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Khaleej Times-US, Myanmar hold rare talks in China
Guardian Unlimited-Red Cross condemns Burmese government
ICRC-Myanmar: ICRC denounces major and repeated violations of international humanitarian law
The Nation-UN envoy starts dialogue with Burma junta, ICRC blasts it
Asahi.com-Weekend Beat: Burmese community leader works for change
IPS-BURMA: Generals Deviate on Roadmap to Democracy
USDS-Burma – DAS John Meeting with Burmese Officials

Burma Related News - June 30, 2007.

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US, Myanmar hold rare talks in China
(AFP)

Khaleej Times Online-29 June 2007
WASHINGTON - The United States held rare talks with the Myanmar military junta in Beijing to press for the release of the Southeast Asian state’s democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Department said on Thursday.

At the China-brokered talks this week, US officials were “clear and direct” in demanding the release of the opposition leader and thousands of other political prisoners in Myanmar, spokesman Tom Casey said. The junta leaders however did not seem to relent, he said.

It was the highest level direct talks between the rival nations in recent years, with the US officials led by deputy US assistant secretary of state Eric John, the top Southeast Asian diplomat in the State Department.

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions were “very pointed and very direct.”

“I don’t think we saw anything coming out of them that will indicate, unfortunately, that they have changed their basic opinions,” Casey said of the junta leaders who attended the talks — information minister Kyaw Hsan, foreign minister Nyan Win and culture minister Khin Aung Nyint.

“We certainly did not hear that they were planning on releasing Aung San Suu Kyi or other political prisoners,” he said.

Myanmar requested the meeting and Beijing, instead of Yangon, was chosen as the venue because the junta refused to meet a key condition by Washington — allow US officials to first meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 11 of the past 18 years under house arrest, Casey said.

“The government of Burma often prefers that we would meet with them in Burma . Our longstanding policy is we will not meet them in Burma — outside of our embassy offices — if they will not allow us to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi,” he said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990, but the military did not recognize the result and has kept her locked in her lakeside home, despite fierce international criticism.

Casey said Washington decided to have the talks with the junta to “reinforce the messages they were receiving” from the UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, who had visited Yangon several times to press the military rulers to release Aung San Suu Kyi and bring about national reconciliation.

The junta reportedly is anxious for Gambari, who was allowed twice to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, to pay another visit to Myanmar in July when it finalizes a national convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution.

Gambari was in Washington last week holding talks with US officials ahead of the Beijing meeting in what some diplomatic sources said was part of a fresh bid to bring about political dialogue between the junta and the NLD.

“I believe they want to make use of this small window that is available to get the dialogue going before the constitution is drawn up,” said a source.

By hosting the US talks with Myanmar, China is playing a role similar to that of the six-party talks, which it convened in 2003 aimed at ending North Korea ’s nuclear weapons drive.

“It’s especially significant that these talks took place in Beijing and were arranged by the Chinese, although China will not be a publicly active participant,” said former US envoy to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke.

“While these talks are unlikely to be productive, after years of nothing on Burma, perhaps they will be the beginning of a process in which China can play a role similar to that in North Korea,” he said in an opinion piece in the Washington Post Thursday.

China and Russia, which have both invested in Myanmar ’s energy sector, vetoed a US-led UN draft resolution in January urging Myanmar to swiftly return to democracy and free all political detainees.

Jeremy Woodrum, director of the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma, said China should respect the call by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Aung San Suu Kyi is much a China prisoner as she is a prisoner of the Burmese regime,” he said.

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Red Cross condemns Burmese government

Associated Press
Friday June 29, 2007
Guardian Unlimited

The International Committee of the Red Cross today said the Burmese government's abuses against civilians and detainees were causing "immense suffering."
The ICRC - which is famously neutral - rarely makes such statements publicly, instead preferring to raise the issues with governments confidentially.

Today, however, the committee spoke out against the practice of making thousands of detainees serve as porters for the armed forces, saying it exposed them to the dangers of combat and other risks.
The private humanitarian institution, which was founded in Geneva in 1863, also cited repeated abuses by the military against men, women and children living along the Thai-Burma border and condemned the large-scale destruction of food supplies.
The ICRC is sometimes criticised for not being more openly condemnatory and revealing information it has about abuses, with its silence during the Holocaust often cited as the most extreme case.

More recently, it was criticised for failing to go public with knowledge of US abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad .

Jakob Kellenberger, the ICRC president, told reporters that confidential dialogue was usually the best way to get access to people in need of protection and assistance, including detainees and civilians during war, but said the Burmese military junta refused to engage in serious talks.

"For almost two years we have tried confidential dialogue," he said. "Last August, I wrote to the head of the leadership [Senior General Than Shwe] and said I wanted to come to Myanmar, and I wanted to discuss with them our concerns. I didn't even get an answer."

Mr Kellenberger said that although the ICRC had repeatedly complained to the government about the abuses, " the authorities have failed to put a stop to them".

He said he found the practice of using between 2,000 and 3,000 detainees a year as porters to carry heavy loads for the military to be "particularly repulsive".

"In dangerous environments - for example, when there are minefields - they have to go ahead," he added. "They are a type of human minesweepers, which I find terrible.

"The actions of the authorities have also resulted in immense suffering for thousands of people in conflict-affected areas."

The military has severely restricted freedom of movement in combat areas along the Thai-Burma border, making it impossible for many villagers to work in their fields.

Troops have also committed "numerous acts of violence", including murder, against civilians in these areas, the ICRC said, adding that villagers had been "forced ... to directly support military operations or to leave their homes".

The UN and western countries have long accused the junta of human rights abuses, but today's comments were the first time the ICRC had been so direct.

In recent months, the agency has complained about government restrictions on its work, including forcing the closure of its offices in the field.

Mr Kellenberger said Burma 's attempt to have observers on prisoner visits also meant the ICRC will be unable to have a repeat meeting with the Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest.

The ICRC last visited her in 2003, and she has spent more than 11 of the past 18 years in detention.

The US state department said yesterday that Eric John, a deputy assistant secretary of state, had met Burma 's ministers of foreign affairs, culture and information to urge Ms Suu Kyi's release.

However, the US state department spokesman, Tom Casey, said there was no sign Burmese officials had "changed their basic opinions".

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Myanmar: ICRC denounces major and repeated violations of international humanitarian law
ICRC-29-06-2007  Press Release 82/07
Yangon / Geneva (ICRC) – The president of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Jakob Kellenberger, has strongly denounced violations of international humanitarian law committed against civilians and detainees by the government of Myanmar and demanded that the government take urgent action to end these violations and prevent them from recurring.

 

''The persistent use of detainees as porters for the armed forces is a matter of grave humanitarian concern. The actions of the authorities have also resulted in immense suffering for thousands of people in conflict-affected areas,'' said Mr Kellenberger. "The ICRC has repeatedly drawn attention to these abuses but the authorities have failed to put a stop to them.''

The findings outlined below are based on observations made by ICRC delegates and numerous allegations of abuse collected by the ICRC during private interviews with thousands of civilians and detainees, mainly between 2000 and 2005. Systematic abuses against detainees and civilians are the primary source of serious concern.

Abuses against detainees

Under the prison system set up by the government, every year thousands of detainees have been forced to support the armed forces by serving as porters. This institutionalized and widespread practice has frequently led to the abuse of detainees and exposed them to the dangers of armed conflict. Many detainees used as porters have suffered from exhaustion and malnutrition and been subjected to degrading treatment. Some have been murdered.

''The practice known as 'portering' persists today despite numerous representations made by the ICRC. It constitutes a major violation of various provisions of international humanitarian law," said Mr Kellenberger.

Abuses against civilians

The Myanmar armed forces have committed repeated abuses against men, women and children living in communities affected by armed conflict along the Thai-Myanmar border. These have included the large-scale destruction of food supplies and of means of production. The armed forces have severely restricted the population's freedom of movement in these areas, making it impossible for many villagers to work in their fields. This has had a significant impact on the economy, aggravating an already precarious humanitarian situation. Furthermore, the armed forces have committed numerous acts of violence against people living in these areas, including murder, and subjected them to arbitrary arrest and detention. They have also forced villagers to directly support military operations or to leave their homes.

The behaviour and actions of the armed forces have helped create a climate of constant fear among the population and have forced thousands of people to join the ranks of the internally displaced or to flee abroad.

''The repeated abuses committed against men, women and children living along the Thai-Myanmar border violate many provisions of international humanitarian law,'' said Mr Kellenberger.

Government refusal to engage in dialogue

''Despite repeated entreaties by the ICRC, the authorities have consistently refused to enter into a serious discussion of these abuses with a view to putting a stop to them,'' said Mr Kellenberger. In addition, increasingly severe restrictions imposed on the ICRC by the government have made it impossible for the organization' s staff to move about independently in the affected areas and have hampered the delivery of aid intended for strictly humanitarian, apolitical purposes. Since late 2005 the authorities have also prevented the ICRC from visiting places of detention in accordance with its usual procedures, which include carrying out private interviews with detainees.

''The continuing deadlock with the authorities has led the ICRC to take the exceptional step of making its concerns public,'' said Mr Kellenberger. ''The organization uses confidential and bilateral dialogue as its preferred means of achieving results. However, this presupposes that parties to a conflict are willing to enter into a serious discussion and take into account the ICRC's recommendations. This has not been the case with the authorities of Myanmar and that is why the ICRC has decided to speak out publicly."

"I urge the government of Myanmar to put a stop to all violations of international humanitarian law and to ensure that they do not recur," concluded Mr Kellenberger. "I would also like to remind all States party to the Geneva Conventions of their obligation, under Article 1, to respect and to ensure respect for the Conventions. "

 

The ICRC stands ready to do everything it can to pursue its humanitarian activities for people in Myanmar who require assistance, in accordance with its internationally recognized mandate under the Geneva Conventions, the Statutes of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and its customary working procedures.

 

For further information, please contact:
Michèle Mercier / Thierry Ribaux, ICRC Yangon, tel. +95 980 20 529 or + 951 662 613 or +951 664 524
Carla Haddad, ICRC Geneva, tel. +41 22 730 24 05 or +41 79 217 32 26

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UN envoy starts dialogue with Burma junta, ICRC blasts it
The Nation 06-29-2007
Rangoon - United Nations special representative Radhika Coomaraswamy concluded a five-day trip to Burma Friday on an optimistic note, saying she had initiated a dialogue with the ruling junta on the issue of child soldiers. 

But in Geneva, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) lashed out at the same regime for ongoing violations of human rights of detainees and civilians. 

"This visit is a beginning in seeking to address some of the important issues relating to child protection in Burma ," Coomaraswamy said upon her departure Friday after an official visit that included meeting with several senior junta officials.

Coomaraswamy was in Burma to discuss the possibility of setting up a UN task force to prepare and verify information about the use of children soldiers by the Burmese military and various insurgent groups in the country. 

The report will be examined by the UN Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in November 2007.

Burma, which has been under military rule since 1962, has one of the world's worst records in human rights abuses, whether it be of child soldiers, forced labour, use of prison labour and abuse of civilians, especially those in conflict areas.

;The regime has traditionally shown more concern for its relations with the UN than with other international organisations, not to mention governments. 

On the same day that the UN's special representative Coomaraswamy was sounding upbeat about opening a dialogue with the junta on the issue of child soldiers, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) blasted the regime for ongoing human rights violations and demanded it take urgent action to end its abuses.

"I urge the government of Myanmar to put a stop to all violations of international humanitarian law and to ensure that they do not recur," committee president Jakob Kellenberger said in a statement released in Geneva .

He also encouraged the international community to put more pressure on Myanmar 's ruling junta to end its systematic abuse of the human rights of prison detainees and of civilians in Burma 's war zones. 

According to Red Cross field investigations, Burma 's junta is forcing thousands of prison detainees to act as porters for the armed forces in their campaigns against a separatist insurgency by ethnic Karens in eastern Burma, subjecting them to exhaustion, malnutrition and murder.

"The persistent use of detainees as porters for the armed forces is a matter of grave humanitarian concern," Kellenberger said. "The ICRC has repeatedly drawn attention to these abuses, but the authorities have failed to put a stop to them."

Burma's junta also continued to abuse the basic human rights of men, women and children living in the conflict areas along the Thai-Burma border in Karen state, where the military has been carrying out an offensive since November 2005 to wipe out the Karen insurgency, which has been fighting for the autonomy of the Karen state for the past six decades. 

Atrocities in the border area have included large-scale destruction of food supplies and of means of production and preventing the border populations from working in their fields, aggravating an already precarious humanitarian situation, the Red Cross said. 

The armed forces have also committed numerous acts of violence against people living in these areas, including murder and arbitrary arrest and detention. They have also forced villagers to support military operations and have forced them out of their homes.

 "Despite repeated entreaties by the ICRC, the authorities have consistently refused to enter into a serious discussion of these abuses with a view to putting a stop to them," Kellenberger said.

The Red Cross, famed for its pragmatic diplomacy in most conflict areas, has been forced to scale back its field operations in Burma because of increasing restrictions imposed on the humanitarian agency over the past two years after a change in the junta's power structure.

The downfall of General Khin Nyunt, the former prime minister and head of military intelligence, in late 2005 has led to a souring of relations between the junta and Red Cross, informed sources said. 

"The continuing deadlock with the authorities has led the ICRC to take the exceptional step of making its concerns public," Kellenberger said.

//DPA

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Weekend Beat: Burmese community leader works for change
Asahi.com-06/ 30/2007

BY SHOKO AZUMA, STAFF WRITER

On a muggy June afternoon, more than 200 Burmese, including mothers pushing baby carriages and a young guy on crutches, marched down a street in central Tokyo, chanting, "Release her" and "Put pressure on the junta."

Min Nyo says Myanmar will never be a democratic nation as long as the military remains in power. takahiro yanai/staff photographer
The "her" they wanted released was Aung San Suu Kyi, and June 19 was her 62nd birthday.

People on the sidewalks watched curiously as the small band of protestors passed by. Some of the marchers wore colorful Burmese outfits; others wore white T-shirts with Suu Kyi's portrait printed in red.

Maung Min Nyo, 59, helped organize the rally. "This is the first time we have marked Suu Kyi's birthday with a march in Tokyo ," he said.

Suu Kyi is the heart of the pro-democracy movement in Myanmar ( Burma ). Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, she has been held in detention by the Myanmar military regime for 11 of the past 17 years although her party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election. Last month, her detention was extended for another year. She is being detained at her residence.

The protesters, starting out from Roppongi in Minato Ward, marched to the gates of the Myanmar Embassy in Shinagawa Ward. "I'm exhausted," Min Nyo said with a smile after the two-hour march. Speaking in fluent Japanese, he said: "I usually leave the more active stuff to the young people. I'm in charge of administrative things. But today is a special day, so I joined the walk."

Min Nyo fled to Japan in 1981 to escape the repressive regime of Gen. Bo Ne Win. He is now one of the key pro-democracy figures in the Japan-based Burmese community.

"I have never returned to Burma . If I went back to my country, I would be arrested immediately, " he said. "Seventeen years have passed since the general election and the situation in Burma seems to have gotten even worse."

Memories of terrifying experiences in Myanmar are never far from the surface. A native of Mandalay, the country's second largest city located north of Yangon ( Rangoon ), he studied at the department of science at Rangoon University and graduated in 1971. After graduation he took over his parents' auto-repair shop. The business grew steadily.

However, in 1978, at age 30, he was suddenly arrested for "anti-government activities." Min Nyo was imprisoned for the next 18 months without trial. "That incident left me disgusted with the regime. In 1981, I was allowed to leave Burma for training in advanced auto mechanics in Japan ," he said. "It was really just an excuse to get out of the country."

"After arriving in Japan ," he recalled, "I worked at a lot of places to earn tuition. I worked at a car-repair shop and a gas station. I even taught English at a private school. You name it, I did it."

In Japan, Min Nyo devoted much of his time to academics. He received his doctorate in agriculture in 1989 from Nagoya University .

Meanwhile, the 1988 democracy uprising in Myanmar led by students nationwide altered the course of his life. "I felt I had to do something for my country," he said.

Moved to action, he enrolled in political science courses at Nagoya University . Min Nyo and other Burmese began faxing news articles to sympathizers back home to counter the Myanmar authorities' tight control on information. Within a month, they formed the Burmese Association in Japan (BAIJ). Nearly 300 Burmese attended the first meeting of the group, selecting Min Nyo as president. He served as president for one year.

In 1993, Japan granted him refugee status.

In 2001, he started working full time as the director of the Burma Office Japan . The office is operated by various Burmese associations and Japanese supporters, including the Japanese Trade Union Confederation (Rengo).

It is Min Nyo's job to make sure the situation in Myanmar is not forgotten and to attract support for pro-democracy activities.

Much of his time is spent lobbying Diet members, foreign ministry officials, labor unions and others. The office operates as a clearinghouse to coordinate activities by various groups working toward the democratization of Myanmar .

He also serves as the editor of the monthly "Burma Journal." Published in the Japanese language, it provides updates on local activities and information on the current situation in Myanmar .

"It is an important lobbying tool. We distribute about 1,000 copies monthly," he said.

Recently, Min Nyo talked to a young woman from Kyushu about the problems in his homeland. "After listening to my story, she said that she'd been largely ignorant of the issue and would try to read about Myanmar in the newspapers to catch up. I was really glad to hear that," he said. "I would like as many people as possible to know about Suu Kyi, but also to understand what's really going on in Burma ."

Min Nyo is his own secretary. He answers the phone at the office and deals with incoming e-mail. Also, he is the go-to guy for many Burmese who want information on how to get refugee visas or other issues. "Although I help them as much as I can, it's really not supposed to be my major focus. But the number of people seeking political asylum is increasing," he said.

The office is small, but when young Burmese show up to do some volunteer work, it can get quite lively. These youngsters said Min Nyo's clear sense of purpose and warm personality attracted them to the organization. A hot issue now is the unionization of some hotel and restaurant workers in Japan . Many Burmese in Japan work at restaurants and hotels. Min Nyo is helping them organize a labor union.

"Because we were not allowed freedom of assembly and association, many young Burmese are not used to organizations, " he said. "I'm trying to pass on my knowledge and experience to them. I hope they will learn how democratic organizations should function by getting involved in our activities. They can be the leaders of future generations in Burma ."

In May, 14 Burmese organizations in Japan hosted a major international conference and symposium. Min Nyo played a key role in its preparation.

The Tokyo event was the first international conference on the Myanmar issue attended by both Diet members and ASEAN parliamentarian groups. At the following day's symposium, the ASEAN representatives spoke of the democratization process in their countries. "There was a lack of interest in the Burmese issue 10 years ago. Now I see a lot of attention from international society. It's a good development, " Min Nyo said after the two-day event. "I think, however, what's more important is that various pro-democracy forces cooperate in the effort."

According to Min Nyo, about 10,000 Burmese live in Japan . In 1994, there were about twice that number, but many returned home around 1996 when the military junta announced it would moderate its policies.

Min Nyo is critical. "Some of the founding members of the BAIJ left the association. They sold out to the establishment, " he said. "The authorities in Burma tried to get me to go back and work for them, too. I refused."

He continued: "Some people, including scholars, argue that a military government can foster democracy. I don't believe it. As long as the military is in power, we will never have democracy in Burma ."

On a personal note, Min Nyo completed a doctoral program in political science in 2000 at Nagoya University .

While he still needs to finish his thesis to get his degree, he said it must wait. His priority now is to publish a book in Burmese by the end of the year. Written for his fellow Burmese, it analyzes what can be done to democratize Burma . It is a primer on what democracy is and how to realize it, he said.

Min Nyo said: "As every single car part--whether an engine or a bolt--is indispensable for the car, each Burmese individual's role is crucial to achieve reconciliation and democratization in our country."

"When I was younger, I wasn't confident enough. But I think I can now suggest some ideas using my knowledge and experience. I don't want to be a political leader, but a political doctor. I hope I will be able to fix Burmese politics like a car doctor."(IHT/ Asahi: June 30,2007 )

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BURMA: Generals Deviate on Roadmap to Democracy
By Larry Jagan
IPS News.net

BANGKOK, Jun 30 (IPS) - Burma ’s top generals have just finished their quarterly meeting in the country’s new capital of Naypidaw. As usual there was no official announcement following the meeting, but there are signs that the regime is about to ditch its roadmap to democracy in favour of a Chinese-style system of government.

"No change seems to be the order of the day from the meeting," says independent Burmese analyst Win Min, based in Chiang Mai, Thailand . "The generals are in a quandary about the future, and they just do not know what to do."

Already the meeting was three months late -- the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) last met in January.

The National Convention (NC), which is drawing up the guidelines for the new constitution, is due to reconvene in the middle of July. The man heading the process, Gen. Thein Sein, has already announced that there will be significant changes incorporated during the NC’s final meeting.

Although the NC is set to resume discussions, there appears to be a gridlock in Burma ’s roadmap to democracy -- announced by former prime minister Gen. Khin Nyunt in August 2003. Under the proposed plan, the NC would draw up a new constitution; put it to a referendum; and then fresh, free and fair elections would be held to elect a new civilian government.

The NC, which has only met intermittently for more than 14 years, went into another prolonged recess last November.

"So far, step one on the roadmap -- drawing up the constitution has been dragged out, giving the distinct impression that the generals are simply playing for time with no intention of introducing a genuine multi-party democracy," said Win Min.

In the past few months it has become clear that the country’s top five generals -- all of whom are suffering from different illnesses, including heart problems, prostate cancer, leukaemia and lung cancer -- are desperately concerned about the future.

They understand that their grasp on power is being continually weakened by the country’s growing economic problems. And as a result they have been exploring ways to reduce the country’s international isolation and attract foreign investment, according to a senior government official who has recently briefed the top two generals on the outlook for the future.

"The top generals are considering all their options," said a western diplomat based in Bangkok, who has dealt directly with the regime for more than a decade. There are even suggestions that the regime might consider restarting talks with the detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party in their search for a new strategy to preserve their power.

Top general Than Shwe told a senior visiting Chinese official in February that he and Aung San Suu Kyi have been writing to each other.

Western diplomats in Rangoon though remain extremely sceptical. "There does not seem to be any percentage in it for the junta, since I believe the regime is quite content with things as they are -- they have China, Russia and India in its corner, massive amounts of money are about to flow in from gas, and they have the opposition on its knees," said one diplomat.

In fact, the evidence is that Burma ’s military leaders may be about to abandon the roadmap altogether. "Nothing is moving on the political front, and the top two generals -- Than Shwe and Maung Aye -- now fear the roadmap is really Khin Nyunt’s and not necessarily in the interests of the army as a whole," said a western diplomat who closely follows Burmese affairs from Bangkok.

Certainly the regime has begun to realise that the process of drawing up the new constitution is not without its fair share of problems. Already there is growing friction with the ethnic groups who have ceasefire agreements with Rangoon and are attending the NC. "We’ve been told that if we do not agree to the constitution they want -- that is with very limited autonomy for the ethnic minorities -- they will simply push it through anyway," a representative of the Kachins told IPS.

As part of the preparation for the planned referendum and elections those ceasefire groups would also be expected to surrender their weapons. Initial attempts recently to get the Kachins to lay down their arms were rejected out of hand, according to ethnic sources.

"It's not clear where things are going on the roadmap now -- having pushed it forward with renewed vigour, the regime now appears to have cold feet about moving onto potentially trickier phases," said a western diplomat based in Rangoon. "They seem paralysed. They are facing a number of important challenges, but lack the will or capacity to do anything.’’

While most observers agree that the roadmap is currently stalled, some feel that this may be the prelude to a new era of political activity. "It’s all at an impasse as they look for new strategies -- nothing has been decided and I believe all options are still open," said an Asian diplomat based in Rangoon .

A cabinet shakeup seems to be in progress and Thein Sein may soon cease to be acting prime minister. Than Shwe does not want him as premier as he is a loyal supporter of the number two general -- Maung Aye. A Than Shwe loyalist, Myint Swe, is now tipped to become the new prime minister.

The cabinet changes will be a prelude to a referendum that will come after the NC completes the constitution. Already the mass, community-based organisation, the Union Solidarity and Development Association, has stepped up welfare work in an effort to garner public support for the government.

China has been advising the junta behind the scenes for some time on their vision of democracy and development. A very senior party advisor has been in Burma for more than two years training the generals in political economy.

Recently the Chinese have been educating the Burmese leaders on their approach to democratic government -- and shown them how the National Peoples’ Congress works -- an indirectly elected parliament that only meets once a year. It approves the country’s president, prime minister and cabinet that are all nominated by the party.

To ensure that the regime maintains the support of most of the ethnic minorities, the junta may follow the Chinese constitutional model and grant some states and local areas autonomy in name, but be effectively governed by the party. (END/2007)

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Burma – DAS John Meeting with Burmese Officials

Taken Question
Office of the Spokesman
Washington, DC
US Department of State-June 29, 2007
Question Taken at the June 28, 2007 Press Briefing

 

Question:When did DAS John meet with Burmese officials in Beijing ? With whom did he meet? When was the last such contact at his level or higher?

Answer:Deputy Assistant Secretary Eric John met with representatives of the Burmese military regime in Beijing on June 25 and 26. He met with Minister of Information Kyaw Hsan, Foreign Minister Nyan Win, and Minister of Culture Khin Aung Nyint. The last time a U.S. official at the DAS level or higher made a trip for similar meetings with senior representatives of the military regime was April 2003, when then Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Matthew Daley visited Burma and met both with officials of the regime and Aung San Suu Kyi.

2007/531

Released on June 28, 2007
&&&&&&&&&&

Quote of the Day
"The persistent use of detainees as porters for the armed forces [in Burma] is a matter of grave humanitarian concern"
—Jakob Kellenberger, President of ICRC

 

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Burma Related News - June 30, 2007.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - ICRC slams systematic mass abuse by Myanmar's military
AFP - US, Myanmar hold rare talks in China over Aung San Suu Kyi
AFP - One killed, seven hurt in rare tornado in Myanmar
Reuters - International Red Cross issues rare Myanmar censure
Reuters - Myanmar copper thieves dice with death
IHT - In an unusual move, Red Cross criticizes Myanmar
PD - Japan to provide Myanmar grant aid for two projects
PD - Myanmar to cooperate with GMS members in freight transportation service
ReliefWeb - Myanmar: Government and UN begin dialogue on child soldiers
Aljazeera - US presses Myanmar to free Suu Kyi
National Post - Hijacker likely in Canada for good
Asia Times - US terror laws stymie SE Asia's refugees

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ICRC slams systematic mass abuse by Myanmar's militarya
by Peter Capella
Fri Jun 29, 4:23 AM ET

GENEVA (AFP) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) vigorously denounced Friday what it called widespread and systematic human rights abuses by Myanmar's military regime.

In an exceptionally strongly worded statement, ICRC president Jakob Kellenberger accused Myanmar's armed forces of forcing thousands of detainees to work as porters to the point of exhaustion and malnutrition, sometimes using them as "human minesweepers. "

"The persistent use of detainees as porters for the armed forces is a matter of grave humanitarian concern," Kellenberger said.

"The actions of the authorities have also resulted in immense suffering for thousands of people in conflict-affected areas."

The ICRC insisted that it had repeatedly drawn attention to the abuses, but the authorities had failed to stop them.

Some of the porters were murdered, according to the ICRC written statement, which was based on observations and interviews by its own staff in Myanmar mainly between 2000 and 2005.

At a briefing with journalists, Kellenberger called the forced portering "particularly repulsive"

"In minefields they have to go ahead, so they are types of human minsweepers, " he said.

The humanitarian agency also highlighted repeated abuse against men, women and children in communities along the Thai border, including murder, violence, arbitrary arrests and "large scale" destruction of food supplies.

"The violations are very serious and the abuse is of a systematic nature," Kellenberger said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The government has faced international criticism for keeping Nobel Peace prize winning activist Aung San Suu Kyi locked in her lakeside home for extended periods of time since 1990.

The military regime is fighting ethnic rebels in the border region, where ICRC aid staff no longer have independent access.

Portering and other abuse against civilians were major violations of international humanitarian law, the Geneva-based agency underlined.

Myanmar army's behaviour helped create "constant fear" among the population and forced thousands to flee their homes, it added.

Kellenberger said Myanmar's decision-makers consistently refused to enter into a "meaningful" discussion on the abuses with a view to stopping them.

"The continuing deadlock with the authorities has led the ICRC to take the exceptional step of making its concerns public."

The ICRC is normally discreet about its talks with authorities around the world over humanitarian issues, believing that a confidential approach is a better way to achieve improvements.

Public statements specifically naming culprits of abuse are, in contrast, very rare and are kept as a last resort.

Kellenberger said he hoped the military leaders would now enter into meaningful dialogue, but he acknowledged that Myanmar might decide to exclude his Red Cross agency from the country.

"There is a possibility, " he said.

"I don't think we could be taken as a figleaf especially after today -- that was one of my concerns," the ICRC chief explained.

Since late 2005, Myanmar has stopped the agency from carrying out independent visits to detention centres and prisons to check on conditions.

Kellenberger revealed that mortality rates in prisons were halved during the period visits were underway.

The ICRC says its staff have also faced growing restrictions on their independent movement around Myanmar, hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid to civilians.

"We will not be ready to make concessions, " Kellenberger insisted. More ICRC offices in Myanmar being closed, leaving aid workers largely based around Yangon and Mandalay.

Although the junta says it has banned forced labour, human rights groups have long said that little action has been taken, especially in areas where foreigners are barred.

Myanmar's military rulers have agreed to appoint an official to work with the United Nations to help children caught up in the nation's conflicts, a UN envoy said Friday in Yangon.

The social welfare ministry official will work with the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) to monitor for serious abuses, especially the recruitment of child soldiers, envoy Radhika Coomaraswamy said.

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US, Myanmar hold rare talks in China over Aung San Suu Kyi
by P. Parameswaran
Thu Jun 28, 6:22 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The United States held rare talks with the Myanmar military junta in Beijing to press for the release of the Southeast Asian state's democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Department said Thursday.

At the China-brokered talks this week, US officials were "clear and direct" in demanding the release of the opposition leader and thousands of other political prisoners in Myanmar, spokesman Tom Casey said. The junta leaders however did not seem to relent, he said.

It was the highest level direct talks between the rival nations in recent years, with the US officials led by deputy US assistant secretary of state Eric John.

One US official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the discussions were "very pointed and very direct."

"I don't think we saw anything coming out of them that will indicate, unfortunately, that they have changed their basic opinions," Casey said of the junta leaders who attended the talks -- information minister Kyaw Hsan, foreign minister Nyan Win and culture minister Khin Aung Nyint.

"We certainly did not hear that they were planning on releasing Aung San Suu Kyi or other political prisoners," he said.

Myanmar requested the meeting and Beijing, instead of Yangon, was chosen as the venue because the junta refused to meet a key condition by Washington -- allow US officials to first meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent 11 of the past 18 years under house arrest, Casey said.

"The government of Burma often prefers that we would meet with them in Burma. Our longstanding policy is we will not meet them in Burma -- outside of our embassy offices -- if they will not allow us to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990, but the military did not recognize the result and has kept her locked in her lakeside home, despite fierce international criticism.

Casey said Washington decided to have the talks with the junta to "reinforce the messages they were receiving" from the UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari, who had been visited Yangon several times to press the military rulers to release Aung San Suu Kyi and bring about national reconciliation.

The junta reportedly is anxious for Gambari to pay another visit to Myanmar in July when it finalizes a national convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution.

By hosting the US talks with Myanmar, China is playing a role similar to that of the six-party talks which it convened in 2003 aimed at ending North Korea's nuclear weapons drive.

"It's especially significant that these talks took place in Beijing and were arranged by the Chinese, although China will not be a publicly active participant, " said former US envoy to the United Nations Richard Holbrooke.

"While these talks are unlikely to be productive, after years of nothing on Burma, perhaps they will be the beginning of a process in which China can play a role similar to that in North Korea," he said in an opinion piece in the Washington Post Thursday.

China and Russia, which have both invested in Myanmar's energy sector, vetoed a US-led UN draft resolution in January urging Myanmar to swiftly return to democracy and free all political detainees.

Jeremy Woodrum, director of the Washington-based US Campaign for Burma, said China should respect the call by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is much a China prisoner as she is a prisoner of the Burmese regime," he said.

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One killed, seven hurt in rare tornado in Myanmar
Fri Jun 29, 2:12 PM ET

YANGON, June 29, 2007 (AFP) - One woman was killed, seven injured and hundreds left homeless after a freak tornado ripped through Yangon, police said Friday.

The tornado hit Thursday evening and damaged more than 500 homes and three factories as it cut a trail of destruction from near downtown Yangon to a suburban industrial zone, a police officer in the city's south end told AFP.

"A 43-year-old woman was killed and seven other people were injured because of debris carried by the strong wind," the police officer said.

About 1,500 trees were also uprooted by the tornado, which lasted about 20 minutes, he said.

"The wind swept away trees and other things in its path. Many trees were ripped out by the root near downtown. We were frightened," a resident said.

State media said the tornado passed through six townships in Yangon, tossing roofs off buildings, uprooting trees, and disrupting telephone and electric lines.

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International Red Cross issues rare Myanmar censure
Fri Jun 29, 2007 9:53 PM IST
By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA, June 29 (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on Friday accused Myanmar's ruling junta of committing serious abuses against detainees and civilians, in a rare public censure from the humanitarian agency.

The Swiss-based ICRC, which normally deals with governments under a cloak of confidentiality, said thousands of prisoners in former Burma were forced to work as porters for the military, carrying heavy materials and walking ahead of soldiers through areas laden with landmines.

People living near Myanmar's border with Thailand have also been subjected to systematic human rights violations, the ICRC said, citing witness reports of soldiers destroying villages' food stocks, forcing people from their homes, making arbitrary arrests and committing violence including murder.

"The ICRC has repeatedly drawn attention to these abuses but the authorities have failed to put a stop to them," ICRC President Jakob Kellenberger said. "The continuing deadlock with the authorities has led the ICRC to take the exceptional step of making its concerns public."

The neutral organisation, mandated to monitor compliance with international humanitarian law, including the 1949 Geneva Conventions, makes such denunciations extremely sparingly.

It has previously aired concerns over violations in Zimbabwe, then called Rhodesia, in 1979; during the Iran-Iraq war in 1987; in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992; in Rwanda in 1994; and in Israel in 2004 over the West Bank Barrier's routing.

There was no immediate reaction from Myanmar where a U.N. envoy said on Friday the regime had agreed to begin a dialogue of the issue of child soldiers.

CHILD PROTECTION

Rights activists accuse the army, which has ruled the former Burma in various guises since 1962, and rebel groups of using child soldiers in a decades-old civil war.

"This visit is a beginning in seeking to address some of the important issues relating to child protection in Myanmar," Radhika Coomaraswamy, U.N. Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, told reporters in Yangon.

Kellenberger said government restrictions in Myanmar have made it impossible for ICRC staff to move around independently and hampered the delivery of aid meant for humanitarian, apolitical purposes.

The organisation has been unable since late 2005 to visit any of Myanmar's estimated 1,100 political prisoners because authorities have not allowed it to conduct interviews privately, insisting that government-affiliat ed agencies also take part.

ICRC staff have not visited detained opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi since September 2003.

Suu Kyi, whose house arrest was extended for another year in May despite international pleas to free her, has been confined for more than 11 of the past 17 years.

The British government condemned authorities in Myanmar, a former British colony, for failing to cooperate with the ICRC and thereby compromising the agency's work helping mine victims and providing water, sanitation and basic health care.

"We share the deep frustration of the ICRC," the foreign office and international development office said in a statement.

"This development is a setback to the efforts of the international community to alleviate the suffering of the ordinary people of Burma."

The ICRC said it planned to remain in the country despite the limits imposed upon its operations. The organisation' s 13 expatriate staff and 160 national staff continue to set up visits for family members of detainees, and support an orthopaedic centre in the country, Kellenberger said.

"It is our intention to stay in Myanmar," he told a Geneva news conference. "There is still limited work we can do."

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Myanmar copper thieves dice with death
Fri Jun 29, 2007 1:00 PM IST
 
YANGON (Reuters) - Not everybody in military-ruled Myanmar is cursing the blackouts.

Thieves in the former Burma's main city, Yangon, are taking advantage of outages often lasting for more than 20 hours a day to steal the copper power cables, police said on Friday.

Sometimes, of course, they get unlucky.

"The thieves are risking their lives as it is impossible to know exactly when the power is going to be restored. It's just like playing Russian roulette," said one Yangon police officer who did not want to be named.

"I've seen a few cases in which thieves were electrocuted. In April, a 16-year-old boy was found dead, holding a broken cable from a lamppost. Only God knows for sure whether he was a thief or not."

Innocent passers-by are also falling victim.

"In one case, the broken cable end left by the thief dangled into a puddle and a woman jogger was killed when she stepped into it," he said.

Four decades of military rule and economic mismanagement have turned Myanmar -- the world's number one rice exporter when it won independence from Britain in 1948 -- into one of Asia's biggest basket cases.

Despite huge off-shore natural gas reserves, the southeast Asian nation's 53 million people have access to less than 10 percent of the electricity per capita of neighbouring Thailand.

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The International Herald Tribune - Published: June 29, 2007
In an unusual move, Red Cross criticizes Myanmar
The Associated Press

GENEVA: In a rare departure from its usual diplomatic restraint, the international Red Cross on Friday denounced the Myanmar government's abuses of civilians and detainees as causing "immense suffering."

The government's practice of making thousands of detainees serve as porters for its armed forces exposes them to the dangers of combat and other risks, said the International Committee of the Red Cross. It also cited repeated abuses by the military against men, women and children living along the Thai-Myanmar border, including the large-scale destruction of food supplies.

Usually the Red Cross complains confidentially to governments about such abuses, leading to criticism of the agency for failing to disclose severe violations. Its silence during the Holocaust was an extreme case, but more recently it was criticized for failing to go public with its knowledge of U.S. abuses at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

In denouncing Myanmar, the president of the Red Cross, Jakob Kellenberger, said it had repeatedly complained to the government about the abuses, "but the authorities have failed to put a stop to them."

"The persistent use of detainees as porters for the armed forces is a matter of grave humanitarian concern," Kellenberger said. "The actions of the authorities have also resulted in immense suffering for thousands of people in conflict-affected areas."

The military has severely restricted freedom of movement in combat areas along the Thai-Myanmar border, "making it impossible for many villagers to work in their fields."

The armed forces have also committed "numerous acts of violence," including murder, against civilians in these areas, the Red Cross said. "They have also forced villagers to directly support military operations or to leave their homes."

The United Nations and Western countries have long accused the junta of human rights abuses, like forcing people to do unpaid manual labor and to serve as army porters, but this was the first time the Red Cross has been so direct.

The agency complained in recent months about government restrictions on its work, like forcing the closure of Red Cross offices in the field.

The Myanmar military government regularly rejects allegations of rights abuses and says it is making progress toward democracy.

The Red Cross said it based its complaints on observations made by Red Cross representatives and numerous allegations of abuse it collected during private interviews with thousands of civilians and detainees.

"Many detainees used as porters have suffered from exhaustion and malnutrition and been subjected to degrading treatment," it said. "Some have been murdered."

Kellenberger said that to make matters worse, the government has imposed increasingly severe restrictions on Red Cross staff, making it impossible for them move independently and hampering the delivery of humanitarian aid.

Since 2005, the Myanmar authorities have also prevented the Red Cross from visiting detention centers, the agency said.

"The continuing deadlock with the authorities, " Kellenberger said has led the Red Cross "to take the exceptional step of making its concerns public."

The agency said it reserved the right to denounce publicly violations if they are major and repeated or likely to be repeated and if its delegates have witnessed the violations with their own eyes or decided the evidence came from reliable and verifiable sources.

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People's Daily Online - June 29, 2007
Japan to provide Myanmar grant aid for two projects

The Japanese government will provide Myanmar grant aid assistance for two projects worth a total of 468 million yens (about 3.8 million U.S. dollars), according to a press release of the Japanese Embassy available Friday. Notes regarding the provision of the grant aid to the two projects of human resources development scholarship and afforestation in the dry zone respectively worth 407 million yens and 61 million yens were exchanged between Japanese Ambassador Nobutake Odano and Myanmar Minister of National Planning and Economic Development on Thursday.

The human resources scholarship project, which started in 2002, offers opportunities to promising youths of Myanmar, both from government and non-governmental organizations, for further studying at Japanese universities to attain masters' degrees, the release said, adding that 103 young Myanmar people have already been sent to Japan under the project.

The project for afforestation in the dry zone aims at combating desertification and mitigating the effects of drought by establishing sustainable operation and maintenance of afforestation sites in the dry zone of Myanmar, thus further contributing to the environmental development of the region and providing the local residents with required resources and improved living environment, the release also said. (Source: Xinhua)

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People's Daily Online - June 29, 2007
Myanmar to cooperate with GMS members in freight transportation services

Myanmar has agreed with four other members of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) -- Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam on cooperation in freight transportation services as part of its bid to further the economic cooperation in the subregion.

Under a memorandum of understanding signed among freight forwarders' associations of the five GMS member nations at a forum held at the Pattaya Beach in Thailand last weekend, cooperation will be made on exchange of information and freight transportation services in the subregion, according to Friday's state-run newspaper the New Light of Myanmar.

Sponsored by the Thai commerce ministry, a forum on enhancement of international trade logistics development in GMS was held at the Thai beach.

According to the report, the freight forwarders' associations of members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in GMS region are also having a plan to hold talks with their counterpart of China which is also a member of the six-country GMS- Economic Cooperation.

Meanwhile, in April this year, a joint committee on coordination of commercial navigation of four Upper GMS countries - - China, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand met in Tachilek, Myanmar's eastern Shan state, addressing issues of transportation of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) and petroleum products (PP) as well as matters related to port tax.

Through such oil transportation, Myanmar will be benefited for the role of its border port of Wan Pon in Tachilek, experts said.

The Wan Pon port checkpoint from the Myanmar side was upgraded on Jan. 29 this year along with Ban Muang Mom checkpoint from the Lao side to meet international standard to boost arrivals of world tourists and those from the third countries visiting the two border areas.

Myanmar, a member of the six-country GMS-Economic Cooperation, has worked for closer economic ties together with other members of the grouping by taking part in the implementation of the GMS program.

Initiated by the Asian Development Bank, the GMS-Economic Cooperation was founded in 1992 to bring together China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam along the Mekong River.

Since then, Myanmar has joined in signing several GMS agreements, under which the six participating countries have prioritized some 100 projects in eight sectors including investment, trade, transport, tourism, telecommunications, energy, environment and human resources development.

Aimed at developing the international passenger and cargo transportation, trade and tourism on the Lancang-Mekong River, Myanmar joined three other countries located in the upper reaches of the Mekong River -- China, Laos and Thailand, in signing a commercial navigation agreement in April 2000 in Myanmar's Tachilek.

Under the agreement, which provides for vessels of any signatory country to sail freely between Simao in China and Luangprabang in Laos, Myanmar opened two ports along with three other signatories for the move. The Lancang-Mekong international waterway was officially opened to commercial navigation in June 2001.

Myanmar also joined five other GMS nations in signing an agreement and a protocol in April 2004 in Phnom Penh with regard to cross-border transportation.

The 4,500-km Mekong River originates from China's Qinghai and runs through Myanmar, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam down to South China Sea near Ho Chi Minh city.

The GMS has a combined land area of nearly 2.3 million square- kilometers and home to more than 250 million people. (Source: Xinhua)

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ReliefWeb
Source: Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict
Date: 29 Jun 2007
Myanmar: Government and UN begin dialogue on child soldiers

New-York- Yangon, 29 June 2007 – The UN Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict, Ms. Radhika Coomaraswamy, concluded her five day visit to Myanmar within the framework of Security Council Resolution 1612 (2005), monitoring the six grave violations committed against children during conflict. The report of the Secretary General on the situation of Children and Armed Conflict in Myanmar will be examined by the Security Council Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict in November 2007.

The modalities and guidelines for the operation of the in-country UN Task Force, which will collect and verify updated information for the preparation of the report, were discussed with the UN Country Team.

“This report will provide us with a clearer understanding of the situation of children affected by the conflict in Myanmar. Updated information on practices by all parties listed in the Security Council report for using child soldiers should lead to engagement with the armed forces and armed groups in order to ensure the release of the children and their proper reintegration into their communities,” said Ms. Coomaraswamy

The UN Special Representative met with General Thein Sein, acting Prime Minister and Secretary 1 of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), as well as with other ministers and senior officials. She also held a working session with the leadership of the Government Committee for the Prevention of Military Recruitment of Underage Children at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and visited a military recruitment center in Mandalay.

In her discussions with the authorities, Ms. Coomaraswamy explained the framework of Resolution 1612 and the requirements of its monitoring and reporting mechanism. The Government of Myanmar agreed to appoint a high level focal point from the Ministry of Social Welfare to engage with the UN Country Team, and especially UNICEF, on all issues related to children and armed conflict. “The Government responded favorably to an on-going dialogue with the United Nations,” stated the Under-Secretary General.

During the working session with the Committee on the Prevention of the Recruitment on Underage Children, it was agreed that they would develop and finalize an action plan in collaboration with UNICEF and set up a sub-committee with relevant line Ministries on issues related to the reintegration of the children in accordance with the Paris principles. Under this action plan, trainings on child protection in armed conflict will also be organized on a regular basis, especially with the Ministry of Defense.

Ms. Coomaraswamy also met with the United Wa State Army, one of the non-state actors listed in the Security Council Report. She urged them to engage with the UN Country Team in preparing an action plan to halt recruitment of minors and developing a reintegration programme. Modalities are also being discussed with regard to engagement with other non-state actors who are listed for using child soldiers.

The Special Representative welcomes this opportunity to engage in dialogue with the senior leadership of the Myanmar Government on issues related to child protection and to clarify with them international standards and obligations relating to children and armed conflict. “This visit is a beginning in seeking to address some of the important issues relating to child protection in Myanmar', Ms. Coomaraswamy concluded.

For further information, please contact:

Ms. Laurence Gérard, Liaison Officer, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict. Cellphone: +1 646-266-8633 - gerardl@un.org - (travelling with Ms. Coomarasawamy)

Luca Solimeo, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Children and Armed Conflict, in New York – solimeo@un.org - +1 917-367-3563

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Aljazeera - FRIDAY, JUNE 29, 2007
US presses Myanmar to free Suu Kyi

The US has repeated its demand that Myanmar free Aung San Suu Kyi, the detained opposition leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner, at rare face-to-face talks in Beijing.

The talks, brokered by China, were "a very frank discussion", Tom Casey, a US state department spokesman, told reporters.

"It gave us an opportunity to express our opinions directly to the regime," he said of the talks, which took place on Tuesday but were only announced on Thursday in Washington.

However, Casey added that Myanmar had shown no sign of relenting over the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi or thousands of other political prisoners.
 
"I don't think we saw anything coming out of them that would indicate, unfortunately, that they had changed their basic opinions," he said.
 
The meeting came just under a month after the military authorities in Myanmar extended the opposition leader's house arrest by another year.
 
Eric John, a deputy assistant secretary of state, represented the US at the Beijing talks, while Kyaw Hsan, Myanmar's information minister, was accompanied by the country's foreign and culture ministers.
 
The meeting took place at the request of Myanmar, the US state department said.
 
The last such high-level talks were in 2003.
 
The Chinese capital was chosen as the venue because the US says it will only travel to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, if its officials are allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi.
 
"The government of Burma often prefers that we would meet with them in Burma. Our longstanding policy is we will not meet them in Burma - outside of our embassy offices - if they will not allow us to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi," Casey said.
 
Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won a landslide victory in elections in 1990, but the military refused to recognise the result.
 
Apart from a brief period in Yangon's notorious Insein jail, she has been kept locked in her Yangon home.
 
Myanmar authorities say that to release her would create a threat to public order.
 
She has now spent 11 of the past 18 years under house arrest.

Constitution
 
Commenting on Tuesday's meeting, Casey said Washington had agreed to talks with Myanmar officials to "reinforce the messages they were receiving" from the UN special envoy, Ibrahim Gambari.
 
He has visited Myanmar several times to press the military rulers to release Aung San Suu Kyi and bring about national reconciliation.
 
Myanmar is reportedly anxious for Gambari, who was allowed twice to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, to pay another visit to Myanmar in July when it finalises a national convention to draw up guidelines for a new constitution.
 
Earlier, officials from the NLD in Myanmar said the government had freed most of the 52 activists detained last month after holding protests calling for Aung San Suu Kyi's release.
 
However, party officials said they remained concerned about Phyu Phyu Thin, a prominent Myanmar Aids activist, who was not released.
 
She was taken from her home on May 21 for questioning by police and recently went on a hunger strike and was reportedly not well.
 
News of the Beijing meeting came as the head of the International Committee of the Red Cross issued a rare public denunciation of what he said were Myanmar's "major and repeated violations" of humanitarian law.
 
Jakob Kellenberger, the organisation' s president, said many thousands of people in Myanmar were living in a "climate of constant fear" as a result of the actions of the country's armed forces.

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National Post
Hijacker likely in Canada for good
BURMESE ACTIVIST
Stewart Bell, National Post
Published: Friday, June 29, 2007

A Burmese pro-democracy activist who hijacked an airliner and held 50 passengers hostage has lost a court challenge against Canadian immigration authorities who want to deport him for terrorism.

Than Soe had argued he was not a terrorist because he did not intend to harm anyone when he hijacked a Burma Airways flight in 1989 and forced it to land in Thailand, but the Federal Court dismissed his case.

Despite his legal win, there appears to be little chance the convicted hijacker, who entered Canada illegally in 2003, will be deported any time soon because of the Burmese military junta's abysmal human rights record.

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees says Mr. Soe, also known as Ye Yint and Thit Lwin, faces torture or indefinite detention in Burma for his role in the hijacking and pro-democracy activism.

Mr. Soe admits he hijacked the airliner, held hostages and demanded, among other things, the release of Burmese political prisoners. But he fears he will be tortured if Canada sends him home.

The case has become the latest terrorism-related challenge to Canada's refugee system. Canadian immigration policies make it difficult to deport even known terrorists to countries where they might be mistreated.

In October, 1989, Mr. Soe and another student named Ye Thi Ha hijacked a Fokker-28 passenger plane shortly after it left the Burmese town of Mergui for the capital Rangoon. They ordered the pilot to divert the plane to U-Tapao, Thailand.

Upon landing, they released the 30 oldest and youngest passengers but held the remaining 50 as hostages and reportedly threatened to blow the plane up with grenades unless Burma agreed to released all its political prisoners.

The hostages were eventually released and Mr. Soe surrendered to Thai authorities. Twenty-two at the time of the hijacking, Mr. Soe was sentenced to six years imprisonment. He was released after 2? years, pardoned by the Thai government and made his way to the United States on a scholarship. From there he fled to Canada.

The Immigration and Refugee Board in 2004 declared him inadmissible due to his past connections to terrorism and a deportation order was issued, but Mr. Soe appealed to Stockwell Day, the Minister of Public Safety, to let him stay on the grounds that his presence in Canada would not be detrimental to the national interest.

The President of the Canada Border Services Agency recommended against the amnesty, writing in a briefing note that "Mr. Soe did commit a terrorist act. He did hijack a plane and people could have been injured or killed. This fact cannot be ignored.

"Mr. Soe has been upfront and honest about his hijacking. He presently does not appear to be a danger to Canadian society; however, his presence in Canada clearly goes against our national interest. Canada should not harbour individuals who had admitted to committing terrorist acts."

He added that there was no compelling reason to grant Mr. Soe refugee status since he was unemployed, had no family in Canada and he could request to return to Thailand, where he had been pardoned.

Mr. Day accepted the CBSA's recommendation on March 27, 2006, and denied the appeal. But Mr. Soe challenged the Minister in court and on April 30, 2007, Justice Michael Phelan tossed out the decision, saying the Mr. Day had failed to consider the UNHCR's report.

"For all these reasons, the application for judicial review is allowed, the Minister's decision is quashed and the matter is remitted to the Minister for re-determination, " the judge wrote.

A separate legal challenge heard by a different judge ended in the government's favour on Tuesday when Justice Michel Shore upheld an IRB decision that found Mr. Soe inadmissible to Canada for terrorism. Mr. Soe will now likely undergo an assessment to determine whether he faces a risk if Canada returns him to Burma.

Also called Myanmar, Burma is ruled by a military junta that suppresses all dissent and opposition with brute force. Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who leads the opposition National League for Democracy, lives under house arrest.

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Asia Times - Jun 30, 2007
US terror laws stymie SE Asia's refugees
By Clifford McCoy

MAE SOT, Thailand - Soon after the September 11, 2001, terror attacks, the United States strictly redefined what it considers terrorist acts and what constitutes a foreign terrorist organization. Provisions in the 2001 USA Patriot Act and the subsequent 2005 Real ID Act have caused a dramatic decline in the total number of refugees admitted to the US over the past six years.

Nowhere is that pinch being felt more acutely than along the Thailand-Myanmar border, where more than 100,000 refugees have fled fierce fighting inside Myanmar and now languish in squalid camps in Thailand. US Department of Homeland Security lawyers are interviewing ethnic-Karen refugees from the massive Mae La refugee camp north of Mae Sot for possible resettlement to the United States.

The US has indicated that it could resettle as many as 15,000 Karen refugees this year, but many of the applicants who previously would have met Washington's resettlement criteria are now considered ineligible because of their previous membership in the Karen National Union (KNU), an armed insurgent group that the US apparently considers a foreign terrorist organization.

A US Presidential Determination authorized 70,000 refugee admissions for 2006, but only 41,260 refugees arrived at the end of the fiscal year on September 30, 2006. The US State Department was authorized to admit an additional 70,000 refugees for 2007, and funding has been earmarked for 60,000 refugees and asylum seekers. Yet government insiders estimate that the actual resettlement numbers will be even lower than last year.

That's because the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act have greatly expanded the United States' previous definitions of "terrorist activity" and a "terrorist organization" . The State Department defines a foreign terrorist organization as a foreign organization that is so designated by the secretary of state in accordance with Section 219 of the Immigration and Naturalization Act (INA).

This act states that a terrorist organization must be a foreign organization, it must engage in terrorist activity as defined in the INA or as defined in the Foreign Relations Authorization Act of fiscal years 1988 and 1989, or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism. And the organization' s terrorist activity or terrorism must threaten the security of US nationals or the national security of the United States.

Under the Patriot Act, a "terrorist activity" now more broadly includes the use, threat, attempt or conspiracy to "use any dangerous device (other than for mere personal gain) with the intent to endanger, directly or indirectly, the safety of one or more individuals, or to cause substantial damage to property. The Real ID Act, meanwhile, further expands that definition vaguely to include behavior endorsing or espousing terrorist activity.

That's a significant expansion to the previous legislation, whereby an organization could only be considered a terrorist organization if it had been officially designated by the secretary of state in consultation with the secretary of the Treasury and the attorney general. Now, the Patriot Act allows Department of Homeland Security adjudicators and immigration judges independently to determine whether an organization should be considered a foreign terrorist organization.

Moreover, an organization can now also be deemed a "non-designated" terrorist organization if it consists of more than one person who performs any one of the previously listed terrorist activities, including using a weapon or a "dangerous device". This controversially also includes civilians who offer material support to deemed terrorist groups. The new expanded definitions in effect lump groups that Washington once referred to as rebels, revolutionaries and, in certain instances, even "freedom fighters" together with radical, anti-US groups such as al-Qaeda and Jemaah Islamiyah.

Refugee-rights groups, such as the Refugee Council USA and Jesuit Refugee Services, are particularly concerned that the material-support clause applies to anyone who has ever given anything to a terrorist organization, including a glass of water. Remarkably, the definition of "material support" used in the Patriot Act fails to delineate exceptions for minimal support or even for support given under duress.

Indeed, by the definitions now set by the Patriot Act and the Real ID Act, all of the United States' founding fathers and the entire Continental Army that fought for independence against the colonial British would now be considered terrorists. Furthermore, much of the population of the 13 original US colonies would be considered supporters of terrorist organizations through the material-support clause.

Weak waivers
The US State Department has in certain instances fudged those requirements. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, using her discretionary authority under the Immigration and Nationality Act, for the first time in May 2006 granted a waiver for refugees in Tham Hin refugee camp in Thailand opposite Myanmar.

A second waiver signed last August allowed for the resettlement of Karen refugees in Thailand who according to the State Department "might meet all the eligibility requirements for resettlement under the administration' s Refugee Admissions Program, including that they pose no danger to the safety and security of the United States, can settle in the United States even if they have provided 'material support' to the KNU".

And in January, the secretary of homeland security waived the material-support provision for eight groups first identified by Rice. In addition to the Tibetan Mustangs and Cuban Alzados, Myanmar's Karen National Union, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), the Chin National Front/Chin National Army, the Chin National League for Democracy, the Kayan New Land Party, the Arakan Liberation Party and the Karenni National Progressive Party were also included.

Yet the waivers are not universal and only cover refugees who can demonstrate with evidence that they only provided material support and were not members of the groups or combatants.

Rather, the waiver provision allows the secretary of state or the secretary of homeland security to declare exempt on a case-by-case basis people who have supported groups whose policies do not conflict with the policy objectives of the US - which would arguably be the case for Myanmar's ethnic insurgent groups fighting against a government Washington has imposed economic and investment sanctions against. However, a waiver cannot be extended to people considered members or combatants of these same organizations, nor can it be applied to their spouses or children.

The waiver was extended for Thailand's Tham Hin camp because, according to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, Department of Homeland Security representatives interviewing refugees in the camp "discovered that among the refugees were Karen who might have provided some 'material support' to the KNU, considered by the United States government to be a terrorist organization" . Yet a search through the State Department's most current list of foreign terrorist organizations by this correspondent found no mention of the KNU or its army, the KNLA. In fact there were no political or military organizations from Myanmar listed at all.

That means that any Karen who is currently or has ever formerly been a member of the KNU or the KNLA is ineligible for resettlement in the United States, as are their spouses and children. According to lawyers from the Department of Homeland Security hearing resettlement cases in Mae Sot, Thailand, current or former members of the KNU are soldiers and will not be approved for resettlement and oddly by their undefined standards should not even be considered "freedom fighters". The US Embassy in Bangkok, however, says that although former KNLA combatants will not be eligible for resettlement, former members of the KNU may be eligible depending on their present membership status and if they are otherwise qualified.

This type of confused reasoning, both in Washington and by representatives of the government in the field, shows a lack of understanding of the real issues on the ground and a readiness to apply blanket criteria to a complex situation. Despite the waiver given to Tham Hin refugees, more than 20% of them were denied resettlement after adjudication by Department of Homeland Security lawyers. According to a September 2006 report by the Refugee Council USA, "These bona fide refugees not only meet the guidelines of the UNHCR [United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees], but they also met the requirements for US refugee resettlement and posed no danger to the safety and security of the United States."

De facto governments
What is apparently ignored by US lawyers is that for many of the indigenous peoples in Myanmar, their ethnic-based political organizations and soldiers are also seen as their governments and their armies. That is, these organizations are the hoped-for guarantors of their political future and the soldiers often act as protectors of the civilian population from rights-abusing government forces. This was certainly so in the past when the insurgents controlled much larger geographical areas in Myanmar.

This notion has even been accepted on occasion by the US government. For instance, an August 2006 media note from the Department of State said: "The KNU, founded in 1948, historically has functioned as the de facto civilian government of the Karen people in the areas it controlled, resisting the repression of and seeking autonomy from the Burmese regime. The Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) is the armed wing of the KNU." (The US government does not recognize the name "Myanmar" but continues to use "Burma", the former name abandoned by the ruling junta in 1989.)

The Karen struggle in Myanmar has been ongoing for 50 years and during that time many Karen men have in one capacity or another served in the KNLA. Many KNU members are former members of the military wing and have since become civilian villagers again. When the conflict situation became too difficult to remain in Myanmar, they fled along with other villagers. But because of their past membership in the KNU or KNLA, they are barred from resettlement to the US.

Much has been written about the sometimes coercive nature of material support given to armed insurgent organizations. But what is often ignored is how the people living in these areas in Myanmar view the insurgent groups themselves. To many Karen living in Myanmar, the KNU was, and still is, their de facto government and in a conflict situation is at least roughly representative of the people's wishes. This is especially the case with Karen and Karenni refugees, whose political and military organizations are far less brutal than the central government.

Many among them view their donations of money or food as means of keeping their army in the field and not as help to a terrorist organization, as the US now deems them. As with the citizens of any country, they believe it is their duty to pay taxes to the government, whether in the form of money, rice or other material aid.
In large parts of Karen state, schools, clinics, village organizations and even trade were for decades run by the KNU through a functioning and organized education department, health department civil administration system and revenue department. The imposition of central government rule in these areas has only come about in the past 15 or so years.

Karen soldiers react with humor and outrage at being branded terrorists. What the USA Patriot Act considers a terrorist activity, be it the killing of a government soldier or the blowing up of a road or bridge, they see as a legitimate act of war. Enlisting as a Karen soldier is seen by many as the only way to resist a Myanmar army that various human-rights reports show shoots their people on sight, burns down their homes, rapes their women, destroys their crops and hauls their people off for forced labor.

Jesuit Refugee Service, a Catholic refugee assistance and advocacy organization, said in a 2006 Action Alert, "The material-support bar has given rise to an incongruous result in which refugees who have stood against terrorism and tyranny in their homelands, including individuals who have resisted dictatorships condemned by the United States or who have fought as members of groups receiving United States backing, are now barred from admission to the United States as 'terrorists' ."

Myanmar's refugees are disqualified under the Patriot Act from taking up arms against the government. However, the US is not above asking these same people if they would be willing to serve in the US military if they were granted citizenship. Karen male refugees between the ages of 18 and 26 have been asked during their interviews with Department of Homeland Security representatives to sign a form saying they are willing to join the selective service program, which functions as a registry for possible conscription in the US military.

Myanmar's refugees are not Southeast Asia's only marginalized group to be adversely affected by the Patriot Act. Recent ethnic-Hmong refugees from Laos now in Thailand are also having a difficult time gaining legitimacy as refugees and being accepted for resettlement to the US. About 300,000 Laotians, mostly Hmong, fled to Thailand after the communist takeover of the country in 1975. The last Hmong refugee settlement at Wat Tham Krabock in central Thailand was closed in May 2005, with many of the refugees resettled to the United States by the end of that year.

However, Hmong have continued to flee Laotian government persecution, and between 4,500 and 8,000 refugees have recently clustered around the Thai village of Huay Nam Khao in Petchaboon province. They claim to be fleeing persecution, imprisonment and even death at the hands of Laotian authorities because of their own or relatives' ties to the US during the Vietnam War. While many Hmong fighters and their families fled to Thailand, many others stayed behind and have since waged a low-intensity, forlorn guerrilla war against the government.

The Hmong fought alongside the US in its "secret war" against communism in Laos. But under the Patriot Act, the US now says their armed activities then were terrorist in nature, both during and after the war. This is ironic given that Congress passed a law in 2000 relaxing citizenship requirements for Hmong in recognition of their Vietnam Wasr-era efforts. Yet the Hmong were not among the eight groups that received waivers in January, perhaps because of the United States' current policy to improve relations with the communist-led country.

The Thai government has claimed the Hmong are illegal immigrants and the Laotian government claims they have fled voluntarily in the hope of resettling in the US. In January, 153 Hmong were on the brink of being forcibly sent back to Laos until last-minute agreements were made with the US, Australian, Canadian and Dutch governments to resettle them. Other Hmong refugees, however, have recently been sent back quietly by the Thai authorities to uncertain fates in Laos.

Clifford McCoy is a Chiang Mai-based freelance journalist.

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