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HEADLINES
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AP - Fresh calls to release political prisoners in Myanmar
AP - Foreign investment in Myanmar oil and gas sectors more than tripled last year
AP - Magazine Says Myanmar Salt Price Has Tripled Since Cyclone Nargis
IRIN - UN reports improvement in cyclone cooperation
Reuters - New drug-resistance test gives hope to TB fight
CNA - Myanmar residents slowly rebuilding their lives after cyclone
Rediff - ONGC, GAIL share in Myanmar blocks fall
Jurist - UN Human Rights Commission keeps public pressure on Myanmar government
Merinews - Poppy replacing rice cultivation in Myanmar
Philippine Daily Inquirer - RP asks Myanmar to release Suu Kyi by ASEAN anniversary
The Star - ‘Food For Hope’ collection for disaster victims in Myanmar and China
Outlook India - Rice uses visit to quake-affected China to rap Myanmar
VOA News - Rights Activist Says State-Sanctioned Rape Widespread in Burma
The Irish Times - Time to take a proper stand on Burma
Irrawaddy - Rangoon Editor Fired Over Offending Poem
Mizzima News - Journalist U Win Tin in need of treatment

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Fresh calls to release political prisoners in Myanmar
AP - Tuesday, July 1

YANGON, Myanmar - Two separate appeals were launched Monday for the release of political prisoners in Myanmar _ for some pro-democracy demonstrators held for almost two weeks and for an elderly journalist entering his 20th year in detention.

The National League for Democracy party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi called for the release of 13 party members and a Buddhist monk they said were illegally arrested on June 19 in front of party headquarters in Yangon.

They were beaten by pro-government forces and detained after shouting slogans calling for Suu Kyi's release at a ceremony marking her 63rd birthday, the party said

Reporters Without Borders meanwhile called for the immediate release from prison of journalist Win Tin, 78, whose health is said to have deteriorated badly in the past few days. The U.N. has called him the country's longest-serving political prisoner.

The Paris-based press freedom group said in a statement that Win Tin "is suffering from lung problems with severe asthmatic attacks, which prevent him from sleeping and eating properly. A relative who visited him two days ago found him thin and weak."

Win Tin was sentenced on several charges, including subversion and making "anti-government propaganda.' '

"It will be exactly 19 years on 4 July since Burma's military arrested Win Tin," said Reporters Without Borders, using the old name for Myanmar. "The government, which has a responsibility to protect the life of its citizens, should now release him. He should be moved to a hospital as quickly as possible."

The U.N. estimated that Myanmar had some 1,100 political prisoners before last September's pro-democracy demonstrations, which were quashed by force. The numbers were believed to have increased by several hundred after the protests were crushed.

Suu Kyi has spent more than 12 of the last 19 years under detention. Her party swept national elections in 1990, but the ruling junta refused to honor the results.

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Foreign investment in Myanmar oil and gas sectors more than tripled last year
AP - Tuesday, July 1

YANGON, Myanmar - Foreign investment in Myanmar's oil and gas sectors more than tripled last year to US$474.3 million, according to a recently released government report.

That accounted for 90 percent of all foreign investment into the country in 2007 of US$504.8 million, the Ministry of National Planning and Development said in its latest statistical survey.

Total foreign investment in oil and gas in 2006 amounted to US$134 million, according to government figures.

The United Kingdom led the oil and gas investors, with US$187 million invested last year, followed by India and Singapore.

Thailand last year invested US$16.22 million and Germany US$2.5 million into the manufacturing sector and South Korea US$12 million in the fishing industry, same report said.

The report said there was no new investment in mining, real estate, hotel and tourism, transport, power and the industrial sector.

Many Western countries either ban or discourage investment in Myanmar as a way of pressuring its ruling junta to improve its poor human rights record and hand over power to a democratically elected
government.

The official report said the United Kingdom includes the British Virgin Islands and Bermuda. Some oil companies register in these two and other sites to bypass sanctions imposed by their governments.

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Myanmar: Magazine Says Myanmar Salt Price Has Tripled Since Cyclone Nargis
AP - Sunday, June 29

YANGON, MYANMAR: The price of salt has tripled since Myanmar was hit by almost two months ago by Cyclone Nargis, which damaged salt-producing areas as well as rice fields, a magazine reported Sunday (29 June).

The weekly magazine Voice said the price of a viss of salt _ which is equal to 3.5 pounds (1.6 kilograms) _ had soared at one point to 1,300 kyats (US$1.18), more than six times its pre-cyclone price of 200 kyats (US$0.18).

The price in markets in Yangon, the country's biggest city, has since fallen to about 700 kyats (US$0.63 cents) few weeks after the cyclone, it said.

The magazine reported that more than 1,000 acres (405 hectares) of state-owned salt fields and 23,430 acres (9,482 hectares) of privately owned salt fields were destroyed by the cyclone.

It said salt is produced mainly in the Irrawaddy delta _ the area hardest hit by the 2-3 May storm _ and also in southern Mon and Tanintharyi states and in northwestern Rakhine state.

The price of salt in Rakhine has gone up from 100 kyats (US$0.09) per viss to 400 kyats (US$0.36) as supplies have gotten tight.

To meet the demand, Rakhine state will increase its output during the upcoming October-November salt-production season, the report said, without giving details.

Cyclone Nargis cut a swath of destruction through the delta and the region around the Yangon, killing 84,537 people and leaving 53,836 missing, according to the government.

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MYANMAR: UN reports improvement in cyclone cooperation
30 Jun 2008 14:41:05 GMT

YANGON, 30 June 2008 (IRIN) - Cooperation between the international humanitarian community and Myanmar's government in addressing the needs of survivors of Cyclone Nargis is improving, the UN says.

An estimated 138,000 people were killed or are missing when the category four storm slammed into the southern Ayeyarwady delta on 2 and 3 May, affecting 2.4 million people and leaving nearly half of them needing assistance.

"The level of cooperation has definitely improved," Dan Baker, the UN's humanitarian coordinator for Myanmar, told IRIN in Yangon, the former capital, citing greater access to the cyclone-affected area.

However, in the immediate aftermath of Nargis, access to the impoverished southeast Asian nation and devastated delta was restricted as international aid workers struggled with how to respond.

"You just couldn't go there. Full stop," one NGO worker, who until recently had not been allowed access, told IRIN.

Yet almost two months on - despite some continuing bureaucratic hurdles - that situation has shown signs of improvement.

"UN requests for visas and travel permits are being granted, although not always as fast as we would like," Baker said.

As of 29 June, more than 290 visas had been issued for international UN staff as well as hundreds more for international NGO staff. And while most visas are for no more than two weeks, extensions are possible.

Some 225 international UN staff have also been granted travel authorisation to the delta, which bore the brunt of the devastation, with hundreds of international NGO workers joining them, although most for no more than a week at a time.

Around 10 staff have permission to stay in the field for periods of up to three months, working alongside national staff who are driving the response effort on the ground.
Tripartite Core Group

Instrumental in ensuring access is the Tripartite Core Group (TCG), formed after the 19 May Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministerial meeting in Singapore, and the 25 May ASEAN-UN international pledging conference in Yangon.

Comprising three members each from the Myanmar government, ASEAN and the UN, the group works to facilitate cooperation between Myanmar and the international community and will hold its eighth meeting on 1 July.

Challenges ahead

Initial findings of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment conducted from 11 to 20 June in the worst-hit areas indicate that immediate, life-saving needs remain high.

Fifty-nine percent of houses were severely damaged by the storm, while 60 percent of households surveyed reported inadequate access to clean water.

With 48 percent of all food stocks destroyed, continued food assistance will be required.

According to the UN World Food Programme (WFP), about 924,000 people will need food assistance for at least the next six months, 724,000 in the delta and 200,000 in Yangon Division.

"This is to ensure that people can begin rebuilding their livelihoods and securing their lives," WFP country representative, Chris Kaye, told IRIN.

Yet earlier fears of a second wave of deaths due to poor access to food or disease outbreaks have proved unfounded. "Neither of these two has happened," Baker said, stressing the importance of keeping the humanitarian pipeline open.

"This requires what we seem to be getting now, which is continued access, as well as continued funding," the UN official said.

Revised flash appeal

On 9 May, the UN launched a flash appeal, which is more than 66 percent funded, of US$201 million on behalf of 10 UN organisations and nine NGOs to provide food, water, shelter, health kits, cooking sets, mosquito nets and other relief supplies.

"We are really at the stage of early recovery," Baker said, citing the importance of the end of the planting season this month. Early recovery efforts will go on in parallel with ongoing relief activities.

The parallel efforts will continue until mid-2009, according to Baker, a timeline reflected in the revised flash appeal due on 10 July in New York, which will incorporate a number of inputs from the assessment.

Final findings of the assessment, which will include a damage and loss overview, will be published on 20 July.

"If we are able to show that we have continued access and that the assessment has been credible, I think the donors will be very much on board," Baker said.

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New drug-resistance test gives hope to TB fight
By Laura MacInnis

GENEVA, June 30 (Reuters) - A new diagnostic test unveiled by the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Monday will allow doctors in poor countries to find out within hours -- instead of months -- whether patients have drug-resistant tuberculosis.

Mario Raviglione, director of the WHO's Stop TB department, said the molecular test developed by Hain Lifescience and Innogenetics <INNX.BR> represented a big breakthrough in the fight against tuberculosis, a contagious respiratory ailment that kills 1.5 million people a year.

"We are capable now of making a diagnosis of MDR-TB within hours," he said, using the acronym for multi-drug resistant tuberculosis, an infection that cannot be cured with a standard course of antibiotics.

The new test can determine directly from a patient's saliva whether the tuberculosis bacteria can be treated with the two main antibiotics, isoniazid and rifampicin, making it easier to prescribe the drug to cure the disease and prevent its spread.

Previous tests required saliva samples to be incubated for as many as 60 days in order for microbacteria to grow and be tested against different antibiotic compounds.

Drug-resistant tuberculosis strains are particularly lethal for HIV/AIDS sufferers and those with weak immune systems. Errors in prescribing antibiotics can worsen drug resistance problems and lead to XDR-TB, an untreatable form that has emerged in 49 countries including the United States, France, Russia, South Africa, Brazil and Australia.

The Germany-based Hain Lifescience is also working on a test to diagnose XDR, which remains in an experimental stage, a WHO spokesman said.

Lesotho will be the first country to get the lab equipment and training to use the new diagnostics under a programme supported by the WHO's partners UNITAID and the Foundation for Innovative New Diagnostics, Raviglione told a news briefing.

The other countries due to receive support to use the new test in the next four years are: Azerbaijan, Bangladesh, Cote d'Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Georgia, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Lesotho, Moldova, Myanmar, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

The WHO said this deployment, as well as efforts to make second-line antibiotics more affordable, should increase to 15 percent the proportion of patients with multi-drug resistant tuberculosis who are diagnosed and treated appropriately.

At present, that rate is only 2 percent.

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Myanmar residents slowly rebuilding their lives after cyclone
By Channel NewsAsia's Augustine Anthuvan in Myanmar
Posted: 30 June 2008 2226 hrs

MYANMAR : Myanmar's military government continues to face strong criticism from the international community for failing to allow more foreign aid into the Irrawaddy Delta region.

Eight weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit the country, there are also conflicting reports on relief and recovery efforts underway.

Travelling from Yangon to Bogale township, the scale of the devastation is all too evident and too overwhelming to ignore.

Flooded rice fields in the Irrawaddy Delta are inundated with salt water.

There have been appeals for saline resistant seeds, tillers and diesel as the people race against time to ensure that as much rice as possible can be planted in the July planting season.

As soon as their helicopter touched down in Bogale township, ASEAN and UN officials set off to visit a hospital and the State High School No.1.

Amid patched roofs, tiffin and lunch carriers neatly stacked on one side, a maths lesson - one among many - is underway.

Then the officials set off to SetSan village.

The village school was totally demolished by the cyclone and 200 children perished.

But now, thanks to donations, shelters ensure the children can continue with their education.

However, one nagging question remains : Is this all being staged by the Myanmar authorities as a show piece for the visiting ASEAN journalists?

According to Bishow Parajuli of the United Nations Development Programme, who has been on the ground since mid-May, real progress is evident.

The UN Resident Coordinator and the UN-Designated Official based in Yangon, said, "I have been in this location, this was at least the second time in the last two weeks, and I think this is the natural progress happening. And I've also seen that in other locations where I have visited. From complete ruin, people have started building houses. There are lots of inputs and humanitarian support coming from government, UN agencies and international organisations.

"So there are different levels of progress in different locations, but I believe what we saw is a natural progress and efforts is being made. And it was fantastic to see that within two weeks, the children (are) back to school and people (are) building houses. It is very heartening, and the courage and resilience of the Myanmar people is well demonstrated in these efforts..."

Dr Surin Pitsuwan, ASEAN Secretary-General and Chair of the ASEAN Humanitarian Task Force, said, "Certainly, the first impression is very saddened, that the extent of the damage and the depth of the destruction have been very very far and wide.

"But we are also very encouraged to see them bouncing back very quickly. We have been told that the school building (was) totally demolished. Now they are studying there in spite of the fact that they have lost 200 of their fellow students. And they come back to school.

"And I think this is the future. And what we can do is to go out and inform the region, in the case of ASEAN, and I'm sure in the case of the UN, that people deserve help, deserve assistance."

Dr Noeleen Heyzer, Undersecretary- General of the United Nations, and Executive Secretary of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, said, "This is a village that has lost 300 people, out of which 200 were children. And this is a story of deep suffering but also of real courage.

"Look at the children here today. And we need to support that courage. So we're (working) very closely together with ASEAN and the whole UN system (is) working as one and with the government, and that's the only way of going forward. Strong partnership, strong bridges of trust, strong support from the outside community".

The operating environment that international and local non-governmental organisations have to work under remains fragile.

But ASEAN and UN officials on the ground, in their daily negotiations with the Myanmar military government, are determined to ensure that all parties put their politics aside and do what is right for these children.

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ONGC, GAIL share in Myanmar blocks fall
rediff.com
Ammar Zaidi in Madrid | June 30, 2008 14:14 IST

India's Oil and Natural Gas Corp and GAIL (India) Ltd's equity in two gas rich offshore blocks in Myanmar have been cut following Myanmar's national oil company exercising its 'step-in' rights in the fields, gas from where will be sold to China.

Oil and Natural Gas Corp (ONGC [Get Quote]) had 20 per cent stake and GAIL 10 per cent stake in A-1 and A-3 offshore blocks, where independently certified reserves are put at 4.53 trillion cubic feet.

South Korean trading company Daewoo [Get Quote] International Corp was the operator with 60 per cent stake and Korean Gas Corp (KOGAS) had the remaining 10 per cent.

However, as per the production sharing contract for the field, Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise (MOGE) had a 'step-in' right to take 15 per cent stake once discoveries are made.

"We have entered the development phase and MOGE has exercised its 'step-in' right. Subsequent to that, the stake of ONGC Videsh Ltd (the overseas arm of ONGC) has been cut proportionately to 17 per cent and that of GAIL to 8.5 per cent," an official in the consortium said on the sidelines of the World Petroleum Congress in Madrid.

Daewoo now holds 51 per cent and KOGAS 8.5 per cent. The official said Daewoo last week signed a preliminary deal with Chinese state-run company PetroChina to sell natural gas to be produced at the field by 2013. The deal defines the terms of production, transportation and sale of natural gas to be produced in the A-1 and A-3 gas blocks.

Under the deal, gas will be priced at $4.279 per million British thermal units at the wellhead and will move in step with international oil prices every three months.

The price offered by PetroChina is lower than $4.41 per mmBtu price offered by GAIL to piping the gas to India but the military-ruled Myanmar decided to sell gas to China.

No official reason has been given as to why China was chosen despite India offered a better price but some say the Junta wanted the Communist nation that has veto powers in United Nations on its side to guard against possible economic sanctions.

Officials said A-1 and A-3 blocks can produce anything between 450 to 560 million standard cubic feet per day of gas that will be fed to China through a pipeline.

China's offer price is likely to fetch the consortium more than $20 billion in revenues over 25 years from 2012-13 when the gas blocks in Myanmar will start producing natural gas. OVL and GAIL get cash revenues in lieu of their stake.

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UN Human Rights Commission keeps public pressure on Myanmar government
JURIST - USA  - Monday, June 30, 2008
10:11 AM ET

Maureen Aung-Thwin [director, Burma Project/Southeast Asia Initiative of the Open Society Institute]: "The UNHRC is wise to keep up public pressure on the Burmese military regime for its continued abuse of human rights. The generals probably thought they could take a breather when the outgoing Special Rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro completed his mandate as rights envoy last month. Pinheiro's hard-hitting final report to the HR Council in mid-March was met with wild cheers from the usually staid assembly. A clearly exasperated Pinheiro later told the press assembled in Geneva: "If you believe in gnomes, trolls and elves, you can believe in this democratic process in Myanmar."

The new rapporteur, Tomás Ojea Quintana, a human rights lawyer from Argentina, assumed his duties as the new Special Rapporteur on May 1, the day before Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma. Mr. Quintana didn’t mince words either, in his first report earlier this month, reiterating the obligation of "every government.. .to guarantee that its citizens enjoy all rights, particularly economic and social rights." For this, he said, "all available resources within the country must be utilized and if they are insufficient, international aid must be accepted. If refused, the country is in flagrant violation of human rights and that is my legal assessment of the situation. But it is for the Council to decide."

The UNHRC once again is calling for an independent investigation into human rights abuses in Myanmar, a call that will no doubt fall on deaf ears. But perhaps the UNHRC soon will get some help from, of all places, Southeast Asia. Last year the Association of Southeast Asian Nations or ASEAN, known for its anathema to "interference" in member states internal affairs, has a new Charter enshrining human rights as a principle, with the aim of soon creating a human rights body. Even the Burmese generals agreed to sign on to the Charter."

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Poppy replacing rice cultivation in Myanmar
Merinews - 01 July, 2008.
CJ: Kumar Sarkar

Rising demand for opium in Kachin state, Myanmar, has lured many farmers to switch from rice to poppy cultivation, which is much more profitable. Gold and jade miners and those into timber logging are heavily into opium consumption fuelling demand..

THE TREND is disturbing but it apparently does not bother the Myanmar military dictators. Farmers traditionally into rice cultivation in Kachin state of northern Myanmar are switching to poppy cultivation. And the trend is on the rise given that opium rakes in more money than paddy does.

Hukawng Valley in Kachin state leads in this. Farmers are switching to poppy cultivation either in parts of their paddy fields or converting the arable land for growing poppy.

Hukawng Valley now has over 100,000 acres of poppy fields. Owners of poppy fields grease the palms of both regional officials of the Myanmar junta and Kachin Independence Organisation (KIO) which signed a ceasefire agreement with the junta in 1994 and the New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K), the Myanmar media in exile reports.

Poppy is also cultivated in Sadung areas in eastern Kachin state bordering China's Yunnan province. The yield is increased by using chemical fertilisers procured from China. Interestingly most of the poppy fields are owned by Chinese businessmen who bribe the junta, the KIO and the NDA-K.

In Kachin state the maximum opium production is in the Hukawng Valley. The demand for opium is so high that all the produce is consumed in the state. There is no dispatch of opium outside the state. With miners working in gold mines, those in jade mines and timber loggers in the valley vigorously chasing drugs there is no dearth of client. Supplies are unable to match the high demand to Myitkyina Township the capital of Kachin State and Laiza, the headquarters and business centre of the KIO on the Sino- Myanmar border and the mining areas, media reports suggest.

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Philippine Daily Inquirer - RP asks Myanmar to release Suu Kyi by ASEAN anniversary
By Jim Gomez, Associated Press
First Posted 07:33pm (Mla time) 07/26/2007

MANILA, Philippines -- The Philippines appealed Thursday for Myanmar to release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi by November, when the Association of Southeast Asian Nations marks its founding anniversary.

"That's a very important milestone," Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo said.

Romulo said he would convey his appeal to his Myanmar counterpart, Nyan Win, who is to join an annual meeting of ASEAN foreign ministers Monday.

Myanmar's spotty human rights record has been raised at every major ASEAN meeting, but Romulo said there was no other option but to be patient.

"It's not easy to be waiting all the time, but we must keep our hopes and optimism," he told a news conference. "We should never get weary."

Myanmar ignored international calls not to extend the house arrest of Suu Kyi earlier this year, provoking new criticism, including from ASEAN.

ASEAN's 10 foreign ministers are to discuss Myanmar's efforts to democratize, according to a draft joint ministerial statement, which reserved a paragraph for the situation in the military-ruled nation.

Southeast Asian countries were hoping Myanmar would also complete a constitution it has been drafting for years by the time ASEAN leaders hold their annual summit in Singapore in November.

Myanmar's junta has said that drafting a constitution is the first of seven steps in a so-called roadmap to democracy that will culminate in free elections.

Critics say the process is a sham because it does not involve democracy activists such as Nobel laureate Suu Kyi, who has been in prison or under house arrest for more than 12 of the past 18 years.

Although bound by an ASEAN edict not to interfere in each other's affairs, some members, like Malaysia, the Philippines and Indonesia, have become more blunt in their criticism, urging Myanmar to show tangible progress toward democratization.

Authoritarian members, like Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, have refused to engage in stinging criticism of Myanmar.

Myanmar's ruling generals took power in 1988. They called elections in 1990, but refused to recognize the results when Suu Kyi's party won a resounding victory.

Myanmar should have held ASEAN's rotating chairmanship and hosted the regional summit last year, but it gave up the chance amid protests by Western governments. The chairmanship, rotated alphabetically, was abruptly passed on to the Philippines.

Singapore takes over the chairmanship next week.

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‘Food For Hope’ collection for disaster victims in Myanmar and China
The Star Online - Monday June 30, 2008

A total of RM87,000 was raised during the “Food For Hope” charity campaign last month to provide financial aid to victims of the disaster-stricken regions of Myanmar and Chengdu, China.

Three restaurants in the Jalan Bangkung stretch in Bukit Bandaraya, Bangsar, hosted the event.

The money was divided equally between four organisations that include Mercy Malaysia, Taiwan Buddhist Tzu Chi Foundation Malaysia, United Nations Child-ren’s Fund (Unicef) and the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS).

The cheques were handed over to the organisations over lunch at Cava Restaurant recently.

Present to receive the cheques were MRCS secretary-general Major-Gen Datuk Megat Mohd Yusof Datuk Megat Mahmud and Taiwan Buddhist Tzu-Chi Foundation Malaysia administration department head Tan Chee Wei.

Others were Unicef representative to Malaysia Youssouf Oomar and honorary secretary to Mercy Malaysia Raja Riza Shazmin Raja Badrul Shah.

Cava Restaurant, U Restaurant and Opus Bistro had earlier hosted a buffet dinner at the end of last month aimed at promoting solidarity and raising money to aid disaster victims in the two countries.

Attendees were required to make a minimum donation of RM100 for the rare chance of dining in all three restaurants in one night.

“We want to thank everyone who came forward to help. We are touched and amazed at the response.

“More than 600 people turned up and by the end of the night, all the food was finished and diners were mingling and just being merry.

“What was more important on top of the funds collected was the spirit of humanity and community goodwill felt,” said Edward Soo, a director of Maxim Image Sdn Bhd, which operates Cava Restaurant and Opus Bistro.

Also present at the lunch were a volunteer at the Tzu Chi Foundation Matthew Lim, Unicef’s fundraising assistant Joyce Wong and Bryan McIntyre and Chacko Vadaketh, who provided the entertainment for “Food For Hope”, and Maxim Image Sdn Bhd general manager Peter Yew.

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Rice uses visit to quake-affected China to rap Myanmar
Outlook India
RAGHAVENDRA

BEIJING, JUNE 29 (PTI) US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice today rapped Myanmar for refusing international help after being hit by a devastating cyclone, drawing contrast with its close ally China whom she praised for the recovery efforts following last month's devastating quake.

Rice, the first highest-ranking US official to visit the worst affected region in southwest China, flew into Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, and spent about four hours inspecting the damage wreaked by the 8 magnitude quake of May 12.

"We are very glad that the Chinese people have reached out for help," Rice said, as she contrasted it with military-ruled Myanmar which faced strong international flak for not allowing foreign aid workers in the country when Cyclone Nargis struck the country, leaving 84,500 people dead.

She said, "It has been sad that instead of making possible the international communitys response to their people, they put up barriers to that response".

"Many lives could have been saved, perhaps many more can still be saved if we can get that response... This is not a matter of politics."

The military-junta spurned the help in the wake of the intense US-led pressure to release leader Aung San Sue Kyi and other political detainees and restore democracy.

"Earthquake can be very devastating and destructive as I come from a place always hit by earthquake," Rice said, as she learnt of the massive devastation and casualties in China.

The quake in China, the deadliest in three decades, has killed almost 70,000 people with the government saying the toll is likely to cross 80,000, and rendered millions homeless.

Rice stopped at Dujiangyan where according to officials 3,000 people died and most of the buildings were uninhabitable, and a settlement called Qinjiarenjia where 8,000 disaster-affected people are living, official Xinhua news agency said.

"I can see that the Chinese people and officials have been attentive," Rice told reporters, adding, "I can see how much effort has gone into the recovery".

Rice also visited a culture centre in the Qinjiarenjia settlement where she watched the Beijing opera and a show named "thankful heart" performed by the children.

She sent a book entitled National Park of America to a 14-year-old boy named Zhou Yifan after having a chat with him in English, Xinhua said.

"For the wonderful family and children, you have good spirit. The people of America send the best wishes for complete memory and a happy life," she wrote in a commemorating book.

The US government has offered USD 2.6 million in cash and materials for China's quake-relief efforts.

Rice is in China in the last stop of her tour from June 23-30 during which she visited Germany, Japan and South Korea.

In Beijing, Rice is scheduled to discuss with Chinese leaders a wide range of issues, including denuclearization of North Korea.

North Korea last week submitted its nuclear declaration to China, host to the six-party talks involving the two Koreas, Russia, Japan and the US.

On Friday, Pyongyang destroyed its nuclear reactor cooling tower at the Yongbyon facility, marking completion of the first phase of denuclearization process. The US has said it would remove North Korea as a state sponsor of terrorism and ease sanctions on Pyongyang.

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VOA News - Rights Activist Says State-Sanctioned Rape Widespread in Burma
By Claudia Blume, Hong Kong
27 June 2008

A Burmese human rights activist says Burma's military government continues to use rape as a weapon to subdue ethnic minorities. She urges Burma's neighbors to put pressure on the military to stop sexual violence against women. Claudia Blume reports from Hong Kong.

Cheery Zahau, a member of Burma's Chin minority, says members of the Burmese army rape women in ethnic minority areas all over the country. She says in Burma's western Chin State alone, at least 38 cases of sexual violence were committed by soldiers in 2006. The youngest victim was only 12.

Zahau, a human rights activist who now lives in India, spoke Friday to journalists in Hong Kong. She says women's groups in Burma have documented more than 1800 rapes by the military since 1995.

She says the government uses rape as a weapon against its opponents.

"The soldiers are raping women to punish the populations who they suspect of supporting insurgency groups," she said. "And also they rape the women to disturb the faith and psychological welfare of these ethnic women. For example in 2003, a woman was raped by four soldiers on her way back home from the market. Until now she is mentally disturbed."

Zahau says most of the victims are too scared to speak out. even if they do, she says, the perpetrators are not punished.

The Burmese government denies the reports that it uses rape as a tool.

Last year, the U.N. Security Council considered a resolution calling on Burma to end human rights violations, including systematic rape. But Security Council members China and Russia used their vetoes to block the resolution.

Bruce Van Voorhis, a spokesman for the Asian Human Rights Commission, says no other country has more influence on the Burmese government than China.

"The Chinese government by not taking action is condoning the rape of Burmese women by the Burmese army, and we call on the Chinese government to take action to stop that," he said.

Zahau says Burma's other neighbors, such as India and Thailand, also need to put pressure on Burma's military leaders. She says it is in their own interest to speak out, as sexual violence is one of the factors forcing Burmese women to become refugees in neighboring countries.

Many governments, including the United States and the European Union, have imposed economic sanctions on Burma because of its repression of dissidents and rights abuses. The military says it will allow elections in 2010, but that it must retain a central role in the government to keep the country intact.

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Time to take a proper stand on Burma
The Irish Times - Saturday, June 28, 2008

WORLD VIEW: I T IS easy to take a stand when it costs you nothing. Mary Manning knew that in the early 1980s when she saw her government issue statement after statement criticising South Africa while Ireland retained most of its business, sporting and other links with the apartheid regime, writes Joe Humphreys .

She and some of her colleagues then decided to take a stand - a proper stand, that is - by refusing to handle South African goods being sold here by her employers. The 11 Dunnes Stores workers gave up their income for two and a half years. They were intimidated and insulted by some of their peers. They were humiliated and even spat upon.

Their stance, which among other things changed government policy on apartheid in South Africa, was finally commemorated last week in a ceremony in Dublin. At about the same time, EU leaders were preparing for a Brussels summit that showed how little values have changed in the world of international diplomacy.

Amid all the brouhaha over Ireland's rejection of the Lisbon Treaty, it went virtually unnoticed that European governments discussed possibly the two biggest human rights challenges in the world today - Zimbabwe and Burma - and they concocted a stance that was guaranteed to cost them nothing.

In an end-of-summit declaration, the EU's 27 member states urged the South African Development Community to deploy observers to monitor the planned Zimbabwe elections, and warned of possible new sanctions against Robert Mugabe's regime.

That was not as objectionable as what followed.

The EU expressed its "continuing deep concern about the humanitarian situation in Burma/Myanmar following cyclone Nargis" and said the need for a "genuine transition to democracy" in the country was stronger than ever.

What went unmentioned in the communique was that France is still doing business with the Burmese junta. Last October, a month after the Burmese military went on a killing spree attacking unarmed monks, the EU agreed to sanctions against certain firms with links to Rangoon.

Excluded from the ban was the French company Total, the leading member of a consortium that is developing the Yaduna gas fields, the largest cash cow of Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council.

Last year, French president Nicolas Sarkozy indicated there would be no fresh investment by Total in Burma, but his officials have insisted that the current project should continue because of the potential cost of terminating it.

Apart from this grubby little bit of economics, last week's communique failed to mention Burma's ever-deepening links with China, a country the EU is increasingly wooing for business.

Naturally, the EU has no problem telling lowly African governments how they should deal with a rogue nation on their doorstep. But as for telling China the same thing, and risking upsetting its notoriously- prickly ruling party, well, that is another matter.

This is despite the fact that China is directly undermining Europe's policy on Burma. Three months after the EU introduced its limited sanctions, the Chinese government signed contracts with Rangoon for a 900-mile, multibillion euro pipeline between the Burmese coast and China.

The response of the Burmese government to the recent cyclone, which killed an estimated 100,000 people, has heaped insult on to decades of injury. Humanitarian workers who have tried to help victims of the disaster have faced obstruction and even persecution.

Earlier this month, a team of civilian aid volunteers known as "The Group that Buries the Dead" were reportedly arrested for carrying out unauthorised work. So too a number of Burmese bloggers who had posted stories on the crisis to the outside world.

Perhaps most obscenely, the Burmese government announced in the midst of the disaster it was extending the house arrest of Nobel laureate and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for a sixth consecutive year.

An Irishman who has worked extensively in Burma in the humanitarian field told this reporter that he was once threatened with deportation for merely exchanging a greeting with one of his neighbours.

"The guy was suspected of being a member of the opposition so I had to stop talking to him," said the Irishman, who feared repercussions for himself and others if he was identified. "There are a lot of things you have to swallow in order to stay there. The secret police have someone watching on every block." In a letter to this newspaper recently (June 6th, 2008), the film-maker John Boorman made what he called "a modest proposal" on Burma: that we support the Karen people - probably the most downtrodden ethnic group - with money and arms.

An even more modest proposal would be to follow the example of Mary Manning and her colleagues, and lodge some form of protest for which we are willing to accept a personal price.

Here are a couple of dates to think about: On July 11th, Sarkozy visits Ireland; on August 8th, ironically, the 20th anniversary of Burma's democratic uprising, the Olympic Games open in Beijing.

Isn't it time, on this thankless cause of Burma, we took a proper stand?

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Rangoon Editor Fired Over Offending Poem
The Irrawaddy - Monday, June 30, 2008
By WAI MOE

An editor on the privately-run Rangoon magazine Cherry was fired and three censorship board employees were reportedly suspended from duty after the monthly carried a poem that displeased government officials.

The censors of the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division ordered the publishers of Cherry to withdraw the May issue of the magazine in which the offending poem appeared. But the magazine had already sold out.

The censors order Cherry to sack the editor of its poetry section, Htay Aung, Rangoon-based journalists told The Irrawaddy.

Htay Aung’s dismissal was followed by staff changes, but the magazine is still waiting for clearance to continue publishing.

The offending poem, “De Pa Yin Ga”, referred to the events in Depayin town in Sagaing Division in May 2003, when Burma’s democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her convoy were ambushed by junta-backed thugs.

The poem relates that throughout Burmese history many heroic figures were lost because of unfaithful people.

It isn’t know what so upset the censors, although they have fallen prey in the past to schemes to outwit them with hidden messages. 

Last January, poet Saw Wai was arrested after authorities deciphered a piece of his work in the Rangoon magazine The Love Journal that contained a hidden message criticizing junta leader Than Shwe.

In his poem, titled ‘February the Fourteenth’, the first letters of each line added up to the message: "General Than Shwe is crazy with power."

In an earlier ploy to embarrass the censors, a Danish travel company managed to place an advertisement in the weekly Myanmar Times containing the hidden message "Killer Than Shwe.”

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Journalist U Win Tin in need of treatment
Mizzima News - Monday, 30 June 2008 18:53
Myint Maung  

New Delhi – Veteran Burmese journalist and editor of Hantharwaddy publication U Win Tin, is currently suffering from severe ill-health and is needing immediate treatment for asthma.

Win Tin, age 79, who will complete 19 years on July 4, is suffering from asthma and his health situation is deteriorating. But he is not being provided proper treatment by the prison authorities, his friends and 'Association of Assistance to Political Prisoners in Burma' (AAPPB) said.

"Earlier, his health situation was not as bad. But when I saw him this time, he was suffering from excessive phlegm. I heard the sound of phlegm even when he laughed," Maung Maung Khin who met him on a prison visit last Saturday said.

"I was shocked to see him in this health condition. He couldn't eat and sleep well either and looked thinner," Maung Maung Khin added.

"The prison authorities should provide the elderly political prisoner, who has been in prison for a very long time, proper treatment and adequate medical care," he added.

The prison medics prescribed him an antidote to excessive exudation of phlegm. However, he had to buy this medicine from outside from his own pocket, Maung Maung Khin said.

"We found his health deteriorating because of old age. In fact, his release from prison is long overdue. The authorities tortured him physically and mentally by not releasing him. His life is at risk," Bo Kyi, Joint-Secretary of the Thai based AAPPB said.

 

"The prison authorities diagnose medical cases casually and prescribe medicine in a similar manner without examining the patients properly. Political prisoners do not get permission easily for treatment outside the prison," Bo Kyi added.

Win Tin underwent hernia surgery at Rangoon General Hospital early this year.

Win Tin has been calling for convening the parliament in accordance with the 1990 general election results and release of all political prisoners including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi through his friends who come and meet him in prison regularly.

The government nationalized 'Hanthawady' paper in 1968 and shifted the paper to Mandalay for republishing. U Win Tin was appointed editor-in-chief of the paper in 1969.

The paper used to point out the drawbacks and weaknesses of the government functionaries in its editorials and articles and urged the government to redress the grievances of the people. Because of these articles and editorials, the paper was shut down again in 1978 by then 'Burma Socialist Programme Party' (BSPP) government.

Win Tin was in the NLD intelligentsia core group since its inception and was the political advisor of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. He was arrested in 1989 and was sentenced at least three times while he was serving his original prison term. Moreover though he has served his prison term and his release is long overdue, it has not been done.

He was awarded the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano World Press Freedom Prize and 'World Association of Newspapers' Golden Pen of Freedom Award' by UNESCO and the World Journalist body in 2001. The 'Reporters Sans Frontier' (RSF) awarded him the 'Winner of Reporters Without Border' prize in 2006.

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