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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar's junta grants Suu Kyi new rights
AP - UN chief urges Myanmar junta to include opponents
Reuters - U.N. envoy in dark after snub by Myanmar's Suu Kyi
Reuters - Myanmar's Suu Kyi to get family letters, news mags
AFP - Time for Myanmar regime to release political prisoners: UN envoy
AFP - Two Dead, 10 Wounded In Twin Myanmar Blasts - Police
IRIN - MYANMAR: Forewarned, not forearmed
New York Sun - Burmese Dissident Arrested After Year in Hiding
ICP - On Myanmar, UN Belatedly Speaks, Claims It Has No Leverage, Blames NLD, It Seems, and China's Energy Hunger
New Kerala - US, Britain call for more pressure on Myanmar
AccessNorthGA - Gainesville Rotary Club ShelterBox arrives in Myanmar, Burma
RIGZONE - Goldpetrol Spuds Yenangyaung 3233 in Myanmar
Mizzima News - Magwe Division activists sentenced to long prison terms
The Irrawaddy - Min Ko Naing Defiant at Hearing: Lawyer
The Irrawaddy - Chemical Drug Use Increasing in Asia
DVB News - Army officer accused of attempted rape of doctor
DVB News - Eight sentenced for political activities and media contact

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Myanmar's junta grants Suu Kyi new rights
Fri Sep 12, 3:18 AM ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was expected to stop shunning food deliveries after the junta approved several requests, including the right to receive regular mail deliveries and certain foreign news publications, her lawyer said Friday. 

The apparent concessions came amid growing concerns that Suu Kyi was on a hunger strike to protest her ongoing detention. The 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has refused daily food delivered to her home for over three weeks.

"She will most probably accept her food deliveries as some of the conditions she had asked for were smoothed out," her lawyer, Kyi Win, told The Associated Press.

The junta made no immediate comment.

Among the conditions were Suu Kyi's request to be allowed regular mail deliveries from her two sons, who live in Britain, and other family members, Kyi Win said. Until now, delivery was spotty with some mail permitted and some blocked, he said.

Suu Kyi was also granted permission to read foreign publications, "including Time, Newsweek, etc.," her lawyer said.

He did not give details about how long Suu Kyi has been denied access to foreign news publications.

Suu Kyi has been held in detention by Myanmar's notoriously xenophobic ruling junta for 13 of the past 19 years, mostly under house arrest. She relies on food delivered by her opposition National League for Democracy for sustenance.

She lives in a lakeside home in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, with two female companions who help take care of the house.

Suu Kyi had demanded greater freedom of movement for the two women, who were previously barred from leaving the home but will now be allowed out during the daytime, the lawyer said.

She will also be allowed monthly medical checkups by her personal physician, which the junta had previously promised her but then blocked.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been in a political deadlock since 1990, when Suu Kyi's party overwhelmingly won general elections but was not allowed to take power by the military.

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UN chief urges Myanmar junta to include opponents
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer
Thu Sep 11, 6:29 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed frustration Thursday at the failure of Myanmar's military government to open its political process and urged the junta to take "tangible steps" to include opponents like Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Ban spoke to reporters at a news conference while his special envoy to Myanmar, Ibrahim Gambari, was briefing the U.N. Security Council behind closed doors on his visit to Myanmar from Aug. 18-23. He failed to see Suu Kyi during the visit.

Gambari said afterward that he told council members the visit "fell below our expectations, particularly with regard to the release of political prisoners and the resumption of dialogue between the government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi."

"Therefore, it's our view that it's imperative for the government of Myanmar at this point to deliver substantive results...," he said.

Ban refused to call Gambari's visit a failure, telling reporters that he intends to continue to try to make progress through "all possible diplomatic means."

He announced that he will hold a meeting on Friday with ambassadors from concerned member states to discuss ways to promote progress, particularly with countries that may have influence on Myanmar.

"I share the frustration many feel with the situation in Myanmar," Ban said. "We have not seen the political progress I had hoped for. We want to see the parties, in particular the government of Myanmar, take tangible steps toward establishing a credible and inclusive political process in the country, which of course must include progress on human rights."

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been in a political deadlock since 1990, when Suu Kyi's party overwhelmingly won a general election but was not allowed to take power by the military. She has been detained, mainly under house arrest, for 13 of the last 19 years.

The United Nations has tried with little success to nudge the regime toward talks with the opposition, hoping the top generals would respond to international pressure to embrace national reconciliation following its violent suppression of massive, anti-government protests in Yangon last year. Suu Kyi's cancellation of meetings with Gambari was the latest stumble in the U.N.'s bid to promote democracy in Myanmar.

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said Thursday that Washington believes "more pressure needs to be applied on the (Myanmar) regime."

"The regime is not complying," he said. "It is in defiance of what the international community has asked for. We believe that it is time to deliberate on what to do to be more effective."

British Ambassador John Sawers said the U.N., the Security Council and others "need to reassess the way forward to bring about national reconciliation and democratic government."

"Prospects of moving forward are not at all promising," he said. "We need to understand the frustration that she (Suu Kyi), her supporters and party and indeed the people of Burma are feeling at the lack of progress there."

A statement last month by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy complained about the lack of results from Gambari's trips.

Gambari, who has met with Suu Kyi seven times during five previous visits, said the fact that he didn't meet the detained Nobel Peace Prize winner on this trip "was disappointing to all of us" and meant he couldn't report her views as he had in the past.

He said he didn't know why Suu Kyi didn't meet him, noting that she has previously said the U.N. should be at the center of promoting dialogue between her and the government.

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U.N. envoy in dark after snub by Myanmar's Suu Kyi
By Louis Charbonneau
Thu Sep 11, 4:00 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy said on Thursday he has no idea why Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi refused to meet him last month. 

U.N. envoy Ibrahim Gambari tried twice to meet the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner who has been under house arrest for most of the past five years, but she refused.

After briefing the U.N. Security Council on his sixth visit to push for reform in the former Burma, Gambari was asked why Suu Kyi had declined to see him.

"To be honest with you, I don't know because this is not consistent with her previous relation to me," he told reporters. "I've met with her seven times in all now."

"We don't know why she has refused to see anybody except her lawyer in the last few weeks. There may be a sense of frustration, of course, which we all share about the pace of change in the country."

Suu Kyi's snub of Gambari during his six-day visit fueled speculation she was fed up with the ruling junta's treatment of the emissary and the lack of meaningful dialogue between her party and the junta.

So far, Gambari has had little to show for his efforts to get Myanmar's leadership to include Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy in its plans to cede political control.

The party said this week that Suu Kyi was on a hunger strike to protest her detention and restrictions on visitors, but the junta denied it.

Some Western diplomats in New York have suggested privately that Suu Kyi's snub of Gambari on his fourth visit since the junta cracked down on monk-led protests last September was a vote of no confidence in what they described as the United Nations' soft approach to Myanmar.

However, Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers placed the blame squarely on the shoulders of the junta.

He said the snub was a message of frustration about the slow pace of reforms in Myanmar that Suu Kyi was sending the international community.

"We need to understand the frustration that she, her supporters, her party, and indeed the people of Burma are feeling at the lack of progress there," Sawers said. "Let's listen to that and let's reflect on that."

U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad suggested it was time for tougher measures. He accused the junta of defying international demands that it release Suu Kyi and other dissidents and begin taking steps toward democracy.

"The time has come to review what needs to be done to be more effective to bring about more progress with regard to these two objectives," Khalilzad told reporters.

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Myanmar's Suu Kyi to get family letters, news mags
Thu Sep 11, 11:45 PM ET

YANGON (Reuters) - Detained Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has managed to wring small concessions from the ruling generals in the form of letters from her family and some international news magazines, her lawyer said on Friday. 

The Nobel laureate, whose refusal of new food deliveries to the Yangon villa where she is under house arrest prompted speculation of a hunger strike, had also agreed to a visit by her doctor, lawyer Kyi Win told reporters.

"The authorities have agreed to let her receive family mail, read some international periodicals like Newsweek and Time and lift restrictions on the movement of her housekeeper, Khin Khin Win and daughter," he said after visiting Suu Kyi. There was no word on whether the 63-year-old, who has been under continuous house arrest for the last five years, would get a new satellite television decoder to replace an existing one that is believed to have broken.

Myanmar's police chief, Brigadier General Khin Yi, denied on Sunday that Suu Kyi was on hunger strike.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) party, which won a 1990 election landslide only to be denied power by the military, said her health and safety was the sole responsibility of the junta.

In all, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 13 of the last 19 years. Myanmar, or Burma as it used to be called, has been under military rule since 1962.

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Time for Myanmar regime to release political prisoners: UN envoy
Thu Sep 11, 3:52 PM ET

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) - UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari said here Thursday that it was time for Myanmar's military regime to release political prisoners and resume dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

Speaking to reporters after briefing the UN Security Council on his last visit to the southeast Asian country in August, Gambari said: "the tangible results of my last visit fell below expectations. "

He added that it was imperative for "the government of Myanmar at this point to deliver substantive results" regarding "the release of political prisoners and the resumption of dialogue between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi."

His view was echoed by US Ambassador to the UN Zalmay Khalilzad, who noted: "The United States and several others (in the 15-member council) are of the view that there hasn't been any concrete progress with regard to ... time-bound political negotiations leading to democratization and the release of political prisoners."

"The time has come to review what needs to be done to be more effective in bringing about progress with regard to those two objectives," he added. "Our judgment is that more pressure needs to be applied on the regime."

Khalilzad's British counterpart John Sawers also voiced disappointment at the way the Myanmar regime handled Gambari's August visit.

"We have not seen substantive progress on the central goal of achieving national reconciliation, " he noted.

And commenting on Aun San Suu Kyi's refusal to see Gambari on his latest visit, Sawers noted: "We should take this as a message."

"We need to understand the frustration that she, and her supporters, her party and indeed the people of Burma (Myanmar) are feeling at the lack of progress."

Gambari visited Myanmar August 18-23, in a bid to restart dialogue between Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling military regime. He was also unable to meet with senior figures in the regime but held talks with the prime minister.

A UN spokeswoman said at the time that Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest, was unable to meet Gambari as scheduled but that the UN envoy met members of the National League for Democracy (NLD), the opposition party she leads.

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Two Dead, 10 Wounded In Twin Myanmar Blasts - Police
Thu Sep 11, 3:52 PM ET

YANGON (AFP)--Two people were killed and another 10 wounded by two bomb blasts at a Myanmar video cafe northeast of the main city Yangon, near a region hit by an ethnic insurgency, police sources said Friday.

The blasts occurred at around 8:00 pm (1330 GMT) Thursday evening some 100 miles (160 kilometers) northeast of Yangon, not far from areas where ethnic Karen fighters are battling the government, a police official said.

"Two people were killed and 10 others injured in the series of two bomb blasts in Kyaukgyi Township in Bago Division," the police official said on condition of anonymity.

It was the latest in a spate of explosions that have hit the military-ruled country this week.

Three passengers were injured when a blast ripped through the back of a bus at a busy intersection in Yangon on Tuesday. Authorities said they were investigating whether a bomb caused the explosion.

Myanmar's military rulers last Sunday accused two members of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, or NLD, of bombing pro-government offices in July.

That was the first time the junta has accused members of the pro-democracy party of being involved in a bombing. Previous blasts have been blamed on armed exile groups or ethnic rebels.

The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta never allowed them to take office and Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest almost constantly since then.

Myanmar rarely reports attacks inside the country. Since Cyclone Nargis struck the country in May, leaving 138,000 dead or missing, state media has largely ignored the conflicts in the border areas.

Myanmar has suffered decades of armed rebellion along its borders, and no government has ever controlled all of the nation's territory.

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962.

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MYANMAR: Forewarned, not forearmed
12 Sep 2008 08:21:46 GMT

BOGALE, 12 September 2008 (IRIN) - The Myanmar government says most residents were warned about approaching cyclone Nargis, but many failed to take appropriate measures or were simply caught off-guard.

"Most of the people [in the worst-hit areas] got the cyclone warning from us two or three days before," claimed Tun Lwin, director-general of the Department of Meteorology and Hydrology (DMH), in Yangon, the former Burmese capital.

"The problem was that they weren't fully aware of it and had no knowledge as to how to prepare for it [the cyclone]," he said.

Lack of preparedness

Scores of cyclone survivors across southern Myanmar lack adequate disaster awareness in the wake of Nargis – the country's worst natural disaster in living memory, which left almost 140,000 people dead or missing and affected another 2.4 million.

"The true tragedy of this event is that it is not unique. Asia has shown time and again its vulnerability to severe cyclones," Oliver Fall of the Bangkok-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center [see: http://www.adpc. net/v2007/ ] , which has been mandated by several southeast Asian nations to establish an tsunami and multi-hazard early warning system (EWS) and has been working closely with the DMH.

Though many residents were warned of the storm's arrival by television or radio, many perished out of ignorance of what to do or where to go, despite Myanmar's history of natural disasters.

Over the past 60 years, Myanmar has seen 11 severe tropical cyclones, two of which made landfall in the Ayeyarwady Delta. The region was also affected by the 2004 tsunami that claimed more than 60 lives and left 2,500 homeless along the coast.

Yet little has done to raise awareness. "People should be educated about [natural] disasters and how to prepare," Tun Lwin repeated. 

Although the country does have an EWS, as in many countries in the region, it lacks financial resources to invest in it. Moreover, many donors remain reluctant to provide support for the military-led government.

Capacity building

Fall maintains that the main issue in combating a lack of capacity in government systems, as well as at the community level, is partly access, but also the adequate time to conduct capacity-building exercises.

"It has only been three years since the tsunami and Myanmar's membership of the EWS; there is no feasible way that sufficient capacities can be built up within that timeframe on a national level in Myanmar," the ADPC official said.

To promote disaster awareness, programmes should be initiated in the cyclone-hit villages through community-based mechanisms, while disaster-resistant buildings should be built in areas most at risk.

"We're focusing on community-level preparedness and response planning through the current early recovery programmes and it will be scaled up gradually to other parts of the country," Dillip Kumar Bhanja, disaster risk reduction specialist for the UN Development Programme in Myanmar, confirmed.

As part of that effort, UNDP is promoting disaster-resistant buildings through the training of masons.

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Burmese Dissident Arrested After Year in Hiding
New York Sun - By BENNY AVNI, Staff Reporter of the Sun | September 12, 2008

UNITED NATIONS — Burma's ruling junta yesterday arrested a prominent activist, while at the United Nations the Security Council gathered to discuss the U.N. envoy to Burma's recent failure to meet with the country's leading dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi.

Nilar Thein, leader of a dissident group known as the 88 Generation Students, was detained by Burmese security forces after spending a year in hiding following the arrest of her husband, Kyaw Min Yu. "The arrest — and the huge increase in arrests over the past 30 days — directly defies the U.N. Security Council's demand that the military regime release all political prisoners," the Washington-based U.S. Campaign for Burma said in a statement.

Ms. Thein had written about the dissonance between the United Nations' lofty goals and the junta's defiance of them. When Secretary of State Rice hosted a meeting at the Security Council on women, peace, and security in June, the activist wrote, "Will they remember Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the women of Burma who are suffering all forms of abuse by the military junta?"

Taking aim at the failure of U.N. envoys to challenge the generals, Ms. Thein added: "The appeasement policy of some bureaucrats is shameful. Effective and urgent action from the U.N. Security Council is necessary to help the women in Burma. No more debate. Take action. Please let me be happily reunited with my daughter."

Ms. Thein was forced to leave her infant daughter with her parents when she went into hiding.

Earlier this month, Ms. Suu Kyi, 63, who has been under house arrest since her National League for Democracy won a 1990 election in a landslide but was not allowed to take power, turned away Ibrahim Gambari, who was making his fifth visit to Burma as U.N. envoy in two years. Still, Secretary-General Ban said the Nigerian diplomat's trip was not a failure. "If you talk about failure, then if we stop making progress through all possible diplomatic means, that should be viewed as a failure. I continue to make progress," he said.

U.N. diplomats, on the other hand, described Ms. Suu Kyi's public snub as a sign of her frustration with his mission. Yesterday, Mr. Gambari was unable to explain to members of the Security Council why the Nobel Peace Prize laureate had declined to see him. "To be honest with you, I don't know, because this is not consistent with her previous relations to me," he told reporters.

Ms. Suu Kyi's party "has said some things," expressing her dissatisfaction that this process, including Mr. Gambari's visits, has "not produced concrete results," the American ambassador to the United Nations, Zalmay Khalilzad, said.

The British ambassador, John Sawers, added that Ms. Suu Kyi clearly meant to convey a message.

The Burmese opposition leader "can't come here to the Security Council and set out her concerns," Mr. Sawers said. "She's locked up. So she needs to be able to convey her messages in different ways. We need to understand the frustration that she and her supporters, her party, and indeed the people of Burma are feeling at the lack of progress there. Let's listen to that."

In a letter to Mr. Ban last week, several members of Ms. Suu Kyi's party requested that they be allowed to represent Burma at the upcoming U.N. General Assembly session, instead of the junta's envoys. Mr. Ban has not yet commented on the request.

Mr. Gambari yesterday declined to criticize the constitutional referendum, described by President Bush and others as a "sham," that the junta conducted in May, days after a powerful cyclone killed more than 100,000 Burmese citizens. "That is for the people of Burma to decide," Mr. Gambari said of the referendum. "We were not there to observe the process. How can we judge the outcome?"

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On Myanmar, UN Belatedly Speaks, Claims It Has No Leverage, Blames NLD, It Seems, and China's Energy Hunger
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis

UNITED NATIONS, September 11 -- Better late than never: 19 days after UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari left Myanmar without meeting with either democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi or Senior General Than Shwe, he finally came to take question from the Press, after briefing the Security Council. Inner City Press asked him about the controversy about the UN offering technical assistance to the Than Shwe government to hold elections under a constitution which was passed in a referendum held just after Cyclone Nargis hit, with restrictions on the ability to campaign for a "no" vote against it. Gambari countered that the opposition National League for Democracy "took part in the referendum." Video here, from Minute 4:42.

This statement, sure to create even more tension between Gambari and the NLD, seemed to some to spring from Gambari's frustration at having his trip be widely described as a failure, while he felt himself constrained from any public comment or explanation for two days shy of three weeks.

Inner City Press asked Gambari if he knew why Aung San Suu Kyi refused to meet with him. "I don't know," Gambari, saying that her boycott was "inconsistent" with her criticism of him for failing during some previous visits to meet with the Senior General. But perhaps it is precisely because he did not have access to Myanmar's ultimate strongman that she refused to meet.

Earlier on September 11, Inner City Press asked Ban Ki-moon:
Inner City Press: it's been almost three weeks since Mr. [Ibrahim] Gambari made his visit, and there has been a lot of actually negative press coverage saying that the visit was perceived as a failure, that he didn't meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, nor with General Than Shwe. It's also reported that he's offering electoral help, whereas most of the opposition parties say that the way the election is proceeding toward 2010 is undemocratic and is under a constitution that really wasn't legitimately approved. I wonder if you could say specifically where you would like to see things go in Myanmar?

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon: Those are two timely questions; I thank you very much for them. On Myanmar, I am as concerned as you are, and as frustrated as everybody else. But I would like not to characterize Mr. Gambari's visit as a failure. If you talk about failure, then if we stop making progress through all possible diplomatic means, that should be viewed as a failure. I continue to make progress in this, as mandated by the General Assembly. As you may know, I'm going to convene an ambassador-level meeting of the Group of Friends on Myanmar tomorrow afternoon to discuss this matter with concerned Member States. I'll try to continue to do whatever I can, in close coordination with Member States, particularly those countries which may have some influence on Myanmar.

This final phrase merits some analysis. The UN's off the record defense of what it accomplishes or doesn't in Myanmar is that it, and by extension the West, has no leverage. China and India, this defense goes, want Myanmar's energy resources; China will use its veto for Myanmar, even more readily than for Zimbabwe.

In fact, when Inner City Press on September 9 asked French Ambassador Jean-Maurice Ripert about Ingrid Betancourt's reference to Aung San Suu Kyi, he ended up saying that France would seek some outcome from the Council after Gambari's briefing:

Inner City Press: She said at the end of her speech, that Aung San Suu Kyi in Myanmar, that she is in an hunger strike and that we must act. Do you agree with that? Do you think that the UN has done enough in that regard?

Ripert: You know very well the position of France regarding Burma. Certainly, we will have some occasion to repeat it, in front of the Council during the next days. A debate is now scheduled to listen to the report of Mr Gambari. We think that the Security Council  has not been listened to by the authorities of Burma/ Myanmar and we think that they have to abide by their commitments.

We want to recall what we have asked for: the liberation of Aung San Suu Kyi of course and of all political prisoners. The elections will not make sense if there are not free, if there is no due process of law.

We do not recognize, as the opposition did, the result of this fake constitutional referendum: it was held in the midst of a terrible hurricane, with devastating effects on civilian population. We have seen the lack of care of the authorities of Burma vis-a-vis their own population.

At the same time, certainly the UN has to continue to push for a dialogue with the authorities. We are supportive of the efforts of the UNSG, of Mr Gambari, of the group of friends. And we hope that all countries in the region which have some leverage on the Burmese authorities will use it to get as soon as possible, the freedom and the release of Aung San Suu Kyi. She is in danger. She is in danger and she has been recognized as a figure of peace for the world as Nobel peace pri[z]e. We have to fight for her freedom... We think that now we have to raise the stakes of the Security Council and that it should be very clear for the Burmese authorities that they have to be accountable to the Security Council.  So one way or another we will do something.

On September 11 outside the Council, diplomats told Inner City Press that France was preparing a draft Press Statement about Gambari's trip and Myanmar, but that China most prominently blocked it. Council President Michel Kafando came out and said that no agreement had been reached.

Of U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, Inner City Press asked:
Inner City Press: Does the US know why Aung San Suu Kyi did not meet with Professor Gambari this time?

Ambassador Khalilzad:  There is speculation. We do not know directly from her.  Her party has said some things, which is that her dissatisfaction that this process - including the good offices and including the visits of Mr. Gambari - have not produced concrete results.  There is concern that this process, in the aftermath of the flawed constitutional referendum in violation of what the international community had asked for, that this process may lead to legitimizing elections to a flawed process that they could take place.

UK Ambassador John Sawyer, also in response to a question from Inner City Press, went on to say that the constitutions "has no legitimacy because the referendum was not free and fair." So why is the UN offering technical assistance for an election poisoned by a scam referendum? To use what is in the U.S. the phrase of the week, isn't the UN thereby trying to put lipstick on a pig?

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US, Britain call for more pressure on Myanmar
New Kerala –

New York, Sep 12 : The US and Britain have called for more pressure on Myanmar to end its defiance of demands for democratic progress and the release of political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

US Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad said the UN Security Council should review its mediation, which is being led by special envoy Ibrahim Gambari, and pressure the military government to yield results.

The UN has been demanding that the government hold a political dialogue by all parties for national reconciliation.

It has also called for the release of all political prisoners. But there has been no progress on these two main issues despite four visits by Gambari to Myanmar.

'It's time to review what is needed to be done more effectively and bring results,' Khalilzad said Thursday following a closed-door session of the 15-nation council, which Gambari attended.

'Pressure should be applied on the regime,' Khalilzad said. 'The regime is defying the international community and we believe that there should be a debate to say what is the most effective.'

British Ambassador John Sawers agreed with Khalilzad, saying that Gambari's diplomatic efforts had been constrained by the military government.

Neither Sawers nor Khalilzad was specific about the kind of pressure they would like to impose on Myanmar.

Gambari told reporters that the Myanmar government has 'failed to deliver substantive results.'

He visited Myanmar a fourth time in August to pursue the dialogue on political progress and the release of political prisoners, but obtained no results.

Suu Kyi also refused to meet with him, apparently because he brought no change to the political impasse.

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Gainesville Rotary Club ShelterBox arrives in Myanmar, Burma
AccessNorthGA - Posted: Friday, September 12th 2008 at 5:20am
By Staff
 
GAINESVILLE - The Gainesville Rotary Club was recently notified that one of its sponsored ShelterBoxes had safely arrived in Myanmar, Burma to aid victims of Cyclone Nargis. ShelterBox was one of the first disaster relief organizations on the ground in Myanmar after the storm struck.

To date, 1,800 boxes have been deployed to survivors of the catastrophe, which left nearly 100,000 dead. Each ShelterBox is a large, rugged, green plastic container that holds a 10-person tent and a range of other equipment to house and support families in disaster situations such as hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, etc.

Shelter Box is a grassroots Rotary Club project that has rapidly grown to an international level. Its purpose is to deliver immediate relief to victims of natural and other disasters anywhere around the world. Contact your local Rotary Club or see www.shelterboxusa. org for more information.

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Goldpetrol Spuds Yenangyaung 3233 in Myanmar
RIGZONE - Interra Resources Ltd.
Thursday, September 11, 2008

Interra Resources Limited has informed its shareholders that its jointly controlled entity, Goldpetrol Joint Operating Company Inc., commenced drilling a shallow development well, Yenangyaung 3233, in the Yenangyaung oil field in Myanmar on September 9, 2008.

Interra has a 60% interest in the Improved Petroleum Recovery Contract of the Yenangyaung field and also owns 60% of Goldpetrol which is the Operator of the field. Well 3233 will be drilled by Goldpetrol's Cooper LTO 350 rig in the central area of the field. Interra's share of the cost of drilling will be funded from existing funds on hand.

All sands from the U900FT sand to the U3200FT sand have been oil bearing in this central Yenangyaung area and all wells in this block have produced oil. The objective of well 3233 is to drain oil primarily from the 3000FT, 3100FT and U3200FT sands which reservoir pressure and static fluid measurements in nearby wells indicate have good potential. There are at least 6 additional sands that can be classified as secondary objectives. This well will be drilled to 3,100 feet in a structural high position and it is anticipated that production will be established in one or more formations.

Interra estimates that the results of the drilling should be available in approximately two months' time. Interra will announce the results of the drilling operation as soon as they may be ascertained. Additional updates reflecting critical or unexpected events during drilling will also be announced.

Interra wishes to advise that investors should exercise due care and caution when trading Interra's shares. It is not certain that the development drilling mentioned above will ultimately yield commercially recoverable hydrocarbons or profitable production.

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Magwe Division activists sentenced to long prison terms 
Mizzima News - Phanida 
Friday, 12 September 2008 20:28

Chiang Mai -  Four 'National League for Democracy' (NLD) members from Yenanchaung, Chauk and Magwe of Magwe Division and seven people from Pakokku arrested in connection with the September unrest last year were sentenced to various prison terms ranging from two to nine years by Judge Daw Soe Soe Khet.

The accused were produced in court on Wednesday inside Theyet prison where the 11 activists are being held and sentenced.

Yenanchaung NLD Organizing Committee member Thar Cho, Chauk NLD Youth Wing member Tun Tun Nyein and Magwe Township NLD Secretary  Myint Oo were charged under section 505(b) of the Penal Code (inducing crime against public tranquility) and sentenced to two years in jail and another 6 months prison term for joining an unlawful assembly under section 143 of the Penal Code.

These prison terms will run concurrently. Tuition teacher Htay Win from Natmauk was sentenced to two years' prison term under section 505(b) of the Penal Code (inducing crime against public tranquility) .

"I felt it is unfair as he is innocent. He was just following protesting monks while they were marching in procession. He is my eldest son. I feel extremely sorry to hear the sentence. Please don't neglect and ignore my son," mother of Tun Tun Nyein said.

"He was sentenced to two and-a-half years in prison. He took part in the September unrest. We have been in and out of the prison since 1988. So this is not much different for us," Ko Kyaw San Oo, younger brother of Thar Cho, said.

Common people Nay La, Thar Aung a.k.a. Nyunt Shwe, Sein Linn, Khin Maung Win, Pho Ni, Nyein Chan who were taken away from their homes on September 7 last year for questioning were sentenced to two years in prison and Thant Shin was sentenced to nine years respectively by the judge.

Thant Shin was sentenced to seven in prison under section 5(j) of the 'Emergency Provisions Act', two years in prison under section 147 of the Penal Code (rioting). Other people were charged and sentenced under sections 147 and 143 of the Penal Code. Pho Ni and Ko Nyein Chan were sentenced under section 6(1) of the Public Property Protection Act.

"They were sentenced for serious crimes that they didn't commit. They fought for truth and justice. I feel sorry to hear that they were sentenced to such harsh prison terms for crimes they did not commit," Zar Ni, a colleague of the persons, who fled from Burma, said.

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Min Ko Naing Defiant at Hearing: Lawyer
The Irrawaddy - By MIN LWIN
Friday, September 12, 2008

A lawyer for Min Ko Naing, a leading figure from Burma’s nationwide pro-democracy uprising in 1988, said that the detained activist was defiant when he appeared in court at Rangoon’s Insein Prison on Tuesday.

“You can sentence us to a thousand years in prison for our political activities, but we will continue to defend ourselves in accordance with the law. Nobody can hide from justice,” the lawyer quoted Min Ko Naing as saying to the presiding judge.

Nyi Nyi Hlaing, a lawyer for Min Ko Naing and 34 other members of the 88 Generation Students’ Group, said that the defendants were facing a variety of charges related to their involvement in last year’s protests against a drastic fuel price hike by the ruling junta.

The charges include violations of Electronics Act 33A, the Illegal Organizations Act 17/1 and Section 4 of SPDC Law No 5/96, which prohibits actions that “endanger the national convention.”

The accused were also charged with violating Article 130B of the Penal Code, which prohibits libel against friendly foreign powers. The charge stems from the group’s alleged criticism of China and Russia for their role in vetoing a draft UN Security Council resolution o¬n Burma in January 2007.

Nyi Nyi Hlaing told The Irrawaddy that the prosecution also accused Min Ko Naing and his colleagues of speaking with the exiled media. Recorded interviews and other items uploaded to Web sites operated by Burmese exiles were exhibited as evidence.

On Tuesday, the 35 detained former student leaders appeared in the Rangoon East District Court, located in Insein Prison, with their lawyers and family members to hear the charges against them.

According to relatives of the defendants, the 88 Generation Students’ Group requested on August 27 to be permitted to appear in court without handcuffs. They also requested the presence of witnesses during the court hearing, in accordance with international laws. However, only family members were allowed to enter the courtroom.

“The family members could be present and listen to the court proceedings, but [the defendants] were still in handcuffs,” said Aung Thein, another lawyer for the group.

Most of the accused have been in detention since August 21, 2007, when they were arrested for leading a march against sharp increases in the price of fuel and other commodities on August 19.

Many are veterans of Burma’s pro-democracy movement who have spent more than a decade in prison for their political activities.

Besides Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, other prominent members of the 88 Generation Students’ Group who are now in detention include Htay Win Aung, Min Zeya, Mya Aye and Kyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy).

Lawyers for the group expressed doubt that they would receive a fair trial, saying that the authorities had already decided that they were guilty.

“Nobody should predict the outcome of a trial before a verdict has been reached,” said Aung Thein, referring to a press conference given by police chief Brig-Gen Khin Ye, who repeatedly declared that the defendants were guilty of a variety of crimes.

Nine other political activists who were not present at Tuesday’s hearing were also among the accused. They include Tun Myint Aung and Soe Tun, who are still in hiding, and Nilar Thein, who was arrested on Wednesday, and Mar Mar Oo, who was apprehended two weeks ago.

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Chemical Drug Use Increasing in Asia
The Irrawaddy - By VIOLET CHO
Friday, September 12, 2008

The use of chemical drugs has increased considerably among youths in developing countries with Asia leading the way, according to a recent report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).

In its report, the UN drugs bureau warns that synthetic drugs, such as amphetamine, methamphetamine and ecstasy—which it calls “the drugs of modern times”—are becoming more popular in developing countries.

“Asia, with its huge population and increasing affluence, is driving demand,” said the UNODC report.

In addition, new forms of synthetic drugs are emerging in Southeast Asia, such as highly pure crystalline methamphetamine, known as “crystal meth” or “ice.”

“This is of concern,” says UNODC expert Jeremy Douglas. “Young people are particularly vulnerable to methamphetamine use.”

The concerns were backed by community leaders in Burma who have seen drug use spiraling out of control in recent years.

“More than 60 percent of the young people in Kachin State are using drugs,” claimed Aung Wa, the chairman of the Kachin Development Network Group (KDNG). “Our community has free access to all kind of drugs, such as methamphetamine and heroin, so most young people—even the university students—take drugs.”

Aung Wa added that as more Burmese youngsters try out drugs, an increasing number are becoming involved in selling drugs as well.

“Poverty and a lack of jobs in Burma is a major factor that is forcing young people to become involved in dealing drugs,” he said.

“The young generation in Kachin state is totally destroyed by drugs. I don’t know what the future holds—so many of our young people are now drug users, criminals and thieves,” he said.

“Both the local Kachin and the military authorities know about the problem, but they don’t take action as long as the drug dealers give them bribes,” he added.

According to a high school teacher at Three Pagodas Pass in Mon State, most of the young people in the area are depressed by the instability of the political and economic environment, so they take drugs as a way of relieving their sadness. “About 8 out of 10 young people are using drugs,” he said.

Meanwhile, a rubber plantation owner in Three Pagodas Pass told The Irrawaddy that many young people in her village are dealing drugs because they can make more money from drugs than from working.

“It is very difficult for me to find people to work in my rubber plantation now,” she said. “I can only afford to pay 150 baht (US $4.30) per day. Young people aren’t interested.”

Chemical drug use started becoming popular in the mid-1990s in Burma. Observers say it has now become fashionable and widely accepted by youngsters.

The worldwide market for amphetamine- type drugs was worth about $65 billion, said the UNODC report. Drugs are now big business in Malaysia, Indonesia, Cambodia and Burma.

The September 9 report would appear to contradict claims by Burma’s Ministry of Home Affairs that drug abuse is declining in the country: official government statistics claim that the number of drug users in Burma has decreased from 61,455 in 2005 to 54,705 in January 2008.

UNODC executive director Antonio Maria Costa said that unlike plant-based drugs such as cocaine and heroin, the production of synthetic drugs—estimated at 500 tonnes globally a year—was hard to trace since the ingredients were readily available for legitimate industrial purposes.

“When one lab is shut, another opens. When one type of precursor chemical is unavailable, producers switch to an alternative,” Costa said.

“This presents a challenge to law enforcement since production is so close to retail outlets. Therefore, greater emphasis should be put on prevention,” he added.

In 2006, almost half of Asian countries reported an increase in methamphetamine use.

The UN report also noted “an increased involvement of organized criminal groups in the trade.”

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Army officer accused of attempted rape of doctor

Sep 12, 2008 (DVB)–A judgment is due to be reached by military authorities tomorrow on an army officer who has been accused of attempting to rape a female doctor helping survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Irrawaddy division.

The incident took place on 5 September at around 10.30pm on a touring medical ship, the Widuya, which was docked in Laputta, according to local residents who did not want to be named.

The Widuya was carrying 30 medical staff, including divisional doctors and specialists, who have been touring Irrawaddy division over the past few months treating patients.

When the ship stopped at Laputta for the night, captain Kyaw San Win of the logistics corps, boarded and went into the cabin of a female doctor, a 40-year-old paediatrician, on the pretext of checking her guest registration.

When he refused to leave, the doctor shouted for help and other doctors and medical staff nearby came to her rescue.

They tried to detain the officer but he managed to escape. He was thought to be drunk at the time.

Ten minutes later, Kyaw San Win came back with about a dozen of his soldiers, shouting abuse and threatening to shoot and sink the ship.

The doctors informed the local township authorities who took him away.

Kyaw San Win is now being detained at an army camp and is being questioned by military officials from Einmeh Strategic Command.

He is to hear their verdict tomorrow on the case, which has aroused a great deal of local interest.

According to an unnamed local resident, the incident shocked many people who believed that instances of rape and sexual assault are confined to the border regions of Burma, where cases of ethnic minority women being raped by soldiers have been well documented.

A case involving a 15-year-old Kachin girl, who was gang raped and murdered by Burmese army troops in July, caused widespread outrage.

The resident said that people are now worried that these kinds of attacks are becoming more prevalent in the towns.

When DVB called Laputta police station for comment, township police sergeant Khin Htay denied that the incident had taken place.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw and Nan Kham Kaew

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Eight sentenced for political activities and media contact

Sep 12, 2008 (DVB)–Eight people who have been held in Thayet prison for about a year were sentenced yesterday for political activities and contact with foreign media, their family members said.

The eight were sentenced at 3pm yesterday by a court inside the prison.

NLD members U Myint Oo from Magwe, U Thar Cho from Yenangyaung and U Tun Tun Nyein from Chauk were each sentenced to two and a half years in prison, while U Htay Win from Natmauk was jailed for two years.

Myint Oo is secretary of Magwe township NLD.

Four Pakokku residents who had been arrested for speaking to foreign media were also sentenced yesterday – U Nayla, U Tha Aung and U Sein Lin to two years and U Thant Shin to nine.

Myint Oo’s wife Daw Sandar Win, also an NLD member, who is now living on the Thai-Burma border, said she had heard about the sentences.

“[People from] Pakokku, Yenangyaung, Chauk, Natmauk and Magwe were all sentenced today, we heard. I heard that my husband got two and a half years,” she said, speaking yesterday.

“The person who got the longest was U Thant Shin – I heard he got nine years.”

Sandar Win said she had hoped her husband would be released, but would continue to work for her country.

“We expected them to get longer than this – it has become a tradition that you get at least five years in connection with political activities,” Sandar Win said.

“We have already calculated that they are not likely to be released easily, but it is two and half years; he has already served a year and we hope that he will be released after another year,” she said.

“We are holding out for that.”

Reporting by Naw Noreen

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