From editor at burmanet.org Fri Nov 6 14:11:43 2009 From: editor at burmanet.org (Editor) Date: Fri, 6 Nov 2009 14:11:43 -0500 (EST) Subject: BurmaNet News, November 6, 2009 Message-ID: <59047.63.173.78.131.1257534703.squirrel@webmail6.pair.com> November 6, 2009 Issue #3835 INSIDE BURMA DPA: US envoy snubs pro-government party on Myanmar visit Irrawaddy: Burma needs to industrialize: Than Shwe Xinhua: Storm-hit regions in Myanmar return to normal, Myanmar official media Mizzima News: Additional charge against Burmese-American AFP: Myanmar former FM dies in prison: officials ON THE BORDER BBC News: Burmese army targets India rebels DVB: 500 migrant workers sue Thai employers DRUGS New York Times: Thai Border on guard for drugs from Myanmar INTERNATIONAL AFP: Myanmar vote plan clouds new US dialogue Irrawaddy: Burmese rally against Then Sein in Tokyo OPINION / OTHER The Nation (Thailand): US will only help if Burma shows results ? Editorial PRESS RELEASE Burma Environment Working Group: New report on development in Burma INTERVIEW US Department of State: Burma: Policy review ? Scot Marciel ____________________________________ INSIDE BURMA November 6, Deutsche Presse-Agentur US envoy snubs pro-government party on Myanmar visit A high-level US delegation visiting Myanmar on an "exploratory" diplomatic mission this week failed to meet with representatives of the pro-junta National Unity Party (NUP), state media reported Friday. US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and his deputy in charge of South-East Asian affairs Scot Marciel visited Myanmar on Tuesday and Wednesday on what they called an "exploratory mission" to explain the Washington's new policy of engagement towards the country's pariah regime. The delegation, however, failed to engage with representatives of the NUP and other pro-junta parties, according to state media reports. "Although arrangements have been made for Mr Kurt [Campbell] to meet with central executive committee members of [the] National Unity Party at its headquarters and representatives of the remaining officially registered political parties at the hotel where he put up, he did not meet them," The New Light of Myanmar reported. "Instead, he separately met some persons who are still being scrutinized at the residence of charge d' affairs of [the] US embassy on their own arrangements," the government mouthpiece said. One NUP executive complained that they waiting all day for Campbell to show up. In Bangkok on Thursday, Marciel acknowledged that the USA's new policy of engaging with the notoriously uncooperative Myanmar junta was unlikely to bear swift results. "We're going in to this with our eyes wide open," Marciel said. "Success is far from guaranteed." Past diplomatic efforts to persuade Myanmar's generals to mend their dictatorial ways, either through sanctions as imposed by the US and the European Union, or through the tact of "constructive engagement" as pursued by Asian governments, have failed. The country has been under military rule since 1962, and has kept opposition leader and pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi under house detention for 14 of the past 20 years. Campbell and Marciel met with Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein, Suu Kyi and numerous other government and opposition leaders on their wo-day visit. It as not immediately clear why they save the NUP eaders a miss. ____________________________________ November 6, Irrawaddy Burma needs to industrialize: Than Shwe Burma?s military chief Snr-Gen Than Shwe said Burma must industrialize in order to develop, according to the state-run newspaper The New Light of Myamnar on Thursday. ?He [Than Shwe] said that indeed, the agro-based country is a developing nation, and if the country would like to be a real developed nation, it must try hard to become an industrialized one,? the newspaper said. Than Shwe made his comments during his second visit to Cyclone Nargis-affected areas in Irrawaddy Division. With regard to economic development of the region, the newspaper said, ?The Senior General gave guidance, saying it is necessary to strive for exploiting [sic] the natural resources with the use of manpower and utilizing them to raise per capita income.? Than Shwe said the meat, fish and salt industries needed developing. ?He said that it is necessary to give encouragement to produce salt not only for local consumption but also for industrial raw materials. ?[He said that] innovative measures are to be taken for manufacturing of value-added products by extending cold storage and finished goods factories in the meat and fish sector of the region,? the newspaper said. ?The Senior General stressed the need to collect [sic] the investment based on the current agriculture task [sic] and to establish the country as an industrialized nation,? the newspaper said. However, Aung Moe Zaw, chairman for the exiled Democratic Party for New Society said Burma will take a long time to establish an industrialized base because of internal political conflict and strained relations with the international community. ?Burma should begin by resolving its political conflicts before trying to develop the nation,? he said. A youth member of the National League for Democracy said, ?Even though the Burmese authorities use the word ?develop? in projects, it doesn?t seem like development because their projects always depend on the use of human resources.? A businessman in Rangoon added that much more technological skill would be needed to establish an industrialized base in Burma. ____________________________________ November 6, Xinhua Storm-hit regions in Myanmar return to normal, Myanmar official media Yangon -- Myanmar official media claimed on Friday that the country's storm-hit regions have returned to normalcy within one year after these regions were struck by cyclone Nargis in early May last year, citing the hardest-hit Ayeyawaddy delta areas. "The government made utmost efforts for enabling storm-ravaged regions to enjoy new conditions and new life and to stand on their own strength," said the New Light of Myanmar. The newspaper also said the state is placing emphasis on the development of agricultural, fishery, marine and transport sector of seaside regions and has built necessary infrastructural buildings including transport ones in order that rescue and relief tasks can be launched in time if there is natural disaster. It disclosed that a total of 20 cyclone shelters are being built in the areas of Letkhokkon, Phyapon, Pathein and Laputta, saying that these cyclone shelters are designed to be used as schools in normal times, and in times of natural disaster they can be used as shelters. Over the last four days since Monday, Myanmar top leader Senior-General Than Shwe, who is Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, made an inspection tour to view the progress of rehabilitation and reconstruction in storm-ravaged regions of the Ayeyawaddy delta covering areas of Bogalay, Phypon, Laputta, Pinsalu, Mawlamyinegyun, Haigyigyun, Pathein and Hinthada, and arrived in Yangon on Thursday evening. Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis hit five divisions and states - Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on May 2 and 3 last year, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage. ____________________________________ November 6, Mizzima News Additional charge against Burmese-American ? Mungpi New Delhi - A new charge was added to the existing ones against Burmese born American, Kyaw Zaw Lwin (alias) Nyi Nyi Aung by a district court in Rangoon on Friday, his attorney said. Kyaw Zaw Lwin, who was charged with fraudulence and forgery under article 420 and 468 of the Criminal Code, has been additionally charged under the Foreigner Exchange Regulation Act Section 24, his lawyer Kyi Win told Mizzima. ?We don?t yet know the details of the new charge against Nyi Nyi Aung. We don?t know for what reason this charge has been added,? Kyi Win said. The Burmese born American was arrested on September 3, on arrival at the Rangoon international airport and has been detained since then. He was later charged for fraudulence and forgery ? cheating the immigration and possessing a fake Burmese national identity card. While he was charged and was being tried by the Minglardon Township court, whose jurisdiction covers the Rangoon International airport, last week authorities transferred his case to the Southern District Court without any official reason given. Kyi Win last week told Mizzima that while transferring the case is not out of procedure, he expressed his fear that the District court, which is a step higher than the Township court, would add extra charges. ?We will be collecting the files of Nyi Nyi Aung from the district court next week. Only then we will know about the additional charge,? Kyi Win said, adding that the court has scheduled the next hearing of the prosecution witness for November 13, Friday. ?Today we heard testimonies of the two witnesses, who had testified in the Township court. Because the case is not being handled by a new judge, the trial is required to start all over again,? Kyi Win added. According to his attorney, if found guilty, Nyi Nyi Aung could be sentenced to 14 years in prison, seven each on charges of fraudulence and forgery. But Kyi Win said he still does not have any idea what the new charge is all about. Nyi Nyi Aung was a student activist in the 1988 nation-wide uprising. But he fled from Burma for neighbouring Thailand in the wake of the ruling junta?s crackdown on protesters. He later resettled in the United States, where he was naturalized as a citizen. His mother and sister are currently serving prison terms for their political activism. ____________________________________ November 6, Agence France Presse Myanmar former FM dies in prison: officials Yangon ? Myanmar's former foreign minister Win Aung died of heart failure in Yangon's notorious Insein prison while serving a jail term for corruption, official sources said Friday. Win Aung, who was 65, was sentenced to seven years imprisonment in 2004 after the ruling junta purged the military intelligence service led by then-prime minister Khin Nyunt. Win Aung served as foreign minister from 1998 to 2004. Official sources said Win Aung died in Insein Prison's hospital early Wednesday from heart failure. His family would cremate his body on Sunday, the sources said on condition of anonymity. State media announced plans for his funeral but did not give details on how and where he died. Win Aung's family refused to comment on his death. Khin Nyunt once wielded immense power as premier and head of military intelligence but was forced out by the junta in October 2004. Many of his followers, including Win Aung and other senior officials, were also purged and charged. The following year Khun Nyunt was given a 44-year suspended sentence for corruption but was allowed to serve the term under house arrest, where he remains. Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. ____________________________________ ON THE BORDER November 6, BBC News Burmese army targets India rebels ? Subir Bhaumik Burmese troops have surrounded a base of Naga separatists in the country's northwest and begun bombing it, Indian military officials said. They said Indian troops have fanned out in the hills opposite this base in Sagaing to arrest any rebels who may try to flee into Indian territory. The base is operated by the Khaplang faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN). There are around 300 rebels at the base, Indian intelligence agencies say. Most of them are NSCN guerrillas, but around 50 of them belong to the separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (Ulfa). Two Burmese light infantry regiments are involved in the attack, they said. But Burmese military officials or diplomats were unwilling to provide details. Villagers around Maniakshaw in Sagaing said they could see the Burmese troops firing mortars, targeting the camp. Diplomatic pressure Indian troops confirmed heavy shelling of the Naga rebel base since late on Thursday but were not sure whether the Burmese had launched an infantry assault. Burma's military junta has been under Indian diplomatic pressure to launch assaults against northeast Indian rebel bases in its territory for some time now. But the junta has cited counter-insurgency commitments elsewhere in the country for not starting an offensive against these bases located mostly in Sagaing division in the hilly northwest of the country. The Bhutanese army demolished the north-eastern Indian rebel bases in the southern part of the kingdom in December 2003 in an operation. The success of that operation has prompted India to push its other neighbours in the east to initiate similar military action against the rebels from the northeast. Bangladesh's new Awami League led government has also started a crackdown against north-eastern rebel hideouts on their hideout. The separatist United Liberation Front of Assam (ULFA) has alleged that Bangladesh police has picked up two of the senior leaders from Dhaka this week and expressed apprehensions that they may be handed over to India. ____________________________________ November 6, Democratic Voice of Burma 500 migrant workers sue Thai employers ? Aye Nai Hundreds of Burmese migrant workers in a Thai border town have filed a lawsuit against their employers for allegedly failing to pay salaries, a migrant organisation said. The migrant workers in Mae Sot, across the border from Burma?s eastern Karen state, claim that employers failed to abide by regulations laid down by Thailand?s Ministry of Labour. ?More than 500 workers from 12 factories have filed their case but the number of complainants from each factory is as high as 185,? said Ko Aye, workers? affairs manager of Migrant Assistance Program (MAP) Foundation in Mae Sot. ?This 500 is only for this year. There have been 138 similar cases since 2001 with 2,077 workers involved. The number of women is greater than that of men.? In the past, workers filed their complaints at a local labour liaison office and court, and in some cases, the judges have ruled in favour of compensation. Ko Aye said however that the employees had to go on trial whenever their employers failed to fully abide by the court decision. MAP Foundation, together with its lawyers, has been conducting awareness education programmes for workers, focusing on responses to arbitrary dismissals and closure of factories without prior warning. Employees from a knitting factory in Mae Sot on Wednesday appeared in court to testify that they had been denied wages. The employer had agreed to compensate for six and a half months? wages but later shut the factories without prior notice, leaving the workers jobless. ?The complaint includes less than standard, overtime fees and weekend charges,? a workers? rights activist told DVB. The workers had received only 50 Thai baht ($US1.50) out of an eligible 150 Thai baht ($US4.50). ?They should be compensated about 100,000 Thai baht ($US2,995) each but they said they would be satisfied with 30,000 ($US900). The trial was adjourned until 21 December.? Around two million Burmese migrants are estimated to work in Thailand, the majority in the agricultural, fishery and construction sectors. According to organisations working on migrant issues, complaints about denial of wages for migrant workers are common throughout Thailand. ____________________________________ DRUGS November 6, New York Times Thai Border on guard for drugs from Myanmar ? Thomas Fuller Fang, Thailand ? The heroin and methamphetamine traffickers carry assault weapons and walk briskly through the night, crossing the border in small groups and traveling down a spider?s web of footpaths and dirt roads. So says Ja Saw, a wiry man in his 20s who should know: Two years ago, he was one of them. Mr. Ja Saw spent a year in a Thai prison for trafficking. Now he works as an undercover agent for the Thai military. In his native Myanmar, where he travels periodically to glean intelligence, he is known by another name. ?They would kill me immediately if they knew I was a spy,? Mr. Ja Saw, who is from the Wa ethnic group, said in an interview at a remote location several kilometers from the Myanmar border. Thailand?s northern borderland region is ground zero in the country?s efforts to interdict the tons of illicit drugs manufactured in the freewheeling northern reaches of Myanmar. Thailand is also the main international gateway for heroin bound for the streets of Tokyo, Hong Kong, Sydney and other major cities in the region, counternarcotics officials said. Sending the drugs through China would be the most geographically direct route to Hong Kong, Tokyo and other points north. But the Thai and United States counternarcotics authorities said they believed that most of the drugs move south through Thailand. ?It?s more convenient,? said a senior Thai police official, who estimated that around 90 percent of illicit drugs produced in northern Myanmar come through Thailand, sometimes via Laos or down the Mekong River. He did not want to be quoted by name because of the sensitivity of the topic. Economic development in Thailand has facilitated trafficking, officials said, because evading the police is easier through the growing network of roads leading to Bangkok and places farther south, including Malaysia. The armed ethnic groups in northern Myanmar such as the Wa and Kachin are wary of antagonizing China because of their reliance on the Chinese for cross-border business and, in years past, weapons. ?Since the early 1990s, the Chinese have delivered very stern warnings: Send your powder anywhere else but here,? said Michael Black, an expert on the Wa and a security writer for Jane?s Intelligence Review. The ethnic groups, he said, ?can?t afford to anger the Chinese.? China stepped up pressure on the Wa to shut down trafficking routes across the mainland in the late 1990s when H.I.V. was identified as a growing problem spread in large part by intravenous heroin users. The illicit drugs produced near the Chinese border take a circuitous route, often shipped down to the southern stronghold of the United Wa State Army, a group that the Thai and American governments say is responsible for the lion?s share of the drug trade in Myanmar. Wa Army camps, perched on hilltops like fortresses from another era, are visible from the Thai side of the border. The drug trade has helped turn the poorly delineated border between Myanmar and Thailand into a treacherous killing zone. An increase in trafficking this year, related to tensions between the Myanmar military and the Wa, has left 15 suspected traffickers dead in the Fang area alone, said Master Sgt. Somsak Taengorn, a member of a plainclothes counternarcotics unit. Some of those killed were wearing Wa Army uniforms, he said. The drugs are often stored near the border and divided into parcels. But traffickers are so worried that the drugs will be pilfered by their competitors that they put them in unusual storage facilities. ?Sometimes they dig a hole and bury it,? Sergeant Somsak said. The drug trade here is lucrative, and Sergeant Somsak said many families in otherwise impoverished areas have brand-new pickup trucks and nicely furnished houses made of sturdy materials. Two years ago, Mr. Ja Saw was paid 10,000 baht, about $300, to carry 20,000 methamphetamine tablets, known in Thailand as ya ba, or ?crazy drugs.? He dropped off the drugs at a Thai village and was paid on arrival. On his third trafficking run, he was ambushed by the Thai military and arrested. Once delivered to the Thai side, the drugs are sent to Bangkok, to the resort island of Phuket (where yachts are sometimes used to smuggle the drugs to other countries) and to the provinces bordering Malaysia, depending on the final destination. The drugs are shipped using a variety of ruses, some of them creative, some more pedestrian. Often they are packed inside shipments of corn, lettuce or other agricultural goods, Sergeant Somsak and other officials said. In May 2008, Sergeant Somsak helped seize thousands of methamphetamine pills packaged in condoms and hidden in the vaginas of eight hill-tribe women who tried to board a plane for Bangkok before they were arrested. In September, a Taiwanese trafficker was arrested in Thailand with boxes of bicycle pedals stuffed with heroin. The strangest smuggling scheme? Manachai Pongsanae, commander of a checkpoint on a major road in northern Thailand, remembers stopping a woman in her 50s with methamphetamine tablets wrapped in plastic and secreted inside a packet of fermented fish paste. ____________________________________ INTERNATIONAL November 6, Agence France-Presse Myanmar vote plan clouds new US dialogue ? Shaun Tandon Washington, D.C. ? US envoys who paid a rare visit to Myanmar say the new dialogue will be slow and cautious, but the junta's plans to hold 2010 elections are casting a shadow that could disrupt the delicate process. Kurt Campbell, the top US diplomat for Asia, and his deputy Scot Marciel spent two days in the country formerly known as Burma, the highest-level US visit since 1995 as part of a new policy of engagement. The State Department duo has been at pains to temper expectations for any breakthrough and warned the junta that the United States will not ease economic sanctions without progress on democracy. But the diplomacy could soon get trickier as the junta prepares elections next year. The last vote in 1990 was swept by democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who has since spent most of her time under house arrest. Marciel, speaking in Bangkok on Thursday, called for the election -- which some observers believe could be held early in the year -- to be fair and to include Aung San Suu Kyi's participation. But the Nobel Peace laureate's National League for Democracy has called for a boycott of the vote, fearing it would be a sham to legitimize the junta which last year pushed through a widely criticized new constitution. "When US officials tell the regime they must include the opposition in credible, free and fair elections, they are missing the key point," said John Dale, a Myanmar expert at George Mason University. "For a long time, the opposition has been organizing a boycott of the election and that's exactly what the regime is trying to overcome -- they want as much participation as possible," he said. "The longer the United States engages in dialogue about international monitoring of free and fair elections, the more likely it is that we end up lending legitimacy to the election process itself," he said. But Aung San Suu Kyi has changed tact before. As the United States opened the dialogue, she accepted that actions by the junta could eventually lead to a relaxation of sanctions, an easing of her strong past support of such economic measures. Yet just communicating with her remains difficult. The junta allowed Aung San Suu Kyi to meet Campbell and Marciel at a Yangon luxury hotel, marking the first time she has appeared outside her home and prison since 2003. "I think that role and the attitude of Aung San Suu Kyi is very important to a change in US policy toward Burma," said David Steinberg, a professor at Georgetown University. Steinberg said the junta may try to release Aung San Suu Kyi just before or just after the election. "I don't think that's acceptable to the US, because they want something more," Steinberg said. President Barack Obama and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton have launched a policy of dialogue around the world, with the motto that they will extend a hand to all who "unclench their fist." Senator Jim Webb, a leading proponent of engaging Myanmar who met in August with junta supremo Than Shwe, said he was encouraged by Campbell and Marciel's visit to Myanmar. He said that the administration should take a "step-by-step" approach to encourage Myanmar "to become a responsible member of the world community." "The administration?s engagement with the government of Burma is an important step toward improving both US-Burma relations and the living conditions of the Burmese people," he said. But Aung Din, a former political prisoner who heads the US Campaign for Burma advocacy group, said that Obama needed to follow up by raising Myanmar at the highest levels on his upcoming visit to Asia. Obama will hold a summit with Southeast Asian leaders and travel to China, which remains a close commercial and military partner of Myanmar despite the opprobrium for the junta in the West. "I want to be optimistic. But I will wait until President Obama's visit to Asia next week," Aung Din said. "Without strong involvement by President Obama and Secretary Clinton in organizing our neighbors to stand together on Burma, Kurt's mission would not be successful," he said. ____________________________________ November 6, Irrawaddy Burmese rally against Then Sein in Tokyo ? Saw Yan Naing About 200 Burmese dissidents demonstrated outside Japan?s Parliament House in Tokyo on Friday, the second of three planned protests against Burma?s military government during a visit by Prime Minster Gen Thein Sein who arrived in the Japanese capital on Thursday to attend the first Mekong-Japan Summit. Burmese pro-democracy demonstrators also launched a protest outside the New Otani Hotel, where the Burmese premier is staying during the summit. Ko Ko Aung, a Burmese dissident living in Tokyo, said that the aim of the protest was to decry the upcoming election in Burma as a government ploy to hold onto power in accordance with the sham 2008 constitution. ?We want to give a message to the Japanese government that we don?t accept the 2010 election or the junta?s Constitution. So, they should not support the Burmese military government,? he said. Ko Ko Aung called for the Japanese government to investigate the details of the current political situation in Burma. Japan?s support of the Burmese regime will not help the Burmese people, he said. He said that the demonstrators have also scheduled a protest outside the Burmese embassy in Tokyo, which Thein Sein will visit on Friday evening. Jeff Kingston, the director of Asian Studies at Temple University Japan Campus, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that Japan wants to step up human security efforts in the region and sees the Mekong-Japan Summit as a vehicle for doing so in a coordinated way. ?Japan will promote human security, natural disaster alleviation, pandemic control and climate initiatives for the nations along the Mekong,? he said. ?It is a safe way for limited engagement with Burma that allows the [Japanese] government to plausibly deny re-engaging while at the same time getting some traction in Burma.? Kingston noted that Japan?s new prime minister, Yukio Hatoyama, and Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada were both well-informed about and sympathetic to the plight of the Burmese and political prisoners and said the current government has expressed stronger support for human rights than previous administrations. Burma is a member of the six-country Greater Mekong Subregion -Economic Cooperation Program, along with Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam, Laos and China. Japan is traditionally Burma?s largest donor nation. Japan has invested US $216.76 million in 23 projects since 1988, according to a Xinhua news agency report on Thursday. ____________________________________ OPINION / OTHER November 6, The Nation (Thailand) US will only help if Burma shows results ? Editorial Asean should also step in as a united front and push its peer to conduct free and fair elections The two-day trip by the two US senior officials over the week did not produce any fireworks or breakthroughs. At the press conference on Thursday, one of them, Ambassador to Asean Scot Marciel was extremely careful in providing information or coming up with comments related to this mission. Obviously, he did not want to mislead the international community into believing that actual progress had been made. He kept repeating that he would not speculate on the Burmese junta's intentions, knowing full well of the high expectations people had of this trip. However, he did make two important points that the junta needs to take into consideration with all seriousness. Firstly, there should be political dialogue for all stakeholders before the scheduled elections are held next year. Currently, opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi is not allowed to meet senior members of her National League of Democracy party. Other ethnic leaders have the same restrictions. Representatives from Karen, Kachin, Chin, Hmong, Rohinya and Shan ethnic minorities have complained to the US visitors about the need to amend the constitution. The US fact-finding team reiterated that if there is no such reconciliation process, it would be difficult for the international community to accept the outcome of next year's polls as being inclusive, free and fair. In other words, the junta leaders need to make serious and tangible efforts to materialise national reconciliation. Secondly, the US has effectively opened up a small window to help push the Burmese situation forward. The US is mindful of its own role because it has its own limits. It cannot replace the UN, the EU or regional players including Asean, China and India. Instead, Washington needs to work hand in hand with these players to bring into fruition their joint appeals for inclusive, free and fair elections in Burma. Now that the Burmese junta leaders have met with the US senior officials, they should know all details of the important steps they should take. Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein, along with the rest of the Asean leaders, will be shaking hands with US President Barack Obama at the first Asean-US Summit in Singapore on November 15. However, this will not be a firm handshake of friends if there are no tangible signs of progress in the near future. It is possible that the junta might try to buy time by releasing some key political prisoners or allow Suu Kyi some freedom to consult her colleagues. Still, this effort being made by the US on Burma should encourage Asean to do more in putting peer pressure on its pariah member. Asean should ask itself why it cannot soften the regime's attitude as the US has been able to do. The grouping's major failure so far has been its lack of common approach towards Burma. Each member has its own views on the issue, while new members such as Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia continue to back the Burmese regime. Without a consolidated view and position among the new and old members, Asean will never be able to bring about change inside Burma. ____________________________________ PRESS RELEASE November 6, Burma Environment Working Group New report on development in Burma A group of organizations concerned about the ongoing rapid destruction of Burma?s natural environment has published a new report which challenges the direction Burma is taking with regard to national development and argues that alternative resource management systems should be considered. The report ?Accessible Alternatives: Ethnic Communities? Contribution to Social Development and Environmental Conservation in Burma? by the Burma Environment Working Group consists of nine case studies that describe a variety of issues related to natural resource management in different parts of Burma, including Arakan, Kachin, Karen and Shan States. Through this report, the Burma Environment Working Group exposes the harsh impacts that are inflicted on the environment and the livelihoods of ethnic people by the current development path that Burma?s military regime is taking. Ethnic peoples in Burma have long used traditional natural resource management systems that sustain the environment and on which they depend for their livelihoods. In recent years, however, militarization, large-scale resource extraction, and infrastructure development have been destroying the natural environment and threatening these local natural resource management systems. Many local people have had to abandon their homes and livelihoods without compensation and are struggling to survive. The report also describes positive cases in which community-based projects supported by member organizations of the Burma Environment Working Group have helped revive the natural environment through restoration of traditional natural resource management systems. ?We wanted to draw attention to the knowledge and practices of ethnic communities that ensure sustainable natural resource management,? said Saw Paul Sein Twa, a spokesperson of the Burma Environment Working Group. ?If we want to preserve Burma?s rich environment for our children, the value of traditional natural resource management methods should be recognized widely, and serious efforts should be made now to restore them where they have been destroyed.? The Burma Environment Working Group will launch the report at a press conference at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand at 10am on November 5, 2009. Contact: Saw Paul Sein Twa (Mobile: +66-817247093, email: pseintwa at yahoo.com Saw Frankie Abreau (Mobile: +66-89953106, email: franktheera at yahoo.com Read the report: Accessible Alternatives: Ethnic Communities? Contribution to Social Development and Environmental Conservation in Burma, Burma Environment Working Group, November 6, 2009 http://www.bicusa.org/admin/Document.101674.aspx ____________________________________ INTERVIEW November 6, US Department of State Burma: Policy review ? Scot Marciel Bangkok, Thailand ? AMBASSADOR MARCIEL: Thank you very much, and thank you all for coming. Assistant Secretary Campbell and I just returned last night from a two-day visit to Burma. It was an exploratory mission. The main purpose of the visit was really to explain to the key parties there, and I don?t just mean political parties, but the stakeholders in the country - government, political parties, opposition, ethnic minority groups, et cetera - to kind of explain the context of our recently concluded policy review, but also to hear from them, their views and their ideas. Let me begin by talking a little bit about the policy review. As you know, Secretary Clinton announced in Jakarta in February that we would begin this policy review and she stated quite clearly at the outset that the reason for the policy review was that our previous approach, which relied heavily on sanctions, had not achieved the desired results. That?s a factual statement. She also said that the ASEAN approach of engagement had not achieved the results. So the purpose of the review was not really to question the fundamental goals of our approach, but rather to see if there was a more effective way that we could try to bring about positive developments in the country. So we undertook that review. It went on for quite some time. It was recently concluded a few months ago. The results of that review were first, to reaffirm our fundamental goals for Burma. That we want to see a Burma that is at peace, unified, prosperous, stable, respects the rights of all of its citizens, and is democratic. That hasn?t changed. What we said, what we concluded in terms of approach, was that we were going to maintain our existing sanctions, even though sanctions by themselves had not worked sufficiently - they were still a valid tool of our policy, so we?re maintaining the existing sanctions pending progress; that we would begin pragmatic engagement with the government; that we would continue our humanitarian assistance to help the people of the country as long as we were confident that that assistance was actually reaching the people and doing what it was intended to do. And we also committed to talk to the Burmese authorities about our concerns about non-proliferation, particularly related to North Korea. So as part of our pragmatic engagement piece we agreed to begin a dialogue - a senior level dialogue with the government - but also with opposition groups, ethnic minority groups, all of the people who have an important role to play in the country?s future. We had an introductory meeting in New York, I believe it was late September, where we met with the Burmese Minister of Science and Technology who the government had designated to meet with us, and we sort of laid out where we were and what we hoped to achieve. Then, as I said, we took this trip the last two days to meet with the government, to meet with others. We spent a day in Naypyidaw where we met with several government officials, government ministers, including the Minister of Science and Technology; the Minister of Information; and then yesterday morning, with the Prime Minister as well as with some others. Then we were in Rangoon most of the day yesterday where we met with representatives from several of the ethnic minority groups. We met with the Central Executive Committee of the National League for Democracy. We met with Aung San Suu Kyi, and we met with some other people who had views on both the political and the economic situation in Burma. In all of these meetings we explained the results of our policy review, where we were. There?s been some, I think, misunderstanding or misinterpretation about some elements of it so we tried to clarify what we were doing and what we were not doing. We reaffirmed our commitment in all the meetings to a peaceful, prosperous, democratic Burma. We stressed in our view the importance of a beginning genuine dialogue within the country, between the government, the opposition, and ethnic minority groups which we really see as critical. There?s a lot of talk about elections, there?s a lot of talk about sanctions, but fundamentally the main problem there is the lack of an inclusive political process, and we think that a dialogue among the key players is the best way forward. And of course we?re not alone. The international community, the United Nations, have long been calling for that kind of dialogue. We stressed that in our view the purpose of a dialogue should be to move toward national reconciliation and a fully inclusive political process. And toward that end, we again urged the government to allow Aung San Suu Kyi to have regular access and engagement with her NLD colleagues as well as with others. We highlighted the importance and the concerns about a wide range of human rights issues including but not limited to political prisoners, treatment of ethnic minorities, et cetera. In our meetings with the government we underscored, as we?ve said publicly, our willingness to move toward better relations, to take steps on our part to improve relations with the country of Burma, but also that this would only be possible to the extent that there was progress inside the country. This is very important. We?re willing to move ahead, but there needs to be progress inside the country. So we had, as I said, significant serious meetings with a wide range of people. We laid out our views. We listened a lot to people both in the government and the ethnic minority groups and in the opposition. Let me stress again that this was an exploratory mission. I read yesterday Bertil Lintner?s good article warning of past failures of diplomatic efforts. I think we?re aware of that. It?s useful to be reminded of that. My own view is that when you look at the record, these past efforts haven?t succeeded. You can draw two conclusions from that. One is don?t try. Two is to try but to be aware of just how difficult this is. We go into this knowing full well how difficult this is going to be. We?re not under any illusions. But we feel that there are 50-55 million people in the country who deserve the efforts of the international community to try to help bring about progress and we?re very committed to that. So let me stop there, and I look forward to your questions. MODERATOR: Thank you, Ambassador Marciel. We have a good chunk of time, about 45 minutes. I would like to do this in rounds. Let?s take the first round. The first round perhaps by diplomats, academics, members of the public; and then the second round we?ll go to the media maybe. AMBASSADOR MARCIEL: If there are no questions, I?ll go ahead and (laughter). MODERATOR: Go to the airport. QUESTION: (Inaudible). The first question is do you anticipate any (inaudible) to come up with an inclusive dialogue within the country of Burma? The second question is after you have been explaining this to the people you met, the partners, the stakeholders, what is their response? Thank you. AMBASSADOR MARCIEL: On your first question, I won?t, to be honest, try to anticipate. I don?t know what?s going to happen. We don?t know what?s going to happen. We will have to see. I?ve seen in the past people suggesting that they think this or that is going to happen inside Burma. I just don?t know. We certainly hope there will be a dialogue. I don?t frankly see how there can be a credible election that brings legitimacy without inclusive participation, and I don?t see how that can happen without a dialogue. So if there is to be a credible election that fundamentally changes the dynamics in the country, I think there needs to be dialogue and there needs to be participation. In terms of the reaction, what I would say is I think many of the opposition groups and the ethnic minority groups have been very clear publicly for some time that they support a dialogue, an internal dialogue, and would look forward to participating in that. We?ll have to see where the government comes out on that. QUESTION: Mr. Marciel, you mentioned that during these discussions you have also touched on the issue of nuclear proliferation and the contacts between the regime and North Korea. Would you be able in any way to elaborate on that? Thank you. AMBASSADOR MARCIEL: What I can say is that there have been reports of cooperation and closer relations between Burma and North Korea, including on the military side. There have been things in the press you?ve seen speculating about nuclear cooperation. And I think the situation we?re in is we want to, I think the international community wants to work with the Burmese authorities to find out what the facts are and to impress upon the government the importance particularly of honoring and abiding by UN Security Council Resolution 1874. So I think there is a need for information sharing and dialogue. QUESTION: Thank you for a very clear message to hear from you. We hope also that you received our open letter that we have tried to reach to you before the eve of your trip. My first question is already addressed by my colleague from the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma. My second question is actually, when we look at since the review of the U.S. policy, many key players both internationally and in the region have looked up to what is coming from the U.S. We have also observed, there are some positive steps being taken, particularly by the ASEAN, such as calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. (Inaudible) particularly after looking to the new policy of the U.S. and saying that it looks to us like on one hand first of all is that we would like to see the Burma democracy movement, Burma?s movement for democracy and rights of ethnic nationalities. We see the new policy is in line with our call, and we really appreciate and we are very encouraged to see that. But on the other hand we also would like to get more clarification from you because we observe that there seems to be a misinterpretation by some of the key ASEAN players of the new policy of the U.S., with the aims to follow the ASEAN?s, I would say highly problematic brand of constructive engagement. I would like to her the comment from you. Thank you very much. AMBASSADOR MARCIEL: Thank you. It?s a very good question. Various countries have taken various approaches to Burma. None of us have succeeded so I think we all should be very humble and not assume that we have the answers until we actually produce some results. For there to be progress in Burma there are two things that have to happen. One, there has to be the primary effort inside the country. The international community by itself cannot do this. It has to happen from within the country. But second, the international community has to work in support of that, including ASEAN. We talk about this with our ASEAN colleagues a lot, as well as with others. I think the message from all of us ought to be very clear. There is an opportunity for progress not for the first time in Burma. The elections could be, could be an opportunity, but they will only be an opportunity if they?re done right and that means involving everybody in a way, starting with a dialogue so that all sides can agree to the conditions. There can be a real campaign, real elections. I think the message from the international community, including ASEAN, needs to be that the first step has to be a dialogue inside the country. I think it?s critical that all of us reiterate that message. Because if there?s not, and if the so-called seven step road map goes ahead without the broader participation and inclusiveness, it doesn?t solve any problems. For more, visit: http://www.state.gov/p/eap/rls/rm/2009/11/131536.htm