Aung San Suu Kyi asks for her freedom
Tue May 11, 3:59 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is making a final bid for freedom, lawyers said Tuesday after submitting a request for a special appeal against her house arrest.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has already lost two appeals against an August 2009 conviction, most recently at the country's High Court in February. Her last legal option is the Special Appellate Bench, a multi-judge panel in the remote administrative capital of Naypyitaw.
Lawyers filed their appeal Monday at the High Court, which will decide whether to forward the case to the special court for consideration, said attorney Nyan Win.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. In August 2009, she was convicted of violating the terms of her house arrest for briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her home, and she was ordered to serve three years in prison with hard labor. The trial drew global condemnation.
Suu Kyi's sentence was commuted to 18 months of extended house arrest, which would keep her detained through elections planned for later this year. An initial appeal was rejected in October 2009 and upheld by the High Court in February.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party, which won the country's last election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power, was disbanded last week after refusing to register for the upcoming polls.
The party has denounced new election laws as undemocratic and declined to register as required, which meant it was automatically dissolved.
U.S. envoy Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, met with Suu Kyi for nearly two hours Monday at the end of a two-day visit to Myanmar.
He did not reveal details of their talks, but praised her nonviolent struggle for democracy.
"She has demonstrated compassion and tolerance for her captors in the face of repeated indignities," he told reporters. "It is simply tragic that Burma's generals have rebuffed her countless appeals to work together to find a peaceable solution for a more prosperous future." Burma is another name for Myanmar.
In talks with senior junta officials, Campbell said he conveyed Washington's "profound disappointment" with events leading up to the election.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Campbell said. "We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections." The exact date for the polls has not been set.
Tue May 11, 3:59 am ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) – Myanmar's detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi is making a final bid for freedom, lawyers said Tuesday after submitting a request for a special appeal against her house arrest.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate has already lost two appeals against an August 2009 conviction, most recently at the country's High Court in February. Her last legal option is the Special Appellate Bench, a multi-judge panel in the remote administrative capital of Naypyitaw.
Lawyers filed their appeal Monday at the High Court, which will decide whether to forward the case to the special court for consideration, said attorney Nyan Win.
The 64-year-old Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for 14 of the past 20 years. In August 2009, she was convicted of violating the terms of her house arrest for briefly sheltering an American who swam uninvited to her home, and she was ordered to serve three years in prison with hard labor. The trial drew global condemnation.
Suu Kyi's sentence was commuted to 18 months of extended house arrest, which would keep her detained through elections planned for later this year. An initial appeal was rejected in October 2009 and upheld by the High Court in February.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party, which won the country's last election in 1990 but was not allowed to take power, was disbanded last week after refusing to register for the upcoming polls.
The party has denounced new election laws as undemocratic and declined to register as required, which meant it was automatically dissolved.
U.S. envoy Kurt Campbell, the assistant secretary of state for East Asia, met with Suu Kyi for nearly two hours Monday at the end of a two-day visit to Myanmar.
He did not reveal details of their talks, but praised her nonviolent struggle for democracy.
"She has demonstrated compassion and tolerance for her captors in the face of repeated indignities," he told reporters. "It is simply tragic that Burma's generals have rebuffed her countless appeals to work together to find a peaceable solution for a more prosperous future." Burma is another name for Myanmar.
In talks with senior junta officials, Campbell said he conveyed Washington's "profound disappointment" with events leading up to the election.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Campbell said. "We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections." The exact date for the polls has not been set.
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Top US envoy in Beijing after Myanmar visit
2 hrs 7 mins ago
BEIJING (AFP) – A senior US diplomat arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks with Chinese officials following a trip to Myanmar, where he expressed concerns over upcoming elections in the military-ruled nation.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell was to make a lightning visit to the Chinese capital, leaving later in the day, an embassy spokeswoman told AFP, without offering further details.
A US State Department official in Washington said Campbell would be meeting with "senior Chinese officials" during his brief stay, without offering information on the agenda for the talks.
Campbell could be briefing Chinese officials on his trip to Myanmar, where he met government officials and opposition leaders including detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
He said in a statement following his talks that the United States was disappointed in Myanmar's preparations for upcoming rare elections, and wanted "immediate steps to address fears that they would lack legitimacy.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Campbell said of the junta's plans to stage a vote later this year that would be the first in two decades.
"We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections," he said.
The senior US envoy could also be in Beijing for a briefing on the visit last week to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
Kim has said he remains committed to nuclear disarmament, North Korean and Chinese state media reported following his trip, his first abroad in years.
But no timetable was given for a resumption of six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear drive. The North abandoned the negotiations in April last year.
2 hrs 7 mins ago
BEIJING (AFP) – A senior US diplomat arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks with Chinese officials following a trip to Myanmar, where he expressed concerns over upcoming elections in the military-ruled nation.
Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell was to make a lightning visit to the Chinese capital, leaving later in the day, an embassy spokeswoman told AFP, without offering further details.
A US State Department official in Washington said Campbell would be meeting with "senior Chinese officials" during his brief stay, without offering information on the agenda for the talks.
Campbell could be briefing Chinese officials on his trip to Myanmar, where he met government officials and opposition leaders including detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.
He said in a statement following his talks that the United States was disappointed in Myanmar's preparations for upcoming rare elections, and wanted "immediate steps to address fears that they would lack legitimacy.
"What we have seen to date leads us to believe that these elections will lack international legitimacy," Campbell said of the junta's plans to stage a vote later this year that would be the first in two decades.
"We urge the regime to take immediate steps to open the process in the time remaining before the elections," he said.
The senior US envoy could also be in Beijing for a briefing on the visit last week to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il.
Kim has said he remains committed to nuclear disarmament, North Korean and Chinese state media reported following his trip, his first abroad in years.
But no timetable was given for a resumption of six-party talks on ending Pyongyang's nuclear drive. The North abandoned the negotiations in April last year.
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The Huffington Post - Hope and Humanitarian Space in Burma
By David Scott Mathieson
Burma Researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Posted: May 10, 2010 04:36 PM
BANGKOK--Two years ago, in early May 2008, Cyclone Nargis destroyed much of Burma's Irrawaddy Delta and parts of its former capital city Rangoon with 160 kilometer winds and a massive storm surge, killing more than 140,000 people. The ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) then failed to help, prioritizing their iron-clad grip on the country over the well-being of the Burmese people. They refused visas to international emergency relief workers, set up roadblocks to stall and in some cases seize aid, and expelled foreign reporters who were bringing the desperate situation to light. Only after the completion of the SPDC's charade referendum on a new constitution did they finally allow international aid to reach the storm victims.
But thousands of ordinary Burmese didn't wait. Many organized friends and colleagues, pooled their resources, and went to the affected areas to help distribute food and water, build shelters, tend to the injured, bury the dead, and assist survivors rebuild. They were myriad groups of private citizens such as engineers, doctors, rock stars, businessmen, travel agents, religious leaders, and others from all over in Burma who came to help any way they could.
In those desperate days after the cyclone, these brave Burmese thumbed their noses at their repressive government frozen by its inability to switch from brutality to compassion. One Burmese aid worker remarked: "It was Cyclone Nargis which created the space for us to engage in humanitarian work, not the government."
Hundreds of new ad-hoc civil society groups bloomed and grew, and networked to sustain the response. But there were limits, again set out by the SPDC: the military punished those who helped but then felt compelled to criticize the government's poor response. The famous comedian Zargana and twenty other community aid workers were arrested, hit with trumped up charges, and thrown into prison with long sentences - Zargana got 35 years - where they continue to languish, largely forgotten.
Optimism flourished in the months after the cyclone, with some foreign observers believing growing international aid response would help normalize aid relations and lead to a deeper understanding with SPDC leaders about the need for international assistance and expertise in development. The Tripartite Core Group of the SPDC, UN and ASEAN was presented as a model to expand operations throughout Burma.
Two years on, those hopes have not been realized. Humanitarian aid workers inside Burma told Human Rights Watch the major dividends from the Cyclone Nargis have not translated into expanded access for assistance in the rest of the country. One foreign aid worker remarked that "if the generals just took their boots off people's throats, Burma [and its development] would take off," he said.
Burma remains a development basket-case. It has the worst maternal mortality rate in Asia after Afghanistan. One-third of the country lives below the poverty line. The SPDC's limitations on operations of aid agencies contribute to Burma's status as one of the lowest per capita foreign aid recipients in the world, with only US$2.80 per capita. By comparison, neighboring Laos receives close US$50. Major health and livelihood challenges remain in the central dry zone of Burma, and in former opium growing areas of Shan state. Severe malnutrition affects many of the one million stateless Rohingya Muslims in Northern Arakan state. In eastern Burma, the world's longest running civil war has displaced millions, and access by aid workers is constrained by government restrictions, fighting and landmines. Major humanitarian aid donors like the European Union and Australia balk at finding new ways to deliver cross border assistance to conflict zones, despite the urgent needs.
Meanwhile, the SPDC is estimated to hold more than US$5 billion in foreign reserves and receives an estimated US$150 million per month in revenues from natural gas exports, but it hardly shares this largesse with its people. What limited assistance the Burmese government does provide is non-transparent, and channeled through its surrogates and contracts awarded to politically connected companies close to the military, such as Asia World, Htoo Trading, and Max Myanmar; all three companies are on Western sanctions lists. The regime spends most of the country's wealth on military hardware, infrastructure, and building the new capital city at Naypyidaw. The international community needs to better calibrate and coordinate targeted financial sanctions against the regime leadership and their close business associates to exert pressure on this state perpetrated perfidy. Only increased pressure on the leadership's interests and income will compel them to observe more responsible distribution of resources.
The real hope for expanding humanitarian space in the country rests with Burmese civil society itself. International donors and UN agencies should find ways to increasingly support their efforts, while ensuring that assistance does not benefit the military, or the companies of military families and favored tycoons. The people of Burma are the real hope, and the only solution, to their country's problems.
David Scott Mathieson is Burma researcher for Human Rights Watch
By David Scott Mathieson
Burma Researcher for Human Rights Watch.
Posted: May 10, 2010 04:36 PM
BANGKOK--Two years ago, in early May 2008, Cyclone Nargis destroyed much of Burma's Irrawaddy Delta and parts of its former capital city Rangoon with 160 kilometer winds and a massive storm surge, killing more than 140,000 people. The ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) then failed to help, prioritizing their iron-clad grip on the country over the well-being of the Burmese people. They refused visas to international emergency relief workers, set up roadblocks to stall and in some cases seize aid, and expelled foreign reporters who were bringing the desperate situation to light. Only after the completion of the SPDC's charade referendum on a new constitution did they finally allow international aid to reach the storm victims.
But thousands of ordinary Burmese didn't wait. Many organized friends and colleagues, pooled their resources, and went to the affected areas to help distribute food and water, build shelters, tend to the injured, bury the dead, and assist survivors rebuild. They were myriad groups of private citizens such as engineers, doctors, rock stars, businessmen, travel agents, religious leaders, and others from all over in Burma who came to help any way they could.
In those desperate days after the cyclone, these brave Burmese thumbed their noses at their repressive government frozen by its inability to switch from brutality to compassion. One Burmese aid worker remarked: "It was Cyclone Nargis which created the space for us to engage in humanitarian work, not the government."
Hundreds of new ad-hoc civil society groups bloomed and grew, and networked to sustain the response. But there were limits, again set out by the SPDC: the military punished those who helped but then felt compelled to criticize the government's poor response. The famous comedian Zargana and twenty other community aid workers were arrested, hit with trumped up charges, and thrown into prison with long sentences - Zargana got 35 years - where they continue to languish, largely forgotten.
Optimism flourished in the months after the cyclone, with some foreign observers believing growing international aid response would help normalize aid relations and lead to a deeper understanding with SPDC leaders about the need for international assistance and expertise in development. The Tripartite Core Group of the SPDC, UN and ASEAN was presented as a model to expand operations throughout Burma.
Two years on, those hopes have not been realized. Humanitarian aid workers inside Burma told Human Rights Watch the major dividends from the Cyclone Nargis have not translated into expanded access for assistance in the rest of the country. One foreign aid worker remarked that "if the generals just took their boots off people's throats, Burma [and its development] would take off," he said.
Burma remains a development basket-case. It has the worst maternal mortality rate in Asia after Afghanistan. One-third of the country lives below the poverty line. The SPDC's limitations on operations of aid agencies contribute to Burma's status as one of the lowest per capita foreign aid recipients in the world, with only US$2.80 per capita. By comparison, neighboring Laos receives close US$50. Major health and livelihood challenges remain in the central dry zone of Burma, and in former opium growing areas of Shan state. Severe malnutrition affects many of the one million stateless Rohingya Muslims in Northern Arakan state. In eastern Burma, the world's longest running civil war has displaced millions, and access by aid workers is constrained by government restrictions, fighting and landmines. Major humanitarian aid donors like the European Union and Australia balk at finding new ways to deliver cross border assistance to conflict zones, despite the urgent needs.
Meanwhile, the SPDC is estimated to hold more than US$5 billion in foreign reserves and receives an estimated US$150 million per month in revenues from natural gas exports, but it hardly shares this largesse with its people. What limited assistance the Burmese government does provide is non-transparent, and channeled through its surrogates and contracts awarded to politically connected companies close to the military, such as Asia World, Htoo Trading, and Max Myanmar; all three companies are on Western sanctions lists. The regime spends most of the country's wealth on military hardware, infrastructure, and building the new capital city at Naypyidaw. The international community needs to better calibrate and coordinate targeted financial sanctions against the regime leadership and their close business associates to exert pressure on this state perpetrated perfidy. Only increased pressure on the leadership's interests and income will compel them to observe more responsible distribution of resources.
The real hope for expanding humanitarian space in the country rests with Burmese civil society itself. International donors and UN agencies should find ways to increasingly support their efforts, while ensuring that assistance does not benefit the military, or the companies of military families and favored tycoons. The people of Burma are the real hope, and the only solution, to their country's problems.
David Scott Mathieson is Burma researcher for Human Rights Watch
***************************************************
Heat wave kills 2 people in Myanmar
English.news.cn 2010-05-11 21:04:47
YANGON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Two people have died of heat strike in Myanmar's former capital of Yangon over the past few days, the local weekly Yangon Times reported Tuesday.
The two drivers of three-wheelers were dead under scorching noon sun after they dropped their passengers at the destination.
Frightened by the tragedy, all other drivers stopped their business immediately in the afternoon but resumed in the evening to avoid the life-threatening temperature, the report said.
Summer season in Myanmar lasts from March to May, and April represents the hottest month.
As a rare phenomena in several decades, this summer is undergoing excessive heat wave.
The day temperatures in central Myanmar posted a record high at between 43 and 45 degree Celsius, 5 to 6 degree Celsius above April average maximum temperature.
People are forced to choose to remain indoor in the day time and knowledge about prevention from heat is being publicly disseminated.
English.news.cn 2010-05-11 21:04:47
YANGON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Two people have died of heat strike in Myanmar's former capital of Yangon over the past few days, the local weekly Yangon Times reported Tuesday.
The two drivers of three-wheelers were dead under scorching noon sun after they dropped their passengers at the destination.
Frightened by the tragedy, all other drivers stopped their business immediately in the afternoon but resumed in the evening to avoid the life-threatening temperature, the report said.
Summer season in Myanmar lasts from March to May, and April represents the hottest month.
As a rare phenomena in several decades, this summer is undergoing excessive heat wave.
The day temperatures in central Myanmar posted a record high at between 43 and 45 degree Celsius, 5 to 6 degree Celsius above April average maximum temperature.
People are forced to choose to remain indoor in the day time and knowledge about prevention from heat is being publicly disseminated.
***************************************************
Japan to help Myanmar build concrete jetty
English.news.cn 2010-05-11 11:31:04
YANGON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Japan will help Myanmar build a storm-resistant modern concrete jetty at the Yangon Port, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.
It was discussed at the Myanmar Port Authority Head Office Monday between the Japanese Embassy and the Myanmar Ministry of Transport, respectively represented by Economic Counselor Mitsuji Suzuka and Deputy Minister of Transport U Nyan Tun, the report said.
According to the report, the jetty will be constructed near Botataung pontoon jetties at the Yangon Port with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which is Japanese government's overseas aid agency.
The Botataung port terminal is among the five at the Yangon Port, previously operated by the government's Transport Ministry and now covered by a privatization plan.
The Botataung port terminal was also among those destroyed by cyclone Nargis in early May 2008 but was renovated later.
English.news.cn 2010-05-11 11:31:04
YANGON, May 11 (Xinhua) -- Japan will help Myanmar build a storm-resistant modern concrete jetty at the Yangon Port, the official newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.
It was discussed at the Myanmar Port Authority Head Office Monday between the Japanese Embassy and the Myanmar Ministry of Transport, respectively represented by Economic Counselor Mitsuji Suzuka and Deputy Minister of Transport U Nyan Tun, the report said.
According to the report, the jetty will be constructed near Botataung pontoon jetties at the Yangon Port with the assistance of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) which is Japanese government's overseas aid agency.
The Botataung port terminal is among the five at the Yangon Port, previously operated by the government's Transport Ministry and now covered by a privatization plan.
The Botataung port terminal was also among those destroyed by cyclone Nargis in early May 2008 but was renovated later.
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VOA News - US: Burma Engagement Not Ending Despite 'Disappointing' Envoy Visit
David Gollust | State Department 10 May 2010
The State Department says the Obama administration is not giving up on engagement with Burma, despite what it called a "disappointing" weekend visit there by a senior U.S. envoy. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell was allowed to meet with detained Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Campbell had made a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi a condition for visiting Burma. Although he was allowed to meet the detained Nobel Peace laureate at a government guest house, he apparently made no headway in changing Burmese plans for an election that U.S. officials warn will have no credibility.
The Burma visit was Campbell's second since November under an Obama administration effort to engage the reclusive East Asian military government and prod it toward reform.
Campbell said in a departure statement on Monday that he was "profoundly disappointed" with the response of Burmese authorities to his appeals to open up the country's electoral process.
He said that although he presented a proposal for a "credible" political dialogue among all stakeholders in Burma, the military government said it will move ahead unilaterally with plans for an election that Campbell said will lack international legitimacy.
There were similar comments from State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley, who said U.S. efforts to engage the military authorities will nevertheless continue with the support of Aung San Suu Kyi.
"As to our efforts to continue to engage, it is why Kurt Campbell went," said P.J. Crowley. "And, in fact, during the course of his conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi, she shared his disappointment that the government was not more forthcoming, was not willing to expand political space, was not willing to have meaningful dialogue with its ethnic groups. But she also continued to support U.S. efforts and international efforts to engage the Burmese government."
Crowley gave no indication of when or how engagement might continue. But he said the Obama administration will continue to press Burmese officials for election changes.
He also said the United States wants Burma to live up to its obligations under last year's U.N. Security Council resolution, tightening an arms embargo against North Korea, although he did not specify how Burma might have violated its terms.
Rules for the Burmese election, to be held sometime later this year, effectively bar Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party from taking part, even though the NLD won the country's last election in 1990 but was barred from taking power.
Human rights groups long critical of the Burmese military government have voiced general support for the U.S. outreach effort.
But Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, says she doubts Burmese authorities will change course unless international sanctions are tightened.
"In principle, I think, there's nothing wrong with him [Assistant Secretary of State Campbell] meeting the SPDC [the military government]," said Sophie Richardson. "But I think the reality is that no amount of dialogue is going to work, unless it is attached to consequential actions like the full implementation of banking sanctions and pursuit of a commission of inquiry for war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Former President George W. Bush's administration imposed a near total trade ban against Burma because of its human rights record. Campbell stressed Monday that U.S. sanctions will continue under President Barack Obama.
The U.S. diplomat said he was "moved" by Aung San Suu Kyi's perseverance and commitment to a more just and benevolent Burma, despite her years of detention. He said it is "simply tragic" that authorities have rebuffed her many appeals to work together to solve the country's problems.
David Gollust | State Department 10 May 2010
The State Department says the Obama administration is not giving up on engagement with Burma, despite what it called a "disappointing" weekend visit there by a senior U.S. envoy. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Kurt Campbell was allowed to meet with detained Burmese democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Campbell had made a meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi a condition for visiting Burma. Although he was allowed to meet the detained Nobel Peace laureate at a government guest house, he apparently made no headway in changing Burmese plans for an election that U.S. officials warn will have no credibility.
The Burma visit was Campbell's second since November under an Obama administration effort to engage the reclusive East Asian military government and prod it toward reform.
Campbell said in a departure statement on Monday that he was "profoundly disappointed" with the response of Burmese authorities to his appeals to open up the country's electoral process.
He said that although he presented a proposal for a "credible" political dialogue among all stakeholders in Burma, the military government said it will move ahead unilaterally with plans for an election that Campbell said will lack international legitimacy.
There were similar comments from State Department Spokesman P.J. Crowley, who said U.S. efforts to engage the military authorities will nevertheless continue with the support of Aung San Suu Kyi.
"As to our efforts to continue to engage, it is why Kurt Campbell went," said P.J. Crowley. "And, in fact, during the course of his conversation with Aung San Suu Kyi, she shared his disappointment that the government was not more forthcoming, was not willing to expand political space, was not willing to have meaningful dialogue with its ethnic groups. But she also continued to support U.S. efforts and international efforts to engage the Burmese government."
Crowley gave no indication of when or how engagement might continue. But he said the Obama administration will continue to press Burmese officials for election changes.
He also said the United States wants Burma to live up to its obligations under last year's U.N. Security Council resolution, tightening an arms embargo against North Korea, although he did not specify how Burma might have violated its terms.
Rules for the Burmese election, to be held sometime later this year, effectively bar Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party from taking part, even though the NLD won the country's last election in 1990 but was barred from taking power.
Human rights groups long critical of the Burmese military government have voiced general support for the U.S. outreach effort.
But Sophie Richardson, Asia advocacy director for Human Rights Watch, says she doubts Burmese authorities will change course unless international sanctions are tightened.
"In principle, I think, there's nothing wrong with him [Assistant Secretary of State Campbell] meeting the SPDC [the military government]," said Sophie Richardson. "But I think the reality is that no amount of dialogue is going to work, unless it is attached to consequential actions like the full implementation of banking sanctions and pursuit of a commission of inquiry for war crimes and crimes against humanity."
Former President George W. Bush's administration imposed a near total trade ban against Burma because of its human rights record. Campbell stressed Monday that U.S. sanctions will continue under President Barack Obama.
The U.S. diplomat said he was "moved" by Aung San Suu Kyi's perseverance and commitment to a more just and benevolent Burma, despite her years of detention. He said it is "simply tragic" that authorities have rebuffed her many appeals to work together to solve the country's problems.
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American Association for the Advancement of Science
AAAS-Led Delegation Discusses Forestry, Health, and Research with Myanmar S&T Leaders
Edward W. Lempinen
11 May 2010
A six-member delegation led by Nobel laureate Peter Agre, chairman of the AAAS Board, held high-level discussions on forestry, health, and other science-related issues with Myanmar science and academic leaders during three days of meetings in Naypyitaw and Yangon.
On returning to the United States, AAAS officials described the talks as cordial and constructive. They were impressed by Burmese interest in cooperatively addressing malaria and other infectious diseases and protecting forests and animal habitats—and by their interest in engaging with scientists and others from the United States.
“Myanmar is making an effort to educate its young scientists, which is complicated by limited resources and equipment along with a lack of networks of peers, especially in the West,” said Agre, who shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry. “This trip may be an important initial step towards connecting their scientific community with their American counterparts in a way that advances science.”
Thet Win, a member of the U.S. delegation and founder of the US Collection Humanitarian and Research Corps, said the visit sent an important message to the people of Myanmar.
“We are compelled by compassion to help those suffering from poverty, disease, and environmental and ecological destruction,” he said. “Ultimately, only science and education can contribute to the solutions and remedies for these ills.... My impression is that Myanmar scientists and educators are interested in engagement with AAAS and welcome the fact that a well-known U.S. organization is looking for mutually beneficial ways to interact.”
The delegation was in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from 6-10 April. Among those who welcomed the Americans were Brigadier-General Thein Aung, the forestry minister; Dr. Mya Oo, the deputy health minister; Ko Ko Oo, director-general of the Ministry of Science and Technology; Mya Mya Oo, rector of Yangon Technological University and of Mandalay Technological University; and the pro-rectors of Yangon University. At least two stories in Myanmar’s English-language press covered the visit.
In addition to Agre and Thet Win, the AAAS delegation included: Norman P. Neureiter, a former science adviser to the U.S. secretary of state and currently senior adviser to the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy; Robert J. Swap, a research associate professor in environmental sciences at the University of Virginia; Tom Wang, deputy director of the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy; and center Director Vaughan Turekian, who also serves as AAAS chief international officer.
The AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy was founded in 2008, and has been guided by the premise that science engagement can be a basis for building international communication and understanding even where governmental ties are strained or broken. In recent months, Agre also has led delegations to Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Since the delegation’s return, it has held or planned briefings with a number of parties interested in Myanmar, including members of Congress such as U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia), who has chaired hearings on U.S.-Myanmar relations, and the U.S. State Department. Delegation members also were featured in a public forum at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist nation; it shares borders with India, China, and other Southeast Asian nations. While it is rich in resources, including timber, natural gas, and precious stones, the economy remains largely agricultural. Most people live at the subsistence level, and conditions declined further after Cyclone Nargis came ashore in the Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008. It was the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history, killing more than 130,000 people and causing an estimated $10 billion in damage.
Ties between Myanmar and the United States and much of the West have been profoundly strained since a popular uprising in 1988 and subsequent suppression of democracy movements. U.S. sanctions designed to isolate Myanmar have blocked virtually all economic activity between the two nations.
Myanmar does have increasing engagement with countries in Europe and Southeast Asia, and in the months before the AAAS delegation embarked, signals suggested that the United States government might move toward engagement with Myanmar’s government. Last August, Webb became the first senior United States official in a decade to visit the nation. Kurt M. Campbell, assistant U.S. secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made an exploratory visit last November.
A number of news reports have announced Myanmar’s upcoming election, though a date and other details have not been set.
Because so few Americans have visited the nation in recent years, members of the delegation were not sure what to expect on their arrival. But, they said, the welcome was warm and sincere. And during the three days of travel and meetings, they gleaned some significant—and sometimes surprising—insights.
Swap, the University of Virginia professor, said members of the delegation met two women who were serving as high-level advisers to the Ministry of Science and Technology. They had worked in 134 off-the-grid villages to install “bio-digesters” that capture methane from organic waste and convert it into electricity.
Swap and others were surprised and impressed as well by Myanmar’s work on health issues, including ambitious efforts to monitor malaria, diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other infectious illness.
Forestry and conservation are areas where Myanmar has focused its research and conservation efforts. In a visit to the Forestry Ministry and an affiliated forestry lab, Myanmar officials said that tiger and elephant protection programs and mangrove restoration projects are part of their work in 40 conservation areas.
“It’s clear forests are an area where they have an active and evolving management policy which is informed by science and scientific research,” said Turekian, AAAS’s chief international officer. “There was a great awareness at the Ministry of Forests about the vulnerability of their forests to climate change and extreme events, and also to poachers.
“What was clear in all of our meetings with ministry researchers and academic experts was their interest in working with their U.S. counterparts.”
Added Swap: “I found people [in Myanmar] to be generally upbeat. They were really excited about us being there, they were excited about having an opportunity to be exposed to what people elsewhere in the world are doing, especially on problems they face—in forestry, health, and with solutions that don’t have to cost much.”
Having done extensive work in southern Africa, Swap envisions possible opportunities to build networks linking Myanmar with people and groups there and in other places that have addressed similar challenges. “We are jointly looking at opportunities for Myanmar experts to have increased interaction with colleagues in other regions,” Swap said.
Thet Win, a Myanmar native whose humanitarian agency is based in Washington, D.C., sees a great benefit just in bringing the two sides together for a few days.
“This mission was important to undertake because there is an oversimplified representation of Myanmar in the U.S.,” he said. “US Collection encourages people to visit Myanmar and see the reality for themselves. Then they will learn the truth and see that there is room to maneuver for mutually beneficial engagement activities with Myanmar.”
Agre, the AAAS Board chairman, found the youth of Myanmar to be a particular hope for the future. “Like other developing countries, I feel Myanmar’s youth may be their most precious commodity,” he said. “I sense that we can really help them if we can find an opportunity to engage after the elections.”
AAAS-Led Delegation Discusses Forestry, Health, and Research with Myanmar S&T Leaders
Edward W. Lempinen
11 May 2010
A six-member delegation led by Nobel laureate Peter Agre, chairman of the AAAS Board, held high-level discussions on forestry, health, and other science-related issues with Myanmar science and academic leaders during three days of meetings in Naypyitaw and Yangon.
On returning to the United States, AAAS officials described the talks as cordial and constructive. They were impressed by Burmese interest in cooperatively addressing malaria and other infectious diseases and protecting forests and animal habitats—and by their interest in engaging with scientists and others from the United States.
“Myanmar is making an effort to educate its young scientists, which is complicated by limited resources and equipment along with a lack of networks of peers, especially in the West,” said Agre, who shared the 2003 Nobel Prize in chemistry. “This trip may be an important initial step towards connecting their scientific community with their American counterparts in a way that advances science.”
Thet Win, a member of the U.S. delegation and founder of the US Collection Humanitarian and Research Corps, said the visit sent an important message to the people of Myanmar.
“We are compelled by compassion to help those suffering from poverty, disease, and environmental and ecological destruction,” he said. “Ultimately, only science and education can contribute to the solutions and remedies for these ills.... My impression is that Myanmar scientists and educators are interested in engagement with AAAS and welcome the fact that a well-known U.S. organization is looking for mutually beneficial ways to interact.”
The delegation was in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, from 6-10 April. Among those who welcomed the Americans were Brigadier-General Thein Aung, the forestry minister; Dr. Mya Oo, the deputy health minister; Ko Ko Oo, director-general of the Ministry of Science and Technology; Mya Mya Oo, rector of Yangon Technological University and of Mandalay Technological University; and the pro-rectors of Yangon University. At least two stories in Myanmar’s English-language press covered the visit.
In addition to Agre and Thet Win, the AAAS delegation included: Norman P. Neureiter, a former science adviser to the U.S. secretary of state and currently senior adviser to the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy; Robert J. Swap, a research associate professor in environmental sciences at the University of Virginia; Tom Wang, deputy director of the AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy; and center Director Vaughan Turekian, who also serves as AAAS chief international officer.
The AAAS Center for Science Diplomacy was founded in 2008, and has been guided by the premise that science engagement can be a basis for building international communication and understanding even where governmental ties are strained or broken. In recent months, Agre also has led delegations to Cuba and the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
Since the delegation’s return, it has held or planned briefings with a number of parties interested in Myanmar, including members of Congress such as U.S. Senator Jim Webb (D-Virginia), who has chaired hearings on U.S.-Myanmar relations, and the U.S. State Department. Delegation members also were featured in a public forum at the Center for Strategic & International Studies.
Myanmar is a predominantly Buddhist nation; it shares borders with India, China, and other Southeast Asian nations. While it is rich in resources, including timber, natural gas, and precious stones, the economy remains largely agricultural. Most people live at the subsistence level, and conditions declined further after Cyclone Nargis came ashore in the Irrawaddy Delta in May 2008. It was the worst natural disaster in the nation’s history, killing more than 130,000 people and causing an estimated $10 billion in damage.
Ties between Myanmar and the United States and much of the West have been profoundly strained since a popular uprising in 1988 and subsequent suppression of democracy movements. U.S. sanctions designed to isolate Myanmar have blocked virtually all economic activity between the two nations.
Myanmar does have increasing engagement with countries in Europe and Southeast Asia, and in the months before the AAAS delegation embarked, signals suggested that the United States government might move toward engagement with Myanmar’s government. Last August, Webb became the first senior United States official in a decade to visit the nation. Kurt M. Campbell, assistant U.S. secretary of state for the Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, made an exploratory visit last November.
A number of news reports have announced Myanmar’s upcoming election, though a date and other details have not been set.
Because so few Americans have visited the nation in recent years, members of the delegation were not sure what to expect on their arrival. But, they said, the welcome was warm and sincere. And during the three days of travel and meetings, they gleaned some significant—and sometimes surprising—insights.
Swap, the University of Virginia professor, said members of the delegation met two women who were serving as high-level advisers to the Ministry of Science and Technology. They had worked in 134 off-the-grid villages to install “bio-digesters” that capture methane from organic waste and convert it into electricity.
Swap and others were surprised and impressed as well by Myanmar’s work on health issues, including ambitious efforts to monitor malaria, diarrheal diseases, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and other infectious illness.
Forestry and conservation are areas where Myanmar has focused its research and conservation efforts. In a visit to the Forestry Ministry and an affiliated forestry lab, Myanmar officials said that tiger and elephant protection programs and mangrove restoration projects are part of their work in 40 conservation areas.
“It’s clear forests are an area where they have an active and evolving management policy which is informed by science and scientific research,” said Turekian, AAAS’s chief international officer. “There was a great awareness at the Ministry of Forests about the vulnerability of their forests to climate change and extreme events, and also to poachers.
“What was clear in all of our meetings with ministry researchers and academic experts was their interest in working with their U.S. counterparts.”
Added Swap: “I found people [in Myanmar] to be generally upbeat. They were really excited about us being there, they were excited about having an opportunity to be exposed to what people elsewhere in the world are doing, especially on problems they face—in forestry, health, and with solutions that don’t have to cost much.”
Having done extensive work in southern Africa, Swap envisions possible opportunities to build networks linking Myanmar with people and groups there and in other places that have addressed similar challenges. “We are jointly looking at opportunities for Myanmar experts to have increased interaction with colleagues in other regions,” Swap said.
Thet Win, a Myanmar native whose humanitarian agency is based in Washington, D.C., sees a great benefit just in bringing the two sides together for a few days.
“This mission was important to undertake because there is an oversimplified representation of Myanmar in the U.S.,” he said. “US Collection encourages people to visit Myanmar and see the reality for themselves. Then they will learn the truth and see that there is room to maneuver for mutually beneficial engagement activities with Myanmar.”
Agre, the AAAS Board chairman, found the youth of Myanmar to be a particular hope for the future. “Like other developing countries, I feel Myanmar’s youth may be their most precious commodity,” he said. “I sense that we can really help them if we can find an opportunity to engage after the elections.”
***************************************************
The Nation - 1.2m Burmese workers expected to register by 2012
Published on May 12, 2010
So far, some 82,700 Burmese workers have passed the national identification process, and it is expected that all 1.2 million alien workers from Burma should pass the process by the end of 2012, the Employment Department's chief said yesterday.
The number isn't great enough for the Burmese and Thai authorities to speed up to meet their goal, Jeerasak Sukhonthachat said. From June, some 1,800 workers are expected to undergo the process on a daily basis at the three ThaiBurma border checkpoints providing such services. If about 50,000 workers are processed every month, some 1.2 million workers should have passed the process and obtained a Burmese passport by the end of 2012, he said.
The department will also try to inform workers who have already obtained temporary passports to swap their pink identification cards for green ones. The pink card requires an alien worker to only be employed in a specific area, while a green card would allow them to travel freely around the country.
Published on May 12, 2010
So far, some 82,700 Burmese workers have passed the national identification process, and it is expected that all 1.2 million alien workers from Burma should pass the process by the end of 2012, the Employment Department's chief said yesterday.
The number isn't great enough for the Burmese and Thai authorities to speed up to meet their goal, Jeerasak Sukhonthachat said. From June, some 1,800 workers are expected to undergo the process on a daily basis at the three ThaiBurma border checkpoints providing such services. If about 50,000 workers are processed every month, some 1.2 million workers should have passed the process and obtained a Burmese passport by the end of 2012, he said.
The department will also try to inform workers who have already obtained temporary passports to swap their pink identification cards for green ones. The pink card requires an alien worker to only be employed in a specific area, while a green card would allow them to travel freely around the country.
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informationliberation - Police Raid Wrong Apartment, Brutalize Terrified Refugees
Incident evokes flashbacks of home country
Susan Clairmont and Nicole O'Reilly, The Hamilton Spectator
Article posted May 10 2010, 4:52 PM
Hamilton's police chief admits they got the wrong apartment and the wrong man when officers burst into the home of an unsuspecting refugee from Myanmar who was left terrified and bloodied.
Heavily armed officers were looking for an alleged cocaine dealer who lives in a different unit in the same apartment building as 58-year-old Po La Hay and his two adult children.
Hay was home around 9 p.m. Tuesday readying things for work the next day at a garden centre when he claims police broke down his door and aimed guns at his head.
"I didn't even have a chance to say any words," he said through interpreter Lerwah Lobo.
Terrified, Hay collapsed to the ground. Officers handcuffed him and asked if he was the man listed on their warrant, he said. When he said, "No, my name is Po La," Hay claims officers smashed his face on the floor and began kicking him. He was scared to move, believing they might be robbers despite the uniforms.
Telling the story, Hay smiles politely and shakes a little. He has stitches above his left eye, a bruised and bloodied nose and red marks along his back and side. He said one rib is broken and he will have to return to doctors for more tests. He looks less than 100 pounds.
"Our officers attended an address to apprehend a party wanted for trafficking narcotics," said Chief Glenn De Caire. "The person we wanted was in the apartment next door. All the right investigative steps were taken and in the end, it was wrong ... We accept responsibility."
De Caire said he met yesterday with members of Hay's family and apologized. He also offered the services of counsellors and to meet again with the whole family.
Hay said he is too scared to meet with police and his only concern is lost wages for time off work.
When asked about Hay's injuries, De Caire told The Spectator he would not comment, saying only that a complaint has been filed with the Ontario Independent Police Review Director (OPIRD) -- an arms-length agency created seven months ago by the Attorney General. It is staffed entirely by civilians and is meant to keep police accountable for their actions.
But in a later statement, De Caire acknowledged that "during the process of securing the residence, a resident of the home was injured. Officers on the scene called for an ambulance and the resident was taken to hospital."
OPIRD "has carriage of the complaint now," said De Caire. Neither the chief nor OPIRD would say who laid the complaint. The next step is for OPIRD to determine if the complaint has merit, and if so, an investigation will begin that could result in a public hearing and discipline.
Hay's 23-year-old son, Say Blut, was in bed and was handcuffed after police knocked on his door. Another man, 21-year-old Panar Noo, was in the bathroom and alleges police handcuffed him, kicked him and dragged him downstairs.
While Hay says he was being kicked and punched, another team of officers arrived and one yelled "stop, stop." The officers did. They didn't apologize, he said. But a couple tried to wash some of the blood from his face.
The alleged cocaine dealer police were supposed to arrest that night was a 35-year-old whose name is not remotely similar to Po La Hay, according to a copy of the search warrant obtained by The Spectator. The apartment unit listed on the warrant is Hay's.
Police confirm that the intended target was later arrested. He faces two charges of trafficking.
A Hamilton detective constable got a "telewarrant" (done after hours and by phone) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday from a justice of the peace in Newmarket. The warrant permitted officers to seize "cocaine, scales, money, cellphone, debt list, packaging and documents."
For Hay and members of the Karen community, the botched arrest threatens their trust of police. The Karen people are a persecuted ethnic group in Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Hay and his family, like most Karen people, was forced into a refugee camp by authorities. This treatment has resulted in common mistrust of police.
While in the camp, Hay's wife died of malaria in 1994. He managed to flee to Thailand with his son and daughter, Ba Blut, now 19. The family became successful refugee claimants to Canada in 2006.
There are about 300 Karen refugees in Hamilton. Most have been here for about three years.
Madina Wasuge, executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, called the botched arrest disturbing. "People flee situations that are dangerous and when they come to Canada, the first thing they are expecting is to be safe," she said, adding the actions nullify all the work her organization and others have done.
Fellow Karen and Hay's friend La Pa said her community feels isolated and scared since this incident.
"When we came to Canada, the first people we met were the police and they said you are safe," she said.
Now this incident is giving her flashbacks to her home country.
The raid on Hay's home came at the end of a two-week project by the vice and drug unit intended to target street level drug traffickers. Yesterday, just hours before Hay's family met with the chief, police issued a media release praising the "aggressive enforcement initiative" which also involved members of the BEAR (Break, Enter, Auto theft and Robbery) Unit, Guns and Weapons Enforcement Unit, the Intelligence Unit, the Emergency Response Unit and Uniform Patrol.
De Caire touted the good work of his officers "overall" and the "number of drugs taken off the streets that will not make it into the hands of children."
Most of the activity took place in the downtown core, with 49 arrests made, 100 charges laid and $1.2 million in drugs seized including cocaine, crack, marijuana, oxycodone and the largest seizure ever of crystal methamphetamine.
Incident evokes flashbacks of home country
Susan Clairmont and Nicole O'Reilly, The Hamilton Spectator
Article posted May 10 2010, 4:52 PM
Hamilton's police chief admits they got the wrong apartment and the wrong man when officers burst into the home of an unsuspecting refugee from Myanmar who was left terrified and bloodied.
Heavily armed officers were looking for an alleged cocaine dealer who lives in a different unit in the same apartment building as 58-year-old Po La Hay and his two adult children.
Hay was home around 9 p.m. Tuesday readying things for work the next day at a garden centre when he claims police broke down his door and aimed guns at his head.
"I didn't even have a chance to say any words," he said through interpreter Lerwah Lobo.
Terrified, Hay collapsed to the ground. Officers handcuffed him and asked if he was the man listed on their warrant, he said. When he said, "No, my name is Po La," Hay claims officers smashed his face on the floor and began kicking him. He was scared to move, believing they might be robbers despite the uniforms.
Telling the story, Hay smiles politely and shakes a little. He has stitches above his left eye, a bruised and bloodied nose and red marks along his back and side. He said one rib is broken and he will have to return to doctors for more tests. He looks less than 100 pounds.
"Our officers attended an address to apprehend a party wanted for trafficking narcotics," said Chief Glenn De Caire. "The person we wanted was in the apartment next door. All the right investigative steps were taken and in the end, it was wrong ... We accept responsibility."
De Caire said he met yesterday with members of Hay's family and apologized. He also offered the services of counsellors and to meet again with the whole family.
Hay said he is too scared to meet with police and his only concern is lost wages for time off work.
When asked about Hay's injuries, De Caire told The Spectator he would not comment, saying only that a complaint has been filed with the Ontario Independent Police Review Director (OPIRD) -- an arms-length agency created seven months ago by the Attorney General. It is staffed entirely by civilians and is meant to keep police accountable for their actions.
But in a later statement, De Caire acknowledged that "during the process of securing the residence, a resident of the home was injured. Officers on the scene called for an ambulance and the resident was taken to hospital."
OPIRD "has carriage of the complaint now," said De Caire. Neither the chief nor OPIRD would say who laid the complaint. The next step is for OPIRD to determine if the complaint has merit, and if so, an investigation will begin that could result in a public hearing and discipline.
Hay's 23-year-old son, Say Blut, was in bed and was handcuffed after police knocked on his door. Another man, 21-year-old Panar Noo, was in the bathroom and alleges police handcuffed him, kicked him and dragged him downstairs.
While Hay says he was being kicked and punched, another team of officers arrived and one yelled "stop, stop." The officers did. They didn't apologize, he said. But a couple tried to wash some of the blood from his face.
The alleged cocaine dealer police were supposed to arrest that night was a 35-year-old whose name is not remotely similar to Po La Hay, according to a copy of the search warrant obtained by The Spectator. The apartment unit listed on the warrant is Hay's.
Police confirm that the intended target was later arrested. He faces two charges of trafficking.
A Hamilton detective constable got a "telewarrant" (done after hours and by phone) at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday from a justice of the peace in Newmarket. The warrant permitted officers to seize "cocaine, scales, money, cellphone, debt list, packaging and documents."
For Hay and members of the Karen community, the botched arrest threatens their trust of police. The Karen people are a persecuted ethnic group in Myanmar (formerly Burma).
Hay and his family, like most Karen people, was forced into a refugee camp by authorities. This treatment has resulted in common mistrust of police.
While in the camp, Hay's wife died of malaria in 1994. He managed to flee to Thailand with his son and daughter, Ba Blut, now 19. The family became successful refugee claimants to Canada in 2006.
There are about 300 Karen refugees in Hamilton. Most have been here for about three years.
Madina Wasuge, executive director of the Hamilton Centre for Civic Inclusion, called the botched arrest disturbing. "People flee situations that are dangerous and when they come to Canada, the first thing they are expecting is to be safe," she said, adding the actions nullify all the work her organization and others have done.
Fellow Karen and Hay's friend La Pa said her community feels isolated and scared since this incident.
"When we came to Canada, the first people we met were the police and they said you are safe," she said.
Now this incident is giving her flashbacks to her home country.
The raid on Hay's home came at the end of a two-week project by the vice and drug unit intended to target street level drug traffickers. Yesterday, just hours before Hay's family met with the chief, police issued a media release praising the "aggressive enforcement initiative" which also involved members of the BEAR (Break, Enter, Auto theft and Robbery) Unit, Guns and Weapons Enforcement Unit, the Intelligence Unit, the Emergency Response Unit and Uniform Patrol.
De Caire touted the good work of his officers "overall" and the "number of drugs taken off the streets that will not make it into the hands of children."
Most of the activity took place in the downtown core, with 49 arrests made, 100 charges laid and $1.2 million in drugs seized including cocaine, crack, marijuana, oxycodone and the largest seizure ever of crystal methamphetamine.
***************************************************
May 12, 2010
Asia Times Online- China's dam builders clean up overseas
By Peter Bosshard
In the early years of the new century, Chinese dam builders and financiers appeared on the global hydropower market with a bang. China Exim Bank and companies such as Sinohydro, China Gezhouba Group and China Southern Power Grid started to take on large, destructive projects in countries like Myanmar and Sudan, which had previously been shunned by the international community. Their emergence threatened to roll back progress regarding human rights and the environment which civil society had achieved over many years.
However, new evidence suggests that Chinese dam builders and financiers are trying to become good corporate citizens rather than rogue players on the global market. Here is a progress report from the perspective of an international civil society advocate.
In December 2003, China Exim Bank approved US$519 million in loans for the Merowe Dam in Sudan. The Chinese government’s export credit agency thus helped kick off a project which would displace more than 50,000 people from the fertile Nile Valley into desert locations and for which the Sudanese government had failed to attract funders for many years. China Exim Bank also provided support to projects in Myanmar such as the Yeywa and Lower Paunglaung dams, which no other funder was prepared to touch. "The Bank specializes in financing projects that no other financial institutions would fund," International Rivers and Friends of the Earth warned in July 2004.
Once they acquired the technology to build large hydropower projects, Chinese dam companies wasted no time rolling up the international market. Low costs, access to cheap loans and a big portfolio of domestic projects make them attractive partners for clients around the world. We are aware of at least 216 dam projects in 49 countries which have some form of Chinese involvement - and counting. Chinese companies are currently building 19 of the world’s 24 largest hydropower stations. The president of Sinohydro recently estimated that his company controls half the global hydropower market.
The primary interest of Chinese dam builders in their new "going out" strategy is to win international contracts, which typically have much bigger profit margins than projects in China. Companies such as China Southern Power Grid and Yunnan Joint Power Development Co are also building projects in Myanmar and Laos to supply electricity to the Chinese home market.
The rapid emergence of China's overseas dam builders alarmed environmental organizations and the Western dam builders and financiers, which had controlled the global market for decades. "The competition of the Chinese banks is clear", Philippe Maystadt, president of the European Investment Bank, warned in 2006. "They don't bother about social or human rights conditions."
Maystadt claimed that Chinese banks had snatched projects from under his bank's nose in Africa and Asia, after offering to undercut its conditions on labor standards and the environment. The following year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recommended that China "improve governmental oversight and environmental performance in the overseas operations of Chinese corporations".
Like every country, China tends to export its own development philosophy when financing and investing in overseas projects. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the Chinese government built dams and other large infrastructure projects without regard to their social and environmental impacts. This growth-first approach is exacting a huge toll on the environment and public health. The World Bank estimates that water and air pollution cause 750,000 premature deaths in China every year. In the past few years, the government has strengthened environmental regulations, created a Ministry of Environmental Protection, and has become the world's leading promoter of renewable energy options.
Chinese dam projects have triggered strong protests among affected communities, environmental organizations and trade unions in countries such as Sudan, Botswana, Zambia and Myanmar. With a certain time lag, the government's growing concern for the environment has also left its mark on China's overseas investment policy.
In 2006, the State Council (cabinet) called on Chinese investors to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of local employees, pay attention to environmental resource protection, care and support of the local community and people's livelihood cause", and to "preserve our good image and a good corporate reputation". The Ministries of Environmental Protection and Commerce are preparing a guideline that will urge Chinese investors to apply China's domestic environmental laws in overseas projects if host country standards are too weak.
International Rivers has witnessed the growing concern for the environment in our own work with Chinese dam builders and financiers. After we first warned about the role of China Exim Bank in funding rogue dam projects in 2004, a bank manager wrote back saying: "To my knowledge, [the Bank] actually cares about the environmental issues of its projects. Maybe its standard cannot reach yours or international common practice. Since it is one of export credit agencies in the world it really needs to meet the international practice."
Two years later, I had the chance to meet the president of China Exim Bank. He insisted that countries needed to reach a certain level of prosperity to care about the environment but agreed that his institution shared an environmental responsibility for the projects it funds. The bank adopted an environmental policy in 2004, and made it public after a request from NGOs in 2007. More detailed guidelines followed in 2008.
In late 2008, the China Exim president told Deborah Brautigam, an expert on Chinese aid practices, that his institution only worked with Western agencies for the assessment of environmental impacts. They were "more credible", the president said, and "we do not want the environment to be an issue".
Seeing some progress with China's main financier of overseas dams, International Rivers decided next to approach the biggest hydropower company. In February 2009 a coalition of non-governmental organizations called on Sinohydro to "establish a world-class environmental policy and strengthen its relations with the host communities of its international projects". The NGOs also offered to enter into a dialogue with the company on how it could achieve this goal. In response, Sinohydro's management invited me to meet with them. In what was likely the first dialogue between a Chinese state-owned enterprise and an international advocacy group, the management expressed a commitment to protecting the environment and said that they would consider preparing an environmental policy.
Late last year, Sinohydro announced that it planned to be listed at the Shanghai stock exchange. Through an initial public offering (IPO), a company defines its profile for international investors: does it plan to take on contracts at any cost to the environment, or does it try to minimize social and environmental risks as a good corporate citizen? We strongly suggested that if Sinohydro wanted to become a world-class brand, it needed to adopt and implement a world class environmental policy.
As part of its green credit policy, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection needs to clear IPOs of companies in polluting sectors. In early March, the ministry invited the public to comment on the Environmental Audit Report Sinohydro had prepared for its public offering. At the same time, Sinohydro informed International Rivers that it was now indeed preparing an environmental policy, and invited our recommendations. Working together with partner groups from China and other countries, we again recommended that the company adopt highest international standards if it wanted to become a leading global brand, and submitted specific suggestions. We will also conveyed this message to Sinohydro's potential investors.
Policy changes at the leading Chinese dam builder and financier are important first steps. Yet as we know from other institutions, including the World Bank and Western banks, there is often a big gap between an environmental policy and actual practice on the ground. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. What is happening there?
In December 2009, we learned that Turkey had invited China to build the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris. The project in Eastern Anatolia had become a cause celebre among NGOs due to the strong resistance by the local population. After an independent committee of experts had documented persistent social and environmental policy violations, the German, Austrian and Swiss export credit agencies pulled out of the project in July 2009. Now the Turkish government was trying to fill the gap which the Western financiers had left. Turkish NGOs and International Rivers immediately wrote to the Chinese authorities to warn against such involvement. Chinese support for the dam would enable a social and environmental disaster in Turkey, and undermine the international efforts to strengthen the social and environmental standards in big infrastructure projects.
Ilisu is a test case for the future role of Chinese dam builders and financiers. We expected China's involvement to be confirmed by January, but so far there has been no such news. The Chinese ambassador in Ankara has repeatedly stressed that China was not getting involved in Ilisu. Have Chinese dam builders and financiers indeed opted against this project even if it meant offending an important government and passing up a lucrative deal?
While the jury is still out on Ilisu, we have witnessed progress on the ground in Gabon. With support from China Exim Bank, Chinese investors plan to develop a huge iron ore deposit in this West African country, complete with a hydropower dam, railway line and port. Brainforest, Gabon's inspiring environmental NGO, sent a letter to the Exim Bank pointing out that the proposed dam was to be built in a national park, and would violate its environmental guidelines. In due course, Brainforest learnt from the Gabonese government that China Exim Bank had suspended the project over environmental concerns.
In a separate development, Sinohydro agreed to work together with the Global Environmental Institute, a Chinese NGO, in an effort to address the social and environmental impacts of the Nam Ngum 5 Dam, a $200 million hydropower project in Laos. Sinohydro also applied for a guarantee by the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), evidently to learn more about how international financial institutions are applying their safeguard policies.
While there has been significant progress, we will not let our guard down. While Sinohydro is preparing an environmental policy, there are serious problems in several of its ongoing projects, including the Bakun Dam in Malaysia, the Bui Dam in Ghana, and the Shweli and Tarpein dams in Myanmar. Sinohydro has also expressed an interest in extremely problematic projects such as the Paklay Dam on the Mekong mainstream and the Gibe 4 Dam in Ethiopia. The Mekong hosts the world's most important inland fisheries, and if built, the Paklay Dam could seriously impact the main protein source of millions of people.
While China Exim Bank and Sinohydro have embarked on a process of environmental reform, many smaller Chinese actors still disregard social and environmental concerns at will. Companies such as China Gezhouba Group, Yunnan Machinery Equipment Import & Export Co and China Power Investment Corporation are building rogue dams in Myanmar under horrific conditions. China Southern Power Grid, which is also building several dams in the Mekong Basin, has so far ignored all inquiries from civil society. On April 17, 2010, a series of bomb blasts rocked the construction site of China Power Investment Corporation's Mytsone Dam in Kachin State, Myanmar, and according to unconfirmed sources killed several Chinese workers.
In conclusion, the most important institutions in China's hydropower sector have expressed an interest in following international environmental standards and are open for civil society concerns. After we warned about rogue dam builders a few years ago, we are happy to acknowledge progress now. We will work to ensure that the new environmental policy principles translate into changes on the ground, and that the environmental stragglers fall in line.
Peter Bosshard is the policy director of International Rivers, an environmental organization with staff in four continents. He has a PhD from Zurich University, and has worked to strengthen international environmental standards for more than 20 years. Before joining International Rivers, Bosshard was the coordinator of the Berne Declaration, a Swiss development organization. He frequently visits China and is currently learning Chinese.
This article, written for The Asia-Pacific Journal, is an expanded version of a text that was originally published at International Rivers.
Asia Times Online- China's dam builders clean up overseas
By Peter Bosshard
In the early years of the new century, Chinese dam builders and financiers appeared on the global hydropower market with a bang. China Exim Bank and companies such as Sinohydro, China Gezhouba Group and China Southern Power Grid started to take on large, destructive projects in countries like Myanmar and Sudan, which had previously been shunned by the international community. Their emergence threatened to roll back progress regarding human rights and the environment which civil society had achieved over many years.
However, new evidence suggests that Chinese dam builders and financiers are trying to become good corporate citizens rather than rogue players on the global market. Here is a progress report from the perspective of an international civil society advocate.
In December 2003, China Exim Bank approved US$519 million in loans for the Merowe Dam in Sudan. The Chinese government’s export credit agency thus helped kick off a project which would displace more than 50,000 people from the fertile Nile Valley into desert locations and for which the Sudanese government had failed to attract funders for many years. China Exim Bank also provided support to projects in Myanmar such as the Yeywa and Lower Paunglaung dams, which no other funder was prepared to touch. "The Bank specializes in financing projects that no other financial institutions would fund," International Rivers and Friends of the Earth warned in July 2004.
Once they acquired the technology to build large hydropower projects, Chinese dam companies wasted no time rolling up the international market. Low costs, access to cheap loans and a big portfolio of domestic projects make them attractive partners for clients around the world. We are aware of at least 216 dam projects in 49 countries which have some form of Chinese involvement - and counting. Chinese companies are currently building 19 of the world’s 24 largest hydropower stations. The president of Sinohydro recently estimated that his company controls half the global hydropower market.
The primary interest of Chinese dam builders in their new "going out" strategy is to win international contracts, which typically have much bigger profit margins than projects in China. Companies such as China Southern Power Grid and Yunnan Joint Power Development Co are also building projects in Myanmar and Laos to supply electricity to the Chinese home market.
The rapid emergence of China's overseas dam builders alarmed environmental organizations and the Western dam builders and financiers, which had controlled the global market for decades. "The competition of the Chinese banks is clear", Philippe Maystadt, president of the European Investment Bank, warned in 2006. "They don't bother about social or human rights conditions."
Maystadt claimed that Chinese banks had snatched projects from under his bank's nose in Africa and Asia, after offering to undercut its conditions on labor standards and the environment. The following year, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development recommended that China "improve governmental oversight and environmental performance in the overseas operations of Chinese corporations".
Like every country, China tends to export its own development philosophy when financing and investing in overseas projects. Throughout the second half of the 20th century, the Chinese government built dams and other large infrastructure projects without regard to their social and environmental impacts. This growth-first approach is exacting a huge toll on the environment and public health. The World Bank estimates that water and air pollution cause 750,000 premature deaths in China every year. In the past few years, the government has strengthened environmental regulations, created a Ministry of Environmental Protection, and has become the world's leading promoter of renewable energy options.
Chinese dam projects have triggered strong protests among affected communities, environmental organizations and trade unions in countries such as Sudan, Botswana, Zambia and Myanmar. With a certain time lag, the government's growing concern for the environment has also left its mark on China's overseas investment policy.
In 2006, the State Council (cabinet) called on Chinese investors to "protect the legitimate rights and interests of local employees, pay attention to environmental resource protection, care and support of the local community and people's livelihood cause", and to "preserve our good image and a good corporate reputation". The Ministries of Environmental Protection and Commerce are preparing a guideline that will urge Chinese investors to apply China's domestic environmental laws in overseas projects if host country standards are too weak.
International Rivers has witnessed the growing concern for the environment in our own work with Chinese dam builders and financiers. After we first warned about the role of China Exim Bank in funding rogue dam projects in 2004, a bank manager wrote back saying: "To my knowledge, [the Bank] actually cares about the environmental issues of its projects. Maybe its standard cannot reach yours or international common practice. Since it is one of export credit agencies in the world it really needs to meet the international practice."
Two years later, I had the chance to meet the president of China Exim Bank. He insisted that countries needed to reach a certain level of prosperity to care about the environment but agreed that his institution shared an environmental responsibility for the projects it funds. The bank adopted an environmental policy in 2004, and made it public after a request from NGOs in 2007. More detailed guidelines followed in 2008.
In late 2008, the China Exim president told Deborah Brautigam, an expert on Chinese aid practices, that his institution only worked with Western agencies for the assessment of environmental impacts. They were "more credible", the president said, and "we do not want the environment to be an issue".
Seeing some progress with China's main financier of overseas dams, International Rivers decided next to approach the biggest hydropower company. In February 2009 a coalition of non-governmental organizations called on Sinohydro to "establish a world-class environmental policy and strengthen its relations with the host communities of its international projects". The NGOs also offered to enter into a dialogue with the company on how it could achieve this goal. In response, Sinohydro's management invited me to meet with them. In what was likely the first dialogue between a Chinese state-owned enterprise and an international advocacy group, the management expressed a commitment to protecting the environment and said that they would consider preparing an environmental policy.
Late last year, Sinohydro announced that it planned to be listed at the Shanghai stock exchange. Through an initial public offering (IPO), a company defines its profile for international investors: does it plan to take on contracts at any cost to the environment, or does it try to minimize social and environmental risks as a good corporate citizen? We strongly suggested that if Sinohydro wanted to become a world-class brand, it needed to adopt and implement a world class environmental policy.
As part of its green credit policy, China's Ministry of Environmental Protection needs to clear IPOs of companies in polluting sectors. In early March, the ministry invited the public to comment on the Environmental Audit Report Sinohydro had prepared for its public offering. At the same time, Sinohydro informed International Rivers that it was now indeed preparing an environmental policy, and invited our recommendations. Working together with partner groups from China and other countries, we again recommended that the company adopt highest international standards if it wanted to become a leading global brand, and submitted specific suggestions. We will also conveyed this message to Sinohydro's potential investors.
Policy changes at the leading Chinese dam builder and financier are important first steps. Yet as we know from other institutions, including the World Bank and Western banks, there is often a big gap between an environmental policy and actual practice on the ground. The proof of the pudding is in the eating. What is happening there?
In December 2009, we learned that Turkey had invited China to build the Ilisu Dam on the Tigris. The project in Eastern Anatolia had become a cause celebre among NGOs due to the strong resistance by the local population. After an independent committee of experts had documented persistent social and environmental policy violations, the German, Austrian and Swiss export credit agencies pulled out of the project in July 2009. Now the Turkish government was trying to fill the gap which the Western financiers had left. Turkish NGOs and International Rivers immediately wrote to the Chinese authorities to warn against such involvement. Chinese support for the dam would enable a social and environmental disaster in Turkey, and undermine the international efforts to strengthen the social and environmental standards in big infrastructure projects.
Ilisu is a test case for the future role of Chinese dam builders and financiers. We expected China's involvement to be confirmed by January, but so far there has been no such news. The Chinese ambassador in Ankara has repeatedly stressed that China was not getting involved in Ilisu. Have Chinese dam builders and financiers indeed opted against this project even if it meant offending an important government and passing up a lucrative deal?
While the jury is still out on Ilisu, we have witnessed progress on the ground in Gabon. With support from China Exim Bank, Chinese investors plan to develop a huge iron ore deposit in this West African country, complete with a hydropower dam, railway line and port. Brainforest, Gabon's inspiring environmental NGO, sent a letter to the Exim Bank pointing out that the proposed dam was to be built in a national park, and would violate its environmental guidelines. In due course, Brainforest learnt from the Gabonese government that China Exim Bank had suspended the project over environmental concerns.
In a separate development, Sinohydro agreed to work together with the Global Environmental Institute, a Chinese NGO, in an effort to address the social and environmental impacts of the Nam Ngum 5 Dam, a $200 million hydropower project in Laos. Sinohydro also applied for a guarantee by the World Bank's Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), evidently to learn more about how international financial institutions are applying their safeguard policies.
While there has been significant progress, we will not let our guard down. While Sinohydro is preparing an environmental policy, there are serious problems in several of its ongoing projects, including the Bakun Dam in Malaysia, the Bui Dam in Ghana, and the Shweli and Tarpein dams in Myanmar. Sinohydro has also expressed an interest in extremely problematic projects such as the Paklay Dam on the Mekong mainstream and the Gibe 4 Dam in Ethiopia. The Mekong hosts the world's most important inland fisheries, and if built, the Paklay Dam could seriously impact the main protein source of millions of people.
While China Exim Bank and Sinohydro have embarked on a process of environmental reform, many smaller Chinese actors still disregard social and environmental concerns at will. Companies such as China Gezhouba Group, Yunnan Machinery Equipment Import & Export Co and China Power Investment Corporation are building rogue dams in Myanmar under horrific conditions. China Southern Power Grid, which is also building several dams in the Mekong Basin, has so far ignored all inquiries from civil society. On April 17, 2010, a series of bomb blasts rocked the construction site of China Power Investment Corporation's Mytsone Dam in Kachin State, Myanmar, and according to unconfirmed sources killed several Chinese workers.
In conclusion, the most important institutions in China's hydropower sector have expressed an interest in following international environmental standards and are open for civil society concerns. After we warned about rogue dam builders a few years ago, we are happy to acknowledge progress now. We will work to ensure that the new environmental policy principles translate into changes on the ground, and that the environmental stragglers fall in line.
Peter Bosshard is the policy director of International Rivers, an environmental organization with staff in four continents. He has a PhD from Zurich University, and has worked to strengthen international environmental standards for more than 20 years. Before joining International Rivers, Bosshard was the coordinator of the Berne Declaration, a Swiss development organization. He frequently visits China and is currently learning Chinese.
This article, written for The Asia-Pacific Journal, is an expanded version of a text that was originally published at International Rivers.
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The Irrawaddy - Burma's “Umbrella Dialogue”
By BA KAUNG - Tuesday, May 11, 2010
It was a scorching 43 degrees Celsius when detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell braced the heat and walked out of the state guest house to continue their discussion on Burma.
The US embassy in Rangoon released a series of photos of Suu Kyi, Kurt Campbell and Larry Dinger, head of the US mission in Rangoon, walking and holding umbrellas with Inya Lake in the background.
The US delegation and Suu Kyi did not want Burmese officials to listen to their conversation.
One exiled Burmese activist quipped: “These pictures indicate that the meeting wasn't exactly 'closed door'. Unless the fish in Inya Lake wore ear pieces and the coconut palms concealed listening devices, one could at least have a word in private.”
Meetings between UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and Suu Kyi in the past were arranged by the military regime at the guest house where officials could listen and monitor the conversation.
Previously, Suu Kyi was allowed to meet visiting diplomats including US Congressman Bill
Richardson at her lakeside house.
Political pundits say the meeting at the state guest house indicated that the engagement with the US has taken a step backward.
Kurt Campbell and his team were able to meet Suu Kyi at the Inya Lake Hotel in November last year after US embassy officials had cleared the room and the entire floor.
Suu Kyi and American officials reportedly sat at low tables to be safe from listening devices, and perhaps they whispered.
During this visit, Campbell did not meet any high ranking officials except some ministers.
Prime Minister Thein Sein who received him in November was in the Irrawaddy delta together with junta no. 2, Gen Maung Aye on Monday.
However, Campbell managed to meet the Minister for Information, Kyaw Hsan, and U Thaung, minister for science and technology, in Naypyidaw.
A senior journalist in Rangoon explained why only some ministers agreed to meet with Campbell: “The regime leaders did not want to commit themselves to anything, which is why only low-level ministers were available.”
Besides concern for Suu Kyi and the election, Campbell also focused on the issue of nuclear non-proliferation in Burma.
During his meeting with Science and Technology Minister U Thaung, Campbell reminded the regime of its commitment to fully comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1874 in its dealing with North Korea, according to a source in Rangoon.
Passed in 2009, the UN resolution banned North Korea from all imports and exports of heavy weapons and authorizes member states to inspect and destroy any goods suspected of being connected to North Korea's nuclear program.
It has been reported that the regime has bought conventional military hardware such as ammunition and missiles from North Korea, and Washington suspects there has been a transfer of nuclear technology after Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency distanced itself from a 2007 agreement to supply a 10 megawatt light-water reactor.
The Irrawaddy reported in March that nuclear facilities in Northern Mandalay Division are thought to be near completion, meanwhile.
Military relations between Naypyidaw and Pyongyang have been attracting international attention in recent years.
In August 2009, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Burmese defectors had revealed the existence of a secret nuclear program combining Burma's proven uranium reserves and North Korean nuclear technology.
In addition to nuclear know-how and equipment Pyongyang may have provided, the rogue state has sent truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles and technology for underground warfare since the early 2000s, according Andrew Selth, an Australian-based expert on Burmese military issues.
The Burmese junta has sent at least three high-ranking clandestine military missions to North Korea recently, and elaborate birthday party celebrations for Kim Jong Il sponsored by the junta in Rangoon were attended by senior army leaders.
“I think Campbell's greater priority concerns the Burma-North Korea relationship,” said Thakhin Chan Tun, a veteran politician and Burma's former ambassador to China and North Korea during the 1960's and 70's, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
According to a statement released from the US Embassy in Rangoon on May 10, Campbell has asked the regime leadership to put into place a transparent process to assure the international community that Burma is abiding by its international commitments.
Without such a process, Campbell said the United States maintains the right “to take independent action within the relevant frameworks established by the international community.” But he did not elaborate what kind of independent action might be taken.
The Burmese opposition, meanwhile, has asked Washington to increase banking sanctions and targeted sanctions against regime leaders and cronies.
Chan Tun said: “The regime wouldn't care [about US concerns]. The generals accepted Mr. Campbell's visit to our country just as a political maneuver in this election year. But I suspect it won't concede anything at all."
Analysts in Rangoon speculate that Campbell's visit to Burma might have been facilitated by China.
Soon after his visit, Campbell flew to Beijing for meetings with "senior Chinese officials," according to an Agence France Presse report, quoting a US State Department official in Washington.
The report said Campbell will brief Chinese officials on his trip to Burma and could be in Beijing for a briefing on the visit to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in early May.
In his Rangoon statement, Campbell said the US government outlined a proposal to the Burmese officials "for a credible dialogue" for all concerned parties to agree on how to conduct the upcoming poll, but he said the regime had instead moved forward unilaterally without consulting opposition and independent voices.
Suu Kyi shared Campbell's disapointment that the Burmese military government was not more forthcoming and was not willing to expand political space, but she would continue to support the US and the international community's efforts to engage with the regime, according to press briefing by Assistant Secretary, Philip J. Crowley, in Washington on May 10.
The US mission to Burma might not have reaped any tangible results, but while some Burmese people are now in doubt over the wisdom of Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, (NLD), boycotting the polls, Campbell's praise of Suu Kyi “for her compassion and tolerance for her captors,” his calls for the release of political prisoners ahead of the polls and the United States' continued support for the NLD might have given a moral boost to those who have rejected the regime's election plans.
By BA KAUNG - Tuesday, May 11, 2010
It was a scorching 43 degrees Celsius when detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and US Assistant Secretary of State Kurt Campbell braced the heat and walked out of the state guest house to continue their discussion on Burma.
The US embassy in Rangoon released a series of photos of Suu Kyi, Kurt Campbell and Larry Dinger, head of the US mission in Rangoon, walking and holding umbrellas with Inya Lake in the background.
The US delegation and Suu Kyi did not want Burmese officials to listen to their conversation.
One exiled Burmese activist quipped: “These pictures indicate that the meeting wasn't exactly 'closed door'. Unless the fish in Inya Lake wore ear pieces and the coconut palms concealed listening devices, one could at least have a word in private.”
Meetings between UN special envoy Ibrahim Gambari and Suu Kyi in the past were arranged by the military regime at the guest house where officials could listen and monitor the conversation.
Previously, Suu Kyi was allowed to meet visiting diplomats including US Congressman Bill
Richardson at her lakeside house.
Political pundits say the meeting at the state guest house indicated that the engagement with the US has taken a step backward.
Kurt Campbell and his team were able to meet Suu Kyi at the Inya Lake Hotel in November last year after US embassy officials had cleared the room and the entire floor.
Suu Kyi and American officials reportedly sat at low tables to be safe from listening devices, and perhaps they whispered.
During this visit, Campbell did not meet any high ranking officials except some ministers.
Prime Minister Thein Sein who received him in November was in the Irrawaddy delta together with junta no. 2, Gen Maung Aye on Monday.
However, Campbell managed to meet the Minister for Information, Kyaw Hsan, and U Thaung, minister for science and technology, in Naypyidaw.
A senior journalist in Rangoon explained why only some ministers agreed to meet with Campbell: “The regime leaders did not want to commit themselves to anything, which is why only low-level ministers were available.”
Besides concern for Suu Kyi and the election, Campbell also focused on the issue of nuclear non-proliferation in Burma.
During his meeting with Science and Technology Minister U Thaung, Campbell reminded the regime of its commitment to fully comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1874 in its dealing with North Korea, according to a source in Rangoon.
Passed in 2009, the UN resolution banned North Korea from all imports and exports of heavy weapons and authorizes member states to inspect and destroy any goods suspected of being connected to North Korea's nuclear program.
It has been reported that the regime has bought conventional military hardware such as ammunition and missiles from North Korea, and Washington suspects there has been a transfer of nuclear technology after Russia's Federal Atomic Energy Agency distanced itself from a 2007 agreement to supply a 10 megawatt light-water reactor.
The Irrawaddy reported in March that nuclear facilities in Northern Mandalay Division are thought to be near completion, meanwhile.
Military relations between Naypyidaw and Pyongyang have been attracting international attention in recent years.
In August 2009, the Sydney Morning Herald reported that Burmese defectors had revealed the existence of a secret nuclear program combining Burma's proven uranium reserves and North Korean nuclear technology.
In addition to nuclear know-how and equipment Pyongyang may have provided, the rogue state has sent truck-mounted multiple rocket launchers, surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles and technology for underground warfare since the early 2000s, according Andrew Selth, an Australian-based expert on Burmese military issues.
The Burmese junta has sent at least three high-ranking clandestine military missions to North Korea recently, and elaborate birthday party celebrations for Kim Jong Il sponsored by the junta in Rangoon were attended by senior army leaders.
“I think Campbell's greater priority concerns the Burma-North Korea relationship,” said Thakhin Chan Tun, a veteran politician and Burma's former ambassador to China and North Korea during the 1960's and 70's, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
According to a statement released from the US Embassy in Rangoon on May 10, Campbell has asked the regime leadership to put into place a transparent process to assure the international community that Burma is abiding by its international commitments.
Without such a process, Campbell said the United States maintains the right “to take independent action within the relevant frameworks established by the international community.” But he did not elaborate what kind of independent action might be taken.
The Burmese opposition, meanwhile, has asked Washington to increase banking sanctions and targeted sanctions against regime leaders and cronies.
Chan Tun said: “The regime wouldn't care [about US concerns]. The generals accepted Mr. Campbell's visit to our country just as a political maneuver in this election year. But I suspect it won't concede anything at all."
Analysts in Rangoon speculate that Campbell's visit to Burma might have been facilitated by China.
Soon after his visit, Campbell flew to Beijing for meetings with "senior Chinese officials," according to an Agence France Presse report, quoting a US State Department official in Washington.
The report said Campbell will brief Chinese officials on his trip to Burma and could be in Beijing for a briefing on the visit to China by North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il in early May.
In his Rangoon statement, Campbell said the US government outlined a proposal to the Burmese officials "for a credible dialogue" for all concerned parties to agree on how to conduct the upcoming poll, but he said the regime had instead moved forward unilaterally without consulting opposition and independent voices.
Suu Kyi shared Campbell's disapointment that the Burmese military government was not more forthcoming and was not willing to expand political space, but she would continue to support the US and the international community's efforts to engage with the regime, according to press briefing by Assistant Secretary, Philip J. Crowley, in Washington on May 10.
The US mission to Burma might not have reaped any tangible results, but while some Burmese people are now in doubt over the wisdom of Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, (NLD), boycotting the polls, Campbell's praise of Suu Kyi “for her compassion and tolerance for her captors,” his calls for the release of political prisoners ahead of the polls and the United States' continued support for the NLD might have given a moral boost to those who have rejected the regime's election plans.
***************************************************
The Irrawaddy - Prime Minister, Ministers Set to Resign
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Prime Minister Thein Sein and other government ministers who are leaders of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will resign from their government posts this month, according to sources in Naypyidaw.
The resignations will affect almost all top ministers within the government including Htay Oo, minister of Agriculture and Irrigation; Zaw Min, minister of Electric Power-1; Aung Thaung, minister of Industry-1; Thein Zaw, minister of Telecommunication, Post and Telegraph; and Kyaw Hsan, minister of Information.
Sources said the resignations would probably be announced by Thein Sein during a press conference in Naypyidaw, the headquarters of the USDP. The USDP was approved by the Union Election Commission last week.
Following the resignations, the ruling junta is expected to appoint a new prime minister and ministers. Officials in Naypyidaw said announcing a new cabinet would likely take place after the regular first-quarter meeting of the junta and senior government official, which could be later this month.
Earlier, Lt-Gen Myint Swe, the chief of Bureau of Special Operation-5, was mentioned as the possible head of a temporary government in the pre- and post-election period.
The formation of the USDP with Thein Sein and other senior government officials is seen by most observers as violating the junta's own electoral laws, which ban government officials or staff from taking part in political parties and using government property for political purposes.
On Friday, the Union Democratic Party in a press release said that the prime minister and ministers should not be playing a role in the USDP while they are government officials and questioned if they used government property during the organization of the political party.
On Tuesday, according to state-run-newspapers, Thein Sein was in the Irrawaddy delta along with the junta’s No.2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. His delta tour coincided with an official visit of Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. Other junta leaders including Htay Oo, Kyaw Hsan, U Thaung met with Campbell in Naypyidaw on Sunday.
Local sources said Kyaw Hsan, who is in charge of the USDP campaign in Sagaing Division, has met with local division organizers. Thein Zaw has reportedly made similar campaign organization trips to Kachin State, as have other ministers to different regions of the country.
There are few signs, so far, that the general public is taking an interest in the election. The date of the election has still not been announced by the government.
The former main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, decided not to take part in the election, saying it lacked credibility and was undemocratic. Former NLD leaders who met with Campbell on Monday urged the US to keep pressure on the junta to release all political prisoners and not to recognize the election results.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Prime Minister Thein Sein and other government ministers who are leaders of the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) will resign from their government posts this month, according to sources in Naypyidaw.
The resignations will affect almost all top ministers within the government including Htay Oo, minister of Agriculture and Irrigation; Zaw Min, minister of Electric Power-1; Aung Thaung, minister of Industry-1; Thein Zaw, minister of Telecommunication, Post and Telegraph; and Kyaw Hsan, minister of Information.
Sources said the resignations would probably be announced by Thein Sein during a press conference in Naypyidaw, the headquarters of the USDP. The USDP was approved by the Union Election Commission last week.
Following the resignations, the ruling junta is expected to appoint a new prime minister and ministers. Officials in Naypyidaw said announcing a new cabinet would likely take place after the regular first-quarter meeting of the junta and senior government official, which could be later this month.
Earlier, Lt-Gen Myint Swe, the chief of Bureau of Special Operation-5, was mentioned as the possible head of a temporary government in the pre- and post-election period.
The formation of the USDP with Thein Sein and other senior government officials is seen by most observers as violating the junta's own electoral laws, which ban government officials or staff from taking part in political parties and using government property for political purposes.
On Friday, the Union Democratic Party in a press release said that the prime minister and ministers should not be playing a role in the USDP while they are government officials and questioned if they used government property during the organization of the political party.
On Tuesday, according to state-run-newspapers, Thein Sein was in the Irrawaddy delta along with the junta’s No.2, Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye. His delta tour coincided with an official visit of Kurt Campbell, the US assistant secretary of state for East Asia and Pacific Affairs. Other junta leaders including Htay Oo, Kyaw Hsan, U Thaung met with Campbell in Naypyidaw on Sunday.
Local sources said Kyaw Hsan, who is in charge of the USDP campaign in Sagaing Division, has met with local division organizers. Thein Zaw has reportedly made similar campaign organization trips to Kachin State, as have other ministers to different regions of the country.
There are few signs, so far, that the general public is taking an interest in the election. The date of the election has still not been announced by the government.
The former main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, decided not to take part in the election, saying it lacked credibility and was undemocratic. Former NLD leaders who met with Campbell on Monday urged the US to keep pressure on the junta to release all political prisoners and not to recognize the election results.
*****************************************************
NLD women’s wing donates water in Pegu
Tuesday, 11 May 2010 21:15 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) –National League for Democracy women’s wing members are donating water to villagers in Pegu Division where wells and ponds have dried up because of drought and severely hot weather, group officials said.
More than 60 villages in Pegu Division are facing severe water shortages after record high temperatures across Burma have accelerated evaporation of ponds and reservoirs, according to earlier reports. Villagers in the townships of Pegu, Waw, Thanatpin, Kawa and Daik Oo, all in Pegu Division, are lacking drinking water and water for hygiene needs as small dams have lain dry since the end of April.
NLD women’s affairs chief Dr. May Win Myint, central committee member Aye Aye Mar and Pegu Division NLD women’s affairs chief Hla Hla Moe paid for 1,100 for 20-litre drinking-water bottles today in Thanatpin, party sources said.
“We started our drinking-water donation in Thanatpin today. Since there are high demands from donors and well-wishers like us, the drinking-water bottling plants cannot produce to meet our demand so we’ll only be able to receive our water bottles the day after tomorrow. We have already paid for them”, Dr. May Win Myint said.
The bottles would be distributed to villages in need in co-operation with Pegu and Thanatpin NLD Youth members, a source said.
The NLD announced on March 29 its decision against re-registering as a party to contest this year’s polls, declaring the 2008 Constitution drafted by the military regime and electoral laws promulgated in March unfair and undemocratic. On that day they decided to focus on social work across the country.
“NLD must intervene wherever and whenever the people face hardships. We must do for them what we can. We are still opening our offices and party members are still going to these offices”, Dr. May Win Myint added.
Drinking-water distribution was started on a small scale by Pegu Division NLD Youth members on May 2 on a small scale until they were joined by Pegu City businessmen, who bought water bottles from bottling plants and distributed them.
A policeman from Pegu No. 2 station said the Pegu municipality and police departments had also started donating water through the Thanatpin police station. He added that some deaths from heat exhaustion were reported in Thanatpin but he was unable to give an exact toll.
“Our No. 2 Police Station has started this work only today by carrying both utility and drinking water in two trucks to Thanatpin. The municipality started distributing water yesterday. I have heard that No. 1 and No. 3 police stations will also distribute water,” the policeman told Mizzima.
Weather officials blamed a late monsoon and higher than average temperatures for the shortages, as the conditions increase the rate of water evaporation.
At about 8:55 p.m. on May 11 the temperature both in Rangoon and Pegu was 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius). Wednesday temperatures for the two cities will reach 104 Fahreinheit (40 Celsius) and 105.8 degrees (41 Celsius) respectively, according to wunderground.com.
Meanwhile, areas of the Irrawaddy Delta hit by Cyclone Nargis are also suffering from water shortages, especially in Mawlamyaingyun and Haigyikyun townships.
Tuesday, 11 May 2010 21:15 Kyaw Kha
Chiang Mai (Mizzima) –National League for Democracy women’s wing members are donating water to villagers in Pegu Division where wells and ponds have dried up because of drought and severely hot weather, group officials said.
More than 60 villages in Pegu Division are facing severe water shortages after record high temperatures across Burma have accelerated evaporation of ponds and reservoirs, according to earlier reports. Villagers in the townships of Pegu, Waw, Thanatpin, Kawa and Daik Oo, all in Pegu Division, are lacking drinking water and water for hygiene needs as small dams have lain dry since the end of April.
NLD women’s affairs chief Dr. May Win Myint, central committee member Aye Aye Mar and Pegu Division NLD women’s affairs chief Hla Hla Moe paid for 1,100 for 20-litre drinking-water bottles today in Thanatpin, party sources said.
“We started our drinking-water donation in Thanatpin today. Since there are high demands from donors and well-wishers like us, the drinking-water bottling plants cannot produce to meet our demand so we’ll only be able to receive our water bottles the day after tomorrow. We have already paid for them”, Dr. May Win Myint said.
The bottles would be distributed to villages in need in co-operation with Pegu and Thanatpin NLD Youth members, a source said.
The NLD announced on March 29 its decision against re-registering as a party to contest this year’s polls, declaring the 2008 Constitution drafted by the military regime and electoral laws promulgated in March unfair and undemocratic. On that day they decided to focus on social work across the country.
“NLD must intervene wherever and whenever the people face hardships. We must do for them what we can. We are still opening our offices and party members are still going to these offices”, Dr. May Win Myint added.
Drinking-water distribution was started on a small scale by Pegu Division NLD Youth members on May 2 on a small scale until they were joined by Pegu City businessmen, who bought water bottles from bottling plants and distributed them.
A policeman from Pegu No. 2 station said the Pegu municipality and police departments had also started donating water through the Thanatpin police station. He added that some deaths from heat exhaustion were reported in Thanatpin but he was unable to give an exact toll.
“Our No. 2 Police Station has started this work only today by carrying both utility and drinking water in two trucks to Thanatpin. The municipality started distributing water yesterday. I have heard that No. 1 and No. 3 police stations will also distribute water,” the policeman told Mizzima.
Weather officials blamed a late monsoon and higher than average temperatures for the shortages, as the conditions increase the rate of water evaporation.
At about 8:55 p.m. on May 11 the temperature both in Rangoon and Pegu was 95 degrees Fahrenheit (35 Celsius). Wednesday temperatures for the two cities will reach 104 Fahreinheit (40 Celsius) and 105.8 degrees (41 Celsius) respectively, according to wunderground.com.
Meanwhile, areas of the Irrawaddy Delta hit by Cyclone Nargis are also suffering from water shortages, especially in Mawlamyaingyun and Haigyikyun townships.
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DVB News - Rangoon photographer ‘was tortured’
By YEE MAY AUNG
Published: 11 May 2010
A man arrested along with his father for photographing the aftermath of the deadly Rangoon bombings on 15 April has been tortured and denied food, his mother said.
Rangoon-based Sithu Zeya, and his 55-year-old graphic designer father, Maung Maung Zeya, were arrested by government officials shortly after three grenades exploded during the ‘Thingyan’ water festival celebrations last month, and are being held in separate Rangoon police stations.
The wife of Maung Maung Zeya told DVB that she was yesterday allowed to visit their son for the first time since he was arrested.
“[Sithu Zeya] was arrested for taking some photos and video footage of the scene,” Yee Yee Tint said. “He was denied food for the first two days of the five-day interrogation. He also said was beaten twice during the interrogation and his ear has been ringing since.”
He has been charged under the Unlawful Associations Act and is due to appear at Mingalar Taung Nyunt township court in Rangoon on 18 May. His family were told that Sithu Zeya’s laptop and other belongings seized when he was arrested would be returned, although this is yet to happen.
His father is being held in Bahan township police station in Rangoon and will appear in court on 17 May. Yee Yee Tint said that he faces three different charges, while the family has asked for assistance from legal expert Aung Thein.
“I don’t fully understand their situation but the Burma police chief [Khin Yi] during his press conference [on 6 May] said that they were arrested for taking video footage of the incident,” she said. “I am quite sad that [the authorities] let the bombers remain at large but detained people for just taking video footage.”
Nine people died in the incident, which was the worst attack in Rangoon since 2005. It preceded a number of other bombings around Burma, focused mainly on controversial hydropower projects.
Police have arrested one suspect for the Rangoon attack who belongs to the exiled opposition group the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, who rose to prominence in 1999 after raiding the Burmese embassy in Bangkok and holding 89 people hostage.
By YEE MAY AUNG
Published: 11 May 2010
A man arrested along with his father for photographing the aftermath of the deadly Rangoon bombings on 15 April has been tortured and denied food, his mother said.
Rangoon-based Sithu Zeya, and his 55-year-old graphic designer father, Maung Maung Zeya, were arrested by government officials shortly after three grenades exploded during the ‘Thingyan’ water festival celebrations last month, and are being held in separate Rangoon police stations.
The wife of Maung Maung Zeya told DVB that she was yesterday allowed to visit their son for the first time since he was arrested.
“[Sithu Zeya] was arrested for taking some photos and video footage of the scene,” Yee Yee Tint said. “He was denied food for the first two days of the five-day interrogation. He also said was beaten twice during the interrogation and his ear has been ringing since.”
He has been charged under the Unlawful Associations Act and is due to appear at Mingalar Taung Nyunt township court in Rangoon on 18 May. His family were told that Sithu Zeya’s laptop and other belongings seized when he was arrested would be returned, although this is yet to happen.
His father is being held in Bahan township police station in Rangoon and will appear in court on 17 May. Yee Yee Tint said that he faces three different charges, while the family has asked for assistance from legal expert Aung Thein.
“I don’t fully understand their situation but the Burma police chief [Khin Yi] during his press conference [on 6 May] said that they were arrested for taking video footage of the incident,” she said. “I am quite sad that [the authorities] let the bombers remain at large but detained people for just taking video footage.”
Nine people died in the incident, which was the worst attack in Rangoon since 2005. It preceded a number of other bombings around Burma, focused mainly on controversial hydropower projects.
Police have arrested one suspect for the Rangoon attack who belongs to the exiled opposition group the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, who rose to prominence in 1999 after raiding the Burmese embassy in Bangkok and holding 89 people hostage.
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DVB News - US mulls ‘independent action’ on Burma
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 11 May 2010
Rumours about possible weapons exports from China and North Korea to Burma in mid April have renewed fears about Burma’s nuclear ambitions, and prompted a warning from a senior US envoy who visited Burma this week.
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said in a statement following meetings with senior Burmese junta leaders that “we have urged Burma’s senior leadership to abide by its own commitment to fully comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1874”.
The UN resolution was enacted in June 2009 after Pyongyang conducted an underground nuclear explosion in May of the same year. Crucially, it extends an arms embargo on North Korea.
“Recent developments call into question that commitment,” he added. “I have asked the Burmese leadership to work with the United States and others to put into place a transparent process to assure the international community that Burma is abiding by its international commitments.
“Without such a process, the United States maintains the right to take independent action within the relevant frameworks established by the international community.”
Campbell’s suggestion of “recent developments” seem to validate claims that during the ‘Thingyan’ water festival in Burma in April, vessels from North Korea and China docked in Burma, supposedly with arms.
Speaking to DVB, the director of Dictator Watch, Roland Watson, said: “It is believed that these shipments included missiles of an unspecified nature and components either directly for a nuclear program or materials that would ultimately that would contribute to a program.”
The issue of shipments from North Korea to Burma came to the world’s attention following the nuclear test in North Korea and an incident in which a vessel known as the Kang Nam 1 appeared to be heading from North Korea to Burma last summer. It was trailed by the US navy before eventually turning back.
“As Kurt Campbell…seems to be saying, we think it likely the US knew about these shipments,” said Watson. “We are very concerned that the US did not move to block them as it effectively blocked the Kang Nam 1 shipment last summer, and we are concerned that whatever was on the Kang Nam 1 has now been delivered.”
Rumours have also circulated that the vessels arrived during the water festival to avoid arousing suspicions. Whether the cargo was military or not, however, it would still have violated the strict and binding embargo that resolution 1874 places on North Korea.
Watson questioned whether US hesitancy in dealing with the vessels could have been due to the presence of the Chinese vessel, either if it contained nuclear materials, or was simply delivering shipments of arms.
The Chinese were however party to the UN resolution, with the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Zhang Yesui, stating at the time that Pyongyang’s actions showed “disregard for the international community’s common objective”.
Watson however believes that China is “intimately involved in [Burma's] nuclear program as well,” whilst Russia is also suspected of assisting. China is one of the junta’s main benefactors, with huge investments in the country. It has however recently been suggested that they are concerned by their troubled shared border.
By JOSEPH ALLCHIN
Published: 11 May 2010
Rumours about possible weapons exports from China and North Korea to Burma in mid April have renewed fears about Burma’s nuclear ambitions, and prompted a warning from a senior US envoy who visited Burma this week.
Kurt Campbell, assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, said in a statement following meetings with senior Burmese junta leaders that “we have urged Burma’s senior leadership to abide by its own commitment to fully comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1874”.
The UN resolution was enacted in June 2009 after Pyongyang conducted an underground nuclear explosion in May of the same year. Crucially, it extends an arms embargo on North Korea.
“Recent developments call into question that commitment,” he added. “I have asked the Burmese leadership to work with the United States and others to put into place a transparent process to assure the international community that Burma is abiding by its international commitments.
“Without such a process, the United States maintains the right to take independent action within the relevant frameworks established by the international community.”
Campbell’s suggestion of “recent developments” seem to validate claims that during the ‘Thingyan’ water festival in Burma in April, vessels from North Korea and China docked in Burma, supposedly with arms.
Speaking to DVB, the director of Dictator Watch, Roland Watson, said: “It is believed that these shipments included missiles of an unspecified nature and components either directly for a nuclear program or materials that would ultimately that would contribute to a program.”
The issue of shipments from North Korea to Burma came to the world’s attention following the nuclear test in North Korea and an incident in which a vessel known as the Kang Nam 1 appeared to be heading from North Korea to Burma last summer. It was trailed by the US navy before eventually turning back.
“As Kurt Campbell…seems to be saying, we think it likely the US knew about these shipments,” said Watson. “We are very concerned that the US did not move to block them as it effectively blocked the Kang Nam 1 shipment last summer, and we are concerned that whatever was on the Kang Nam 1 has now been delivered.”
Rumours have also circulated that the vessels arrived during the water festival to avoid arousing suspicions. Whether the cargo was military or not, however, it would still have violated the strict and binding embargo that resolution 1874 places on North Korea.
Watson questioned whether US hesitancy in dealing with the vessels could have been due to the presence of the Chinese vessel, either if it contained nuclear materials, or was simply delivering shipments of arms.
The Chinese were however party to the UN resolution, with the Chinese ambassador to North Korea, Zhang Yesui, stating at the time that Pyongyang’s actions showed “disregard for the international community’s common objective”.
Watson however believes that China is “intimately involved in [Burma's] nuclear program as well,” whilst Russia is also suspected of assisting. China is one of the junta’s main benefactors, with huge investments in the country. It has however recently been suggested that they are concerned by their troubled shared border.
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