BurmaNet News, August 31, 2010

[Editor]

August 31, 2010 Issue #4031

QUOTE OF THE DAY
"A dictator in civilian clothing is still a dictator. The fact that they
are moving out of uniform but still constricting the political space
within Burma is a problem for Burma.... Burma has to open up its political
space, have a dialogue with the ethnic groups within Burma would allow for
an effective and viable political opposition and have a real competition
within civil society in Burma." – Philip J. Crowley, Assistant Secretary,
US Department of State

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Myanmar media confirm junta chief retains power
DPA: Myanmar's pro-junta parties field army of candidates
Irrawaddy: Generals in reshuffle buying diamonds, gold
KNG: KIO demands federal union before surrendering weapons

ON THE BORDER
PhuketWan (Thailand): Burmese accuse Thai officials of people trafficking

HEALTH
Myanmar Times: Delta has highest disability rate in country

ASEAN
DVB: UN hails ‘trusting’ relations with Burma
Myanmar Times: Myanmar urged by ASEAN to open market

REGIONAL
AFP: Delhi notes China's Indian Ocean 'interest'
Irrawaddy: Burmese refugees in Malaysia receive UN registration

INTERNATIONAL
DVB: US rues ‘dictators in civilian clothes’
Wall Street Journal: North Korean pair viewed as key to secret arms trade

OPINION / OTHER
DVB: Poverty in Burma is appalling
Bangkok Post: Political transition: a chance for progress? – Noeleen Heyzer



____________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

August 31, Associated Press
Myanmar media confirm junta chief retains power

Yangon, Myanmar — A message from Myanmar's junta chief Senior Gen. Than
Shwe appeared in state media Tuesday, dispelling reports that he had
stepped down from the army as part of a major military reshuffle ahead of
elections.

The message was a typical note of congratulations to Malaysia on its
Independence Day and made no reference to the military reshuffle — the
largest in more than a decade. But it was carried on the front page of the
country's three official newspapers and the subtext was clear: Than Shwe
is still in charge.

The military reshuffle that occurred Friday retired more than a dozen
senior leaders, though it has yet to be officially announced by the highly
secretive junta. It was an apparent move to prepare for Nov. 7 national
elections, the first in two decades.

Than Shwe has ruled the country since 1992. The rumors of his retirement,
along with that of his second-in-command Maung Aye, suggested they were
being groomed for roles as president and vice president in the new
government after elections.

Since military reshuffles are often never formally announced, when rumors
of such shifts spread through Myanmar society, citizens carefully follow
television and news reports to see if leaders are referred to with new
titles.

"Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and Development
Council, has sent a message of felicitations" to the king of Malaysia to
mark the country's Independence Day, the New Light of Myanmar and other
newspapers reported.

The message referred both to Than Shwe's military rank and his title as
head of the ruling junta's government, known as the SPDC, effectively
putting to rest reports by several media outlets that had reported his
resignation last week.

The elections are portrayed by the regime as a key step to shifting to
civilian rule after five decades of military domination, but critics call
them a sham and say the military shows little sign of relinquishing
control.

Friday's reshuffle included about two dozen officials, notably the junta's
third- and fourth-ranking generals, Thura Shwe Mann, who served as Joint
Chief of Staff, and Tin Aung Myint Oo, who was the army's Quartermaster
General, according to officials who are close to the military but could
not be named because the reshuffle was not formally announced.

It was the second since April, when 27 senior officials, including Prime
Minister Gen. Thein Sein, retired from the military.

Under the country's new constitution, 25 percent of the seats in
Parliament will go to military representatives. If retiring generals run
for Parliament they would not be counted in the military's quota although
they are likely to enhance the army's influence.

The polls will take place without the country's leading opposition party,
headed by detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which says the
elections are unfair and is boycotting them.
____________________________________

August 31, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Myanmar's pro-junta parties field army of candidates

Yangon – Myanmar's two pro-junta parties have submitted large candidate
lists for the country's November 7 general election, dwarfing the number
of pro-democracy candidates, party sources said Tuesday.

Parties had to submit their candidate lists to the Election Commission on
Monday to qualify for the November 7 polls, Myanmar's first in two
decades.

The pro-junta Union Solidarity Development Party, whose membership is
packed with retired military men, will field 1,163 candidates, enough to
fight all contested seats in the lower, upper and regional houses of
parliament.

Another pro-government party, the National Unity Party, has registered 994
candidates, the party's executive committee member Han Shwe said.

Myanmar's two main pro-democracy parties, the National Democratic Force
and Democratic Party Myanmar (DPM), have only registered 160 and 49
candidates, respectively.

"We could only register 49 candidates because of a lack of money," DPM
chief general secretary Than Than Nu told the German Press Agency

____________________________________

August 31, Irrawaddy
Generals in reshuffle buying diamonds, gold

Rangoon—Family members of recently retired top military officers and
government ministers in Burma have been collecting diamonds, gold jewelry
and solid gold, according to business sources.

Diamond and gold traders in Rangoon said family members and relatives of
those who have been recently removed from their top military posts and who
will have to resign ministerial posts after the election, appear to be
transforming their property into diamonds and gold.

“Ministers and generals don't keep money in cash,” said a businessman in
Rangoon. “They have converted it into strong and valuable items such as
diamonds and gold. They don't need to buy land and cars anymore because
they already have as much they want. Those things are not as valuable and
as movable as diamonds and gold that they can carry along with their
families wherever they go.”

A number of jewelery dealers told The Irrawaddy that the generals' family
members did not come to the market to buy diamonds and gold, but instead
send their close business associates and brokers to take care of it for
them.

The current price of solid gold is 652,500 kyat [US $665] for one
kyat-thar [approximately 0.015 kg].

A gold trader close to the regime's top generals said gold bars and gold
have been purchased in visses [one viss is approximately equivalent to one
kilogram].

“It is really difficult to estimate the amount of gold they have,” said a
gold trader. “For many years they have bought it, and they are still
buying it.”

Family members of the generals are reportedly buying more diamonds than
the ministers themselves.

“Diamonds are everyone's fancy and can be worth millions or billions.
Although it is small, it is a treasure that makes the possession stronger
and more valuable. Families of top generals are particularly buying
expensive diamonds,” said a diamond shop owner in Rangoon.

According to military sources in Naypyidaw, Snr-Gen Than Shwe is well
known as the richest of the generals followed by the family of his deputy,
Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye.

Ministers Aung Thaung of the Ministry of Industry No. 1 and Htay Oo of the
Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation are said to be the wealthiest among
government ministers.

Almost all the important positions in the army have recently been filled
with a new generation of army officers. The state-run media has been
silent on the reported resignations of top military officials in the
Burmese leadership structure.

____________________________________

August 31, Kachin News Group
KIO demands federal union before surrendering weapons

Burma’s ethnic Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) has put its foot
down and in a statement today has reiterated that it will not transform
its armed-wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) till a genuine federal
union comes about and lasting peace is restored in Burma.

If the ruling junta restores lasting peace through protracted dialogue
with the KIO and implements the goals and aims set forth in the 1947
Panglong Agreement, which was signed by Kachin and other ethnic leaders
for a multi-ethnic union with equal rights, the KIO will transform its
armed-wing and other departments, the KIO statement released on August 30
said.

The statement made it clear that the KIO’s stance and goal are based on
democracy (existing sovereignty of the people) in a peaceful and developed
country.

Wawhkyung Sin Wa, Deputy General Secretary of KIO said, the statement will
be important and meaningful for any group or organization related to the
KIO as well as the Kachin people.

For the first time in its over 16 year ceasefire period, the KIO was
ordered on August 22 to surrender weapons from September 1 by the junta.

The surrender order came in the wake of the junta and KIO meeting over 15
times on the contentious Border Guard Force issue, where the regime
demanded transformation of the KIA.

The junta has repeatedly rejected the KIO’s proposal for a political
dialogue before the armed-wing issue is addressed, said KIO officials.

On the junta’s controversial November 7 elections, the KIO has, however,
stated that it would like it to be “free and fair”.
071809-kia-n-soldiers
In order to inform pro-democracy groups, the statement pointed out that
the KIO will cooperate with whoever works towards a consolidated and
genuine federal union of Burma.

The KIO had signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta hoping for a
meaningful political dialogue. It also approved the new junta-centric 2008
constitution despite severe opposition from the Kachin people and
pro-democracy outfits.

As an offshoot of its rejecting the junta’s BGF proposal, the KIO is
regaining the support of the Kachin people and pro-democracy
organizations, who had been alienated because of the KIO’s proximity to
the junta.

The statement on KIO’s new policy was the result of two meetings --- the
meeting between KIO officials and Kachin public representatives on August
14 to 16 and the first Party Congress for KIO members on August 27 to 29
in Laiza, said Deputy General Secretary Sin Wa.

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 31, PhuketWan (Thailand)
Burmese accuse Thai officials of people trafficking – Alan Morison and
Chutima Sidasathian

ILLEGAL immigrants to Thailand have accused officials in the border town
of Ranong of selling them by the boatload to people-smugglers and engaging
in the sexual enslavement of young women.

Two Burmese have told Phuketwan that local police and Immigration officers
in Ranong extort money or sex from their victims, detaining them for
lengthy periods or selling them to labor brokers if payments cannot be
made.

One young woman, aged 17, said that she had been obliged to work at the
age of 13 as a prostitute in a karaoke bar, selling sex at 350 baht a
time, with 125 baht going to her ''owner'' and 100 baht going to a corrupt
Immigration officer. The karaoke bar, she says, is owned by a local
policeman.

Arrested immigrants, after periods of detention of varying length in
Ranong, are sorted into groups and marked for delivery across the Kraburi
River to Burma, or for transfer to the boats of people-traffickers in
mid-stream, the Burmese say.

The illegal trade in humans has been going on for years, a source in
Ranong told Phuketwan, with thousands of Burmese caught and trafficked
annually.

Ranong is the border return-point for illegal Burmese immigrants arrested
throughout Thailand's 14 southern provinces, which include the
international holiday destinations of Phuket and the Andaman tsunami
coast.

Paradoxically, the sordid process meets with the tacit approval of its
Burmese victims. Being sold into sexual slavery or forced to work as a
shrimp factory laborer is deemed to be a better outcome than being
delivered directly across the border to Burmese officials, who impose long
jail terms and sometimes brutal punishment.

The two women who spoke to Phuketwan - one we have named ''Ae'' and the
other ''Mo'' - risked punishment from police and Immigration officials to
give their account of life on the run in Thailand. Their story was
endorsed by well-placed sources that, for obvious reasons, cannot be
named.

In January 2009, Phuketwan and the South China Morning Post newspaper in
Hong Kong reported the pushbacks by the Thai army of hundreds of Rohingya
boatpeople from a secret island not far from Ranong. Many would-be
refugees are thought to have perished at sea, and the Muslim outcasts now
flee to Malaysia using other routes.

For years, the victimisation of thousands of Burmese immigrants to
Thailand has been happening without government action. It continues today,
even after international attention focused on the treatment of the
Rohingya, and a horrific incident in 2008 in which 54 people suffocated to
death when the air-conditioning failed on a sealed container truck
carrying more than 100 to Phuket.

A life laboring legally or illegally in construction gangs on the holiday
island of Phuket represents the dream of many Burmese, who prefer the
hardship of dodging authorities in Thailand to poverty and hunger in their
homeland.

The two women who talked to Phuketwan in Ranong are not related but
through their experiences they have now formed a sisterly bond.

Their account is timely because the International Anti-Corruption
Conference, attracting about 1500 delegates from around the world,
convenes in Bangkok in November. Thailand's Sihasak Phuangketkeow is the
current president of the UN Human Rights Council.
'Mo' is 17. She says she is an orphan. She does not have memories of
either of her parents and was raised by a Burmese woman in Victoria Point,
the Burmese town closest to Ranong.

''When I was six years old, I was brought to Thailand by the woman who
took care of me after my mother and father died. She took me to Chumphon
province, where she worked in a fish factory. We stayed in Thailand. When
I was 13, she sold me to the owner of a karaoke bar for 70,000 baht. I was
paid 4000 baht a month, but my salary went to the woman who sold me. I
served beer and cleaned the shop and sat with the customers.

''If customers gave me a tip, I was able to keep that. I told the owner I
wanted to leave, but he said he had paid for me, so I couldn't. I ran
away. I met a Burmese man who was kind to me and got me a job in a fish
factory. I saved my money for a year, then I met 'Ae'. She was looking for
a job. 'Ae' decided to head back to Ranong and took me with her.

''Before we could leave Chumphon, we were stopped by policemen in the
street. The policeman asked for 7000 baht from each of us. He said that
would mean he could let us go. 'Ae' said she didn't have money, but I had
saved some money and we negotiated the price down to 3000 baht. They freed
me and I went back to work in the factory.

'''Ae' was kept at the police station for a month. They wait to have
enough people to fill a truck before they take them all back together to
Ranong. So I met 'Ae' back in Ranong.

''I had no job, and no money, so I decided to go to Soi 3 [Ranong's seedy
brothel zone]. I worked there for a policeman. The man kept our Burmese ID
cards. I was paid 350 baht for every time I had sex. The owner got 125
baht and Immigration got 100 baht. I had to work every day, with four or
five customers on some days. In the end, I ran away and met 'Ae.' But the
owner traced me and sent a guy to take me back to the bar.

''Eventually I fell sick and went to Ranong Hospital. Then 'Ae' took me to
stay with another friend. I was stopped by a patrol policeman, and told
him that my ID card was with the owner of the bar in Soi 3. The patrol
policeman wanted 2000 baht but I couldn't pay, so he took me to the police
station. In court, I was fined 2000 baht, which meant that I had to serve
10 days in jail, at 200 baht a day. After that, I was sent to the
Immigration detention centre.

''A woman came to see me and asked ''Anyone come to pay for you yet?'' I
said ''No.'' The woman paid 1500 baht for me to Immigration officers, and
took me and 20 women and about 30 men in a truck. We were put on two
boats, one for men and one for women. We were all banded around the wrist.

''Close to Victoria Point, a longtail boat came to meet us. The man in the
boat had a list of the people he was taking. Four others girls and I got
on the boat and were taken back to Thailand. Everybody else on board the
big boats was tranferred to different small boats.

''We never saw any Burmese authorities. I know we were taken back to
Thailand, but I don't know exactly where. The woman who paid 1500 baht for
me was waiting at the pier. She had to pay 2000 baht more for each of us.

''We were taken in a minivan to work at Kraburi district in a rubber
plantation. After six weeks, the woman told me she was looking for a
husband for me. I befriended a man who took me shopping at a local market,
but when I had the chance I ran away with 1000 baht in shopping money. I
caught a bus to Ranong and met 'Ae' again.''

'Ae' is 23. She says she has been living in Ranong for more than 10 years,
having arrived with eight other members of her immediate family. They came
to sell clothing, and stayed.

''About four years ago, my family decided to go back to Burma. They had
saved some money, so they were able to open a shop back there. I liked it
in Thailand, so I stayed. It's tougher back there. I sometimes work in a
bar if I need money. One bar owner took my ID card and kept it.

''I have travelled around Thailand a bit, to Samui, to Nakkornsitammarat,
and even to Phuket once. They asked for my ID at the Tachatchai
checkpoint, but I said that I was a Phuket girl and I'd left my card at
home. They were OK with that. I speak Thai quite well, so the police
sometimes don't realise I am illegal.

''One time in Chumphon, I met 'Mo' and I was arrested because I had no ID
and no money to buy my way out. I was stuck in detention there, while they
waited for numbers to build to make it worthwhile to take us all to
Ranong. At Immigration, they asked for money but I said I only had 1500
baht, which was enough for one way, to Victoria Point.

''When I had some money, I headed back to Thailand on a one-week temporary
pass card. Since then, I haven't gone back. A patrol policeman pulled me
up in Ranong one night. I told him I didn't have a card. He asked for 5000
baht, but I said I didn't have that kind of money. 'If you sleep with me,
I won't send you to the police station,' he said. Eventually, he took 1500
baht.

''When we meet the police, they always ask for money. I remember the time
when three men came looking for 'Mo' at my place. They did not find her,
because she was staying with my friend. That was safer. The men beat me
and took me up to a hill. I think they were going to kill me, because I
wouldn't tell them where 'Mo' was. Then they took me to a bar in Soi 3 and
handcuffed me to a table. The handcuffs were not very good so I managed to
escape. I got back to my room, grabbed my belongings, and went to see
'Mo.'

''Now, in the daytime, I am not scared if someone spots me. Night is
different, because it's more dangerous. The police here make money on
Burmese any time, all the time. Even people with legal documents are
sometimes told they will be framed and have drugs planted on them if they
do not pay up.''

'Mo' and 'Ae' plan to continue their life in Thailand, probably in Ranong.
They do not answer when asked about their futures.

The colonel in charge of Immigration at Ranong said that all questions
directed to him would first have to be vetted by his superior officer in
Bangkok.

*The Burmese pictured in the accompanying photo album were waiting outside
Ranong Immigration for friends in April 2008 and have no connection with
this article.

____________________________________
HEALTH

August 31, Myanmar Times
Delta has highest disability rate in country – Khin Myat

Stroke is a major cause of disability in Ayeyarwady Division, which has
the highest proportion of people with a disability in the country, a
survey has found.

Dr Mike Griffiths, a consultant with The Leprosy Mission International,
said a national survey of 108,000 households conducted in 2008 and 2009
showed 3.27 percent of Ayeyarwady Division residents suffered from a
disability, well above the national average of 2.32pc.

Dr Griffiths said in Ayeyarwady Division 47.4pc of disabilities were the
result of disease, while 38pc were congenital, or present at birth, and
14.6pc because of injury.

He said stroke – the stoppage of blood flow to the brain, usually because
of a blockage or rupture of a blood vessel – was a major cause of
disability where the impairment was the result of disease. This was likely
to be because of the delta diet but he said more research needed to be
conducted.

“We don’t have disease-specific data at the state and divisional level but
from our operational data we can see that stroke is a major cause of
disability in [Ayeyarwady Division,” he said in an interview on July 28.

“Compared to areas in central Myanmar, the disability prevalence [in
Ayeyarwady Division] is higher and the proportion of disability caused by
stroke is higher.”

A health official based at Pathein General Hospital agreed diet was likely
to be behind the high proportion of people with a stroke-related
disability in the region.

“There are many hypertension cases in Ayeyarwady [Division]. We found that
the residents eat a lot of very salty foods, such as fish paste and dried
fish, and also use a lot of monosodium glutamate (MSG). In my experience,
mohinga shops in Ayeyar-wady Division often compete with each other to see
how many packets of monosodium glutamate they can use.”

She said MSG can cause cardiac problems, such as an extreme drop in blood
pressure and rapid heartbeat, as well as neurological problems and
reproductive disorders.

“In Myanmar, people use monosodium glutamate too much. We need to raise
awareness among the public about [the possible health consequences].”

An estimated 1.3 million people are living with a physical or intellectual
disability nationally, according to the survey, which was conducted in
2008 and 2009 by the Department of Social Welfare and The Leprosy Mission
International.

____________________________________
ASEAN

August 31, Democratic Voice of Burma
UN hails ‘trusting’ relations with Burma

Trust has been built between the UN and the Burmese junta in the two years
since cyclone Nargis, a UN representative said at a regional conference on
Monday.

That sentiment however has been approached cautiously by the chief of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc, Surin Pitsuwan, who
warned that if and when a natural disaster like Nargis strikes again, “we
will go to the field together from the very beginning”.

The military generals who have ruled Burma in various guises for nearly
half a century were roundly condemned for refusing offers of foreign aid
in the wake of the cyclone on 2 May 2008, which killed some 140,000 people
and left 2.4 million destitute.

Many of the deaths were attributed to the slow response by the government,
as thousands became ill with water-borne diseases that were easily
treatable by basic medicines.

But instead as the scale of the catastrophe, one of Asia’s worst recorded
natural disasters, became apparent, the junta locked the country’s
borders, barring aid workers and journalists from entering the
cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy. Numbers of Burmese relief workers who helped
bury the victims are now serving lengthy prison sentences.

Several weeks after the cyclone, the Burmese government finally acceded to
requests to form a Tripartite Core Group (TCG) with the UN and ASEAN, but
earlier this month officially bowed out and brought ongoing relief efforts
under the sole jurisdiction of the military generals.

Surin said however that “Myanmar [Burma] has come to realise there is help
out there” from the international community, but added that a lot of work
still needed to be done by the generals to convince the world that it will
cooperate, a contentious scenario given elections later this year that may
well cement the status quo in Burma.

“If this
fails, then the world will certainly be very reluctant to
continue to work and integrate Myanmar into the international community
post-elections
So it is extremely critical, extremely important.”
____________________________________

August 31, Myanmar Times
Myanmar urged by ASEAN to open market – Kyaw Hsu Mon

MYANMAR and the other three developing members of ASEAN should open up
their economic sector more in order to participate in the regional single
market due to open in 2015, a senior ASEAN spokesperson said last week.

Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Myanmar – collectively known within ASEAN as
the CLVM countries – have further to go than the more developed members of
the regional trade group in order to prepare for the single market.

Mr S Pushpanathan, deputy secretary general of the ASEAN economic
community, made these remarks to The Myanmar Times on August 23 at the
42nd economic ministerial meeting in Danang, Vietnam.

ASEAN members Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, Brunei, Thailand and
Singapore have already reached the level of economic development required
for the single market. But the remaining four, including Myanmar, would
have to liberalise their trade policy, he said.

“In my view, the CLMV countries need to build capacity in the
administration of customs, the harmonisation of standards and the
improvement of infrastructure, including electricity supply,” he said.

“The [2015] single market is based on national markets – that’s why member
states need liberalisation in the economic sector,” said Mr Pushpanathan.

The meeting aimed to narrow the gaps between CLMV countries and the more
highly developed countries in the economic sector. One focus of the
discussion was the improvement of logistics.

Mr Nguyen Cam Tu, Vietnam’s vice-minister of industry and trade, said:
“ASEAN ministers decided to prioritise logistics services in the
integration process, and instructed senior economic officials to prepare a
roadmap towards liberalised logistics services in ASEAN,” he said on
August 22. The roadmap has been under implementation for two years.

“ASEAN railway and highway projects will soon start to link Bangkok with
Singapore. Connectivity will apply not only the east-west, but also
north-south economic corridors, with funding from Asia Development Bank,”
said Mr Pushpanathan.

According to ASEAN figures, 67 percent of the group’s economy is in the
service sector and 22pc in manufacturing. ASEAN earned US$1.90 trillion in
2008, but fell back by about 19pc to $1.54 trillion in 2009 because of the
global recession.

____________________________________
REGIONAL

August 31, Agence France Presse
Delhi notes China's Indian Ocean 'interest'

New Delhi – India on Tuesday said China was demonstrating "more than
normal interest" in the Indian Ocean as two Chinese warships made a rare
visit to military-ruled Myanmar.

India is watchful of China's growing presence in the region, including its
major investments in ports being built in Sri Lanka and Pakistan.

The Chinese ships docked in Yangon on Sunday afternoon and were set to
launch a series of exchanges with Myanmar's navy, Xinhua news agency
reported.

"India has come to realise that China has been showing more than the
normal interest in the Indian Ocean affairs. So we are closely monitoring
the Chinese intentions," Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna told parliament.

He did not make direct reference to the Chinese ships, but China is a key
ally and trading partner of the junta that has ruled Myanmar since 1962.

China buys teak and gems from Myanmar and has shielded it from UN
sanctions over rights abuses as a veto-wielding, permanent member of the
Security Council.

India also looks to Myanmar for potential oil and gas imports and was
criticised by rights monitors for hosting reclusive junta leader Than Shwe
on a state visit to New Delhi in June.

Despite growing trade between China and India, ties between the emerging
giants are wracked by mistrust.

Border disputes in Kashmir and the northeastern Indian state of Arunachal
Pradesh, a short war in 1962 and the presence of Tibet's spiritual leader,
the Dalai Lama, in India all contribute to an atmosphere of suspicion.

____________________________________

August 31, Irrawaddy
Burmese refugees in Malaysia receive UN registration – Lawi Weng

About 6,000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia including Burmese and Arakanese
have been registered by the United Nations Higher Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR), according to Burmese refugees in Malaysia.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Kyaw Kyaw Win, the general-secretary
of Arakan Refugees Relief Committee, based in Malaysia, said, “ Of the
total, Arakanese numbered about 3,863 and 1,962 are Burmese.”

The UNHCR began issuing registration documents for Burmese refugees on
Aug. 17 and the process will end on Sept. 19.

Yante Ismail, a spokesperson of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) in Malaysia, told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday, the overall
process is “on-going.”

At the end of June 2010, about 88,900 refugees and asylum-seekers were
registered with the UNHCR in Malaysia, according to the UNHCR website.

Of those, 82,200 were refugees from Burma, comprising 38,700 Chin, 10,000
Rohingya, 7,000 Burmese Muslims, 3,800 Mon, 3,600 Kachin and other ethnic
minorities from Burma.

The UNHCR said a large number of Burmese refugees remain unregistered. The
refugee community estimates that unregistered refugees and asylum-seekers
could number 10,000 people.

About 11,000 Burmese refugees in Malaysia including Chin, Mon, Shan and
Kachin were registered by the UNHCR in 2009. Burmese and Arakanese were
not recognized at that time.

About 50 Arakanese protested on June 6 outside the UNHCR office in
Malaysia, saying the UN discriminated against Burmese ethnic groups. After
the protest, UNHCR officials told the protesters that UNHCR policy was to
provide registration.

“I think they didn't have any plan to give it to us if we didn't protest
because we asked them many times, and they did not give it to us,” said
Kyaw Kyaw Win. “After we protested, they told us they would give it to us
within two weeks. But it took longer than that.”

Registration from the UNHCR is prized by Burmese refugees in Malaysia
because it offers them some protection if they are arrested by Malaysian
authorities. Registered refugees also pay half price for some medical fees
at hospitals in Malaysia, according to Burmese refugees.

Aung Kyaw Satt, the secretary of National League for Democracy (Liberated
Area) in Malaysia, said, “The benefit of this registration is that we can
increase our security. We hear that they will have a big crackdown on
September and October.

“If we are arrested, they (UNHCR) can get us out of the detention camps.
There are many people who finish their detention time, but they continue
to be detained because they don't have registration,” he said.

In detention camps in Malaysia, critics say there is inadequate medical
treatment, and food and water is scarce for detainees in the camps. About
nine Burmese detainees died in 2009 at detention camps in Malaysia from
May to August due to an outbreak of Leptospirosis (an infectious disease
caused by contaminated water or food which has been infected with rodent
urine).

Burmese refugees who are registered by the UNHCR are also eligible for
resettlement in third countries, but they frequently wait for up to one
year or longer for resettlement.

“Many people want to go to third countries because our country is poor.
The government oppresses the people, and the people don't think the 2010
election will bring anything good to their life,” said Aung Kyaw Satt.

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

The Malaysian government has cooperated with the UNHCR on humanitarian
grounds since 1975 even though Malaysia has not signed the UN Convention
Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. Burmese refugees have been
sent to third countries including the United States, Canada, Australia,
France, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Denmark and Norway.

____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 31, Democratic Voice of Burma
US rues ‘dictators in civilian clothes’ – Francis Wade

Merely “civilianising” Burma’s current situation will do nothing to
transform the country, Washington has said in an apparent rebuke to
rumours of a major reshuffle at the top of the Burmese army.

The retirement from the military of the country’s three top generals, Than
Shwe, Maung Aye and Shwe Mann, is seen by observers as a pretext for their
role in the new civilian government that has been promised after
elections, slated for 7 November.

The elections are Burma’s first in 20 years, and only the second since a
coup in 1962 heralded the start of military rule. Than Shwe has resided
over the country since 1992, but details of his role beyond the elections
remain unclear: a foreign ministry official told DVB last week that he was
retiring to become a patron of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and
Development Party (USDP), while other sources have said the move is a
forewarning of his switch to the presidential role.

Not surprisingly, the news has not been welcomed by much of the
international community who predict that the same military men will
continue to pull the strings, despite a cosmetic change having taken
place.

“A dictator in civilian clothing is still a dictator. The fact that they
are moving out of uniform but still constricting the political space
within Burma is a problem for Burma,” said US State Department
spokesperson Philip Crowley. “And we haven’t changed our view. Just taking
the current political challenge and civilianizing it is not the answer.”

The Obama administration earlier this month gave its backing to a UN
commission of inquiry on Burma, the first step in investigating whether
the ruling junta is responsible for war crimes and crimes against
humanity, as senior UN officials and top international jurists have
suggested.

Crowley reiterated calls for the junta to take steps to “allow for an
effective and viable political opposition and have a real competition
within civil society in Burma” by opening political space and dialogue
with ethnic groups.

He warned that if this does not occur now, “future elections, whether they
involve military figures or civilian figures, will not be viewed as
credible, free, or fair”.

The country will head to the polls in just over two months, but conditions
in the run-up to the date appear to favour the likes of the USDP over the
small faction of opposition and ‘third force’ parties who have been
permitted to run.

Many have been forced to significantly reduce the amount of candidates
they can field due to financial and political constraints – each candidate
must pay a 500,000 kyat (US$500) fee, which is beyond the reach of most
parties but manageable for the wealthy USDP.

Two of the most prominent opposition parties, the National Democratic
Force and the Democratic Party, have said that together they will only
field 200 candidates, while the USDP has put forward around 1000.

____________________________________

August 31, Wall Street Journal
North Korean pair viewed as key to secret arms trade – Jay Solomon

Seoul—A North Korean arms chief and Pyongyang's former ambassador to the
United Nation's nuclear agency have emerged as key figures in an
intensifying international effort to curb North Korea's weapons-trading
activities.

The global dealings of the two men, Chun Byung-ho and Yun Ho-jin, whom
North Korea analysts believe to be related through marriage, date back to
the 1980s. They have played leading roles in North Korea's development and
testing of atomic weapons, according to current and former U.S. officials,
Asian intelligence analysts and U.N. nonproliferation staffers.
More troubling to officials, Messrs. Chun and Yun also oversee Pyongyang's
vast arms-trading network, which appears to be spreading. They have
shipped components for long-range missiles, nuclear reactors and
conventional arms to countries including Iran, Syria and Myanmar.

On Monday, the Obama administration announced economic sanctions against
various individuals and entities involved in Pyongyang's nuclear work and
in alleged illicit trading activities. The Treasury Department named Mr.
Yun and the North Korean body headed by Mr. Chun—the Second Economic
Committee of Pyongyang's ruling Korean Workers' Party. The sanctions
freeze any U.S. assets of those named and bar Americans from conducting
business with them. Treasury also warned that foreign firms doing business
with them risked sanctions.

The Second Economic Committee oversees a little-known foreign trade office
with the Orwellian name of Office 99. The proceeds from the Office's arms
sales go directly to North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il and Pyongyang's
senior leadership, according to these officials and recent North Korean
defectors.

"It is broadly believed that the Second Economic Committee...plays the
largest and most prominent role in nuclear, other WMD and missile-related
development programs, as well as arranging and conducting arms-related
exports" for North Korea, says a report issued in May by the U.N.
committee tasked with enforcing international sanctions on Pyongyang.

The U.S. and U.N. recently have intensified efforts to combat the Second
Economic Committee and Office 99, alarmed by Pyongyang's two
nuclear-weapons tests and its alleged role in sinking a South Korean naval
vessel in March. Last year, the U.N. formally sanctioned Mr. Yun and his
arms company, Namchongang Trading Co.

North Korean arms shipments moving through Thailand, the United Arab
Emirates, South Africa and the South China Sea have been seized or turned
back by the U.S. and its allies over the past few years. A Japanese court
convicted a Tokyo-based trading company in November of procuring military
technologies for Pyongyang with the intent of shipping them to Myanmar.

Still, Messrs. Chun and Yun's decades of experience in the weapons trade
pose a challenge to an international community keen to disrupt Pyongyang's
proliferation activities, say U.S. and Asian officials. "There is no
reason to assume that Chun and Yun won't sell nuclear weapons," says David
Asher, a former Bush administration official who has tracked Pyongyang's
arms trade for a decade. "There needs to be an active effort to disrupt
their WMD networks and drive them out of business now, before it's too
late."

The two men have established a network of front companies in Asia, Europe
and the Middle East and have partnered with Southeast Asian, Japanese and
Taiwanese criminal syndicates to move cash and contraband, say U.S.
officials. And Mr. Yun has used the political cover provided by
Pyongyang's closest ally, China, to openly conduct business in cities such
as Beijing and Shenyang, drawing official rebukes from Washington.

North Korean diplomats at Pyongyang's U.N. mission in New York did not
respond to requests for comment. Messrs. Chun and Yun couldn't be reached.

Current and former U.S. officials say North Korea's operations resemble in
both scale and tactics those of Pakistan's Abdul Qadeer Khan—one of the
most notorious arms dealers in recent years. U.S. officials fear that
isolated North Korea, desperate for hard currency, could accelerate its
arms exports in a bid to prop up Kim Jong Il's finances.

Mr. Chun, now 84 years old, and his Second Economic Committee emerged as
major global arms exporters in the 1980s, as North Korea shipped as much
as $3 billion worth of rockets, pistols and submarines to Tehran during
the eight-year Iran-Iraq war, say recent defectors and North Korea
analysts.

Pyongyang assisted some communist and socialist countries militarily
during the 1960s and 1970s, and provided fighter pilots to aid Egypt and
Syria in their wars against Israel. But North Korea found a largely
captive market in Iran, which faced a U.S.-led weapons embargo as the West
threw its support behind Iraqi strongman Saddam Hussein.

One senior North Korean defector who worked in Pyongyang's munitions
industries says he was dispatched to Iran by the Second Economic Committee
in 1987 with the task of constructing missile batteries on the Iranian
island of Kish to help Tehran better control the movement of ships through
the Straits of Hormuz.

His main interlocutor was Iran's elite military unit, the Islamic
Revolutionary Guard Corps. The former hydro-mechanic says camaraderie
developed between his 100-man team and the Guard, despite their different
backgrounds.

Mr. Chun's control over the Second Economic Committee was tied to his
close relationship with Pyongyang's ruling Kim family, say defectors and
North Korea experts. The Russian-trained bureaucrat served as a member of
North Korean founder Kim Il Sung's bodyguard unit. He rose up the ranks of
the Korean Workers' Party with the political support of Kim Jong Il,
eventually securing a position on Pyongyang's most powerful political
body, the National Defense Commission.

North Korea's high-level defector, Hwang Jang-yop, has identified Mr. Chun
as the broker of a key barter trade in the 1990s with Pakistan that
significantly advanced Pyongyang's nuclear infrastructure. The agreement
resulted in North Korea shipping parts for long-range missiles to
Islamabad in exchange for A.Q. Khan sending centrifuge equipment used in
producing nuclear fuel.

As Mr. Chun pushed forward North Korea's nuclear program from Pyongyang,
Mr. Yun, believed to be the husband of Mr. Chun's second daughter, emerged
as a key player in procuring technologies for the Second Economic
Committee from Europe, according to U.S., U.N. and European officials.

Mr. Yun, 66, arrived in Vienna in 1985 as Pyongyang's ambassador to the
International Atomic Energy Agency. The English and German speaker led
negotiations with the U.N. agency aimed at forging a nuclear-inspection
agreement with North Korea, and he helped oversee a 1992 tour of his
nation's Yongbyon nuclear facility for Hans Blix, the IAEA's then-managing
director.

"Yun was dedicated to turning things around. I truly believe that," says
Willi Theis, who worked closely with Mr. Yun as the head of the IAEA's
safeguards unit overseeing North Korea. Mr. Theis is now retired.

Still, concerns grew inside the IAEA about Mr. Yun's activities, as
relations between Pyongyang and the international community deteriorated,
according to IAEA officials.

In 1993, North Korea broke off talks with the IAEA over the agency's
demands for an inspection of the country's nuclear operations, and the
U.S. charged Pyongyang with secretly stockpiling plutonium for atomic
weapons. The next year, the Clinton administration threatened to bomb the
Yongbyon facility if North Korea didn't explain where the plutonium had
gone. Mr. Yun grew embittered with the diplomatic process and mistrustful
of the U.S. and its allies, according to IAEA staff and journalists who
met with him.

Mr. Theis says he spent hours discussing the process with Mr. Yun and
pressed the Agency to remain engaged with Pyongyang. The West German-born
nuclear inspector says he grew suspicious of Mr. Yun's many trips to other
European cities and his contacts with local companies. Mr. Yun even hinted
to Mr. Theis that he might have no choice but to directly support North
Korea's nuclear-weapons programs if relations with the IAEA collapsed.

"He came to the conclusion that dealing with the international community
was totally disappointing," said Mr. Theis in a phone interview from
Austria. "Mr. Yun had definitely learned how to establish contacts with
all types of people [while in Vienna]—not just from the IAEA, but managers
of companies."

Mr. Theis's concerns about Mr. Yun would be borne out in 2003, when a
German businessman, Hans Werner Truppel, was arrested and eventually
convicted by a Stuttgart court of selling 22 metric tons of aluminum tubes
to Mr. Yun.

The North Korean and his company, Namchongang Trading, used offices in
Beijing and Shenyang, China, to place orders for the equipment, which is
critical to building centrifuges needed to enrich uranium, according to a
German Customs Bureau report. U.S. officials briefed on the case were
alarmed that Mr. Yun conducted some of his business through the offices of
Shenyang Aircraft Industry Co., a Chinese state-owned firm.

In the ensuing months, the State Department aired its concerns about Mr.
Yun's activities to China's government, according to former U.S.
officials. But Beijing took no action.

China's ministries of foreign affairs and commerce didn't respond to
requests for comment. Shenyang Aircraft says it had no recollection of any
dealings with Mr. Yun.

Messrs. Chun and Yun have sought to accelerate North Korea's weapons sales
and procurement in recent years and allegedly have played important roles
in strengthening Pyongyang's military ties to countries such as Syria and
Myanmar, say current and former U.S. officials.

North Korea analysts believe most of these transactions have been
conducted through Office 99, which they describe as an international sales
office and slush fund for Kim Jong Il.

"Anything that has to do with the imports and exports of weapons flows
through Office 99," says Oh Kongdan, a North Korea expert at Virginia's
Institute of Defense Analyses, a Pentagon-funded think tank. "It's a royal
patronage system."

U.S. officials say that since the late 1990s they detected through
intelligence channels intensifying military cooperation between North
Korea and Syria, focused on everything from the development of chemical
weapons to missiles.

In September 2007, Israeli jets bombed a facility in eastern Syria that
U.S. officials say was a nearly operational replica of North Korea's
Yongbyon nuclear reactor. As many as 10 North Koreans died in the Israeli
attack, according to U.S. officials. Mr. Yun and Namchongang Trading are
believed to have played a central role in brokering development of the
facility.

"That particular company was all over the nuclear trade. There's no
question about it," says John Bolton, who served as the Bush
administration's top non-proliferation official. Both Syria and North
Korea have denied cooperating on developing nuclear technologies.

Over the past two years, U.S. and U.N. officials have also voiced concerns
about North Korea's deepening military ties with Myanmar, the Southeast
Asian country formerly known as Burma.

North Korea engineers have helped Myanmar build a maze of fortified
bunkers to house senior government officials and military installations,
according to Burmese defectors and commercial satellite photos. Current
and former U.S. officials say Washington has intervened to block the
transfer of Scud missiles to Myanmar from Pyongyang.

In June, Japan's Ministry of Economy and Trade banned Tokyo-based Toko
Boeki Trading Co. and device maker Riken Denshi from conducting
international trade after three of their affiliated executives, one of
them an ethnic Korean, were arrested trying to send machine tools on an
export-control list to Myanmar using a dummy company in Malaysia. The
equipment could be used to develop either ballistic missiles or
centrifuges for a uranium-enrichment program, according to weapons
experts. And the U.N. in its May report said it was examining "suspicious"
ties between Mr. Yun's Namchongang Trading and Myanmar, possibly linked to
these activities in Japan.

The Obama administration, in response, has announced a stepped-up campaign
to block North Korea's ability to raise funds through the arms trade. In
addition to the new sanctions, the Pentagon has said it will intensify the
interdiction of ships and planes believed to be carrying North Korean
arms.

Still, Mr. Theis and other North Korea experts believe that it is only
through dialogue that the West will be able to curb the North's
proliferation threat. Mr. Theis says he is recently lobbied the IAEA to
allow him to return to Pyongyang to hold meetings with Mr. Yun. So far, he
says, the IAEA hasn't agreed.

____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

August 31, Democratic Voice of Burma
Poverty in Burma is appalling – Lars Birgebard

Poverty in Burma is widespread and appalling. The failure or disinterest
of the government to provide a policy framework conducive to development
and to direct resources to other needs than security largely explains the
hard conditions under which so many people in Burma live.

With support of different donors, UN Development Programme (UNDP) has
gradually developed a major programme since 1993 attempting to address
rural poverty. Presently this programme, the Human Development Initiative,
reaches some 6,500 villages predominantly in border areas inhabited by
ethnic minorities. This has been achieved in an extraordinarily hostile
development policy and security context.

The complexity and difficulties in operating the programme have been
further compounded by restrictions imposed by the UNDP Board on UNDP
activities in Burma as a consequence of the US policy stand on the country
and its influence in UNDP. Hence, in executing the HDI, UNDP has not been
permitted to cooperate with government institutions or channel any funds
through such institutions. For instance, it has not been possible to
cooperate with the government structures at local level in the fields of
agriculture, health, education, and so on, in order to coordinate
activities and draw upon their technical staff resources. Therefore, UNDP
has been forced to develop what has become a gigantic NGO-type
organization. This arrangement has both reduced implementation capacity
and undermined the prospects for sustainability of services delivered and
benefits.

As the conditions under which the HDI is implemented by necessity reduce
the prospects for impact and sustainability of achievements, expectations
should be adjusted accordingly. A further consideration is that whatever
impact achieved is of great importance given the deplorable living
conditions of millions and millions in Burma.

The UNDP Board requires that an Independent Assessment Mission annually
determines whether the UNDP Country Office implements the HDI within the
mandate given to it by the Board. It is the Mission report for 2010 which
is the basis for the article UN aid has ‘limited impact’ in Burma in DVB
on 25 August. This Mission concludes that two of the three main projects
in the HDI have had limited impact on poverty, as elaborated in the DVB
article. This conclusion is based on impact evaluations undertaken by the
programme itself.

However, the Mission does not find the entire programme deficient. It
gives unreserved credit to the micro-finance project, which is the third
main project in the programme. This project is outstanding and counts
among the 20 most successful large micro-finance projects in the world. It
proves that properly designed and well managed significant development
gains for the benefit of poor people can be made also in Burma.
Furthermore, the two remaining (small) projects in HDI – the HIV/AIDS
project and the Household Survey project – are also found to be
satisfactory.

The Mission expresses concern about two main projects in HDI and argues
that the primary reason for their limited impact is to be found in the
design. The Mission points out what it considers to be the design flaws.
Doing so begs an answer to the question of what a modified design with
better prospects for a greater impact could be. The Mission provided a
tentative proposal on principles and a strategic approach for a revised
design. However, given the terms of reference for the Mission and
instructions from UNDP New York, this discussion is not included in the
report, which is now made public, but in a separate report submitted to
the UNDP-Myanmar Country Office. This may leave the unfortunate impression
to the readers of the official report that provision of development
support for poverty alleviation in Burma, at least through UNDP, is
unsuccessful and has no prospects. End of story.

This is factually incorrect and not the conclusion of the Mission.
Firstly, one of the three main projects in the programme, the
micro-finance project, is a resounding success and two smaller projects
are satisfactory as already noted. Secondly, the Mission is firmly of the
opinion that modifications of the design of the two less successful main
projects can significantly enhance impact on poverty. This opinion is not
mere speculations; it is evidenced by concrete suggestions based on
experience. The fact that the report containing this discussion is not
made public prevents any further elaboration here.

The current programme comes to an end in 2011. This provides a golden
opportunity for UNDP to elaborate a revised programme building on the
viable elements of the present programme. The prospects for something
better is clearly within reach. The potential of this programme is unique
in Burma given its outreach and coverage. The staggering levels of poverty
strongly call for attention. There is no reason and justification for
“donor fatigue”. However, there are reasons for reflection and
reconsideration.

Lars Birgegard is team leader of the UNDP’s 2010 Independent Assessment
Mission of the Human Development Initiative in Burma. He writes this piece
partly in response to UN aid has ‘limited impact’ in Burma, published in
DVB on 25 August.

____________________________________

August 31, Bangkok Post
Political transition: a chance for progress? – Noeleen Heyzer

The government of Burma has announced it will hold a general election on
Nov 7, the first to be held since 1990. This may provide an opportunity
for Burma's military-led government to improve the country's political
governance.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has urged the government to
honour its publicly stated commitments to hold inclusive, free and fair
elections, noting that any transition to democracy should also include the
release of all political prisoners without delay.

In addition to a possible move toward a civilian-led government, it is
also likely that improvements in political governance will present
significant opportunities for economic and social advancement for the
country, for an emerging middle class, and especially for the estimated
one-third of Burma's 50 million people currently living in poverty.

Cease-fire agreements keep a tenuous peace in Burma today, between the
central government and most of the dozens of ethnic groups along border
areas where decades of conflict had left hundreds of thousands of
villagers displaced in previous years. New transport routes and the
gradual lifting of government restrictions on travel have increased
economic and trade connections and opened social integration between the
better-off central region and the more remote ethnic communities in the
border highlands to an extent never seen before.

Over the past five years, the United Nations has significantly increased
its humanitarian aid within the country, working closely with the
government and with international non-governmental organisations to
provide food, medicine and relief aid to more than 5 million people in
need, and over a larger part of the country. But access remains uneven and
still severely restricted in areas where the threat of conflict remains.

International donors including the United States and European countries
have welcomed this opening of the humanitarian space, doubling the funding
of critical relief available to Burma, where sanctions maintained by the
very same countries restrict trade, economic activity and direct bilateral
assistance to Burma. While there is much work to be done, the increased
humanitarian aid has paid off, with clear progress shown in meeting
several of the UN's Millennium Development Goals by 2015.

Cyclone Nargis, which struck Burma's agriculturally-rich Ayeyarwady Delta
region in 2008, taking more than 140,000 lives and destroying hundreds of
thousands of hectares of rice paddy, is still exacting a heavy cost on
Burma, as affected villagers and farmers struggle to recover their
livelihoods.

The tragedy of Nargis also led to an opening for the international
community, with Burma's government allowing the UN and the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations and others to provide direct aid to the affected
Delta areas and to other areas of need in Burma.

Alongside my UN colleagues and Surin Pitsuwan, secretary-general of Asean,
I worked closely with Burma's government to increase and target
international aid in the immediate aftermath of Nargis.

Recognising that major economic structural changes were also needed, I
urged the government to look abroad for help, and offered the assistance
of the UN's Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific
(Escap) in suggesting needed technical and policy assistance to the
government.

Ultimately, Escap brought Nobel prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz to
Burma's capital on Dec 15 last year to offer his advice on how best to
bring about development and poverty reduction.

Despite the sanctions of the United States and Europe, Burma's neighbours,
India and China, and other countries are making investments and
constructing gas pipelines, deepwater ports, and roads, and engaging in
business activities sparking significant economic growth in Burma. The
next government, whatever its make-up, will face critical economic and
development choices, and in weighing these they have the opportunity to
make a real difference in the country's future:

- Investment or lost windfall? The continuing development of Burma's large
offshore natural gas holdings means that the new government will soon
benefit from substantial increased export earnings, revenue that could
fund economic and social investment - or become a squandered windfall, as
has happened in all too many developing nations.

FOpening up the economy to those on the bottom. Closing the development
gap is critical to achieving social and economic security and is most
rapidly achieved through the active participation of the poor. Improving
the assets and skills of the working poor, and the public services
available to them, directly promotes growth and stability for the economy
as a whole. Countries grow faster when the bottom half is participating
and contributing productively.

- Strategic and structural economic reform. A new government may possess a
unique opportunity to determine the path of development and economic
growth for the country, especially by promoting and supporting the
emergence of a middle class. Making the economy more inclusive, investing
in rural and social infrastructure and encouraging competition and small
business enterprises are badly needed reforms that a new government can
take on, if Burma is to move forward.

- Helping small farmers and traders. Strategic investments in agriculture
and the rural economy has multiple benefits, by addressing food security
and rural livelihood issues, and sparking significant economic and
development benefits in the rural communities, where Burma's poorest
people live. Rural incomes will increase when farmers receive a higher
price for their produce and when their costs of production are reduced. A
recent government decree reforming the government-controlled rice industry
and establishing a rice export board is a positive step that could benefit
small farmers, traders and villagers both in the Ayeyarwady Delta and
beyond.

The partnership formed between the government of Burma, the UN and Asean
was of critical importance in assuring the continuing recovery of the
Delta region after the tragedy of Cyclone Nargis.

With a new government in place following elections that have now been
announced, the UN and the international community are again willing to
assist Burma in making critical choices for the inclusive and sustainable
economic growth of the country and the human development of all its
people.

Dr Noeleen Heyzer is Under Secretary-General of the United Nations and
Executive Secretary of Escap.