BurmaNet News, July 11-13, 2009

[Editor]

July 11-13, 2009, Issue #3752

INSIDE BURMA
NYT: A Burmese icon tends a flickering flame
AP: Suu Kyi ‘is being charged under abolished constitution’
AFP: Myanmar monks, students say Ban's approach ineffective
Irrawaddy: More Karen IDPs fleeing fighting

ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Burmese detainees in danger
DVB: Rohingya excluded from Thai migrant worker permits

BUSINESS / TRADE
Earth Times: Myanmar expects rice exports to double
Irrawaddy: Weekly business roundup

DRUGS
Irrawaddy: Huge heroin haul near Burmese-Thai border

REGIONAL
Irrawaddy: China’s autonomous regions eyed as model for Burmese ethnic areas?

INTERNATIONAL
Mizzima: G8 urges release of Aung San Suu Kyi
The Hindu: Ban to brief UNSC on Myanmar

OPINION / OTHER
Wall Street Journal: WMD on Board
Irrawaddy: Ban must show he’s a “man of results” - Yeni

____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

July 12, New York Times
A Burmese icon tends a flickering flame

Near Yangon, Myanmar — The sewing machines click and clack in the small
workshop where Ei Phyu stitches fake Levi’s shirts. Over the din she
sometimes overhears her co-workers talking about Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the
democracy leader whose trial awaits a verdict.

“I only know her name,” said Ms. Ei Phyu, a slight and shy 20-year-old who
says she has no idea what Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi looks like.

“I’ve never seen a picture of her,” Ms. Ei Phyu said. “I think she’s an
old lady.”

Outside Myanmar, formerly Burma, the trial has energized dissident Burmese
exiles, has caused some politicians in neighboring countries to issue rare
criticism of Myanmar’s military government and has mobilized Hollywood
actors and rock stars to take up the cause of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, the
only living Nobel Peace Prize laureate currently in detention.

Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, visited Myanmar last
weekend in a failed attempt to meet with her.

But in a waterlogged hamlet an hour’s drive from the prison where Mrs.
Aung San Suu Kyi is being held, villagers are preoccupied with their own
severe poverty and are only vaguely aware of her trial.

Having spent the better part of the past two decades detained in her home
in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, and now facing the prospect of five years in
prison for breaking the terms of her house arrest, Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi
is up against a great deal as an agent of democratic change: a young
generation that barely knows who she is; government-run media that portray
her as a lackey of the West; and an educated elite that is eager for
economic development but wary of more political confrontation after two
decades of deadlock.

For those old enough to remember the events of 1988, when Mrs. Aung San
Suu Kyi led protests against the military government, and two years later
when she won an election in a landslide, she remains a powerful icon of
democracy. Residents of Yangon, unprompted, often tell foreigners of their
affection for her, commonly describing her as a “kind lady” who stands for
justice in a country where there is not much of it.

“She is still the symbol of an alternative,” said a foreign-educated,
wealthy resident of Yangon who spoke on the condition that her name be
withheld, “but if they release her she would need to win the hearts of the
people again.”

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, who turned 64 last month, is often referred to as a
political prisoner, but she falls into a different category from the 2,100
other dissidents locked up in Myanmar. She is free to leave the country
but chooses to remain, a point of pride among her admirers.

The military government made it clear long ago that she could go overseas,
said her lawyer, U Kyi Win, but it would be a one-way ticket. “It was
quite definite that she wouldn’t be allowed a re-entry,” Mr. Kyi Win said
in an interview.

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi has been dismissed as irrelevant before, only to
rally Burmese in large numbers. But today, it remains very difficult to
gauge her prospects and popularity.

Her lineage has been a crucial reason for her popularity, but that aura is
now fading into history. Her father, U Aung San, the Burmese independence
hero, was assassinated six decades ago.

To the large younger generation — as much as a quarter of Myanmar’s
population is believed to be under 15 — Mr. Aung San is a distant
historical figure they learn about in high school textbooks.

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s political party, the National League for
Democracy, is a shell of its former self, its leaders well into their 70s.

There are no opinion polls in Myanmar, and there have been no elections
since 1990, when Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s party won the decisive victory
that the ruling generals ignored. The junta has announced that there will
be elections next year, but most diplomats and political analysts predict
that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi will be barred from taking part.

Since her trial started in May, there have been scattered signs of
protest. Graffiti appeared one morning on a well-traveled bridge in
downtown Yangon saying, “Free Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” a bold move in a
country where the faintest dissent can result in a lengthy prison term.
(By evening, the graffiti had been painted over.)

A few days later, a man standing outside Insein Prison, where the trial is
being conducted, held out a white sheet with the same message but was
quickly tackled by plainclothes police officers and hauled away.

A different kind of protest last week underscored the depth of the hatred
for the military government in some quarters: near Yangon’s City Hall a
dog was set loose that had been painted with the name of Senior Gen. Than
Shwe, who leads the junta and is particularly reviled. The dog’s tail had
been cut; it yelped and ran frantically near the headquarters of the
military intelligence agency.

Longtime foreign residents of Yangon point out that questions about Mrs.
Aung San Suu Kyi’s relevance are not new. In the early part of this
decade, diplomats openly speculated that her party had atrophied and that
she was no longer an important political force. But when she was released
from house arrest in 2002, she toured the country and drew large,
spontaneous, cheering crowds. She was rearrested a year later.

Testimony in her trial ended on Friday. Lawyers say that she should know
her fate soon; if convicted, she could face up to five years’
imprisonment.

So could John William Yettaw, the American who says he saved her from an
assassination plot by swimming to her lakeside home and whose visit led to
the charge that she violated the terms of her detention.

____________________________________

July 13, Associated Press via The Herald
Suu Kyi ‘is being charged under abolished constitution’

Yangon - Testimony in the trial of Burma's jailed opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi has finished as the last defence witness argued that she is
not guilty because the military government charged her under a
constitution abolished two decades ago.

Yesterday's court session came a week after the regime's top general
rebuffed a personal appeal by UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon to release
the 64-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

Suu Kyi is charged with violating the terms of her house arrest by
harbouring an uninvited American man who swam secretly to her lakeside
home and stayed for two days. She faces a possible five-year prison term.
advertisement

The trial has drawn condemnation from the international community and Suu
Kyi's supporters, who worry the ruling junta has found an excuse to keep
her detained through elections planned for next year. She is widely
expected to be found guilty.

Yesterday, defence witness Khin Moe Moe, a lawyer and a member of Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy party, argued during cross-
examination that the 1974 constitution under which Suu Kyi was being tried
had been abolished in 1988.

"I have known her Suu Kyi for 20 years and based on that and legal points,
I made my testimony," Khin Moe Moe told reporters. "She violated no laws."

"The prosecution was on the defensive. We are satisfied with the
testimony," said Nyan Win, Suu Kyi's lawyer.

The session, which lasted nearly seven hours, ended with the court setting
July 24 for final arguments in the case, said Nyan Win. He said the
verdict could be expected in the early part of August.

Security was tight around Insein prison - where Suu Kyi is being held and
the trial is ongoing - with roads blocked by barbed wire barricades manned
by police. Truckloads of riot police were also deployed around the prison.

Suu Kyi has been in detention for nearly 14 of the last 20 years, mostly
at her home.

British Charge D'Affaires Jeremy Hodges asked to be allowed to attend Suu
Kyi's trial, but was barred from entry, the British Embassy in Yangon said
in a statement.

"I asked for access to the court where Aung San Suu Kyi's trial resumed
today. I was not allowed past the security cordon around the main gates of
Insein prison which leads to the court," he said.

He added that the trial "fails to meet the most basic standards of Burmese
law and international practice".

http://www.theherald.co.uk/news/foreign/display.var.2519336.0.Suu_Kyi_is_being_charged_under_abolished_constitution.php

____________________________________

July 13, Agence France Presse
Myanmar monks, students say Ban's approach ineffective

Myanmar monks and students Monday urged UN chief Ban Ki-moon to "recognise
the ineffectiveness" of his diplomatic approach to the military-ruled
nation following his recent unsuccessful visit.

The Secretary General left the country empty-handed in early July after
the junta rejected his request to see jailed democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, who faces an internationally condemned trial for violating her house
arrest rules.

During his visit, Ban pressed junta head Senior General Than Shwe to free
political prisoners in the country formerly known as Burma, including Aung
San Suu Kyi, and called for elections scheduled for 2010 to be free and
fair.

But in an open letter to the UN chief sent hours before he briefs the
Security Council on his trip, three Myanmar opposition groups said Ban
should "stop expecting" the ruling generals to respond positively to his
calls.

The Thailand-based All Burma Monks' Alliance, jointly with the All Burma
Federation of Student Unions and the 88 Generation Students, said Ban's
mandate was "not strong enough" to make the junta to agree to his
requests.

"We urge you to recognise the ineffectiveness of the current diplomatic
approach without the strong backing from the UN Security Council with a
binding resolution to deal with Burma's military regime," they said.

The letter added that "it would be wrong for you to mislead the
international community by saying that the military regime will consider
your proposals seriously".

Meanwhile in Yangon, Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers said they were preparing
final arguments for the resumption of her trial at Insein prison on July
24.

She faces up to five years in jail if convicted of violating her house
arrest rules, after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside home in
May.

"We have asked permission to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday to
show her our second draft of the final argument," her lawyer and National
League for Democracy (NLD) spokesman Nyan Win told AFP.

He said the 64-year-old had already amended their first draft, adding: "We
are trying our best according to the law and our point of view."

She has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention since the regime
refused to recognise the NLD's landslide victory in the country's last
elections, in 1990.

____________________________________

July 13, Irrawaddy
More Karen IDPs fleeing fighting - Saw Yan Naing

More than five hundred Karen villagers in Mon Township, Nyaunglebin
District, in northern Karen State have become internal displaced persons
(IDPs) after they were forced to flee and hide in the jungle due to fresh
attacks by the Burmese military, according to relief groups.

The Free Burma Rangers (FBR), a relief group operating in the area,
reported on July 7 that the five hundred villagers, including women and
children, are facing food shortages as they were unable to take sufficient
food with them when they fled.

Infants are suffering from illness due to heavy rain and a lack of proper
medical treatment in the jungle.

Three men were also killed during the attack, according to the FBR report.

Karen sources said that Burmese army forces and troops from battalions 333
and 555 of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) ceasefire militia are
now more active in Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 5 area in
northern Karen State after ending the week-long offensive against KNLA
Brigade 7 in southern Karen State.

Due to the offensive launched by the joint force of the Burmese army and
DKBA troops in June in the KNLA Brigade 7 area, about 4,000 Karen
civilians in Pa-an district in Karen State fled into Thailand’s Tha Song
Yang district for safety.

About 20 clashes took place in KNLA Brigade 5 areas during June, and an
estimated 16 Burmese soldiers were killed and 39 were injured, according
to the Karen news organization, Kwe Ka Lu.

Saw Steve, a leader of a Karen relief team of the Committee for Internally
Displaced Karen People (CIDKP) said, “We heard the Burmese army has been
reinforced in Mon Township, Nyaunglebin District, and now there is more
military activity in this area.”

Border sources and observers said that after the fall of KNLA Brigade 7,
the DKBA and Burmese force will turn its attention to the KNLA’s outposts
in Brigade 5 and 6 areas.

The joint force intends to clear the KNLA from areas they control along
the Thai-Burma border as assigned by the Burmese military, before the
Burmese regime holds its planned general election in 2010, sources have
reported.

The DKBA is conscripting new members in order to complete its assignment
and make up a border guard force with 326 soldiers in each battalion,
sources said.

The DKBA split from its mother organization the KNU and signed a ceasefire
agreement with the Burmese military government in 1995.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

July 11, Irrawaddy
Burmese detainees in danger - Saw Yan Naing

The relocation of Burmese refugees in Malaysia could lead to worse human
rights abuses as they would be isolated from outside world, rights
advocacy groups in Malaysia said.

According to the rights groups, the Malaysia immigration authorities moved
598 Burmese refugees including women and children who were detained at
Semenyih Immigration camp near Malaysia’s Kajang Township on Friday.

The move was likely due to the Malaysia authorities wanting to isolate the
refugees from the outside world, while other sources said it was due to
the riot between Burmese refugees and Malaysia camp authorities on July 1.

The riot broke out after camp authorities beat 30 detainees who were
refusing to board a truck that was to take them to another camp. Eight
Burmese detainees were wounded in the riot.

Aung Naing Thu, general secretary of the Malaysia-based rights advocacy
group known as the Burma Youth of Nationalists Association said, “Now the
Burmese refugees have been relocated to other places, they will be
isolated, and the authorities will be able to do whatever the want, even
torture them.”

Forty-eight out of more then 600 Burmese refugees who were detained in
Semenyih detention camp were released on Monday, but 598 of them remained.
Many of the remaining refugees are undocumented, said rights groups.

The released detainees said there had been many human rights abuses while
they were in the camp. Months-old children and women and pregnant women
were the most vulnerable, as the meals distributed in the detention camp
lack nutrition, they said.

Thant Zin, a Burmese refugee who was released on Monday, said that only
ten sick people are allowed to receive medical treatment per week.

“Many people who feel sick in the camp go without medical treatment. They
are not allowed to see doctors,” said Thant Zin.

“The drinking water and the water used in the toilet come from the same
source,” he added.

“If they find communication materials such as mobile phones, they brutally
beat you,” said Thant Zin.

Immigration authorities regularly beat the detained Burmese refugees
during inspections. Last week, two Burmese detainees were seriously beaten
when they went to the clinic to ask for medicine.

One detainee was beaten around the eyes till they filled with blood and he
became unable to see. The other detainee suffered from cigarette burns on
his body and was said to be in serious condition.

A delegation from the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugees in
Malaysia is now investigating the riot, according to Yante Ismail, a
spokesperson for the UNHCR, in Kuala Lumpur.

There are 22 detention camps in Malaysia, some of which are located in
isolated areas on the outskirts of Kuala Lumpur. Some refugees have spent
years in the detention camps.

About 500,000 Burmese migrants work in Malaysia, legally and illegally,
according to the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Workers’ Rights Protection
Committee.

____________________________________

July 13, Democratic Voice of Burma
Rohingya excluded from Thai migrant worker permits - Francis Wade

Burma’s Rohingya minority have been excluded from verification procedures
that will see greater numbers of Burmese migrants being allowed to legally
work in Thailand.

Burmese migrants in Thailand are thought to number around two million, the
majority of which have no status and thus work illegally.

Three centres have been set up in Burma near to the Thai border which will
aim to manage the verification of around 600 Burmese each day.

However, Burma’s Rohingya population, a Muslim minority, are not included
in the process given that the Burmese government refuse to acknowledge
them as Burmese citizens.

“For the verification, it would mean that the Burmese have to verify that
they are Burmese, which they won’t do,” said Jackie Pollock, head of the
Thailand-based Migrants Assistance Programme (MAP).

The Bangkok Post reported today that Burma’s deputy foreign minister Maung
Myint said that he expects only around 400 Burmese in Thailand to come
forward for verification, which would amount to around one in 10,000.

Burma has a number of ethnic groups, many of which are present in
Thailand, which are either denied status outright or are subject to
harassment by the Burmese government.

“[The Burmese government] has foreseen that not only the Rohingya but that
quite a lot of the migrants, if they went for the process, would be
refused nationality,” Pollock said.

“There are many migrants who have been here for a long time, and so
amongst the Shan community the Burmese will say that they’re not Burmese.
The Thai authorities seem to want to be careful not to upset the [Burmese
government].”

The agreement between Thailand and Burma was technically formalized in
2003, although progress on it has been slow.

Thailand also has similar agreements with other neighbouring countries,
including Cambodia and Laos, that date back to 2003.

“It’s still maybe only 10 percent of the migrants from Cambodia and Laos
who have had their nationality verified and got their passports, and
that’s in six years of them working on it,” said Pollock.

“So [regarding Burmese] it’s going to be very small numbers if any of them
actually do get the passports.”

____________________________________
BUSINESS / TRADE

July 12, Earth Times
Myanmar expects rice exports to double

Yangon - Myanmar expects to double its exports of rice after the next
harvest later this year, media reports said Sunday. "We plan to double the
exports of surplus rice after the next major harvest season," Aung Than
Oo, president of the Myanmar Rice and Paddy Traders' Association, told the
weekly Myanmar Times.

He did specify the amount, but according to rice traders in Bangkok,
Myanmar had already exported more than 500,000 tons of rice by mid-year,
and was expected to export at least 1 million tons by the end of the year.

Myanmar's main crop is harvested after the rainy season, which runs from
May through October.

Government regulations allow only rice deemed surplus to the nation's
needs to be exported, to guarantee that domestic prices remain stable.

According to association's statistics, the country's rice surplus in
fiscal 2008-09, ending on March 31, was 700,000 tons and earned 201
million dollars. In fiscal 2007-08, Myanmar earned only 103 million
dollars from rice exports.

Myanmar managed a rice surplus and exports last fiscal year, even though
the country's traditional rice basket, the Irrawaddy Delta, was hard hit
by Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, destroying hundreds of hectares of farmland
and claiming up to 140,000 lives.

Tons of emergency food had to be imported from the international aid
community to meet the needs of some 2 million people whose livelihoods
were wiped out by the cyclone.

Myanmar's main export markets for rice include Bangladesh, South Africa
and the Ivory Coast.

In the 2008-09 financial year, Africa bought 56 per cent of Myanmar's
total rice exports, while 41 per cent went to the Asian countries such as
Bangladesh, Singapore, India, Malaysia and Sri Lanka.

Although Myanmar's rice exports are on the rise this year, the price it
fetches on the world market is below that of Thailand and Vietnam because
of steep competition and poorer quality.

"Our production costs in the agricultural sector are quite low, giving us
room to compete with our overseas competitors but our issue lies with
quality," Aung Than Oo told the Myanmar Times.

"If we want to get a solid hold in the international market we really need
to put heavy emphasis on improving our quality," he said.

____________________________________

July 13, Irrawaddy
Weekly business roundup - William Boot

Burmese Gems on Show at Chinese Fair backed by Asean

Burmese gem traders are participating in a regional precious stones sales
fair in the southwest Chinese city of Kunming.

The 10-day Gem Emporium is also being visited by a delegation of business
people from Burma’s Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry.
Although the fair is being held in China, it is linked with the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), according to the official
news agency Xinhua.

Participants from outside Asean include traders from Taiwan and Hong Kong,
as well as mainland China. Buyers from China and Hong Kong featured
prominently at Burma’s officially backed second gems auction this year in
Rangoon, which ended at the beginning of this month.

Despite Western sanctions, the Myanmar Gems Enterprise claims to have sold
almost US $200 million worth of stones at an auction in Rangoon in March.

The state-controlled gems enterprise said recently it is planning to
showcase Burmese stones at overseas fairs and auctions.

Junta Faces Possibility of New Sanctions in Wake of Ban Visit

The Burmese junta could face more economic sanctions in the wake of a
report this week to the U.N. by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.

Ban is due to present a report on his visit to Burma and his spurned
attempt to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to the Security Council
on Monday, July 13.

Britain’s Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the international community
would have to make decisions about Burma on the basis of Ban’s report, but
added in a statement: “My sad conclusion is that the Burmese regime has
put increased isolation—including the possibility of further sanctions—on
the international agenda.”

Ban will brief the U.N. Security Council immediately before leaving New
York again to visit Egypt for a meeting of the Non Aligned Movement.

“Until the trial of Suu Kyi and the virtual snub to Ban by [Snr Gen] Than
Shwe, there were signs—especially from the US—of a possible easing of
sanctions against Burma, but this looks less likely now,” said an official
from a European Union country in Bangkok speaking to The Irrawaddy on
condition of anonymity.

The EU, including Britain, also enforces economic sanctions against Burma.


‘British’ Investment is from other Countries using a Tax Haven

Most of the investment in Burma attributed by the junta leadership to
Britain can most likely be traced to at least half a dozen other
countries, says a former top diplomat.

The junta claims British companies have invested over US$1 billion in
Burma in recent years, but Derek Tonkin says most of this can be traced
not to Britain, but to a clutch of countries ranging from China to Canada.

The money is linked with companies which register—for tax purposes—in the
British Virgin Islands (BVI) in the Caribbean.

“Though it is a British overseas territory [dependency], almost all
current investments in Burma made by companies incorporated in the BVI do
not have mainland UK beneficial interests, but are made by companies
incorporated in such diverse countries as Singapore, China, Malaysia,
Russia, and Canada,” said Tonkin in a media commentary last week.

“However these BVI companies are registered with the MIC [Myanmar
Investment Commission] as “UK” because the BVI is a British overseas
territory,” Tonkin said.
Tonkin is a former British ambassador to Thailand and is currently
chairman of Network Myanmar, a UK based NGO campaigning for human rights
in Burma.

He said that although British government policy is to uphold sanctions
against the Burmese junta and dissuade British firms from new investment
in Burma, the British authorities “would be most reluctant” to pressure
the BVI government to confront companies registered there because they
provide the islands’ main source of income.

Ex-Canadian Premier Advises Junta-Linked Mining Firm

A Canadian mining company put on a sanctions list by the U.S. government
because of its business links with Burma has acquired the services of a
former prime minister of Canada to promote its international image.
Vancouver-based Ivanhoe Mines has hired Jean Chrétien as its senior
international adviser.

Ivanhoe Mines has some form of joint ownership with the Burmese junta in
Burma’s largest copper mine at Monywa. The mine recently reopened after a
year-long closure.

Ivanhoe Mines was named in a US government sanctions watch list at the
beginning of this year because of its business links with the Burmese
junta.

The Canadian firm claimed it has put its 50 percent stake in Monywa into a
blind trust, but this is doubted by the Canadian Friends of Burma, an NGO
which campaigns for democracy and human rights in Burma.

“Buying the support of a former Canadian Prime Minister will certainly
boost Ivanhoe’s efforts to remove their joint venture from the American
sanctions list,” said a statement by the Canadian NGO.

It accuses Chrétien and two former top advisers of his who are also on
Ivanhoe’s payroll of flouting Canadian opposition to the Burmese junta,
and urges them to quit. One of the advisers, Allan Gotlieb, is a former
Canadian ambassador to the U.S.

Chrétien was prime minister from 1993 to 2003.

____________________________________
DRUGS

July 13, Irrawaddy
Huge heroin haul near Burmese-Thai border - Lawi Weng

Burmese authorities have seized about 1,000 kilograms of heroin and
340,000 methamphetamine tablets found in a truck on the outskirts of the
Burmese-Thai border town of Tachilek, local police reported.

A police source in Tachilek told The Irrawaddy on Monday that the truck
was stopped and searched at the Loi Taw Kham checkpoint outside the town
on July 10.

The truck had been traveling from Mong Hsat in Kengtung Township, eastern
Shan State, a center of Burma’s opium trade. The United Wa State Army
(UWSA), regarded as the biggest player in Shan State’s illicit drugs
business, is particularly active in the region.

The seized drugs were apparently destined for Thailand, the police source
said.
Three people in the truck were arrested and are being held in prison in
Tachilek.
The quantity of heroin and amphetamines seized was the largest known haul
in Burma this year.

In January, police and customs officers in Rangoon reported seizing 89
kilograms of heroin at the city’s Asia World Port Terminal, found in a
container on the Singaporean-flagged ship Kota Tegap.

A report issued by the US State Department in March said Burma "is a
significant player in the manufacture and regional trafficking of
amphetamine-type stimulants." It said large amount of the drugs from Burma
end up in Thailand.

The Thai government, meanwhile, is preparing to sign an agreement with the
governments of the Mekong region, including Burma, intended to eliminate
illegal drug trafficking.

The Burmese military regime has reported destroying 7,893 acres of opium
poppy fields in the Shan and Kachin states during this year's growing
season.

Burma remains the world's second largest producer of heroin after
Afghanistan, according to US and UN experts.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

July 13, Irrawaddy
China’s autonomous regions eyed as model for Burmese ethnic areas? - Wai Moe

Leaders of the Guangxi Zhaung Autonomous Region in China have visited
Burma to brief military government officials on the Chinese experience of
creating autonomous regions for ethnic minority groups.

The state-backed newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, reported on Saturday
that the Burmese Prime Minister met with Guo Shengkum, the chairman of the
Standing Committee of the People’s Congress and secretary of the Communist
Party of China in Guangxi Zhaung, in Naypyidaw on Friday.

Guangxi, in the southern region, is one of five autonomous regions in
China for the Zhaung ethnic minority. An autonomous region is designated
when a minority entity represents a majority in a particular area.

Analysts said that Chinese officials visited Burma to describe to
government officials the structure of an autonomous region, with the view
that a similar model could be used in Burma’s ethnic areas.

“I think the trip is more than just bilateral relations,” said Aung Kyaw
Zaw, a Burmese analyst based on the Sino-Burmese border. “The Burmese
generals may want to learn about the Chinese experience as the junta is
faced with fresh problems with ceasefire groups who don’t want to take
part in the junta’s border guard force plan.”

The No 2 ranking general, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye, also China in June. One
of the agenda items on Maung Aye’s trip was believed to be ethnic issues
along the Sino-Burmese border.

According to diplomatic sources, Chinese leaders presented their views on
Burma’s national reconciliation process, including a peaceful resolution
of ethnic minority group problems along the Sino-Burmese border.

In April, the junta ordered all ethnic ceasefire armed group to transform
their armies into a Border Guard Force, to operate under the Burmese army.
However, except for the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army and some smaller
groups, armed ceasefire groups, including the largest non-state armed
group, the United Wa State Army, have refused to take part. The deadline
was June 30.

Before the deadline, Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the secretary of the Transformation
Committee for the Border Guard Force, visited the Wa, Kokang and Mongla
regions to promote the plan.

Again last week, Burmese officials reportedly met with representative from
the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) in Kachin State.

Analysts said that the junta has not coerced or openly threatened the
uncooperative armed groups possible because Beijing warned the generals it
would not be an effective approach.

In December 2008, Wa and Kachin leaders sent a letter to Chinese President
Hu Jintao and Primer Wen Jiabao. The letter outlined the ethnic dilemma in
Burma as it relates to the 2008 constitution.

In part, the letter said: “We solemnly ask the Chinese government to relay
our request to the Myanmar [Burma] government: first, we support the
constitutional reform. When the new government forms in 2010, the
leadership based on national public election should promise to leaders of
the autonomous states [that they] will be part of the high leadership of
the new government
 [and] build upon the method of management of China’s
autonomous region. ”

Wen Jiao, a Chinese expert, wrote in the influential journal, Foreign
Policy, on Friday that Chinese leaders fear unstable neighboring
governments and the threat of an influx of refugees.

“So the calculus behind China's regional security strategy is
straightforward: if peace and prosperity among China's neighbors are not
secured, then peace, prosperity and unity at home will be put at risk,”
Wen Jiao wrote.

Maung Aye, the commander-in-chief of the Burmese army, visited the
Sino-Burmese border on Saturday. The state-media reported that he was
there to inspect the Muse 105th border trade zone, but there has been
rising tension in the area between ethnic groups and the Burmese army.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

July 11, Mizzima News
G8 urges release of Aung San Suu Kyi - Mungpi

The world’s major industrial countries, known as the G8, has called for
the immediate release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi saying
her continued detention would undermine the credibility of the junta’s
proposed general elections in 2010.

Members of the G8 - Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the
United Kingdom, and United States – in a joint statement from its summit
in Italy said they welcomed the UN Secretary General’s visit to Burma.

But the group in a statement reiterated their “call on the Government of
Myanmar [Burma] to release all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, whose continued detention would undermine the credibility of
elections planned for 2010.”

The statement said the group also shares the World Body Chief’s view that
the Burmese Government has lost an important opportunity to respond to the
concerns of the international community by refusing Ban Ki-moon a meeting
with detained Burmese Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

The group urged that the Burmese junta implement a fully inclusive process
of dialogue and national reconciliation, which will lead to transparent,
fair and democratic multiparty elections in 2010.

But the group pledged that they “remain prepared to respond positively to
substantive political progress undertaken by Myanmar [Burma].”

The G8 statement was immediately welcomed by a campaign group, the Burma
Campaign UK, saying the statement has brought the issue of Burma’s
political prisoners high up on the international agenda.

“It is particularly good to have Russia saying these things, as they
strongly defend the dictatorship. However, words must be turned into
action. We’d like to see the G8 supporting a global arms embargo on
Burma,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of Burma Campaign UK, in a statement
on Friday.

But the Campaign expressed concern over the G8 statement’s mention of the
junta’s 2010 election plans, saying whether or not Aung San Suu Kyi is in
jail or under house arrest, the international community should not endorse
the junta’s elections and constitution as it is designed to legitimise
military rule in the Southeast Asian nation.

The Campaign also said for a fully inclusive process of dialogue and
national reconciliation to take place, the Burmese junta must abandon its
plans for elections in 2010 and tear up its new constitution, which
intends to entrench military rule, and grants no freedom and human rights.

The Group of Eight is currently into the 2009 G8 Summit at L'Aquila in
Italy, from July 8 to 10, where the agenda includes the global economic
crisis and a boost to growth, relaunching international trade, welfare
policies, climate changes, development in poor countries and in Africa,
food security and safety, access to water, health, and the resolution of
regional crises for discussion.

____________________________________

July 11, The Hindu
Ban to brief UNSC on Myanmar

United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon would brief Security Council
on his recent visit to Myanmar on Monday, a UN spokeswoman said on Friday.
Ban had visited Myanmar last week, wherein the Myanmar's military junta
denied him permission to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy leader.

When asked about Ban's meeting with the National League for Democracy
(NLD) while he was in Yangon, the Spokeswoman, Michele Montas, noted that
Ban had asked to see the opposition parties in the country and was able to
meet with them.

Montas said the Secretary General expressed his concerns about the
proposed 2010 elections and the constitutional reform process in the
country.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

July 13, Wall Street Journal
WMD on Board

The North Korean ship suspected of carrying missiles or other illicit
cargo turned around and headed back to its home port this week, trailed by
the U.S. Navy. Now the question is, what will Pyongyang try next?

The freighter, Kang Nam I, is believed to have been carrying weapons or
missiles, in violation of United Nations sanctions. It set sail in
mid-June, not long after the U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 1874,
imposing a global embargo on the North's trade in most arms. It was
believed to be heading to Burma via Singapore, though its final
destination was unknown.

It's unclear why the North called the Kang Nam home. It's possible the
military junta that runs Burma said the ship would not be welcome. Perhaps
the generals feared more bad global PR during the trial of democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Or maybe Beijing, which has a lot of leverage
with the generals, leaned on them.

It's also possible that the ship would have run out of fuel before it
reached Burma, necessitating a port call in Singapore, where it would have
faced an inspection. Or -- and here's a thought -- perhaps Pyongyang
worried that the U.S. Navy might actually stop and board it, as it has
every legal right to do.

There's one clear spot in this whole murky episode: The North will keep
trying to find a way to export its missiles and other WMD-related goods.
Such exports are dictator Kim Jong Il's main source of foreign exchange,
which he needs to prop up his regime.
If, as the Kang Nam episode suggests, the North's usual sea routes are
blocked, will it turn to the air? In the past, Pyongyang has overflown
China when transporting exports to Iran. If the North tries that again, it
will be a test of Beijing's willingness to comply with the U.N. sanctions
it voted for.

____________________________________

July 13, Irrawaddy
Ban must show he’s a “man of results” - Yeni

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon briefs the Security Council on Monday on
his recent visit to Burma and his failed attempt to meet detained
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Final submissions in Suu Kyi’s trial in Rangoon's notorious Insein Prison
will be held on July 27. Burma's democracy icon should know her fate
soon—if convicted, she could face up to five years’ imprisonment—though
whether the UN Security Council will go so far as to approve a compulsory
resolution directed against the Burmese regime remains doubtful.

For the past two decades, the Burmese generals have shown the
international community that no matter how many resolutions the UN passes,
even before the 15-nation UN Security Council, actions fail to follow
words.

The latest evidence came last week when the military government led by
Snr-Gen Than Shwe again failed to respect the objectives of the UN
secretary-general’s visit—the release of all political prisoners including
Suu Kyi; resumption of dialogue between the military government and its
opposition; and the creation of conditions for credible elections.

Traditionally, the Burmese regime has counted on the support of its two UN
allies, China and Russia, who can use their veto powers to block any
Security Council action against Burma. Those countries view Burma as a
resource-rich, strategically important client state and treat ongoing
human rights violations as Burma’s "internal affair."

Burmese generals still hope to maintain the status quo in UNSC as long as
their rule is not seen to threaten peace and security in the region and
the world. For instance, the knowledge that allowing the North Korean ship
Kang Nam 1 to dock at a Burmese port could only deepen global and regional
tensions is believed to have persuaded Naypyidaw to ask the North Korean
ambassador to tell his government to order the vessel home.

Russia’s position is clear. By expecting to increase trade and diplomatic
ties with the regime, including an agreement to sell a nuclear research
reactor, the Russian Foreign Ministry announced in mid-June that Moscow
rejected the use of political and economic pressure to influence the
Burmese regime. "We see no reasons why the UN Security Council should
discuss Myanmar (Burma)," a Foreign Ministry statement said.

The Chinese position, however, could be slightly different, political
observers suggest.

Wen Liao, chairwoman of Longford Advisors, a political, economic, and
business consultancy, wrote an article in the influential US magazine
Foreign Policy that China has of late been quietly reaching out to Burma's
opposition. She pointed out that during the September 2007 demonstrations,
China repeatedly called for restraint and backed the arrival of a UN
special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, and two months ago China signed a joint
EU-Asean petition calling for Suu Kyi's release.

China has now stood behind Ban's bid to end Suu Kyi's house arrest, Wen
Liao wrote. "Ban would not have attempted his mission had China not signed
off on it," she said.

Whether the UN can push effectively for political change in Burma depends on
how Ban now concentrates on his responsibility to solve Burma's political
dilemma.

Last week, Ban explained in Rangoon why he returned to the military-ruled
country. He said that as he's Asia’s second secretary-general, he admired
Burma’s U Thant, the first Asian to hold this post.

He quoted U Thant’s words: "The worth of the individual human being is the
most unique and precious of all our assets and must be the beginning and
end of all our efforts.  Governments, systems, ideologies and institutions
come and go, but humanity remains."

Midway through his five-year term, Ban describes himself is "a man of
results rather than fiery rhetoric."

With all due respect, we’d like to believe it.