Burma Related News - June 23, 2006.

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - JUNE 23, 2006.
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HEADLINES
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Phayul News - Guns and bombs from China
ThaiDay - Thai lawmaker says Myanmar should leave ASEAN
China Economic Net - Myanmar to restore poultry farming in bird-flu-hit
areas
China Daily - Nine out of 10 drug addicts use heroin
The Nation - Opinion: UN Security Council must act on Burma
IHT - Opinion - Pressure on Myanmar
BBC News - Education for Burmese students in refugee camps
DVB News - Burma army trying to 'uproot' KNU bases in Tenesserim
Division
DVB News - Burma NLD starts petition to have leader, prisoners freed
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Phayul News
Guns and bombs from China
Syndicate Features [Friday, June 23, 2006 11:24]
By Tukoji R Pandit - Syndicate Features

It is hardly surprising that the London-based Amnesty International has
reported that China has become the 'most secretive and
irresponsible' exporter of arms which help fuel conflicts in many
parts of the world. Sudan, Nepal and Myanmar are among the countries
that have received the 'secret' consignment of arms from Beijing.
In each of these countries the autocratic governments are (or till
recently were, in the case of Nepal) suppressing the people's
resistance to stay in power.

The clandestine arms trade of China has been in existence for long and
in full knowledge of countries such as the US. Despite some
'sanctions', which did not have any punitive effect, Beijing was
never under any pressure to introduce transparency in its one billion
dollar arms export, much less curb it. The Amnesty lament has,
therefore, come too late to in the day.

Officially, the China's stand is that it observes certain
'safeguards' to prevent sales of 'unethical' arms. China also
says it is both 'cautious' and 'responsible' in its
'dealings'. The reality is quite different. US and others critics
know the 'falsehood'. So, the question is how serious are the
Western powers in trying to stop China from continuing with its not so
secret arms export trade.

China uses its arms export to win friends and to influence them,
especially when some of these states have no other source of procuring
arms. In recent days, for instance, Nepal was denied arms by its three
principal suppliers-India, the US and the UK. China moved in to fill
this 'vacuum' to earn the gratitude of King Gyanendra. Bad luck to
him and to his patron suppliers that he since been virtually stripped
of most of his powers. Quite often China buys raw materials from
countries where it exports arms and the barter system seems to keep
both parties happy.

The surreptitious sale of Chinese arms becomes easier because China has
not signed up with any multilateral agency to ban sale of its arms to
undemocratic regimes. China does not support international initiatives
for an arms trade treaty.

The Amnesty report says that China supplied 200 military trucks to
Sudan and weapons to Myanmar while Nepal was sent consignments of
rifles and grenades. Sudan faces a severe internal strife that shows no
signs of abating. The military junta in Myanmar has turned down all
pleas from the international community to introduce democracy. Nepal
was lucky as the people's movement there finally brought a repressive
monarch down on his knees. The Chinese weapons did not help him much.

Chinese weapons did help another country in India's neighbourhood a
great deal. The recipient, no guess needed, is Pakistan. Their
'strategic' relationship goes back to the 1960s. Since the 1980s
this relationship has deepened with China selling or transferring
missiles and nuclear technology to Pakistan. Pakistan owes its nuclear
status to theft (by AQ Khan when he was working in a Dutch laboratory)
and clandestine transfers of both equipment and technology from many
sources, including China.

As far back as 1983, US intelligence agencies had reported that China
had transferred a complete nuclear weapon design to Pakistan, along
with weapons grade uranium. China had also helped Pakistan operate its
Kahuta uranium enrichment plant.

The export of Chinese missiles to Pakistan and assistance in the
latter's nuclear weapons programme is said to have aroused concern in
Washington. But it is not clear how serious that 'concern' was. The
Pakistani nuclear programme is basically designed to pose a threat to
India, not to bolster domestic energy supplies. The Chinese nuclear
cooperation is said to be a 'contentious' issue in relations
between Washington and Beijing. Yet, China has no problem transferring
the complete M-11 missile system to Pakistan, offer nuclear technology
and manufacturing assistance to Pakistan.

Their equation is such that it doesn't prevent Pakistan from
transferring some of the Chinese largesse to third countries. It is
clear, for instance, that Pakistan used the know-how it received from
China to help Iran lay the foundation of its nuclear programme, which
the world thinks is oriented towards generating nuclear energy besides
nuclear weapons.

China does not adhere to missile technology control regime guidelines
either. It interprets in its own way global regimes on
non-proliferation to justify its nuclear cooperation with Pakistan.
Words do not always mean much in Chinese diplomacy. In 1991 as well as
1994, China had given a 'pledge' that it will not transfer nuclear
technology to Pakistan, but saw nothing wrong in giving it a go-by in
its own way. Of course, China helps Pakistan because it wants Islamabad
to become militarily as strong as India.

India has every reason to look at any nuclear 'cooperation' between
China and Pakistan with suspicion. The Americans prefer to look the
other way on nuclear and other sophisticated arms transfer from China
to Pakistan because despite all the new found love and affection
between New Delhi and Washington, the strong contingent of
India-baiters in the US establishment is chary of India becoming a
major power.

Pakistan President Musharraf is now looking for at least two new
nuclear plants from China, ostensibly to increase energy production.
Earlier there were reports that Pakistan might be planning to buy many
more nuclear plants from China. Musharraf has turned to China after the
US administration refused to extend to him the same civilian nuclear
cooperation that it has offered to India.

There was much fuming and fretting in Pakistan over the
'discrimination' and 'double standards' shown by the US. But
deep in their hearts, the Pakistanis might be happier to do a nuclear
deal with China than the US because unlike the US, China asks no
questions about the end use of arms sale and nuclear technology it
transfers to Pakistan.

The US seeks to impose conditions on India before actually allowing
access to its civilian nuclear facilities and research. But there will
be almost no condition when China offers fresh nuclear cooperation to
its old ally and client in South Asia. China will be least concerned if
the nuclear technology it transfers to Pakistan is used to make the
bomb or manufacture electricity.
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ThaiDay
Thai lawmaker says Myanmar should leave ASEAN
By Daniel Ten Kate
23 June 2006 14:06

The government should reverse course in its policy toward Myanmar and
consider supporting a proposal to suspend the rogue state's
membership in ASEAN, acting senator Kraisak Choonhaven said yesterday.

"I believe the current government is not doing enough at all on
Burma," said Kraisak, the lone Thai lawmaker represented on the ASEAN
Inter-parliamentary Myanmar Caucus, which called for the rogue state to
be brought before the United Nations Security Council after meeting
this week in Jakarta.

"ASEAN cannot properly function in any world forum because of
Myanmar's human rights record," he said in an interview. "Kicking
it out of ASEAN or suspending its membership would alleviate that
obstacle."

The senator's comments follow strong statements this week from
Malaysia, which indicated that ASEAN may drop Myanmar from the
10-member Southeast Asian bloc due to the country's lack of progress
implementing democratic reforms. In the past year, the ruling military
junta failed to inform ASEAN countries that it was relocating its
capital from Yangon to Pyinmana, and snubbed Malaysian Foreign Minister
Syed Hamid Albar on a visit in March to verify the country's progress
down the proverbial road to democracy.

"The government has not seriously followed up on the Roadmap to
Democracy, which has now completely disappeared," Kraisak said.
"It's time to look at this realistically. It's quite clear that
Myanmar will not change its ways."

With the United States now pushing the UN Security Council to pressure
Myanmar into releasing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the internal
divisions within ASEAN on how to deal with its most intransigent member
are becoming more apparent. Compared to Malaysia, Thai officials have
stayed relatively quiet on the issue, choosing to stick with its
so-called "open-door" policy.

"We are still hoping that forward engagement is the right track as we
share a large border with Myanmar," said Songphol Sukchan, a Foreign
Ministry spokesman, who also noted that Foreign Minister Khantathi
Suphamongkhon is scheduled to brief reporters today following the
Organization of the Islamic Conference meeting this week in Azerbaijan.

Critics have argued that Thailand's increased economic relationship
with Myanmar since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra came to power in
2001 has undermined ASEAN efforts curb the regime's human rights
abuses and make it more palatable to western trading partners. Thailand
depends on Myanmar for about a third of its natural gas supply, and
state-owned electricity company EGAT has reportedly started work on a
hydroelectricity plant in Myanmar that will be completed in five to six
years.

Moreover, overall bilateral trade between the two countries jumped by
nearly 20 percent last year. Millions of dollars worth of timber, fish
and minerals cross the border every year, through both formal and
informal means.

"The Thais have been quiet so far [on Myanmar], but that is not
surprising given Thaksin's ambiguity in his policy towards
Myanmar," said an ASEAN diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity.
"Unfortunately ASEAN has no consensus on this issue."

Malaysia appears to be taking the vocal lead in condemning Myanmar
because it holds the rotating ASEAN presidency and pushed very hard for
the country's inclusion in the group. The rationale to include
Myanmar centered around the geographical importance of having a stable
buffer between Southeast Asia and powerhouses India and China.

"Ten years later it doesn't look like ASEAN made the right decision
in admitting Myanmar," the diplomat said. "They are very
self-reliant and self-sufficient...our 10 years of engagement has not
come to much."
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China Economic Net
Myanmar to restore poultry farming in bird-flu-hit areas
Last Updated(Beijing Time):2006-06-23 13:26

Myanmar will carry out restoring and restructuring of poultry farms in
bird-flu-hit areas after the avian influenza was claimed to have been
successfully contained and restriction of movement in the 13
bird-flu-affected townships been lifted, according to an official
reminder to livestock breeders Friday.

Surveillance of bird flu at poultry farms will be conducted for three
months with breeding of chickens as sentinel birds, construction of
saved bio-security poultry farms, establishment of new network among
the breeders and talks on prevention against bird flu to be attached,
said the reminder of the Livestock Breeding and Veterinary Department.

Myanmar reported for the first time on March 13 the outbreak of H5N1
bird flu in two divisions of Mandalay and Sagaing and since then
altogether 342,000 chickens, 320,000 quails and 180,000 eggs as well as
1.3 tons of feedstuff have been destroyed at 545 poultry farms.

The outbreak of the disease was claimed to have been under control
since April 8 and restriction on flow of poultry products among states
and divisions have been lifted since May 1.

The reminder urged the chicken breeders to trade poultry farming
products systematically.

Meanwhile, medical experts in Myanmar have urged the people to continue
to remain alert against probable bird flu revival despite success in
containing the deadly disease.

In prevention and education against bird flu among the public in
Myanmar, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) was reported to
lead in a 1.8-million-
U.S.-dollar joint media project with the Myanmar government and
non-governmental media.

The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) and Red Crescent
Society will also fund some training programs in the country later this
month on bird flu prevention undertakings.
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China Daily
Nine out of 10 drug addicts use heroin
(Shanghai Daily)
Updated: 2006-06-23 06:29

Almost nine out of 10 drug addicts in China are addicted to heroin, the
National Narcotics Control Commission said yesterday.

China had 785,000 drug addicts by the end of last year, 89 percent of
whom were addicted to heroin, the commission said.

Of heroin abusers, 69 percent are under 35 years old, 30 percent are
farmers and 52 percent are jobless, Chen Cunyi, deputy
secretary-general of the commission, told a press conference in
Beijing.

They were found in 2,334 cities and counties across the country, he
said.

Some new drugs have quickly taken hold among drug users, including
crystal methamphetamine, also known as ice; ecstasy pills, known
locally as "head-shaking pills;" and ketamine, Chen said.

The drugs were of particular concern in entertainment venues, he said.

Shared needles are the major cause of the spread of AIDS among addicts,
the commission said. By the end of last year, of the 144,000 registered
AIDS patients, 39.3 percent had been infected through shared needles
used to inject heroin.

Police solved 45,000 drug cases, caught 58,000 suspects, smashed 1,550
drug-trafficking rings, and destroyed 34 drug-processing facilities
last year, Chen said.

Officers seized 17.5 tons of drugs last year, including 6.9 tons of
heroin, 5.5 tons of methamphetamine, 2.3 tons of opium, 2.34 million
ecstasy tablets and 2.6 tons of ketamine.

Police last year also tracked down 157.9 tons of chemical materials
that could be used to produce drugs.

Chen said China is mapping out an anti-drug law and is expected to
issue the law this year.

He also told the conference that heroin in the domestic market was
scarce, with prices rising and purity falling, as a result of a
campaign against drugs.

The news should also be attributed to a decline in the planting area of
opium poppy in the Golden Triangle in Myanmar.

The United Nations said last year that opium poppy cultivation in
Myanmar fell 23 percent from 2003 to 2004, and production in nearby
Laos fell 43 percent in the same period. Thailand and Vietnam have
nearly wiped out opium cultivation.

However, Chen said the northern region of Myanmar - the Golden Triangle
- is still the main source of drugs.

He blamed the increased abuse of new drugs, such as crystal
methamphetamine, in recent years on supplies coming from the Golden
Triangle. Many regions in China have seized crystal meth that was
produced in Myanmar.

Southwestern China's Yunnan Province, bordering Myanmar, seized a
record high 2.6 tons of crystal meth last year, an increase of 154
percent on the year before.
Chen also said most of the heroin produced in the Golden Triangle is
smuggled to China.

He warned of increased drug trafficking from the Golden Crescent region
in central Asia, especially Afghanistan.

About 104,000 hectares of land was earmarked for poppy in Afghanistan
last year, and the opium yield amounted to 4,100 tons, accounting for
87 percent of the world's total, Chen said.

Police in Xinjiang, Beijing, Guangdong and other areas have cracked
trafficking cases involving heroin from Afghanistan, he said.
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The Nation - Thu Jun 22 2006
Opinion: UN Security Council must act on Burma
Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Peter Gabriel
Special to The Nation

When Argentina was ruled by a brutal military junta, thousands of
people and organisations around the world rallied to the cause,
demanding human rights and democracy without delay.

Compassionate individuals housed many activists in exile in the United
States, United Kingdom and elsewhere, while artists around the world
lent their support to help us begin to come to terms with the aftermath
of the disappearance of 30,000 people. Support from around the world
and within the United Nations was critical. Yet, many thousands of
lives could have been saved had the international community acted
sooner.

Today, the world finds itself at odds with another brutal military
junta in the Southeast Asian country of Burma, which continues to
incarcerate Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace
Prize recipient.

Suu Kyi's "crime" is being loved by the people of Burma. Her political
party won 82 per cent of the seats in parliament in Burma's last
democratic election, only to have the results annulled by the ruling
military junta. She has remained locked up for 10 of the past 17 years.
Many people of Burma fare much worse, suffering the most severe forms
of torture.

The situation for ethnic minorities in the country is even worse. The
military regime rules by brute force, oppressing and relocating
hundreds of thousands of ethnic minorities who stand in opposition to
its rule. Two thousand eight hundred villages have been burned down or
otherwise destroyed in eastern Burma alone, some repeatedly, to force
ethnic minorities to move to military-controlled areas. As a result,
there are over one million Burmese refugees, and over half a million
internally displaced people (IDPs). The situation for both groups is
dire. For example, refugees like Naanh Hla (not her real name), a Shan
woman, who was 16 years old and seven months pregnant when 10 Burmese
soldiers kidnapped and killed her husband and gang-raped her to the
point that she gave birth prematurely alone in the jungle, or Naw Paw
Paw, who recounted to Burma Issues - a group working with the
human-rights organisation WITNESS - how she lost four of her six
children, two on the same day, over the course of many years fleeing
through the jungle.

In the past four months, the worst attacks in a decade have displaced
almost 20,000 people. Yet the junta continues to cut off international
access to areas of ongoing conflict, which has precluded aid to IDPs, a
violation of international humanitarian law. Even in Sudan,
humanitarian agencies are permitted access; not so in eastern Burma.

If caught by the military, IDPs are often either killed on the spot or
forced to become porters or labourers with little or no pay. Female
porters are often systematically raped at night by officers and
soldiers. Forced labourers are often required to build roads for the
military, making it near impossible for them to grow their own crops.

The junta military also targets children. According to Human Rights
Watch, there are up to 70,000 children conscripted into the army, more
than any other country in the world. Some conscripted "soldiers" are as
young as eleven.

The United Nations has tried in good faith to bring change to Burma but
these efforts have failed. The military junta has ignored 28
consecutive non-binding UN Resolutions, four special envoys from the UN
Commission on Human Rights, and two special envoys from
Secretary-General Kofi Annan himself. The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations has called for the release of Suu Kyi and others, to no
avail. Bilateral initiatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and
Singapore have also been rebuffed by the military junta, and several
missions by the European Union have failed to elicit reform. These
failures are not the fault of the United Nations. They have failed due
to the intransigence of the military junta, which continues to make
empty promises about transitioning to democratic government. The
junta's words have lost all credibility.

This situation won't fix itself. The UN Security Council should address
the situation in Burma and pass a legally binding resolution calling
for peaceful change. Unlike other UN efforts, the Security Council has
the power to compel its members to take action. A positive proposal was
articulately spelled out in a recent report by South Africa's
Archbishop Desmond Tutu and former Czech president Vaclav Havel in
which they made it abundantly clear that the Council has the
responsibility to act on Burma. The report articulated how the effects
of brutal military rule in Burma are spilling over the country's
borders and destabilising the region, and rightfully pointed out there
is ample precedent for action - the Security Council has acted in less
severe situations in the past. Human Rights Watch, Amnesty
International and others are calling for the Security Council to act.

Members of the Security Council, including Argentina and the United
Kingdom, should step forward and publicly lead the effort for a
peaceful, binding Security Council resolution on Burma. If they refuse
to act, many more people will die.

Adolfo Perez Esquivel is the 1980 Nobel Peace Prize recipient from
Argentina and founder of the Service, Peace and Justice Foundation.

Peter Gabriel, acclaimed musician and activist, is the co-founder of
the international organisation WITNESS, currently partnered with the
human rights group Burma Issues.
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The International Herald Tribune
Opinion - Pressure on Myanmar
Published: June 23, 2006

As co-author of a report, commissioned by the former Czech president
Vaclav Havel and Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu, calling for a UN Security
Council resolution on Myanmar, I was surprised to read "A crack in the
Burmese door" (Views, June 21), by Ibrahim Gambari, an under secretary
general at the United Nations.

Gambari suggests that "sustained engagement may be the only way to
arrive at a fuller assessment of the prospects for democratization,
development and reconciliation." But since Myanmar's elections in 1990,
28 resolutions have been adopted by the UN General Assembly and the UN
Commission on Human Rights urging change in the country, all to no
avail. Diplomacy will only be truly successful if it is done under the
mandate of the UN Security Council.

Most disturbing is the implication by Gambari that Aung San Suu Kyi and
her National League for Democracy actually support further engagement
with the United Nations in lieu of action by the UN Security Council.
The league does want further UN engagement, but under the auspices of
the Security Council.

A binding UN Security Council resolution would give the United Nations
diplomatic leverage to resolve Myanmar's ongoing crisis.

Jared Genser, Washington
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BBC News 21 June, 2006 - Published 21:19 GMT
Education for Burmese students in refugee camps

If higher education for a Burmese student is difficult, it is far
harder for refugee children in the camps along the border inside
Thailand.

However, it is still possible thanks to a few dedicated NGOs who help
educating children of Burmese refugees in Thailand.

In Noh Poe camp in the South of Mae Sot, where there are over ten
thousand Karen refugees are sheltering, at least two schools are up and
running for refugee students teaching children English Language,
Accountancy and Management after basic education.

Camp education helps refugees

Saw Khon Thunt came to Noh Poe Refugee camp after passing tenth
standard in Pa-An, Burma.

He took a two-year accountancy course at one of the 'Post Term' schools
in Noh Poe and he is now looking for any chance to further his studies.

"I don't want to stop learning at this level. I want to achieve an
education that is internationally recognised," he said.

Possibilities for higher education

Khin Khin Moe has been working for an NGO for two year now, consulting
refugee children's education when they are accepted by a third country
to be resettled.
She said resettlement programmes generally may be the best opportunity
for students like Saw Khon Thunt.

If a student is accepted by a country to resettle, the education they
have received in the camps is good enough to proceed with higher
education in that country, according to Khin Khin Moe.

There are also some scholarship programmes for refugees but they are
very limited, she said.

Similarly, some students may be accepted by certain universities in
Thailand but, again, there are only a few of them.

Many refugee students who have no plan to be resettled can take
vocational courses provided by NGOs to become medics or teachers.

"Burmese students are good at math. Level of English language trainings
available in the camps are equivalent to GCE O level. So, they usually
do not have problem studying in a foreign country, especially in the
US. If they try hard there can be future for them," Khin Khin Moe said.
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Burma army trying to 'uproot' KNU bases in Tenesserim Division

Jun 21, 2006 (DVB) - Since he was appointed the new commander of the
Coastal Command in southern Burma's Tenesserim Division, Brig-Gen Khin
Zaw Oo has been planning systematically to wipe out the Karen National
Union (KNU) bases in the region.

The 'clearing' duty has been taken up by No.1 and 2 Military Strategy
Corps and it is named Aungtagun (Victorious pennant) military campaign.
In accordance with this campaign, No.1 Military Strategic Corps,
Infantry Battalion 280, Light Infantry Battalion 561 jointly carried
out offensives against KNU's armed wing Karen National Liberation Army
(KNLA) troops based in Tanintharyi Township, starting from 16 June.
During the clash, Burmese troops suffered heavy casualties. As a
response, the Burmese soldiers took it out on innocent local Karen
villagers, burning paddy farms and ochards and forcing them into hiding
in the jungles.

According to a KNU leader Phado Gwe Htoo, there are around 6000 Karen
villagers, known as internally dispaced persons (IDPs) who are
currently hiding in the jungles of Tennesserim Division.

"From the beginning, they (Burmese soldiers) just shoot the IDPs and
those based inside the country when they see them," said Gwe Htoo.
"These are the things they usually do."
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Burma NLD starts petition to have leader, prisoners freed

Jun 21, 2006 (DVB) - Burma's main opposition party, the National League
for Democracy (NLD) is continuing with the collective-signature
campaign for the release of its Aung San Suu Kyi and all political
prisoners that began on her birthday on 19 June.

Up to now, the party has received nearly 1,500 signatures on the 20' by
7' wall-mounted white *** of paper. Apart from the NLD party members,
passerbys have also given their signatures. The NLD spokesman Nyan Win
told the DVB that it is the NLD's effort to represent the desires of
the people.

The *** for the signatures is on the ground floor of the NLD
headquarters in Rangoon. The title on the *** says, "Expression of
wishes for the release of leader Aung San Suu Kyi and all political
prisoners to enable a resolution of political affairs through political
means."

However, the military government is not taking heed of the NLD request.
Criticisms and attacks levelled in the dailies today and before serve
as witnesses, saying that the members are resigning from the party
because they cannot accept its "wrong policies".
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