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HEADLINES
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AP - Suu Kyi's party expresses concern for her health
AP - Report: Myanmar activist granted refugee status
AFP - Suu Kyi refuses most food rations for three weeks: party
IRIN - MYANMAR: Cyclone-displaced ponder relocation
ICP - Myanmar Silence at UN Half-Broken by Kerim, Mysteries Continue, Currency Dodged
E-Pao News - Border trade - Myanmar team moots bus service
E-Pao News - Border trade with Myanmar's vital issues discussed
The Seattle Times - Myanmar opens to cyclone relief
Scoop - Myanmar Caucus writes to ASEAN an
Scoop - UN Envoy Briefs General Assembly Presidentd UN
CNN News - Home for 10 people ... in a portable box
Bangkok Post - EDITORIAL: No counting Suu Kyi out
The Nation - Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi refuses food for three weeks
Mizzima News - Monastery raided in Rangoon, abbot arrested: AAPP
Mizzima News - Confrontational comments laud Nargis relief effort
Mizzima News - Burmese media dare not cover Thai protests
The Irrawaddy - Myanmar Airways Unsafe: UK Gov’t
The Irrawaddy - Earthquake Fuels Rumors of Retribution
DVB News - Directive orders monks to avoid political activity

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Suu Kyi's party expresses concern for her health
Fri Sep 5, 6:07 AM ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - The political party of detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged Myanmar's military government Friday to ensure her well-being as she continued to refuse food deliveries to protest her detention.

The National League for Democracy "expressed concern" that Suu Kyi has not accepted food delivered to her home for almost three weeks, the party said in a statement.

It did not say whether she was on a hunger strike, a question that has remained unanswered since the first mention of her refusal to accept food over a week ago.

The 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been held in detention by the ruling military junta for 13 of the past 19 years, mostly under house arrest, and relies on food delivered by her party for sustenance.

Friday's statement called Suu Kyi's action a protest, which had only been alluded to until now.

"She is refusing food supplies in protest against ... her unlawful detention under the security law," the party said.

Suu Kyi also wants greater freedom of movement for two female companions who live with her and help take care of the house, it said. They are currently not allowed to leave the compound.

She is also protesting that authorities have not allowed her to receive a monthly medical checkup by her physician as they earlier promised, it said. A doctor visited Suu Kyi on Aug. 17, but her previous checkup was in January, the party said.

"Her safety and well-being are the soul responsibility of the authorities who have unlawfully detained her," it said.

Suu Kyi's lawyer, Kyi Win, was allowed to meet with her for 30 minutes on Monday, and said she told him that "I am well but I have lost some weight."

Rumors of a possible hunger strike have circulated widely in Yangon, where Suu Kyi's isolation has only increased the mystique that surrounds her.

Similar hunger strike rumors spread in 2003 and in 1989, but proved untrue.

Supporters have speculated that Suu Kyi is frustrated over the United Nations' failure to bring about democratic reform in the country, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.

Suu Kyi canceled meetings with U.N. special envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his six-day visit to Myanmar last month, and he left without seeing her.

U.N. envoys and other senior officials have visited the country nearly 40 times since 1990, and the U.N. General Assembly has passed numerous resolutions calling for change.

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Report: Myanmar activist granted refugee status
AP - Saturday, September 6

TOKYO - A Japanese court granted refugee status to a pro-democracy musician from military-run Myanmar on Friday, saying he would face persecution if he returned to his country, Kyodo News agency said.

The Tokyo district court also nullified a 2007 order from Japan's immigration authorities to deport the 29-year-old Myanmar activist, who has been in Japan since 2001, the report said. Court officials could not be reached for comment.

The activist, whose name was withheld, is a vocalist of an anti-junta band based in Japan. The Kyodo did not give the name of his band.

Presiding Judge Norihiko Sugihara said Myanmar's government recognized his pro-democracy activities in Japan and argued the musician would face persecution if he returned to his country.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 and its junta has been widely criticized for suppressing basic freedoms and human rights.

In 2007, Japan accepted 41 refugees. Myanmar nationals alone accounted for 85 percent of the total, according to Justice Ministry data.

But Japan has often been criticized for its reluctance to take in refugees. A recent report by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees showed the United States accepted 17,979 refugees in 2007. France took 12,928 refugees, and Britain accepted 7,866 last year, according to the UNHCR report.

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Suu Kyi refuses most food rations for three weeks: party
AFP - Saturday, September 6

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has refused to accept food rations for three weeks, her party said Friday, calling on the military regime to take steps to ensure her "survival."

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said the 63-year-old, who has been under house arrest for most of the last 19 years, had apparently stopped accepting most of her daily food rations.

Aung San Suu Kyi receives daily rations from the regime and has no other source of food.

"We have heard that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi does not completely accept the daily food supplies to her," NLD said in a statement, using an honorific before her name.

"The authorities who unfairly detained her are responsible for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's security and survival," it said.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's refusal of food supplies is to denounce her continuing detention, which is unfair under the law," the party added, without declaring her actions a hunger strike.

"The National League for Democracy party and the people are extremely worried," it said.

Aung San Suu Kyi is allowed little contact with the outside world, but in recent weeks has refused even the rare meetings that the junta has offered her.

She has met with her lawyer three times over the last month and had a medical checkup in August, but refused to meet with the junta's liaison officer this week.

She also refused to meet with visiting UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari last month, fuelling speculation about her motives, with analysts saying she was trying to express her frustration with the slow pace of the regime's "dialogue" with her.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party won a landslide victory in a 1990 election but the junta never allowed it to take office. Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962.

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MYANMAR: Cyclone-displaced ponder relocation

LABUTTA, 5 September 2008 (IRIN) - The last of Myanmar's cyclone-displaced have expressed anxiety over a government plan to relocate them. Some 1,800 people live at the 3-mile and 5-mile camps – a reference to their distance from Labutta, the largest town at the southern tip of the Ayeyarwady Delta.

Under the plan, camp residents will be resettled in the two villages of Pain Ne Taung and Min Kone, home to more than 500 families, where authorities are now busy erecting hundreds of bamboo shelters to accommodate them.

But despite these efforts, camp residents are less than convinced.

Many remain badly traumatised by the category four storm, which swept off the Bay of Bengal in May, leaving nearly 140,000 people dead or missing and affecting 2.4 million more.

Others are landless or lost everything they had, leaving them particularly vulnerable.

"I don't want to go," Mon Htay Win, 42, who has lived at the 3-mile camp for the past four months, told IRIN.

"It's easier if I stay here," the mother-of-four said, citing access to rudimentary health and education services from the government and international aid groups operating at the camp.

"I don't want to relocate," agreed Maung Maung, a 24-year-old landless fisherman from Pue Long who lost his only child in the cyclone and remains concerned whether he will ever be able to resume his livelihood.

Pressure

"We were given two options: return to our villages or relocate," said one disgruntled woman. But with scores of villages decimated by the cyclone's wrath, there did not seem much option.

However, the UN now sees the government's resettlement effort as a step in the right direction.

"The move is promising," Dan Baker, Myanmar's humanitarian coordinator, told IRIN in Yangon.

Indeed, aid agencies who visited the two sites in mid-August found that with some improvements, relocating to the villages would be better than living in the camps or possibly even returning to their place of origin.

Observers blame the lack of consultation for camp residents' reluctance to relocate; nor have they been encouraged to visit the villages, despite being just a few kilometres away.

Pein Ne Taung is less than a kilometre from the 5-mile camp.

"It's really a question of the 'unknown'," one aid worker said. "The camp is the situation they know. Although conditions are miserable, they feel relatively safe and they know what they have here," she said.

"Everyone should have the opportunity to go and see their villages of origin, as well as the two villages the government are proposing them to relocate to," the aid worker said. "Only then will they be able to make up their minds properly."

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Myanmar Silence at UN Half-Broken by Kerim, Mysteries Continue, Currency Dodged
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, September 4 -- While the UN Secretary-General' s silence on his envoy Ibrahim Gambari's mission to Myanmar continued on Thursday, twelve days after Gambari left the country, the Spokesman for Srgjan Kerim, President of the UN General Assembly, read out a cryptic statement:

"Following a detailed briefing today from Ibrahim Gambari, the Special Advisor of the Secretary-General, on his latest visit to Myanmar, the President encourages the Government of Myanmar to continue to work closely with the Special Advisor to achieve concrete progress on the suggestions he put forward during his recent visit."

Inner City Press asked if Gambari had told Kerim why he had not met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. "Yes," the spokesman said, then declined to divulge what these reasons were.  Inner City Press asked if Kerim thought Gambari's visit was useful or, as UK Ambassador John Sawers put it, "disappointing. "  Kerim sees it as a process," the spokesman said, using the UN's new buzzword for its Burmese days.  But was this visit a step forward, or a step back in the process? He doesn't want to characterize it, the spokesman said.

At least Srgjan Kerim issued a statement and took questions. While Ban Ki-moon appeared in the briefing room on Thursday to read a speech about an anti-poverty study, he did not take any questions. Nor has any explanation been provided for Gambari's failure to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi. There is a communications breakdown, which apparently the UN will only try to fix after Gambari briefs the Security Council. But when will that be?

On September 3, Inner City Press asked this month's Council president, Michel Kafando of Burkina Faso, when Gambari will brief.  Ambassador Kafando replied that he would meet with Gambari that day or Thursday to arrive on a date.  But after Thursday afternoon's Council session, on Somalia and Cyprus, President Kafando did not as is customary come to the stakeout to speak with the Press. It was explained that he only wants to come with a translator, and for now one will only be provided after consultations or private meetings of the Council. So basic questions cannot be asked or answered. (A written question has been posed, its resulted will be posted on this site.)

The General Assembly spokesman also provided an answer to Inner City Press' question, in light of protesters across from the UN with signs about decertifying the Than Shwe government from Myanmar's UN seat, about the decertification process:

"ultimately member states are the ones who decide on credentials. It is up to them to review credentials and any challenge to credentials. Reviewing credentials is done by the Credentials Committee for each session and they make their recommendations to the General Assembly. The review of credentials is governed by rules 27, 28 and 29 of the GA rules of procedure."

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Border trade - Myanmar team moots bus service
E-Pao News - Source: The Sangai Express

Guwahati, September 03: A 17-member trade delegation from Myanmar which arrived at Imphal today in connection with discussing issues related to development of thongoing Indo-Myanmar border trade have expressed that the proposed Imphal-Mandalay bus service should be implemented definitely.

The visiting Myanmarese trade delegation comprising businessmen, entrepreneurs and officials related to border trade which arrived at Imphal today on a four-day visit is being led by Director in-charge of Border Trade of that country U Aung Kyaw Moe.

Before landing at Imphal, the Myanmarese delegation had participated a joint meeting attended by ADC Moreh, SDPO Moreh, OSD of Expert-Import of Commerce and Industries and representatives of NIPCO, Moreh Chambers of Commerce, All Community Welfare Forum, etc at Moreh Trade Centre in the morning.

After the joint meeting at Moreh, the Myanmarese delegation was escorted till Imphal where officials of Commerce and Industries and representatives of NIPCO accorded warm welcome at Hotel Imphal.

Talking to mediapersons.

Director in-charge of trade border, Myanmar U Aung Kyaw Moe, who is leading the delegation said that besides developing the border trade, Myanmar would like improvement of the existing transportation facility between Imphal and Mandalay by introducing a bus service.

The proposed bus service between Imphal and Mandalay should be implmented, he added.

He said it is also the aspiration of Myanmar to develop the border trade and they have come with that purpose in mind.

A joint meeting with all concerned related to the border trade would also be held, he informed rwhile expressing gratitude over the warm reception given to the delegation.

Two Manipuris settling in Myanmar who have come as part of the delegation today visited Kangla, Khuman Lampak Sports complex, Ima market and Govindajee Temple.

After a joint meeting with the officials of the State Government and others related to the border trade at State Guest House tomorrow, the Myanmarese delegation would visit the Eastern Motors, Manipur Diesel, Aegis Pineapple and Cold Storage Plant at Mantripukhri as well as Takyel Industrial Estate.

During the stay at Imphal, the delegation would also call on Chief Minister O Ibobi Singh and interact with Faculty members of the Centre for Myanmar Studies, Manipur University and pay a visit to the Central Agricultural University at Iroisemba.

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Border trade with Myanmar's vital issues discussed
E-Pao News - Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, September 04: A joint meeting with the Myanmarese trade delegation which arrived yesterday was held today and issues related to further development and stepping up the activities of the ongoing Indo-Myanmar border trade were discussed.

From the side of the Government of India and Manipur, the meeting held at State Guest House here commencing from 11 am was attended by officials of the Directorate of Commerce and Industries.

Representatives of Indo-Myanmar Border Trade Union, Indo-Myanmar Export-Import Association and Imphal-based National Identity Protection Committee (NIPCO) were also present during the meeting.

Those who spoke at the meeting expressed desire for increasing the number of trade items and hoped that facilitating normal trade within the existing border trade would be more beneficial to the traders.

From their side, the Myanmarese trade delegates emphasised on development of the Imphal-Tamu Road suitably while observing that numerous obstruction along the road from Moreh to Imphal has compelled the Myanmarese.

Vital issues discussed traders to pay attention on trading with Mizoram.

Moreover, security concerns of the Myanmarese traders is another cause of flagging border trade activities, they noted, while maintaining that security for its traders is not an issue for Myanmar.

Over and above the bilateral efforts being made to improve relationship between the two neighbouring countries, the meeting also discussed proposals like encouragement of people to people contact through various programmes like organising football matches, promotion of tourism, introducing letter of credit between the United Banks of India and Myanmar Economic Bank and increasing the number of trade items.

While the Myanmarese trade delegation is at Imphal, both sides would hold further discussion on these issues before adopting a joint resolution.

Based on the resolution, the two sides would exert pressures on their respective Governments for improvement of the existing border trade.

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Myanmar opens to cyclone relief
Away from public view, Myanmar has opened up to global-relief efforts to an unprecedented degree after initially thwarting foreign attempts...
The Seattle Times - By Tim Johnson
Friday, September 5, 2008

BEIJING — Away from public view, Myanmar has opened up to global-relief efforts to an unprecedented degree after initially thwarting foreign attempts to help victims of a devastating cyclone last spring, a U.S. relief agency said in a report issued today. The May 2-3 rampage of Cyclone Nargis left 140,000 people dead or missing.

Myanmar's military leaders turned away U.S. and French warships offering humanitarian aid to the cyclone-wracked Irrawaddy River Delta area immediately following the cyclone, giving the impression they'd rather let victims perish than admit inability to cope with the catastrophe.

But a report prepared by Refugees International, a Washington, D.C.-based relief group, said the image of "a recalcitrant government that rejects aid from the generous nations of the world" is no longer accurate.

The group said Myanmar has issued some 1,000 visas to international- aid workers since June and offered "an unprecedented level of access" to the delta region.

The report said Myanmar, also known as Burma, has now more opened to international relief than at any time in the past two decades, and that the unfolding situation is "a story ignored by international reports that focus on the government's obstructionism. "

Several Burma watchers based in neighboring Thailand, along with a U.N. official who keeps tabs on Myanmar, said foreign relief workers are now able to enter the country and travel quite freely around the southern delta region.

Win Min, a lecturer on contemporary Myanmar at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said the military regime has portrayed the opening as a response to appeals from a regional political alliance, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, rather than as a response to pressure from the United Nations, the United States or European countries.

Refugees International said its employees interviewed the staffs of more than 40 humanitarian organizations active in Myanmar and that all reported freedom to "implement and monitor programs without obstruction. "

Myanmar continues to deny visas to foreign journalists, reducing global awareness of the ongoing humanitarian crisis and hindering efforts to gather donations, especially in comparison to the torrent of aid given to Indonesia, Thailand and Sri Lanka following the 2004 tsunami that killed more than 225,000 people.

The United Nations issued a new appeal on Wednesday for donor nations to give money for Myanmar relief, saying it had only reached 41 percent of a $481 million target needed through April 2009.

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Myanmar Caucus writes to ASEAN and UN
Scoop - Friday, 5 September 2008, 7:13 pm
Press Release: Terry Evans

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) has written to ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, requesting that they visit Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as concern mounts about her health.

Aung San Suu Kyi has been refusing to accept supplies of food to her home since mid-August. After visiting her this week, her lawyer said that she had lost weight and is tired, but otherwise appears to be in good health.

It is only possible to speculate about Ms Suu Kyi's motives at present. However, her refusal to accept food coincided with her cancellation of meetings with UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari during his recent six-day visit to Rangoon. Since her refusal to see Gambari, supporters have speculated that the Nobel Peace Prize laureate has grown frustrated with the United Nations' failure to bring about change in the military-ruled nation.

Ms Suu Kyi has been in prison or under house arrest for nearly 13 of the past 19 years. In 1990 Suu Kyi's party won a landslide general election victory, but was denied power by Burma's ruling generals.

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UN Envoy Briefs General Assembly President on Myanmar Visit
Scoop - UN Envoy Briefs General Assembly President
Friday, 5 September 2008, 6:23 pm
Press Release: United Nations

 

United Nations Special Advisor Ibrahim Gambari has briefed the President of the General Assembly on his recent visit to Myanmar, during which he held talks with Government officials on issues such as national reconciliation and how to help the South-East Asian nation tackle its socio-economic challenges.

According to a statement issued after yesterday’s meeting, Assembly President Srgjan Kerim reiterated the 192-member body’s continued engagement “to promote national reconciliation, democracy and respect for human rights in Myanmar as mandated by the resolutions of the General Assembly.”

The President also encouraged the Government of Myanmar “to continue to work closely with the Special Advisor to achieve concrete progress on the suggestions he put forward during his recent visit” – his fourth to the country over the past year.

Mr. Kerim stressed the need for continued engagement and strong commitment from all parties to continue the process of national reconciliation, pointing out that such engagement must be “serious and credible” with the aim of achieving concrete results.

The President reiterated his continuous support for Mr. Gambari’s efforts on behalf of the Secretary-General, and also noted the important role played by neighbouring countries, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the Group of Friends of Myanmar.

He “further encourages those countries to remain engaged in the political process,” the statement added.

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Home for 10 people ... in a portable box
September 5, 2008.

HELSTON, Cornwall, UK (CNN) -- A huge cyclone struck Myanmar in May 2008. It was the largest recorded disaster in that country, killing more than 130,000 people and leaving millions homeless.

Since 2001, Tom Henderson's organization, ShelterBox, has supplied aid to more than 600,000 people.

"We were one of the first aid agencies into the country, delivering our ShelterBoxes, " says Tom Henderson, whose relief package and organization of the same name has aided more than 600,000 victims of disasters of all scales worldwide since 2001.

Designed to help an extended family survive for a minimum of six months, the lightweight, weatherproof box contains items such as a 10-person tent, blankets, basic tools, water-purification tablets and containers, a multi-fuel or wood-burning stove, mosquito nets and other items tailored to the particular region in crisis.

The "ShelterBox is designed to be small enough so two people can carry it -- but it has to be large enough to get equipment in for 10 people," Henderson explains.

"It's a simple package of aid delivered to the most needy people in the shortest amount of time."

The ex-Royal Navy search-and-rescue diver says the idea behind the ShelterBox came to him "literally in a heartbeat" while watching the news in 1999. Henderson was struck by the footage he saw of relief workers dropping food on the ground to victims of a disaster.

"I decided there and then that I would try to make a difference in a more sensible and dignified way," he recalls. "I went to my study and I got a piece of paper out, and I wrote down 'shelter,' 'warm,' 'comfort,' and 'dignity.' And that's where it started."

Though Henderson says people thought he was crazy, he searched around the world for the products he knew would work. In 2000, he brought his idea to the local Helston-Lizard Rotary Club, where members adopted the cause. In January 2001, the first 143 ShelterBoxes were flown to earthquake-ravaged Gujarat, India. Since then, the ShelterBox organization has responded to more than 70 disasters in 46 countries.

"If people have lost everything why should they lose their dignity as well?" asks Henderson. "So we were very keen, as well as delivering aid, to give people back their dignity, put them back in control."

The secret of its success is two-fold, explains Henderson. ShelterBox is nonpolitical, accepting no funding from government agencies, and is a worldwide network with communication hubs near every potential disaster site via Rotary International. This allows ShelterBox to respond within 72 hours of a disaster anywhere in the world, subject to customs and local political barriers.

According to ShelterBox, each box costs £490 (roughly $870), including all materials, packing, storage and distribution to recipients around the world. Donations from the UK public and money raised from Rotary Clubs worldwide help fund the boxes.

"Nobody can buy our boxes, they are only available for free," says Henderson.

Although Henderson does not travel to drop off boxes or choose where they go, he says he remains motivated by the thought of the millions of people that need help every day, and that if ShelterBox stops delivering aid, people might not survive."The goal for me was these people," he says. "I had pictures in my mind's eye... [like] children dying in the snow after a disaster. We want this to last for years to come, not just to get them through this disaster, [but] as a springboard for moving forward."

Stories that Henderson hears from the field remind him that ShelterBox is doing just that. Recently, a woman in Kenya gave birth to a baby girl in a ShelterBox tent.

"The ShelterBox became a crib for the baby. And the blankets became blankets for the baby," says Henderson. "It's a huge feeling of pride and satisfaction when these sorts of things happen."

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No counting Suu Kyi out
Bangkok Post - EDITORIAL: Friday September 05, 2008

Even though it is not yet clear whether Burma's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has staged any form of strike against the failure to bring change to the country's repressive regime, the international community must take the signals sent so far seriously. And it must try to act on it more thoughtfully than it has over the past many years.

The Nobel Peace laureate sent her first signal - seen as a significant shift from her usually cooperative dealings with the United Nations so far - when she refused to meet with UN special envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, during his latest six-day visit to Burma late last month.

During the past two decades, since the military junta usurped power after Mrs Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, achieved a landslide victory in the 1990 elections, the dissident leader had always welcomed the UN's diplomatic efforts, as she herself believes that only a dialogue could lead Burma to democratic reform. The problem is that as the junta pushes on with its so-called roadmap to "disciplined democracy" which supposedly will culminate in a general election in 2010, it has also always tried to keep the Lady out of the scene.

With the UN special envoy being confined to the junta's schedule - where he may go and with whom he may meet - the UN itself risks falling into the junta's game plan. Burmese dissidents are worried that unless the UN manages to send out a stronger, clearer message about the roadmap, it may end up lending legitimacy to the process and obliterate the lawful result of the 1990 elections altogether.

The viewpoint expressed to Mr Gambari by Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej is also worrisome. Basically, Mr Samak told the special envoy that the international community might need to sacrifice Aung San Suu Kyi if it wishes to see some measure of democracy being allowed to develop in Burma. Critics are concerned that the Thai PM might raise this idea at the United Nations General Assembly in New York this month. As Thailand has assumed its turn as chairman of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Mr Samak's take on the issue should be a point to ponder, unless of course the Asean community takes charge of the issue and finds some way for a more sensible and sympathetic approach to prevail.

With no details of Mrs Suu Kyi's latest condition and stance available yet, the pressure is on Asean and the UN to find a new way to continue the dialogue it has opened with all stake holders, especially the opposition leader, whose legitimate voice must be heard.

If the special envoy's process has hit a dead end, then some new options must be initiated which may include revitalising the process or starting a whole new method that would include all stake holders, in particular Mrs Suu Kyi, and help release the people of Burma from the repression they have been suffering for such a long while.

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Burma's Aung San Suu Kyi refuses food for three weeks
The Nation - By Deutsche Presse Agenture
September 6, 2008 : Last updated 06:32 pm

Rangoon - Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has for the past three weeks refused food deliveries to her home-cum-jail in a hunger strike against her detention, opposition sources confirmed Friday.

The National League for Democracy (NLD) said Suu Kyi had refused to receive food packages from friends for the past three weeks to protest her unlawful detention which has "exceeded the legal limit."

Suu Kyi has been under house detention in her family home in Rangoon since May 2003, on charges of disturbing the peace.

The detention followed an attack by pro-military thugs on Suu Kyi's convoy in Tepeyin, Sagaing division in northern Burma on May 30, 2003. Several of her followers were killed in the melee.

The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has been kept in near complete isolation, allowed monthly visits by her doctor and occasional visits by UN special envoys.

Last month she refused to meet with UN special envoy to Burma Ibrahim Gambari on the grounds that he had done nothing to secure her freedom.

Over the past two months Suu Kyi has been allowed three meetings with her lawyer Kyi Win, which is unusual.

Under Burma emergency law political prisoners can only be kept under detention for a maximum of five years on charges of disturbing the peace, but Suu Kyi's detention was last May extended for another six months, raising legal questions.

Burma's ruling junta has been sending mixed signals about the duration of Suu Kyi's incarceration.

There have been hints that she may be released within six months, but many observers believe it is unlikely that she will be released before the next general election slated for 2010.

Suu Kyi's NLD party won the 1990 polls by a landslide, but the party has been denied power by the military for 18 years and she has been kept under house arrest for around 13 of the past 18 years.

Burma has been under military rule since 1962. Ironically, it was Suu Kyi's father, Aung San, who fathered the military establishment as part of the country's independence movement from its former colonial master Britain.

Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991, is deemed Burma's democracy icon, and one of the few opposition leaders with enough popular and international support to undermine the military's monopoly of political power in the south-east Asian nation.

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Monastery raided in Rangoon, abbot arrested: AAPP
Mizzima News - Solomon
Friday, 05 September 2008 20:33

New Delhi – The Thailand based Assistance Association of Political Prisoners said, a Buddhist monastery in Rangoon's suburban township of Thanlyin was raided in the early hours of Friday by 23 people in plainclothes. They took away Thilawunthah the 58-year old abbot of the monastery.

The AAPP said a group of people, who came in three vehicles, including a car owned by the township authorities (Ma .Ya. Kah), raided the Mala Yone Monastery and arrested its abbot Sayadaw Thilawunthah.

Tate Naing, secretary of the AAPP, citing local sources said, "Twenty-three people in plainclothes at around 2:00 a.m. came in three cars and raided the Mala Yone Monastery in Thanlyin township of Rangoon."

Tate Naing said, among the three vehicles used by the raiders, one is owned by the Township Peaceful and Development Council (TDPC). He added that the vehicle indicated the raiders were sent by the authorities in plainclothes.

"When they raided the monastery they forced all the monks to lie down on the floor," said Tate Naing.  "This kind of action is very disturbing and an insult to the religion."

However, Tate Naing said the reason for the raid was still not clear.

"They reportedly searched the monastery but did not find anything. We heard abbot U Thilawunthah had not come back to the monastery," Tate Naing said.

While the information on the raid cannot be independently verified, sources said there is increased vigilance over Buddhist monasteries in Rangoon and several other cities across the country.

Sources in central Burma said the authorities have forced abbots of monasteries to sign a pledge not to allow its monks from leading any kind of anti-government protests.

Buddhist monks were at the fore-front of mass protests in September last year after the government suddenly hiked fuel prices.

As the protests gained momentum, on September 26, the military conducted midnight raids in several key monasteries across the country, beating, killing and arresting thousands of monks.

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Confrontational comments laud Nargis relief effort
Mizzima News - Friday, 05 September 2008 17:57

Recent assessments by the World Health Organization (WHO) rain praise on the Burmese government's emergency response following May's Cyclone Nargis, as well as upon ongoing relief efforts conducted in conjunction with international actors.

The remarks in question come following the publication of an article in the WHO's monthly Bulletin for September which refers to a WHO-led relief effort in Burma after the cyclone of May 2nd and 3rd as a "Groundbreaking approach to disaster relief."

Specifically, the approach in question centers on the work of Rudi Coninx of the WHO and the "cluster" strategy. According to the article, the aforementioned tactic, pioneered by Coninx in Burma, calls on "a group of relevant UN agencies and others to coordinate specific areas in an emergency response."

A chief benefit of pursuing such a course of action is said to be enhanced accountability – a lesson driven home in the wake of the tsunami of December 2004.

Yet, Coninx is quoted in the Bangkok Post today as saying that even prior to the coordination of relief efforts with the international community, the Burmese regime performed admirably it its emergency response.

"In the first week, the Ministry of Health had already sent around 50 doctors from Rangoon General Hospital…Within the first week they had all the staff necessary... I thought that worked quite well," Coninx explained.

However, much of the acclaim for both the government's early response and the later "cluster" approach appears to be relative, as alluded to by statements from within the WHO establishment itself.

Governmental responses were at least partly determined to be a success in consideration of the miniscule amount of resources available for rapid response as a result of the junta only spending 1.4 percent of its gross domestic product on health resources – that, according to Coninx himself in the Post.

Further, Sarah Cumberland, writing for the Bulletin, elaborates: "The unique political situation and the lack of existing data meant that donors demanded even more informa­tion and accountability than usual, resulting in what has been considered the most comprehensive survey ever conducted after a disaster."

Cumberland proceeds to reference Dr. Richard Garfield, whose comments again focus on the relative nature of the situation inside Burma. "[S]urveys held after previous disasters have mainly mea­sured aid provided. How many people received goods? How many villages were visited? For the first time, Garfield says, this survey asked questions to compare conditions before and after the cyclone. What kind of sanitation was in use? How far did people have to travel to seek health care? What kind of health problems did they have?"

As far as the "cluster" relief approach for the coordination of humanitarian aid, WHO acknowledges that the success of such an approach was not possible until three weeks after the disaster, following the intervention of the ASEAN Secretary General.

According to the monthly periodical and Dr. Nihal Singh from the WHO office in Burma, a primary impediment to the implementation of the "cluster" approach in the first weeks following the cyclone was "perhaps because the Ministry of Health was not clear on the "concept" of the health cluster and did not feel comfortable working directly with the UN agencies and NGOs."

However, the positive nature of the WHO assessments are contradicted by numerous estimates from persons and organizations active on the ground in Burma in the days, weeks and months following the storm, which resulted in an estimated 138,000 either dead or missing.

The argument of an effective rapid response on the part of the government is met which assertions from groups such as Medical Emergency Relief International (MERLIN), who described the scene a week after Nargis as: "Seven days on and the situation is desperate." MERLIN is also a founding member of the WHO's "cluster" network.

And the United Nations as well, for its part, estimated that nearly six weeks after the killer storm one million survivors in need of aid had still yet to be reached – a figure also quoted by Human Rights Watch.

As far as the present atmosphere on the ground and its conduciveness to the relief activities of a broad-based international effort, Global Hope Network International (GHNI) reaches a strikingly different conclusion to that of the WHO.

In a statement released today, GHNI describes Burma's delta region as follows: "Most of the hardest hit places of the Ayeyarwaddy delta still refuse entry to foreigners. It is a dangerous place to work. Our teams of national workers continue to risk their freedom and lives by helping the desperately suffering. People are perpetually hungry and are not getting enough food to remain healthy."

"Months after cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar, the situation remains grim and dangerous," adds GHNI.

Estimates as to the length of time needed for relief and rehabilitation efforts resulting from damage caused by Cyclone Nargis typically range from three to five years, with the WHO determining that U.S. $2 billion alone is needed just to rebuild health facilities.

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Burmese media dare not cover Thai protests
Mizzima News - Nem Davies
Friday, 05 September 2008 14:44

New Delhi – In fear of objections by the censorship, Weekly journals in Rangoon has deliberately turned a blind-eye to the political turmoil in neighboring Thailand.

While months of political tensions in Thailand has turn out into days of violent demonstrations in Bangkok, the Burmese media in fear of inviting the wrath of the censor board, has remained silent despite their yearning to run stories on the unfolding events in neighboring country.

"Under the current circumstances, we cannot cover on the situations in Thailand in our journal because most such news is being censored. We are also worried about being misunderstood by the censor board," an editor of a news journal said on condition of anonymity.

However, a few journals including the 'Rangoon Times' have reportedly carried stories on the ongoing protests in Bangkok after being severely self-censored in order to avoid censor board's wrath.

On the back page of this week's issue 'Myanmar Times' Vol. 19, No. 378, the journal reported the situation in Thailand with the headline, 'State of emergency declared in Bangkok', quoting AFP. A photograph of Prime Minister of Thailand Samak Sundaravej appeared on page three.

"We found the news only in 'Myanmar Times'. Sometimes it happens so. Some news supposed to be censored appears in some media. We don't know who it depends on," an editor of a weekly journal said.

A veteran magazine editor, who wished not to be named, speculated that the reporting of Thai protests is being tightly controlled in apprehension, lest it inspire similar protests in Burma.

"I think the government is worried about another popular uprising occurring in Burma. The protests in Thailand demanding the ouster of the PM is likely to spark the imagination of the people here," he added.

Burma's state-run media - radio, TV and newspapers - like the rest of the privately run journals, has totally ignored the incidents in Thailand.

In Thailand, opposition People's Alliance for Democracy has led days of mass protests demanding the resignation of the Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej and used his office compound as a protest venue since August 26.

Clashes between anti-government groups and government supporters had left a person to die on September 2. And following the death, Samak declared a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, chancellors of universities in Bangkok had joined the protestors by demanding the dissolution of the lower house and protestors have warned that it will cut electricity while airlines staff have threatened to disrupt services to mount pressure on the Thai government.

But with the anniversary of the September 2007 protests coming up, security has been beefed up in various towns and cities across the country including Rangoon, Pakokku, Mandalay and Sittwe, places where anti-junta protests have started last year.

Sources said, authorities kept tight vigilance over key monasteries in these towns.

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Myanmar Airways Unsafe: UK Gov’t
The Irrawaddy - By LAWI WENG
Friday, September 5, 2008

The British foreign office has issued an advisory warning it staff not to use flights operated by Myanmar Airways, Burma’s state-owned domestic air carrier, because of the airline’s failure to meet international safety standards.

In a statement released on September 3, the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) also advised staff to avoid the privately owned Air Bagan, which sometimes uses aircraft leased from Myanmar Airways. The warning extends to Myanmar Airways International (MAI) flights that use Fokker 100 aircraft owned by Air Bagan.

“FCO staff have been advised to avoid flying with Myanmar Airways and Air Bagan if an acceptable alternative means of travel exists,” reads the statement.

Air Bagan is owned by Tay Za, a prominent Burmese businessman with close ties to the country’s ruling junta. In October 2007, soon after he was placed on a US blacklist targeting cronies of the regime, he was forced to suspend the operation of flights to Singapore.

According to the British travel advisory, Myanmar Airways International has a three-month contract with Air Bagan to hire Fokker 100 for flights from Rangoon to Bangkok and Rangoon to Kuala Lumpur. The contract expires in November.

The warning is more bad news for Burma’s tourism industry, which has been trying to recover from the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis. The deadly storm, which struck on May 2-3, wiped out several of the country’s best-known beach resorts.

Ma Khine, a public relations officer for the Myanmar Tourist Board, told The Irrawaddy on Friday that the government is preparing to launch a major campaign to attract visitors. The local weekly 7-Day News reported on Thursday that the regime is planning to reopen all famous resort hotels in three beach areas by next month.

However, sources in the tourism industry said that the number of tourists visiting the country has fallen 90 percents since May. They added that there are virtually no hotel bookings for this year’s high season, which begins in November.

Tour operators in Rangoon said that the local tourism industry took a severe hit following the crackdown on monk protesters last September. Cyclone Nargis, they said, has only added to the industry’s woes.

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Earthquake Fuels Rumors of Retribution
The Irrawaddy - By MIN LWIN
Friday, September 5, 2008

A mild earthquake hit Rangoon this afternoon, fuelling rumors of divine intervention on the anniversary of a crackdown on monks in Pakkoku that led to widespread protests around the country last September.

According to Burma’s meteorology and hydrology department, an earthquake measuring 3.5 on the Richter scale hit northern Rangoon Division around 3:15 p.m. today. No one was reported injured.

A resident of Rangoon said that the quake immediately incited rumors that a catastrophe would strike the capital Naypyidaw as punishment against the leader of the ruling junta, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, for ordering troops to crush last year’s monk-led uprising.

On September 5, 2007, several hundred monks marched through Pakkoku in Magwe Division, chanting Buddhist sutras and calling on the government to repeal fuel price increases and release protesters arrested during earlier demonstrations. The authorities soon crushed the protests, fueling anger around the country.

Sources in cities affected by the protests said that the authorities are on high alert against a repeat of last year’s unrest. They added that many monasteries in Mandalay, Sittwe, Pegu and other major cities are under close surveillance.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Friday, a senior monk from Bawdi Mandine Monastery in Pakokku said that security forces, including plainclothes members of the junta-backed Union Solidarity and Development Association and the Swan Arr Shin militia, have been stationed along Pakokku’s main roads and near the city’s monasteries.

“There are security forces holding batons around the monasteries,” the senior monk said.

Despite the increased pressure on monks, however, many have continued to protest their treatment by the regime by refusing to accept alms from families connected to the authorities.

Residents of Pakokku reported that Brig-Gen Thein Zaw, the regime’s minister of communications, post and telegraphs, visited two local monasteries last week, but was unable to make offerings to the monks.

The minister tried to offer rice to senior monks at the Maha Vijayarama and Mandalay monasteries, but they refused to accept the donations, sources said.

Meanwhile, sources close to Rangoon’s regional military command said that Light Infantry Division 77, based in Pegu, has raised security in the former capital, stationing security forces around pagodas, major buildings and junctions since last week.

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Directive orders monks to avoid political activity

Sep 5, 2008 (DVB)–A directive has been sent by the state Sangha Maha Nayaka committee to monasteries and lecturing colleges in Chauk, Magwe division, ordering monks not to take part in political activities.

The directive was issued as new monks scholars arrived at the monasteries around the time of the one-year anniversary of the Saffron Revolution.

A Chauk monk said that the rules stated that monks could not get involved in party politics or join or participate in the activities of any organisations that are not sponsored by the Sangha Maha Nayaka.

The directive also urged monks to concentrate on their religious duties and not to act in a way that could tarnish the reputation of the Sangha.

The rules stated that swift action would be taken against any monks found to be breaking the law.

The monk said the directive had come from Magwe Division Sangha Maha Nayaka.

Security has been tightened around monasteries in Chauk and monks are being closely watched, the monk said.

“Last year the Sangha Maha Nayaka issued directives as instructed [by the authorities] . It is the same this year but security in both Pakokku and Chauk is quite tight,” he said.

“These Swan Arr Shin and USDA are shaving their heads. I don’t know whether they are going to beat up monks or not if we protest, but they are looking at us as if they are going swallow us alive when we go out to collect alms.”

Monks in Chauk are continuing their boycott of government officials by refusing alms from them and they have told the abbots of the Sangha Maha Nayaka to speak out against the SPDC for forcibly disrobing, imprisoning and torturing monks.

“The abbots must know one way or another that the authorities are torturing, killing and imprisoning their own monks,” the monk said.

“If they don’t admonish wicked rulers, or if the other party doesn’t accept it or take it seriously, the abbots themselves have a duty to carry out a religious boycott,” he said.
“The Sangha Maha Nayaka must be held accountable.”

Reporting by Aye Nai

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