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HEADLINES
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AP - Sole Myanmar protester demands activists' release
AP - Key UN committee targets rights abusers
AFP - Myanmar calls for 'duty' to democracy after jailing 150 protesters
AFP - US diplomat to discuss Myanmar on Asia tour
Asian Tribune - Aung San Suu Kyi made honorary member of the Club of Madrid
TopNews - Myanmar opposition calls for amnesty on national day
Monsters and Critics - Myanmar tycoon gets 15 years for drug trafficking
Xinhua - Myanmar salvages 32 sunk vessels during storm
Xinhua - Myanmar, India to cement economic and trade ties
IANS - India, Myanmar to expand security cooperation
Energy Bangla - Myanmar Explorations and Sovereign Rights of Bangladesh
The Earth Times - China sentences two Taiwan drug dealers to death
The Washington Post - The Freedom Challenge
Scoop - Burma’s Generals Continued their Ruthless Campaign
Opednews - A Wanted Man in Burma
ALB Legal News  - Myanmar lawyers' convictions criticised
Mizzima News - Another changing of the guards for Burma's junta
Mizzima News - Imprisonment of two Burmese lawyers 'arbitrary': rights group
The Irrawaddy - WFP to Open Food-for-Work Project in Delta

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Sole Myanmar protester demands activists' release
AP - Saturday, November 22

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A lone demonstrator staged a silent protest in front of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's party headquarters Saturday demanding the military government free all student activists as the country celebrated its National Day.

The holiday commemorates a boycott by Yangon University students 88 years ago in defiance of British colonial rule, a protest that inspired Myanmar's independence movement.

Although the government does not hold any public events to mark the day, Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy regularly celebrates with a party.

Before the celebration, party member Min Thein walked into the middle of the street in front of the party headquarters and stood silently with a placard reading, "Release Min Ko Naing and other political prisoners."

Min Ko Naing is a member of the 88 Generation Students group, which participated in a brutally suppressed 1988 democratic uprising. Along with many of his fellow former students he was sentenced to 65 years in prison this month for taking part in an Aug. 21, 2007, street protest against a massive fuel price hike by the government.

Plainclothes police took videos and photos of Min Thein's lone protest but did not arrest him during the minutes he stood silently.

"I am expressing my feelings and I am ready to face all consequences, " Min Thein told reporters after the protest.

The party marked the anniversary by calling for the release of all political prisoners, including student activists and Buddhist monks who were arrested during anti-government demonstrations in September last year.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi has spent more than 13 of the past 19 years under house arrest.

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Key UN committee targets rights abusers
AP - Saturday, November 22

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - A key U.N. committee has strongly criticized human rights abuses in Iran, Myanmar and North Korea.

Separate resolutions approved by the General Assembly's human rights committee Friday expressed serious concern at human rights violations ranging from attacks on peaceful demonstrators in Myanmar to public executions in North Korea and torture, flogging and amputations in Iran.

The resolutions now go to the 192-member General Assembly for final votes, expected next month. The resolutions are not legally binding but carry moral weight and reflect the majority view of world opinion.

``These resolutions put the spotlight on the three countries where there is very widespread abuse of human rigths,'' Britain's U.N. Ambassador John Sawers said. ``The growing support for these resolutions shows increasing levels of concern in the world about human rights as we move towards the 60th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights.''

Iran tried to block the committee from taking up the draft resolution criticizing its rights record, but lost by 10 votes, a margin the United States called a major victory. The committee then approved the resolution expressing ``deep concern at serious human rights violations'' by a vote of 70 to 51 with 60 abstentions.

The resolution strongly condemning ``the ongoing systematic violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights'' in Myanmar was approved by a vote of 89 to 29 with 63 abstentions.

It expressed ``grave concern'' at the continuing practice of enforced disappearances, sexual violence including rape, the extension of the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, ``as well as the high and increasing number of political prisoners.''

The resolution expressing ``very serious concern'' at rights violations in North Korea got the highest vote, winning approval by 95 to 24 with 62 abstentions. It criticized the treatment of refugees and asylum seekers, the ``all-pervasive and severe restrictions' ' on freedom of thought and religion, and violations of workers' rights.

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Myanmar calls for 'duty' to democracy after jailing 150 protesters
Sat Nov 22, 7:13 am ET

YANGON (AFP) - The head of Myanmar's military junta called Saturday for all citizens to back a controversial "road map" to democracy, a day after the regime sentenced the country's top comedian to 45 years in jail.

Writing in an article on the front page of the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper, Senior General Than Shwe said it was every citizen's national duty to support the political process.

"The state's seven-step road map is being implemented to build a peaceful, modern and developed new democratic nation with flourishing discipline," Than Shwe wrote on the eve of the country's national day.

"The entire population are duty-bound to actively participate with united spirit and national fervour in the drive to see the seven-step road map," the paper quoted him as saying.

The announcement came in a month when more than 150 activists have been given long jail terms by the military regime, according to opposition sources, in the wake of protests led by the nation's revered Buddhist monks last year.

At least 31 people were killed and 74 went missing in the brutal crackdown that followed the demonstrations, according to the United Nations.

On Friday, Myanmar's most famous comedian Zarganar was sentenced to 45 years for contravening the country's Electronic Act, which regulates electronic communications. The charges, however, were not tied to last year's protests.

A sports writer named Zaw Thet Htwe, was on the same day handed a 15-year jail term while Gambira, a Buddhist monk who led the protests against the regime in 2007, was given 68 years -- the longest sentence handed down so far.

They join 23 student activists, including Min Ko Naing, Ko Ko Gyi and Htay Kywe, handed terms of 65 years for their part in last year's protests which began sporadically against fuel-price hikes in August last year, but subsequently involved tens of thousands of people led by the monks.

Under the government's "road map" to democracy, Myanmar has adopted a new constitution after a widely criticised referendum held days after a cyclone ravaged large swathes of the country in early May, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing.

Authorities said the referendum, carried out without independent monitoring, had received support from 92.48 percent of voters.

The road map paves the way for elections in 2010 in a country that has been ruled by the military since 1962.

But the US, the EU and the United Nations have dismissed the lengthy proceedings as a sham due to the absence of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

The NLD won a landslide victory in 1990 elections but the junta did not allow them to take office.

The NLD said Friday the recent jailings decimated a new generation of political leaders.

About 150 NLD party members held a ceremony Saturday to mark the country's national day at its headquarters in Yangon amid tight security.

Plain clothes policemen and local militia surrounded the building, while the road to Aung San Suu Kyi's house had been closed with barbed wire since the morning, with increased numbers of police around her house, witnesses said.

Rights groups have accused the junta of trying to curb dissent ahead of the 2010 elections.

New York-based group Human Rights Watch (HRW) Saturday joined UN experts and the United States in condemning the sentences.

Brad Adams, the group's Asia director, using the former name of the country, said the jailing of the comedian Zarganar was "a cruel joke on the Burmese people".

"But it's a bigger joke on those abroad who still think ignoring repression in Burma will bring positive change," he said.

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US diplomat to discuss Myanmar on Asia tour
Sat Nov 22, 12:50 am ET

WASHINGTON (AFP) - A senior US diplomat will discuss human rights concerns in Myanmar during visits to Japan and Singapore in early December, State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Friday.

Scot Marciel, the deputy assistant secretary for the East Asia and Pacific Bureau, will "travel to Tokyo to consult with Japanese officials regarding human rights, democracy and other concerns in Burma," McCormack told reporters.

The United States refers to Myanmar as Burma, the name used before it was changed by the military junta. Marciel's visit to Japan will take place on December 1-2, McCormack said.

Marciel, who is also US ambassador for the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Affairs, will also visit Singapore from December 3-6 to discuss Myanmar and US-ASEAN cooperation with ASEAN member countries, he said.

The 10-member bloc includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

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Aung San Suu Kyi made honorary member of the Club of Madrid
Tue, 2008-11-25 03:24

United Nations, 25 November, (Asiantribune. com): The Club of Madrid has announced the incorporation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma’s devoted human rights leader and most noted prisoner of conscience, as Honorary Member. Ms. Suu Kyi joins four other Honorary Members —Kofi Annan, Former Secretary General of the United Nations; Jimmy Carter, Former President of the United States; Jacques Delors, Former President of the European Commission; and Honorary Co-Chair of the Club of Madrid and Former President of the United States, Bill Clinton— and 70 other former Presidents and Prime Ministers who are committed to advancing 'democracy that delivers' as active members of the Club of Madrid.

She becomes the fourth Nobel Peace Prize winner to be incorporated into the Club of Madrid after Annan, Carter, and Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland and winner of the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize.

Often referred to as the female Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi has inspired millions across the world as an advocate of nonviolent resistance in the face of brutal repression by the military junta that runs her native Burma.

Spending 13 of the last 18 years in prison or house arrest for her pro-democracy activism, Suu Kyi has come to represent the more than 1,850 known political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in her country. She is the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient.

In its press release, the Club of Madrid says that while under house arrest, Suu Kyi has become a beacon of hope and inspiration to those seeking a peaceful, democratic Burma. Suu Kyi led her political party —the National League for Democracy (NLD)— to win 82 percent of the seats in Parliament in the country’s last democratic election held in 1990. Despite the electoral victory, the military Junta of Burma annulled the results and kept Suu Kyi and the NLD from taking power.

"Were it not for this illegitimate action, this courageous advocate of human rights and democracy likely would have been the first Burmese democratic prime minister in decades," said Ricardo Lagos, former President of Chile and President of the Club of Madrid. "By making her an Honorary Member of the Club of Madrid, we are sending a strong signal to the Junta that the world does not—and will not—forget her."

Membership in the Club of Madrid is offered by invitation to democratic former presidents and prime ministers worldwide.

Honorary Members – usually also former heads of state or government – are appointed in recognition of their contribution and support of the ideals for which the Club of Madrid stands. The composition of the Members of the organization reflects a balance between those from consolidated democracies and those from transitional democracies. Selection also aims to achieve the broadest possible geographical, political, cultural and gender balance.

"Aung San Suu Kyi has appealed to the global community to take up the cause of her country, asking us to use our liberty to promote her people’s freedom," said Kjell Magne Bondevik, former Prime Minister of Norway and Member of the Board of Directors of the Club of Madrid. "We again call upon the Burmese regime to immediately and unconditionally release her and the close to 2000 political prisoners it holds as a first step toward Burma’s reintegration into the world community."

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Myanmar opposition calls for amnesty on national day
TopNews - by Mohit Joshi on Sat, 11/22/2008 - 10:01.

Yangon - Myanmar's opposition party Saturday called for the immediate release of thousands of political prisoners to mark Myanmar's 88th National Day, while the ruling junta called for unity in moving towards democracy with "flourishing discipline."

The National League for Democracy, Myanmar's main opposition group, demanded the release all political prisoners including Aung San Suu Kyi and student activists during celebrations at their headquarters in Yangon.

The party also demanded authorities allow all political parties which were dissolved in 1990 to re-register to contest the upcoming
2010 polls.

Hundreds of NLD supporters gathered in front of headquarters while plain-clothed state security agents monitored their movements from other side of the road.

Min Thein, a supporter joined with others by holding a white paper writing "release all political prisoners including Min Ko Naing," an activist who was recently sentenced to 65 years in jail.

The NLD also urged the junta to allow the reopening of its provincial branches which were shut down by authorities since the bloody

2003 Depeyin crackdown, which led to Suu Kyi's latest arrest and detention.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel peace laureate, has been under house arrest for the past five and a half years.

Myanmar's National Day marks the start of the country's indepdence movement, when students from Rangoon University boycotted studies to protest the British government's university law in 1920.

The country won independence from Britian in 1948, and has been under military rule since 1962, when General Ne Win overthrew the first post-independence elected prime minister U Nu, and launched the country along his disastrous "Burmese Way to Socialism."

At the military's capital of Naypyitaw, 350 kilometres north of Yangon, supreme leader Senior General Than Shwe marked the day with anti-colonial rhetoric and calls for unity to strive for democracy with "flourishing discipline" under military rule.

"Today, certain world powers are attempting to dominate other countries in various sectors by interfering in their internal affairs through the practice of neocolonialism, " the junta leader said in a speech.

"So, I would like to warn that you remain constantly vigilant against such threats in order to protect our country based on national awareness."

Noting that 92.48 per cent of voters had endorsed the new constitution in Myanmar's national referendum of May, the general urged people to help "build a peaceful, modern and developed new democratic nation with flourishing discipline."

The May referendum was dubbed a travesty by international observers, who said it was cynically pushed through by Than Shwe when millions of people where trying to recover from the devastation of Cyclone Nargis.

The storm smashed into Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on May 2-3, causing widespread devastation and killing as many as 140,000 people.

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Myanmar tycoon gets 15 years for drug trafficking
Monsters and Critics - Asia-Pacific News
Nov 24, 2008, 14:29 GMT

Yangon - Prominent business tycoon Maung Weik - known to be close to the head of Myanmar's junta - was sentenced to 15 years in prison on drug trafficking charges in a Yangon court last week, legal sources said Monday.

Weik, 35, who owns Mg Weik and Family Company - one of the country's largest real estate and trading firms - was arrested last May during a charity trip to the Irrawaddy Delta to help victims of cyclone Nargis.

Weik is known to have close ties to Senior General Than Shwe, who heads Myanmar's ruling junta.

He was charged with involvement in trading methamphetamine tablets, called 'ice' on the local market, with other six people including a Malaysian.

According to charges brought by the government in July, Weik had been buying ice tablets from Peter Too Huat Haw, a Malaysian, since 2003.

He consumed them himself and distributed them to others in his company at annual functions and birthday parties. His trial began on 10 June in a Yangon court.

Weik became a popular figure after donating 270 million kyat (about 40,000 dollars) to the Shwedagon Pagoda restoration work.

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Myanmar salvages 32 sunk vessels during storm
www.chinaview. cn  2008-11-23 11:49:36

YANGON, Nov. 23 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar has so far salvaged 32 vessels out of 40 sunk during a severe storm that struck Myanmar last May, the local weekly journal Flower News reported Sunday.

Further efforts are being made to do so on the remaining eight sunk vessels and it is expected that the salvage work will complete before the end of this year, the report said.

According to earlier local report, over 200 powered watercrafts which berthed at the Yangon Port, were totally spoiled by cyclone Nargis in addition to the sunk ones.

Reports also said the Myanmar authorities have carried out prompt repair of cyclone-ravaged jetties in Yangon to ensure speedy and normal flow in of commodities from other parts of the country.

Meanwhile, Myanmar is taking preventive measures to deal with vessels against probable comeback of cyclone strike, designating hide-out areas for the vessels berthing in the Yangon River to escape, aimed at minimizing the damage and loss if be the case once again in the future.

There are altogether 100 vessels owned by the department operating in the Yangon river and if such storm recurs, these vessels are to be moved to the disaster-safe areas, the Inland Water Transport Department said.

Deadly cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar's five divisions and states --Ayeyawaddy, Yangon, Bago, Mon and Kayin on last May 2 and 3, of which Ayeyawaddy and Yangon inflicted the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructure damage.

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

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Myanmar, India to cement economic and trade ties
www.chinaview. cn  2008-11-24 12:08:51
By Feng Yingqiu

YANGON, Nov. 24 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar and India held its 9th round of consultations between foreign offices of the two countries here Sunday, agreeing to cooperate in a wide range of areas of mutual interest and promptly implement the bilateral agreements inked during the April visit to India by Myanmar leader Vice Senior-General Maung Aye.

The Myanmar-India foreign office consultations took place between delegations respectively represented by deputy minister or foreign secretary of the two countries U Kyaw Thu and Shivshankar Menon, according to Monday's official newspaper New Light of Myanmar.

Shivshankar arrived here Saturday for the meeting over 7 months after the visit to New Delhi by Maung Aye, vice chairman of the State Peace and Development Council.

During Maung Aye's trip, three key documents were signed -- a framework agreement on the construction and operation of a multi-modal transit and transport facility on the Kaladan River connecting the Sittway Port in Myanmar with the Indian state of Mizoram; a memorandum of understanding on intelligence exchange to combat transitional crime including terrorism; and an agreement on avoidance of double taxation for investors from the two countries and prevention of fiscal evasion with respect to taxes on income.

The framework agreement includes upgrading of Sittway Port of Myanmar, improvement tasks for running of vessels along the route of Kaladan from Sittway Port to Sitpyitpyin and construction of roads from Sitpyitpyin to the border region.

Later in June this year, Myanmar and India reached four more economic cooperation agreements during a visit to Myanmar by Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Power Shri Jairam Ramesh.

These agreements, signed in Nay Pyi Taw, are on bilateral investment promotion, a 20-million-US- dollar credit line between the Exim Bank of India and the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank (MFTB) for financing the establishment of an aluminum conductor steel reinforced wire manufacturing facility, another 64-million-dollar credit line between the two banks for financing three 230-kilovolttransmi ssion lines in Myanmar and the one for providing banking arrangement between the MFTB, Myanmar Investment and Trade Bank and the United Bank of India.

Ramesh made a study trip to Sittway, coastal city of western Rakhine state, and looked into a project site of a planned multi-purpose transport on the Kaladan River.

Relations between Myanmar and India, which share a border of over 1,600 kilometers, have been growing during the past few years with cooperation in all sectors, particularly in those of trade and economy.

Myanmar official statistics show that Myanmar-India bilateral trade reached 995 million U.S. dollars in the fiscal year 2007-08 with Myanmar's exports to India accounting for 810 million U.S. dollars and its imports from India 185 million dollars.

India stands as Myanmar's 4th largest trading partner after Thailand, China and Singapore and also Myanmar's second largest export market after Thailand, absorbing 25 percent of its total exports.

The Myanmar compiled figures also show that India's contracted investment in Myanmar reached 219.57 million U.S. dollars as of January 2008, of which 137 million were drawn into the oil and gas sector in September last year.

In the latest development, Myanmar and India are deliberating to upgrade its border trade carried out at Reedkhoda (India) and Tamu-Moye (Myanmar) to normal trade.

It was touched upon at the 3rd meeting of Myanmar-India Joint Trade Committee held in Myanmar's second largest city of Mandalay during Indian Minister of State for Commerce and Power Jairam Ramesh's second visit to Myanmar in October this year.

The meeting also covered bilateral cooperation in banking services, extension of export items and promotion of trade between the two countries and bilateral cooperation in electric and energy sectors

Also during Ramesh's October visit, an India-Myanmar information technology (IT) center was opened in the former capital of Yangon which was described as an excellent one among many of the bilateral cooperation projects between the two countries.

With the help of the Indian government, the India-Myanmar Center for Enhancement of IT Skill will serve as a bridge to link the universities of computer studies and industries where technology is being employed practically and will train about 500 Myanmar experts twice a year in the field of ICT, applying modern technology in the sectors of education, health, and science and technology, the report said, adding that the project covers Yangonand Mandalay as the core and 10 other towns as branches.

The center would also have the capability to be utilized by the government of Myanmar as the center for disaster management and as the data center for making the data for various departmental functions such as census, taxation, birth and death registration, passport and national identity cards.

Through frequent exchange of visits at high level and efforts of the two countries, the economic and trade cooperation between Myanmar and India would be further enhanced, observers here said.

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India, Myanmar to expand security cooperation
November 24th, 2008 - 10:08 pm ICT

New Delhi, Nov 24 (IANS) India has urged Myanmar, a gas-rich southeast Asian country, to push the democratic process even as the two nations agreed to expand security cooperation to combat insurgent groups and arms smuggling.“Both countries stressed the need for greater vigilance at the border and agreed to enhance security cooperation to combat insurgent groups and arms smuggling,” the external affairs ministry said in a statement here Monday, after the two-day Foreign Office consultations between the two countries.

Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon held two-day talks with Myanmar’s Deputy Foreign Minister U. Kyaw Thu at Yangon that ended Sunday.

The talks covered a broad spectrum of bilateral issues, including security and border issues, trade and economic cooperation and cooperation in cross-border developmental projects, IT, energy, power and education and training.

They also reinforced the decisions taken at a joint trade committee held in October that included converting India-Myanmar border trade into normal trade, opening of a border trade point at Avakhung in Nagaland, and expanding the existing border trade items from 22 to 40. India has also announced the waiver of the ban on wheat export to Myanmar for 950 tonnes.

“Both sides expressed willingness to enter into an arrangement for long-term purchase of pulses from Myanmar,” the external affairs ministry said.

Under increasing international pressure to use its influence to persuade the junta rulers in Myanmar to pursue democratic reforms, the Indian side also pushed for expediting the process of national reconciliation in Myanmar, official sources said.

India is encouraging Myanmar to pursue political reforms according to the roadmap unveiled by the Myanmarese leadership years ago.

India’s energy ties with Myanmar are growing. The two countries recently signed an agreement on the development of Tamanthi and Shwezay hydropower projects on the Chindwin River in Myanmar.

Other energy projects include the renovation of the Tahtaychaung Hydropower Project, construction of transmission lines, replacement of transformers damaged during Cyclone Nargis, supply of biomass gasifiers and solar lamps.

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Myanmar Explorations and Sovereign Rights of Bangladesh
Energy Bangla - Sunday, 11.23.2008, 09:16pm (GMT)

DESPITE Bangladesh's constitution- bound commitment to international peace and co-operation, the recent efforts to set up drilling by a Korean company engaged by Myanmar government, in the disputed territorial water of the Bay of Bengal, have flagrantly violated its sovereign rights in its territorial waters. This article seeks to show how Myanmar's unilateral action to explore oil and gas in the disputed territorial water has violated the UN Charter and what actions should be taken to prevent the neighboring countries from taking such unilateral aggressive action in future to explore oil and gas in the territorial water of Bangladesh.

Early in November 2008, Myanmar started offshore oil and gas exploration activities in the disputed water of the Bay of Bengal, despite Bangladesh’s repeated protests. The disputed water, believed to hold huge reserves of natural gas, lies some 50 nautical miles off the Saint Martin's Island, is claimed by both Bangladesh and Myanmar . Media reports stated that four Korean drilling ships, escorted by two Myanmar naval ships, started exploration of oil and gas in the disputed water. Bangladesh also moved BNS Abu Bakar, BNS Madhumati and BNS Nirbhoy to the spot. The Commander of the Bangladesh Navy deployment reportedly engaged the Myanmar counterpart in dialogue. They were sent to the disputed Bay water to compel Myanmar to remove its structures and equipment for gas exploration from the area. The government of Bangladesh conveyed its deep concern to government of Myanmar through its Ambassador twice. The Foreign Secretary of Bangladesh flew to Yangon to persuade the Myanmar government to resolve the matter through discussion and defuse tension. Further bilateral talks have been held in Dhaka, besides discussions that Chief Adviser Dr. Fakhruddin Ahmed had with his Myanmar counterpart during the recent BIMSTEC summit in New Delhi . But no solution is yet in sight, and Myanmar is reportedly holding onto its earlier stand.

Last year also Myanmar engaged Indian companies to explore some offshore blocks in co-operation with India in Bangladesh waters. The two countries have been holding talks for years to demarcate their sea boundary in the Bay of Bengal . Bangladesh wanted a diplomatic solution to the latest dispute to avoid any confrontation. Thus, a technical team from Myanmar , headed by a deputy minister, arrived in Dhaka in mid-November to resume the sea boundary talks. Additional foreign secretary M A K Mahmood, who led the Bangladesh side at the maritime border delimitation talks in Dhaka , said, "We hope the problem can be resolved through dialogue." Meanwhile, the latest round of bilateral talks in Dhaka between the two sides have been inconclusive and the government of Myanmar remains yet inflexible on its earlier position.

Burma cannot unilaterally go ahead with the exploration in the disputed sea blocks. Bangladesh 's Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury said his government would do everything needed to protect Bangladesh 's sovereignty and rightful claims in the Bay of Bengal .

According to an agreement reached at maritime boundary talks earlier this year in Dhaka, Bangladesh and Myanmar expressed their commitment not to carry out oil and gas exploration until the two countries demarcated their sea boundary. Myanmar is under an obligation not to embark on any drilling in the disputed water of Bay of the Bengal and to resolve the boundary dispute through bilateral discussions as per the UN guidelines.

Myanmar’s unilateral action to go ahead with the exploration of gas and oil in the sea blocks, within the Bangladeshi territorial water, before arriving at a bilateral agreement, violates the provisions of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea 1982. The convention that came into force on July 28, 1996, stipulates a comprehensive legal framework to regulate all ocean space, its uses and resources. It defines territorial sea, the contiguous zone, the continental shelf, the exclusive economic zone and the high seas. The law also provides for the protection and preservation of the marine environment, marine scientific research and for the development and transfer of marine technology.

One of the most important provisions of the convention concerns the exploration for, and exploitation of, the resources of the seabed and ocean floor and the subsoil thereof, beyond the limits of national jurisdiction. It describes seabed and ocean floor and the subsoil outside national jurisdiction as "the Area". The convention declares the Area and its resources as "the common heritage of mankind". The International Seabed Authority, established by the convention, administers the resources of the Area.

The UN convention requires Myanmar to settle the dispute by peaceful means, as laid down in the UN Charter. Part XV of the convention stipulates a comprehensive system for the settlement of disputes that might arise with respect to the interpretation and application of the convention. It requires states or parties to settle their disputes concerning the interpretation or application of the convention by peaceful means, as indicated in the UN Charter. However, if the parties to a dispute fail to reach a settlement by peaceful means of their own choice, they are obliged to resort to the compulsory dispute settlement procedures entailing binding decisions, subject to limitations and exceptions contained in the convention.

Sending four Korean drilling ships, escorted by two Myanmar naval ships to explore oil and gas in the block, claimed by both the countries as their territorial water, constituted a clear a violation of the UN Charter and the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea.

Instead of sending the war ships to escort four drilling ships in the disputed water, Myanmar could have revoked the mechanism established by the Convention to resolve the dispute. The convention provides for four alternative means for dispute settlement: the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Court of Justice, an Arbitral Tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VII to the Convention, and a Special Arbitral Tribunal constituted in accordance with Annex VIII to the Convention.

Myanmar, instead of entering in the disputed territorial water to explore oil and gas, should have gone to any of the four tribunals for the settlement of the dispute.

The convention provides a State Party with the option to choose one or more of these tribunals making a written declaration, under article 287, to be deposited with the UN Secretary-General. If the parties to a dispute do not accept the settlement procedure, the dispute could be submitted only to arbitration in accordance with Annex VII, unless they (the parties) opt for other means. Instead of resolving the dispute in a peaceful manner, Myanmar sent two war ships to escort four Korean drilling ships, to explore for oil and gas in the disputed water, claimed by both the sides. This unilateral action has clearly violated the rights of Bangladesh to protect its natural resources lying underneath its territorial water in the Bay of Bengal .

In 1974, Bangladesh enacted the Territorial Water and Maritime Zones Act. Bangladesh had, at that time, following the international law, declared 12 nautical miles of as its territorial water, 18 nautical miles of contiguous zone, 24 nautical miles allowed under the UN convention on the Law of the Sea 1982, 200 nautical miles of Economic Zone amounting to about 40,000 square miles of sea and the continental shelf, 350 nautical miles allowed under the UN Convention Law of the sea 1982.

The Bangladesh water covers a "square", whose lateral limits were the meridians of longitude projected from the termini of the land boundaries. Bangladesh had awarded offshore blocks on this basis and drawn its sea boundary.

Due to geomorphologic and geographical peculiarities of its concave coastline, Bangladesh followed the equidistance method of delimitation in drawing its sea boundary.
Till 1971, 22 exploration wells were drilled by the then East Pakistan , leading to discovering of eight on the shore gas fields. In 1989, Bangladesh opened 23 blocks, including five off-shore blocks to the international oil companies (IOCs) for competitive bidding. And out of 23 blocks eight were given, in the first round bidding, to the IOCs in 1994 on production sharing basis. And some of the remaining prospective blocks were leased out, during 2000-2001, in the second round of bidding. During 1991-1996, five blocks and, during 1996-2001, six blocks were given to IOCs and production sharing contracts (PSCs) were signed. Although re-evaluation of the seismic, drilling and geo-chemical data of the Bangladesh offshore areas indicates the considerable possibility of finding several economic gas accumulations, not much of exploration has so far been undertaken by it in the five offshore blocks - 7, 18, 19, 20, 21 -- and in three other blocks - 15, 16, 17 -- situated partially at sea and in the partially coastal waters.

It is notable here that the Bangladesh proposal seeking to justify the 1974 straight baseline is not consistent with the UN Convention on the "Territorial Sea and Contiguous Zone", Convention on the High Seas, on "Fishing and Living Resources of the High Seas" and Convention on the "Continental shelf" which were all in force during that time (in force since 20th March 1966). This is so because the new Law of the Sea and other international law gives Bangladesh the rights to claim sea areas more than the total land area of Bangladesh in the Bay of Bengal with all its living and non-living resources.

The Bangladesh proposals seeking to justify the 1974 straight baseline, from the beginning of the discussion on the Third UN Convention on Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), encountered opposition. India 's unvarying position on the question was that the boundary must be delimited on the rigid application of the equidistance method ignoring the physical features of our coast. The last round of formal talks with India took place in 1980.

At the maritime negotiations between India and Bangladesh in September 1974, the Government of India protested that Bangladesh 's proclaimed baseline protrudes 21 nautical miles into the Indian water. India also questioned the basic legitimacy of the baseline and the maritime boundary Bangladesh drew in 1974. The protest was in response to the award of one off-shore block for oil and gas exploration under production sharing contract. India claimed that the western most of the six blocks, which was awarded to Ashland , encroached upon the Indian water. Some of the IOCs left exploration because of the objections raised by India directly to their head offices about the consequences of striking oil and gas find, with the maritime boundary between two countries not having been delimited yet.

It is strange that from 1974 to 1982, when the Un convention on the Law of the Sea was adopted, the "astute diplomacy" of Bangladesh proved useless in convincing neighboring India and Myanmar , or for that matter, any other country, to support the system of drawing baselines followed by Bangladesh . It failed to convince the world community participating in the drafting of UNCLOS 1982. The final UNCLOS was adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1982 without incorporating the method of drawing straight baselines. Both India and Myanmar through separate letters to the president of the conference protested and rejected the Bangladesh baseline claim as unacceptable.

Since 1982, Bangladesh failed to delimit its maritime boundary in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS 1982. As neighboring India and Myanmar also did not complete demarcation of their maritime boundary, on several occasions the two countries undertook aggressive exploration of gas and oil in disputed areas adjacent to, or even within, Bangladesh territorial water. They also did not care to inform Bangladesh while engaging IOCs to explore in the disputed water. Bangladesh did not even protest until engineer Mahmudur Rahman did it in 2005. India protested Bangladesh action in 1974. Both India and Myanmar protested when Bangladesh , at long last, took the initiative recently for deep water exploration.

Our actions have also raised more questions than these have answered in the last 36 years. Bangladesh took 19 years to ratify the UNCLOS in 2001. It is yet to update its laws in line with the UNCLOS. As its 1974 baselines and base points are not consistent with the UNCLOS 1982, hence it might have to redraw the baselines. Bangladesh grossly neglected to redraw its baselines in accordance with the provisions of UNCLOS 1982. Bangladesh cannot expect to get indefinite time to deal with such an important issue involving its sovereign rights for which the valiant freedom fighters sacrificed their lives in the 1971 Liberation War.

Bangladesh cannot leave its sovereign rights to protect and preserve its natural resources in its territorial water at the mercy of others. Without any bilateral agreement, Myanmar cannot enter the disputed water for the exploration of gas and oil. Similarly, India too cannot get into Bangladesh’s Block 21. Bangladesh should take diplomatic initiative to resolve the territorial water disputes with Myanmar and India .

If these initiatives fail, Bangladesh should move the International Court of Justice to resolve the maritime disputes. Bangladesh should immediately engage IOCs to commence exploration in its water, and engage experts to devise ways to draw its maritime boundary.

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China sentences two Taiwan drug dealers to death
The Earth Times - Posted : Mon, 24 Nov 2008 12:21:28 GMT
Author : DPA

Beijing - A Chinese court has sentenced to death two Taiwanese drug dealers convicted of trafficking heroin from Myanmar, state media said on Monday. Chien Chih-Cheng and Chen Ming-Hsiung were among eight Taiwanese citizens sentenced last week in the south-eastern province of Fujian for their part in trafficking more than 12 kilograms of heroin, the official Xinhua news agency said.

Chien and Chen led a gang that bought 39 packets of heroin from Myanmar in early September and sold four of them for 400,000 yuan (60,000 dollars) in the southern city of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong, the agency quoted police as saying.

The gang had planned to take the rest of the heroin to Taiwan but a storm stranded their fishing boats in the Fujian port of Zhangzhou.

Police later arrested 13 people in Fujian and neighbouring Guangdong province, it said.

The Zhangzhou Intermediate People's Court last week sentenced the other six Taiwanese and five Chinese citizens to jail terms ranging from 12 years to life, including two suspended death sentences, the agency said.

The heroin was the largest amount seized in Fujian for three years, it said.

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In Burma, a test of Barack Obama's attitude toward promoting democracy
The Freedom Challenge
The Washington Post - Monday, November 24, 2008; Page A16

BARBARITY IN Burma last week served as a reminder that, with or without President-elect Barack Obama, the global struggle for liberty will rage on long after George W. Bush takes his "freedom agenda" home to Texas.

Some of Mr. Obama's foreign policy advisers are nearly as impatient to deep-six that policy as they are to bid farewell to its author. They believe that Mr. Bush's extravagant rhetoric overpromised and underperformed. Dissidents were encouraged and then abandoned. Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay mocked Washington's pretensions to lead or lecture.

The critics are right on all counts. If Mr. Obama intends to govern with more humility, caution and realism, we say, bring it on. U.S. foreign policy could use a healthy dose of all three.

But abandoning the promotion and support of democracy as core American goals would be a terrible mistake. Mr. Bush was right to see freedom as integral to all other foreign policy objectives. The stifling of democratic alternatives in Arab countries fuels terrorism. China's succor of dictators in Africa impedes healthy development in poor countries.

Democracies are more likely, over time, to cooperate honestly with each other on global challenges such as climate change and disease control. And the United States can regain and retain the stature to lead in the world, on any issue, only if it is using its power on behalf of universal ideals.

No doubt these principles will feature somewhere in the new administration' s rhetoric. But because other, seemingly more hardheaded considerations will always compete, the rhetoric will not mean much unless democracy promotion is baked into the administration' s structure, budget and personnel.

The need is especially urgent when global recession could undermine democracy and stoke bellicose nationalism. It's urgent, too, because in the past decade, dictators and authoritarian ruling parties have learned to fight back. When Vladimir Putin seeks to extend Russia's influence, he doesn't just want more people watching Russian movies or buying Russian MiGs. He wants to replicate among his neighbors the kind of one-party rule he has imposed on his own country. His efforts will continue whether or not the Obama administration chooses to push back on behalf of the budding democracies Mr. Putin would target.

The spasm of repression in Burma last week similarly is not just about one country. In secret trials hidden away in fetid prisons, the ruling junta of that Southeast Asian nation of 50 million people sentenced more than 150 activists, Buddhist monks, bloggers, students and others to decades and decades in prison.

U Maung Thura, a comedian better known by his stage name of Zarganar, was sentenced to 45 years, with several charges still pending. His crime: attempting to deliver aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis last spring, when the regime did not want reminders of its own failure to help.

U Gambira, a monk who helped lead peaceful demonstrations against the regime 14 months ago, was sentenced to 68 years. A journalist was sentenced to 14 years for taking photographs during a sham referendum last spring. Lawyers have been sentenced for seeking to defend these activists and for resigning from cases when they were not permitted to mount serious defenses.

As news of these sentences spread from anguished relatives to supporters across the border and so around the world, another development was more openly announced: China's plans to proceed with a $2.5 billion pipeline to bring Burma's oil and gas to its Yunnan province. For China's Communist Party, repression in Burma is not an obstacle but a convenience, enabling the exploitation of natural resources with a minimum of well-targeted corruption.

The regime's ferocity last week, unexpected even by its dismal standards, came as something of an embarrassment to Western humanitarian groups, which have been revving up a campaign to convince the Obama administration that Burma's regime is moderating and that engagement, rather than isolation, is the right policy. Supporters of engagement argue that it helps neither the United States nor the long-suffering people of Burma to leave the field to the Chinese.

This may be true. But public opinion and, we trust, a sense of self-respect will never permit the United States to outbid China for the junta's affections. And in Burma, unlike in many dictatorships, there is a clear alternative authority: the National League for Democracy, which overwhelmingly won an election two decades ago. The regime negated the results, and the league's leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, has been under house arrest for most of the time since. Like Nelson Mandela in his long years of imprisonment, she remains the legitimate leader of her people. Like South Africans, Burmese will remember who sided with her during their years of oppression and who sided with the
oppressor. And as the world watched and measured America's shifting stance on apartheid, so it will measure the next administration's commitment to democracy in Burma and beyond.

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Burma’s Generals Continued their Ruthless Campaign
Scoop - Monday, 24 November 2008, 10:01 am
Press Release: Terry Evans

Burma’s ruling generals continued their ruthless campaign to silence opposition, with another 35 dissidents sentenced to long prison terms on Friday.

Among those sentenced in further closed trials at Rangoon’s infamous Insein Prison was prominent monk Ashin Gambira, the leader of the monk-led September 2007 Saffron Revolution, who received additional prison time bring his total sentence to 68 years. Five other Buddhist monks also received long prison terms for their part in the September 2007 uprising.

To date more than a hundred pro-democracy activists, including Buddhist monks, members of Burma's leading opposition party the National League for Democracy, together
with members of the prominent pro-democracy 88 Generation Students' Group, have been sentenced in closed trials by junta-appointed judges since the beginning of November. The longest prison sentence of 68 years being reserved for Ashin Gambira, the leader of last year's Saffron Revolution.

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A Wanted Man in Burma
Opednews - November 23, 2008 at 12:29:33
by Jeremy R. Hammond
www.opednews. com

Antonio Graceffo is a wanted man. His crime? Supporting the Shan people in their rebellion against the ruling military junta in Burma, known euphemistically as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

A former successful Wall Street investment banker from Brooklyn turned travel and adventure writer, Antonio has authored numerous books, including about his adventures bicycling around Taiwan, bicycling across the Taklamakan Desert in China, and his time studying with the monks at the famous Shaolin Temple. More recently, he has been involved trying to bring the world's attention to the plight of the Burmese people suffering under the brutal reign of the SPDC.

Since outside journalists are banned from entering the country, Antonio crossed the border under the protection of the Shan State Army (SSA) and began reporting on conditions in the country, interviewing victims of the SPDC's war against the people, writing about what he learned, and producing a series of videos featured on YouTube to bring awareness about the plight of the Shan.

Perhaps more well known than the SSA are another resistance group known as the Karen National Union (KNU), and its armed wing, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), who were featured in the 2008 movie "Rambo", starring Sylvester Stallone in the fourth installment in the film series.

But while Stallone played a fictional character, Antonio Graceffo, one could fairly say, is the real Rambo. An experienced martial artist featured on the Discovery Channel and in a number of martial arts films, Antonio was embedded with the Shan State Army and helped train Shan soldiers in the art of close-contact self-defense. Among Antonio's videos on YouTube are several featuring him demonstrating martial arts techniques and sparring with SSA soldiers.

It is on a purported KNU website that an image of Antonio appears under a heading reading "wanted", reminiscent of an old Western poster -- except, of course, that Antonio is wearing the cap and uniform of the Shan State Army instead of a cowboy hat and leather vest, and holding a Kalashnikov rifle instead of a Winchester.

The website, MyanmarNargis. org, has a few telltale signs of being a false front operation--what is euphemistically known in the field as "counterintelligenc e"-- headed up in fact by the SPDC. Perhaps not least among these signs is the name, "Myanmar", which is the ruling regime's name-change for the country that is otherwise known -- particularly among opposition groups who do not recognize the regime -- as Burma.

And the fact that a "wanted" poster for a man who has helped the rebels on a website of a rebel organization is also more than slightly counter-intuitive. Anti-junta groups Antonio remains in contact with confirmed to him that it is a disinformation site designed by the SPDC to create disunity and infighting among and within opposition groups.

"Fortunately, " says Antonio, "most people working on the Burma issue don’t trust anything written in Burmese. Each of the tribes has its own language and alphabet. Most of them are smart enough to use English on their websites to garner international support. The junta, it appears, is not that smart. But, since General Ne Win forcibly closed all of Burma’s universities, to prevent smart people from meeting and exchanging political ideas, it is no wonder that they are slipping intellectually. "

The text of the website page featuring the "wanted" poster, which requires the proper character encoding to be installed on one's computer in order to read it, was translated for Antonio by a person he described as "an exiled Burmese intellectual, who had to flee Burma and seek asylum in another country. He hates the junta with a passion and supports the resistance groups."

The exile noted along with his translation to Antonio, "the KNU has cleared your name and so we cannot sell you by the kilo to them." (How very disappointing for those of us who know his whereabouts) .

The page heading, under the "wanted" poster, reads "The Former Marine Who Would Combine Military Forces with Terrorists." It describes the KNU, SSA and other resistance groups, as "armed terrorists" (perhaps--just maybe--another sign that the website is a counterintelligence front of the SPDC). It describes Antonio as "a former US Marine Italian race, American citizen", and as being the head of a small group travelling within the country. It says Antonio's group "is surely going to have to run and escape for their lives as they go through the Armed Forces' Offensives" but that "it is more certain they will die violent deaths."

Not very polite. Fortunately, Antonio is not actually in Burma currently -- nor was he during the period of time last month the website alleges he was moving through the country with his "group" -- a merry band, no doubt.

As much as the page seems designed to put people on the lookout for Antonio, it also seems intended to sow resentment among opposition leaders. Take, for instance, the insertion of this tidbit: "5th Brigade Commander Baw Kyaw Hair, on his part, was dissatisfied with how the present congress has appointed a central group in which General Tamlabaw's sons and daughters have important posts in the KNU."

Baw Kyaw Hair's group "favors having a ceasefire with the present military government and exchange arms for peace", the website says. (The exiled translator noted to Antonio that "this is an SPDC phrase for complete surrendering of one's forces and one's weapons to SPDC -- very indicative of an SPDC author".)

That author adds, "It is heard that 6th Brigade Commander Hsarmi is [also] dissatisfied with Tamlabaw's circle of family and friends."

The intent thus seems to try to poison relations among rebel groups as much as to threaten Mr. Graceffo -- not that such a warning from the violent SPDC should be taken lightly.

While Antonio always manages to keep his sense of humor, despite the danger and despite the ugliness he has witnessed firsthand, the oppression in Burma under the military junta of the SPDC is no laughing matter. It's high time the world took notice and took action. Antonio's courageous work in defiance of the ruling regime has been intended to further that goal.

To close, in the words of Antonio, "please say a prayer for the people of Shan State."

Adventure and martial arts author, Antonio Graceffo has lived in Asia for many years, publishing four books and several hundred articles in magazines and websites around the world. He has worked as a consultant and writer for shows on the History and Discovery channels and appears on camera in "Digging for the Truth" and "Human Weapon". Antonio is host of the web TV show, "Martial Arts Odyssey." Antonio was embedded with the Shan State rebel army in Burma, documenting human rights abuses, and doing a film and print project to raise awareness of the Shan people. His website is www.speakingadventu re.com.

Jeremy R. Hammond is the owner, editor, and principle writer for Foreign Policy Journal, a website dedicated to providing news, critical analysis, and commentary on U.S. foreign policy, particularly with regard to the "war on terrorism" and events in the Middle East, from outside of the standard framework offered by government officials and the mainstream corporate media. He has also written for numerous other online publications.

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Myanmar lawyers' convictions criticised
ALB Legal News  - By George Beveridge | Monday, 24 November 2008

The jailing of Burmese pro-democracy lawyers has been criticised by an association concerned for the government authorities' treatment of the legal profession.

Australian law association LAWASIA has expressed concern about the arrest of four lawyers, who were recently sentenced to jail for contempt of court. Lawyers U Nyi Nyi Htwe, Saw Kyaw Kyaw Min, U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein had represented student activists.

Two of the arrests were made following lawyers' submission of a complaint related to the defence trial of the student activists, while the other two arrests were said to have happened following the request to call a government official to the case.

The association also said it was concerned the convictions would deter lawyers from acting in defence of political activists.

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Another changing of the guards for Burma's junta  
Mizzima News - by Solomon  
Monday, 24 November 2008 22:28

New Delhi – An official within Burma's Ministry of Information has hinted there has been a changing of guards within the top ranks of the country's military authorities during the last quarterly meeting held in the capital city of Naypyitaw.

The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said there have been a few changes among the ranks of the military leaders during the last quarterly meeting, held between November 17 and 21, but declined to give details, saying the government will soon make a public release of the reshuffle.

"There have been some changes and promotions of military personnel, but we cannot say anything at this movement," the official said.

Burma's military leaders regularly hold quarterly meetings, the most recent one ending last Saturday, at which they reportedly discussed matters and issues facing the military and conducted a reshuffling within the ranks. In the previous quarterly meeting, held in June, the junta reshuffled nearly 100 positions.

"This time there are some changes in the military, because they [the junta] have to strengthen the Army, so three Major Generals have been promoted to Lieutenant Generals," said Win Min, a Burmese analyst based in Thailand.

However, Win Min said the reshuffling was insignificant and the quarterly meeting, which is the last for 2008, focused more on the junta's planned election for 2010.

"I think this time there will be less changing within the Ministries, they will do that in the next meeting," Win Min iterated.

The last reshuffling in the top brass of Burma's Army was in June, which gathered members of the State Peace and Development Council, powerful military commanders and heads of Bureau of Special Operations (BSO).

However, sources told Mizzima that retired BSOs, such as Major Generals Maung Bo, Ye Myint and Kyaw Win, were seen at the most recent meeting, proving that they are still members of SPDC's upper echelon.

Sources told Mizzima that the head of the junta, Senior General Than Shwe, wants to keep them in the mix in order to handle ceasefire groups, and particularly due to their role in persuading the nearly one-and-a-half dozen mainly ethnic rebel groups to disarm.

"Than Shwe and his generals may become members of a defense commission; something along the lines of the Chinese model," said a source in Naypyitaw of the potential political landscape following the 2010 election.

The junta has been preparing for such offices in the post-2010 era by requisitioning some Defense buildings in the capital.

Sino-Burmese- based analyst Mya Maung said the recently concluded meeting aimed primarily at preparations for the 2010 general election.

"For the 2010 election, the generals are focusing on security, home affairs and the police department," said Mya Maung.

Burma's rulers have announced that they will hold a general election as part of their roadmap to democracy and will allow the winning party to assume power and form a government.

But it has also maintained strict vigilance over opposition activists in the run-up to the election by arresting and sentencing activists to long prison terms. Additionally, the junta has also stepped up security measures in several towns and cities across the country where pro-democracy activists had led mass demonstrations in August and September 2007.

According to Mya Maung, in preparation for the general election, the junta is likely to change several positions within the military – with some personnel retired and others sent into the civilian government. Police units might also be transformed into paramilitary outfits.

"They [junta] are enhancing police forces for the suppression of any kind of protest that might erupt, while the military will be maintained to sustain the fight against ethnic rebels," Mya Maung said.

He said the junta has thus far expanded at least 16 to 18 battalions of police across the country, with over 400 policemen in each battalion.

However Htay Aung, a researcher at the Network for Democracy and Development (NDD), based in Thailand, said the junta during the recent quarterly meeting was likely to have discussed only a few important things such as the 2010 general election and the recent maritime boundary issue with Bangladesh.

"I think they [the junta] would have discussed important things such as the 2010 election, and the recent oil crisis between Bangladesh, and also about the economic crisis," Htay Aung explained.

It is likely that the junta decided who would form political parties for the 2010 election and who would remain in the distinct military apparatus, Htay Aung said.

However, he said changes within the military ranks in the quarterly meeting are normal and have little overall significance on the military structure.

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Imprisonment of two Burmese lawyers 'arbitrary': rights group  
Mizzima News - by Salai Pi Pi  
Monday, 24 November 2008 23:32

New Delhi – A regional human rights body has condemned the Burmese military rulers for arbitrarily sentencing two lawyers, who were acting as defence counsels for political activists and called for their immediate release.

The Asia Human Right Commission (AHRC) during a consultation meeting concluded on Sunday called for the release of Burma's Supreme Court advocates Khin Maung Shein and Aung Thein, who addressed the complaints of their clients -- political activists arrested for anti-government protests last year -- to the court.

"The imprisonment of the two Supreme Court advocates in this case must be deemed arbitrary, and we the assembled jurists, lawyers and legal academics duly call for the immediate release of U Aung Thein and U Khin Maung Shein," AHRC said in a press release on Sunday.

A court in Rangoon's Hlaing Township on October 6, sentenced Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein to a prison term of four months on charges of contempt of Court after they submitted a complaint from their clients that states the defendant's desire not to cooperate with the court as they have lost faith in the judicial proceedings.

Aung Thein and Khin Maung Shein, who have over 20 years experience as lawyers in Burma, were representing several defendants arrested in connection with the September 2007 protests and charged with criminal cases including three persons - Htun Htun Oo, Maung Maung Latt and Aung Kyaw Moe - and a woman, Htar Htar Thet, who were charged in five cases.

AHRC's Burma affairs spokesperson, Min Lwin, said Burma's judiciary system is being manipulated by the ruling junta and is used to intimidate political activists by awarding long prison terms while criminal cases could be eased off by bribing.

"The present judiciary system in Burma operates in the way were criminal cases could be defended by money but in terms of political cases, there is no mercy and the accused is awarded harsh penalty," said Min Lwin, who submitted to the AHRC's consultation meeting information on Burma.

The AHRC's criticism of the Burmese regime and call for the release of the sentenced advocates came during the Fourth Regional Consultation on an Asian Charter for the Rule of Law meeting attended by assembled jurists, lawyers and legal academics from throughout Asia in Hong Kong on 17 to 21 November.

"We express our grave concern at the state of the law in Burma, where, we have learned that criminal procedure has in many respects been completely abandoned such that parties to cases are denied their most basic rights and political interests and corrupt practices determine the outcome of trials," the AHRC said.

Burma's military rulers after having brutally suppressed protesters in August-September 2007, continued to crackdown on opposition activists by arresting them. And since July the regime began the trial of the detained activists and started handing down long prison terms of up to 68 years.

Prominent student leaders such as the '88 generation students' led by Min Ko Naing, were sentenced to 65 years in prison each while a prominent Monk U Gambira, who led the monks on to the streets in September 2007 was given 68 years in jail.

According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners- Burma, the junta during the past two months had already sentenced 189 dissidents including monks, members of Burma's opposition party – National League for Democracy - activists, students, lawyers, bloggers, poets, rights activists, a comedian and journalists for peacefully expressing their views.

Besides sentencing to lengthy prison terms, the government also transferred at least 60 activists to concentration camps in remote areas across Burma from Rangoon's Insein prison, a move that critics view as an act to distance them from their family members.

The AHRC, while calling for the immediate release of the two imprisoned advocates, deplored the junta's act and pledged that it will continue to pressure the military junta for free and open trials in Burma.

"The jurists, lawyers and legal academicians in AHRC pledged to mount pressure on the government in their respective countries to push the Burmese regime to refrain from consistence committing of human rights abuses and corrupt practice of the law," said Min Lwin.

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WFP to Open Food-for-Work Project in Delta
The Irrawaddy - By SAW YAN NAING
Monday, November 24, 2008

The international aid agency World Food Program (WFP) has announced plans to open a “food-for-work” project in the Irrawaddy delta in December, with the aim of helping survivors of the May 2-3 cyclone recover their lives, according to the WFP in Rangoon.

“Most of the projects will be implemented in the southern part of the region, which has been the most affected by the cyclone,” said Chris Kaye, country director for WFP in Rangoon.

The food-for-work (FFW) project will focus on “construction, repair and maintenance of roads and water production and control, such as construction of wells, dikes, dams, ponds and drainage ditches.”

It will also include rescuing land through clearing, leveling, reforestation, irrigation and drainage, said Kaye. 

He said that construction of community buildings such as schools, social centers, health centres and agricultural development that increase food production will be included in the food-for-work project.   

WFP estimated that about 40,000 people will be involved in the food-for-work process and will be provided with family rations. 

Meanwhile, local authorities in Bogalay Township ordered many of the people in 27 rehabilitated villages in Kyunetharyar Township to relocate so that only 11 functioning villages remain, according to sources in Bogalay.

The 11 villagers which will take on the displaced villagers include Armaka, Danyein Phyu, Mondine Gyi and Mondine Lay.

One source who requested anonymity said that many villagers are unhappy with the order as they have already built their houses and recovered their agriculture. Some have had to spend a lot of time and effort working their fields, he said.

Local nongovernmental organizations are also unhappy with the move as they have already assisted villagers with the reconstruction of wells and schools in the area, and spent much money on recovery. 

WFP said it has conducted a food-for-work needs assessment in the delta, and found that some villages have achieved a certain level of recovery but still need some support in order to restore their pre-Cyclone Nargis living conditions. 

The global aid agency said that the current situation in the delta calls for an increased attention to early recovery and the reconstruction of livelihoods. 

Another international aid agency, the UK-based Save the Children, said that the cyclone survivors are still struggling. It expressed its concern over the safe water crisis which is threatening thousands in the Irrawaddy delta. 

Sources in the delta said that people in some villages in Bogalay travel to other villages and carry water home because they can’t consume the water in their own villages. They said the wells are still contaminated with dirty water and the stench of decomposed corpses.      
 
“In order to increase the availability of clean water, WFP is also considering FFW activities that involve water production such as construction of wells, dikes, dams, and ponds,” said Kaye.

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