News & Articles on Burma-Monday, 29 November, 2010-ZIN LIN

News & Articles on Burma
Monday, 29 November, 2010
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Local Journalists Barred from UN Envoy's Press Conference
Only Than Shwe Can Get West to Lift Sanctions
Myanmar forges new trade highway
UN envoy Nambiar asks Myanmar junta to address global concerns
Suu Kyi hopes for UN dialogue
Top junta officers tour front line bases
Security tightened in Kachin capital
MYANMAR: Border guard plan could fuel ethnic conflict
Suu Kyi seeks to review sanctions
Border traders hope for reopening
Refugees Again Pour Into Thailand after Fighting Resumes
Tycoon Zaw Zaw Reportedly Gets Dawei Port Contract


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Local Journalists Barred from UN Envoy's Press Conference
By THE IRRAWADDY Monday, November 29, 2010

Journalists from private media groups in Burma were not allowed to attend a press conference of a United Nation's special envy to Burma held before his departure on Sunday evening, according to sources.

Vijay Nambiar, the chief of staff for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, spoke to foreign reporters inside the international airport in Rangoon about 5 pm, as he was ending a two-day visit in which he met with both government officials and recently released pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Sources said about 20 domestic reporters with official press credentials were not allowed to enter the airport by security personnel. Members of the Rangoon-based foreign correspondents club, however, were permitted to attend the press conference, they said.

On Sunday, the military regime's Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) reportedly informed news journals that the UN special envoy would hold a press conference and the time and place would be announced later.

“Of course reporters were very interested in such an event and hopeful that they would be able to attend,” said a Rangoon-based reporter.

He said the PSRD never informed them, but they were able to learn the location and time. However, security personnel blocked their access to the press conference.

“Security was just an excuse. Reporters should be allowed to get in if they can identify themselves. Reporters from foreign media were allowed, but those from domestic media weren't. That's intentional and mean,” said an editor from a Rangoon-based news journal.

Reporters who were denied access included staff from The Myanmar Times, 7 Day, Venus, The Voice, True News, Weekly Eleven and other news journals.

“We face difficulties in collecting news because the army, police and local authorities all restrict us from doing so. Even if we have news, we have to go through the PSRD before we publish it. We are working under very tight control. The situation may become worse when the new government lead by the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) takes office,” said a reporter, who asked to remain anonymous.

The PSRD suspended nine private journals last week for publishing news about Aung San Suu Kyi that did not follow its guidelines. http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20206
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EDITORIAL
Only Than Shwe Can Get West to Lift Sanctions
Monday, November 29, 2010

Recently, The Irrawaddy published a news piece under the headline “West Waits for Suu Kyi Sanctions Signals.”

“American and European business organizations are reconsidering their position on Burma following the freeing of Aung San Suu Kyi,” the article said, reporting on the growing sense of anticipation that the Nov. 13 release of the Burmese pro-democracy icon might bring an end to a decades-old ban on doing business with the country's military rulers.

“It’s fairly clear that the sanctions haven’t brought political change, but instead have outsourced jobs from US firms to their competitors in other countries that trade freely with Myanmar [Burma],” the article quotes Tami Overby, the US Chamber of Commerce's vice president for Asia, as telling The Wall Street Journal.

“American firms would urge Congress and the [Obama] administration to consider easing the sanctions if Ms. Suu Kyi and the opposition signal an openness to revisions in the sanctions regime,” Overby added.

These remarks betray once again the misguided view held by many in the West that Suu Kyi holds the keys to removing the sanctions against the Burmese junta. Instead of putting this burden on the shoulders of Burma's democratic opposition leader, critics of sanctions should be asking what the regime itself has done to give Western countries a reason to shift their policy.

The answer, of course, is precious little. Suu Kyi has been freed, but that still leaves more than 2,000 other political prisoners languishing in Burma's gulag. If the regime had any interest in getting the West to drop its sanctions, it would, at the very least, unconditionally release all of these detainees.

Sanctions-bashers occasionally pay lip service to the plight of Burma's prisoners of conscience, but their real concern is clearly that they are losing investment opportunities to China and the junta's other greedy regional “partners”.

While sanctions critics often insist that an influx of foreign capital would raise Burma's standard of living, the evidence suggests otherwise. The massive flow of cash coming into the country from around Asia has done nothing to alleviate the desperate poverty of ordinary Burmese, and there's no reason to believe that Western cash would have a more beneficial impact.

Increasingly, however, Western corporations are feeling that they are missing the boat in Burma, and so they are reviving tired old arguments about how their presence in the country would somehow enlighten the generals by introducing them to the ways of the West.

From a purely profit-driven perspective, it's hard to blame them for wanting a piece of the action. China, Thailand, India, Singapore and South Korea have all heavily invested in Burma's primary industries, and new opportunities are opening up in other sectors, including manufacturing.

Chinese companies alone invested US $8 billion in Burma in the first six months of this year, mostly in gas, oil and hydroelectric development projects, according to a Reuters report based on official Burmese statistics.

And neighboring Thailand has even bigger ambitions, with plans to develop a deep-sea port and 64,000-hectare industrial zone in Tavoy, in southern Burma's Tenasserim Division.

The framework concession agreement on the project, signed between Bangkok-based Italian-Thai Development and the Burmese Port Authority, is worth $13.4 billion and is expected to transform the area into a major transport and manufacturing hub.

“We need tons of workers,” said Italian-Thai's president, Premchai Karnasuta, in a recent article by The New York Times. “We will mobilize millions of Burmese.”

What's missing from this, however, is any discussion of how such investment will improve lives in a country that was once one of the most developed in the region, but has since been reduced to a shambles by its inept and avaricious rulers.

Just as they think nothing of locking people up for expressing their opinions, Burma's rulers don't seem too concerned about most citizens' lack of access to basic health care and education. As long as this remains the case, there is no reason to believe that lifting sanctions will serve any purpose other than to enrich Western corporations and, of course, the generals.

So why hold Suu Kyi responsible for the sanctions policy? Although she widely seen as the voice of her people, she is not the conscience of the West, which is obliged by its own professed values, and not the views of one woman, to insist that Burma's rulers respect the rights of its people.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/opinion_story.php?art_id=20203
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ASIA TIMES ONLINE: Nov 30, 2010
Myanmar forges new trade highway
By Clifford McCoy

A multi-billion dollar port and infrastructure deal signed days before Myanmar's general election early this month could signal sweeping changes to the country and the wider region, while also serving as a pointer of how business may prosper under the new "civilian" but still military dominated regime.

The Dawei Development Project agreement between Myanmar and Italian-Thai Development, Thailand's largest construction company, will lead to construction of a deep-sea port and highway linking the two countries, and looks likely to bring to fruition a plan that has been around for more than a decade.

In May 2008, the idea gained new traction when a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed by then-Thai foreign minister Noppadon Pattama and Myanmar Foreign Minister Nyan Win on the sidelines of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers' meeting in Singapore.

This was followed on October 11 this year by an agreement between Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw following talks on the development of the port as a special economic zone.

On November 2 - five days before the Myanmar elections - a deal was signed for the port and infrastructure project between Premchai Kratasuta, chairman of Italian-Thai Development, and Myanmar Port Authority managing director Thein Htay in Naypyidaw.

Italian-Thai in 2008 won a contract from the Myanmar government to survey and build a road linking Dawei with the central Thai city of Kanchanaburi.

Myanmar state media announced at the same time as the signing of the latest deal that a 40,000 hectare plot around Dawei would become Myanmar's first special economic zone (SEZ). In exchange for developing the project, the Myanmar government has granted Italian-Thai import duty exemptions, a 75-year concession to build and operate the heavy industrial portion of the project and a 40-year concession for the light industry part. The concessions can later be extended or revert to Myanmar control. Some observers say the entire project could be worth more than US$58 billion, making it Myanmar's largest singe investment project.

The Dawei Development Project consists of three phases: the construction of a transportation corridor to Thailand as well as roads linking the public utilities and facilities in the industrial zone; the port; and the industrial estate. The first stage is expected to take five years and the final two stages are expected to take another five years with total project completion expected in 2020.

Construction on an eight-lane highway linking the port to the central Thai city of Kanchanaburi is already underway and work is expected to begin on the port in Myanmar in January. Italian-Thai has said the first phase of the project will cost $8 billion with financing already secured from an unnamed private bank. The Thai government is also contributing $60 million toward the highway. The highway from the port will lead 130 kilometers to the Thai border, then on to Kanchanaburi. A rail line will be built parallel to the new road.

Construction plans for Dawei port, the second phase of the project, allow for 22 wharves capable of handling up to 25 vessels at a time of from 20,000 to 50,000 tonnes. Other sources say the port will be capable of handling vessels as large as 300,000 tonnes.

The third phase of the project is the construction of a 40,500-hectare industrial estate. Once completed, the estate will have seven zones; port and heavy industry, petroleum and chemical complex, upstream and downstream petrochemical complex, medium industry, light industry, and a town with homes, public facilities and a commercial complex.

The new port will be offer a shortcut between Europe and the Middle East and Asia. Cargo unloaded at Dawei will avoid the necessity of transiting the Malacca Strait. Several thousand kilometers and up to 10 days could be cut from transit times, lowering transportation costs.

The new port connects with the three economic corridors of the Asian Development Bank's Greater Mekong Sub-Region development project, which aims to create links between the economies of mainland Southeast Asia and China.

Through Myanmar's road network, goods can be shipped north to Moulmein where it intersects the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) through Moulmein, the Myanmar border town of Myawaddy and its Thai counterpart, Mae Sot, through Thailand to Savanakhet in Laos and finally the Vietnamese port of Danang.

To the east, the new transport corridor connects through Bangkok with both the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) and the North-South Economic Corridor (NSEC). The SEC connects Bangkok with Phnom Penh and the port of Sihanoukville in Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City and Vung Tau port in Vietnam. The NSEC links southwestern China and Thailand by routes passing through northern Myanmar and Laos. China is currently funding and facilitating the construction of a railway from Kunming through Laos to the Thai railhead at Nong Khai.

These links represent important trade routes for Chinese goods from its landlocked southwest. They also provide a more rapid route for Vietnamese, Cambodia and Thai goods to Europe by avoiding the journey around Singapore. Plans have also been proposed for a Chinese funded railway linking the new port with China directly through Myanmar.

Support for the project was given a boost by the five members of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) which met for their fourth summit on November 17 in Phnom Penh. ACMECS is a working framework covering Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam aimed at bridging economic gaps between the countries. The group agreed to support the development of a so-called South-South Economic Corridor linking Dawei port with southern Thailand and Malaysia. The route would be linked by rail to the China-Laos railway and a $6.6 billion Chinese-funded railway project from Nong Khai through Bangkok to Padang Besar in northern Malaysia.

Thailand seems to have the most to gain from the Dawei project. Bangkok has aspirations of becoming a regional transportation hub. Thailand remains as Myanmar's top investor as of mid-2010 with some $10.3 billion in projects.

Several Thai companies are involved as sub-contractors or have expressed interest in becoming involved in the project. Amata Corporation has been named as the developer of the industrial estate for which, together with Italian-Thai, the company has carried out a two-year feasibility study. A subsidiary of state-owned PTT Chemical, Thai Tank Terminal, has also expressed interested in operating a storage terminal near the port. Siam Cement Group, Thailand's third-largest company by market value, is also interested in setting up a cement plant at the port. Bangkok Bank is reportedly interested in offering loans for the project.

Contributing reasons for such interest in developing the port are cheap labor and the lax or non-existent environmental laws in Myanmar. Recent environmental laws in Thailand sparked by public concern have slowed expansion of the country's Map Ta Phut petrochemical complex.

A proposal for a project to expand Pak Bara port in Satun province on Thailand's west coast and link via a land bridge to the port of Songkhla on the eastern coast failed to win approval from the office of the National Economic and Social Development Board after protests against the plan in July.

Italian-Thai is seeking investment partners for the Myanmar project and investors from Japan, Taiwan, China, India and South Korea have all reportedly shown interest. The Bangkok Post reported on November 14 that Abhisit sought support for the project on the sidelines of the Group of 20 meeting in Toronto in June. He reportedly encouraged Chinese companies to invest in projects in Amata's planned industrial estate.

For Myanmar, the benefits will come in the form of tens of thousands of jobs that will become available for construction of the project as well as later in the factories and refineries. Myanmar's government will benefit directly from a profit-sharing agreement with Italian-Thai, although the exact terms have not yet been made public.

Not all predictions for the Dawei port project are rosy. Proving the efficiency of these links will be important. Singapore port's proven efficiency could be a problem for the new port. In order to convince shippers that they will truly be saving time and money through the use of Dawei, goods will have to be processed and transshipped to truck and rail carriers speedily. Much also depends on the quality of the rail and road links slated to connect to the port.

Myanmar's road networks are notoriously bad. The portion of the EWEC from the Thai border, funded by Thailand and under construction by Thai companies, is still far from complete after several years of construction.

The routes also run through territory where guerrillas from the Karen National Union operate. They have been largely quiet in the past few years, but renewed pressure on the ethnic groups after the recent elections could result in renewed fighting. The New Mon State Party (NMSP) also has troops in the area. The NMSP's relationship with the government is tenuous after it rejected the regime's plan earlier this year to convert its armed wing into a Border Guard Force under army control before the November 7 elections.

In an example of what could happen, rebel soldiers took over the major border crossing at Myawaddy and a lesser one at Three Pagodas Pass on November 7. The road linking Myawaddy with Moulmein, part of the EWEC, has been the scene of insurgent ambushes in the past and a new route from Dawei could be equally as dangerous as it passes through territory where both the insurgent Karen National Union and the NMSP operate.

There are also concerns about possible human rights violations associated with the project. Numerous human rights reports in the early and mid-1990s detailed the use of tens of thousands of villagers as forced labor on an extension of the Myanmar rail network from the town of Ye to Dawei. Human rights groups allege villagers, including women and children, were forced to work without pay, denied medical attention and beaten and raped by soldiers.

The construction of the Yadana gas pipeline to Thailand by oil and gas companies Total of France and Unocal the United States in the same area drew even more criticism. Extensive documentation of human rights abuses linked to the project during its construction between 1995 and 1998 was produced by rights organizations. A court case in the United States against Unocal was settled out of court for an undisclosed amount of money. Unocal was later bought by Chevron.

Rights groups allege civilians were forcibly relocated to make way for the project and a security corridor around it without compensation. They were also conscripted for forced labor supporting the numerous battalions brought into the area to provided security for the oil companies and the pipeline. According to environmental and human rights organization EarthRights International, some 36,000 villagers were relocated to secure a corridor for the pipeline.

The Independent Mon News Agency, an exile media group, has already reported that its sources indicate the Dawei port project will be constructed where five villages are currently located. Although the inhabitants of the villages have yet to receive orders to relocate, in Myanmar where the government has a history of relocating people for "development" projects with little to no compensation, there is much worry.

The Dawei Development Project, if managed correctly, could be a boon for Myanmar as well as the region. However, as it seems to be shaping up, the project appears based on motives of exploiting Myanmar's cheap labor and environmental laws. While the jobs may be welcome, in the long run it may only be regional companies and Myanmar's generals who profit

Clifford McCoy is a freelance journalist. http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/LK30Ae01.html
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UN envoy Nambiar asks Myanmar junta to address global concerns
Press Trust Of India
Yangon, November 29, 2010
First Published: 16:42 IST(29/11/2010)
Last Updated: 16:46 IST(29/11/2010)

The UN special envoy to Myanmar, Vijay Nambiar, has pressed the country's ruling military junta to address global concerns over the recent elections here to lay the foundation for a "credible transition" to democracy and national reconciliation. Wrapping up his two-day visit here, Nambiar, who is
also UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, told reporters that he has urged the Myanmar government and the Union Election Commission to address as transparently as possible the concerns about the process and outcome of November 7 elections.

"Strong concerns are expressed by many parties about the process and outcome of the recent elections which I have urged the government and the Union Election Commission to address as transparently as possible," Nambiar said yesterday. "This is important for laying the foundation for a credible transition (to democracy)," he said.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 and the recent elections were widely criticised as sham, with alleged vote-rigging in favour of the military-backed Union Solidarity and Development Party, which received a sweeping majority in both houses of Parliament.

Nambiar, a former Indian diplomat who was appointed UN special envoy to Myanmar earlier this year, also called for the government to release "some of the political prisoners who remain in detention." He said he listened to as many parties as possible about their "hopes, expectations and concerns at this critical juncture" following the polls and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.

"In order to succeed, any political transition should be broad-based and inclusive and involve not only those who participated in the elections but also those who could not or did not.

In this connection, I also call for the release of some of the political prisoners who remain in detention," Nambiar was quoted as saying by Kyodo news agency. Nambiar, who arrived in Myanmar on Saturday, met Suu Kyi for about 90 minutes, exchanging views on the current political situation.

He termed the meeting as "very valuable" but emphasised that many such meetings would be required to sort out all the problems facing the country. http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/myanmar/UN-envoy-Nambiar-asks-Myanmar-junta-to-address-global-concerns/Article1-632267.aspx
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Suu Kyi hopes for UN dialogue
By AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Published: 29 November 2010
A senior UN official said yesterday that he had urged the Burmese government to address concerns over the country’s recent elections, which were widely dismissed as a sham.

Vijay Nambiar, the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon’s chief of staff, said at the end of his two-day Burma visit that “strong concerns were expressed by many parties about the process and outcome of the recent elections”.

He said he had urged the government and the election commission to address these “as transparently as possible”.

“This is important for laying the foundation of a credible transition” to democracy, he added, saying he had also called for the release of Burma’s political prisoners, believed to number more than 2,000.

The junta’s political proxy has claimed an overwhelming victory in the controversial 7 November poll – Burma’s first in two decades – amid opposition complaints of cheating and voter intimidation.

Critics say the vote was a charade aimed at preserving the rule of the military junta, and Ban has said the poll was “insufficiently inclusive, participatory and transparent”.

During his visit, Nambiar also met members of the opposition movement including Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from seven years of house arrest on 13 November, less than a week after the election.

The democracy icon, detained for much of the past 20 years and sidelined during the poll, said on Saturday that the discussion had been enlightening but hoped it was the first of many.

“I think we may need many and frequent meetings to sort out all the problems that… the United Nations is dealing with at the moment in Burma,” she said.

Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) party boycotted the vote because of rules that appeared to exclude the dissident from participating and was subsequently disbanded by the junta. The party won the previous vote in 1990 but was never allowed to take power.
http://www.dvb.no/news/suu-kyi-hopes-for-un-dialogue/13125
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Top junta officers tour front line bases
Monday, 29 November 2010 15:52 Hseng Khio Fah

Top military officers had made a trip to areas on the Sino-Burma border facing ceasefire groups, Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’, the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA) aka Mongla group, according to local sources.

They included Joint Chief of Staff, Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing, former Commander of Shan and Kayah states, Maj-Gen Aung Than Htut, Commander of No.2 Bureau of Special Operations, former Northeastern Region Command Commander and Maj-Gen Kyaw Swe, Chief of Military Affairs Security (MAS) and former commander of Southwest Region Command who made a 3 day inspection of front line bases in Shan State East and North from 24 to 26 November.

Lt-Gen Min Aung Hlaing
“Altogether there were four of them. But the 4th officer was not unidentified. Some said he was Tin Aung Myint Oo, State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Secretary 1,” a source said.

The four traveled by helicopter and landed at Monglai, southwest of Mongyawng Township, opposite the National Democratic Alliance Army (NDAA)’s 911th Brigade base, on 24 November.

On the next day, they went through Mawfa (now known as Markmang)to Tangyan, 115 miles west of UWSA’s Headquarters Panghsang and reportedly met Tangyan Area Commander and all battalion commanders in the township, a local source said.

Afterwards, the team continued the trip to Kunlong, north of the Wa-controlled territory and turned back to Shan State North’s capital Lashio on 26 November. “They held a meeting with Laogai Regional Operations Command (ROC), Military Operations Command (MOC) #16 of Hsenwi and Northeastern Region Command commander Aung Kyaw Zaw,” a source close to the junta said.

Details of the discussion were unknown, but it was believed to be in connection with the ceasefire groups that had refused to become Border Guard Forces (BGFs) and later to surrender.

Over 50 military trucks from Lashio carrying weapons and supplies were seen heading to Kunlong on the next day, a source said. “It is not certain whether the move was connected to the 26th November meeting or not,” he added.

According to an unconfirmed report, the military junta is planning to invite the UWSA to another meeting. “General Khin Nyunt (who was ousted in 2004) could be the negotiator,” a Thai source speculated. Khin Nyunt had in 1989 successfully negotiated ceasefire pacts with the groups.

The ruling military junta had severed relations with the UWSA, NDAA, Shan State Army (SSA) ‘North’ and Kachin Independence Army (KIA) since 1September, when the groups refused to disarm. http://shanland.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=3340:top-junta-officers-tour-front-line-bases&catid=86:war&Itemid=284
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Security tightened in Kachin capital
By DVB
Published: 29 November 2010

Privately-owned shops are being forced to close and visitors restricted from moving around Kachin state capital Myitkyina as the Burmese army ups pressure on a ceasefire group there.

Around 30 shops were forced to close over the weekend, a Myitkyina resident told DVB. The majority of these were near to a Burmese army outpost and military training school.

“Apparently [it was done] for internal security in the army – to prevent being [sabotaged] whilst waging war at the frontline,” the man said. Tension is high between the ruling junta and the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), which has refused to transform into a pro-government border militia.

He added that commander-level army officials were not allowed to bring visitors to the outpost, while all civilians were banned from entering.

It follows heavy fighting earlier this month in Karen state, when forces from a breakway faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) captured key government positions in Myawaddy.

Last week an order was sent from Naypyidaw to the headquarters of the Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO), the political wing of the KIA, ordering it to close down all but three of its offices in the northern Burmese state. A key trade route that serviced KIA territory with goods from China was also blocked by the military.

That followed the death of two Burmese army troops, who were killed on 22 November after stepping on a landmine allegedly laid by the KIA. The incident has ratcheted up animosity between KIA and the junta, who agreed a ceasefire in the mid-1990s that now appears tenuous.
http://www.dvb.no/news/security-tightened-in-kachin-capital/13119
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MYANMAR: Border guard plan could fuel ethnic conflict
Photo: Chandler Vandergrift/IRIN
Some 20,000 Burmese fled to Thailand earlier this month

BANGKOK, 29 November 2010 (IRIN) - Efforts by Myanmar’s military government to incorporate that country’s numerous armed ethnic groups into a single border guard force will probably lead to further conflict and spawn an influx of refugees into neighbouring countries, analysts and aid workers warn.

Myanmar, with an estimated population of 57.6 million, is one of the most ethnically diverse countries in Southeast Asia.

“Tensions are building as SPDC [government] troops are trying to control border crossings and incorporate the ethnic groups into a border guard force,” K’Nyaw Paw, an advocacy team leader of the Forum of Burma’s Community-Based Organizations, said. “We are preparing for more refugees as fighting can happen at any time.”

Under Myanmar’s military-drafted 2008 Constitution, all armed forces in the country must be placed under central military command - an ambitious undertaking in a country which has over a dozen armed ethnic groups (all but a handful of which have ceasefire agreements with the military government).

To achieve this, the regime has demanded that all of the ceasefire groups be incorporated into a Border Guard Force (BGF), which would entail disarming them, re-supplying them with government-issued weapons and making their troops subordinate to regional Myanmar military commanders.

To date, however, only two groups have agreed: the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the National Democratic Army-Kachin.

In August 2009, the refusal to join the BGF by one of the smallest ethnic factions in the country - the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army operating in the Kokang region of northern Shan State - resulted in a military offensive launched by government troops which led to more than 30,000 refugees fleeing over the border to China.

“The BGF is an indirect order [by the regime] for the ethnic groups to surrender their weapons,” said Zin Linn, a Burma analyst who lives in exile in Thailand.

“But without guns, the groups cannot defend their rights and their people so they will hold on to their guns until they gain autonomy and self-determination,” he said, adding that armed conflict will almost certainly break out and that refugees fleeing Burma will be “unavoidable”.

On 7 November, the day of Myanmar’s general elections, DKBA troops of Brigade 5 stormed the town of Myawaddy on the Burmese-Thai border and took over several key positions. Fighting for control of the town the next day led to some 20,000 people fleeing into Thailand, while clashes further south resulted in some 5,000 more refugees.

Although most of these refugees were repatriated to Myanmar within days, some 2,000 remain in hiding on the Myanmar side of the frontier, according to K’Nyaw Paw. “It is very difficult to access and get supplies to these people,” she said.

Renewed fighting on 27-28 November between DBKA Brigade 5 troops and government forces has sent some 1,200 more refugees into Thailand, according to reports.

Fear of government offensives

Meanwhile, other groups such as the Kachin Independence Army and the United Wa State Army are preparing for possible military retaliation by the government for refusing to join the BGF, say analysts.

“Fearing that [government troops] may launch another offensive similar to that in Kokang, the major ceasefire groups along the border have been building up their forces,” states a recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think-tank. “These groups see their weapons as the last source of leverage in their long-running battle for autonomy with the military government.”

“Both the Kachin and Wa are recruiting troops, training, and collecting arms and ammunition,” said Linn. “They are preparing for war.”

nr/ds/cb
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Suu Kyi seeks to review sanctions
By Ashish Kumar Sen
The Washington Times
6:50 p.m., Sunday, November 28, 2010

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi wants to review the consequences of sanctions on her country, Myanmar, before she can determine whether these curbs need to be lifted or focused more sharply.

In a phone interview with The Washington Times from Yangon on Friday, Mrs. Suu Kyi said her National League for Democracy (NLD) party is "prepared to review the situation to find out if our people had really been hurt by the sanctions, and if they had been, in what way."

"We want to know if it's really time for sanctions to be lifted, or it's time for sanctions to be adapted," she said.

Mrs. Suu Kyi, who spent 15 of the past 21 years in detention, was released from house arrest on Nov. 13.

Last year, she sent a letter to Myanmar's ruling military generals suggesting that the NLD, the country's largest opposition party, may cooperate with them to bring about an end to sanctions.

The NLD periodically reviews the effectiveness of sanctions.

"If we find that the sanctions are only hurting the people and that there is no positive outcome as a result of the sanctions, then certainly we would consider calling on those who have imposed sanctions to think whether it is not time to stop them," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.

"But it is not as simple as all that," she said. "There are many, many aspects of sanctions undertaken by our supporters because they wanted to help us achieve the democratic process. So it is not as easy as saying, 'Well, we think that it's time for sanctions to be lifted.' "

While the Obama administration has initiated a senior-level diplomatic dialogue with Myanmar's authorities, sanctions continue to be an important tool of U.S. policy.

In July, a measure to extend sanctions on Myanmar sailed through Congress: The House passed the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 in a voice vote, and it garnered the support of 99 of the Senate's 100 members.

A congressional source, who spoke on the condition of anonymity citing the sensitive nature of the matter, said several members of Congress are looking to Mrs. Suu Kyi for guidance.

"If they see her taking a more pragmatic and conciliatory approach, it would create a lot more space for a more flexible position" in Congress on sanctions, the congressional source said.

Mrs. Suu Kyi doesn't think there is anything wrong with the two-pronged U.S. approach toward Myanmar, which also is known as Burma.

"I think engagement is a good thing. Whether or not it has an effect on the generals is something that you must ask [U.S. officials]," she said.

A U.S. official, who spoke on background citing the sensitive nature of the matter, said the sanctions provide an important source of leverage for influencing the regime's behavior.

The Obama administration intends to keep the sanctions in place until Myanmar's regime releases all political prisoners, ends attacks against ethnic groups and establishes a meaningful dialogue with opposition groups, the U.S. official said.

Human rights groups estimate that Myanmar is holding 2,100 political prisoners.

Mrs. Suu Kyi said the international community must work in coordination to be effective in dealing with Myanmar's military rulers. "That would help a great deal. I think at the moment there are different policies with regard to Myanmar and it does detract from the eventual effectiveness of various initiatives," she said.

China, India and Thailand and other countries have engaged Myanmar's military rulers with an eye on the country's vast natural resources.

This engagement raises the question whether the U.S. has diminished its influence in Myanmar and made its people more dependent on their neighbors, particularly China, the congressional source said.

In an address to India's Parliament in New Delhi this month, President Obama urged India to condemn the violation of human rights and suppression of peaceful democratic movements in Myanmar.

The junta barred the NLD from participating in the Nov. 7 elections, which the U.S. declared a sham.

The party won the last election in 1990 by a landslide, but the military prevented it from ruling.

Ahead of this year's election, the military imposed laws that forced political parties to expel members with criminal records, including political prisoners such as Mrs. Suu Kyi. The NLD was dissolved after it refused to abide by these laws.

Mrs. Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, said her party did not take part in the elections because it didn't think the rules and regulations were fair.

The NLD has since set up a committee to look into allegations of irregularities and vote-rigging.

Last week, Myanmar's supreme court refused to hear Mrs. Suu Kyi's lawsuit challenging the decision to dissolve the NLD.

Mrs. Suu Kyi said she intends to appeal the court's decision but is not confident that she will get justice.

"We have had much experience in the past to indicate that we don't get free and fair hearings. But still, since we believe in the rule of law, we will pursue this case as far as possible," she said. "At the same time, the survival of the NLD does not depend on any court of law; it depends on the will of the people."

Mrs. Suu Kyi expects the NLD will continue to play the role of a "very, very strong opposition force" and wants the party to broaden its engagement with pro-democracy forces within Myanmar.

"What people don't seem to realize is that we have had restrictions placed on the party for the last 20 years. That is nothing new for us," she said. "What is new is that we have a far larger circle of supporters than we used to have in the past."

As for the role of the army in politics, Mrs. Suu Kyi said she was open to the idea of a "transition period in which we would have to think of ways of bridging over our differences in gradual stages."

"We know that transition will take time and it will have to go in stages," she said.

She said it was too early to tell whether her release is a sign that the regime of Senior Gen. Than Shwe is having a change of heart.

"I have been released from house arrest before and then put back in. So I think it is a little too early to say whether there has been real a softening," she said.

Although she has expressed her readiness for reconciliation talks with the junta, the generals have not reciprocated.

"If they had reached out to us, we would have grasped their hands," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.

Mrs. Suu Kyi said her life has turned "very, very hectic" since her release. Despite being freed from the confines of her home, she hasn't had time to venture out of Yangon. Her days have been packed with meetings and interviews.

On Saturday, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, met her at her home in Yangon.

She also had an emotional reunion with her younger son, Kim.

"Seeing my son again was very, very nice and happy and lovely and all the nice words I can think of," Mrs. Suu Kyi said.

She said she has been struck by the large number of young NLD supporters.

"The proportion of young people among our supporters was not this high and they were not this enthusiastic" before she was put under house arrest, Mrs. Suu Kyi said.

She attributed the trend to the fact that "more and more people [in Myanmar] have come to realize that there is a need for change." http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2010/nov/28/suu-kyi-seeks-to-review-sanctions/
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Border traders hope for reopening

Recent ethnic skirmishes have failed to dampen rising Thailand-Burma commercial sentiment, as no serious strife has occurred for more than a decade and most area residents are business-focused.

* Published: 29/11/2010 at 12:00 AM
* Newspaper section: Business

Border trade between Thailand and Burma will likely continue to remain strong despite the small skirmishes of recent weeks as demand for goods and services from both sides of the border is resilient.

Burmese traders wait at the border gate at Tachilek to do business in Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai.

Wiroon Khampilo, the president of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, said border trade and tourism between Thailand and Burma were positive, particularly at the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint. There have been no serious border skirmishes there between ethnic rebels and Burmese government troops for over 10 years.

Goods exported to Burma from Chiang Rai include oil, petrol, whisky, coffee and equipment. Imports are logs, beans and cashew nuts.

Mr Wiroon said Burma wanted to maintain peace and build a stronger economy.

"Most people focus on trading and business, so the border situation does not really affect their lives," he said. "Reconciliation would create a bright outlook for trade."

The volume of trade through Mae Sai-Tachilek rose by 56% from January to September over the same period last year. Thailand exported as much as seven billion baht worth of goods, consumer products and necessities to Burma, while imports at the checkpoint only totalled 100 million baht.

"We want to improve business by extending the checkpoints' hours of operation," he said.

The chamber initiated the proposal and it will be officially announced on Jan 1.

Arun Jargota, the owner of Mae Sai-based Laksamee stores, said overall trade and tourism were improving.

"More goods are coming from Mae Sot in Tak to Mae Sai in Chiang Rai due to the Mae Sot-Myawaddy checkpoint closure," he said.

"We will likely lose the Thai markets in Burma to China. We have been trading with Burma for a long time, but Thai exports to Burma will likely drop due to southern China's interference."

Burma closed the Mae Sot-Myawaddy crossing on July 18 after accusing Thailand of building an embankment on the Moei River to alter the common border line. Clashes between Burmese troops and Karen rebels earlier this month further increased security concerns and curbed trading.

Tak Chamber of Commerce president Banphot Korkiartcharoen does not know when the checkpoint there will reopen.

He said he did not believe the general election and the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi would do much for Thailand-Burma border trade one way of the other and called for help from others to reopen the border.

Local jewellers and restaurant owners said business was sluggish.

Mahataya Kasem, the owner of Angel Gems jewellery shop, said businesses at the Mae Sot shopping centre on the Moei river banks were suffering.

However, she still believes her business will improve because the area is renowned for quality gems.

"New Year is a good time for jewellery sales, and we hope that the Thai and Burmese governments will reopen the border crossing in time for festivities," she said.

Exports include oil, palm oil, used motorcycles, construction materials, fuel, diesel, petrol and consumer products, while imports involve furniture, wood, red onions, cows, clothes and seafood.

"Local people near the Tak border are conducting business through personal contacts despite the closure," she said.

Prasobsuk Puangsakorn, the director of the Bank of Thailand's Northern Regional Office, said the region's border exports grew fast in the third quarter.

Import values in the North fell by 2.4% following a sharp decline in imports of vegetables, fruits and capital goods. http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/economics/208619/border-traders-hope-for-reopening
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Refugees Again Pour Into Thailand after Fighting Resumes
By LAWI WENG Monday, November 29, 2010

Fighting broke out again at the weekend between government troops and a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), causing more than 1,000 refugees to flee into neighboring Thailand.

Karen refugees fled to the Thai border on Sunday after fighting broke out over the weekend in Phaluu village in Kawkareik Township between Burmese government forces and troops from Brigade 5 of DKBA, according to humanitarian organizations who are helping the refugees on the Thai border.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Monday, Naw Iris, the coordinator of the Thailand-based Committee for Internally Displaced Karen People said the refugees began coming on Saturday with many arriving on Sunday.

Many of the refugees are from Phaluu village about 40 kilometers south of the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border crossing on the Thai-Burmese border. They are currently taking shelter at a Buddhist temple and Thai school in Pop Phra District in Thailand's Tak Province.

The fighting started at 8:30 p.m. On Friday and lasted through the night and all Saturday after DKBA troops ambushed junta troops, said a Phaluu villager who fled to Thailand.

“The fighting was not close but we could hear explosions, which is why we ran away,” the woman said, adding that all the villagers had abandoned Phaluu.

Humanitarian organizations including the Thailand Burma Border Consortium and International Red Cross and the Thai authorities are helping the refugees, who will return home as soon as fighting in the village has stopped as it is harvest time, Naw Iris said.

The fighting began when DKBA troops led by Lt Col Kyaw Thet ambushed junta troops attempting to send rations to troops that seized former DKBA Brigade 5 headquarters at Waw Lay village on Nov. 10, burning the homes of DKBA members.

Prevented from getting through with supplies, the junta force had to remain in Phaluu village, according to local sources.

At least one villager from Phaluu village was injured in the attacks according to the Karen Human Rights Group, which is active in the area. Casualties in the DKBA and Burmese army forces are unknown.

Local sources said the Burmese army sent reinforcements to Phaluu village on Saturday night, but the situation is confused. Groups of villagers sent back by the Thai army each day have had to return as fighting on the Burmese side of the border continues.

Fighting between the Burmese army and DKBA Brigade 5 began when Col Saw Lah Pwe, who refused to put his troops under Burmese army command as a border guard force, attacked Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass townships on Nov. 8, the day after the Burmese election.
http://www.irrawaddy.org/highlight.php?art_id=20205
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Tycoon Zaw Zaw Reportedly Gets Dawei Port Contract
By WAI MOE Monday, November 29, 2010

A US-sanctioned crony of the Burmese junta, Zaw Zaw, has reportedly been granted major construction work on the Dawei deep-sea port, a US $8.6 billion project mainly financed by neighboring Thailand.

Business sources in Rangoon said Zaw Zaw’s Max Myanmar Group of Companies got a green light from the military junta for building Burma’s largest port and industrial area because he is a favored business associate of junta head Snr-Gen Than Shwe and a handful of other top generals.

“Even the top tycoon, Tay Za, has said that Zaw Zaw could be richer than him,” said a source, adding that Zaw Zaw has became very close to Than Shwe and other top generals, and the junta head warmly calls him “Phoe Zaw,” a nickname used for a near family member.

Zaw Zaw (standing) and Tay Za (seated) at a party in Rangoon in 2009. (Photo: The Irrawaddy)
Photographs in the Burmese state media showed that Zaw Zaw accompanied Than Shwe on his recent state visit to China in September along with Than Shwe’s family members and senior officials of the junta.

During the trip Than Shwe visited the Shenzhen economic zone. Than Shwe said that he wanted the Dawei port project to be like the Shenzhen economic zone, the International Herald Tribune quoted the president of the Italian-Thai Development conglomerate as saying.

The Dawei Port project was approved by the junta on Nov. 2 in Naypyidaw. The junta's Secretary-1 ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo witnessed the signing ceremony between Thailand’s Italian-Thai Development Co Ltd and the Myanma Port Authority.

However, The New Light of Myanmar reported at the time that the two country's agreed on the Dawei deep seaport, industrial estate and road and rail link to Thailand during a meeting of foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on May 19, 2008, shortly after the Cyclone Nargis disaster.

The project, which will cover 250-square kilometers, is to be implemented in three phases over a 10-year period and is “the first-ever special economic zone in Myanmar,” according to Burmese media reports.

Reports in the international press have expressed concern that the port project would damage the environment and lead to forced relocation in the project area. The International Herald Tribune on Friday quoted Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva as saying, “Some industries are not suitable to be located in Thailand. That is why they decided to set it up there.”

Reporters in Rangoon tried to write articles on the naming of the Max Myanmar Group of Companies, but the Burmese censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), rejected the articles, according to Rangoon journalists.

Zaw Zaw and the Max Myanmar Group of Companies were also involved in the construction of the junta’s new capital of Naypyidaw in the mid-2000s.

Zaw Zaw is also close to ex-Gen Tin Aung Myint Oo. Zaw Zaw and his so-called “business adopted son,” Zaw Win Shine, were with Tin Aung Myint Oo when he arrived at Singapore's Changi International Airport in April on a medical trip, said a Burmese national in Singapore, who witnessed Tin Aung Myint Oo's arrival.

Zaw Zaw and his business networks were added to the US targeted sanctions list in January 2009 along with other junta business associates.

“Zaw Zaw is the managing director of the Max Myanmar Group of Companies, a Burmese entity with interests in the gem, timber, construction, and tourism industries,” the US Department of Treasury described Zaw Zaw in a statement. “Max Myanmar has provided important services in support of the Burmese junta, particularly in the form construction projects.” http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20211