UN resolution will ‘destroy the peace': Burma military says

About half of the 400 participants at a seminar, "Mekong-Salween: People, Water, and the Golden Land of Southeast Asia" organized by the Social Sciences and Humanities

Foundation in Chiang Mai, signed an open letter urging Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont to review government policies that will directly affect more than 100 million people in six countries along the Mekong and Salween rivers.

"We, who signed the letter, demand that your government review the policies or projects that would lead to dam constructions on Mekong and Salween rivers as well as investments in big projects that would disturb the ecosystem and way of life of the people," the letter said.

The letter also urged the interim prime minister to focus not only on a free-trade economy but also issues of human security, natural resources, and the lifestyles of the river communities.

The Thai government last year signed a memorandum of understanding with the Burmese military junta to study the possibility of building dams in the Salween and Tenasserim river basins.

The six planned projects would seriously affect the way of life of large numbers in Burma 's ethnic areas, and may have already led to forced relocation in Shan and Karen states.

Laos has just revealed plans for 23 dams on the Mekong by 2020, to generate electricity for Thailand and Vietnam

"Concern over dams on Salween, Mekong" The Nation ( Thailand ), November 24, 2006.

UNSC update the report on Burma

The United Nations Security Council is preparing to take the next step in addressing the Burma question. Yet the case remains that there is no consensus, and many questions abound, regarding exactly what future actions will be undertaken.

On November 22, the United Nations Security Council issued an Update Report pertaining to potential forthcoming steps to be taken against the Burmese government.

The updated report, however, in addition to listing options available for Security Council measures points to reasons why this is sure to remain a highly divisive issue. Further, the report, in its simplified analysis, serves to gloss over confrontational aspects of the current UN approach.

Following an expected briefing by Gambari before the end of the month, the 15 members of the Security Council will then have four options available to them: no action; an informal response in conjunction with an expansion of a US plan; discussion of US proposals at an expert level, or; the issuance of a presidential statement.

Issues raised with the government during the latest visit are given as a continued call for an inclusive democratic process as well as the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, in conjunction with calls for improved working relations with the International Labour Organization and other humanitarian agencies. Gambari also urged the government to cease its military offensives in Karen State .

The report lists achievements of the visit as including meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi and ethnic groups involved in the National Convention. This positive spin contrasts with many opinions of ethnic and political groups regarding the efficacy of Gambari's itinerary. This includes concerns voiced by the NLD and other organizations not invited or not willing to be party to the National Convention.

“Security Council to continue Burma debate” Mizzima News, November 24, 2006.

UNSC call for action against child soldiers

The UN Security Council has repeated its call for action against the recruitment of child soldiers in countries considered the worst offenders, including Burma .

During a special day-long session to consider a UN report on progress to fight the problem, the council heard of “reliable reports” that the Tatmadaw (Burma Army) continues to recruit child soldiers. The junta was also accused of failing to cooperate fully with the UN in Burma in attempts to eradicate the problem, charges denied by the government.

Speaking to the council, Burmese government representative Kyaw Tint Swe said the report contained “unfounded allegations,” and that appropriate measures had been put into place to eradicate the problem, including discharging minors from the military.

Radhika Coomaraswamy, the special representative of the UN secretary-general for children and armed conflict, said that commitments to demobilize troops in Burma , along with the Ivory Coast , Burundi and Uganda , “would result in concrete action.” However, her report to the council said it was currently impossible to verify Burmese government efforts to eradicate the problem.

The Tatmadaw has long been accused of forcibly recruiting children to its 400,000-strong armed forces. In 2004, the London-based Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers reported that the junta had in some cases kidnapped children as young as 11, forcing them to serve in the military. At the time, it estimated that up to 20 percent of Tatmadaw and ethnic insurgency forces were under 18—the current legal age of conscription—which would have put the total number of child soldiers in Burma at nearly 90,000, the highest of any country in the world.

"UN repeats call for action on child soldiers" Irrawaddy , November 29, 2006.

Thai PM met Burma 's junta

Thailand 's army-installed premier on Thursday pressed Burma 's junta for democratic reform in a one-day visit. Thai PM, General Surayud, met Senior General Than Shwe at the new capital, Naypyidaw, earlier in the day and then, had a separate one-hour meeting with Prime Minister Soe Win.

Largely in the hope of avoiding that comparison, Surayud Chulanont made Burma the last stop in his series of visits around Southeast Asia since the military appointed him after the coup.

"I asked Mr Than Shwe to consider democratic reform in Myanmar , which is a member of ASEAN," Surayud told reporters after returning to Bangkok .

Burma 's democratic reform would be further discussed at the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit next month in the Philippines .

Surayud said he also had "an informal talk" with Soe Win about the detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, but declined to give further details.

Surayud's government, have insisted they want to end the business dealings with Burma that ousted prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra fostered.

However, they will find that difficult to do. Thailand last year was by far the largest foreign investor in Burma , due to a six billion dollar dam the kingdom is building across the border to generate electricity for its own use. They also pipes about one billion cubic feet of gas each day from Burma 's offshore reserves in the southeast, in the Andaman Sea .

Surayud shows no sign of backing away from these deals. However, Thai Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand accompanied Surayud on the trip, and Thai media reported that Thailand hoped to discuss expanding energy deals.

"Thai PM's Myanmar visit invites uncomfortable comparisons" Agence France Presse, November 23, 2006