in Bangladesh when she
came to Quebec City a few weeks ago with her two children.

“I miss them a lot,” 21-year-old Rahima says through a translator.

She is part of a group of 54 refugees from Burma — including 36 children
and 14 women — who have landed recently in Quebec thanks to a federal
refugee program. They are among the first group of some 5,000 Rohingya
people, a Muslim ethnic minority from western Burma’s Arakan state, who
will be coming to Canada in the next few years.

Rohingya refugees have been living in United Nations camps in the southern
tip of Bangladesh for 17 years.

Originally from Burma (also known as Myanmar), they fled the ethnic and
religious suppression of the Burmese military junta in the late 1970s and
1980s.

In 1991 over 260,000 Rohingya people settled in camps in Bangladesh. Some
27,000 of them are still living there today.

Rahima has lived in those camps since she was seven years old. “It was
difficult,” she says. “We were isolated and it was controlled. We couldn’t
go in and out as we wanted.”

Tamira and Senoyra Begum — the three women share the same last name but
they are not related — also spent most of their life in the camps. They
got married and divorced there too.

“The time spent with my husband was the worst,” Tamira, 25, tells the
translator Ashraful in a mix of Bengali and Rohingyalish language.

She explains that her husband beat her but she stops short of giving
details. “It’s a long story. It will hurt and I will cry if I tell it,”
she says.

But Tamira and Senoyra are grateful to be in Canada now, far away from the
dangerous conditions of the camps and their former husbands.

“I hope my husband could read your story,” Tamira says with a big smile.
Senoyra nods her head in agreement. “It’s great here. I’m very happy,” she
says. “The children sleep like babies,” she adds.

But their smile quickly fades away when they talk about the rest of their
family. Rahima, Tamira and Senoyra came to Canada with their children, but
they left their other loved ones behind.

Now that they are safe in their new adopted country and learning to cope
with the winter — “Snow good,” Rahima manages to say in English — all they
think about is bringing them to Canada.

When Immigration and Citizenship minister Jason Kenney paid a courtesy
visit to the Burmese refugees in Quebec City recently he was assailed with
questions. “Can the rest of my family come here?” “What do I have to do?”

The translator was relaying their concerns to the minister who refused to
make any public commitment. “We have a reunification program and you will
be in a good position to help your family if you settle here and integrate
well into your new country,” Kenney told them. He stressed that learning
one or both official languages and finding a job will be crucial to help
them eventually sponsor their family to come to Canada.

But Ferid Chikhi, who heads the Quebec multi-ethnic centre that took
charge of the Rohingyas, says it is hard for them to resettle and start a
new life here without their family.

“A new world is opening up to them, but they are uprooted from their
relatives. They are deeply preoccupied about those left behind in
difficult conditions,” he says. “In the refugee camps they had nothing,
but at least they were together,” he adds.

It could take years to help bring their families here because
reunification programs are complicated and costly, said Dominique
Lachance, assistant director at the multi-ethnic centre.

“I wish that they would have moved entire families to Canada instead of
hand-picking the ones who could come,” she says.

The most vulnerable, women and children, have been selected via refugee
programs.

Lachance told minister Kenney herself when he visited the centre that the
Rohingyas could use some help from the government to facilitate the
reunifications, such as special programs that were put in place to help
groups of refugees from Bosnia in the 1990s.

Canada became the first country to resettle Rohingya refugees. In 2006 and
2007, approximately 100 were selected and they have resettled in Ontario.

In 2008, Canada has accepted approximately 55 more Rohingya refugees, who
came to Quebec, and another group of 145 will be coming here in the next
year.

Rahima, Tamira and Senoyra can only hope that their families will soon
join them. Meanwhile, they are helping and supporting each other.

“I’m not worried for them,” Lachance says. “They are survivors.”
____________________________________

January 27, Wall Street Journal
Fiat draws attention to a cause -- Along with car – Aaron O. Patrick

Democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi has spent about 12 years under house
arrest in Myanmar. These days, however, she can be seen on European TV as
the star of a public-service announcement that doubles as an ad for Fiat's
Lancia Delta car.

Olivier François, chief executive of the Italian auto maker's Lancia
division, says the campaign, which draws attention to the plight of Ms.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel prize winner and leader of the opposition to Myanmar's
repressive military junta, is "not only for Lancia's benefit. It's for the
benefit of the world."

Fiat is reaping an outsize return on its unusual blend of commerce and
human-rights advocacy. The ad cost only about €60,000 ($78,000) to make
but, because Fiat bills it as a public-service announcement, networks in
nine European countries, including Italy, France and Germany, agreed to
show it free of charge, according to spokesmen for Fiat and its ad agency,
Gruppo Armando Testa.

Fiat's new European ad campaign for the Lancia Delta features an unusual
star: Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy campaigner
under house arrest in Myanmar.

Four winners of the Nobel Peace Prize appear in the TV spot, which was
shot in Paris last month at the Ninth World Summit of Nobel Peace
Laureates. It shows former Polish leader Lech Walesa, South Africa's
Frederik Willem de Klerk, Northern Ireland peace activist Betty Williams,
plus former hostage Ingrid Betancourt, who isn't a Nobel recipient, all
arriving at the summit in black Lancia Deltas. They are watched by Mikhail
Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader.

"There are people who have been fighting forever," a voice-over says, to
the sound of violins. "We would hug them all for a day, but there is one
hug we miss."

A final Lancia pulls up. The door opens to reveal an empty seat,
symbolizing Ms. Suu Kyi's imprisonment. A photo of her follows, with the
text: "Lancia supports Aung San Suu Kyi. Free now." The campaign also
includes a newspaper ad, billboard ad and a Web site.

The ads won't appear in the U.S. Fiat, which has said it will take a 35%
stake in Chrysler LLC, as part of an alliance to strengthen both
companies, gets most of its sales from Europe and South America.

Fiat spent $78,000 on its ad for the Lancia Delta, but is getting an
outsize return.

Fiat, strapped for cash and struggling to draw attention to the Lancia,
decided a few years ago to promote the brand as helping improve society.
Late last year, the company agreed to sponsor the Paris summit, says Mr.
François, and decided a TV spot would be a good way to promote its
involvement.

Mr. François, who is also Fiat's head of brand communications, says he
came up with the idea of an ad for Ms. Suu Kyi, who won the Peace Prize in
1991, because he had followed the case of another prisoner, Ms.
Betancourt, who was recently released after six years of being held
hostage by Colombian rebels.

"It's more efficient speaking about people's values instead of gadgets,"
Mr. François says. Ms. Suu Kyi is also "very beautiful, elegant and
intelligent," he adds.

In 1990 Ms. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won national elections
in Myanmar, but the military refused to give up power. Ms. Suu Kyi has
been detained on and off since the early 1990s.

Fiat says it was impossible to obtain Ms. Suu Kyi's permission for the ad
because Myanmar's rulers strictly limit access to her, a claim backed up
by human-rights groups and members of her political party. But Fiat showed
it to her representatives overseas and got a positive response, both sides
say.

"It's of mutual benefit," says U Bo Hla-Tint, a senior member of Myanmar's
government-in-exile, which has appointed Ms. Suu Kyi its leader. "It's
proving that in the future even the business sector can think about the
suffering of the people." Fiat doesn't plan to donate money to groups
connected to Ms. Suu Kyi, Mr. François says.

Armando Testa, Italy's largest ad agency by revenue, got permission from
each of the Nobel winners and Ms. Betancourt to put them in the ad,
according to the ad's creative director, Raffaele Balducci.

But the agency could only film the individuals arriving at the Paris
conference, hoping no one would trip or otherwise wreck the shoot. (Ms.
Williams got out of the wrong side of the car and was cut from a 30-second
version of the ad).

As for the free distribution of the ad in much of Western Europe, some TV
stations may have contributed air time as "a little Christmas present"
because Fiat is a big advertiser, Mr. François says. A spokesman for
Germany's big RTL network says it ran the ad as part of its general
advertising agreement with Fiat, and didn't treat it as a social campaign.

Ethics experts are split over the propriety of the campaign. Michael
Boylan, a philosophy professor at Marymount University in Virginia who
co-wrote "Advertising Ethics," says the spot is "unethical and classless"
because Fiat isn't offering direct help to Ms. Suu Kyi. Tony Pigott, a
director of Ethos JWT, a division of WPP's JWT ad agency specializing in
social-issue ads, says the ad is well made and unobjectionable.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

January 27, Democratic Voice of Burma
Constitution and the ethnic nationalities – Aung Htoo

A constitution which guarantees the rights of the people and restricts the
powers of the government is a crucial foundation in the building of a
country.

But a constitution that denies the rights of the people and the rights to
do things for the authorities is certain to destroy the country.

The State Peace and Development Council's 2008 constitution, which
basically denies the rights of the people and prioritises the rights of
the ruling authorities, will certainly lead the country to total
destruction.

Moreover, the SPDC ratified the constitution in 2008 without any regard
for factors that could build trust among ethnic national forces. There are
many reasons for this disregard, but here I will only focus on those
issues that came out during the drafting of the SPDC’s constitution.

The first and main issue is the uncomfortable situation regarding the
SPDC's legal boundaries for the ceasefire armed groups. While the SPDC has
declared many times that armed ethnic national organisations have been
entering the legal fold, there have still been no efforts to allow these
organisations to set up as legal political entities in accordance with the
law.

On 9 June 2004, during the SPDC’s national convention to draw up the
constitution, 13 armed ethnic national groups which had signed ceasefire
agreements with the government put forward a joint proposal for the
formation of a federal union. But the SPDC didn't take any action on this
advice when the national convention finished. That could be said to be the
moment the armed ethnic ceasefire groups’ hope was destroyed.

Some ethnic organisations openly reacted against this. At the referendum
to ratify the constitution in May 2008, people in areas controlled by the
United Wa State Army in northeast Shan State overwhelmingly rejected the
constitution. This was the only such incident based on ethnic nationality
during the nationwide referendum, and occurred on the territory of the
strongest of the armed ethnic groups in Burma.

It is especially notable that this big organisation has clearly shown that
it has no faith in the SPDC's constitution. The reason it was able to do
so is that it could prevent the SPDC authorities who came to oversee the
referendum from entering its territory. It set up its own ballot boxes,
let the people vote and sent the results to the SPDC.

The second issue is the SPDC’s legal harassment of ethnic leaders. Eight
Shan leaders including Khun Tun Oo were sentenced to between 75 and 106
years in prison for trying to protect the rights of ethnic nationalities
with the SPDC’s legal boundaries.

They received these heavy sentences after they formed the Shan state
advisory council of experts to develop a political strategy for the
building of a federal union. It now seemed that ethnic organisations were
not only trying to build up a momentum for a federal union within the
national convention process, but also that Shan leaders led by Khun Tun Oo
were trying to push for it outside the convention by forming the council
of Shan state experts.

The SPDC is more afraid of the building of a federal union in which ethnic
nationals would have equal rights and self-determination than it is of a
tiger. The actions against the Shan leaders were a way of stopping the
peaceful political activities of ethnic nationals by criminalising them.
This injustice gives some indication of how much other Shan ethnic leaders
and the public have lost their trust in the SPDC.

The third issue is the loss of trust on the part of the Karen National
Union which is still carrying out armed struggle outside the SPDC's legal
boundaries. The KNU's former leader, the late general Saw Bo Mya, tried to
hold discussions with SPDC. But the SPDC instead set a trap for the KNU in
the form of the national convention.

When this didn't achieve the desired effect, the SPDC did not allow the
KNU to hold negotiate a ceasefire like other armed organisations. Former
intelligence officer Aung Lin Htut explained the reason for this in an
interview with DVB television. Aung Lin Htut started out by saying that
the KNU is in a pitiable situation. General Than Shwe reportedly ordered
that, unlike other groups, the KNU must be forced to lay down its arms.
Given that the KNU would never surrender, the move was intended prolong
the insurgency and breed more rebels, providing a justification for the
army to grow and prosper.

I am not sure whether Aung Lin Htut knows it or not but I want to relate a
matter that general Than Shwe pretends that he doesn't know. From the time
the military dictatorship was set up by general Ne Win and under
successive military leaders who have consolidated the massive army, it has
never in 60 years of civil war been able to defeat any revolutionary group
by military means alone.

Given this background, it is almost impossible to build trust between the
KNU and the SPDC after the latter played politics with the KNU and placed
it in a hopeless situation. But this is not a new development; it has been
this way since the SPDC launched offensives on Manaplaw, headquarters of
the KNU, and on other fronts.

The Manaplaw headquarters did not fall because of the SPDC’s military
skill. It is a matter of historical record that the SPDC troops suffered
heavy losses when the joint ethnic revolutionary troops and student army
surrounded Khway Eit Taung [Sleeping Dog Hill]. The SPDC had to declare a
ceasefire unilaterally on 28 April 1992 because of its losses. Infantry
commander major-general Maung Hla declared unequivocally that offensives
would be stopped in Karen state for the sake of national unity.

In reality, the idea of the SLORC military leaders working for national
unity is like saying the tiger is a vegetarian. The ceasefire was declared
because of the lack of military success. Only when it was able to cause a
rift between Christians and Buddhists in the KNU did its true nature
reemerge. Then, it restarted offensives on 24 December 1994 without giving
any reason. The SPDC captured Manaplaw using underhanded means with the
help of Buddhist Karen soldiers from the newly-named Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army, who showed them the way to the back door of Manaplaw.

Therefore, the SPDC’s claim that it is heading towards ethnic national
unity is like a picture drawn on water. If you look at it from the point
of view of ethnic national leaders and organisations, there is no reason
to believe it.

All that is left is to tear up the SPDC’s 2008 constitution, a
constitution with no political legitimacy, no input from major ethnic
national organisations, and no aim except to propagate military rule – to
tear it to pieces, and dump it into the dustbin of history.

____________________________________

January 27, Burmese Perspectives
Letter from Guildford, Surrey

“I believe there is scope for greater regional and international action to
pressure Burma’s dictators, including by ASEAN countries. Multilateral
sanctions should be pursued, despite the opposition that such measures
have faced in the past. This will require creative strategies that push
the key regional states to support tougher action.” – Susan E Rice in a
written response dated 15 January 2009 to Senator Richard Lugar, Chairman
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, at the time of her confirmation
hearing for US Permanent Representative at the United Nations President
Obama and Myanmar: an issue of importance, but is it urgent?

Those searching for clues to what President Obama’s policy on Myanmar
might be have noted both the reference in his inaugural address to “the
tempering qualities of humility and restraint” and “to those who cling to
power through corruption and deceit and the silencing of dissent”, and
have been wondering whether he might have had Myanmar in mind. Possibly
so, for while Mugabe can have little hope of being counted among those to
whom “we will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist”, the
Generals are more firmly in control than ever and engagement, however
critical, would seem to be the only way forward. Even in Ms Rice’s call
for sanctions, she was careful to refer to the need for them to be
“multilateral”, in place of the unilateralism which characterised US
policy under the Bush Administration. I might be forgiven for doubting
that Ms Rice will have much, indeed any success at all during her term of
office in New York in persuading Myanmar’s regional neighbours to take up
her invitation to sanctions, though they may all be wondering how best to
use their influence to help the process of “democratisation”, as this is
variously understood in Beijing, Moscow, Washington, Paris and London.
Indeed, during the very same week that Ms Rice expressed her support for
multilateral sanctions, both the embattled   new Prime Minister of
Thailand Abhisit Vejjajiva and the President of East Timor José
Ramos-Horta made it clear yet again that sanctions against Myanmar were
not on their agenda. The ritual of Senate confirmation hearings, though,
has not quite the same purpose as the compromise world of international
diplomacy.

Some Burma commentators have suggested that the US should look again at
how the problem of North Korea has been tackled, and that a similar
international negotiating group, which might consist of the US, EU, China,
India, ASEAN and the UN, might be put together. Variations on this theme
have been around for some time, but the evidence is that Myanmar’s
regional neighbours are less than keen. For while North Korea’s nuclear
ambitions undoubtedly have serious regional implications and the UN
Security Council on 14 October 2006 passed a unanimous Resolution
condemning North Korea for conducting a nuclear test, China, India and
ASEAN do not share the Western view that Myanmar is a threat to
international peace and security, for which reason both China and Russia
vetoed a draft Resolution on Myanmar in January 2007, and it was well
known in advance that they would do so. There is, furthermore, already a
Core Group of China, India, Indonesia, Myanmar and the UN seeking to meet
quietly in New York, though without any perceptible progress, and with
even the hint from time to time that this forum should not be too
ambitious.

For more, please visit: http://www.networkmyanmar.org/images//bp260109.pdf

____________________________________
STATEMENT

January 27, Burma Partnership
Strengthening Cooperation for a Free Burma

Unity for Democracy & Civil, Liberties; Ethnic, Democratic Organizations
from Burma To Work for Integrated Action Plan

Malahide, Ireland

1.  We, the organizations listed below, wish to express our profound
thanks to the
Government of the Republic of Ireland and Burma Action Ireland for their
generous and
kind support which has enabled us to meet here in Malahide, Ireland, from
24 to 26
January 2009.

2. We wish to express our deep appreciation and highest regards to the
"Heroes of
Democracy" in our country who continue to struggle with perseverance and
determination to bring fundamental rights and freedom to the people of
Burma in spite of the extreme risks involved.

3.  We also wish to salute our courageous colleagues, many of whom have
lost their lives and those who continue to languish in prison under harsh
conditions, because of theirefforts for democracy and civil liberties.

4. We call on the international community to help secure the immediate and
unconditional release of all political prisoners, including detained
elected representatives, NLD leaders U Tin Oo and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
ethnic and democracy leaders, including Shan Nationalities League for
Democracy Chairman U Khun Tun Oo, and leading members of the 88 Generation
Students.

5.  We are deeply appreciative of all Burma support groups, NGOs, and
institutions
which have tirelessly been extending assistance to the Burmese democracy
movement
and working for democracy in our country.

6.  Burma is entering a critical period as the Burmese generals are trying
to legitimize
military rule in the country on the basis of a unilaterally written
constitution and through
elections scheduled in 2010.

7.  We, therefore, unequivocally declare that we cannot accept the
military sponsored
constitution of 2008 in its current form.  There is still time and
opportunities are still
available to correct the situation.  We unanimously agree to pursue
whatever options are
available with determination and understanding in the interests of the
nation.

8.  We are committed to develop a unified leadership with an integrated
action plan to
achieve common objectives of establishing democracy and federalism in Burma.


AAPP Assistance Association for Political Prisoners
ABSDF All Burma Students' Democratic Front
CFOB Canadian Friends of Burma
ENC Ethnic Nationalities Council
FBF Free Burma Federation
FDB Forum for Democracy in Burma
IBMO International Burmese Monks Organization
MPU Members of Parliament Union
NLD-LA National League for Democracy - Liberated Area
SYCB Students and Youth Congress of Burma
WLB Women's League of Burma
NCGUB National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma

____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

January 27, Burma Rivers Network
Burma Rivers Network launches groundbreaking website

The Burma Rivers network works to protect the health and biodiversity of
river ecosystems and the rights of communities negatively impacted by
large-scale river development.  The Network is pleased to announce a new
website: www.burmariversnetwork.org. This is the first-ever website to
compile information about large dams being constructed on Burma's major
rivers and tributaries.

The site presents:
·         Project details of destructive development on the Irrawaddy,
Salween, Shweli, Mekong, Myitnge, Chindwin, and Paunglaung rivers in
Burma;
·         profiles of Chinese, Thai, and Burmese investors in dams,
including contact information and websites;
·         Latest news relating to rivers and dams in Burma;
·         An outline of the main concerns regarding social and
environmental impacts of destructive river development;
·         Background information on Burma's major rivers;
·         Tools and resources for understanding more about dams,
international standards of dam building, and the impacts of dams;
·         Photo galleries and videos;
·         Information on the Burma Rivers Network and its activities;

The website is available in English and Burmese. A Chinese version will be
available in the coming months.

Large dams being constructed across Burma by Chinese, Thai and Indian
companies are causing displacement, militarization, human rights abuses,
and irreversible environmental damage, threatening the livelihoods and
food security of millions. The power and revenues generated are going to
Burma's military regime and neighboring countries.

For more information please contact:  Aung Ngyeh, Email;
burmariversnetwork at gmail.com, Phone; +66 (0)84 363 6603

*Burma Rivers Network is comprised of organizations representing various
dam-affected communities in Burma. *