Rohingya participates in 45th standing committee meeting of UNHCR

(KPN) - Dr. Kamal Hussein, representative of Burmese Rohingya Community in Australia (BRCA), presented a statement (drafted) on behalf of NGOs across the world at the 45th Standing Committee meeting of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on June 23 in Geneva, Switzerland, U Kyaw Maung, the President of BRCA from Australia said.

Dr. Kamal Hussein delivery the statement in the meeting

The grand opening speech of June 23 meeting was chaired by the Ambassador of Costa Rica who visited Malaysia and Thailand to visit refugees quite recently and gave a speech on the Burmese refugee situation in Asia and then in other countries, according to Dr. Kamal from Geneva.

“It is a great honor for me, for BRCA, the Rohingya community and also for the Australian team as I have been given the chance to present a statement (drafted) on behalf of NGOs across the world," said Dr. Kamal.

After attending the meeting, Dr. Kamal told Kaladan News, “We need at least three steps of lobbying for Rohingyas or for any oppressed group in the world, such as meetings and explaining to the policy makers, politicians , NGOs and UN agencies, about what is happening in the community such as oppression, human rights violation etc; we need to go through media and researches to write about what is happening to the community and need to participate for taking action, practical decision and policy drafting: and pursue Governments and United Nations.

“We sent our representative Dr. Kamal Hussein to participate in UNHCR’s Geneva meetings to raise awareness about the plight of hundreds of thousands of Rohingya refugees across Asia,” according to U Kyaw Maung, the President of BRCA in Australia.

“BRCA works tirelessly with the cooperation of Refugee Council of Australia and the Centre for Refugee Research UNSW and Amnesty international of Australia to provide stronger support from national and international levels for the Rohingya refugees,” U Kyaw Maung more said.

“I would like to thank Caritas Australia for helping us,” he added.

“We, at the BRCA worked hard with the concerned authorities from Australia for resettling Rohingya refugees from Bangladesh in 2008-2009 and are hoping more Rohingya refugees will be settled in future,” he more added.

“I hope the participation and presentation will help Rohingyas and Burma not only in the NGO forum but also in the government forum. Now here in the UN, the practical action of the Rohingyas’ plight is about to be decided for the next year and also for the next five years,” said Dr. Kamal.

The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is currently made up of 70 member States. The Executive Committee (ExCom) meets in Geneva annually to review and approve UNHCR's programs and the budget, offer advice on international protection, and discuss a wide range of other issues with UNHCR and its intergovernmental and non-governmental partners.

NGOs are present at these meetings and offer statements on each of the agenda items. RCUSA members are actively involved in the drafting of these statements. The International Council of Voluntary Agencies (ICVA), founded in 1962, is a global network that brings together human rights, humanitarian, and development NGOs as an advocacy alliance for humanitarian action. Focusing on humanitarian and refugee policy issues, ICVA draws upon the work of its members at the field level and brings their experiences to international decision-making forums.

READ MORE---> Rohingya participates in 45th standing committee meeting of UNHCR...

Villagers refuse government money for new schools

By Kon Hadae, IMNA

Villagers from Mudon Township in Mon State have refused government money for the building of schools.

90 million kyat was donated by former Mudon residents now living and working in Singapore, but it hasn’t ended up being enough for the construction.

In September, the family inquired about making repairs to a school in Set -thawe village. Officials at the Mudon Township Peace and Development Council (TPDC), however, asked the family to allow the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA) to coordinate the repairs.

The USDA is a government-backed civilian organization founded with the support of Senior General Than Shwe in 1993.

The USDA announced plans to build schools in five villages: kolort-tort, Doe-mar, Set-thawe, Kwan hlar village. They finished building the schools in Set-thawe and Kyaik-ywe village, and began Doe-mar’s in March, which the USDA estimated would cost 15 million kyat.

The USDA leaders informed villagers that their organization would not be willing to cover 8 million themselves. Initially Mudon villagers agreed with the USDA offer, but then noted the low quality materials bought for the school.

Now villagers told IMNA they thought the USDA would also misuse the remaining 8 million kyat.

“They just bought bad quality materials for the school, and wanted to keep the extra money. So we villagers are concerned that they are going to misuse our money. For that reason we refused to let the USDA organize the building of the school in our village. We told them [the USDA] we would organize the building of this school with our own money.”

The school in Doe-mar village is now 50 percent complete. School construction has been halted since last month because the villagers had no money. In order to continue building the school, the village headman has asked for money from the Mon State ministry of education.

According to a Doe-mar villager, thus far no answer has been received from the Mon state ministry of education.

READ MORE---> Villagers refuse government money for new schools...

‘Lawyers of the government’ steering Suu Kyi trial

(DVB)–A witness disqualified from testifying in the defense of Burma’s Aung San Suu Kyi said yesterday following his appeal that it was not “ordinary lawyers” making key decisions in the trial but government cronies.

Suu Kyi’s defense team yesterday appealed to Burma’s supreme court to admit two witnesses who were disqualified last month by judges from testifying.

One of Suu Kyi’s lawyers said that the decision was not in accordance with Burmese law. One of the witnesses, U Tin Oo, is currently under house arrest, while U Win Tin has been criticized by the junta for giving interviews about the trial to foreign media.

Both are senior members of the opposition National League for Democracy party, which Suu Kyi leads.

“I argued that there is no law there that says that [someone under house arrest]…can't testify,” said lawyer Nyan Win.

“I argued that there is nowhere in the law that says that someone who doesn't agree with the government can't testify, with regards to U Win Tin."

Three of Suu Kyi’s four witnesses were initially barred, although one was later readmitted. The prosecution team was permitted 14 witnesses, although only nine eventually testified.

Win Tin said yesterday that it was clear what the government’s attitude towards Suu Kyi’s team is.

“The people who put forward the [witness disqualification] argument are people from the central lawyers’ office…the lawyers of the government,” he said.

“I feel as if they are giving me a sign that they want to trap me legally, and sue me or intimidate me."

Rumours have been circulating in Rangoon that Win Tin could be charged by judges for refusing to return his prisoner uniform, which he has been wearing since he was released last year from a 19 year sentence.

On the subject of UN envoy Gambari’s visit to Burma, which began this morning, Win Tin said that dialogue must be sought.

"When Mr. Gambari comes, he must meet with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - that must be his priority,” he said.

“If he can't do that…his trip has no meaning and has no value.”

Gambari’s trip could pave the way for a visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who was invited by the government to visit in July, although he has not confirmed whether the trip will go ahead.

“The main thing Mr Ban Ki-moon has to do is to try to arrange a meeting between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and Senior General Than Shwe,” Win Tin said.

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

READ MORE---> ‘Lawyers of the government’ steering Suu Kyi trial...

One Step Forward, Two Steps Back

By KYAW ZWA MOE
The Irrawaddy News

The trial of Aung San Suu Kyi is an unofficial step in the ruling junta’s seven-step road map. It is an essential one for the generals as they look ahead to the fifth step—the upcoming election in 2010.

The generals must now see, however, that by putting Suu Kyi on trial they took one step forward and two steps back.

The regime had no alternative as it prepared for the upcoming election. For the generals, the election is not only a step towards politcal legitimacy, but also the apparatus with which they can legalize the role of the military within the country’s political system.

The road map has three more steps—the election, the convening of a parliamentary assembly and the construction of “a modern, developed and democratic nation.” That’s the generals’ political aim.

In order to complete the whole process, the junta faced one big problem: Suu Kyi, who should have been freed on May 27 after serving six years of house arrest. Her release would have come at least seven months, probably longer, before the planned election.

Free at last, Suu Kyi would have been regarded as a potential troublemaker by the generals, whose political exit strategy would have been closed.

By arresting her and putting her on trial, the junta forestalled that danger, at least for the time being. It was a risky ploy that has unleashed an international outcry that must have surprised the regime.

Once begun, the trial had to continue, with only one verdict in sight: guilty. Suu Kyi will be sentenced to up to five more years of incarceration—and the regime will have taken two big steps backwards.

Unlike its past persecution of Suu Kyi, however, the regime cannot expect to return to “business as usual” this time.

Judging by the volume of international condemnation unleashed by the trial, Suu Kyi’s imprisonment would undoubtedly bring criticism from governments and organizations that have largely ignored past abuses by the regime. Concern about events in Burma is voiced now not only in Washington and other Western capitals.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), which has traditionally protected the Burmese regime, recently took the unusual step of issuing a statement condemning the trial and calling for Suu Kyi’s release. The statement was formally issued by the Asean chair, Thailand, once a staunch supporter of strong ties to Burma.

During a visit to Burma in early June, Singapore’s Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong urged Burma’s junta leaders not to allow the trial of the pro-democracy leader to affect the national reconciliation process, and to ensure that next year’s general election is free and fair.

Goh emphasized that the elections must be inclusive and that the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Suu Kyi, must be part of the process of national reconciliation.

The Burmese junta was also told by Goh—probably much to its chagrin—that Singapore investors were likely to wait until after the 2010 election before pouring any more money into the country.

The Asean statement and Goh’s outspoken appeals indicate that the members of the regional grouping are running out of patience with their out-of-step associate.

As international pressure on the regime mounted, the junta’s No 2, Snr-Gen Maung Aye, rushed to China for talks with leaders of Burma’s closest ally. Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reportedly told him that China hoped the junta would promote democracy in Burma.

Although it was natural for the regime to consult at this critical time with a government whose support it so badly needs at the UN, the Burmese junta never allows any country, including China, to dictate its internal politics.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was expected to visit Burma in early July following UN calls for the release of Suu Kyi and more than 2,000 other political prisoners, as well as an assurance that the 2010 election will be all-inclusive. The junta has never heeded such calls from the UN or the international community, however.

There is little chance, anyway, that the election will be all-inclusive, since the NLD is expected to take its own step backwards and boycott the poll unless Suu Kyi is freed. Before the trial, there was a chance that the NLD would agree to participate.

A change of heart by the regime is highly unlikely, and the decision to keep Suu Kyi safely out of the political arena has surely already been taken. She will probably be sentenced to a further three years or so of loss of freedom and be returned to her home to serve it there.

But the regime’s headaches don’t end there. Suu Kyi’s trial is turning out to be the most intractable problem it has faced in the 20 years it has held power.

The above article will appear in the July 2009 issue of The Irrawaddy magazine.

READ MORE---> One Step Forward, Two Steps Back...

A Visit to North Korea’s Arms Factories

By THE IRRAWADDY

The Burmese junta’s No 3, Gen Thura Shwe Mann, made a secret, seven day visit to North Korea last November, apparently with a shopping list for arms and sophisticated weapons systems.

North Korea’s Chief of General Staff Gen Kim Gyok-sik (right) welcomes Gen Shwe Mann at the Defense Ministry in Pyongyang.

Shwe Mann, chief of staff of the army, navy and air force, and the coordinator of Special Operations, was shown by his North Korean hosts around arms industry factories and defense installations. He and his 17-member high-level delegation were also taken to Myohyang, where secret tunnels have been built into the mountains to store and shield jet aircraft, missiles, tanks and nuclear and chemical weapons.

Photographs of the visit have meanwhile reached The Irrawaddy and give rarely seen evidence of the range of North Korea’s armaments industry.

Related Story:
Asia’s ‘Axis of Evil’ Flexes Its Muscles
http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=16168

Also recorded at:
http://burmanewscasts.blogspot.com/2009/06/asias-axis-of-evil-flexes-its-muscles.html

READ MORE---> A Visit to North Korea’s Arms Factories...

Students mark World Anti-Drugs Day with 200 posters in Myitkyina

by KNG

Students marked the World Anti-Drugs Day of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) under the United Nations today with 200 hand-written posters in Myitkyina, the capital of Burma's northern Kachin State. They demanded that the military junta make Kachin State a drug free state, student activists said.

Burma is the world's second largest opium producing country, according to the UNODC.

A-4 size papers pasted by the students carried two slogans --- "Drug free zone" and "No elections 2010", said Shadang Tu Awng, who organized this morning’s movement.

Shadang Tu Awng said, the posters were pasted on roadside electric poles, walls in seven main quarters in Myitkyina--- Yuzana, May Myint, Shatapru, Myothit, Ayeyar, Tatkone (Dapkawng in Kachin) and Du Kahtawng (or Du Mare) including State High Schools in these quarters.

The posters were also put up on the walls in front of the Government Education College and Office of the Township Director of Education, added Tu Awng.

The idea of pasting posters was to highlight the students demand to the ruling junta to make Kachin State a drug free state, another student activist Shadang Naw Naw said.

Several Myitkyina University students took part in this morning’s poster movement in the town. It was organized by the All Kachin Students' Union (AKSU), an underground student organization based in Kachin State, said student activist Tu Awng.

Today the Thailand-based Kachin News Group (KNG) also released a first mini drug report on Kachin State titled "Authorities feed on heroin epidemic in Hpakant" (Read report here).

The report pointed out that the junta allows the rampant use of all kinds of drugs in Hpakant jade mining area in Kachin State where fortune seekers from the whole of Burma come. Most jade miners and workers of jade mining companies are into drugs.

The report also pointed out that Myitkyina University once known as the "Center of learning is now a heroin haven" because students have drugs freely inside in the campus. The Myitkyina-based MDM (Medicin Du Monde – France) has placed a 'Waste Bin' in the university toilet for intravenous drug users among students for discarding used syringes.

The junta's Northern Command or Kachin State Commander Brig-Gen Soe Win has promised that he will completely eradicate drugs in the state during his tenure. However, locals said drug users and distributors are having much more of a free run than during the tenure of his predecessor Maj-Gen Ohn Myint.

Residents of Manhkring quarter in Myitkyina said, they do not go to the nearby bank of the Irrawaddy River (Mali Hka in Kachin) and crop fields near the river because they are scared of hurting their feet on the abundance of syringes littered in these places.

At the moment, in the big prison in Zion (also pronounced Zee Lon) quarter in Myitkyina, most prisoners related to drug cases are Kachins. Some of the prisoners are being sent to the frontline as porters in the current war with the Karen National Union (KNU) near Thailand-Burma border, said prison sources.

READ MORE---> Students mark World Anti-Drugs Day with 200 posters in Myitkyina...

Tenasserim hydropower project under survey

by Ko Shwe

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) - Thai surveyors and Burmese authorities are surveying the Tenasserim River, in Burma’s southernmost Tenasserim Division, for a potential dam site to generate electricity for export to Thailand and Singapore.

Sources in the area said Thai authorities have placed a representative in Tenasserim Division to observe river levels and to record water levels both during the rainy and summer seasons.

A source, recently arrived on the Thai-Burmese border from the area, said, "They [Thai authorities] have hired a person to monitor the water level of the river in different seasons and pay him about 50,000 baht per month.

“They also leave water-measuring equipment to keep a record of the water level. In the hot season it is measured once a day and in the rainy season it is measured every hour,” he added.

Sources said Thai surveyors and Burmese soldiers on December 25 and 26, 2008, visited the proposed dam sites and collected sample stones and sand from the areas for examination.

According to an official with the Karen National Union (KNU), based in the area, it is the second time that Thai and Burmese authorities are conducting such a survey with the aim of implementing a Tenasserim hydropower project.

The first survey, conducted in 2007, saw KNU officials confiscate the survey equipment, including a Global Positioning System (GPS), cameras and other materials.

Villagers in the area said the survey group has marked two potential dam sites on the river. One in Ler Pa Doh village, called the upper potential dam site, and another near Muro village, called the lower potential dam site. The upper and lower potential dam sites are about three hours distance apart by boat.

Burma has already signed an agreement with Thai and Singaporean companies to provide the two energy hungry nations with electricity from the hydropower project.

According to the New Light of Myanmar, a state-run daily newspaper, a signing ceremony for the Tenasserim hydropower project was held on October 9, 2008, between the Burmese Ministry of Electric Power No. 1, the Italian-Thai Development Public Co. Ltd. of Thailand and Singapore's Wind Fall Energy Services Ltd.

The paper said, the propose hydroproject will produce an estimate of 600 Mega Watt.

Sources said following the agreement two Burmese Army battalions have been stationed in the vicinity of the potential dam sites – in the villages of Ler Pah Doh and Thay Baw Nah, respectively.

Locals said there has never been any consultation on the proposed dam with residents from the more than 11 villages likely to be affected by any construction.

A KNU official, who requested not to be named, added, “We will keep an eye on the development of the dam project and related surveying in this area.”

READ MORE---> Tenasserim hydropower project under survey...

Ashin Gambira’s prison term reduced by five years

by Phanida

Chiang Mai (mizzima) – Monk Ashin Gambira, arrested and sentenced to 68 years in prison for his lead role in anti-junta protests in September 2007 has had his prison term reduced by five years by a district court in Insein prison on Thursday.

The western district court reduced the sentence of Gambira, leader of the All Burma Buddhist Monks Association by five years. He was charged under the Electronics Act. The reverend monk, who was charged on 16 counts, will now have to serve 63 years in prison.

The Electronics Act 33 (a) stipulates that using the internet without the permission of the authorities is an offence and is punishable. The law became a tool for the authorities to sentence the reverend monk, who took a lead role in the September 2007 monk-led protests.

Lawyers of the monk, who is 29, and is currently detained in a prison in Kalemyo in Sagaing division, have appealed to the district court. The court said the appeals were late and rejected appeals for seven counts.

The legal counsels have now, submitted appeals on the other nine counts, and the court has scheduled a session on June 29.

Ashin Gambira, however, denied appealing but the lawyers have been acting on the request of his parents.

Authorities have also arrested the monk’s elder brother Aung Kyaw Kyaw and sentenced him to 14 years in prison. He is currently detained in Tuaggyi prison in Shan state. Similarly, his younger brother Aung Ko Ko Lwin and brother-in-law Moe Htet Lian were also arrested and sentenced to five years each and are respectively in Kyuak Pyu prison in Arakan state and Moulmein prison in Mon state.

READ MORE---> Ashin Gambira’s prison term reduced by five years...

Police Chief Suspects Yettaw Mastermind

By THE IRRAWADDY

The Burmese police chief, Brig-Gen Khin Yi, alleged that a mastermind was orchestrating John William Yettaw, whose intrusion on Aung San Suu Kyi led to her arrest and trial.

“There must be a mastermind behind Mr. Yettaw. We are investigating who exactly is behind this,” the police chief told journalists and diplomats at a press conference in Rangoon on Thursday. (JEG's: so what... if there is a mastermind what that knowledge has to do with Suu Kyi? she never asked the "mastermind to mind" into her privacy..)

Burmese Police Chief Brig-Gen Khin Yi, speaks at a news conference in Naypyidaw last year. (Photo: Getty Images)

Khin Yi said John William Yettaw was not wealthy enough to travel and stay in Thailand and Burma for several months, and his long stays must have been financed by a group masterminding his actions. (JEG's: I know who masterminded the intrussion... the junta..)

Khin Yi also alleged that Yettaw might have wanted security guards to arrest him, because he did not take the same route entering and leaving Suu Kyi's house. “By swimming through Inya Lake he attracted the attention of police guarding Suu Kyi,” Khin Yi said.

Khin Yi frequently repeated that Yettaw had met with exiled and unlawful groups before his last visit to Burma.

According to Burmese and Thai sources in Mae Sot, a Thai town on the border with Burma, Yettaw, 53, spent more than a month at a hotel in the town after his first visit to Rangoon in November 2008. During this visit he managed to get in to Suu Kyi’s compound, but her companions prevented him from meeting her.

While he was in Mae Sot, people recalled Yettaw saying that he planned to return to visit Suu Kyi again. His second visit led to the fateful encounter with Suu Kyi in May, sources said.

In Mae Sot, Yettaw stayed at the Highland Hotel, where he spoke to several people about Burma and made brief comments about Suu Kyi. He openly told people about his first visit to her compound.

Yettaw was still in debt for the expenses he incurred during his first trip to Burma, according to his family. Before leaving his home in Falcon, Missouri, Yettaw told his wife, Betty Yettaw, that he planned to visit Asia for a book he was writing, according to an Associated Press report.

Yettaw, a Mormon, reportedly does not hold strong political views. He receives disability payments from the US Veteran’s Affairs office for Vietnam-related injuries and has been pursuing studies in psychology.

READ MORE---> Police Chief Suspects Yettaw Mastermind...

KNU Headquarters Overrun: Now What?

By SAW YAN NAING
The Irrawaddy News

After a long offensive, the Burmese army and its ceasefire militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), has overrun the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) Brigade 7 headquarters.

The question now is: What’s next?

Karen sources and analysts said the fighting will continue as the joint Burmese army and DKBA troops focus their attacks toward the KNLA Brigade 6 area.

Analysts said powerful business interests are supporting the offensive.

(Graphic: The Irrawaddy)

The Burmese regime’s goal is to control all of central Karen State, where the Karen National Union’s KNLA Brigade 7 and 6 are now located, in order to dominate the business and border trade activity with Thailand, said one DKBA businessman who asked for anonymity.

Once dominated, many industries, companies and infrastructure will be improved and supported by the Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the businessman.

Important activities will include logging and mining natural resources, including zinc, he said.

He said the Burmese authorities and DKBA troops will construct roads to connect between army headquarters in Myaing Gyi Ngu and border areas.

Once the clashes end, the relationship between the DKBA and local Thai authorities and businessmen in Mae Sot will expand when compared to the past, businessmen said.

During the recent fighting, a KNU leader said two DKBA leaders were spotted in a car traveling with Thai police near the border where Karen refugees have sought shelter in Tha Song Yang District in Tak Province.

Analysts also said the situation will be more dangerous for the KNU and Burmese opposition groups in exile when the border area is controlled by DKBA troops.

Maj Hla Ngwe, the joint secretary (1) of the KNU, said the loss of KNLA Brigade 7 headquarters could affect the work of Burmese opposition organizations based in Mae Sot.

“The opposition movement will be limited. They might not launch campaigns as they did before,” said Hla Ngwe.

Border sources also say more assassinations could be expected in the border area, where many Burmese and ethnic opposition groups are based.

In February 2008, the KNU’s late general secretary, Mahn Sha, was gun down by two DKBA members at his home near the center of Mae Sot. Many sources claimed the assassination also involved Thai border police.

Border sources said that DKBA members will have easy access to Mae Sot once the relationship between the DKBA and Thai border authorities is established.

A sign of the evolving transition in the power center, said the businessman, is that DKBA soldiers are now receiving medical care in Mae Sot. What’s happening is “very obvious,” he said.

The DKBA plans to expand its troops from 6,000 to 9,000 in preparation for its transformation to become a border guard force under the Burmese army. The DKBA split from it mother organization, the KNU, and signed a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese regime in 1995.

READ MORE---> KNU Headquarters Overrun: Now What?...

Likely Destination of N Korean Ship Often Used for Weapons Deliveries

By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News

The Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT), believed to be the destination of the Kang Nam 1, a North Korean cargo ship being tracked by the US Navy, has often been used for deliveries of weapons, according to sources at the facility.

The Kang Nam 1, which left a North Korean port on June 17, is believed to be carrying weapons, missile parts or possibly even nuclear materials.

Cargo ships are docked at Myanmar International Terminals Thilawa (MITT) deep sea port near Rangoon. (Photo: AP)

“There are two reasons to use Thilawa,” said an MITT operator. “First, it is not too close to Rangoon, and second, it is easy to increase security here so people don’t know what is being unloaded.”

The international multi-purpose container port, Burma’s largest deep sea port, is located about 30 km south of Rangoon.

According to other MITT employees, the facility has often been used for deliveries of weapons since it was built in the mid-1990s.

“Cargo ships carrying many kinds of weapons from Russia, China, North Korea and the Ukraine have docked at Thilawa,” said an MITT worker.

Normally, the source explained, the ships are offloaded around midnight to avoid attracting attention. Then, around 2 a.m., convoys of trucks deliver the weapons to a military depot at Intaing, about 25 km north of Rangoon.

“When cargo ships carrying military equipment dock at the port, naval personnel based near Thilawa take over port security and coordinate the unloading of the ships,” he said. “No unauthorized personnel are allowed near the port when cargo ships carrying weapons dock here.”

On Wednesday, officials from the Myanmar Port Authority, which operates under the Ministry of Transport, met with the Thilawa port authorities. It is believed that the meeting was related to the imminent arrival of the Kang Nam 1.

“We don’t know when the ship will dock and we haven’t received any instructions concerning its berthing schedule,” said an MITT employee, adding that this was normal procedure for handling ships carrying weapons.

The source also said that employees of MITT had been instructed not to speak to exiled media about the Kang Nam 1.

On Thursday, the Burmese state-run newspaper, The News Light of Myanmar, reported that the government had denied that the Kang Nam 1 was heading for Burma.

The report said that the Burmese junta had not received any information about the Kang Nam 1, but was expecting another North Korean ship, the MV Dumangang, to arrive in Burma on June 27 to pick up 8,000 tons of rice. (JEG's: POD= Pay on Delivery)

The USS John S McCain started following the Kang Nam 1 soon after it left port last week. The USS McCampbell is now shadowing the ship, which is being monitored under UN sanctions imposed earlier this month following North Korea’s underground nuclear test in May.

READ MORE---> Likely Destination of N Korean Ship Often Used for Weapons Deliveries...

Cross-border DKBA attack leaves two Karen dead

(DVB)–Two Karen refugees in Thailand who fled ongoing fighting in eastern Burma have been shot dead in what appears to be a cross-border attack by Burmese pro-junta militia, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army.

Members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), who are fighting alongside the Burmese army in its offensive against opposition Karen National Union (KNU), have reportedly been pressuring Karen in Thailand who had fled the offensive.

Three DKBA soldiers entered Thebayhta village in Thailand’s Tha Song Yan province on the evening of 23 June and reportedly questioned two Karen men about KNU activities.

A villager in Thebayhta said that when the two replied that they knew nothing, the soldiers shot them.

One of the men, Mah Kloh, 36, died on the spot while the other, Er Khlay, 28, died yesterday morning.

Meanwhile, refugees have been told that homes and villages in Burma’s eastern Karen state will be confiscated if they do not return.

According to a Karen youth group helping the refugees, nine families comprising 54 members in Thailand’s Mae Thrit village were told that they had to go home, despite many voicing fears that they will be caught in the clashes.

The Karen Women’s Organisation (KWO) said on Monday that Thai authorities had similarly been telling Karen to leave the country, although some observers speculated that Thailand was reacting to pressure from the DKBA and Burmese government.

Around 4000 Karen are thought to have fled Burma since the offensive began on 2 June. Thai authorities have reportedly given a verbal promise to help 4000 displaced villagers although no definite plan has been set out, said the KWO secretary.

According to the KWO, Karen villagers face the prospect of being forced to walk in front of troop patrols as minesweeper, while rape of women is a real threat: last week two Karen women, both teenagers, were raped and murdered by the Burmese army.

Reporting by Naw Noreen

READ MORE---> Cross-border DKBA attack leaves two Karen dead...

US calls for release of prominent China dissident - Liu Xiaobo

(SMH) - The United States said it was "deeply disturbed" by the reported arrest of Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo and called for his release amid a mounting chorus of condemnation.

Chinese state media said Wednesday that police had formally arrested Liu, a leading force behind a petition calling for democratic reforms.

"The US government is deeply disturbed by reports that Liu Xiaobo has been formally arrested and charged with serious crimes," Richard Buangan, a spokesman for the US embassy in Beijing, told AFP.

"We call on the government of China to release Mr. Liu and respect the rights of all Chinese citizens who peacefully express their desire for internationally recognised freedoms."

The 53-year-old writer was arrested Tuesday for "alleged agitation activities aimed at subversion of the government and overthrowing the socialist system," Xinhua news agency said, citing Beijing police.

Liu, who was jailed previously for his involvement in the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy movement that was crushed by the army, has long campaigned through his writings for human rights, democracy and the rule of law in China.

He was taken into custody in December after signing Charter 08, a manifesto signed by hundreds of intellectuals, scholars and dissidents calling for political and legal reforms and respect for human rights.

The reaction from the United States followed criticism of the reported arrest by US House speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday.

"The decision by the Chinese government to formally arrest Liu Xiaobo deserves the full condemnation from the international community," said Pelosi, who is second in line for the presidency after US Vice President Joe Biden.

"Liu?s arrest for peacefully criticising his government and advocating for human rights violates provisions in China?s constitution as well as international human rights standards," Pelosi added in a statement.

Ding Zilin, a 72-year-old retired professor whose son was killed in the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, said the government had arrested a "moderate and rational" writer, in a statement released by New York-based Human Rights in China.

"If the often avowed... 'rapidly emerging', 'great nation' and 'superpower'... cannot tolerate a mere scholar like Liu Xiaobo, this is a clear enough indication that the regime of (President) Hu Jintao and (Premier) Wen Jiabao has already shut tight the door to so-called 'political reform,' she said.

"(It has) completely blocked China's path toward democracy and constitutional rule, let alone freedom of speech," she added in the statement co-written by her husband Jiang Peikun.

Brad Adams, Asia director of New York-based Human Rights Watch, said the arrest of Liu sent Chinese citizens "a clear signal of political hardening."

"But it also misses an opportunity to show the outside world that the government is confident enough to tolerate thoughtful and peaceful domestic criticism," he said in an emailed statement.

Buangan said the United States had raised its concerns about Liu's status and whereabouts repeatedly both in Beijing and Washington, and would "continue to do so."

READ MORE---> US calls for release of prominent China dissident - Liu Xiaobo...

Farmers' Loans Reserved for Model Villagers

Maungdaw (Narinjara): The Burmese military junta has allocated 600 lakh kyat for farmers in Maungdaw District for agricultural loans, but the district authorities are preparing to lend the money to model villagers in 27 model villages instead, said a senior clerk from the district office on the condition of anonymity.

He said, "The military authority allocated 600 lakh kyat to our district but the farmers in our township are unable to get the loans because the local authority is arranging to lend the money to model villagers."

The military junta has allocated 2,000 lakh kyat for agricultural loans for all of Arakan State this agricultural season. Of that amount, 600 lakh has been allocated to Maungdaw District.

There are four districts in Arakan State - Sittwe, Kyaukpru, Thandwe, and Maungdaw - and the remaining 1,400 lakh has been set aside for the remaining three districts in the state.

"The authority has collected the list of farms owned by model villagers in the township. Later the list will be transferred to the agricultural bank in Maungdaw to withdraw the loans to them," he said.

Agricultural loans have recently been provided by the government's central bank to farmers through the agricultural bank, but local authorities in Maungdaw are neglecting to distribute the loans to Arakanese farmers in the district.

"I think the authority does not want to make loans to Muslim farmers because they are not citizens in Burma, so the authority decided to loan to the model villagers," the clerk said.

According to a local farmer source, the authority is only making loans to model villagers from Burma proper, and is not making loans to either Muslim or ethnic Rakhine, Dynet, and Khami farmers.

READ MORE---> Farmers' Loans Reserved for Model Villagers...

Flag Meeting Concludes with Many Promises

Cox’s bazar (Narinjara): A day-long sector-commander level flag meeting between Burma and Bangladesh was completed yesterday with many pledges made by Nasaka, the border security force in Burma, said a source close to Bangladesh authorities.

The source said that during the meeting, Nasaka officials pledged they would stop the migration of Muslims from Burma into Bangladesh. The pledge came about after Bangladesh Rifles officials expressed concern over the large number of Burmese Muslims crossing the Naff River.

Furthermore, Nasaka agreed to discussions to take back about 27,000 Muslim refugees from two Burmese refugee camps in southern Cox's Bazar District.

Regarding the border fence, Nasaka officials told their Bangladesh counterparts that the aim is to prevent smuggling and human trafficking, and would not create any problems for Bangladesh.

Burmese officials also said that the construction of embankments and erection of the fence along the Naff River was carried out under the direction of the high authorities in Naypyidaw, the capital of Burma.

The source said that Nasaka officials pledged during the meeting to take action on all the requests of BDR officials. The meeting was peacefully concluded without any arguments between the two delegations.

U Min Aung, a border-issues analyst, pointed out that Nasaka officials politely discuss matters at every meeting with their Bangladesh counterparts, but then take action in contravention of those agreements.

In the meeting, the 15-member Burmese delegation was led by Colonel Aung Gyi, while the 22-member Bangladesh delegation was led by Bangladesh Rifles Chittagong sector commander Colonel Didarul Alam Chowdhury.

READ MORE---> Flag Meeting Concludes with Many Promises...

Junta deploys fresh troops secretly in Kachin State

by KNG

The Burmese military junta is secretly deploying more combat troops in Kachin State at a time when negotiations are on with the Kachin Independence Organization (KIO) over the transformation of its armed-wing into a battalion of a "Border Guard Force", said local sources.

As of the second week of June, able soldiers have been selected from different battalions and secretly infused into local Burmese Army battalions and military bases in the frontlines in different regions of Kachin State by the instruction of Lt-Gen Ye Myint of Chief of Military Affairs Security of the junta. They include two unidentified Light Infantry Divisions, said a source close to Burmese troops.

The new batch of troops are now secretly being stationed in the areas around Bhamo District in the eastern region of Irrawaddy River (also called Mali Hka in Kachin) and the areas between Myitkyina-Mandalay railways in the western region of the Irrawaddy River, the sources added.

Eyewitnesses in Bhamo said they often see Burmese military columns on the road between Bhamo-Namkham (Namhkam in Kachin), the illegal border trade route with China. They also see military columns of the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), the armed-wing of KIO on the same trade route.

The KIO suggested to the junta that the KIA be made a "State Security Force" instead of the junta-proposed "Border Guard Force" during the meeting between KIO delegates and the regime over transforming KIA, in Mali Hka Center in the junta's Northern Command headquarters in the Kachin State's capital Myitkyina on June 21, said KIO sources.

The KIO delegation was led by Vice-president No. 1 Lt-Gen Gauri Zau Seng while the junta's delegates were led by Northern Command Commander Brig-Gen Soe Win.

Meanwhile, KIO leaders are campaigning among the Kachin community in its controlled areas in Kachin State and in Northeast Shan State. It is explaining about the proposed KIA’s transformation. They are also asking for written suggestions to be sent to the KIO central committee, said Kachins in the two states. It is a month-long campaign to be concluded in June, said KIO officers.

Meanwhile, KIA troops have been alerted and are on standby in all battalions in Kachin State and Northeast Shan State to defend itself against the Burmese Army, said KIA officials.

All Kachin political organizations in the country and abroad and the Kachin public have advised to the KIO/A to reject the proposal of transforming the KIA and fight the junta, according to the Kachin media.

READ MORE---> Junta deploys fresh troops secretly in Kachin State...

Does Kang Nam carry arms to kill ceasefire forces?

By Hseng Khio Fah

(Shanland) -Reports of North Korean cargo ship Kang Nam on its way to Burma has raised speculations among ceasefire groups who are resisting Naypyitaw’s demand to transform themselves into troops under the Burma Army’s command that it could be linked to current tensions between the two sides.

During the visit of Lt-Gen Ye Myint, the junta’s chief negotiator, to Mongla, opposite China’s Daluo on 9 June, Sai Leun, 63, leader of the National Democratic Alliance Army-Eastern Shan State (NDAA-ESS), informed him of the rejection by the army and people under his leadership of the junta’s proposal to transform themselves into a border guard force. Upon hearing it, Ye Myint mentioned the amazing growth and development of the ceasefire areas during the past 20 years and said, “Don’t you feel sorry to lose them if you reject our proposal?”

“This is a strong hint that all that we have built will be destroyed by them,” a ceasefire officer told SHAN.

Another source from northern Shan State also reported that he was told by a senior police officer that new weapons with highly destructive power would be used against ceasefire groups unless they gave in to the junta’s demand.

Meanwhile, Col Yawd Serk, leader of the Shan State Army (SSA) South, remarked that Naypyitaw’s current military preparations are aimed at subduing the United Wa State Army’s forces along the Thai-Burma border. “Panghsang (on the Sino-Burma border) is not their immediate target,” he said. “They want to put pressure on the Wa’s southern forces to give up their resistance. They will deal with Panghsang afterwards.”

The main weapon employed by the junta will be “drugs”, he told SHAN. “The planned burning of drugs in Kengtung on 26 June is therefore significant,” he said.
Kengtung is the capital of eastern Shan State, where the UWSA is active.

READ MORE---> Does Kang Nam carry arms to kill ceasefire forces?...

New Mon splinter group demands 100,000 baht for disputed property sale

By Asah,IMNA

A new Mon splinter group has been demanding money in Tree Pagodas Township for, what they claim, is the illegitimate sale of property owned by their leader.

On June 22nd, a new Mon insurgent group calling itself ‘Rehmonnya’, led by Nai Khin Maung, demanded 100,000 Baht from Daw Kao Saorn, who owns a rubber plantation in Paline Japan village. Daw Kao Saorn lives in Sangkhlaburi.

Nai Khin Maung claims that the rubber plantation rightfully belongs to his superior Nai Shoung. According to Nai Khin Maung, approximately two years ago the land that is now the rubber plantation was given to Nai Shoung by Nai Aung Naing. Nai Aung Naing is a retired major-general from the New Mon State Party (NMSP), the largest Mon group.

According to a source close to Daw Kao Saorn, Nai Khin Maung said that her land is Rehmonnya’s land and that he will get the land back. Nai Khink Maung told her Nai Shoung already owned the land.

“The Rehmonnya group wants to get Daw Kao Soarn’s land. If they get this land they will use it for building a base of operations,” recounted the source close to Daw Kao Soarn. “If someone works this land they will have to pay 100,000 baht, and the headman [Nai Pain] who witnessed the sale of the property to Daw Kao Saorn will have to pay 50,000 baht to the Nai Khin Maung group.”

“This is my leaders land. Two years ago, Nai Paing, the headman of Paline Janpan village, sold this land without permission,” Nai Khin Maung told IMNA. “If we got half of the money from this sale we would be ok. Now, since they haven’t given any of the money made from the sale of the land to my leader, this is why he makes these demands.”

Because of threats from the Rehmonnya group, Daw Kao Soarn has been afraid to return to her plantation, though she does not yet know what they will do if she refuses to pay. According to IMNA sources, the plantation is approximately 5 acres in size and is still relatively young. The plants are all between 1 and 2 years old and have yet to produce an actual rubber crop.

Rehmonnya’s demand for money from Daw Kao Soarn comes as the third in a series of demands for money this month, from villagers in Three Pagoda Township. After Rehmonnya’s increased activity, New Mon State Party (NMSP) forces have increased security in Palin Janpan village, Ku-Bao village, and Brigade No.3 village.

Nai Ba Tin, who is part of the Three Pagoda’s Pass administrative committee in NMSP territory, said the Rehmonnya group has been asking for money from the villager and headman because they have personal debts to settle.

Previously this month, the Rehmonya group made two sets of demands for money in Brigade No. 3 villagers. The first came after 10 armed men from the group entered the village and kidnapped two retired village headmen. According to villagers and NMSP sources, they were only returned after their families paid a ransom of 50,000 baht. During the 1st week of June, the group demanded 100,000 baht tax from the villagers by June 9th. Despite the presence of the Mon National Liberation Army (MNLA) less then a mile away, many villagers felt compelled to pay the tax. The headman claimed that the village didn’t pay, though Nai Khin Maung claims they delivered 25,000 baht.

READ MORE---> New Mon splinter group demands 100,000 baht for disputed property sale...

Brick factory owners see red over army demands for deep discounts

By Kon Hadae, IMNA

The Burmese army is forcing the owners of brick factories to sell their goods to soldiers for a deeply discounted price.

Currently the price for one brick is over 50 kyat, but brick factory owners report that the soldiers will pay only 30 kyat per brick.

3 weeks ago, in Mudon Township, factory owners were approached by State Peace and Development (SPDC) troops and informed that they need 40 million bricks, to build more battalions. They demanded the special price.

Many balked at the offer, as their profits would diminish and, for some, their bricks had already been ordered by another buyer. Nevertheless, sources told IMNA heard reports that the Burmese soldiers were insistent, only willing to pay the discounted price and not even considering paying the factory owners’ normal price.

“They forced us to sell the bricks for lower prices. I do not want to sell my bricks for only that price, because I am going to lose my profits. But I dare not refuse them, I have to sell my bricks to them,” one factory owner told IMNA.

According to another source, the soldiers settled on only two unpleasant options: “the SPDC told the brick owners that if they would not sell all their bricks to them, they must sell half.”

This expectation of special economic treatment secured through force and intimidation extends well beyond this event, and its ill-effects exacerbate a deep financial crisis and ongoing price fluctuations in Mon State and other parts of Burma.

According to a Kamawet Village, Mudon Township factory owner, he had to sell 100,000 of his 200,000 bricks to the soldiers for the discounted price. Similarly, bricks owners from Thanphyuzayat, Mudon and Lamine also report being ordered to sell at least half of their bricks, ostensibly for the construction of new battalions.

READ MORE---> Brick factory owners see red over army demands for deep discounts...

Burma’s military regime: Digging the tunnels - Part I

June 24, 2009 (DVB)–New images have emerged that show North Korean and other foreign advisers in Burma consulting with officials on what now appears to be an extensive network of some 800 underground tunnels across much of the country.

While rife government corruption and uneven development in Burma yesterday awarded Burma a spot at the bottom of Foreign Policy magazine’s Failed States Index, billions of US dollars are now known to have been channeled by the Burmese government into building the tunnels.

DVB has been tracking the development of the tunnels and underground installations in Burma for a number of years. This is the first in a series of DVB stories revealing the secretive tunnel project.

Evidence has been obtained that shows between 600 and 800 tunnels in various stages of construction, with work on some sections dating as far back as 1996.

Photographs of a number of tunnel sites clearly show North Korean advisers present. In one photograph of a work site at Pyinmanar Taung Nyo, dated 29 May 2006, North Korean advisers are seen training Burmese soldiers and technicians in tunnel construction.

Several government budget files also show evidence of foreign aid and loans being used to fund construction work.

A number of senior Burmese officials have been dismissed in recent days following the first publication of DVB’s tunnel photographs in the Yale Global Online on 8 June.

The military government has launched an investigation into how details of such a sensitive project were leaked, with associates of former intelligence chief Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt being questioned by police.

Further intelligence documents obtained by DVB show that the tunnel system is being disguised by the government as a fibre optic cable installation project.

Leaked engineering designs show, however, that some sections of the tunnels are wide enough to allow trucks to enter and leave. There is also storage space for food and weaponry, and separate rooms that would hold around 600 personnel for several months.

The documents also reveal plans to hold large rockets and satellite communication command centers inside the tunnels.

Although the financially weak Burmese government is thought to allocate some 40 per cent of its budget for military purposes, the tunnel project over the course of 13 years has likely run into the billions.

Some observers have speculated that the abrupt hike in fuel prices that sparked the September 2007 protests may have been a prelude to securing extra capital for the project.

Likewise, Burma struck a deal with China in April this year to siphon its vast offshore natural gas reserves to China’s energy hungry population, a venture that will have given the tunnel project an important boost.

Speculation that Burma is trading in military hardware with North Korea was reinforced on Monday with reports that a North Korean freighter ship believed to be carrying arms was headed in the direction of Burma.

Despite only reestablishing diplomatic ties in 2007, following North Korea’s bombing of a South Korean delegation in Rangoon in 1983, the two countries share characteristics that make them obvious allies.

According to journalist and expert on North Korea-Burma relations, Bertil Lintner, both countries have “absolutely no interest” in supporting respective UN arms embargoes.

Indeed, North Korea is one of the few countries willing to continue military trade with the pariah state, with “even China…reluctant to sell certain types of equipment to Burma”, according to Lintner.

Perhaps most worryingly for countries outside of Burma’s friendship group, it has renewed an alliance with a country that is rapidly becoming the icon of a new generation of ‘rogue states’ threatening nuclear warfare.

With this in mind, speculation will likely start to circulate as to whether the tunnel network could be linked to rumours that Burma is mining uranium ore, a key ingredient for nuclear fission. No evidence has yet appeared to verify this, however.

In our next story we will reveal the purpose of these tunnels, foreign involvement in the project and what is inside the tunnels.

Read Part II...
and
Part III

DVB Video

READ MORE---> Burma’s military regime: Digging the tunnels - Part I...

NKorean Cargo Ship Could Test New UN Sanctions

By HYUNG-JIN KIM / AP WRITER
The Irrawaddy News

SEOUL — An American destroyer was tailing a North Korean ship suspected of transporting weapons toward Burma, as anticipation mounted Wednesday that the North could soon conduct short-or medium-range missiles tests.

The Kang Nam left the North Korean port of Nampo a week ago, and the destroyer USS John S. McCain was following as it sailed off the Chinese coast. The sailing sets up the first test of a new UN Security Council resolution that authorizes member states to inspect North Korean vessels suspected of carrying banned weapons or materials.

South Korean soldiers check the border fence as they patrol the North Korean border in Chulwon, north of Seoul on June 23. South Korean troops have been on heightened alert along the world's last Cold War frontier, amid high tensions over the communist country's missile and nuclear tests, with general leading US forces in South Korea saying that the North was likely to use insurgent tactics against both civilians and troops in rear areas should war break out on the peninsula. (Photo: Getty Images)

The sanctions are punishment for an underground nuclear test the North carried out last month in defiance of past resolutions. It's not clear exactly what the Kang Nam has on board, but it has transported illicit goods in the past.

The North has said it would consider any interception "an act of war," with its state media Wednesday accusing the US of fostering "the worst-ever tension" between the Koreas.

"It's evident that a solid peace on the Korean peninsula cannot be established unless the US hostile policy and its plot to isolate our republic are put to an end," the North's main Rodong Sinmun newspaper said in a commentary published by the Korean Central News Agency.

A US official said last week that the American destroyer has no orders to intercept the ship, but experts say the vessel will need to stop to refuel soon on a 4,100-mile (6,660-kilometer), two-week, voyage to Burma. The resolution prohibits member states from providing such services to ships accused of bearing banned goods.

Nearby Singapore—the world's largest refueling hub—says it will "act appropriately" if the ship docks at its port with suspicious goods on board.

At most, Singapore may refuse to let the ship refuel, said Hong Hyun-ik, an analyst at the Sejong Institute think tank in South Korea. He also speculated that the Kang Nam may not have banned cargo on board, knowing the ship could be subject to scrutiny.

The ship has no plan to dock at Hong Kong, according to the Internet log of Hong Kong's Marine Department which shows planned ship arrivals and departures. In 2006, the Kang Nam was once detained in Hong Kong for safety violations, a measure taken after the UN's earlier sanctions imposed following the country's first nuclear test in 2006.

In the event that the American destroyer does ask to inspect the Kang Nam and North Korea refuses, the UN resolution states the ship must be directed to a port of Pyongyang's choosing. It was not clear which port the ship would be taken to. On Tuesday, a Pentagon official said the ship was about 100 miles (160 kilometers) north of the Taiwan Strait—close to both the Chinese and Taiwanese coasts.

The North is believed to have sold guns, artillery and other small weapons to Burma in the past. The Southeast Asian military state is the target of US and EU arms embargoes. There are concerns it could use small arms in the counterinsurgency campaigns it conducts against ethnic minorities.

Meanwhile, North Korea has issued a notice banning ships from the waters off its east coast between June 25 and July 10 citing maritime firing drills, according to Japan's Coast Guard.

South Korea's Yonhap news agency reported Wednesday the North may fire a Scud missile with a range of up to 310 miles (500 kilometers) or a short-range ground-to-ship missile with a range of 100 miles (160 kilometers) during the no-sail period.

Yonhap quoted an unidentified South Korean government official as saying the launch is expected from the eastern coastal city of Anbyon. South Korea's Defense Ministry, however, said Wednesday that there was no particular signs in the area.

It had earlier been reported that the North would test a long-range missile similar to one tested in April. Japanese media said that could happen around July 4—the US Independence Day—and the missile would be fired toward Hawaii.

But US defense and counterproliferation officials said Tuesday that it was expected the North would launch short- to medium-range missiles instead. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive intelligence.

Also Wednesday, Seoul's Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported that South Korea plans to expedite the introduction of high-tech unmanned aerial surveillance systems and 'bunker-buster' bombs in the wake of the North's May 25 nuclear test. The paper, quoting unidentified ruling party members, also said South Korea also plans to equip the presidential Blue House and other key government facilities with systems coping with electromagnetic waves caused by a nuclear blast.

South Korea's Defense Ministry said it could not confirm the report. But a ministry official—speaking on condition of anonymity citing department policy—said the ministry will announce plans later this week to boost its defense capability to deal with the North's increasing military threats.

Associated Press writers Jae-soon Chang in Seoul, Pauline Jelinek, Pamela Hess and Lolita Baldor in Washington, Grant Peck in Bangkok, Min Lee in Hong Kong, Alex Kennedy in Singapore, Jill Lawless in London and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.

READ MORE---> NKorean Cargo Ship Could Test New UN Sanctions...

Iran's Joan of Arc: dying seconds that last for ever

An undated picture posted on the internet on June 23
shows Iranian Neda Agha Soltan,
who was reportedly killed when hit by a bullet
during a protest in Tehran.

(SMH) - An undated picture posted on the internet on June 23 which purports to show Iranian Neda Agha Soltan, who was reportedly killed when hit by a bullet during a protest in Tehran. Photo: AFP
Cassandra Jardine

The death of a young woman on the streets of Tehran is caught on camera and viewed by millions. But should we be watching?

You tick the box saying you are over 18. You notice the warning that the material you are about to see could be upsetting. But nothing can prepare you for the horrible immediacy of watching a young woman die, as Neda Soltan does on YouTube.

The instant the "Play" button is pressed you are pitched into the streets of Tehran, where a woman in jeans is lying on the ground while several men attempt to help her. As the camera moves around the scene, away from her legs, past the striped T-shirt of a helper, we see the face of the 27-year-old philosophy student. She is young and beautiful, but it is her eyes that are unforgettable. They stare at you with a look of animal panic, as the first blood begins to trickle out of her mouth.

The film lasts only 40 seconds, but it is enough to affect world opinion. Over the past few days millions of people have sent links to each other, wanting to share the horror that brings home so vividly the violence which the Iranian authorities are meting out on innocent citizens.

In years to come, the bloodied face of Neda - already called the Angel of Freedom - will be the image that lingers of the Iran uprising, just as the naked, napalmed girl running down the road has come to encapsulate the Vietnam war.

Neda never set out to be a martyr: her boyfriend Caspian Makan, has said that she was with her music teacher when she briefly stepped out of the car, only to become caught up in history. Yet she is already on her way to becoming Iran's Joan of Arc, its answer to Jan Palach.

The blackened face of Palach, the student who set fire to himself in 1969, has become the lasting image of the Czech fight against Soviet repression.

Palach knew what he was dying for, but any meaning attached to Neda's death has been projected on to her by those looking for a symbol, a poster girl for the opposition.

No one knows her views on freedom.

All we really know of her is that pale face covered in blood.

These images, as the great war photographer Don McCullin has said, are our modern version of religious icons, with the eyes of the victim invariably looking heavenwards for deliverance as martyrs did in old master paintings.

A painting does not purport to represent reality; photographs and films do, but they can almost as easily be manipulated.

Already comparisons have already been drawn between the wide circulation of the footage of her death and the attention drawn by the Palestinians to the "Zionist regime's brutality" by continually replaying footage of a 12-year-old boy supposedly shot dead next to his father in Gaza in 2000. A court case eventually showed this to be faked.

Faking is as old as photography itself. In the First World War, faked pictures - fauxtographs - were circulated of the Kaiser cutting the hands off babies.

Interest groups have always used anything that touches the emotions as propaganda. Arousing outrage is, after all, the point of it.

Furious arguments raged in the blogosphere in 2006 over pictures of a dead child being carried from the rubble of an Israeli attack in southern Lebanon: sharp-eyed critics noticed the same man repeatedly carrying a child's body towards the cameras and replaying his moments of anguish for maximum impact.

The temptation to create iconic material is immense.

The key image of the Spanish Civil War is Robert Capa's photograph of The Fallen Soldier, his body arched from the impact of a shot. A witness has now claimed it was almost certainly faked.

Only two years ago, a Reuters photographer was sacked for adding smoke to increase the drama of his pictures of the bombing of Lebanon.

"There have been all kinds of problems with the doctoring of photographs," says Stuart Franklin, president of Magnum, a co-operative that represents many war photographers, and of which Capa was a founding member.

"We have to be very cautious and look for several sources of evidence - and witnesses. You can't assume something will be false, but you have to verify."

The footage of Neda Soltan's death certainly has the ring of truth about it: the panicky voices, the blood that spread with shocking speed over her face (as it would since she had been shot in the heart) and the testimonials of relatives.

This looks like an image that we can trust. But should we be looking at it at all?

Generally, the British media steer clear of such shocking images because they contravene one of our last taboos: that the moment of death is private and should be witnessed only by those who care for that person.

In the YouTube age, that principle is being eroded. Anyone in the office can now glance the "most viewed" list on YouTube, and observe a quick death between a rerun of Susan Boyle's early triumph and Sunday's episode of Top Gear.

There was an outcry last year when Craig Ewart, a 59-year-old suffering from motor neurone disease, allowed his Dignitas-assisted death in Switzerland to be filmed. Watching him sipping through a straw the drink that would send him into his final coma was as shocking as watching Ms Soltan's life leaking away on a Tehran pavement, but at least he chose to be filmed in this way.

And yet, Franklin believes, "there is a difference between Neda's death and voyeurism. It's about drawing attention to an issue."

The frontier between the two is a personal matter. Most people would feel repugnance at the idea of paying to view (as you can) the beheading of the kidnapped US journalist Daniel Pearl in Pakistan in 2002. That footage passes the reality test, but perhaps fails the distaste test because it was a deliberate murder, not news captured spontaneously.

Yet during the bombing of Gaza this winter, many people chose to watch Al-Jazeera rather than the UK television channels because the footage was more graphic.

What will be the image by which the Iraq war is remembered in years to come? Probably the humiliation and torture of prisoners at Abu Ghraib, inexpertly filmed by a soldier. Had good taste prevailed we would not have had the evidence.

Photographer Marcus Bleasdale, who has covered conflicts in Congo, Sudan and Somalia, has his own moral code.

"Since Capa's day in the 1930s, the professional rule is that you can crop a photograph, but you cannot remove or insert. As for whether you should show the moment of death, if I am the only witness to a scene I would put down my camera and try to save that person's life. If there are others better able to help, it is my job to record reality."

Images force change, Stuart Franklin believes.

"I was in Tiananmen in 1989, when gory photographs of students were being glued to lamp posts. It was the only way people could see what was going on. The photographs taken at the Heysel stadium [where 39 football supporters died in 1985] focused attention on inadequate design and police practice." As did the unforgettable pictures of people crushed to death against the wire at Hillsborough in 1989, when 96 people died.

At the time there were protests about their publication. Upsetting as the results may be, the alternative is worse.

Many appalling atrocities of recent years have passed relatively unnoticed because there are no images to which the public can attach their outrage.

Repression in Burma and Tibet has been helped by the lack of reporting and filming. And who remembers the deaths of rioting Mexican students before the 1968 Olympics? Few, because no images exist.

Neda Soltan's death draws attention to the disproportionate use of force used to quell rioters.

One day she may, like Jan Palach, have a memorial raised to her and a square named after her.

What her fate does not do is shed any light on the nuances of the conflict. For that, words and thought are more reliable than pictures and emotion.

London Telegraph

READ MORE---> Iran's Joan of Arc: dying seconds that last for ever...

Burma acts the bully on Thailand

By Larry Jagan

(DVB)–Relations between Thailand and Burma are set to deteriorate dramatically following Bangkok’s warning that the trial of Aung San Suu Kyi could all but destroy Burma’s already fragile credibility.

Thailand’s current position on Burma is stronger than usual, bolstered by concerns that Burma’s behaviour, by implication, would also impact on the credibility of the regional Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc. The junta of course dismisses these concerns, citing the ASEAN mantra of non-interference in its defense. But this time Burma’s political games are certain to be met with more pressure from its Asian allies and neighbours, especially Thailand.

The vexed issue of Burma is high on the agenda of Thai prime minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s current visit to Beijing. He will certainly discuss the issue with his counterpart, Wen Jiabao, and the Chinese president, Hu Jintao, according to Thai government officials. The junta’s antics are all the more pressing now with detailed information emerging on the regime’s connection to Pyongyang; and now the North Korean ship en route to Rangoon has increased the temperature.

Apart from North Korean missiles and possible nuclear technology, there is much for Bangkok and Beijing to discuss during this trip. A key issue will also be the preparations for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers retreat in Phuket, and the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) where the problems in Burma will also overshadow other important issues at time when the region is reeling from the effects of the international financial crisis and credit crunch.

A statement prepared for the meeting by the Indonesians is likely to be endorsed by China. China understands that at present its best strategic position is to strongly support Thailand as the ASEAN chair, as later this year Vietnam takes over and Hanoi will be less inclined to engage the Chinese.

Under the Thai chairmanship, ASEAN has begun to take a more aggressive position on Burma, and issued a strongly worded statement after Aung San Suu Kyi was put on trial last month. “With the eyes of the international community on Myanmar at present, the honour and the credibility of the Government of the Union of Myanmar are at stake,” the statement said.

But the Thais went a step further and specifically raised the issue of the pro-democracy leader’s detention. “The Government of the Union of Myanmar is reminded that the ASEAN Leaders had called for the immediate release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,” said the statement. This was a reference to the Chairman’s statement at the ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ ministerial meeting in Phnom Penh in July 2003, after she was attacked by pro-government thugs and detained in May that year. It was later endorsed by the ASEAN leaders at their summit on the Indonesian island of Bali in October.

The Burmese government, as expected, reacted angrily. “Thailand’s statement is not in conformity with ASEAN practices, incorrect in facts, and interfering with the internal affairs of Myanmar,” was the official response.

But behind the scenes, relations between the countries are in free-fall, according to diplomats based in Bangkok and Rangoon. “There is no doubt that the offensive against the Karen [along the border with Thailand] is in part intended to be a warning to Thailand not to interfere,” the Burmese academic based at Chiang Mai University, Win Min told DVB.

While it may not be in direct response to the Thai statement, it is clearly aimed at sending a cautionary message to the Thai government that any interference in Burmese affairs will bring about a strong Burmese reaction. Gone is the conciliatory approach in discussions between the country’s two foreign ministers in April, when the Thai foreign minister, Kasit Piromya, went to Naypyidaw and was asked to help broker peace talks with the Karen National Union.

Now Thailand is increasingly alarmed at Burma’s plans to acquire nuclear technology, including for military purposes. Recent revelations of the myriad of tunnels being built by North Korean engineers and workers in Naypyidaw and along the Thai border in Shan state, has given the Thai authorities a significant jolt. But even more disturbing is the news that North Korea may be about to provide Burma with medium-range missiles, sophisticated anti-aircraft and radar systems, including surface-to-surface (SCUD) missiles with a 700 kilometer range, that can only be aimed at Thai territory. It is highly likely that the cargo of the North Korean Kang Nam ship includes missiles, according to South Korean intelligence sources.

Thailand of course is still searching for a means to maintain the pressure on Burma, while trying to find ways to lessen the tension between the two countries. Thailand’s position on Aung San Suu Kyi, and the national reconciliation process, will not weaken, even under the Burmese blackmail threats.

In a recent interview, the Thai prime minister made the government’s position clear: “Clearly our stance has been and will always be that the political process in Myanmar will have to be inclusive to gain the acceptability and respectability of the international community. Otherwise, obviously, Myanmar’s credibility and ASEAN’s credibility will be affected.”

When the former Thai foreign minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, tried to support the Burmese regime’s plans for political reform – Khin Nyunt’s roadmap to democracy -- through his creation of the Bangkok process in 2003, he was roundly condemned by the junta’s top leaders.

“We reject Thailand’s ‘mega-phone’ diplomacy”, the deputy leader of Burmese military intelligence, Major General Kyaw Win told me. This was a reference to the Thai foreign minister’s frequent briefing of Thai and foreign journalists on the progress of negotiations and talks – sometimes elaborating his views which were not always directly communicated to his counterpart beforehand.

But of course the regime has no qualms about resorting to a megaphone approach when it suits them. Its latest tirade against the Thai government was an article by Kyaw Ye Min accusing the Thai authorities of aiding and abetting the insurgent movements – especially the Karen – by allowing refugee camps in Thailand.

The junta was irritated by the Thai foreign minister’s suggestion that jailing Aung San Suu Kyi was in effect a threat to the region. “At present relations between the two countries are under [a] strain which is unprecedented in history,” said the writer in the state-mouthpiece New Light of Myanmar newspaper. He suggested the only way for harmonious relations to be reestablished was for Bangkok to “cooperate with us in genuine goodwill”. In other words, stop publicly criticising and pressuring Burma – something the Democrat-led government is unlikely to do.

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Burmese Gems for Sale

By ARKAR MOE
The Irrawaddy News

A special Burmese gems emporium organized by the state-run Myanmar Gems Enterprise (MGE) is taking place at the Myanmar Convention Center (MCC). The sale started on 22 June and ends on July 4.

Over 8000 jade lots as well as quality gems, pearls and jewelry are to be sold through competitive bidding by tender.

Rangoon-based gems traders said regular jade buyers from Taiwan, Hong Kong and Beijing would come in lower numbers than in former years because of global calls for a boycott on Burmese gems and tightening Western sanctions.

Former US President George Bush signed the Burma Jade Act into law on July 29, 2008, restricting the import of precious Burmese gems and stones and extending existing import sanctions on Burma.

Charles Perigh, a western gemstone dealer with many friends in Burma, told The Irrawaddy: “Most of the best pits in Mogok, which is also called Rubyland, are run by relatives of high ranking family members of the Burmese military. There is no stability in the gems business and nothing is definite these days.”

“Although the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings company (UMEH) sells gemstones in Rangoon by auction twice per year, low and medium quality roughs are cut and sold directly in Mogok through brokers,” Perigh said.

“Moreover, the cut stones, whether loose or mounted in jewelry, go to Thailand from Rangoon in different ways.”

“Some unique and first-class gems, such as clean pigeon-blood rubies weighing several carats, have a different destiny. These rubies often go directly into the pockets of family members of the regime in Mogok, who secretly send them to Singapore for sale through brokers to get a better price,” said Perigh.

According to officials at the US Department of Treasury, the sanctions target two conglomerates: the Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Limited (UMEH) and the Myanmar Economic Corporation. Both have extensive businesses in a variety of sectors critical to the Burmese government, including the gem, banking and construction industries.

Perigh said: “I do not think the embargo is effective. In fact the jade business is Chinese. Roughs including huge boulders weighing several quintals are mainly exported to Hong Kong. This trade can bring great profit to the Burmese generals.”

Awng Wa, a member of the board of advisers for the All Kachin Students and Youth Union (AKSYU), who regularly monitors the jade trade at the border, said to The Irrawaddy: “Trade is only possible for persons close to the Burmese generals. Only they can easily go and sell in China, Singapore and other Asean countries. Moreover, they can buy very precious high quality rubies, sapphires and other gems at bargain prices now.”

“Nowadays, Jade sales are very low. Demand from Chinese traders has dropped, and dealing at the jade market in Hpacan has fallen. Most joint-venture jade companies in Hpacan have suspended mining operations, though some joint-venture jade companies which are related to Burmese military leaders remain in operation,” Awng Wa said.

According to the Central Statistical Organization, Burma produced 30,896.44 tons of jade and 20.5 million carats of gems in 2008. The gems included ruby, sapphire, spinel and peridot, as well as 767 kilograms of pearl.

Burma usually holds gem auctions twice a year, but in recent years they have been held with increasing frequency in a bid to raise foreign currency amid tightening sanctions against the junta. Four such auctions were held in 2006.

READ MORE---> Burmese Gems for Sale...

Groups Fear Malaysia to Deport Burmese Protesters

By JULIA ZAPPEI / AP WRITER
The Irrawaddy News

KUALA LUMPUR — Malaysian authorities might deport up to 14 Burmese nationals who were arrested at a demonstration to mark jailed pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday, human rights activists said Wednesday.

Police detained 16 Burmese nationals at a rally outside a Kuala Lumpur shopping mall Friday, but two of them were released after they were found to have valid immigration documents, said Latheefa Koya, a lawyer whose opposition party helped organize the demonstration.

At least five face the threat of being sent back to Burma, Latheefa said. The other nine are registered by the United Nations' refugee agency as asylum seekers who fled their military-ruled country, so they might be allowed to remain in Malaysia, she added.

Khalid Abu Bakar, police chief of central Selangor state, said officials were investigating whether the detainees were illegal immigrants. Some of them would be handed to immigration officials within two weeks, he said, but it was not clear when they might be deported.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch urged Malaysia to free all the detainees, who joined the demonstration to protest Suu Kyi's detention in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar.

"By detaining Burmese asylum seekers who were calling for democracy in their homeland, Malaysia was broadcasting support for Burma's despotic generals," the group's deputy Asia director, Elaine Pearson, said in a statement late Tuesday.

The UN refugee agency has registered more than 48,000 refugees in Malaysia, most from Burma. But community leaders estimate the number of people from Burma living in Malaysia is about twice that.

Those caught staying illegally face arrest and can be whipped as punishment before being deported. The government said recently that those who flee persecution in Burma and are registered as refugees are generally not deported.

Concerts, candlelight vigils and other gatherings for Suu Kyi's 64th birthday were held in cities worldwide last week. She has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years in detention without trial, mostly under house arrest.

Suu Kyi is being held in Rangoon's Insein Prison while being tried for violating the terms of her house arrest when an uninvited American man swam secretly to her closely guarded lakeside home last month and stayed two days. If convicted, she faces up to five years in prison.

READ MORE---> Groups Fear Malaysia to Deport Burmese Protesters...

Than Shwe Maneuvers to Retain Power

By AUNG LYNN HTUT
The Irrawaddy News

If Burma’s State Peace Development Council (SPDC) holds a successful election in 2010, the Burmese people will lose all hope of freedom and the generals who now rule the country will retain their power.

There are three nominations for presidency in the 2008 constitution—one from the military, one from the Senate or ethnic leaders’ hluttaw and one from Congress members. The Senate and the House then vote to choose the president of Burma.

According to the latest information from Naypyidaw, the military will nominate Gen Thura Shwe Mann and he will be Burma’s president. The Senate will nominate a prominent ethnic leader and the House will nominate a member of the Union Solidarity Development Association (USDA), Kyant Phut.

After the 2010 election, Shwe Mann will issue a state order that Snr-Gen Than Shwe, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye and remaining SPDC members become patrons or advisers of the National Security Council of a new Burmese government. It means Than Shwe and his party will retain their grip on state power.

The military gets 25 percent of the seats at state, regional, district, township and village levels of the Burmese administration, according to the 2008 constitution. The military has a plan to assign deputy regional commanders as “second men” of regional administrations, deputy regiment commanders as “second men” of district administrations, majors or captains for township administrations and other ranks for village administrations.

After Than Shwe assumed state power in April, 1992, he arranged to hold a National Convention. He instructed Secretary (1) Gen Khin Nyunt and Secretary (2) Tin Oo to ensure that the military’s leading role should be one of the principal aims of the National Convention.

Khin Nyunt and Tin Oo objected, saying civilian politics would then disappear in Burma. Than Shwe ignored them, saying he had a long-term plan for a military role in future Burmese politics.

Although he appoints current ministers and the members of USDA who will organize the 2010 election, he still worries about its success. Because of his fear of losing control, he tries to get as many of his people in every sphere of government and pressures others to accept them as well. He is worried about the support he commands and whether his orders will be followed.

To achieve his aims, Than Shwe is using government money instead of his own. He promises that the 2010 election will be fair and honest, so he cannot use his power to influence its outcome without arousing international anger.

There is much discussion among the generals about where Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD) stand. They are aware that if the NLD participates, the party stands a high chance of winning, just as it did in 1990.

There’s a fear among the generals that even among the 25 percent representation reserved for the military, as much as 15 percent might support the NLD. With that prospect in mind, some generals are seeking to exclude NLD officials from running for office.

Ultimately, the generals still have to wait for Than Shwe’s orders. Until recently, he tried very hard to ignore the NLD and to force his ideas on Burma.

The trial of Suu Kyi and the worldwide wave of condemnation it provoked have forced Than Shwe to reconsider his position.

Last month, he sent Shwe Mann to China to seek assurance of support for the junta.
The Chinese leaders requested a meeting with the junta’s No 2, Maung Aye, who visited Beijing on June 15. Foreign Minister Nyan Win is shortly to visit the United Nations in New York.

The ethnic ceasefire groups pose another problem for Than Shwe. The ethnic groups dislike the 2008 constitution and the election plan, and they don’t want to surrender to the Burmese military. They accuse Than Shwe of diminishing Burma’s federal policy and of destroying the Union of Myanmar.

Than Shwe promised ethnic leaders that if the armed groups agreed to non-disintegration of the Union, national solidarity and the perpetuation of sovereignty, he would be ready to talk to them. He promised government support for development in ceasefire areas.

He also promised to allow ethnic politics to be discussed at the National Convention, but then went back on that pledge.

After approving the 2008 constitution, he instructed the ethnic ceasefire groups to surrender and lay down their arms and proposed that their troops should serve as border security guards. The proposal was rejected by the largest ceasefire groups.

Than Shwe will take time to decide on a verdict for Suu Kyi’s trial, hoping international pressure will ease. There are two sayings to describe his frame of mind: “He doesn’t care what anyone thinks. People will forget in seven days” and “If there is tension, he will reduce it. If there isn’t tension, he will create it.”

In the 2010 election, Than Shwe will use his military power and influence to affect the outcome as much as possible. He realizes the importance of this election on his future.

If he wins, Burma will be under his tyranny for a long time to come. If he loses, he knows he faces possible arraignment before an international court.

Because of the importance of this election and the future of the people and country, we must try to educate and influence civilians as well as military officials. Other nations are monitoring Burma very closely, so General Than Shwe feels the pressure and cannot make dishonest decisions.

The author is a former officer in the counterintelligence department of the Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence (OCMI) and former deputy chief of the Burmese embassy in Washington. He lives in Washington is seeking political asylum in the United States.

READ MORE---> Than Shwe Maneuvers to Retain Power...