Deadline for Chinese to leave ceasefire areas over
Junta Cracks Down on Internet Access in Ministries
Kokang Crisis Disrupts Border Trade
Webb to Hold Congressional Hearing on US Burma Policy
Body Searches Ordered at Suu Kyi Compound
Singapore banks reject Burma junta cash report
2 banks deny junta’s billions
Suu Kyi and lawyers finalise strategy for appeal
India takes up with Myanmar reports of China ‘base’ in Coco islands
‘Burmese can achieve aspirations under Suu Kyi’s leadership’
In search of a Burmese rebel leader
Webb plans to hold hearing on Myanmar
Oil Firms Accused of Whitewashing Burma Pipeline Abuses by Military Rulers
Inside Burma’s War
ASEAN needs back-up on Suu Kyi
Kokang group ready to participate in 2010 Myanmar vote
Burglar enters Myanmar women’s dormitory but fails to rape them
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Deadline for Chinese to leave ceasefire areas over
News – Shan Herald Agency for News
Friday, 11 September 2009 10:35

The deadline set by Chinese authorities for all Chinese citizens to leave ceasefire areas in Burma ended yesterday.

In the aftermath of the armed conflict between the Burmese Army and the Kokan Army in northern Shan State at the end of August, Chinese authorities fixed a deadline for September 8 for all Chinese to leave the UWSA and NDAA controlled areas.

In terms of topography, the armed conflict area was in territories controlled by these two ceasefire groups.

A source close to Chinese authorities said that “China had set a deadline for September 8 for all Chinese citizens to leave Wa and Mongla areas. The deadline is over but we have to wait and see what happens in this area.”

On September 5, UWSA released a statement relating to the people who live in their controlled areas. The statement declared that they would continue to allow people on duty from international organizations to stay. But Chinese people, who had set up business ventures in their areas, would have to go back to China.

“Chinese businessmen and state employees have left Pang Sang, controlled by UWSA, Mongla, and NDAA,” a source close to ceasefire groups said.

“Chinese businessmen left Mongla and Pang Sang. They took their belongings in cars. Casinos have been closed in Mongla.”

Some Chinese people have gone to the Sino-Burma town of Ruili, an eyewitness said.

“The Chinese from Wa and Mongla arrived in Ruili. Some of them have bought and rented shops for starting business afresh. They said they had moved to carry on their business because the situation had worsened on the Burma border.”

According to analysts, the main reason behind the Chinese people leaving the area was that the Burmese Army could launch military offensives against the remaining ceasefire groups.

In a contradiction junta’s puppet media said that people, who fled the area following clashes in the Kokang area, have been coming back home and the situation in the area had normalized but Chinese businessmen have left  UWSA and NDAA controlled areas. http://www.bnionlin e.net/news/ shan/7016- deadline- for-chinese- to-leave- ceasefire- areas-over. html
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Junta Cracks Down on Internet Access in Ministries
By AUNG THET WINE        Friday, September 11, 2009

Government ministries in Burma have clamped down on civil servants accessing the Internet because of leaked information to Burmese exile media, according to sources in Naypyidaw.

The ministries include the Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Home Affairs, Ministry of Finance and Revenue, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Hotels and Tourism and the Ministry of Industry No.1, said the source.

An employee in the Ministry of Commerce in Naypyidaw said that information from confidential files detailing the work of high officials with foreign countries, especially North Korea, have appeared in the exile media, including The Irrawaddy.

The source said that the order was posted by the ministry’s director-general. Government workers who need to use the Internet now must request permission.

Also, workers are now restricted to using government e-mail accounts assigned to them, and they may not use non-government accounts at work.

Sources said the speed and efficiency of work has been greatly reduced, because people routinely need to access the Internet for information.

A Rangoon civil servant said, “Before I could look at exile media news from my office. But, after exile media reported about Burma’s plans to acquire nuclear technology, they blocked Internet access at our office.”

A computer technician in Rangoon said, “Our government is trying to move backward, while many other developing countries are trying to move forward.

“They often boast that they will implement e-government systems within ministries. If they want to do that, why are they restricting the Internet?” he said.

According to the CIA World Fact Book, there were 70,000 Burmese Internet users in 2007 and 108 internet hosts in 2008, while Thailand had 13.4 million Internet users and 1.1 million Internet hosts in the same period. Internet speed in Burma is normally slow compared to neighboring countries.

Since September 2007, the junta has viewed Internet users as a threat to military control of information. The international community learned of the junta’s brutal crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations in 2008 through reports from private citizens posted on the Internet.

The authorities post notices in Internet shops in Burma that warn customers accessing banned Web sites is against the law.
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16766
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Kokang Crisis Disrupts Border Trade
By KYI WAI       Friday, September 11, 2009

Rangoon — The conflict in the Kokang area near the Sino-Burmese has disrupted border trade and caused shortages of Chinese goods in markets as far away as Rangoon and Mandalay.

The shortages will lead to price rises, according to local traders.
A shopkeeper who sells popular brands of Chinese-made snacks at Rangoon’s Yuzana Plaza in Rangoon said: “If we don’t get fresh supplies by the end of this month, prices will jump.”

Other major Rangoon markets such as Mingala, Nyaung-bin Lay and Thein-gyi also report shortages of Chinese goods. One trader said supplies of food, medicine and electronic equipment had dropped in the past 10 days by one-third.

A Chinese trader in Nyaung-bin Lay market said supplies of Chinese-made formula milk powder, biscuits and dry noodles had run out. Suppliers were reluctant to travel to the Kokang area, he said.

“No one dares to go to the border, because we are still receiving information that the situation in that area is still not good,” said a Mingala market trader. “So, there are no new imports. We are buying supplies from other local traders from Muse and Mandalay. I am sure prices will rise.”

In Mandalay, a trader said 70 percent of the consumer goods in local markets came from China.

“We still have some consumer goods in storage to last the next two or three months,” he said. “But we don’t know when we can get fresh supplies. So, we have to sell things very carefully.”

The trader also thought prices were bound to rise.

Some traders with long experience of market conditions fear that the Kokang conflict could have long-term effects on the Burmese economy.

One Mandalay trader said the Kokang crisis was being followed with concern by Burmese-born Chinese.

“If the Wa group gets involved in this conflict, it will get much worse,” he said. “My relatives in Lashio live in fear, because Burmese government troops are collecting people at night and forcing them to be army porters. Half the population in Lashio are Kokang and Wa.”

The trader said government forces in Northern Shan State are selectively conscripting only Chinese, Kokang and Wa people as porters to be used in the front line.

Meanwhile, the state-run newspaper Myanma Alin reported on Thursday that the Kokang area is now peaceful and stable. The refugees who fled into neighboring China are returning and 14,253 had so far crossed back into Burma, the newspaper said.

Myanma Alin also reported that the authorities are selling chicken and fish cheaply to residents of Laogai, the Kokang capital. Local stores, shops and market are open for business as usual.

The newspaper said government troops were digging new drains and working on other municipal projects for Laogai.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy. org
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16767
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Webb to Hold Congressional Hearing on US Burma Policy
By LALIT K JHA   Friday, September 11, 2009

US Sen Jim Webb, a strong advocate of lifting economic sanctions against Burma’s military junta, announced on Friday that he plans to hold a congressional hearing on the impact and effectiveness of US policy toward Burma.

Webb, who serves as the chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations, visited Burma last month, when he met with Snr-Gen Than Shwe, who heads the ruling regime, as well as pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

He was the first US lawmaker to visit the country in a decade.

Since his return from Burma, Webb has been seeking to ease US economic sanctions against the country by arguing that they have not worked and have only helped China to gain more space in Burma.

“Senator Webb intends a comprehensive hearing to examine Burma’s current economic and political situation and to seek testimony regarding that country’s long history of internal turmoil and ethnic conflicts,” said a statement issued by his office.

The hearing will evaluate the effectiveness of US policy toward Burma, with a focus on US-imposed economic sanctions that have not been matched by other countries. It will also discuss what role the United States can and should play in promoting democratic reform in Burma, and hear testimony on how to frame a new direction for US-Burma relations.

The names of those who will testify at the hearing were not released.

During his recent visit, Webb also told key leaders in Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam that they and other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations should join together in calling on the Burmese leadership to free Suu Kyi from house arrest and allow her to fully participate in elections scheduled for 2010.

Webb was the first American official ever to meet with Than Shwe. During his visit, he secured the release of US citizen John Yettaw, who had been sentenced to seven years’ imprisonment for illegally entering Suu Kyi’s home.

On Thursday, New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the US government in a letter sent to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that the US should immediately conclude its Burma policy review and take initiatives to make its policies on diplomacy, sanctions and humanitarian assistance more successful.

HRW also said generalized sanctions on Burma that have had little or no impact and have not targeted policy makers and human rights violators should be reconsidered and phased out at an appropriate time.

“Delays in announcing a new Burma policy could encourage Burmese military leaders to believe the US is weakening its commitment to human rights and pluralism,” said Brad Adams, the Asia director of HRW.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy. org
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 16764
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Body Searches Ordered at Suu Kyi Compound
By KO HTWE       Friday, September 11, 2009

Security guards at the compound of Aung San Suu Kyi in Rangoon now conduct body searches, according to Nyan Win, one of her lawyers, who visited her on Thursday.

“Suu Kyi said the tighter security is not appropriate,” Nyan Win said. He met with Suu Kyi to discuss her appeal, which is scheduled to be heard on Sept. 18.

“There are many security guards outside the compound. In the compound there are only three women. If one lady leaves the compound, they make a record. Suu Kyi said the security is too much,” Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy on Friday.

“Only one person at a time is allowed inside Suu Kyi’s compound. I can not tell the number of guards exactly. When you go in and come out they do a body search,” he said.

Security around Suu Kyi’s compound was increased after she returned home from Insein Prison last month, following her conviction and 18-month sentence under house arrest.

Meanwhile, diplomats in Rangoon and Bangkok have asked Burma’s ruling junta to allow Suu Kyi to receive diplomatic visitors.

Suu Kyi was convicted of violation of the terms of her house arrest after she allowed an American intruder to spend two days at her home.

The leader of the National League for Democracy, Burma’s main opposition party, Suu Kyi has been detained for more than 14 of the past 20 years.
Copyright © 2008 Irrawaddy Publishing Group | www.irrawaddy. org

http://www.irrawadd y.org/print_ article.php? art_id=16765
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Singapore banks reject Burma junta cash report
Writer: AFP
Published: 11/09/2009 at 03:01 PM

Two Singapore banks have rejected a report by a US-based rights group that said Burma’s ruling junta deposited billions of dollars with them.

Myanmese soldiers on parade duringan event in the country’s administrative capital. Two Singapore banks have rejected a report by a US-based rights group that said Burma’s ruling junta deposited billions of dollars with them.

DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) said in separate statements late Thursday that there was no truth in the report by EarthRights International (ERI).

“ERI’s report is categorically untrue and without basis,” a DBS spokesperson said in the brief statement.

A spokesperson from OCBC also rejected the report.

EarthRights International had said in a report released Thursday that energy giants Total and Chevron were propping up the Burma military regime with a gas project that allowed the junta to stash almost five billion US dollars in the two Singaporean banks.

The report said the junta had kept the revenues earned from the project off the national budget and stashed almost all of the money offshore with DBS and OCBC.

“Total and Chevron’s Yadana gas project has generated 4.83 billion dollars for the Burmese regime,” one of the reports said, adding that the figures for the period 2000-2008 were the first ever detailed account of the revenues.

“The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the peoples’ revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia,” said Matthew Smith, a principal author of the report.

French energy giant Total has also rejected the report, saying the document was riddled with errors and false interpretations.  http://www.bangkokp ost.com/news/ asia/154048/ singapore- banks-reject- burma-junta- cash-report
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Sep 11, 2009
2 banks deny junta’s billions

TWO Singapore banks have rejected a report by a US-based rights group that said Myanmar’s ruling junta deposited billions of dollars with them.

DBS Group Holdings and Oversea-Chinese Banking Corp (OCBC) said in separate statements late on Thursday that there was no truth in the report by EarthRights International (ERI).

‘ERI’s report is categorically untrue and without basis,’ a DBS spokesman said in the brief statement.

A spokesman from OCBC also rejected the report.

EarthRights International had said in a report released on Thursday that energy giants Total and Chevron were propping up the Myanmar military regime with a gas project that allowed the junta to stash almost US$5 billion in the two Singaporean banks.

The report said the junta had kept the revenues earned from the project off the national budget and stashed almost all of the money offshore with DBS and OCBC.

‘Total and Chevron’s Yadana gas project has generated US$4.83 billion for the Burmese regime,’ one of the reports said, adding that the figures for the period 2000-2008 were the first ever detailed account of the revenues.

‘The military elite are hiding billions of dollars of the peoples’ revenue in Singapore while the country needlessly suffers under the lowest social spending in Asia,’ said Mr Matthew Smith, a principal author of the report.

French energy giant Total has also rejected the report, saying the document was riddled with errors and false interpretations. — AFP
http://www.straitst imes.com/ Breaking% 2BNews/Singapore /Story/STIStory_ 428390.html
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Suu Kyi and lawyers finalise strategy for appeal
(AP)

11 September 2009
YANGON — Myanmar’s detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was in good spirits during a strategy session with lawyers in which they finalized 11 grounds for appealing her conviction for breaking the terms of her house arrest, lawyers said Friday.

The 64-year-old opposition leader was convicted on Aug. 11 of violating the terms of her earlier detention after an American intruder stayed at her home. The court sentenced Suu Kyi to three years in prison with hard labor, but that sentence was commuted to 18 months of house arrest by the junta chief, Senior Gen. Than Shwe.

Lawyers met with Suu Kyi at her home for two hours Thursday to plan next Friday’s scheduled appeal at the Divisional Court in Yangon.

“She is well, and she’s very lively and jovial,” lawyer Nyan Win said. “She was cracking jokes with us during our meeting.”

It was not yet clear if Suu Kyi will attend the appeal or be represented by lawyers, Nyan Win said.

During the meeting, lawyers were allowed to give Suu Kyi reading material, including the latest editions of Time and Newsweek magazines, after the publications were screened by authorities, he said.

“This is the first time she had been allowed to receive books since she was sent back home,” Nyan Win said.

According to the eight-point terms of her new house arrest, Suu Kyi is allowed to read state-controlled newspapers and magazines, but anything else must get approval.

The Nobel Peace laureate has been detained for 14 of the past 20 years for her nonviolent political activities, but last month marked the first time she faced criminal charges.

Suu Kyi’s lawyers have never contested the facts of the case against her. The main point of their appeal is that the law authorities used against her is invalid because it applies to a constitution abolished two decades ago.

Lawyers will also argue that the lower court misinterpreted Suu Kyi’s previous restriction order, which says she cannot communicate with the outside world by phone or mail — but the order should not be applied in the case of the American’s uninvited entry to her home.

The appeal will also argue that judges and police officers illegally entered Suu Kyi’s home when they brought John Yettaw back to re-enact his crime while Suu Kyi was being detained in prison, Nyan Win said, adding the law states authorities must notify Suu Kyi prior to entering her home.

Suu Kyi earlier described the conviction as unfair and the court’s assessment of the case as unjust.

Yettaw was sentenced to seven years in prison but released on humanitarian grounds and deported Aug. 16.

Suu Kyi’s sentence ensures she cannot participate in elections scheduled for next year. Her party swept the last elections in 1990 but the results were never honored by the military, which has ruled the country since 1962.  http://www.khaleejt imes.com/ displayarticle. asp?xfile= data/internation al/2009/Septembe r/international_ September521. xml&section=internation al&col =
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India takes up with Myanmar reports of China ‘base’ in Coco islands
Kolkata, September 10, 2009
First Published: 20:44 IST(10/9/2009)
Last Updated: 20:48 IST(10/9/2009)

India has taken up with Myanmar reports of China having a maritime ‘base’ in the strategic Coco islands near the Andamans islands but was told there is no movement of the Chinese Navy in the area, a top Naval officer said on Thursday.

The officer also said the Navy had no report of any Chinese presence in the Indian waters near the Andaman and Nicobar islands.

“There is no report of any Chinese movement in our waters in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands,” Flag Officer Commanding-in- Chief of the Eastern Naval Command Vice Admiral Anup Singh said when asked about reports of Chinese incursion into Indian waters.

On reports of Chinese presence in the Coco Islands near the Andamans, Singh said India had taken up the issue with Myanmar which has jurisdiction over the island, but the latter had denied the report.

“We have had a dialogue with the Myanmar government which has clarified there is no Chinese presence in Coco islands,” he added.

Coco Islands are a pair of strategically important islands located in the eastern Indian Ocean, politically administered by Myanmar under Yangon Division. Geographically, they are a part of the Andaman Islands archipelago and separated from the North Andaman Island (India) by the 20-km wide Coco Channel.

Singh, who was talking to newsmen after the commissioning ceremony of two Water Jet propelled Fast Attack Craft, said fishing trawlers from neighbouring countries occasionally forayed into the Indian waters but they were intercepted by the Coast Guards.  http://www.hindusta ntimes.com/ News/india/ India-takes- up-with-Myanmar- reports-of- China-base- in-Coco-islands/ Article1- 452370.aspx
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‘Burmese can achieve aspirations under Suu Kyi’s leadership’
Published by: Noor Khan
Published: Thu, 10 Sep 2009 at 22:04 IST

New Delhi, Sept 10 Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama today hoped that Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi will not be kept captive by the military rulers for long and said under her leadership the people of that country will achieve their aspirations.

In a message at a panel discussion ‘Aung San Suu Kyi — Symbol of Democracy’, he said, “It is my hope that Aung San Suu Kyi will not be kept captive for long and that under her leadership the people of Burma will soon achieve their aspirations for which she worked so hard and so courageously.”

The discussion was organised by Lady Shri Ram College, of which Suu Kyi was an alumni in 1964.

Speaking at the forum, Thin Thin Aung, leader of the Women’s League of Burma in India, said “Indian diplomats talk only with military generals in Myanmar and never had any kind of interaction with Myanmarese. So they do not know the ground reality and democratic aspirations of the people.”

She appealed for more support from the Indian government.

Advocating a realistic approach to the Burmese issue, G Parthasarthy, former Indian Ambassador to Myanmar, criticised the demand for sanctions on Myanmar.

“Economic sanctions only affect the common people. They do not affect the generals. Moreover, the coalition that Suu Kyi formed years ago is fragmented now,” he said.

Reacting to Parthasarthy’ s view, Aung said Suu Kyi is the only leader who can unite all ethnic groups in Myanmar. “The military junta feared of it and that is the reason for keeping her under house arrest till now,” she said.  http://www.samayliv e.com/news/ burmese-can- achieve-aspirati ons-under- suu-kyis- leadership/ 655948.html
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Friday, 11 September 2009 01:03 UK
In search of a Burmese rebel leader

By Ko Ko Aung
BBC Burmese Service

Fighter from the PAO ethnic group in Burma
The Pao say they must fight to keep their own cultural identity

After flying half-way across the world I finally arrived at a rebel camp on the Thai-Burmese border on my quest to track down the elusive leader of the Pao National Liberation Army, Khun Thurein.

It took months of planning to meet the man, who with his force of just 100 men, is taking on the might of the Burmese military.

The men who follow him are all from a small ethnic minority group called the Pao. They have their own language, music, customs and traditional dress.

But they say the Burmese government is trying to destroy their culture. That’s why two years ago Khun Thurein and his men dusted off their arms and began fighting once again.

In one recent ambush, Khun Thurein’s men say they killed 12 Burmese soldiers.

The Pao are one of more than 100 different ethnic minorities in Burma. Most of them negotiated a ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government more than two decades ago.

Despite the Pao’s own ceasefire agreement with the Burmese government in 1994, the Pao feel their culture is gradually disappearing.

As I waited to meet the elusive Khun Thurein, I decided to visit some rebel outposts inside Burma.

At one of the Pao rebel camps high in the mountains, I came across Khun Tun Kyaw.

He said he witnessed his dad being brutally murdered by Burmese soldiers and pro-government militias in 1993.

He vividly described how his father was “hanged from a tree, his stomach was cut open, his genitals were severed and stuffed into his mouth, and two bullets were pushed into each of his ears”.

It’s not the first time I’ve heard of such atrocities, but on this occasion I was lost for words.

Refugees

Many Pao felt they had no choice but to flee across the border to Thailand.

Many of them have ended up at the Ban Nai Soi refugee camp which was a couple hours drive away.

Some people have been living there for 15 years or longer, but several told me that they still missed Burma.

They might eventually find their way to another country, but it seems they will not find their way back to Burma where they really belong – simply because it is not safe, even in areas where the ceasefire still holds.

During my visit to the camp I met Ma San Thu, who explained why she joined Khun Thurein’s army as a medic.

She told me about a nine-year-old girl who she treated who had been raped by a Burmese government soldier.

She said: “We complained but our leaders stopped us from speaking out. So the resentment just grew. This kind of thing happens very often, so we started to think why can’t we defend our people.”

The rebel leader

By this time I had received my long-awaited summons to meet the man himself – Khun Thurein.

His jungle headquarters was just on the other side of the border inside Burma.

The Burmese government is a fraction of the strength of the British Empire. So I believe that we can beat them
Khun Thurein

I was the first journalist to be invited into Khun Thurein’s camp, and he was anxious to take me on a tour.

As we headed out he explained that the Burmese government has been trying to establish a “Burmese mono-culture” in the country.

“Our leaders wanted peace and democracy. They wanted to sort out the political problems by political means. We never had a chance to sort the problems politically, so I thought the Burmese government would eliminate us.”

Khun Thurein told me that he was well aware of the risk he was taking.

“We were under British colonial rule for 100 years. We fought them to reclaim our independence. The Burmese government [is a] fraction of the strength of the British Empire. So I believe that we can beat them.”

Khun Thurein’s wife admitted that she was very worried, and didn’t know what would happen.

After all, it would take just one successful strike to wipe out Khun Thurein’s entire force of just 100 men.

But, he said, “I would rather die fighting than bowing down to the pressure of the Burmese military regime to lay down arms without a political solution.” http://news. bbc.co.uk/ 2/hi/asia- pacific/8247084. stm
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Webb plans to hold hearing on Myanmar

WASHINGTON, Sept. 10 (UPI) –

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., who just returned from a two-week trip to Southeast Asia, says he plans to hold a hearing on U.S. relations with Myanmar.

Webb, who also visited Vietnam and Thailand, was the first member of the U.S. Congress to travel to the country formerly known as Burma in a decade and the first U.S. official ever to meet Senior Gen. Than Shwe, the country’s leader. He also met Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader who has been under house arrest almost continuously for years, and was able to secure the release of Jon Yettaw, a U.S. citizen convicted of illegally visiting Suu Kyi.

The senator is chairman of the East Asia and Pacific Affairs Subcommittee of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations.

The hearing will focus on the effect of U.S. economic sanctions against Burma, which have not been matched by other countries, a statement from Webb’s office says. Webb also wants to look at possible new direction for U.S. policy toward Myanmar that could be more effective in bringing democratic change.

Copyright 2009 by United Press International  http://www.timesoft heinternet. com/109403. html
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Oil Firms Accused of Whitewashing Burma Pipeline Abuses by Military Rulers
By Daniel Schearf
Bangkok
10 September 2009

Workers at Total’s billion-dollar gas project in southeastern Burma for the construction of a controversial natural gas pipeline from the Yadana field (1996 file)
Workers at Total’s billion-dollar gas project in southeastern Burma for the construction of a controversial natural gas pipeline from the Yadana field (1996 file)
A human rights group has accused Western oil firms of whitewashing abuses connected with a gas pipeline in Burma. The group also says Burma’s military government has siphoned billions of dollars from the project, helping to keep them in power.

EarthRights International says security forces for the Yadana gas pipeline running from Burma to Thailand confiscated land, forced villagers into labor, and even murdered.

The U.S.-based rights group made the accusations in two reports released to journalists in Bangkok.

The group says French oil firms Total and American Chevron, the main investors in the pipeline, used inaccurate and misleading information to give favorable assessments of the project’s effect on villages.

Matthew Smith is a Burma project coordinator with EarthRights International. He says there is a strong case for complicity in the abuses.

“In this case, the impact assessments that were commissioned by Total … these impact assessments [were] primarily used as a public relations tool by the companies,” he said.

A spokeswoman for Total told VOA the company received the report Thursday and the allegations are being studied. She said it would be premature to have an official response at this time.

Total had denied earlier reports of forced labor in the pipeline area.

Chevron did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

EarthRights International says Burma’s military government has siphoned nearly $5 billion from the gas revenues and hidden them in two Singapore banks.

Smith says the laundered funds are helping Burma’s military rulers to avoid the effects of economic sanctions.

“As long as the military regime has easy access to these funds in Singapore, we feel like it has little incentive to change,” he said. “And, we are encouraging the international community to use this as a leverage point to support the people of Burma.”

The two banks, the Overseas Chinese Banking Corporation and the DBS Group, both denied the allegations.   http://www.voanews. com/english/ 2009-09-10- voa9.cfm
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Monday, Sep. 21, 2009
Inside Burma’s War
By Hannah Beech / Laiza

Duct tape holds together his Chinese-made assault rifle, and the mosquito net in his rucksack gapes with so many holes that it practically invites dengue- and malaria-carrying insects to feast on his body. Felix has never fought in the jungles of northeastern Burma, where a rebel army is preparing for war with one of Asia’s largest militaries. With no heavy artillery and little more than flip-flops and used flashlights to give their recruits, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA) can only depend on guerrilla tactics to deter soldiers of the Burmese military regime. The 24-year-old cadet at the KIA’s military academy, deep in the monsoon-drenched hills of Kachin state, juts his chin out, blinks back tears and announces he is ready for deployment. “I am shaking very hard inside,” he tells me, his voice trembling. “But I have a responsibility to complete my mission.”

Felix was promoted to active duty last month, when tensions reached fever pitch between Burma’s ruling junta and various armed ethnic groups in the country’s northern borderlands. In late August, the military regime unexpectedly overran the army of the nearby Kokang minority, sending some 30,000 refugees spilling into neighboring China. Now other ethnic militias who control various jigsaw-puzzle pieces of northeastern Burma — the Kachin, the Wa, the Eastern Shan — are reinforcing their ragged armies and playing a terrifying guessing game: Who’s next on the junta’s hit list? (Read “A Closer Look at Burma’s Ethnic Minorities.”)

Two decades after Burma’s army dictatorship reached an uneasy peace with a patchwork of ethnic militias, the country is again poised on the brink of civil war. The junta has long maintained a tense relationship with the up to 40% of the country’s population that is composed of ethnic minorities. When Burma won independence from the British in 1948, political groups representing some of the country’s 130-plus ethnicities agreed to join the union in exchange for autonomy. But uprisings quickly proliferated in the country’s vast frontier, only worsening after the military regime wrested control of the country in 1962 and began limiting ethnic freedoms. Beginning in 1989, cease-fires were signed with 17 rebel militias, and certain ethnicities were granted a measure of self-rule. The junta claimed victory for having united one of the world’s most diverse countries — and promptly began mining the natural resources that abounded in tribal regions.

With nationwide elections slated for next year, Burma’s ethnic minorities may soon lose what little sovereignty they have left. The junta claims the polls are the final step in creating what it calls a “discipline-flourish ing democracy,” after it ignored the results of the last elections back in 1990. International human-rights groups, however, decry the process as little more than a choreographed exercise designed to legitimize the junta and stamp out any threats to its power. In April, the Burmese government informed the cease-fire groups that as part of the electoral run-up they would have to refashion their armies as part of a centrally controlled border guard force, the first step in what many fear will be the death knell to ethnic autonomy. The deadline to accede to the regime’s demand is October. Most ethnic groups have already responded with a firm no — among them the Kachin and the Kokang, whose two-decade cease-fire with the Burmese abruptly ended last month when junta forces invaded its tiny territory. The ease with which the Kokang were defeated presumably buoyed the junta, many of whose members gained their battlefield experience against ethnic militias. “Everyone in the West talks about democracy and [Nobel Peace Prize laureate] Aung San Suu Kyi,” says Aung Kyaw Zaw, a Burmese military expert and former communist rebel living in exile in China’s Yunnan province. “But the junta’s biggest enemy is not her. It is the ethnics.” (Read “Burma Court Finds Aung San Suu Kyi Guilty.”)

The renewed threat of civil war in Burma isn’t just an internal problem. The country’s minorities are concentrated in its borderlands, and in recent weeks, as the junta has surged into rebel territory, tens of thousands of ethnic refugees have poured into Thailand and China.

Beyond the international humanitarian crisis also lies a potential economic one. Neighboring nations are increasingly dependent on Burma’s resources, and most of the country’s natural wealth — from jade and timber to hydropower and natural gas — is concentrated in the tribal regions. The planned route for a Chinese-financed project of dual natural-gas and oil pipelines, for instance, begins in an ethnically troubled part of western Burma’s Arakan state and runs past the part of Shan state where fighting raged last month in Kokang. Construction of the Shwe pipeline project, the biggest ever foreign investment commitment to Burma, was supposed to begin this month, but ethnic skirmishes may imperil that schedule. Reports are also trickling in from Kachin state, where dam projects funded by foreign investors are suspending operations because of potential violence. Little wonder that Beijing, which usually shields Burma from any formal criticism by the U.N., publicly condemned the Kokang assault, warning that the junta should “properly handle domestic problems and maintain stability in the … border region.”

Law of the Jungle
To get to the KIA’s mountainous stronghold of Laiza, I first traveled deep into China’s southwestern Yunnan province, to a small trading settlement called Nabang. Even though the border town is in China, many of its residents wore Burmese longyis, or sarongs, and women’s faces were painted beige with the thanaka paste used in Burma as a skin salve. Despite the occasional truck rumbling past overloaded with teak logs from Burma, Nabang felt like it was just emerging from an opium-induced nap.

But a quick splash across a few bamboo planks strewn across a river and I entered another world. Laiza was very much awake, a hair-trigger atmosphere only heightened by the fact that practically every teenaged boy appeared to have a machine gun slung over his shoulder. Soldiers from the KIA’s mobile brigade materialized from the sub-tropical canopy, stealthy as the tigers that prowl Kachin state. As my jeep climbed up a mountain path, I passed teenagers with the hardened gazes of men trudging toward a military-recruiting office. The number of youth who have volunteered to enlist has skyrocketed, as the drumbeat of war with Burma’s junta escalates. (Read “Why Violence Erupted on the China-Burma Border.”)

Many of these youngsters fit Hollywood casting for Southeast Asian guerrillas: scrawny, scrappy adolescents who show no sign of needing a shave anytime soon. But Felix, who sidled up to me as I watched the KIA academy cadets run through their drills, disturbed the easy image of a militia conscripting hungry boys in return for a fistful of rice. Armed with a university degree in international relations, Felix speaks fluent English and expresses himself eloquently on political philosophy. But as an ethnic Kachin — an ethnicity more than 1 million strong, famed for its fortitude while serving on the Allied side in World War II — Felix knows his chances of succeeding in junta-controlled Burma are as slender as the jungle vines KIA soldiers sometimes eat to survive. So he has joined other disillusioned university graduates among the KIA ranks. “Some people say we must have dialogue with the SPDC,” he says, referring to the junta by its Orwellian-sounding moniker, the State Peace and Development Council. “But that is a snail’s pace. The only thing the SPDC understands is force, so we must meet their force with ours.”

Ethnic Tinderbox
Although the Burmese majority faces plenty of repression, there’s no question that the junta reserves its worst brutality for ethnic groups. International human-rights organizations have documented a wide array of abuses against minorities, ranging from forced labor and army conscription to mass rape and village relocations that have displaced 500,000 people in eastern Burma alone. Complicating matters, some ethnic groups are not Buddhist in a country where the junta celebrates that faith and often persecutes those who do not. (The Kachin, Chin and many Karen, for example, are Christian.) Career trajectories for many ethnic minorities are stunted. Despite their proud martial tradition, Kachin know it’s nearly impossible to rise in the Burmese army beyond the junior rank of captain.

In recent months, the decades of persistent discrimination have spawned an unusual alliance between four armed ethnic groups: the KIA, the United Wa State Army, the Eastern Shan State Army (also known as the Mongla army) and the Kokang Army. The junta’s lightning strike on the Kokang capital Laogai, which is estimated to have caused some 200 civilian casualties, left the other alliance members ill-equipped to respond immediately. But exile groups in China and Thailand are reporting that the Wa — which, with some 25,000 foot soldiers and an arsenal of heavy artillery, is the strongest of the rebel armies — is providing support to the shreds of Kokang forces still fighting, as well as giving sanctuary to Kokang leader Peng Jiasheng. With the junta reinforcing troop levels in the country’s north, another ethnic militia, the Karen National Liberation Army in eastern Burma, hopes to recuperate after a devastating series of losses earlier this summer.

Cohesion among the ethnic groups, which spent considerable time fighting one another as well as the junta, could change the nature of battle in Burma. At the KIA’s self-styled Pentagon, a collection of simple concrete buildings on a breezy hilltop, members of other ethnic groups have come to be schooled in military tactics from one of the most tenacious rebel militias. One youth leader from the western state of Arakan spoke to me in smooth, American-inflected English. “I need to do something practical,” he said. “I need to prepare for war. Politics in this country is crap. It’s just a way for the SPDC to stay in power.”

The Politics of Money
As they face the possibility of renewed conflict, leaders of some of the ethnic militias aren’t just looking out for their downtrodden populaces. They’re also protecting their own interests in a region that, after all, extends into the infamous Golden Triangle. Starved of other economic means, some rebel armies have resorted to dubious funding schemes, like selling opium, illegal timber and methamphetamines. During the ceasefire period, the junta largely turned a blind eye to such businesses, which financed spacious villas and golf courses for some ethnic commanders.

When U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari visited Burma in 2007, one of the people he met was Kokang honcho Peng, who was trotted out to represent the junta’s amity with ethnic groups. But this summer, Peng publicly rejected the idea of turning his army into a border force. By early August, the junta was accusing Peng of being behind an illegal arms-and-drugs factory. The illicit activity, claimed the regime, compelled it to invade Kokang turf, even though the warlord’s business proclivities had been an open secret for years. Indeed, both the Eastern Shan and Wa are also believed to have financed themselves through such shady means; the latter’s southern commander, Wei Hsueh-kang, has been singled out by the U.S. Treasury Department as a major drug trafficker. Indeed, one battle-avoiding option for the junta is luring corrupt ethnic elders to its side. “Divide-and-conquer tactics are the SPDC’s best friend,” says KIA Brigadier General Gun Maw. (Read about the 2007 crackdown in Burma.)

The complicated ethnic landscape puts Burma’s giant neighbor, China, in a bind. Over the past few years, tens of thousands of Chinese businesspeople have fanned across Burma, setting up trading companies and filling downtowns with signs in Chinese characters. Much of the recent Chinese influx is in ethnic areas, where rebel groups have also come to rely on Chinese-made arms to continue their struggle against the junta. (The Chinese, however, are an equal-opportunity weapons dealer, supplying the junta with much of its military hardware.)

With the possibility of war breaking out along its long border with Burma, China is finding that its presumption of easy political influence down south may have been misplaced. High-level Chinese emissaries, say Burmese analysts, recently visited Burma to warn the junta to avoid any border instability in the run-up to the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic of China on Oct. 1. The Kokang attack, which reportedly came as a surprise to Beijing, was seen as a direct defiance of that admonition. Since the Kokang clash, Chinese troop levels have doubled along sections of the usually porous border, and China’s Defense Minister embarked on an emergency trip to Chengdu, whose regional army command covers the Burma border region.

Clash of Titans
It’s perhaps no surprise that the junta is wary of Chinese influence, notwithstanding the two nations’ growing economic ties. For decades, Beijing financially supported communist rebels in northern Burma, even at one point sending People’s Liberation Army troops to reinforce their Burmese brothers in arms. For the fervently anticommunist junta, memories of this Chinese patronage are still fresh. It also doesn’t help Burmese nationalism that large parts of Mandalay, the country’s second largest city and historic royal capital, have turned into a giant Chinatown. “The SPDC wants to remake its image as the new great kings of Burma,” says Aung Kyaw Zaw, the former communist rebel who now lives in Yunnan. “So even if they take advantage of China for business reasons, they don’t want any foreigners interfering in their kingdom.”

That notion of a Burmese kingdom has already been threatened by the country’s ethnic minorities. In the 1990 elections that the military disregarded, its proxy party was trounced by Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy. But what’s often forgotten about those polls is that the parties that finished second and third in terms of parliamentary seats were ethnic ones from Shan and Arakan states, respectively. (The military party came in fourth.) Burma’s generals surely want to avoid a repeat of that ethnic electoral success.

Back in the hills of Laiza, as mosquitoes began to swarm in the late afternoon, I met Lieutenant Colonel Hkam Sa, who runs a training course for KIA officers. He has been with the rebel army since 1963, just two years after it was formed. For the first time since the KIA signed its cease-fire with the junta 15 years ago, he canceled classes and sent his battalion commanders back to active duty. “When I joined the KIA, I was 17 years old and I thought that Burma would end in the flames of civil war,” he told me. “Today, if you ask me the same question, I will give you the same answer: Burma will end up in civil war.” If he’s right, the hills of northern Burma will crackle with gunfire once again, and Felix will be heading off to battle.

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ASEAN needs back-up on Suu Kyi
Simon Tay | September 11, 2009
Article from:  The Australian

THE recent decision by Burma’s government to sentence pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi to a further 18 months’ house arrest shows how difficult it is to deal with that country’s ruling generals. Yet the first steps towards a new approach may already have been taken.

The clearest sign comes from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, of which Burma is a member. At first, most of ASEAN’s member governments responded mildly to the verdict, expressing their “disappointment” – a stance that reflects the group’s principle of non-interference in fellow members’ internal politics.

But Thai Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya then consulted his counterparts in Cambodia, Indonesia, Singapore and Vietnam. As current ASEAN chairman, he floated the idea of requesting a pardon for Suu Kyi.

ASEAN government officials have since met to draft a text. Approval by the association’ s foreign ministers may come this month and ASEAN leaders may tackle the issue next month.

Of course, amendments and objections to the draft should be expected. But the pardon request is already significant. It seeks to be finely balanced, respecting the regime’s sovereignty while subtly pressing home the point in unison, as neighbouring states. The request would be politely worded, but it would also be an official and public mode of communication, instead of the usual behind-the-scenes quiet diplomacy.

What ASEAN says or does not say will not change things immediately. Cynics might add that even if Suu Kyi is pardoned, she may yet be detained on political grounds or face other barriers aimed at preventing her from competing in the elections promised in Burma next year.

But Western sanctions have not worked either. Since the 1990s crackdown, human rights violations have continued, most recently with the suppression of the protests led by Buddhist monks in 2007. The average citizen has grown poorer, even as those close to the junta become ostentatiously rich.

Western sanctions paved the way for investments in Burma by those less concerned about human rights violations – first by ASEAN neighbours in hotels and other sectors, and more recently by China and India, which are vying for projects and influence in the energy sector. As a result, Burma’s generals have been able to play one side off against another.

The game, however, may now be changing. ASEAN’s initiative is a new step forward for the group. While ASEAN rejected previous calls to impose sanctions, or even to expel Burma, this step shows it will not remain inert, regardless of what the generals do. Moreover, some ASEAN member countries, such as Singapore, have called for Suu Kyi to be allowed to participate in next year’s elections.

The ASEAN effort coincides with two other developments. One is the decision by the US to reconsider its policy of sanctions, becoming more flexible while remaining true to its values and interests.

Some activists have criticised US senator Jim Webb’s journey to Rangoon to obtain the release of John Yettaw, the American whose actions triggered the charges against Suu Kyi. But this is consistent with the Obama administration’ s policy of seeking a dialogue even with those who are not America’s friends. Such dialogue is vital if Burma is to be prevented from possibly pursuing nuclear weapons and rigging elections, a la Iran.

The other development is less obvious. After the court delivered its verdict, the regime halved the sentence and agreed to keep Suu Kyi under house arrest, rather than in one of its worst jails. This may not seem like much of a concession, but the junta seems to be trying to cause less offence.

Consider, too, the junta’s gesture in handing over Yettaw to Webb, and its interaction with the international community on humanitarian assistance after Cyclone Nargis. Might it be possible the generals in Burma recognise they are in a cul de sac? Could the regime be seeking ways out of its isolation in the run-up to the elections? Could it welcome dialogue and engagement?

How the generals respond to the ASEAN request will be an important signal of the regime’s intentions. Even if it does want to begin talks, sustaining a dialogue will be no easier than has been the case with North Korea.

ASEAN, as the organisation of neighbouring states, is important to achieving that goal, but US involvement is key, as is inclusion of China and India. They must be pressed to see more than the opportunity for strategic access to energy and other natural resources. Japan, as the largest Asian economy and a traditional donor to the region, must also play a role.

A moral but pragmatic community needs to be constructed, with all in agreement on how to deal with Burma.

If this can be done, the chances of progress before the elections will be strengthened. Success may still prove elusive, but a new game with a greater possibility for success will have begun.

Simon Tay is chairman of the Singapore Institute of International Affairs and an Asia Society fellow
http://www.theaustr alian.news. com.au/story/ 0,25197,26054563 -7583,00. html
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Kokang group ready to participate in 2010 Myanmar vote
(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-11 08:59
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YANGON: The new leader of the Kokang ethnic group has said it will participate in Myanmar elections next year, the first in nearly two decades.

Phe Sauk Chen, appointed head of the newly formed Kokang Region Provisional Leading Committee after the former leaders fled following a skirmish with government troops, said on Tuesday that his group also agreed to join the nation’s border security guards.

The issue of whether to take part in national elections has been a point of contention among ethnic groups, which are being asked to put down their weapons.

So far, the Kachin Independence Organization is the only other ethnic group that has agreed to take part in the elections. Larger ethnic groups like the Wa, which has a militia estimated at over 20,000 fighters, have so far resisted. Critics say the elections are designed to cement the military’s grip on power. Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

The Kokang were the first among 17 armed ethnic groups to reach a peace agreement with the government in March 1989.

Kokang group ready to participate in 2010 Myanmar voteThe Myanmar civil war!
Early last month, Myanmar troops seized an illegal arms factory in the Kokang region, triggering several days of clashes with Kokang ethnic militia that sent more than 30,000 refugees fleeing across the border into China.

Myanmar’s military secured the northeastern region of Kokang late last month and thousands of refugees have since returned to their homes.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Jiang Yu yesterday reaffirmed China’s non-involvement policy in Myanmar’s internal affairs. Jiang was responding to reports that Myanmar’s action to send troops to Kokang region was based on China’s information.

AP-Xinhua http://www.chinadai ly.com.cn/ world/2009- 09/11/content_ 8680221.htm
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Friday September 11, 2009
Burglar enters Myanmar women’s dormitory but fails to rape them
By LOH FOON FONG

KUALA LUMPUR: Seven Myanmar women factory workers were spared the ordeal of rape when a parang-wielding intruder broke into their hostel but could not get an erection.

The man entered the hostel at 2am when the women were fast asleep.

He woke them up before robbing them of their mobile phones and jewellery.

The women, who were all in their 20s, were later ordered to strip but his attempt to rape them was unsuccessful and he left soon after.

Terrified by the incident, the workers refused to continue living in the hostel in Taman Putri Wangsa in Johor Baru.

Myanmar embassy counsellor Ei Ei Tin said the embassy would provide temporary shelter for the women but it wanted the police to arrest the culprit.

“He has not been caught. He had a parang and ordered all of the women to surrender their money and to strip,” she told The Star.

The counsellor said the embassy was writing a letter to the Human Resources Ministry to look into the plight of Myanmar workers in Malaysia.

“We also want the workers to have a safe place and not have 30 people live in one dormitory,” she said.

The seven women who reported the case to the embassy had to live with more than 20 others in another dormitory and this caused a lot of discomfort and could pose a health risk, she said.

Tin urged the agents for foreign workers from Myanmar and their Malaysian counterparts to adhere to the laws in their treatment of workers.

There are 13,0731 registered Myanmar workers in the services, manufacturing and plantation sectors in the country. http://thestar. com.my/news/ story.asp? file=/2009/ 9/11/nation/ 4693097&sec=nation