BI Weekly No. 326

November 12th - November 19st, 2007

The BI Weekly archive is available on our website: www.burmaissues.org

Inside Burma

Border

International

UN Security Council opinion divided over Burma
Burma criticised over forced labour by ILO
China 's eyes natural resources and cheap energy reserves as it continues its support for Burma
US speak out against China blocking UNSC presidential statement on Burma

NLD wants files opened on recent protest victims

The victims of the brutal suppression of September's demonstrations should not be forgotten if dialogue does take place between the Burmese regime and the opposition, NLD spokesman Nyan Win told The Irrawaddy.

"The police must legally open files on the demonstrators who were killed or who are still missing", said Nyan Win. “The NLD does not neglect those who lost their lives during the conflict,” he continued. “We will talk about them in any dialogue with the authorities.”

After meeting NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week, Nyan Win said she had told him and other party leaders they had to work for a “healing process,” and they had discussed how to bring that about.

At least two members of the NLD died in the violent crackdown on the September demonstrations, and a third, Win Ko, died recently from injuries he received, according to the NLD.

"NLD says police must open file on protest victims" - Wai Moe, November 14, Irrawaddy

A new pro-junta campaign currently underway in Rangoon and on state-run Web sites promotes an anti-US, Western media stance labeling demonstrators as stooges.

One slogan in Rangoon , written in Burmese, translates: “Oppose those who rely on America , act as their stooges and hold negative views.”

Photographs of protesting monks and anti-US rallies were posted on an official regime Web site. (See: http://www.myanmar.com/photo/photo.html)

Captions accused protesting monks of being imposters and "destructive elements," and said Burma 's history will be written by the Burmese people, not by President George W. Bush.

The logos of Western radio stations including the BBC, Radio Free Asia, the Voice of America and the Democratic Voice of Burma are marked with red crosses on the Web site.

"New pro-junta campaign reflects anti-US, Western media stance" - Saw Yan Naing November 14, Irrawaddy

The U.N.'s Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said post-mortems and other official information showed that at least 15 people died in Burma 's biggest city when the military crushed September's pro-democracy demonstrations. However he emphasized that the figure was not necessarily complete and that he did not know how many other people may have been killed in other parts of the country.

One of the main purposes of Pinheiro's visit was to determine the number of people killed and detained in the September crackdown.

Pinheiro said that he would give as complete an account as possible only after drafting a formal report, and would present his findings to the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva on Dec. 11.

On Thursday, Pinheiro met with several prominent political prisoners at Rangoon 's infamous Insein Prison. He described the facility, which holds about 10,000 prisoners, as being "old and overcrowded." He also said the prisoners there needed medical treatment.

"UN human rights investigator receives evidence of Myanmar death toll" -Rungrawee C. Pinyorat - November 16, Associated Press

Burma's ruling junta is in control after recent bloody unrest and will take more action against those who violate the law, the country's deputy defence chief said..

Deputy Defence Minister Major General Aye Myint also said the generals would "not accept" outside interference they deemed harmful to their country's sovereignty. "Now the situation in Burma is in normalcy. We totally control the situation," Aye Myint told a news conference in Singapore after attending a meeting of Southeast Asian defence chiefs.

He said 49 people were being detained in Rangoon and 42 in other cities, without specifying when the arrests were made. "After questioning, most of them are released," he said.

Amnesty International has estimated that 700 people arrested over the recent protests are still in detention.

"We are in control: Myanmar defence official "- Martin Abbugao, November 14, Agence France Presse

Burmese border troops detain Bangladeshi fishermen

Fourteen Bangladeshi fishermen aboard two fishing boats were abducted in the Bay of Bengal by Burma border security forces, officials said on Tuesday.

"The fishermen were captured late on Monday while they were fishing in Bangladesh waters ... near the Saint Martin's Island ," an official of the Bangladesh Rifles border force said.

Saint Martin's is an offshore Bangladesh island, 550 km (344 miles) southeast of the capital, Dhaka .

Bangladesh and Myanmar share a 320-km (200-mile) border and generally have good neighbourly relations, but sometimes quarrel over allegations that fishermen stray out of their territorial waters.

"Myanmar troops abduct Bangladesh fishermen",  November 13, Reuters

Money extorted from leaders of Mosque

Burma 's Border Security Force allegedly extorted money from the mosque committee in Maungdaw Township in Arakan State because it did not demolish a mosque despite an order to do so, a village elder said.

On October 1, the commander of the Shab Bazaar (Taman Thar) Nasaka camp in Maungdaw Township ordered villagers of Zaydan village, Sarpara village, Panirsara village and Shab Bazaar in Maungdaw Township to demolish their mosques and an orphanage. But, the villagers flouted the order and had to bribe the commander.

On October 20, the Commander took nearly 400,000 Kyat from a number of the leaders of the mosques, one of the leaders said.

In Arakan State , permission is not granted for construction of new mosques, and permission is needed from the authorities for renovation of religious buildings. The authorities destroy many mosques and other religious buildings citing a lack of documentation while jailing some of the leaders.

" Burma 's Border Security Force extorts money from mosque committee"- Arakan State , Kaladan News November 12, 2007

Girl of eleven raped and killed by border security force member

The victim, Taslim Ara (11), daughter of Moulvi Mohammed Ali, hailed from Nazi Para of Ray Aung San Bwe village tract of Nasaka Area No.1 of Maungdaw Township, Arakan State , Burma , the relative added.

The girl was fishing with two other girls in a stream, when a Nasaka member went there and threatened the girls with his catapult. Two of the girls fled to their village but Taslima Ara was forced to stay with him, said a relative.

The Nasaka then brought Taslima to a nearby dry place before raping and killing her.

Hearing the news, the parents of Taslima accompanied by relatives and some villagers went to the spot after giving information to the authorities. There they found the body.

The rapist and killer was identified by the two girls and subsequently arrested. It remains to be seen how he will be punished. “It is not a human behavior; she is only 11-years old. We hope that some exemplary punishment will be given to the culprit" said a village elder from Bawli Bazar.

"Raped and killed in Maungdaw" , Kaladan News November 17, 2007

A sharply divided UN Security Council deliberated on events in Burma on Tuesday following a briefing by Ibrahim Gambari, the special UN envoy, on his five day visit to the country last week. He noted there were positive developments, but bottlenecks remained in moving towards a national reconciliation process.

After more than four hours of talks, the Security Council finally abandoned the idea of issuing a formal statement or a UN Presidential Statement, as was done after its last meeting on the issue on October 11.

As a result, for the sake of unity among its 15-members, the task of capturing the mood of the council's deliberations was given to the presiding president for the month of November.

Ambassador Marty Natalegawa of Indonesia told the press there was a “compromise” between two groups within the Security Council—one led by China, which considered Gambari's mission a success—the other led by the United States, Britain and France, which took the position that the Burmese military junta was not in line with the expectations of the Security Council.

"UN Security Council divided in discussion of Burma" - Lalit K Jha November 14, Irrawaddy

Burma was sharply criticised for its forced labour practices at the International Labour Organisation .

"Every time a tourist or businessman goes to this country, every time they use the roads, they should know that these roads have been built by forced labourers and children," said Leroy Trottman, head of the Workers Group at the ILO.

"Our group finds the situation on the ground to be disappointing, and a sign of a flagrant lack of respect for the members of this organisation," he said during a board meeting of the 56-member body.

The ILO, which is made up of workers' groups, employers and national states, examined Burma 's labour rights record during the session.

ILO chief Juan Somavia said in June he was not satisfied with Burma 's cooperation and was ready to increase the pressure if necessary.

"Myanmar under fire over forced labour at ILO"- November 14, Agence France Presse

Booming China needs energy and that means it needs Burma , observers say. This a lucky break for the ruling generals, who have been able to ignore global outrage thanks to staunch support from Beijing .

As the international community lined up to denounce the junta for its bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks two months ago, China supported a UN statement of condemnation but took no tougher action.

Beijing has stuck to its policy of non-interference in Burma 's affairs, repeatedly calling for stability followed by democratic progress, and insists that international sanctions against the regime are not the answer.

Observers say that China 's call for democratic change is compromised by its significant investments in resource-rich Burma's energy reserves and its desire to keep rival India from gaining better access to them.

"China unwavering in support for Myanmar" - Robert J. Saiget November 16, Agence France Presse

The US on Thursday alleged that China blocked the issuing of a presidential statement on Burma at the UN Security Council.

Led by the US , a majority of the countries in the 15-member Security Council had favored issuing a presidential statement after closed door consultations on Tuesday and a briefing on the Burmese issue by Ibrahim Gambari, the UN Special Envoy on Burma .

A presidential statement—though not legally binding, unlike a resolution—can only be issued with a consensus, meaning that all members of the Security Council have to agree on it and its content. China opposed issuing a presidential statement on Burma , which would have been the second one in a little over a month.

“We were disappointed by their ( China 's) unwillingness to support a PRST (presidential statement). They were only willing to support a statement. We worked hard to persuade them to go for a PRST, but they did not cooperate,” the US Ambassador to the UN, Zalmay Khalilzad said.

This is for the first time that a top US official has come out openly to state that China was not cooperating with it and other like-minded members of the Security Council on the issue of Burma.

"China blocks UNSC presidential statement on Burma" - Lalit K Jha November 16, Irrawaddy