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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar opposition wants review of constitution
AP - US criticizes Asian governments' religion record
AP - India signs agreement to help build 2 hydroelectric dams in northwestern Myanmar
AFP - One year after Myanmar protests, Suu Kyi faces junta alone
AFP - One year after protests, monks silenced in Myanmar
AFP - ILO calls on Myanmar to release forced labour activist
AFP - Myanmar to destroy Chinese baby formula: official
AFP - Myanmar and India sign hydro deal: report
AFP - China toxic milk sickens 53,000 as scare spreads
AFP - Americans concerned about loss of world standing: poll
Mainichi - UN envoy to Myanmar calls for more international pressure for release of political prisoners
HRW - Jolie-Pitt Foundation Gives $1m to Human Rights Watch
Xinhua - Myanmar-Bangladesh border trade expected to attain $10 mln in 2008-09
The Irrawaddy - Web Sites Back Online, but Fears of Further Attacks Remain
Mizzima News - Burmese women's group in exile concerned about Nilar Thein
DVB News - Local guards punished for questioning official
DVB News - Daw Suu’s appeal finalised
DVB News - Commentary: Burma’s collective action problem

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Myanmar opposition wants review of constitution
Monday September 22, 11:43 am ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- The party of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi urged Myanmar's ruling junta on Monday to set up a committee to review the military-backed constitution, saying it was ``approved by force'' in a referendum earlier this year.

The terms of the charter perpetuate the military's influence over politics and bar Suu Kyi from public office.

``The majority of the people do not accept the constitution which was illegally approved by force,'' said a statement by Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, charging that the authorities used coercion, intimidation, deception and misrepresentation to get voters' approval.

Myanmar's ruling military junta claimed the constitution received the approval of more than 92 percent of voters in May.

The party's statement said the government should set up a ``Constitution Review Committee'' of elected members of parliament from the 1990 general election, the military, ethnic representatives and constitutional experts.

It said the constitution was not written by elected representatives but ``unilaterally drawn up by the delegates hand-picked by the authorities. ''

Myanmar's generals had billed the referendum that led to the adoption of the constitution as an important step in their ``roadmap to democracy.'' It offered the first chance for voters to cast ballots since 1990. The country had been without a charter since the current junta seized power in 1988 and threw out the last constitution.

A general election was held in 1990, but the military refused to recognize the landslide victory of Suu Kyi's party. Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has spent more than 12 of the past 19 years in detention and is currently under house arrest in Yangon.

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US criticizes Asian governments' religion record
Friday September 19, 8:18 pm ET

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The U.S. State Department said Friday that China's repression of religious groups intensified during the last year, citing as evidence Beijing's crackdown on Tibetan Buddhists and its harassment of Christians and members of the Falun Gong spiritual group.

The department's annual International Religious Freedom report also condemned Myanmar's military-run government for restricting spiritual activities and abusing its citizens' rights. In North Korea, the report said, ``genuine religious freedom does not exist.''

Both China and Myanmar have been classified among ``Countries of Particular Concern'' since the first religious freedom report came out in 1999. North Korea was added to that category in 2001. The Asian states were among 198 countries and territories included in the 10th annual report.

The State Department said that after a violent Tibetan uprising against Chinese rule last March, authorities locked down monasteries, intensified `patriotic education' campaigns and detained an unknown number of monks and nuns or expelled them from monasteries. '' The government also was said to have increased its criticism of the Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader, after the protests.

President George W. Bush's ambassador for international religious freedom, John Hanford, told reporters that the Tibetan issue has been a prominent part of a resumed U.S.-Chinese human rights dialogue.

The United States, he said, objects to harsh treatment of Buddhists loyal to the Dalai Lama and urged China's government to stop appointing and training lamas, Buddhist holy men.

``The Communist Party of China forbids its members and leaders from having any religious belief, and so there's an irony in the fact that the Communist government and party takes upon itself the prerogative of choosing religious leaders, such as lamas,'' Hanford said.

There was ``little evidence,'' the report said, that China's 2005 regulations on religious affairs had improved the country's spiritual situation.

Applications by unregistered Protestant churches for registration were reported to have been rejected without cause, the State Department said, and ``underground' ' Roman Catholic bishops faced repression because of loyalty to the Vatican, ``which the government accused of interfering in China's internal affairs.''

Members of the Falun Gong, which China considers a cult, faced arrest, detention and imprisonment, and the State Department noted reports of death from torture.

The report praised China for allowing foreign and domestic religious groups to boost cooperation on religious education and charitable work.

In Myanmar, ``the government continued to infiltrate and monitor activities of virtually all organizations, including religious ones,'' the report said; Christians faced restrictions and Muslims suffered violence and close monitoring.

Vietnam was praised for improving its religious rights, although the report said serious problems remain.

On Friday, an Associated Press reporter in Vietnam was beaten by police who detained him while he covered a Catholic prayer vigil. State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said U.S. officials have protested the attack to Vietnam's government.

McCormack told reporters that the United States has made clear that it stands ``up for religious freedom, the ability of people, no matter what their faiths, to be able to practice that freely, whether it's in Vietnam or elsewhere around the world.''

Hanford said that, overall, the Vietnamese government is granting much more religious freedom than it has in the past.

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India signs agreement to help build 2 hydroelectric dams in northwestern Myanmar
Friday September 19, 3:35 pm ET

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- An Indian state enterprise has agreed to help build two hydroelectric dams in northwestern Myanmar, Myanmar state media reported Friday.

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper said that the country's Hydroelectric Power Department signed a memorandum of understanding with India's National Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd. to build the 1200-megawatt Htamanthi hydroelectric power project and the 600-megawatt Shwesaya project in northwestern Chin state. The agreement was signed Tuesday in the Myanmar capital of Naypyitaw, said the report, which provided no further details.

India is Myanmar's western neighbor, and competes for influence with China, the ruling junta's closest ally and diplomatic supporter.

India, the world's largest democracy, was a harsh critic of the junta in the immediate aftermath of its suppression of a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. But concern that China was gaining too much influence over Myanmar contributed to a diplomatic about-face, and relations have improved significantly since 2000, with the country's leaders exchanging visits.

The second-highest ranking member of Myanmar's junta, Vice Senior Gen. Maung Aye, visited India in April to witness the signing of a $120 million project to upgrade waterways and highways along Myanmar's Kaladan River and develop the port of Sittwe in western Myanmar.

During a visit to Myanmar by an India minister in June this year, India agreed to provide Myanmar with $84 million in loans and credits to build power transmission lines and an aluminum plant.

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One year after Myanmar protests, Suu Kyi faces junta alone
by Rene Slama
Sun Sep 21, 4:38 AM ET

BANGKOK (AFP) - One year after Myanmar's brutal crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks, the world remains divided on how to handle the regime, leaving democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi alone against the generals.

With the United Nations powerless to extract reforms from the military regime, the 63-year-old Nobel Peace Prize winner has used sometimes desperate measures to make her own silent protests heard.

Aung San Suu Kyi, confined to house arrest for most of the last 19 years, refused to meet UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari last month and began turning away her daily food deliveries until her thin body was so weakened that her doctor had to place her on a drip.

Just one year ago on September 22, Aung San Suu Kyi stepped out of her house, tearfully greeting Buddhist monks protesting against the military, which has ruled this poor nation since 1962.

In the days that followed, more than 100,000 people took to the streets until security forces launched a crackdown on September 26. The UN estimates 31 people were killed, 74 were missing, and thousands arrested.

Under global pressure, particularly from neighbouring China, the regime made a few concessions, notably appointing a liaison officer in October to coordinate contacts with Aung San Suu Kyi.

Just one month later, she made known her desire for higher-level talks, which never materialised.

UN efforts to launch a dialogue with her National League for Democracy (NLD) as well as ethnic leaders are now at a stalemate, while Myanmar currently holds more political prisoners -- over 2,000, according to Amnesty International -- than it did before the "Saffron Revolution."

"I don't think the military is prepared to work with Aung San Suu Kyi -- they see her as a threat, so they'd rather not cooperate with her," said Myanmar analyst Aung Naing Oo, an exile living in Thailand.

The international community remains divided on Myanmar, with Western nations tightening sanctions and issuing statements to express their outrage.

But China, Russia, India and other Asian countries refuse to confront the regime, in the name of "non-interference. "

"You have to wonder if the events in Tibet didn't force China to reconsider," one Western diplomat said, noting that Beijing is "much less inclined to exert pressure today on Myanmar."

India has taken a "pragmatic" approach, the diplomat said, since it has "everything to gain from good cooperation" -- not just access to Myanmar's increasingly important natural gas fields, but also help in combating insurgents on their common border.

And Russia's return to the global stage has allowed it to make clear that regarding Myanmar, "it's no longer the West that makes the law."

In May, junta leader Than Shwe, 75, didn't hesitate to push through a new constitution favorable to the military -- even as the nation was reeling from a cyclone that left more than 138,000 dead or missing and 2.4 million in need of aid.

Two long weeks passed before the junta agreed to a minimal level of cooperation with the UN and other aid agencies. Gambari's efforts to extend this humanitarian cooperation into the political arena have yielded no tangible results.

One year after the protests, the anger felt by much of the population has been replaced by resignation.

"The military is firmly in charge (and) the NLD doesn't have many cards to play," said John Virgoe, of the International Crisis Group.

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One year after protests, monks silenced in Myanmar
Sat Sep 20, 11:45 PM ET
by Moe Moe Yu

BANGKOK (AFP) - Even in the confines of Myanmar's notorious Insein prison, stripped of his robes and the rituals of his Buddhist monastery, Gambira's voice still resonates through the dark corridors.

The 28-year-old monk became famous one year ago for his broadcasts on shortwave radio, using his soft voice to deliver a powerful message: "Let's break down the wall of dictatorship. "

Thurain was among the more than 3,000 people arrested for answering Gambira's call to take to the streets against Myanmar's military regime.

He was released earlier this year, and told AFP that he saw Gambira and a dozen other monks inside the prison, where they recite prayers in their cells.

Gambira, like other monks who have been derobed and detained at the prison in the country's main city Yangon, is allowed only 15 minutes of exercise to walk outside of his eight-by-eight- foot cell.

Thurain had never seen him before, but he knew the voice right away.

"I knew his voice from the radio," said Thurain. "It's very soft. But his look is different -- he looks very strong and he's still young."

"I miss the voice of my young monk, especially this month," Thurain said.

The protests by Buddhist monks in September 2007 caught the military, and the world, by surprise.

The first march on August 19 was led by pro-democracy activists, gathering a few hundred people to protest an overnight hike in fuel prices that left many in this impoverished country unable to afford even bus fare.

That protest was quickly dispersed and its leaders arrested, but the spark was lit.

On September 5, hundreds of Buddhist monks in the religious centre of Pakokku protested to draw attention to the economic plight of the people.

Soldiers fired warning shots, but instead of fear, they were met with defiance. The monks took 20 security officials hostage in a monastery, in a standoff that lasted for hours.

They demanded an apology from the military, and greeted the regime's silence with new protests in cities around the country.

The first march in Yangon came on September 18, and met cheers from bystanders who thronged the streets to watch.

Emboldened by the public support, four days later the monks marched to the home of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who defied the terms of her house arrest by tearfully greeting the crowd at her gates.

That iconic moment opened the floodgates, and by September 25 more than 100,000 people were following the monks through the streets of Yangon.

When the military finally decided to crack down the next day, they opened fire on crowds -- beating monks in the street during the day and raiding their monasteries at night.

A Japanese journalist was shot dead at point-blank range on September 27 as security forces stormed the streets.

The nation's revered monks fled their monasteries, and most still remain empty one year later.

"At first we thought that soldiers in a Buddhist country wouldn't hurt us, but that wasn't true. They beat us, they shot us. They harassed us just like everyone else," said Sarsana, a monk in his 40s who joined the protests.

As the anniversary of the crackdown nears, security has again tightened around Yangon.

After dark, soldiers seal off entire streets to practice crowd control techniques. In Sarsana's neighbourhood, which is home to more than 40 monasteries, the roads are closed every night.

"Soldiers come with two military trucks and patrol the area from 9:00 pm. It's like we are living under monastery arrest," he told AFP.

"Politics is not our priority. We can't rule the country, but we want to stand up for the many people who are living in fear, to stand up for our hope that the country will change," Sarsana said.

Now there is little sign of any renewed protest against the military, which has ruled since 1962. The junta's crackdown, which left at least 31 dead and 74 dead according to the United Nations, has left the nation shrouded in fear.

Sarsana watches international TV news through an illegal satellite dish, looking for any sign of movement in Myanmar.

"We don't know what will come after the monks' protest, but we are still keeping that spirit in mind," he said.

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ILO calls on Myanmar to release forced labour activist
Fri Sep 19, 11:23 AM ET

GENEVA (AFP) - The International Labour Organisation on Friday called for the immediate release of a Myanmar trade unionist who is prominent in the fight against forced labour in the reclusive dictatorship.

"The ILO is concerned and disappointed at the recent sentencing to two years hard labour of U Thet Way, a Myanmar labour activist," the Geneva-based body said in a statement.

"The ILO requests the government of Myanmar to urgently review the sentence and immediately release U Thet Way," it added.

U Thet Way has been active in lodging complaints on behalf of victims of forced labour in Myanmar, including underage recruitment to the army, many of which have been successfully resolved, the ILO said.

He was sentenced on a charge of "obstructing an official," and while this is not explicitly linked to his ILO-related activities, his case can still be seen as "further harassment against people who wish to complain" about forced labour in the country, ILO official Kari Tapiola told AFP.

The ILO has long campaigned against forced labour in Myanmar and has signed an accord with the secretive military junta whereby people claiming to be victims can file complaints to the organisation' s office in the main city of Rangon.

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Myanmar to destroy Chinese baby formula: official
Sat Sep 20, 4:45 AM ET

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar will seize and destroy imported Chinese baby formula to safeguard against poisoning by the toxic chemical melamine, a senior health ministry official told AFP Saturday.

The health ministry said tracking down baby formula imported from neighbouring China was a priority and authorities have told child medical specialists to be alert for symptoms of poisoning.

"We are now planning to destroy imported baby milk formula from China. We are also recalling products in the markets," said deputy director general Kyaw Nyunt Sein.

He said authorities were also working to seize baby formula smuggled from China, and planned to issue a warning about affected brands.

Chinese products are widely used in military-ruled Myanmar, which is under trade embargoes from numerous Western countries demanding democratic reform.

China said this week that milk powder contaminated with melamine, which is used in plastics, had made at least 6,200 babies ill nationwide and killed four over a period of many months.

Stores in mainland China and Hong Kong this week pulled hundreds of products from their shelves as the full extent of the contamination began to emerge, and Singapore and Malaysia suspended imports of Chinese milk and milk products.

Yili, Mengniu and Guangming -- big brands consumed and trusted by hundreds of millions of Chinese -- were affected by the recall after authorities checked their products and found traces of melamine.

Melamine added to milk and other food products gives the appearance of higher protein levels.

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Myanmar and India sign hydro deal: report
Fri Sep 19, 3:30 AM ET

YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar has signed an agreement with neighbouring India to build two hydro electricity projects in the northwest of the country, state media reported Friday.

Myanmar's Hydroelectric Power Department and India's Hydroelectric Power Corporation Ltd signed the agreement for the construction in Chin state, which borders India, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper reported.

The paper said the agreement called for the building of a 1200-megawatt dam in Htamanthi and a 600-megawatt dam in Shwesayay.

The deal was reportedly signed Tuesday in the reclusive nation's administrative capital Naypyidaw during a ceremony attened by minister for electric power Zaw Min and Indian Ambassador Bhaskar Kumar Mitra.

Myanmar and India share a 1,300-kilometre (800-mile) border, and the hydro deal is the latest move signalling expanding ties between the two counties.

India was until the mid-1990s a supporter of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi but it has since cultivated ties with the ruling junta as it sees Myanmar as a key source of energy to power its fast economic growth.

India was one of the first countries to rush aid to Myanmar after Cyclone Nargis hit on May 2-3, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing.

Over the past few years New Delhi has pledged hundreds of millions of dollars to Myanmar despite increasing international calls for the military government to introduce democracy.

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China toxic milk sickens 53,000 as scare spreads
Mon Sep 22, 11:29 AM ET
by Dan Martin

BEIJING (AFP) - China's tainted milk scandal spiralled into uncharted territory Monday with the government announcing that up to 53,000 children had been sickened and its top product-quality inspector sacked.

In a dramatic update of previous figures, the health ministry said a total of 52,857 children were taken to hospital after drinking milk thought to have been contaminated by the industrial chemical melamine.

Most had "basically recovered" after developing kidney stones, the main symptom of drinking the tainted milk, but 12,892 of them remained in hospital, a health ministry official told AFP.

Meanwhile, the head of China's product-quality agency, Li Changjiang, stepped down under pressure Monday, becoming the highest-level leader to be embroiled in the scandal that has left China's dairy industry reeling.

Li had overseen the ministry-level product-quality agency during a wave of scandals that have tarnished China's manufacturing reputation.

Also sacked was Wu Xianguo, the top official of Shijiazhuang city, where tainted milk powder first surfaced in the Sanlu brand headquartered in the city, the Xinhua news agency said.

Eighteen people have been arrested, including the head of the Sanlu Group, while dozens have been detained for questioning, state media have said.

More than 80 percent of affected children are aged under two, the Chinese health ministry said.

The melamine scandal came to light two weeks ago in state-controlled media, but some press reports say the scam had been going on for years.

Sanlu began to receive consumer complaints beginning in 2007, according to official investigations released on Monday, Xinhua reported.

Despite a test in June determining that its products were contaminated with melamine, normally used in making plastics, the firm withheld the information from local government until August 2, Xinhua added.

Up to four infants have died in the scandal, which prompted countries to ban or limit Chinese dairy imports.

Joining a clutch of other countries, Taiwan said it was banning all Chinese milk products with immediate notice, as well as non-dairy products after melamine was found in an imported Chinese non-dairy creamer.

"There is no timeframe for the ban," said Wang Chih-chao, an official with the Department of Health.

Meanwhile retailers in Hong Kong said they were pulling more milk products off their shelves after samples tested positive for melamine.

Melamine was first found in infant milk formula in Chinese markets but has since been detected in a range of products with dairy ingredients both in China and abroad.

The discovery has led to mass recalls and a Chinese government campaign to tighten quality inspections across the dairy sector.

Three children have died and 104 are still in serious condition, the health ministry said, with symptoms including kidney stones.

A fourth child was also reported dead by authorities in Xinjiang province but has not been added to the national figure.

The scandal stems from the practice of adding melamine to watered-down milk to give it the appearance of higher protein levels.

A host of countries -- Bangladesh, Brunei, Burundi, Japan, Gabon, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore and Tanzania -- have barred Chinese milk products or taken some other form of action to curb consumption.

Hong Kong's government said a three-year-old girl developed a kidney stone after drinking the tainted milk -- believed to be the first such case outside mainland China.
The girl has since left hospital and is in good condition, it added.

The Centre for Food Safety, a Hong Kong government body, said it had found melamine in a Nestle Dairy Farm pure milk sample from northeastern China.

Swiss food giant Nestle said it was "confident" its products in China were safe and that none had been adulterated with melamine.

Singapore has also found melamine in a Chinese-made milk candy, officials there said, while across China, supermarkets and shops have been pulling milk and a wide range of other dairy products off their shelves.

Shigeru Omi, Western Pacific director for the UN World Health Organization, raised concerns the health risks were not reported earlier by China.

China has been hit by a wave of embarrassing scandals in recent years over dangerous products including food, drugs and toys, spoiling its manufacturing reputation.

Melamine was found in pet food containing Chinese ingredients that killed cats and dogs in the United States last year.

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Americans concerned about loss of world standing: poll
Sun Sep 21, 8:26 PM ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Foreign policy could play a big role in November's presidential election according to a new poll that suggests 83 percent of Americans are most concerned about improving the nation's standing in the world.

The Chicago Council on Global Affairs poll also showed majority support for Washington to take a new tack in foreign policy by talking to enemies like the leaders of Cuba, North Korea, Iran, Myanmar (Burma), Hamas and Hezbollah.

Such a stand appeared closer to that of Democratic candidate Barack Obama than that of his Republican rival John McCain.

Bipartisan concern about America's standing in the world topped the list of 14 goals presented in the survey to be officially released on Monday, even higher than protecting the jobs of US workers (80 percent).

The survey was conducted in July, before the collapse of investment giant Lehman Brothers, the unprecedented government rescue of insurer American International Group and the seizure of mortgage-finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac sparked market panic.

Eighty-three percent of Americans -- including 81 percent of Republicans and 88 percent of Democrats -- think that improving their nation's standing internationally should be a "very important" foreign policy goal, the poll said.

The survey asked respondents to comment on whether they thought their government's ability to achieve its goals abroad had increased, decreased or remained the same.

"Fifty-three percent say that is has decreased, while only 10 percent say it has increased. Thirty-six percent say it has stayed about the same," according to the Chicago Council survey.

Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say it had stayed the same.

But such concerns were not breeding new isolationism, it added. Americans remained strongly committed to have Washington retain an active role in world affairs and maintain its global military presence.

A majority of Americans also backed US government talks with leaders of unfriendly governments and groups listed by the US and other governments as terrorists.

It listed the "percentage who say US government leaders should or should not be ready to meet and talk with leaders of countries and groups with whom the US has hostile or unfriendly relations."

For Cuba, 70 percent say they should be ready versus 25 percent who say they should not; for North Korea, 68 percent versus 28 percent; for Iran, 65 percent versus 30 percent; for Myanmar, 63 percent versus 30 percent; for Zimbabwe, 61 percent versus 34 percent; for the Palestinian movement Hamas, 53 percent versus 41 percent; for the Lebanese Hezbollah, 51 percent versus 43 percent.

The survey also found that Americans considered it "very important" to secure adequate supplies of energy (80 percent), prevent the spread of nuclear weapons (73 percent), combat international terrorism (67 percent), control and reduce illegal immigration (61 percent), maintain superior military power worldwide (57 percent).

A vast majority of the remaining respondents considered the same goals to be "somewhat important," while between two percent (US standing in the world) and eight percent (controlling immigration) considered them "not important."

If responses are combined for "very important" or "somewhat important" in three categories, some 91 percent ticked combating world hunger, 82 percent marked limiting climate change, and 79 percent flagged strengthening the United Nations.

Respondents were pretty much evenly split in those three categories.

Americans either considered it "somewhat important" or "very important" to promote international trade, promote and defend human rights in other countries, protect weaker nations against foreign aggression, and help bring a form of democratic government to other nations.

Conducted by Knowledge Networks from Menlo Park California, the survey was carried out between July 3 and July 15 with a total sample of 1,505 American adults. The margin of error is between plus or minus 3.7 percent and plus or minus 2.5 percent.

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UN envoy to Myanmar calls for more international pressure for release of political prisoners
Mainichi Japan -  September 22, 2008

NEW YORK --The U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Ibrahim Gambari expressed his disappointment on Thursday in the Myanmar authorities' slow reaction to international demands for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners, and called on its neighbors to use their influence on the country's junta.

Gambari also said he does not support the nation's scheduled election in 2010, but rather "a serious dialogue" to make the election free and fair.

"All those who have influence on the authorities of Myanmar, including neighboring countries, including ASEAN, we are calling on them to use it to encourage the authorities to release political prisoners and Aung San Suu Kyi," said Gambari during an interview with The Mainichi Shimbun, adding that he is "disappointed" with the response of the Myanmar government.

"It is our sincere hope that the government of Myanmar will listen to the voices of the international community. As long as political prisoners including Suu Kyi are not released, it will continue to be a problem for the regime and it will draw back progress towards democratization. "

During his last visit to Myanmar in August, Gambari failed to meet either Suu Kyi or the government's military leader Senior General Than Shwe. Suu Kyi's cancellation of the meeting especially raised questions about her intentions.

"She has always insisted that the U.N. must be part of the promotion of a dialogue between Aung and the government," the envoy said. "Not seeing me was a little bit of a surprise. I have seen her on seven occasions. When I visit Myanmar the next time, I hope I will be able to see her, because she is an indispensable part of our mediation effort."

Gambari said "the most credible speculation" on why Suu Kyi did not meet him is that she is frustrated with the pace of change in Myanmar and her continued detention by the authorites. Suu Kyi has been detained by the military government for 12 of the past 18 years since her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won a general election in 1990.

After the envoy's visit to the country, the NLD issued a statement complaining about the lack of results from Gambari's missions. The statement also accused him of offering the U.N.'s assistance to the military government for its 2010 election plan.

"I didn't support [the election]. I support the process leading to the possible election," said Gambari. "We believe that between now and 2010, there should be a serious discussion between the government and Aung San Suu Kyi and her party to ensure the credibility of the process. And there is still time. Our objective is not to support a particular outcome of the election, but to ensure the process is credible and free and fair," said Gambari.

"The government should not play games with their own people, because people are about their future. We are only there to help. We will continue to be available for serious efforts."

The current military regime took control over the country in 1988, despite mass pro-democracy protests. The junta held a general election in 1990 and lost to Suu Kyi's party, but refused to hand over power.

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Jolie-Pitt Foundation Gives $1m to Human Rights Watch
Human Rights,Sun 21 Sep 2008

(New York, September 22, 2008) – Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt will give $1 million to fund Human Rights Watch’s work in Burma and Zimbabwe, Human Rights Watch said today.

Their generous gift will allow Human Rights Watch, which accepts no government funding, to continue documenting and exposing horrifying abuses in both countries to bring pressure for change.

Burma and Zimbabwe are two of the most repressive countries in the world and we need to increase international pressure on them to change.

Brad and Angelina’s investment in our work at this critical moment will allow intensified efforts by our researchers to expose the repression that these governments try to keep hidden and by our advocates to generate the global pressure needed to improve people’s lives.

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Myanmar-Bangladesh border trade expected to attain $10 mln in 2008-09
www.chinaview. cn  2008-09-21 13:39:35

YANGON, Sept. 21 (Xinhua) -- The border trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh at Maungtaw trade point is expected to reach 10 million U.S. dollars in the present fiscal year 2008-09, according to Sunday's local news journal Flower News.

In 2007-08, it registered over 8 million dollars' transaction at the Maungtaw border trade point in western Rakhine state mainly with marine products.

Maungtaw remains one of the two border trade points between Myanmar and Bangladesh. The other is Sittway.

Official statistics show that Myanmar exported 23,000 tons of marine products to Bangladesh annually, standing as Bangladesh's fifth largest marine products importing country out of 30.

Currently, Myanmar and Bangladesh are engaged more in border trade than normal trade. Besides marine products, Myanmar's exports to Bangladesh also cover beans and pulses and kitchen crops, while its imports from Bangladesh include pharmaceuticals, ceramic, cotton fabric, raw jute, kitchenware and cosmetic.

Myanmar and Bangladesh formally opened border trade in 1994.

According to the figures of the Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade between Myanmar and Bangladesh stood over 60 million U.S. dollars annually with the balance of trade favoring Myanmar.

The two countries are striving to increase their bilateral trade to 100 million dollars, the sources said.

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Web Sites Back Online, but Fears of Further Attacks Remain
The Irrawaddy - By MIN LWIN
Monday, September 22, 2008

The online version of The Irrawaddy and other Web sites run by Burmese exiles are back in operation after being hit last Tuesday by “distributed denial-of-service,” or DDoS, attacks that jammed the sites with fake traffic.

Attacks on the Irrawaddy Web site stopped on Friday evening, according to office manager Win Thu, who supervised efforts to restore service. A mirror site, www.irrawaddymedia. com, has been available since Saturday evening, and the main site, www.irrawaddy. org, went back online on Monday. He added that additional mirror sites would be created as a measure to deal with any future attacks.

“I am not sure if another attack will hit our site or not,” he said. “If the Burmese military government has well-trained computer technicians, the exiled media may be targeted again, because it doesn’t cost very much to carry out such attacks.”

At least two other exiled media Web sites were affected by last week’s attacks. The Oslo-based Democratic Voice of Burma and Khit Pyaing (The New Era Journal), based in Bangkok, have both been restored to full service.

This is the second time that The Irrawaddy’s Web site has been hit by a cyber attack since it was established in 2000.

The first time occurred almost exactly one year ago, when a Trojan virus infected the site at the height of monk-led protests against military rule in Burma in September 2007.
The Irrawaddy Web site reported extensively on the demonstrations and posted numerous images and videos provided by so-called “citizen journalists” inside the country.

Like last year’s attack, the latest attempt to shut down exiled media Web sites was accompanied by a slowdown of Internet service inside Burma.

According to Internet café owners and users in Rangoon, Internet speeds have slowed down considerably since last week, making it impossible to upload large files such as photos or videos. There were also reports of connections stopping and restarting every ten minutes or so on Friday and Saturday.

Sources in Rangoon have also reported increased surveillance of Internet cafes. The owner of one Internet café in downtown Rangoon said that local authorities and police intelligence officers had issued orders to provide Internet users’ ID information.

“The authorities ordered us to register user ID numbers, addresses and phone numbers,” he said.

Internet cafes are also required to send each user’s Web history to the state-run Internet service provider (ISP) Myanmar Info-tech every two weeks. They are also instructed to automatically capture screenshots showing users’ online activities every five minutes.

Despite the tightening of restrictions on access to the Internet, the Burmese regime has recently moved to expand Internet service in the country.

Hanthawaddy National Gateway, Burma’s newest ISP, was launched in July and is expected to become the largest in the country, according to a senior member of the Myanmar Computer Professionals Association.

The new ISP will provide access to subscribers in every state and division except Rangoon Division, but at present is only available to military officials, he added.

Hanthawaddy National Gateway received technical assistance from Alcatel Shanghai Bell Company, which is represented in Burma by Tay Za, one of the country’s wealthiest businessmen and a close associate of senior leaders of the ruling junta.

The source said that Hanthawaddy National Gateway is to be linked to the Yadanabon teleport in Mandalay and also to a regional ISP in Hong Kong.

Burma currently has three ISPs—the state-run Myanmar Posts and Telecommunications (MPT), which operates Myanmar Info-tech; the semi-government- owned Myanmar Teleport (formerly Bagan Net); and Hanthawaddy National Gateway.

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Burmese women's group in exile concerned about Nilar Thein  
Mizzima News - Solomon  
Monday, 22 September 2008 22:24

New Delhi - A coalition of Burmese women's group in exile - Women's League of Burma - on Sunday expressed concern over the safety of fellow woman activist, Nilar Thein, who has been arrested and detained by the ruling junta.

The WLB, in a statement, said Nilar Thein, mother of a one year-old daughter, "is at risk of torture and ill-treatment" by the military, which continues to detain her after arresting her on September 10.

Family members of Nilar Thein said they are still unaware of her whereabouts and expressed concern for her and her parentless baby girl.

Nilar Thein, a member of the 88 generation student group, who played a key role in leading last year's Saffron Revolution, was in hiding since the junta began cracking down on protesters in September last year.

"We are worried about her, she may be facing torture because of her underground activities while she was hiding," General Secretary of WLB Nang Yain said.

While in hiding, Nang Yain said, Nilar Thein had written a petition to the United Nations Security Council to intervene in Burma's political crisis and urged them to take a stronger stand against Burma's ruling junta.

"We don't know where exactly she is being detained and that is worrying us. We are still unable to get any information about her," Nang Yain added.

WLB also called on Human rights groups and the international community to send an envoy to Burma to review the situation of women political prisoners.

"We urge international human rights groups or any organizations that can report on the situation of women political prisoners in Burma to visit the country and examine the circumstances, " she added.

Czech Republic's Homo Homini award winner Nilar Thein was arrested on September 10 while visiting the mother of a fellow activist Ant Bwe Kyaw, who is also on the run from the junta.

Nilar Thein, who left her four month old baby with her parents when she went into hiding last year September, had earlier been imprisoned twice for her political activities. She was arrested and detained for a brief two months in 1991 and later detained for nine years from 1996 to 2005.

Her husband and fellow activist, Kyaw Min Yu (alias) Jimmy, was arrested along with 12 of his 88 generation student colleagues including prominent student leader Min Ko Naing on August 21, 2007.

Min Ko Naing and his 12 colleagues on August 19, 2007 staged a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with poor people, who were hard-hit by the government's unannounced fuel price hike.

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Local guards punished for questioning official

Sep 22, 2008 (DVB)–A resident of Myitkyina said a local ward Peace and Development Council member and three locals were slapped and forced to do squats by an official after they questioned him while on guard duty.

At around midnight on 19 September in Jarmaikung ward, a ward PDC secretary and three local men were on night guard duty at the fire station, which shares a building with the ward PDC office.

A Jarmaikung resident said the men spotted a stranger passing by and started questioning him.

"The people on night guard duty questioned the stranger, as they had been ordered,” the local said.

“He happened to be an official from the Military Affairs Security who was passing through the ward," he explained.

"They let him go after questioning him, but he came back later in a truck and took the people who had questioned him to the intelligence office," he went on.

"When they got there, the MAS official, without saying a word to them, slapped the ward PDC secretary and the ward locals, and then ordered them to do squats."

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

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Daw Suu’s appeal finalised

Sep 22, 2008 (DVB)–Detained National League for Democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s appeal against her house arrest is to be submitted to Naypyidaw early this week, the NLD information wing said.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has had several meetings with her lawyer, U Kyi Win, in recent weeks to finalise the details of the appeal.

NLD spokesperson U Nyan Win said this was the first appeal for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi during the more than five years of her current term of house arrest.

“There are a lot of reasons why Daw Suu’s house arrest is not according to the law,” Nyan Win said.

“The appeal states that the extension of house arrest and also the order to put her under house arrest in the first place did not have legal grounds,” he said.

“If everything is dealt with according to the law, then Daw Suu should be released.”

Lawyer U Hla Myo Myint, assistant to U Kyi Win, will be travelling to Naypyidaw to submit the appeal directly to ministers.

U Kyi Win could not be reached for comment.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

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Commentary: Burma’s collective action problem
Gemma Dursley

Sep 22, 2008 (DVB)–In order to understand the problem of collective action in Burma, imagine the following scenario: citizens in a town of around 100,000 wish to convert a patch of waste ground into a public park.

Costing about $500,000, it’s too much for any individual to pay, but a bright spark comes up with a solution: everyone should contribute a little money, say $5 each, and eventually the total will be reached.

I quite like parks, enjoy a picnic now and then and consider contributing. However, I know that my $5 will make almost no difference to the park’s provision. I also understand that if everybody else contributes, the park will be provided whether I contribute or not. And if no others contribute, my $5 will again make no difference – the park will remain a dream.

If, like most people, I prefer having more money rather than less, then it would therefore be irrational for me to give $5 and rational to hold on to it. In the meantime I’ll just hope everybody else contributes, and enjoy the park and my picnics on the back of their efforts.

Of course, if everyone thinks as rationally as I do, there will be no park. This problem is analogous to that which faces the Burmese pro-democracy movement. Like the park, democracy and human rights are public goods, things everybody can enjoy. This inclusiveness is inspiring, but it is also problematic – if I haven’t contributed to the struggle, I can still benefit from democracy and human rights.

And, like the $5 contribution towards $500,000, my individual participation in pro-democracy activity is almost meaningless. Working for democracy will surely cost me time and the other things I could have done instead of going out onto the streets, but with almost 2100 political prisoners languishing in Burmese prisons, I stand to lose a lot more than just this – the potential costs of rebellion are very high indeed.

It is therefore rational for me, and you, to wait for others to contribute and to ‘free ride’ on their efforts. The net result? Nothing changes. No park, no democracy.

Political scientists call this ‘the problem of collective action’ and it is one which all social movements face. Some succeed in mobilising people to work for a public good and even succeed in attaining their ultimate objective. Most, however, fail.

Grievances and zealots

Whilst this problem seems obvious and fundamental, it is often forgotten. With most Burmese people living in the shadow of extreme poverty and systematic human rights abuses, seasoned Burma-watchers are often surprised at how much the people can endure. What will it take to see people rise up and refuse to be bullied into poverty?

A similar idea is prevalent in much Marxist thought: when the grievances of a group of people are intense enough, revolution is only a moment away. As Bob Dylan sang, when you got nothing, you got nothing to lose. Yet, alone, this is obviously false. Grievances and frustration towards states is commonplace throughout the world, yet large-scale protests are rare events, revolutions rarer still.

Thinking in terms of the collective action problem helps us understand this. If we lump people together in a group – ‘disadvantaged Burmese’, say – we can see that the group would be far better off if it rebelled. But it is individual persons who join groups and rebel, and unless the benefits of participation outweigh the costs, they are unlikely to contribute. Even impoverished, abused individuals have something to lose, leading a careful observer to wonder there was more to last year’s protests than just economic conditions.

Undoubtedly, there are individuals within the opposition, many now imprisoned, brave enough to shoulder a disproportionate burden of the costs of collective action. Across the world, movements have their own Daw Suu Kyi and their entrepreneurial zealots on the ground, but alone or as a small group these brave – and uncommon – people are almost powerless. Indeed, their primary task is to overcome the problem of collective action, mobilising ordinary citizens and persuading them to join up.

Pro-junta militia and collective action

In fact, it is not only movements which face a collective action problem but also states, elites, and their agents.

Although there are many within the SPDC, Union Solidarity and Development Association and the business community in Burma who benefit materially from the crushing of the pro-democracy movement, it is rational for these individuals not to spend time and forgo income participating in repression activities, but instead to free ride on the contributions of others who do this. How, then, has the SPDC managed to convince people to join in its programme of tyranny?

Particularly pertinent for the pro-democracy movement are the combined repressive activities of the Swan Arr Shin and USDA – the pro-junta militia. Talking about them as a group, however, makes us forget that they are a collection of rational individuals. How has the junta managed to mobilise thousands to take part in USDA and Swan Arr Shin operations? At many events, activists are outnumbered by these people and other state agents. How can this situation be reversed? How, in other words, has the SPDC solved its collective action problem, while the opposition has failed to solve theirs?

With so much emotion surrounding the courage and spirit of the pro-democracy movement and the rightness of the cause, it isn’t easy to start thinking in such dispassionate terms as ‘rationality’ and ‘individual costs and benefits’. However, it is because the SPDC has done exactly this that it has managed to solve its collective action problem; this is something the opposition must face if it is to be victorious.

Unless the pro-democracy movement examines ways to overcome the irrationality of participation in pro-democracy activities and faces the fact that it can, at present, be rational for people to join pro-militia groups, it will not be able to combat the forces of violence ranged against it.

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