Burma Newscasts

Monday, July 6, 2009

British PM threatens fresh Burma sanctions

(DVB)–British prime minister Gordon Brown has said that Burma may be subject to new sanctions following a fruitless visit by UN chief Ban Ki-moon in which he was denied a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi.

The UN Secretary General left Burma on Saturday after a two-day visit aimed principally at securing the release of political prisoners and instigating dialogue between the Burmese junta and opposition groups.

Neither was achieved, however, and Ban Ki-moon yesterday expressed his “deep disappointment” over the denial of a request to meet with opposition leader Suu Kyi, who faces up five years imprisonment on charges of breaching conditions of her house arrest.

Speaking to the BBC on Saturday, Gordon Brown said he hoped there was “still the possibility of a change of approach from Burma”, but acknowledged that the regime there “has put increased isolation - including the possibility of further sanctions - on the international agenda”.

Burma is already subject to far-reaching sanctions from Western countries, including the United States and European Union.

It is their alliance with a handful of other countries, most notably China, however, that observers say are weakening the efficacy of sanctions.

It is also this relationship with China, and to an extent Russia, that has denied the UN Security Council any sway in the country, with China on several occasions vetoing UN resolutions to pressure the regime to end human rights abuses against civilians.

A Security Council diplomat yesterday told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that “China knows the council will have to look again at Myanmar [Burma]”.

Prior to Ban Ki-moon’s visit, both members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party and human rights groups had warned that the visit could lend legitimacy to the regime.

On Saturday the UN chief told a pres conference in Rangoon that Burma’s human rights record was of “grave concern”, but added that his failure to meet with Suu Kyi “should not be the benchmark of success or failure” of the trip.

Reporting by Francis Wade

Ban Ki-moon delivers on low expectations

by Francis Wade

(DVB)–Perhaps all too predictably, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon came away from Burma yesterday with nothing to show for a visit characterised by high ambitions but low expectations.

Perhaps the first mistake was to arrive with the bar set so high, hoping in two days to catalyse change in a country that has steadily worsened over nearly half a century. His three key demands – that all political prisoners be released, that dialogue be resumed between the junta and opposition groups, and that elections next year be free and fair – were ambitious, to say the least. The trial of Aung San Suu Kyi is a clear sign that the regime has no interest in having a viable opposition, while the UN chief would have to overturn a constitution that guarantees continuation of military rule to achieve the latter.

The visit, however, did not even begin well. He entered the country hounded by warnings that his presence there could lend legitimacy to the regime, and within hours these were vindicated. In his opening address to Senior General Than Shwe, the man orchestrating the Suu Kyi trial, Ban dropped a bombshell, the reverberations of which will be felt across the whole of Burma and much of the world with even rudimentary knowledge of Burmese affairs: “I appreciate your commitment to moving your country forward,” he said.

The UN chief would not be there in the first place if this were the case. Burma is in political, economic and social ruin. It has one of the world’s highest counts of political prisoners relative to population, its economy is near collapse, and the social fabric of society has been torn to pieces by half a century of unwavering military rule. “Than Shwe has steadily moved his country backwards,” Brad Adams, Burma specialist at Human Rights Watch, told the Guardian. “It's just what we implored him not to say, to make these diplomatic gaffes.”

It may have been that Ban Ki-moon was looking to soften the generals before his formal request to meet with Suu Kyi. Even that, however, failed, twice. He asked Than Shwe both on the Friday and Saturday for permission, and was both times snubbed. Prior to the visit, senior National League for Democracy member Win Tin warned that, without the meeting, Ban risked “only making friends with the junta” and rendering the trip “meaningless”.

In some respects it is surprising the meeting was denied; it could have been useful for the junta’s own propaganda purposes, and would have impacted little on the trial. Her fate belongs to the government, not Ban, and contrary to the image they project, any sense of credibility for the generals would be welcomed. Furthermore, a brief meeting between the world’s most senior diplomat and the world’s most famous political prisoner may temporarily appease international critics and buy time for the regime while the world speculates over what it means for Suu Kyi.

By his own admittance, Ban left Burma “bitterly disappointed”, and he will have to report back to the UN Security Council on what steps to take next. There is a foreboding sense, however, that the international community is running out of options. Western sanctions have failed to force change from the junta, while the policy of engagement favoured by its Asian neighbours has lacked any substance. Ban Ki-moon’s last gasp effort at rescuing Suu Kyi from another five years imprisonment fell flat on its face, and the UN’s credibility and influence in Burma will have been significantly damaged by it. Few people seem to have an answer as to what to do with the country, but all will be agreed that praise for the junta without achieving substantial concessions is a whole-hearted step in wrong direction.

Has the Burmese regime grown immune to UN initiatives?

by Mungpi

New Delhi (mizzima) - Burma’s military rulers have once again proved their indifference towards world opinion by rejecting the request of the United Nations Secretary-General to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The opposition has said it is a major setback for Burma’s reconciliation, while critics say it is a direct insult to the world body and that it is time for the UN to take alternative steps in its approach to dealing with the junta.
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On Saturday, Ban Ki-moon, UN Secretary-General, wound up his second visit to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation expressing deep “disappointment”. Ban, at a press briefing before leaving the country, told reporters that he had twice requested a meeting with detained Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, but Burma’s military supremo, Senior General Than Shwe, refused to yield.

Before arriving on a two-day visit to the country, Ban stated he would attempt to persuade the generals to free the more than 2,000 political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and to immediately engage in a meaningful dialogue with the opposition in order to create conditions conducive for a free and fair election in 2010.

But none of his goals have apparently been achieved, with the generals carefully planning his schedule, arranging meetings with selected political parties and ethnic armed ceasefire groups, who told Ban what the generals wanted him to hear.

“When I met General Than Shwe yesterday and today, I asked to visit Ms. Suu Kyi. I am deeply disappointed that he refused,” Ban told reporters in Rangoon on Saturday before leaving the country.

“I believe the government of Myanmar [Burma] has lost a unique opportunity to show its commitment to a new era of political openness,” he added.

Nyan Win, spokesperson for Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy party, said while Than Shwe’s refusal is a major setback, he cannot speculate on whether the trip was a total failure simply because the UN chief failed to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.

But Win Tin, a veteran journalist and Central Executive Committee member of the NLD, said Than Shwe’s refusal sends a clear message to the UN as well as to the international community that the generals are indifferent towards their opinions and are determined to go ahead with their plans.

“It is a direct insult to the UN and also a clear message that the generals are determined to imprison Aung San Suu Kyi,” Win Tin said.

He said the junta, by systematically arranging Ban’s meetings, is clearly sending a message that they are not willing to take the UN’s suggestions into consideration and will instead continue to pursue their roadmap.

“Allowing a visit to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would have been an important symbol of the government’s willingness to embark on the kind of meaningful engagement that will be essential if the elections in 2010 are to be seen as credible,” Ban said at the press briefing.

In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which left over 140,000 people dead or missing while affecting millions more, Ban, in May 2008, visited Burma to persuade the generals to allow greater international humanitarian assistance for cyclone survivors.

In December 2008, he said he was willing to visit Burma again but only on condition that the generals demonstrated tangible progress in their efforts for national reconciliation, starting with the release of political prisoners. On that occasion, the lack of tangible progress on the part of the junta forced Ban to cancel his plans.

Win Tin believes despite the continued lack of progress, Ban made his second visit, July 3-4, largely because the regime is charging Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and putting her on trial.

“So, refusing him [Ban] a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi is like the junta telling the UN ‘we will do whatever we want with her and sentence her for a prison term,’” Win Tin interpreted.

He added that it also indicates that the junta is rejecting the entire UN agenda. With Aung San Suu Kyi continuing to be detained, argues Win Tin, pressure to release all political prisoners is meaningless, there can be no meaningful dialogue as Aung San Suu Kyi represents the opposition and it is also a clear sign that conditions will not exist for a free and fair election in 2010.

“I would say the UN chief’s visit is a total failure and that the junta has made their position clearer than ever in a single move,” he added.

What can the UN do?

Despite of junta’s stubbornness, the NLD says it would like to see the UN continuing to engage the junta and place diplomatic pressure upon the regime for change.

“We feel that the government’s refusal to allow Ban Ki-moon to meet Aung San Suu Kyi is a big setback for the UN chief’s visit to the country, but we do not want to jump to a conclusion that his mission is a failure,” Nyan Win explained.

But he cautioned that when diplomatic pressure fails to work, Ban should lead the UN Security Council into action.

“We would like to see more diplomatic pressure on the junta, but if diplomatic pressure has failed, the UN Security Council should act,” he suggested.

Win Tin maintains that if the UN is to act anytime at all, now is the time, as the junta has clearly indicated that no amount of diplomatic engagement will change their course.

“This is the time for Ban Ki-moon to get the UN Security Council into action,” he iterated.

In early 2007, a draft UN Security Council resolution critical of the junta was vetoed by Russia and China, on the grounds that Burma’s problems do not pose a threat to international peace and security.

But Win Tin said with the international community expressing wide concern over the trial against Aung San Suu Kyi, Russia and China may have to re-think their position if a new resolution is brought forth.

However, other critics believe that with Russia and China steadfast in maintaining a close relationship with the Burmese regime, any action on the part of the Security Council beyond another Presidential statement remains highly unlikely.

But it is high-time for the UN to understand that the regime does not care for any amount of diplomatic pressure in doing what they want to do, Win Tin said.

What should be done?

There are few options for the international community at large and for the Burmese people to take things forward for genuine democratic reforms in the country, unless the ruling regime is interested in such reforms.

However, the UN Chief can go back to the Security Council with his first hand report of dealing with Than Shwe and focus on how the generals can be dealt with effectively by the Security Council. For any effective UNSC action, Ban Ki-moon needs the support of the two veto wielding powers Russia and China. The world body and the UN Chief should now focus their attention to these two veto powers.

Secondly, the UN Secretary General should coordinate actively with ASEAN and other countries, including India, for concerted efforts towards any changes to take place before the end of this year. Hope is not yet lost for Burma if the Secretary General personally takes the Burma issue on the world stage more prominently. But he has to prove now that his empty-handed return from Burma does not mean failure of the world body on a country that produced one of the world's brightest Secretary General U Thant.

More importantly, as he pointed out in his address to diplomatic missions in Burma and the civil society in the country before he left Rangoon on July 4, “all the people of Myanmar (Burma) must work in the national interest.” The utmost priority for the people of Burma from all sections of the society including the military and politicians is to put national interest before anything else. Everything comes later.

The Burmese people will have to work through a very difficult situation for the country's national interests. All actors in the country will have to give something away to come together so that more human lives will not be lost, and there will be less suffering.

The Secretary General has said, "The question today is this: how much longer can Myanmar [Burma] afford to wait for national reconciliation, democratic transition and full respect for human rights? The cost of delay will be counted in wasted lives, lost opportunities and prolonged isolation from the international community."

It is indeed, Burma cannot afford to lose any more opportunities.

Myanmar’s snub of Ban may prompt UN council push

Khaleej Times Online

BANGKOK (Reuters)- The Myanmar junta’s refusal to allow U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to visit detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will likely prompt a new push for Security Council action, but all depends on China.

The 15-nation council has been unable to take serious action in the case of the former Burma because China, the nearest Myanmar has to a major ally, has been opposed.

Like the United States, Britain, France and Russia, China is a permanent veto-wielding member of the council and can block any action.

The last time the council said anything about Myanmar was in May 2008, when it issued a non-binding statement urging the junta to ensure an upcoming referendum on the country’s new constitution would be “an inclusive and credible process”.

At the time, critics said the referendum that approved the constitution was a farce. Many U.N. officials and diplomats worry next year’s multi-party election will be the same.

China has shown flexibility on North Korea. It has supported two sanctions resolutions against Pyongyang for its nuclear weapons programme.

But Beijing has been unwilling to allow the council to impose sanctions on Myanmar, whose nearly 2,000 km (1,250 mile) coastline provides neighbour China with easy land and sea access to South Asia markets.

One Security Council diplomat said it may be time to try again to press China to use its influence on the secretive military rulers of Myanmar to reform.

“I think China knows the council will have to look again at Myanmar,” the Western diplomat told Reuters on condition of anonymity after Ban’s visit. Other Western diplomats have expressed similar views.

Ban rebuffed

Ban embarked on his two-day visit to the Southeast Asian country with low expectations, telling reporters ahead of time it would be a “very tough mission.”

His goal was to inform the generals of the growing international dismay over what rights groups say is the country’s dismal human rights record and to urge Senior General Than Shwe to release the country’s more than 2,000 political prisoners and keep his promise to democratise.

Ban traveled to Myanmar’s remote new capital, Naypyidaw, where he asked Than Shwe to let him meet with Suu Kyi, being held at a guest house at the notorious Insein prison in Yangon on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest.

After making Ban spend the night in Naypyidaw, Than Shwe told him on Saturday he could not visit Suu Kyi because she was on trial and he did not want it to appear as if the junta was being “interfered with or pressured from outside”.

Critics say Nobel laureate Suu Kyi’s trial is a sham intended to ensure she does not take part in the country’s first election since 1990, which Suu Kyi’s party won. She has spent most of the time since then under house arrest at her Yangon lakeside home.

On Saturday evening, Ban told a packed audience of non-governmental organisations, opposition members, government officials and diplomats in Yangon he was “deeply disappointed that they rejected my request” to see Suu Kyi.

Ban also said Myanmar’s human rights record was of “grave concern” and its people would suffer if the regime continued to be isolated as a result of its failure to initiate meaningful, inclusive democratic reforms.

There was no applause during Ban’s speech but his rebuke of the generals in front of a local audience prompted murmurs throughout the crowd at Yangon’s Drug Elimination Museum.

Ban may face some criticism since he left without any guarantees from the generals that Suu Kyi and the more than 2,000 political prisoners would be freed. Human Rights Watch had urged Ban not to make the trip.

Ban, however, told reporters in Yangon it was too early to call his visit a failure.

“My meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi or not meeting with her should not be the benchmark of success or failure of my visit,” Ban told reporters.

“I believe they will seriously consider my proposals and I believe they got the message.”

Among his proposals to the junta were release of all political prisoners before the 2010 election and steps to ensure the poll is free and fair.

U.N. officials said he asked the generals to allow international monitors into the country to observe the elections.

Ban said later that Than Shwe promised him the election would not be rigged and power would be handed over to civilians afterwards.

U.N. officials said privately it would be unfair to blame Ban for the generals’ unwillingness to budge on Suu Kyi and other issues. They also said that with the Security Council divided on Myanmar, Ban was the world’s only card to play.

“You can’t fault him for trying,” a U.N. official said.

One of the few top world figures the Myanmar supremo is willing to meet, Ban had hoped he would have some sway with the 76-year-old Than Shwe, having convinced him last year to allow humanitarian aid groups to enter Myanmar to help with post-Cyclone Nargis recovery efforts. But that was not the case.

British Prime Minister Gordon Brown wrote in his blog that if Ban was unable to persuade the generals to keep their promises of reform the world would have to act.

“The international community will work with Burma if the generals are prepared to embark on a genuine transition to democracy,” he wrote. “But if the Burmese regime refuses to engage, the international community must be prepared to respond robustly.”

Myanmar's snub may result in sanctions

YANGON, Myanmar, July 5 (UPI) -- Britain may impose new sanctions on Myanmar because of a snub of U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Prime Minister Gordon Brown said.

After the Myanmar government refused the secretary-general's request to visit detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Brown told the BBC the regime was "obstinate." He suggested further sanctions against the military leaders of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.

Ban was in Myanmar for two days. He said Gen. Than Shwe told him he could not visit Suu Kyi while she is on trial.

Her trial for allegedly violating terms of her house arrest was postponed indefinitely July 3. She has been in prison since May when she was transferred from house arrest after an American man swam to her lakeside house.

Members of the opposition claim the trial is a pretense to keep Suu Kyi away from the public until after next year's elections. She could serve as much as five years if convicted.

Humiliation of UN chief

Bangkok Post - The Burmese military junta stripped away the pride of the United Nations during the weekend, but the UN was a too-willing accomplice. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon spent two fruitless days on an impossible mission. He not only failed to secure the release of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but also refrained from even the most mild criticism of the regime that has locked her away on trumped-up charges. Then, in a final humiliation of the visitor, the ruling Burmese generals guided Mr Ban into a meeting with ''former armed groups'' now intimidated into acting as shills for the regime.

The United Nations, and Mr Ban himself, billed the visit to Burma in somewhat glowing terms. Their theory was that the presence of the secretary-general in Burma would create a moral facade. The importance of his office, Mr Ban apparently believed, would convince or shame the generals into changing 47 years of iron-fisted control. They would release Mrs Suu Kyi and hundreds of other political prisoners and agree to accept a political path to democracy. The reality was that the dictators stayed on the course they have repeatedly announced and enforced with the blood of thousands of Burmese citizens. Mrs Suu Kyi remains jailed, as do all other political prisoners, and Burma remains under the boot of the military regime.

Mr Ban and his aides at the United Nations had plenty of warning that the secretary would become a pawn rather than a peacemaker. His decision to visit Burma and plead for Mrs Suu Kyi was doomed from the start, and it is disturbing that he could not see it. His cheerful optimism last week seemed to be a denial of the task that lay ahead. He did not go to Burma to demand freedom for thousands of battered and unjustly imprisoned citizens; he went to beg for them.

It is not that Mr Ban failed to win freedom for Mrs Suu Kyi and 50 million fellow Burmese. It was the manner of his failure that let down the free world and caused Mr Ban and the UN to lose face. The UN chief said as his ill-fated trip ended that he was ''deeply disappointed'' in failing to win so much as a prison visit with Mrs Suu Kyi. There were no sharp words about her jailers, no criticism of the system they impose at gunpoint.

Mr Ban had a rare opportunity to shed light and show the world how violent and unjust the Burmese generals have made their country. Instead, he was convinced or tricked into attending a fake event to boost the prestige of the junta. Prime Minister Thein Sein ushered the visitor into a meeting of former opponents of the regime. These groups, including political parties and former armed rebel forces, have been crushed and intimidated at gunpoint. The junta has coerced or forced them into supporting the regime's so-called ''road to democracy'' sham, which will climax next year in a carefully controlled referendum to perpetuate military rule in Burma forever.

There was never much chance that Mr Ban would succeed at gaining freedom for Mrs Suu Kyi or the other political prisoners. Nor was there a chance that the generals would heed the prestige of the UN and switch from brutal dictatorship to democracy. But Mr Ban did have a rare chance to stand up to the junta. He did have an opportunity to speak the truth. By confronting the junta, he would have earned huge respect for the United Nations and provide hope to the people of Burma.

Instead he has reduced the plight of that sad country to more routine diplomatic failure.

Victory over KNU, new order on Thai-Burma border

by Brian McCartan

Mae Sot, Thailand (Mizzima) - The victory of the Burmese Army and its proxy, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), in attacks on bases of the Karen National Union (KNU) last month, puts the regime in firm control of a major portion of its border with Thailand for the first time in 60 years. Success brings with it a whole new order of forces along the border.

Burmese and DKBA forces took the border camps of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the armed wing of the KNU, after a month-long battle in June. The fighting was relatively light with many of the 200 Burmese and DKBA casualties the result of landmines. Fighting, the threat of landmines and fear of being taken as porters by the attackers resulted in over 3,500 Karen villagers fleeing their homes to take refuge on the Thai side of the border.

The Burmese regime and the DKBA have big plans for the border now that it is under their control. The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has long aimed to establish several economic zones along the stretch of the border from Myawaddy north to the confluence of the Salween and Moei Rivers. One of these special economic zones is slated for construction on the outskirts of Myawaddy and another to the east of the township capital of Hlaing Bwe.

Past Thai governments have given their verbal support for these plans, although little money has of yet been put into them. Now that the area is in firmer control and the threat from the KNLA reduced, the economic zone plans may be dusted off again. Burma hopes to entice Thai investment and develop an otherwise economically poor area, while Thailand sees the economic zones as a way of using cheap Burmese labour without having to deal with a large influx of migrant workers. At one point, the area around Hlaing Bwe was also seen as a potential repatriation point for Karen refugees in the Mae La refugee camp.

A component of the DKBA’s acceptance of the junta’s border guard programme is that the DKBA will be allowed to keep, and possibly even expand, its economic activities. Although details of the concessions are still unclear, notes from internal DKBA meetings in May and June seen by Mizzima, indicate that the DKBA is moving some of its tax gates and setting up new units as a part of a major expansion. Certain officers, including Colonel Maw Tho who is already heavily involved in legal and black market trade with Thailand from his base in Myawaddy, will be reassigned to specifically economic activities.

A greatly expanded DKBA taking control of a large portion of the border is likely to make Thai security officials nervous. Following the fall of the KNU headquarters at Manerplaw in January 1995, DKBA troops carried out a reign of terror along the border, burning refugee camps, kidnapping and sometimes killing Karen and Thai civilians, looting Thai shops along the border and even attacking Thai army and police forces. Although the attacks largely stopped in 1998, occasional incursions have taken place since.

This year DKBA incursions increased as it made itself felt along the border. In January 2009, DKBA troops burned down field huts, stole livestock and looted houses along the border in Umphang district of Tak province. During and immediately following the recent attacks on the KNLA’s 7th Brigade, Karen sources say DKBA troops crossed the border several times to demand rations for their troops and to eat and drink in local shops around Mae Salit.

An ambush on June 26 on the Moei River that killed five DKBA soldiers including Colonel San Pyone and wounded another 20 has many Karen worried about possible retaliatory attacks. San Pyone is widely believed to have been the leader and triggerman in the assassination of KNU General Secretary Mahn Sha La Phan on Valentine’s Day last year. The KNLA military officers claim it was not a revenge attack because they have no troops in the area. This leaves open the possibility of involvement of the KNU/KNLA Peace Council, another splinter Karen group, the SPDC or Thai security forces. Whoever carried out the attack, the incident shows that despite greater DKBA and government control, stability is far from assured.

The transformation of the DKBA into a border guard under the central command of the Burmese Army may bring some stability, even if it costs the regime a scapegoat for cross-border incursions. The SPDC has been careful in the past to blame all cross-border attacks on the DKBA and say that it has very little influence on the group’s actions. Recent fighting against the KNLA’s 7th Brigade was described in the state-run media as Karen-on-Karen fighting. With the DKBA’s transformation into a border guard force within the Burmese Army, this pretext will no longer be possible.

One area Thai security forces will be keen to keep a watch on is the effect greater territorial control and legitimization as a unit of the Burmese military will have on the DKBA’s drug trafficking activities. Karen military sources allege the DKBA operates several amphetamine, or yaba, laboratories in areas near the border. While DKBA production and trafficking activities are not at the same level as groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Shan State, Thai narcotics officials and opposition sources say the DKBA moves both yaba and heroin through its border camps near Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass. The group’s transformation into a border guard unit would make the military regime directly complicit in any continued drug activities.

Recent media reports describing the KNU as all but finished following the loss of its border camps last month are rather premature. KNLA sources say that they intend to continue to operate as guerrilla units in north central Karen State. The loss of the central border region, however, will make it harder for the KNU to communicate and supply its units as well as arrange supplies for villagers and internally displaced villagers that it cares for. The KNLA still has the bulk of its forces in northern Karen State as wells as in parts of Pegu Division and Mon State as well as maintains forces in areas of southern Karen State and Tenasserim Division.

Within Karen State itself, firmer control by the DKBA and Burmese government means that many Karen who still sympathize with the aims of the KNU will now be forced to work with the new rulers. Human rights monitors in the area for several years have said the greater DKBA presence has made their work much more dangerous. DKBA threats of retribution have made many villagers afraid to speak out about abuses.

A KNU source says that greater DKBA control will have little effect on Karen representation in the 2010 elections. The DKBA is different from other ethnic insurgent groups in that it has no political wing. Minutes of a May 7 meeting of DKBA commanders indicate that the DKBA has been told they may participate in politics, but in order to do so, DKBA members, or any other Karen, must either form a new political party or contest the election as an individual. KNU source, however, say it is irrelevant since the SPDC has already decided who the winning candidates are.

The KNU’s position in central Karen State has certainly been greatly weakened by the loss of its border camps last month. Whether firmer government and DKBA control of the area will translate into greater peace and development for the local population is far from clear. Fighting with the KNU in this area may be almost over, but new border tensions may only be beginning.

Sunday, July 5, 2009

Suu Kyi party blames junta for UN's failed mision

(Jakarta Post) -The U.N. secretary-general's visit to military-ruled Myanmar was a failure but it was not his fault, the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi said Sunday.

The failure was because of "a lack of willingness and genuine goodwill on the part of the government," said Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party.

U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon ended a two-day mission to Myanmar on Saturday, saying he was "deeply disappointed" that the country's military ruler had rejected his requests to visit Suu Kyi in jail

"Mr. Ban's visit was not successful, as he was unable to achieve his main goals and was not allowed to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," said Nyan Win. "It is understandable that the secretary-general was disappointed."

"Daw" is a term of respect used for older women.

In two days of rare talks with Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the U.N. chief urged the reclusive 76-year-old autocrat to release Suu Kyi and an estimated 2,100 other political prisoners and embark on democratic reforms ahead of elections scheduled for next year.

The visit achieved no immediate results.

The 64-year-old Suu Kyi, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. Her opposition party won national elections in 1990, but Myanmar's generals refused to relinquish power.

In May, Suu Kyi was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American man swam secretly to hr lakeside home and stayed for two days. Suu Kyi's trial was set to resume after a month-long delay on Friday, the same day the U.N. chief arrived. But the court met for a brief session to adjourn until July 10.

"I pressed as hard as I could" to see Suu Kyi, Ban told reporters Saturday after meeting with Than Shwe. "I had hoped that he would agree to my request, but it is regrettable that he did not."

Myanmar has been ruled by a military government since 1962.

UN chief criticises Burma over Suu Kyi visit

(SMH) -UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has delivered a stern rebuke to Burma's junta after the country's military ruler refused to let him meet detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ban said on Saturday the snub by top general Than Shwe was a missed opportunity for the hardline regime to show its commitment to fostering democracy and to holding free and fair elections as promised in 2010.

But he denied that he was ending his two-day visit empty-handed, saying that the reclusive junta chief had not rejected any of his other proposals for reform including the release of political prisoners.

"I am deeply disappointed that Senior General Than Shwe refused my request for a visit to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi," Ban told reporters in Bangkok after flying out of Rangoon.

He said being able to visit her would have been an "important symbol of the government's willingness to embark on the kind of meaningful engagement that will be essential if the elections of 2010 are to be seen as credible".

"I believe the government of Myanmar (Burma) failed to take a unique opportunity to show its commitment for a new era of political openness."

The refusal will spur critics of Ban's visit to Burma, which had been considered diplomatically risky because of its timing during Aung San Suu Kyi's trial on charges of breaching the terms of her house arrest.

The 64-year-old was transferred from her lakeside home to Rangoon's notorious Insein prison in May to face trial after an American man swam uninvited to the property. She faces up to five years in jail if convicted.

However, Ban said his visit had allowed him to convey "very frankly" the international community's concerns to Than Shwe over the course of their two meetings in the bunker-like capital of Naypyidaw.

"If you use the word reject, it's only my request to meet Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. For all my proposals, I believe they will seriously consider, they have not rejected any of what I proposed," Ban said.

Rights groups had warned that his visit would be considered a major failure unless he managed to win the release of Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for most of the last two decades.

Ban was kept waiting overnight in Burma to hear whether Than Shwe would allow him to see Aung San Suu Kyi.

Critics have accused the junta of using her trial as an excuse to keep Aung San Suu Kyi locked up for the polls. They also say the elections are a sham designed to entrench the generals' power.

In a rare public speech to diplomats and aid workers in the commercial hub Rangoon, Ban earlier outlined his vision for a democratic Burma.

"I am here today to say: Myanmar, you are not alone. We want to work with you for a united, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and modern Myanmar," Ban said.

The UN chief also visited areas affected by deadly Cyclone Nargis in 2008. He made his first visit to the country after the disaster, when he managed to persuade the regime to accept international aid.

Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court in Rangoon on Friday but the trial was adjourned for a week because the judges had not received an earlier judgment barring two defence witnesses.

The case has sparked international outrage, with US President Barack Obama calling it a "show trial" and a host of world leaders and celebrities calling for her release.

In London, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown raised the prospect on Saturday of further sanctions against Burma following Ban's apparently fruitless visit.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest or in detention for 13 of the last 19 years since the junta refused to recognise her National League for Democracy's landslide victory in Burma's last elections, in 1990.

Ban has faced recent criticism for his softly-softly approach to the job of secretary general, but diplomats say he had hoped his quiet brand of diplomacy would work with Burma's generals.

Burma has been ruled by the military since 1962.

China urges calm after North Korea strikes

(News.com.au) -CHINA has urged calm after North Korea test-fired seven missiles off its east coast in an act of defiance apparently timed for the US Independence Day holiday.

"China ... hopes that all sides will maintain calm and restraint, and jointly safeguard peace and stability in the region," foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang said.

The launch of the ballistic missiles -- which the North is banned from firing under UN resolutions -- yesterday further fuelled tensions after the reclusive state conducted a nuclear test in May.

On Thursday the North test-fired four short-range missiles with a range of 120km into the Sea of Japan.

The US, Britain, France, Japan and Australia have condemned the latest launches, which come after a series of bellicose moves by North Korea this year.

US and South Korean officials believe ailing leader Kim Jong-Il, 67, is staging a show of strength to bolster his authority as he tries to put in place a succession plan involving his youngest son, Kim Jong-Un.

A long-range rocket launch on April 5 was followed by a nuclear test -- the second since 2006 -- on May 25.

In the days after its atomic test, Pyongyang fired six short-range missiles, renounced the truce in force on the Korean peninsula for half a century and threatened possible attacks on Seoul.

China, as North Korea's main ally, has long favoured cautious diplomacy with its neighbour.

But it supported a United Nations resolution, adopted in response to North Korea's nuclear test, calling for beefed up inspections of air, sea and land shipments going to and from North Korea, and an expanded arms embargo.

From correspondents in Beijing
Agence France-Presse

Victory over KNU, new order on Thai-Burma border

With No Clear Path Out of a Diplomatic Thicket, a Push to Redraw the Map

Memo From Myanmar

By NEIL MacFARQUHAR

YANGON (NYT), Myanmar — Some people from this country despair at the rigid choreography of what might be called the Myanmar diplomatic minuet. United Nations interlocutors come and go, declaring that the moment is at hand for the military junta to release the endlessly prosecuted Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, but the generals do not budge.

Over the weekend, it was Ban Ki-moon, the United Nations secretary general, who, despite the weight of his personal intervention, failed to secure so much as a chat with Asia’s most famous political prisoner, much less any concessions.

The fact that Mr. Ban emerged empty-handed after his two-day visit that ended Saturday provides the strongest evidence yet that a different approach is overdue, analysts of Myanmar said.

Rather than tying negotiations, not to mention sanctions, to the treatment of just one figure, say policy analysts, humanitarian workers and exiles, the world should engage the junta on a broad range of economic, humanitarian and ethnic issues that will return electoral politics to its rightful place as one concern among many. They admit that borders on heresy, considering Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s virtual beatification in the West, but they consider it a shift she would readily accept given her lifelong commitment to solving Myanmar’s problems.

“People are angry with the U.N. because how many missions have we seen over the past 20 years jetting in and out,” said Aung Zaw, who went into exile after the bloody 1988 uprising and is now the Thailand-based editor of Irrawaddy magazine. “Have they produced any progress?”

Mr. Ban took a stab at articulating a new policy toward Myanmar, formerly Burma, in an unusual speech on Saturday to the humanitarian and diplomatic community. He called on the government to respect human rights, address the dire humanitarian needs in the wake of Cyclone Nargis that killed about 130,000 people in May 2008 and try to join the rest of Asia’s economic tigers.

But for the bulk of his visit, Mr. Ban focused on pushing for free and fair elections, and the release of Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi and some 2,000 other political prisoners.

What is missing from this approach, analysts note, is a vision of Myanmar as seen by Senior Gen. Than Shwe and the other four generals who together make up the ruling State Peace and Development Council. General Than Shwe views himself as having shut down a failed socialist system; opened up the country to foreign gas companies that discovered reserves worth billions of dollars; signed cease-fires with some 20 ethnic groups in guerrilla wars that lasted since independence from Britain in 1948; and pushed through a new Constitution that enshrines military control of the country behind a civilian leadership.

Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi’s sweeping national following makes her a threat to this plan. But analysts said they believed that as military men, the generals worry far more about insurgent armies financed by narco-trafficking, including the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army in the north and the Kachin Independence Army, with 10,000 men.

Senior United Nations officials are dismissive about addressing the armed conflicts, saying their General Assembly mandate covers only political matters. But critics argue that they are being too timid.

“I think we need a more general view of the problems in the country,” said Thant Myint-U, the author of a Burmese history titled “The River of Lost Footsteps” and a former United Nations official. “Some new agreement between the Burmese Army and its armed opponents is essential for new elections. The opponents with the guns are in many ways more important to them than the opponents who are locked up.”

Western attempts at isolation combined with the endless domestic civil war have made the generals comfortable in their siege mentality, analysts said. A prime way to bust through that would be humanitarian aid, though analysts say the United Nations has failed to convince donor nations of its importance. In Mr. Ban’s “Five Plus One” pillars for Myanmar, humanitarian aid comes after various aspects of political freedom and economic development.

Given Myanmar’s pariah status, countries have balked at providing aid for recovery and reconstruction. Emergency relief after Cyclone Nargis came quickly, but donors have pledged only about $100 million of the more than $600 million sought for the next phase, said Catherine Bragg, the deputy United Nations humanitarian coordinator.

A report last fall by the International Crisis Group said that aid should be seen not only as a means to alleviate suffering, “but also as a potential means of opening up a closed country, improving governance and empowering people to take control of their own lives.”

It has worked that way at least in the Irrawaddy Delta — the area hit hardest by the cyclone — where villagers have adopted a modicum of self-governance through being consulted by foreign or local organizations on issues ranging from divvying up donated tractors to revamping school curriculums.

As a result, the junta has grown wary, clamping down on visas for foreign aid workers. There is a backlog of more than 200, and 100 recently granted were just one-month extensions, Ms. Bragg said.

While some advocacy groups support lifting sanctions, they want it done in a way that helps economically vulnerable groups like textile workers and farmers. “It shouldn’t be about automatically repealing the sanctions and giving a lot of money to the regime — that would be folly,” said David Mathieson, the Myanmar researcher for Human Rights Watch.

United Nations members are deeply divided over Myanmar, with important trading partners like Russia and China protective of the regime and other Asian neighbors often mute. The United States is reviewing its own policy of economic and other sanctions. At his confirmation hearings last month, Kurt M. Campbell, the highest State Department official for East Asia, said that the review had been enormously complicated by the fact that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi was again on trial, but that Washington was looking for “a more constructive approach.”

The hurdle, of course, is that the country’s star dissident has developed a worldwide following. “Aung San Suu Kyi is the 800-pound gorilla in Burma,” said Maureen Aung-Thwin of the International Crisis Group. “Everything that happens — elections, the political process, reconciliation — is inexorably linked to her.”

Ban Ki-Moon's remarks on Burma

by Mizzima News

THE SECRETARY-GENERAL
REMARKS ON MYANMAR TO DIPLOMATIC MISSIONS,
UNITED NATIONS AGENCIES, INTERNATIONAL AND NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANIZATIONS
Yangon, 4 July 2009

Excellencies,

Distinguished guests and colleagues

Ladies and Gentlemen,

This is my second visit to Myanmar in just over a year. Both visits have been at critical times for the country’s future.

My first visit was in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. This devastating natural disaster, which took so many lives and created so much hardship, touched hearts across the globe. In Myanmar’s moment of need, the world responded generously.

I want to personally thank everyone here today for your remarkable contributions to the relief and recovery effort.

You have saved lives, rejuvenated communities and made it possible for many thousands of people to reclaim their livelihoods. You have helped Myanmar to overcome adversity. It is important that this work continues.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I felt the tragedy of Cyclone Nargis deeply -- as a fellow Asian and as Secretary-General .

I am Asia’s second Secretary-General. The first was Myanmar's U Thant. I revere his memory. I also recall his wise words.

U Thant said: “The worth of the individual human being is the most unique and precious of all our assets and must be the beginning and end of all our efforts. Governments, systems, ideologies and institutions come and go, but humanity remains.”

This is why I have returned.

As Secretary-General, I attach the highest importance to helping the people of this country to achieve their legitimate aspirations.

The United Nations works for people – their rights, their well-being, their dignity. It is not an option. It is our responsibility.

I have come to show the unequivocal shared commitment of the United Nations to the people of Myanmar.

I am here today to say: Myanmar – you are not alone.

We want to work with you for a united, peaceful, prosperous, democratic and modern Myanmar.

We want to help you rise from poverty.

We want to work with you so your country can take its place as a respected and responsible member of the international community.

We want to help you achieve national reconciliation, durable peace and sustainable development.

But, let me emphasize:

neither peace nor development can thrive without democracy and respect for human rights

Kyae zoo tin bar tae.

Myanmar is no exception.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The challenges are many. But they are not insurmountable.

We know from experience that securing Myanmar’s peaceful, democratic and prosperous future is a complex process.

None of Myanmar’s challenges can be solved on their own. Peace, development and human rights are closely inter-related.

Failure to address them with equal attention will risk undermining the prospects for democracy, durable peace and prosperity.

However, we also know that where there is a genuine will for dialogue and reconciliation, all obstacles can be overcome.

The question today is this:

how much longer can Myanmar afford to wait for national reconciliation, democratic transition and full respect for human rights?

The cost of delay will be counted in wasted lives, lost opportunities and prolonged isolation from the international community.

Let me be clear: all the people of Myanmar must work in the national interest.

I said this yesterday when I met with representatives of Myanmar’s registered political parties and with those armed groups that have chosen to observe a cease-fire. I encouraged them respectively to honour their commitments to the democratic process and peace.

Nonetheless, the primary responsibility lies with the Government to move the country towards its stated goals of national reconciliation and democracy.

Failure to do so will prevent the people of Myanmar from realizing their full potential.

Failure to do so will deny the people of Myanmar their right to live in dignity and to pursue better standards of life in larger freedom.

These principles lie at the core of the United Nations Charter, whose opening words are “We the peoples”.

The founding Constitution of independent Myanmar echoes these noble words. We must work together to ensure that Myanmar’s future embodies these principles too.

With this in mind, I bring three messages.

First, respect for human dignity is the precondition for peace and development everywhere.

Myanmar was one of the first United Nations Member States to adopt the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

It subscribed early on to the consensus that respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms is indispensable to political, economic and social progress.

Unfortunately, that commitment has not been matched in deed. Myanmar’s human rights record remains a matter of grave concern.

The Government has articulated its goals as stability, national reconciliation and democracy.

The upcoming election –the first in twenty years – must be inclusive, participatory and transparent if it is to be credible.

Myanmar’s way forward must be rooted in respect for human rights.

This is why I say that all political prisoners, including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, should be released without delay.

When I met General Than Shwe yesterday and today, I asked to visit Ms. Suu Kyi. I am deeply disappointed that he refused.

I believe the government of Myanmar has lost a unique opportunity to show its commitment to a new era of political openness.

Allowing a visit to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi would have been an important symbol of the government’s willingness to embark on the kind of meaningful engagement that will be essential if the elections in 2010 are to be seen as credible.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi must be allowed to participate in the political process without further delay.

Indeed, all the citizens of Myanmar must be given the opportunity to contribute fully to the future of this country.

National reconciliation cannot be complete without the free and active participation of all who seek to contribute.

The country must embark on a process of genuine dialogue that includes all concerned parties, all ethnic groups and all minorities.

People must be free to debate and to engage in political dialogue, and they must have free access to the information that will help them participate meaningfully in the democratic process.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Any transition is difficult. Myanmar has already undergone transitions from sovereign kingdom, to occupied colony, and now independent State.

This history carries a twin legacy of armed conflict and political deadlock, including recent painful events: the repression of demonstrators in 1988, the cancellation of the 1990 election results, and the clampdown on peaceful dissent that continues to this day.

At the same time, there have been some positive efforts that should be recognized.

Although still fragile, the cease-fire agreements between the Government and armed groups have reduced the level of conflict. The United Nations has wide-ranging experience in making such gains irreversible.

Sovereignty, territorial integrity and national unity are legitimate concerns for any government.

We contend that opening and broadening the political space is the best way to ensure that each group and each individual becomes part of the greater collective project.

The military, all political parties, ethnic minority groups, civil society, and indeed every son and daughter of Myanmar has a role to play in this country’s transition.

Only mutual compromise, respect and understanding can lay the foundations for durable peace, national reconciliation and democracy.

My second message is on addressing the humanitarian needs of Myanmar’s people.

I am glad I have been able to return to see the progress made in the Irrawaddy Delta. The loss of some 130,000 people was tragic, but the rebuilding I saw today was impressive. (JEG's: ??? who for? the new settlers? or the real victims?)

The tragedy showed the resilience of the people of Myanmar. It also demonstrated that people throughout the world care deeply about Myanmar and its people.

Above all, the response to Cyclone Nargis proved the value of engagement over isolation.

The unprecedented cooperation between Myanmar, the United Nations and ASEAN through the Tripartite Core Group, with the support of the donor community, has demonstrated that humanitarian imperatives and the principles of sovereignty do not conflict.

Humanitarian assistance -- in Myanmar as elsewhere -- should never be held hostage to political considerations. We can and must work together to ensure access to humanitarian and development assistance to all those in Myanmar who need it.

This brings me to my third message. It is time for Myanmar to unleash its economic potential.

Myanmar sits in the middle of Asia’s economic miracle. Harnessing Myanmar to the rapid advances taking place around it is the surest way to raise living standards.

I welcome the Government’s policy of opening up to outside trade and investment, and its efforts to achieve the Millennium Development Goals, control HIV, combat human trafficking and curtail opium production.

But the reality is that millions continue to live in poverty. Standards of living in Myanmar remain among the lowest in Asia.

The people of Myanmar need jobs, they need food security and they need access to health care.

We must work to ensure that the people of Myanmar can benefit from and contribute to the regional and global economy.

We must recognize that the region and the world have much to gain from a stable, prosperous and democratic Myanmar. We must work together for that goal.

The Government of Myanmar must seize the moment.

It must take advantage of the opportunities that the international community is prepared to offer to the people of Myanmar.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I came here as a friend.

My duty is to uphold the ideals and principles of the United Nations Charter.

My role is to encourage all of you – the Government, political parties, ethnic groups, civil society – to move forward together as one people and one nation.

Nothing is insurmountable or impossible when the people’s interest is placed above divisions.

The region and the world are changing fast. Myanmar only stands to gain from engagement -- and from embarking on its own change.

The Government of Myanmar has repeatedly stated that cooperation with the United Nations is the cornerstone of the country’s foreign policy.
We ask it to match deeds with words.

The more Myanmar works in partnership with the United Nations to respond to its people’s needs and aspirations, the more it affirms its sovereignty. (JEG's: this is something to think about... sovereignty through partnership... read the hidden message)

Similarly it is incumbent on the international community as whole to work together to help Myanmar meet our shared goals: a united, peaceful, prosperous and democratic future, with full respect for the human rights of all the country’s people.

Kyae zoo tin bar tae.

Saturday, July 4, 2009

N Korea Using Malaysian Bank for Burmese Weapons Deals: Yonhap

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

North Korea sought payment through a bank in Malaysia for a suspected shipment of weapons to Burma being carried on a freighter tracked by the US Navy, according to a source quoted by South Korea’s Yonhap news agency.

Yonhap reported on Saturday that the source said a US envoy would visit Malaysia this weekend to focus on ways to cut off the payment to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il.

“Kim will have a hard time collecting his money,” said the high-level source.

The revelation comes as the North Korean freighter Kang Nam 1 is apparently returning home after being tracked by a US Navy destroyer that suspected it of carrying cargo banned under UN Security Council Resolution 1874, which toughened sanctions imposed after North Korea conducted its first nuclear test in 2006.

Philip Goldberg, the US coordinator for the implementation of the resolution, which was passed on June 12 to punish North Korea for its May 25 nuclear test, is scheduled to arrive in Malaysia on Sunday. Goldberg is in China ahead of his visit to Malaysia.

The White House said that US President Barack Obama discussed North Korea and financial regulations with Malaysia’s Prime Minister Najib Razakon by phone late last month.

According to another source in Seoul, the Kang Nam 1 is believed to be carrying small Soviet-era arms such as AK-47 rifles and RPG-7 anti-tank launchers manufactured in North Korea.

Adm Gary Roughead, the chief of US Naval operations, told reporters on Saturday that the Kang Nam 1 was being closely watched and is now in the East China Sea.

“I believe we are seeing the effects of the UN Security Council resolution,” he said.

On Friday, South Korean news channel YTN quoted an unidentified diplomatic official as saying that Burma requested that the Kang Nam 1 turn around.

The US State Department announced on Tuesday that it had frozen the US assets of Namchongang Trading Corp and Iran-based Hong Kong Electronics to curtail North Korea’s ability to trade in missiles and nuclear materials. Namchongang Trading Corp is allegedly connected to the Burmese arms industry.

Thai PM to meet UN chief after his Burma visit

(The Nation) -Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is ready to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon who will be in transit from Rangoon to New York late Saturday.

Abhisit said the meeting will be about ties between Asean grouping, United Nations, Burma and Thai-Cambodia dispute.

Ban will end his two-day official visit to Burma late Saturday and will make a stop over at Suvarnabhumi Airport at about 10pm.

According to foreign media, Ban reportedly asked Burmese government to free political prisoners including democracy icon; Aung San Suu Kyi.

Abhisit told reportes that he is well-prepared to talk with Ban about the current Thai-Cambodia disputes which have Preah Vihear Temple at the heart of the problem.

Thai PM said he believed a joint inauguration on the construction of a highway in Cambodia with Cambodia's Prime Minister Hun Sen, held early Saturday, would help lower border tensions between the two neighbouring countries.

But troop reductions at the border, especially at the ancient Preah Vihear temple will have to depend on talks between military commanders of the two countries, Mr. Abhisit said.

Meanwhile, Suthep told journalists on arriving from Cambodia that his brief visit was only aimed at promoting bilateral relations and that he had discussed with Mr. Hun Sen neither Preah Vihear temple nor troop reductions.

Wa nab suspected spies

By S.H.A.N.

Two Burman civilians, one a retired Burma Army man, were taken into custody last week in Mongphen in the Wa territory, according to a source close to the Wa leadership in Panghsang.

The unidentified men were arrested on 24 June after they were found visiting locals without authorized escorts. “They told the villagers they were there to see how they could help to improve their crops,” he said. “On their persons were military maps, marking coordinates of our positions.”

Mongphen is in the disputed Mongpawk area. While the Wa claim it has been under their control for more than 30 years, Naypyitaw insists it is in Mongyang township, 102 km north of Kengtung, the capital of eastern Shan State.

“We have information that the Burma Army has placed big guns in Mongkhark (south of Mongphen),” he added. “Even Chinese authorities have warned them (the Burma Army) that the guns have put the people on the Chinese side of the border at risk.”

The Wa and its allies, Kokang (to its north) and Mongla (to its south) have been on the alert since the Burma Army demanded in April that they become border security forces under the Burmese command. Their other ally National Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) has already accepted the proposal, according to Mizzima and Kachin News Group.

Shan party meets UN chief, non-party activists might be released

By S.H.A.N.

The Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), Burma’s second largest winning party in the 1990 elections, that had together with other registered parties met Ban Ki-moon yesterday, said he did not appear to have secured any promise to release the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the SNLD leader Khun Htun Oo.

SNLD leader Khun Htun Oo

A source close to the SNLD leadership told SHAN this morning the party representatives had asked the UN chief to put “appropriate pressures upon the junta to accept and implement the imperative steps of:

a. all political prisoners be released immediately and unconditionally
b. negotiation between the junta, democratic forces led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic nationalities led by Khun Htun Oo”

The letter was written by the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA), the umbrella group for ethnic parties that had won seats during the 1990 elections.

“It seems Than Shwe may be releasing only non-party activists like Zagana, Venerable Gambira and such,” he said. “If he’s going to release any Shans at all, that will be (Major General) Hso Ten (leader of the ceasefire group Shan State Army “North” who was sentenced to 106 years at Khamti prison).”

Hso Ten was arrested together with 8 others on 8-9 February 2005. Khun Htun Oo was sentenced to 93 years and the rest 79-85 years.

Khun Htun Oo, 66, a scion of the former princely Hsipaw House, is known as the “voice (representing) not only that of the SNLD party but also the millions of Burmese people,” according to the exile National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma.

Ban Ki-moon met all the parties’ representatives, including the NLD, together at Myat Taw Win Hotel in Naypyitaw at 16:45. “Each of the parties got only 10 minutes with him,” said the source.

“He is expected to meet the Senior General again this morning,” he added.

The UN Secretary General’s mission includes securing the release of all political prisoners, dialogue among Burma’s main stakeholders and credible elections in 2010.

All winning parties in the 1990 elections are said to be in the same dilemma: “If they are going to enter the elections, they can expect all-out attempts to prevent them from winning. And if they refuse to contest, they are in danger of being dissolved,” said a political analyst in Rangoon.

Two pro-junta Kachin ethnic groups invited to meet Ban

by KNG

Leaders of two pro-Burmese military junta Kachin ceasefire groups were invited to meet the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in the country's capital Naypyitaw yesterday.

Ban met 10 registered political parties, including the country’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's the National League for Democracy and seven ethnic ceasefire groups in the country, the junta-sponsored media reported.

Only Zahkung Ting Ying, leader of the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) also called the Kachin Special Region I by the ruling junta based in Kachin State and Mahtu Naw, leader of Kachin Defense Army (KDA) also called the Northeast Shan State Special Region 4 were invited to the meeting with the UN Chief, said the state-run media.

The junta only invited leaders of the NDA-K and KDA which agreed to convert their armed-forces to junta-proposed forces last month. The NDA-K is to transform as a battalion of the Border Guard Force whereas the KDA is to change to a local militia group.

Kachins do not view the NDA-K and KDA as political organizations. The two organizations are bent on working for their own prosperity rather than adhering to any commitment for the political liberation of Kachins in military-ruled Burma.

The junta, however, did not invite the main Kachin ceasefire group the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) and the main Kachin democratic party, the Kachin State National Congress for Democracy (KNCD) to the meeting with the UN Chief, said sources.

The KNCD is the only Kachin democratic political party which won three seats in the 1990 general elections in Kachin State. The party is also a member of the United Nationalities Alliance (UNA) based in the country and is an ally of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

The KIO has refused to convert its armed-wing the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) to the junta-desired battalion of a Border Guard Force (BGF). They, however, are willing to transform to a "State Security Force". Currently, the KIO/A based in Kachin State and Northeast Shan State have over 20,000 men and women in service.

The military activity of both the KIA and the Burmese Army are silently on the rise in Kachin State and Northeast Shan State even as the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is visiting in the country, said local sources.

Than Shwe Denies Ban's Request to See Suu Kyi

By JOHN HEILPRIN / AP WRITER
The Irrawaddy News

RANGOON — UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Saturday he was "deeply disappointed" after Burma's military ruler rejected his second and final request to meet jailed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Ban met with Snr-Gen Than Shwe for another inconclusive round of talks that failed to win any immediate concessions or accomplish one of the main goals of his trip—to see Suu Kyi in jail.

In this image released by the United Nations, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon (L) meets with former armed groups at the Myat Taw Win Hotel in Naypyidaw. (Photo: AFP)

"I pressed as hard as I could," Ban told reporters. "I had hoped that he would agree to my request, but it is regrettable that he did not."

Their meeting took place in Naypyidaw, the junta's remote administrative capital, and lasted about 30 minutes. Ban then flew to Rangoon and was scheduled to leave Burma on Saturday evening.

Ban said the junta chief told him repeatedly that "he really wanted to agree to my request" but because Suu Kyi was on trial he did not want to be seen as interfering with the judicial process—or being pressured by the outside world.

"I am deeply disappointed that they have missed a very important opportunity," Ban said.

Suu Kyi has been detained by the ruling generals for nearly 14 of the past 20 years and is now on trial charged with violating her house arrest. She faces five years in prison if convicted in a trial that has sparked global outrage.

Ban embarked on the two-day trip saying he hoped to win freedom for Suu Kyi but predicted it would be "a very tough mission."

The UN chief talked for two hours Friday with Than Shwe, who rarely meets with world leaders. He left that meeting saying his initial request to see Suu Kyi was not granted but he was still awaiting a final reply.

It was Ban's second visit to Burma since Cyclone Nargis devastated much of the country last year. His first visit managed to persuade the military government to ease access for hundreds of foreign aid workers who had been restricted from entering cyclone-affected areas. He also oversaw a conference that raised up to $150 million in emergency relief funds.

However, the UN has been unable to budge the junta on its refusal to free its estimated 2,100 political prisoners, including Suu Kyi.

Ban was scheduled to fly over the cyclone-devastated zone Saturday afternoon and then meet with foreign diplomats in Rangoon before leaving.

Suu Kyi's widely criticized trial was set to resume after a monthlong delay on Friday, the same day the UN chief arrived. But the court met for a brief session to adjourn until July 10.

In May, Suu Kyi was charged with violating the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American man swam secretly to her lakeside home and stayed for two days.

Suu Kyi is being detained at Burma's notorious Insein Prison, where 53-year-old John William Yettaw of Falcon, Missouri, the intruder who is charged with trespassing, also is being held.

The trial has sparked outrage from world leaders, other Nobel laureates, human rights groups and Hollywood celebrities who say the military-controlled government is using the bizarre incident as an excuse to keep Suu Kyi behind bars through elections scheduled for 2010.

The elections are part of the junta's "roadmap to democracy," which critics say is a sham designed to cement the military's four-decade grip on power.

Ban said he also urged Than Shwe to "accelerate the process of democratization" in talks Friday.

Senior UN officials who participated in Friday's talks described them as far-ranging, with "a lot of back and forth" between the world's top diplomat and the military rulers.

Than Shwe was accompanied by four other generals and the foreign minister, among others in his entourage. Ban kept a few aides by his side, though he prefers one-on-one talks with world leaders in contrast to Than Shwe—who also refuses to take Ban's phone calls.

Suu Kyi's opposition party won national elections in 1990, but Burma's generals refused to relinquish power. Her latest six-year round of house arrest was to expire last month.

Burma's Frustrated Generation Looks Abroad

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Irrawaddy News

RANGOON — Armed with a law degree from the University of East Rangoon, 22-year-old Win is clear-eyed about his job prospects: Practically speaking, there are none. For him, the future lies overseas.

Abroad there is "some hope, some opportunity. But in our country, there's no hope left," said Win, who is applying to go to Australia for further studies.

Unlike the students who hit the streets in 1988 in big demonstrations against the military government, the generation now emerging from college is focused on avoiding political activism, learning English and seeking opportunities in a world they have come to know through TV and the Internet.

Two decades ago, it was very difficult to emigrate from the country. Today it's much easier, and every day long lines of people, many of them students, form outside the government office that issues passports.

There are no solid statistics, but historian Thant Myint-U estimates the number of emigrants over the past couple decades is in the millions.

"The main way young people express their unhappiness today is to leave the country. Before there was no possibility of emigration. That is a huge change. ... For more and more young people inside, their first desire is find work abroad," said the historian, who lives in Thailand and is author of "The River of Lost Footsteps: A Personal History of Burma."

"We are frustrated by the lifestyle, the opportunities and the politics here. But we don't care too much about political things because we can't do anything to change the situation. So we avoid it, we try to escape it," said Win, a thin lanky youth who spends his free time playing computer games. Like most people interviewed in Burma, he chose not to give his full name for fear of angering authorities.

The government has labored long and hard to disempower a university system that once produced its strongest opponents. It was students who led the August 1988 uprising that brought tens of thousands into the streets, only to be crushed by military might.

Authorities set out to fragment the student body, moving colleges at least 15 kilometers (10 miles) out of cities and forcing students to find their own housing rather than live together on campus and find strength in numbers.

Elite Rangoon University, which nurtured independence leader Aung San and the late UN Secretary General U Thant, was closed for several years and reopened as Yangon University, the new name the generals had given to the city of Rangoon.

Many of the university's buildings are in disrepair, and only a small number of graduate and doctoral students attend classes; undergraduates are not admitted.

Aung San's daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, is Burma's modern-day symbol of the democracy struggle. She has spent 13 of the last 19 years in detention, and went on trial last month, accused of violating the terms of her house arrest.

Student activists from the '88 generation managed to make their voices heard again in 2007 in the uprising led by Buddhist monks, and last fall many of them were given prison sentences of 65 years.

Experts insist student political action has not died out, but has largely shifted to "low-risk activism" or gone underground because of the military government's repression.

There is still a "widespread dissident movement" inside the country that includes student groups, bloggers, monks and others, but their activities are much less centrally organized, said David Mathieson, a Burma researcher with New York-based Human Rights Watch.

There's no direct confrontation, but there are "still a lot of activities by people who are either directly trying to challenge the government or just by people who are trying to get on with their lives and do a whole range of things," he said.

Students concerned with the country's politics know better than to voice it publicly.

"I really care about politics and the future of the country but I feel I am not free to participate. Sometimes we talk politics in cafes but we have to be careful. Even walls have ears," said Wai, a 23-year-old graduate who majored in English.

Students today have much more exposure to the outside world through the Internet, television and movies, said Naing, a 40-year-old teacher at a private school in Rangoon.

"They can see more of the world than during my time. They know their country's problems. That's the big problem—everyone wants to leave," he said.

Another teacher, 48-year-old Maung, runs a private English language school and says most of his 85 students come wanting to learn enough English to function abroad. They head for neighboring Singapore and Thailand, and dream of the West, he said.

"They like America because it's so free," he said. "Even my son and daughter, they both want to go abroad if they have the chance. The future is so dark here."

Even with a college degree, most students have little hope of landing a decent-paying job if they stay in the country, said Myat, 22, a Dagon University graduate with spiky brown hair and a diamond ear stud.

The few jobs available are low-paid—$50-100 a month. International non-governmental organizations pay double or triple, but only hire top students.

Overall, the situation remains bleak, said Myat, so he too is applying to study abroad.

"When we see students in other countries, we feel envy," he said. "They can choose whatever they want to do in their life."

UN chief set for fresh talks with Myanmar leader

By Herve Couturier

(SMH) - UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to hold an unexpected second meeting with Myanmar's junta leader as he presses the regime to free the pro-democracy leader and allow him to see her.

Ban pushed iron-fisted military ruler Than Shwe to release all political prisoners and hold talks with the opposition when they met in the bunker-like capital Naypyidaw on the first day of his visit on Friday.

But the reclusive Than Shwe stalled on the UN chief's request to meet detained Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is on trial for breaching the terms of her house arrest and faces up to five years in jail.

"There will be a second meeting at 9:30 am (0300 GMT) on Saturday," UN spokesman Marie Okabe announced late Friday. Only one meeting had been scheduled previously.

Ban's visit had been considered diplomatically risky because of its timing during her trial, and rights groups warned that it would be considered a major failure unless he managed to win Aung San Suu Kyi's freedom.

The 64-year-old opposition leader was transferred from house arrest to Yangon's notorious Insein prison in May to face trial after an American man swam uninvited to her lakeside house.

She has been in detention for most of the past two decades since the junta refused to recognise her party's victory in the country's last elections in 1990.

There was no indication however about whether Than Shwe would grant Ban's request to meet Aung San Suu Kyi in prison, where the physically frail icon is being held in a so-called "guest room".

"I told him that I wanted to meet her in person. He told me that she is on trial but I told him this is my proposal, this is important and I am waiting for their consideration and reply," Ban said on Friday.

"I am leaving (Saturday), so logically speaking I am waiting for a reply before my departure," he added.

Ban said he had also sought the release of more than 2,000 political prisoners that the UN says are held in Myanmar -- including Aung San Suu Kyi -- ahead of elections promised by the ruling generals for 2010.

UN officials travelling with Ban later said there had been a "very lively exchange of views" after Ban proposed a five-point agenda for reforms.

There was "considerable resistance" to the proposals, including the establishment of a UN "good offices" bureau in Yangon to provide a permanent structure for Ban and his special UN envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari.

Ban would also give an unprecedented public address in Myanmar before his departure on Saturday evening, although the format had not yet been established, said the UN officials.

Aung San Suu Kyi appeared in court in Yangon on Friday but the trial was adjourned for a week because the judges had not received an earlier judgement barring two defence witnesses, her National League for Democracy said.

Critics have accused the junta of using the trial to keep her locked up for the elections, although Ban said that Than Shwe assured him that the elections would be held in a "fair, free and transparent manner".

The case has sparked international outrage, with US President Barack Obama calling it a "show trial" and a host of world leaders and celebrities calling for her release.

Ban has faced recent criticism for his softly-softly approach to the job of secretary general, but diplomats say he hopes his quiet brand of diplomacy will pay dividends with Myanmar's generals.

The visit is Ban's first to Myanmar since he persuaded the junta to accept international aid following Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, which killed around 138,000 people.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962.

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