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HEADLINES
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AP - House votes to punish ruling junta in Myanmar
AP - Myanmar, on the UN council's agenda, extends invitation for return visit by special envoy
AP - Myanmar invites UN envoy
AFP - UN envoy planning Myanmar trip in mid-August
AFP - US lawmakers ease pressure on Chevron in Myanmar
CNA - Singapore welcomes Myanmar’s invitation to UN envoy
The Online NewsHour - Myanmar's Rice Crop Takes a Hit After Cyclone
PR Newswire - First-Ever Deployment of Private Sector Logistics Emergency Teams Benefits Relief Efforts for Victims of Myanmar Cyclone
Xinhua - Myanmar to regrow mangrove in cyclone-hit area
Jakarta Post - ASEAN meet to highlight Myanmar, North Korea
Thaindian.com - ‘Bangladesh may turn to Myanmar for rice import’
Scoop - Burma: Survival In The Shadow Of Cyclone Nargis
Mizzima News - 'Free Daw Suu' campaigners charged with instigating public unrest
DVB News - Monks continue regime boycott
DVB News - Commentary: Let’s hope the UN gets it right this time

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House votes to punish ruling junta in Myanmar
By LAURIE KELLMAN,Associated Press Writer
AP - Wednesday, July 16

WASHINGTON - The House voted Tuesday to punish Myanmar's brutal ruling regime "where it hurts _ in the wallet," by freezing assets of political and military leaders there and banning the importation of rubies from that country into the U.S.

The unanimous vote sent the bill back to the Senate, which voted last year to also bar timber from Myanmar.

House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Howard Berman said the legislation would put financial pressure on a corrupt regime that failed to adequately help its citizens recover from a cyclone and famously put down democracy demonstrations by Buddhist monks last year.

"The legislation before the House today hits the regime where it hurts _ in the wallet," Berman, D-Calif., told the House. "By blocking the import of Burmese gems into the United States and expanding financial sanctions, the legislation will take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the pockets of the regime each year."

He said the 11,000-store Jewelers of America supports a ban on Burmese gem imports. Retailers like Tiffany's and Bulgari have also voluntarily made the ban their policy, Berman said.

The bill also gives Chevron incentives to divest its natural gas program in Myanmar.

It aims to bring more pressure against the junta to restore democratic civilian government in Myanmar. U.S. officials say Myanmar has been evading earlier gem-targeting sanctions by laundering the stones in other countries before they are shipped to the United States.

President Bush is eager to sign the bill, which will extend and harden sanctions Congress first passed in 2003. Bush's wife, Laura, has emerged in recent months as a strong proponent of democratization in the Southeast Asian country.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. The current junta took power in 1988 after crushing pro-democracy demonstrations at a cost of an estimated 3,000 lives. Its soldiers similarly cracked down on Buddhist monks during the so-called Saffron Revolution in September. Human rights observers put the death toll among demonstrators in the hundreds.

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Myanmar, on the UN council's agenda, extends invitation for return visit by special envoy
AP - Wednesday, July 16

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Myanmar is inviting a United Nations special envoy to visit in mid-August, for talks that are expected to focus on international efforts to bring political reforms to the Southeast Asian nation.

The invitation by Myanmar's ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe, was extended to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, in a letter to Vietnam's ambassador, Le Luong Minh, whose nation holds the Security Council's rotating presidency this month.

Myanmar, where 138,000 were left dead or missing after Cyclone Nargis struck in early May, also is on council's agenda this month.

In the letter, which Ban's office made public Tuesday, Swe requested that Gambari ``continue the good offices role of the secretary-general' ' that he has been ``implementing very ably.'' Ban often uses that phrase to refer to his responsibility to try to bring peace or to prevent international disputes from escalating.

In March, Gambari said he was disappointed that his five-day visit to Myanmar that month hadn't produced ``any immediate tangible outcome.''

Weeks after the cyclone hit, Ban traveled to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to press the military junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, to open up access for foreign aid workers and relief supplies.

The junta also pushed through a vote on a new constitution that critics say consolidated its grip on power and extended the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the weeks after the cyclone's devastation.

After the cyclone struck, leaving 138,000 dead or missing, Ban visited the nation formerly known as Burma to press the leader of the military junta, Senior Gen. Than Shwe, to improve access for humanitarian workers and relief supplies.

That message took precedence as Ban and other world leaders momentarily put aside their calls for Myanmar's leaders to improve conditions for citizens and take steps toward becoming a democracy.

The military, which has held power since 1962, has been widely condemned for suppressing democracy and committing human rights abuses. Suu Kyi has spent more than a dozen of the last 19 years in detention.

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Myanmar invites UN envoy
By JOHN HEILPRIN,Associated Press Writer
AP - Wednesday, July 16

UNITED NATIONS - Myanmar is inviting a United Nations special envoy to visit in mid-August, for talks that are expected to focus on international efforts to bring political reforms to the Southeast Asian nation.

The invitation by Myanmar's ambassador, Kyaw Tint Swe, was extended to Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's special representative for Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, in a letter to Vietnam's ambassador, Le Luong Minh, whose nation holds the Security Council's rotating presidency this month.

Myanmar, where 138,000 were left dead or missing after Cyclone Nargis struck in early May, also is on council's agenda this month.

In the letter, which Ban's office made public Tuesday, Swe requested that Gambari "continue the good offices role of the secretary-general" that he has been "implementing very ably."

In March, Gambari said he was disappointed that his five-day visit to Myanmar that month hadn't produced "any immediate tangible outcome."

Weeks after the cyclone hit, Ban traveled to Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, to press the military junta leader, Senior General Than Shwe, to open up access for foreign aid workers and relief supplies.

The junta also pushed through a vote on a new constitution that critics say consolidated its grip on power and extended the house arrest of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in the weeks after the cyclone's devastation.

The military, which has held power since 1962, has been widely condemned for suppressing democracy and committing human rights abuses. Suu Kyi has spent more than a dozen of the last 19 years in detention.

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UN envoy planning Myanmar trip in mid-August
AFP - Wednesday, July 16

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - - UN troubleshooter Ibrahim Gambari is planning a return visit to Myanmar in mid-August at the invitation of the military regime, the UN deputy spokeswoman said Tuesday.

Marie Okabe told reporters that Gambari, the UN special envoy tasked with mediating reconciliation talks between Myanmar rulers and the opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi, received a letter inviting him to make the visit in mid-August.

The visit, initially planned for last May, was postponed due to Cyclone Nargis which struck Myanmar's key rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta on May 2-3 and left 133,000 people dead or missing, she noted.

Gambari "looks forward to returning to Myanmar on behalf of the secretary general and discussions are going on regarding the precise timing, program and objectives of his visit," Okabe said.

The UN envoy visited Myanmar last March and said afterwards that the trip had been disappointing.

During his March visit, the military junta refused his proposal to amend the constitution and rejected an offer of UN technical assistance and foreign observers during the May referendum.

While Gambari held two meetings with detained opposition chief Aung San Suu Kyi, he was unable to see junta leader General Tan Shwe.

The referendum to approve a new constitution was held a week after Cyclone Nargis struck. It was the first vote in the country since 1990, when Aung San Suu Kyi led her National League to Democracy (NLD) to a landslide victory in elections, a result the junta has never recognised.

The regime said the constitution would clear the way for democratic elections in two years, but the NLD argued that it would entrench military rule.

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US lawmakers ease pressure on Chevron in Myanmar
AFP - Wednesday, July 16

WASHINGTON (AFP) - - US lawmakers have dropped plans to impose sanctions that would have pressured US energy giant Chevron to pull out from a gas project in military-ruled Myanmar, congressional aides said on Tuesday.

Sanctions that would end tax write-offs enjoyed by Chevron were part of a package of new US measures passed by the House of Representatives last year aimed at punishing the military junta for its deadly crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

But in a compromise this week, legislators from the House of Representatives and Senate removed the provision after Chevron argued that other firms from nations such as China and India could easily take over its stake if divested, congressional aides said.

"One of the things it does is it removes the part about tax incentives that affect US companies who might do business in Burma (Myanmar)," a congressional aide told AFP in describing the compromise resolution that was unanimously passed by the House of Representatives on Tuesday.

The new legislation, which is also expected to be cleared by the Senate, merely urged "investors" in the gas project "to consider voluntary divestment over time" if the junta did not embrace reforms.

The legislation' s main focus was to block the import of Myanmar gems into the United States and to extend financial sanctions, moves that could take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the pockets of the regime each year.

Despite a longstanding ban on imports from Myanmar, gems from the country have entered the United States via third nations such as Thailand, China, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, rights groups have said.

"The amendments to this bipartisan bill provided for in this resolution, which have been carefully negotiated with the Senate, promote a coordinated, multilateral approach to sanctions against Burma," said Howard Berman, the Democratic chairman of the House committee on foreign affairs.

The European Union has similarly banned the import of Myanmar gems, as have the Canadians, he said.

Under the previous plan, "no deduction or credit against tax shall be allowed" for Chevron on revenues from the Yadana gas project.

Chevron could also have been barred from making any payments to the junta from its joint venture with French oil giant Total, Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production, and Myanmar's Myanma Oil and Gas Enterprise operating the lucrative Yadana gas fields.

 

Chevron is one of biggest Western companies in Myanmar, holding a 28 percent minority share in the Yadana natural gas project following its acquisition of another US energy giant, Unocal, in 2005.

The United States has already imposed substantial trade, investment and diplomatic sanctions on Myanmar, but Chevron's operations predate an enhanced 2003 US trade embargo.

Under Myanmar law, if Chevron sold its stake, it might have to pay the military junta much of the company's capital gains on the project -- estimated to be around 500 million dollars.

Chevron's vice-chairman Peter Robertson defended Chevron's investment in Myanmar at a congressional hearing in May, saying the company had helped victims of a recent deadly cyclone that ravaged Myanmar.

"Our plan is to stay in Burma ... If we sell our interest, we would pay a large capital gains tax to them (military junta)," he said.

"Any way of extracting us would be a benefit -- a windfall benefit to the Burmese government."

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Singapore welcomes Myanmar’s invitation to UN envoy
Channel NewsAsia - Thursday, July 17

SINGAPORE: Singapore has welcomed the Myanmar government’s decision to invite UN Special Advisor, Dr Ibrahim Gambari, to visit Myanmar next month.

A spokesman for Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said it is important for Dr Gambari to continue his work in helping Myanmar’s efforts towards national reconciliation.

Singapore, as the current ASEAN Chair, hopes the Myanmar authorities will extend their fullest cooperation to Dr Gambari by giving him access to the highest levels of the State Peace and Development Council.

Singapore also hopes that the Myanmar government would facilitate meetings for him with other contacts, including pro—democracy leader and Nobel Peace laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Myanmar government’s decision to invite Dr Gambari comes just days before ASEAN’s foreign ministers are due to meet for their annual Ministerial Meeting in Singapore.

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Myanmar's Rice Crop Takes a Hit After Cyclone
The Online NewsHour - Posted: July 15, 2008, 11:20 AM ET   
-- By Larisa Epatko, Online NewsHour

The prospect of a meager rice crop threatens to add to Myanmar's travails from May's cyclone that left tens of thousands dead. Much of the country's rice fields are in the now-swamped Irrawaddy delta.

When Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, also known as Burma, on May 2 and 3, a 12-foot wall of saltwater and heavy rains soaked the low-lying delta region, which produces about a third of the country's rice, and wiped out many other rice fields and food stores.

In addition to the devastating human death toll, which surpassed 84,000 by official government count, was the loss of about 100,000 cattle and water buffalo used to plow rice fields.

The saturated rice fields, loss of draft animals and short seed supplies combined to paint a bleak picture as the country's main rice planting period, which runs from June to late July, approached.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture' s June 10 assessment predicted the country's 2008-09 rice crop will be 9.4 million tons -- a 12 percent drop from last year. The USDA, which monitors international food production for commodity trade purposes, also estimated that about 1 million tons of rice harvested last year were lost in the storm and flooding.

But the Myanmar government refuted assertions that the country was in dire straits.

"Some organizations were spreading groundless information such as there is or will be a shortage of rice in Myanmar," National Planning Minister Soe Tha was quoted as saying at a meeting with international relief agencies in June, according to Reuters. "We have enough rice and we can distribute sufficiently. "

Michael Shean, the USDA international crop assessment analyst for Southeast Asia and the Middle East, said obstacles to the first planting of the year, including the damaged farmlands and livestock deaths, are real. "If they pull off a miracle, they will have little loss of rice production," he said.

A second rice crop will be planted in the fall and harvested in the spring. And an on-the-ground assessment planned for mid-August will give the agency a better picture of what lies ahead, he added.

On May 25, the Myanmar government, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the United Nations formed a Tripartite Core Group to compile the needs of the areas damaged by the cyclone. That data was used as the basis for a fundraising appeal of $482 million, including $51 million for agriculture needs. About $178 million of the total appeal has been committed so far.

The TCG also sped up the process of issuing visas to foreign aid workers -- a major hurdle to distributing relief supplies in the country shortly after the cyclone hit.
According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, some areas of the Irrawaddy delta are suitable for growing rice plants, but other parts are being monitored for salt content from the wall of water that reportedly penetrated about 25 to 30 miles inland along the storm's track.

To help compensate for the loss of draft animals used to till the rice fields, Thailand, China and other countries provided about 5,000 mechanical tillers, and U.N. Undersecretary- General Noeleen Heyzer urged donors to supply 1 million gallons of diesel fuel for the machines.

The FAO also purchased 600 water buffalo from lesser-hit areas of Myanmar to donate to the hard-hit areas, while another 1,400 cattle and water buffalo were donated domestically, according to local reports.

Aid agencies also are helping distribute high-yield and local varieties of seed, but warn that short-term fixes will not address the longer-term needs of the country's recovery, nor the economic toll of rising global food prices.

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Logistics Experts Help Address Supply and Warehousing Challenges of World Food Program Response
Press Release Source: Agility
PR Newswire - First-Ever Deployment of Private Sector Logistics Emergency Teams Benefits Relief Efforts for Victims of Myanmar Cyclone
Tuesday July 15, 1:42 pm ET

YANGON, Myanmar, July 15 /PRNewswire/ -- The management and distribution of food and other critical relief supplies into Myanmar is being facilitated with support and expertise from some of the world's leading logistics and transport companies, due to the first-ever deployment of a unique United Nations (UN) partnership initiative. Agility, TNT and UPS comprise the joint Logistics Emergency Teams (LETs) unit that has been supporting the World Food Program (WFP) led "Global Logistics Cluster" supply chain efforts both on the ground in Yangon, and in the critical staging area at Bangkok's Don Muang airport.

"The Myanmar response provided us with proof of concept for the LETs initiative. The augmentation of the logistics cluster by the LETs ensured the widest possible benefit to the activities of the humanitarian community," said Matthew Hollingworth, WFP Logistics Officer and Head of the Global Logistics Cluster Support Cell.

In the immediate aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, the deadliest natural disaster in the recorded history of Myanmar, the local airstrips, roads and other infrastructure were devastated. Therefore, the international flow of food and other donated relief supplies was directed to nearby Bangkok, where representatives of the LETs program first convened in early May with the WFP and dozens of relief organizations assembled there.

During the early planning and coordination period, LETs experts worked closely with humanitarian logisticians, providing logistics consultation and basic information on transportation, warehousing, and customs clearance support for the greater humanitarian community. In addition, the LETs companies were able to leverage their local resources to expedite operations and increase efficiencies. For example, a senior LETs executive supplied by UPS was able to reach out to his supply chain for valuable input on what logistics processes would best work in the impacted area's complex environment. Likewise, TNT was able to leverage their strong local Thailand presence to efficiently coordinate a major shipment of supplies to the Myanmar border. Similarly, Agility used its network to locate for the UN a shipping company with landing craft suitable for operating in the challenging Mayawaddy Delta region. Utilizing corporate local knowledge and relationships for the UN's benefit is central to the LETs model.

"In the face of such devastation, regional and local business leaders are very interested in supporting the humanitarian operation, but there's often no mechanism to locate and engage them quickly," said Mariam Al Foudery, VP - Corporate Social Responsibility for Agility. "Because each of the LETs companies has strong local background and networks, we are able to provide the bridge to connect humanitarian and commercial networks."

In addition to assisting with relief logistics strategy, at the behest of WFP, staff from Agility, TNT and UPS jointly organized and have been managing a 20,000 square meter warehouse in Bangkok. The warehouse receives food and non-food items that need to be received, identified, inspected, inventoried, palletized and prepared for shipment.

The companies provided full warehouse operations support services, customs clearance support and some flight operations planning support. Working side by side with UN relief workers, corporate competitors have united and formed an integrated team to increase speed and efficiency to the humanitarian efforts.

"Corporate logistics specialists can integrate with humanitarian logistics specialists in warehouse operations in order to leverage the best of both commercial and humanitarian systems," said Ludo Oelrich, Director of the TNT/WFP Partnership. "When we share our practices and standards, we increase speed and efficiency of aid distribution. When corporations provide additional hands to support these operations, we also allow the UN staff to focus on their critical direct relief work."

Once the airport was sufficiently restored in Yangon, staff from the LETs group were deployed there to work with local organizations to expand warehousing operations and capacity to receive and distribute the stockpiled supplies coming in from Bangkok. In the first four days, the LETs group managed hundreds of metrics tons of cargo and dispatched over 40 trucks. On average, the LETs group is receiving and discharging 200 metric tons of cargo per day using LETs managed transportation assets and warehouses.

In Myanmar, representatives from the LETs companies meet each morning, and often each evening, with representatives of the Global Logistics Cluster to plan incoming and outgoing freight management from the primary UN warehouse. To facilitate the warehousing process, LETs companies have used their expertise to develop inventory management, issuing and receipt processes that are compatible with the existing UN systems. This includes property release forms for outbound trucks and cargo, and property receipt and inventory documentation for materials received.

An important role of the LETs team is to help build local logistics capacity, including linking the UN logistics team with local logistics organizations. This work also includes conducting safety training with warehouse staff in Myanmar, instituting security access at the UN warehouse compound, and helping to procure equipment locally at a fair price. For example, when the UN recently needed to rent a forklift, LETs companies reached out to local agents and obtained same-day quotes to speed along the procurement. Currently, the LETs group is in the process of transitioning the UN's Myanmar warehouse to be fully supported by non-governmental organizations (NGOs), without ongoing reliance on corporate managers or staff.

"For UPS and for our LETs partners, a critical part of this initiative is to develop local expertise. Our logistics experts provide logistics and safety training so that the local workforce is prepared to take over operations when we leave," says Lisa Hamilton, president of The UPS Foundation. "This helps the LETs team deliver the critical element of sustainability. "

Another LETs project underway in Myanmar involves supporting the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which assists displaced victims in their return or resettlement. LETs staff are working with the UNHCR to plan labor, space and management practices for a special project to deliver supply kits to over 40,000 displaced families in the field. Each kit contains a cooking set, water cans, soap and other life support items. Due to limited warehouse space and manpower, the LETs team has recommended a just-in-time delivery model that reduces need for storage space without restricting the flow of kits to those in need. The LETs team is working with the Global Logistics cluster to provide required warehouse space as well as labor and material for this project.

Staff provided by the LETs companies are serving on a purely pro bono basis. By the design of the LETs initiative, they are engaged during the early emergency relief phase of relief efforts following large scale natural disasters. The partnership concept was first demonstrated on the ground in August 2007 in Indonesia during an operational exercise organized and hosted by WFP. However, response to the Myanmar cyclone is the first large scale deployment of the teams since the launch of the initiative at Davos in January 2008.

Logistics Emergency Teams:

The very idea of Logistics Emergency Teams dates back from the World Economic Forum's 2005 Davos meeting. In the wake of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, three companies, Agility, TNT and UPS, decided to look into a coordinated, industry-wide emergency support to humanitarian organizations. Under auspices of the World Economic Forum and initiated by TNT CEO Peter Bakker they started sharing best practices from their bilateral humanitarian partnerships and they developed a joint operating structure -- today's LETs -- to lend a collective hand to humanitarian organizations.

The Logistics Emergency Teams add to the member companies' respective humanitarian partnerships. Agility's projects in the last two years alone include helping with the transport of enough food to feed 43,000 people in Indonesia for the World Food Program after serious flooding in Jakarta, working with the local government in Bangladesh to procure and transport food and bottled water after a cyclone, delivering critical life support materials to 500 displaced families in Iraq with International Medical Corps, financing a primary health care center to serve 13,000 refugees in Darfur, and conducting nation-wide blood drives for the American Red Cross in Agility offices in the United States.

TNT has worked with the World Food Program for six years, supporting WFP with knowledge, means and staff, helping over 1 million school children and tackling over 30 emergencies. In 2007, TNT supported WFP with emergency relief activities in Mozambique, Sudan, Bangladesh and Nicaragua. In addition to the LETs' support, TNT carried out a 300 MT shipment of relief materials on behalf of the Thai Government using the TNT Asia Road Network from Bangkok to the Myanmar border.

The UPS Foundation has long been a contributor to disaster relief. The Foundation has contributed funds, logistical expertise and in-kind transportation donations for virtually every major disaster in recent years. In addition to LETs, just the last year, UPS has provided loaned executives to CARE and the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to streamline disaster relief supply chains. UPS also is a major sponsor of AidMatrix, an online system that connects donors and aid agencies to ensure greater efficiency in the delivery of goods to emergency relief sites. In addition to supporting the LETs efforts in Myanmar, UPS donated $200,000 to CARE, and flew 71 tons of relief supplies to Bangkok.

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Myanmar to regrow mangrove in cyclone-hit area
www.chinaview. cn  2008-07-16 21:11:38

YANGON, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar will regrow 50,000 acres (20,250 hectares) of mangrove in Meinmahlagyun village, the country's Ayeyawaddy division, to resist cyclone attack in the future, the local weekly 7-Day reported Wednesday.

Meinmahlagyun had about 100,000 acres (40,500 hectares) of mangrove before being hit by a severe cyclone in early May, of which 30 percent were destroyed during the disaster, the report said.

Other reports also said that no one was killed in the Meinmahlagyun village in the division's Bogalay exceptionally.

Myanmar has stressed the preservation of mangrove to mitigate the impact of cyclone storm, calling on people to regrow the plantation after disaster.

Despite destruction of some mangrove in the delta region duringthe May cyclone storm, it had been able to prevent some villages from inflicting casualties, said other local media, citing donors, who visited a village called Thantheik in Dedaye township in the same division, as saying that although the 1,300-population village lies at a point where rivers meet, no one died in the cyclone.

The mangrove had been able to bring down the speed of the tidal wave, enabling villagers there to escape from deaths, it said.

Deadly tropical cyclone Nargis, which occurred over the Bay of Bengal, hit five divisions and states on last May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.

The storm has killed 84,537 people and left 53,836 others missing and 19,359 injured, according to the latest official-released death toll.

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ASEAN meet to highlight Myanmar, North Korea
The Jakarta Post - July 17, 2008
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Relief work in Myanmar and North Korea's accession to the ASEAN peace treaty are expected to be the main topics addressed at the 41st ASEAN Ministerial Meeting in Singapore, a Foreign Ministry official said.

I Gede Ngurah Swajaya, ASEAN director of political and security affairs, said last week the July 17-23 meeting would focus heavily on the report by the group overseeing the relief process in Myanmar after the Cyclone Nargis disaster in which more than 100,000 people died.

The group, comprised of representatives from Myanmar, ASEAN and the United Nations, was created as a political compromise in the wake of international condemnation over the military junta's refusal to admit foreign aid workers.

"We will be hearing their report of the complete damage assessment. They will then seek guidance from the foreign ministers on the next steps for rehabilitation and reconstruction, " he said.

ASEAN was embarrassed it did not manage to convince its youngest and most obstinate member to open up to foreign aid workers until more than two weeks after the cyclone struck.

The junta was also criticized for going ahead with its referendum days after the disaster and for allegedly forcing voters to agree to a draft Constitution that will pave the way for elections in 2010.

The Constitution is also said to automatically allocate a proportion of seats in parliament to the military and to permanently bar Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi from running for office because she married a foreign national.

Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won the 1990 elections but was denied office by the military regime.

Western donors have pledged millions of dollars in relief aid, but have sought more transparency from the reclusive government.

The meeting will also address the ASEAN Charter ratification process. ASEAN leaders signed the charter, which is the first binding treaty for the organization, in December last year.

Complete ratification is set for December this year. Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines and Myanmar have yet to ratify the treaty.

North Korea's plan to sign up to the ASEAN Treaty of Amity and Cooperation, said Ngurah, was also to be a key point of discussion in the meeting because the plan reflected Pyongyang's willingness to resolve its nuclear-centered dispute amicably.

"They have expressed their intention to be included in a regional scheme that abides by a principle of living and resolving conflicts peacefully," Ngurah said.

The treaty automatically covers ASEAN's 10 member countries and has been signed by some of the major powers involved in the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), which will hold its 15th annual meeting on July 24.

Ngurah said that meeting would focus on a comprehensive review of the security forum's work over the past 15 years and on ways for it to play a more practical role, particularly in disaster management.

The ARF is still in the confidence-building phase, he added, and members would examine whether it was ready to enter the preventive diplomacy phase.

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Thaindian.com - ‘Bangladesh may turn to Myanmar for rice import’
July 16th, 2008 - 9:14 pm ICT by IANS

Dhaka, July 16 (IANS) Bangladesh, which banked on India for its imports of rice when the country was hit by cyclone Sidr last year, may now turn to another neighbour Myanmar for more supplies to meet additional needs, said a Bangladeshi newspaper. The New Age daily Wednesday said Dhaka was considering Myanmar, “one of the most convenient sources”, for import of rice for meeting shortfalls or additional needs in times of exigency.

However, the report made no mention of the 400,000 tonnes of rice India exported to Bangladesh after External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee pledged the assistance during his December visit.

The imports witnessed prolonged parleys on the price, triggering speculation and domestic price rise which were blamed on India.

The total annual demand for rice in Bangladesh is 30 million tonnes while the deficit of 1.2 to 1.4 million tonnes is usually imported from India.

Officials said the commerce ministry was examining a proposal from the food ministry and the Bangladesh Bank to raise the ceiling of the volume of tradable goods, particularly rice, through its Teknaf river border in the south-eastern region so that higher quantities of rice can be imported in the future.

“We are keen to talk to the Myanmar authorities to increase the volume of border trade and also contract farming in that country,” Commerce Secretary Feroz Ahmed was quoted as saying in the report.

According to the proposal, the border trade volume should be increased to goods worth $2 million from a meagre $20,000 for more import of ‘atap’ [fine] rice from Myanmar.

The commerce ministry has already amended certain provisions of the country’s import policy for allowing a higher quantity of imports from Myanmar. Paddy, rice, wheat, onion, maize, pulse and fish are imported from Myanmar under the import policy.

Much of Myanmar-Bangladesh trade is through small barges and is unofficial.

“Border trade should also be accepted by the Chittagong Port so that the two neighbouring countries can exchange more goods and commodities,” said an official.

Earlier, Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu said his country has one million tonnes of surplus rice for export per annum, and exporting 300,000 tonnes of rice to Bangladesh on a regular basis should not be a problem.

Sources in the business sector said those who trade with Myanmar do not send the money through regular banking channels due to the US’ embargo against that country.

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Scoop - Burma: Survival In The Shadow Of Cyclone Nargis
Wednesday, 16 July 2008, 9:43 am
Press Release: IFRC

While emergency relief remains essential to Cyclone Nargis survivors, longer-term support is required in the Ayeyarwady delta. Destitute Myanmar villagers are going into debt as they struggle to stand on their feet again. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies stresses livelihood needs in its latest revised appeal.

On the long boat trip to Labutta town from his coastal village, Aung Kyaw Thu had thought to himself: Why us?

In less than three and a half years, his village had been hit by three disasters. First there had been the Indian Ocean tsunami, then Mala - the 2006 cyclone that had hit the coast of Myanmar with winds of 185 kilometres an hour - and then had come the worst of them all: Cyclone Nargis.

His village of Poe Laung was still standing. Just. On the bottom southeast corner of the Ayeyarwady (Irrawaddy) delta, Nargis had almost removed the settlement from the map. From 780 families, 305 people had died and only a dozen solid dwellings remained, all of them seriously damaged.

It was far worse than the tsunami. As Aung Kyaw Thu explained, 'The tsunami happened fast. Huge waves swept in and dragged things away as the water retreated. The cyclone and the sea surge kept coming.'

As the future of Poe Laung hung by a thread, the 30-year-old Myanmar Red Cross volunteer had come to Labutta for help. Some aid had reached them, rough shelters had been built from the wreckage of homes and tarpaulin, and there was food aid enough to survive on. But it wasn't sufficient. Poe Laung needed more shelter material, to keep its people dry in the rainy season, and more basic goods to help them cope.

'I need tarpaulins and kitchen sets,' Aung told colleagues at Labutta's main Red Cross warehouse.

The warehouse had both, but their stock was earmarked for planned distributions. More was in the pipeline from Yangon and they'd supply Aung from that. He'd have to wait a few days, however.

'Can I help in the meantime?' he asked.

Next morning Aung Kyaw Thu was heading upriver in an open boat to lead a distribution in the village of Shwe Pyi Tha. He was an experienced hand and Labutta, under pressure, could use him.

On the way he said very little. His thoughts, he confessed, were with Poe Laung. The deaths had traumatized many people, and the village economy had been ruined. Farmers, fishermen and traders had lost all they had. Aung, a fisherman himself, had lost two boats and his nets.

'All people can do for the moment is survive on the food aid,' he said.

In Shwe Pyi Tha, a small riverside community of 335 families, the population had done more than survive. Some 200 homes had been reported destroyed or severely damaged by the cyclone and apparently much had been rebuilt. But for all that, emergency relief remained essential and anxious villagers besieged the Red Cross as Aung and his colleagues began distribution from a jetty.

Rebuilding simple homes is one thing. Lives and livelihoods take time and, behind a semblance of returning normality, another story emerged. Rather than making progress some villagers were falling back, going into debt in attempts to recover by themselves. Like Poe Laung, Shwe Pyi Tha illustrated why a newly revised emergency appeal from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies places support for livelihoods among the longer-term priorities.

The village's long main street did contain signs of recovery. Little shop houses seemed to be back in business but it was doubtful they could prosper in a village that depended on fetching its food from the World Food Programme in Labutta.

Than Aye was most certainly struggling. She was selling vegetables from the front of her family's temporary shelter. Across the road, on the waterfront, her old home had contained a general store but everything had gone with the wind and the floodwater.

She and her husband had begun to rebuild. There was a frame of a house but not much more. 'We have to go slowly. We can't afford to do it quickly,' she said. She estimated she needed the equivalent of US$ 1,000 to replace what they had, and all the small change she earned from the sale of vegetables was needed for daily survival.

She had borrowed from friends and relatives to pay for what had been done. She'd repay them when she could afford to.

The price rises were not helping. With a huge demand for them, the prices of poles and palm thatch panels had doubled since Nargis. Someone was making a killing in building supplies but it was at the cost of the cyclone survivors.

Later in the day, as Aung distributed relief in yet another small village, a casual labourer earning less than a dollar a day said he had borrowed US$60 from a landowner to finish rebuilding his modest home.

He was rightfully proud of his achievement. He had recovered poles and palm thatch from the destruction and done all the work himself.

How he would repay the US$60 was unclear. Since he cannot save from his subsistence income, he will most likely work it off. His servitude will only be the greater.

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'Free Daw Suu' campaigners charged with instigating public unrest
Mizzima News - Wednesday, 16 July 2008 20:28
Phanida

Chiang Mai - Fourteen members of Burma's opposition party – National League for Democracy – who were arrested for protesting on their leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's birthday on Wednesday were charged with disturbing public tranquility.

The NLD members, who had been in custody for about a month, were produced on Wednesday in Bahan Township Court in Rangoon, where charges against them were pressed by Bahan Township Station House Officer SIP Khai Win Aung under Criminal Code section 505(b), inducing people to break public tranquility and under section 143, unlawful assembly.

"The prosecutor charged them with unlawful assembly in front of the NLD office and chanting slogans to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and holding aloft placards which amounted to undermining public tranquility, " said lawyer Khin Maung Shein, who was present at the court on Wednesday.

May Nweh, wife of one of the accused, Chit Khin, who was present at the court, said "He [Chit Khin] just attended Daw Suu's birthday party without chanting any slogans, I feel very sad. He's old and suffers severe headaches. Moreover we are not allowed to send him food parcels. I have to come again next week and meet him."

Two of the accused - Tin Ohn and Soe Ohn from Shwepyithar Township - are currently being treated in hospital and could not be present at the court hearing today.

On June 19, the NLD youth members marched to the residence of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who is currently under house arrest in University Avenue, as a commemoration of her 63rd birthday.

Members of the Junta-backed civil organizations – Swan Arrshin and Union Solidarity and Development Association - arrested them from the street while they were chanting slogans – 'Free Aung Suu Kyi' and 'Long Live Aung San Suu Kyi'.

Khin Maung Shein said, "It is not a crime to demand for the release of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. She has actually completed her house arrest term and is due to be freed. Demanding and shouting for her release is not instigating public unrest."

He added that the NLD members will defend charges against them and argue at the court proceedings in accordance with the law. The court has fixed July 25 for the next hearing.

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Monks continue regime boycott

Jul 16, 2008 (DVB)–Buddhist monks across Burma have said they are continuing their boycott against government officials by refusing to accept donations or passing them on to needy people.

A monk taking part in the boycott from Kaw Thaung, Tenasserim division, said his monastery had not been able to refuse donations outright.

"Our Pattaneikkuzana act against government members is still ongoing – we have been giving away donation items we received from government members to other people,” he said.

“We had to accept these items because they will pressure us if we refuse them."

The monk said some monasteries in Kaw Thaung which had refused donation from government officials had been put under close watch by the military and the monks were also told to inform the authorities when they wanted to travel to other areas.

A monk from one of the lecturing monasteries in Pakokku and another monk from Masoeyein monastery in Mandalay said that they and their fellow monks were also continuing the boycott.

"There is no way we can communicate with these people with loving kindness [metta] according to Buddhist teachings,” the Masoeyein monk said.

“We each have different opinions in our hearts and they cannot be reconciled."

Reporting by Naw Say Phaw

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Commentary: Let’s hope the UN gets it right this time
Bo Kyi

Jul 16, 2008 (DVB)–The basic strategy of the United Nations special envoy so far appears to have been to yield to the regime. How far will aspirations and demands slip in his future dealings with the Burmese military? The envoy's next visit to the country will be a test.

Mr Ibrahim Gambari, UN special envoy to Burma, has been invited to return to Burma in mid-August to continue his mediation efforts. The question is: what will his mission be this time?

Many sources close to the UN told me that the envoy is likely to continue pinning his hopes on the regime's seven-step road map, which the UN once viewed as a potential process for democratization in Burma.

In late 2007, Mr Gambari also said, "[The UN] Secretary-General did not reject the seven-step Road Map and what he would like to suggest were inclusiveness and a time frame."

Many key opposition groups, especially the election-winning National League for Democracy and ethnic political parties, might come to agree with the UN that the junta's seven-step road map could still be a viable option for Burma's transition if it was modified to become inclusive and time-bound.

In August 2001, 92 elected members of parliament from inside Burma called for this change in the road map in their public statement. They demanded that the regime modify the road map. The elected MPs said that if the regime made it inclusive, they would like to cooperate and find a political solution within the road map framework.

On 12 November last year, in the wake of September’s Saffron Revolution, UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon said that “a return to the status quo that existed before the crisis is not sustainable,” and that he “encourages the government and all relevant parties to redouble their efforts towards achieving national reconciliation, democracy and full respect for human rights”.

The UN made two proposals to the junta, namely that Burma should set up a broad-based constitutional revision commission in order to ensure an inclusive political process and that a poverty alleviation commission should be established. The regime's supreme leader Than Shwe rejected them and finalized the constitution draft. Then the UN suggested that the junta invite international observers to the referendum. That suggestion fell on deaf ears too.

The regime has now declared that they have completed four of the seven steps of the road map. Step one, the National Convention process, took more than 14 years to finish and excluded legitimate political parties such as the NLD, whose leaders are imprisoned.

Instead the military’s handpicked delegations took part in the convention and drew up a draft constitution which simply provides for the continuation and consolidation of military rule. The impunity for members of the State Peace and Development Council and its predecessor the State Law and Order Restoration Council enshrined in the constitution paves the way for further human rights violations against Burma’s people.

In May the junta held a national referendum to approve the draft constitution, despite Ban Ki-moon and the international community’s calls for them to postpone the referendum in order to focus on the massive cyclone relief operation. Moreover, the referendum took place in a climate of harassment, intimidation and fraud to secure the result the junta wanted, much like the run-off presidential election in Zimbabwe. At the time, people in Burma were in mourning because of Cyclone Nargis, which killed over 140,000 and left 2.4 million people suffering. The UN and the international community witnessed the junta’s callous attitude towards its own citizens. The regime shamelessly claimed that their proposed constitution was approved by 92.4 percent of the population.

Now, it is blindingly obvious that the substance of the constitution is undemocratic and, more importantly, that the whole process of implementing the road map has been lacking inclusiveness and transparency.

Special envoy Gambari once encouraged political parties in Burma to participate within the framework of the seven-step road map set out by the junta. All key opposition groups accepted his request and acted accordingly. But the regime has rejected the envoy’s proposals.

So now what?

According to some UN sources I know, the danger now is that the UN is exhausting its persuasive capacity and is shifting towards a yielding approach.

In his press briefing on May 27, Ban Ki-moon said that he "urged them [Than Shwe and the generals] that the seven-point democratization programme should be put into implementation as soon as possible" during his meeting with Than Shwe in Naypyidaw.

The seven-point democratization programme? Isn’t that a contradiction in terms? Is Ban confusing speed with substance?

Since Than Shwe shot down all the UN’s proposals, the secretary-general must know that this road map is not headed in the right direction.

Now Burmese democracy activists fear that the UN envoy will encourage the NLD party to participate in the 2010 election. Since the unilateral implementation of the road map is unacceptable, the party has already rejected the referendum results and the upcoming election as a sham. Aye Thar Aung, an ethnic leader in Burma, hit the nail on the head when he recently said, "the real necessary step is to develop national reconciliation to bring a true democratic system to our country". He is right. In order to take that

necessary step, the UN good offices should not imagine that the “softly, softly” yielding approach will work with the regime.

The message for the UN envoy is simple:

Secretary-general Ban Ki-moon should instruct Gambari to reiterate that the regime must adapt its seven-step road map so that it ensures a peaceful transition to democracy, including the redrafting of the constitution by means of a transparent, participatory process. That process must involve representatives of political parties like the NLD and Burma’s ethnic nationalities. Gambari must also call for the release of all political prisoners.

If the seven-step road map truly represented the way forward for a peaceful transition to democracy, then activists and opposition groups might be prepared to rethink their participation within its framework.

If Gambari cannot persuade the regime to take these essential steps, then the secretary-general must declare that the regime’s roadmap is no longer relevant. He must strongly encourage the UN Security Council to use an enforcement mechanism to bring about progress on democratic transition in Burma. If not, the UN will fail again and Burmese activists may reluctantly conclude that the UN is in fact complicit with the regime.

Bo Kyi is a former political prisoner and currently works as a joint secretary for the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).

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