UN RELEASES DRUG REPORT

The UN drug report is an exercise of obscuring the failure of ten years of drug policy says a researh NGO Transnational Institute.Regarding Burma, Martin Jelsna of TNI says there is reduction in opium production during ten years. He stresses that there are still mataphetimine productions and drug production can rise due to market requirements. And Southeast Asia poses a fresh challenge: Opium cultivation there rose in 2007, reversing six years of decline.In Myanmar, also known as Burma, it increased 29 percent. The U.N. said most of the gains were in southern Shan state, where rebels seeking autonomy from Myanmar's ruling junta have clashed with the military."Some of the world's biggest drug-producing regions are out of control of the central government," Costa said.Afghanistan remains the drug war's biggest problem because it now accounts for more than 90 percent of global opium production, the report said.The U.S. has a record 33,000 troops in Afghanistan, part of an international force that has grown to almost 70,000 troops. NATO has urged alliance members to contribute up to another 10,000 forces.Meanwhile, major smuggling routes for narcotics, especially cocaine, are shifting to West Africa, the report said, pointing to steady demand for cocaine in Europe and intensified law enforcement along traditional trafficking routes.Despite the setbacks, the report highlights some key gains in a century of efforts to combat illicit drug production and trafficking. It says illicit drug use worldwide has largely stabilized over the past decade. Fewer than 5 percent of the world's people aged 15-64 have tried an illegal drug at least once in the past year, and only 0.6 percent of the world's population are addicted.Even so, that still means a staggering 26 million people have a severe drug dependence.

Myanmar Keeps the Wheels On With China's Help
Myanmar -- Cyclone Nargis last month devastated the agricultural heartland that stretches across the south of Myanmar, leaving 134,000 people dead or missing. But in this trading hub 300 miles to the north, the economy is buzzing.In Mandalay's crowded jade market, where hundreds of men haggle over the tiny green stones, Khin Maungwin and his eight children cut and polish jade in the blistering heat. On good days, his sales total as much as $5,000. The reason is simple: "It all goes to China," he says.China's presence in Myanmar and trade between the two nations have increased ...

G8 pushes Myanmar to accept foreign cyclone aid

"We proposed a formal appeal by the G8 to the U.N. asking that Ban Ki-moon insist on transparency regarding the sums donated by the international community," Frattini told reporters after talks with his fellow ministers.
"We also hope that China can play a stronger role," he said, referring to a country that has been a steady friend of Myanmar's junta.
Japanese foreign ministry spokesman Kazuo Kodama said there was agreement that the G8 would press Myanmar to accept more relief workers from the outside world.
Many of the G8 ministers also expressed concern about how to achieve a transition to civilian rule in Myanmar, he added.
Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi's confinement to her home in Yangon was extended in May despite international pleas to Myanmar's military rulers to free her. Pro-junta thugs last week broke up a rally marking Suu Kyui's birthday.
The G8 ministers agreed that any signs of progress towards civilian government should be encouraged, Kodama said.

"In order to improve the current situation, it is also important for us the G8 to apply not only pressure but if Myanmar side shows any forward looking movement it is also important to provide an incentive," he said.

CONTINUTE ARRESTS IN BURMA

A lone women demonstrator was arrested on Wednesday in Rangoon, after she called for the release of political prisoners including democracy icon Aung San Su Kyi.
A worker near Rangoon City Hall confirmed that an unidentified woman staged a solo protest in front of the building at about 2 pm on Wednesday.
Dr Win Naing, a member of the National League for Democracy information department, said that about 10 police cars came to the scene and the woman was arrested.
“We do not know who she is and or what kind of slogan she was shouting because she was already taken away when we arrived at the scene,” he said. “We are trying to find information about her, her background and if she belongs to an organization.”
Last year, the government arrested veteran political activist Ohn Than after he staged a lone protest in front of the US embassy on August 23 with a poster calling for the regime to give up power. He was sentenced in April to life in prison.
According to Amnesty International, Ohn Than is now suffering from cerebral malaria, which is said to be at an advanced stage. He has been denied access to special medical attention.Prison authorities reportedly wrote to Ohn Than’s family in his name, saying that he no longer needed visitors.
Prison authorities routinely refuse to give medication and treatment to political prisoners.
According to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners, Myo Yan Naung Thein is in need of special medical attention after he was paralyzed following torture around his head and abdomen. His head injuries led to paralysis on the left side of his body, and he can no longer walk without help.
“He (Myo Yan Naung Thein) has been transferred to the prison hospital, but the authorities are still refusing to let him see a neurologist he has requested,” said Tate Naing, a leading AAPP member.
Myo Yan Naung Thein, a member of 88 Generation Students group, played a prominent role at the start of mass protests in Burma last August. He was arrested for his work with other democracy activists and because he gave interviews to exiled media.
Myo Yan Naung Thein was hospitalized for two weeks in May. However, his conditioned failed to improve. He has been punished by being placed in solitary confinement in an "ayutike" cell, which is used to hold prisoners with psychological problems—real or imagined.
After the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma issued a report early this month, the military government delivered a “rebuttal statement” in response to the criticism it leveled at the treatment of political prisoners.
The military government said prisoners all received regular medical check ups by prison doctors, and are allowed to meet with specialist medical practitioners, if prisoners are in serious condition or need special attention. According Tin Yu, a resident of Hlaing Tharyar Township who recently visited Insein Prison to see his son, most political prisoners are sick and depressed, and the authorities do not provide them with proper medical treatment.
He said a woman activist, Su Su Nywe, who was arrested last year, was reportedly sick and depressed and had banged her head against a wall in the prison because of her illness.
-->

WACHT THIS PHOTO AND YOU WILL KNOW

Life-saving relief still needed for cyclone hit Burma, UN reports
Many cyclone hit areas in Burma still facing lack of emergency needs
UN part of PONJA; Post Nargis Joint Assessment Team carried out village tract assessment and revealed that more immediate, life-saving relief needs remain to be provided.
Only 45 % of cyclone victims could access to international ememgency aid as 60% of households admitted that access to clean water is inadequate, their report said.
Findings also show that 59% of houses being severely damaged and rebuilt by using traditional design will only be adequate for two years.

THIRSTY FOR EDUCATION IN PRISON

The plight of the Arakanese political prisoners

An Arakan rebel who had been in prison for 22 years told BBC that he concerned over his survival in the future as his lack of education.
He was 19 years old when he was detained.
During long stay in prison for more than 2 decades, he could not get any chance for education in the prison where learning was denied.

Burmese Journalists Have No Permission To Enter Into ASEAN Hiding Room

More than 20 Burmese journalists were banned from a press conference organized by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in Rangoon on Tuesday. Rangoon-based journalists told The Irrawaddy on Wednesday that Burmese journalists including correspondents with international news agencies were not allowed to attend a press conference on the Cyclone Nargis disaster that was hosted by Asean Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan.
It was unclear if the ban was the result of a decision by Asean officials or Burmese government officials. An Asean official told the Burmese journalists to get permission from the Burmese Ministry of Information.Although Burmese journalists were prevented from attending the press conference, four news organizations from Asean countries—Channel News Asia of Singapore, Malaysian National News Agency (Bernama), Indonesia’s Kompas newspaper and The Straits Times of Singapore—were allowed to cover the event, said Rangoon journalists. The four agencies had non-Burmese correspondents.The press conference, held at the Chatrium Hotel on Rangoon’s Natmauk Road, followed a meeting of the Asean Roundtable with the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment for Response, Recovery and Reconstruction team (PONJA). The PONJA group is made up of UN, Asean and Burmese representatives.
“The roundtable [meeting] started at 9 am on Tuesday. When Burmese journalists asked to cover the roundtable, officials there told them the press conference was at 6 pm,” said a Burmese journalist who is a correspondent for an international news agency. “When it was time, [Burmese] journalists returned. But officials told us to leave, but the four news agencies from Asean countries were allowed to attend the press conference.” Rangoon journalists said a woman who said she was Surin’s secretary told them only reporters invited by officials could attend the press conference. The Singapore ambassador to Burma, Robert H K Chua, and Daniel Baker, a UN official, met with a group of Burmese journalists in a separate room in the hotel and discussed the Asean Roundtable briefing. “It was like a separate press conference for the kicked-out journalists, but not with the secretary-general of Asean,” said a Burmese reporter for a Rangoon journal. “I feel it was discrimination between Burmese journalists and media personnel from Asean countries by Surin Pitsuwan.” Surin has strongly advocated greater press freedom and freedom of speech throughout Asean countries. “We can help people understand the importance of human rights, and we should,” he said in January. On June 18, he urged the Thai press to pay more attention to transnational issues that affect Asean citizens and to help promote press freedom and professionalism in Southeast Asia, according to The Nation newspaper in Bangkok.Debbie Stothard of the Alternative Asean Network (Altsean) said that [the treatment of local journalists] is a serious issue and a challenge for Asean. “The secretary-general is trying to be relevant,” she said. “But it [Asean] has to follow that principle. They make a general principle, and then when they arrived in Rangoon, they forgot the principle. They undermined their own credibility.” At the Asean Roundtable press conference, Surin said the basic needs of the cyclone refugees are being met, but there is a need for more humanitarian work to sustain a medium and long-term recovery, according to the Asean Web site. Stothard said Asean is trying to build “a relationship” between the military junta and the international community. Asean must be mindful of the needs of the Burmese people and not just helping the military junta during the humanitarian crisis, she said.
According to an interim report released by the PONJA team, only 45 percent of survivors are getting food from international aid agencies.
"We know Mr Surin Pitsuwan wants to be diplomatic,” Stothard said. “But he has to be careful that he isn’t too diplomatic.”

UN SHOULD BE IN THE WAKE FOR SEXUAL VIOLENCE

The United Nation's Security Council took a historic step with the passage of Resolution 1820 on Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict. Resolution 1820 recognizes the importance of full implementation of Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and reaffirms the Security Council's commitment to end sexual violence as a weapon of war and a means to terrorize populations and destroy communities. For this commitment to be meaningful, the Security Council must provide justice for victims of sexual violence in armed conflict even when it is not politically convenient. As Resolution 1820 states: (SEE THE NOTES ON THE PICTURE)

October 23 to November 4, 2004 - four Mon women held by SPDC troops at their base and repeatedly gang raped (Catwalk to the Barracks, Mon Women's Organization, 2004)
October 9, 2006 - Palaung woman raped, her skull cracked open and stabbed four times in her left breast (Burma Human Rights Yearbook, Human Rights Documentation Unit, 2006)
October 10, 2006 - three naval cadets raped a 14 year old girl, none of the cadets were punished and the girl was forced to marry one of her rapists. (Burma Human Rights Yearbook, 2006)
These crimes are part of a systematic strategy for destroying ethnic communities in Burma and are a threat to international peace and security. Security Council Resolution 1325 specified the need to affirm the link between women and peace and security and to address sexual violence against women in conflict. This was reaffirmed in Resolution 1674 on the protection of civilians in armed conflict, which endorsed the Responsibility to Protect Doctrine. In Resolution 1820, the Security Council resolved to take action to end the impunity of those responsible for sexual violence in armed conflict once and for all. For Burma, politics must give way to justice. The Security Council should use its Chapter VII powers to refer the military junta to the International Criminal Court.
SPDC leaders who should be investigated for systematic sexual violence in Burma include:
Senior-General Than Shwe, Chairman and Commander-in- Chief of Defense Services
Deputy Senior-General Maung Aye, Vice Chairman and Deputy Commander-in- Chief of Defense Services and Commander-in- Chief (Army)
General Thura Shwe Mann, Joint Chief of Staff of the Army, Navy and Air Force

THE FEARS OF LIERS IN BURMA

JUINTA INCREASES MORE DEATH IN NARGIS CYCLONE

MYANMAR said on Tuesday that 84,500 people perished in last month's cyclone, up from its last announcement that 77,700 had died in the devastating storm that drew international pleas for the insular government to accept outside help.
Meanwhile, a representative from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the regional bloc that includes Myanmar, said a recent assessment tour found the needs of the storm's survivors were being met.
Deputy Foreign Minister Kyaw Thu said in a speech that the official death toll now stood at 84,537 dead, with 53,836 still missing. The update was the first since May 17, when officials said 77,738 had died and 55,917 were missing.
The increased total represents victims of the storm itself rather then any new casualties due to disease or starvation in the cyclone's aftermath, he said, stating that the assessment found no such post-cyclone deaths.
'On the part of the government, there have been less and less requests for emergency assistance coming from communities and local authorities,' he added.
'Various reports indicate that the worst of the crisis may have stabilised, although it is by no means over.'
Foreign aid staffers, initially barred from the hardest-hit Irrawaddy river delta region, have not yet produced their own estimates of the dead and missing, some of them citing lack of access, personnel and the difficulty of traveling to many remote areas.
Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3 cut a swath of destruction through the delta and the region around the country's largest city, Yangon.
A major international effort is under way to aid some 2.4 million survivors of the natural disaster, the worst in Myanmar's modern history.
This includes a special three-party task force that has completed an assessment of the damage and needs of survivors. A final report on its findings is due around the third week of July.
The report is widely expected to put an optimistic light on the crisis, while presenting some criticism of the regime for hindering the international aid effort.
Some 300 representatives of the United Nations, the Myanmar government and Asean have been traveling to villages in the delta to accumulate information.
'Access was unlimited and unfettered. The basics needs of the victims are being met for their early recovery,' Dr Surin Pitsuwan, Asean secretary-general and head of the bloc's humanitarian task force in Myanmar, said at a meeting on Tuesday.
Dr Surin said Myanmar should be able to rebuild its 'traditional role as the rice bowl not only of Myanmar but of Southeast Asia'.
Reports from international relief agencies indicate the country may face acute rice shortages because of the devastation wrought to agricultural land in the delta.
Myanmar has not been the rice bowl of the region since the 1960s.
After an international outcry over the ruling junta's sluggish response to the disaster, the government later promised visiting UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon it would open the delta area to foreign aid workers.
The latest United Nations report said Tuesday that to date 1.3 million people are estimated to have been reached by international aid groups, the Red Cross and UN workers.

BURMA BUDDHIST MONKS REGROUP TO HELP

An expert on Burma affairs, retired Rutgers University professor Josef Silverstein, said the monks' post-storm mobilization is consistent with beliefs of Buddhist in the country.
"These beliefs didn't disappear because the military hit them over the head last year," he said by telephone. "The monks are angry and they're seeing that no one else is stepping forward" to lead relief efforts—or political opposition.
A Rangoon monk—one of a dozen interviewed by The Associated Press—said it was impossible to "close our eyes to a government that cares so little for the people that it allows them to suffer and die." He spoke on condition of anonymity because of the intense government scrutiny of monks and the sensitivity of discussing anti-government action in this tightly controlled nation.
His monastery has collected and distributed truckloads of blankets, tarpaulins and food to storm survivors. And, like hundreds of other monasteries throughout Burma's storm-struck southwest, it also became a temporary shelter for those who lost their homes.
Short and wiry with fiery eyes, the monk spoke in hushed but urgent tones as he blamed the ruling generals for failing to adequately warn people of the cyclone, which killed at least 78,000 and left an additional 56,000 missing.
He also blamed government restrictions on foreign aid and humanitarian workers for putting millions of survivors at risk of starvation and disease.
"As monks, it's our responsibility to fight for a change," said the monk, as he fingered a scar that he said came from a melee with authorities during last September's crackdown.
He displayed part of a secret cache, consisting of a half-dozen slingshots, and said he was working with monks in several cities to collect more weapons for storage at other secret locations. Most of them were rudimentary devices patched together from everyday objects such as bamboo rods and bicycle spokes and chains, he said, declining to give numbers and other details for security reasons.
The extent of the weapons gathering could not be independently confirmed.
But other monks interviewed in Rangoon and Mandalay said they had heard of colleagues building weapons stashes, though they stressed they were not hoarding weapons themselves.
Monks are also trying to obtain guns to make any clashes "less one-sided," said the Rangoon monk.
At least 31 people were killed when troops opened fire on demonstrators in Rangoon last year, according to the United Nations.
The "Saffron Revolution," which took its name from the color of the monks' traditional robes and began as a protest against high prices, was the largest show of dissent against the military regime in nearly two decades.
The junta's response was swift and stern. Monks were dragged from their monasteries in overnight raids, beaten, tortured and imprisoned, monks and human rights groups say. An unknown number remain behind bars, while many fled into exile. Those who stayed kept a low profile.

JUNTA KICKS OUT KOREAN JOURNALIST

A Korean journalist was deported from Burma by the ruling military junta on Sunday for visiting the office of opposition political party – the National League for Democracy.Ms. Lee Yu Kyong, a freelance journalist from Korea, was expelled to Thailand after police searched for her at a guest house on Sunday morning for visiting the NLD office. She was staying in Okinawa Guest Hose in 32nd Street in Kyauktadar Township in downtown Rangoon from since June 16. "At about 7 am [Sunday], five guys from [police] Special Branch arrived. They asked me, 'where I was on the 18th and 19th'," said Lee."[They] said you came here on a tourist visa. So it's illegal. And you shouldn't have gone there with a tourist visa," Lee quoted the Burmese officers as saying.She insisted on meeting officers in the Korean embassy but the police officers said, "No, you just have to leave this country," and an officer arranged the air-ticket for her in the Thai Airways that left Burma at 10 am on Sunday. However, Lee was able to contact the counselor of the Korean embassy in Rangoon before leaving the country. The Burmese officers took away four CDs that had pictures of the devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis from her bag but her laptop and cameras were untouched.Lee said, the police team that included a plainclothes officer from the Special Branch, three others and one in a police uniform did not offer any reason for asking her to leave the country. "He [the officer] just repeated that I shouldn't have gone to the NLD office. He did not give me any reason or notice or an explanation," said Lee. The Korean counselor later told her that the Burmese officers had assumed that she was trying to meet detained NLD leader Daw Aung San Su Kyi."I was [later] taken to the immigration office at the airport and on my passport they stamped "Deportee" and a big star. And the special branch guy, took a lot of photographs of me from various directions," Lee said. Lee had tried to get an entry visa into Burma soon after Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma but could not get permission as she applied with her old passport that had journalistic visas to many countries she had visited. Finally, she was able to get a new passport and was given permission to enter Burma as a tourist. She was trying to go to the Irrawaddy delta, which was the worst affected to cover the devastation by the killer cyclone. Lee said she had gone to the NLD office in Bahan Township in Rangoon on June 18 to get information regarding cyclone victims. And on June 19, she attended the birthday celebration of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and witnessed the arrest of several members of the NLD. "I took some photographs of the incident and may be they [authorities] noticed me at that time," Lee said. Burma's military junta for the second time has deported foreign journalists from the country since Cyclone Nargis struck. Earlier in May, a British Broadcasting Corporation reporter was deported from the Rangoon international airport when the journalist tried to enter the country.

US PAYS ATTENTION ON BURMA' WOMEN AFFAIR

The continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi was raised by other speakers during the UNSC meeting. British Attorney-General Patricia Scotland called for her immediate release and that she be allowed to play a full part in Burma's political process.
“It is fitting to remember her when discussing women, peace and security, and to remember that many ordinary Burmese women had often borne the brunt of violence, persecution and economic deprivation imposed on them by the military government,” Scotland said.
Responding to the charges of member countries during the Security Council meeting, the Burmese ambassador to the UN, Than Swe, said he “categorically rejected” what he said were “unfounded allegations” of sexual violence leveled against Burma’s armed forces by groups associated with insurgents.
Urging Security Council members to “avoid politicization of the issue,” Than Swe said his country's traditions, culture and values strongly favored efforts to promote gender equality, and they contributed strongly to the government's endeavors to protect women and girls from gender-based violence, including sexual exploitation and abuses.
“Peace and stability now prevail in almost all corners of Myanmar [Burma], significantly improving the daily life of civilians, particularly women and children,” he claimed.
At the end of the day-long deliberations, the 15-member Security Council passed a resolution, which noted that “rape and other forms of sexual violence can constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity or constitute acts with respect to genocide.”
Expressing deep concern over violence and sexual abuse of women and children trapped in war zones, the Security Council demanded “immediate and complete cessation by all parties to armed conflict of all acts of sexual violence against civilians.”

THE CELEBRATION OF SUU KYI' 63rd BIRTHDAY UNDER ARREST

At least four members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) were arrested in Rangoon by Burmese authorities at about 11 am on Thursday while they were releasing sparrows and doves to mark of the 63rd birthday of detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Many NLD members were beaten. One NLD woman member was seriously injured, said Win Naing. After the assault, about 10 vehicles carrying more than 300 security personnel in uniforms and plainclothes blocked the roads leading to NLD headquarters.
The authorities earlier had prevented NLD members from offering food to Buddhist monks, said Ohn Kyaing, a NLD spokesperson.

Meanwhile, the All Burma Monks’ Alliance (ABMA), an underground Buddhist group heavily involved in the 2007 demonstrations, released a statement on Wednesday asking the UN Security Council and the Council of the European Union to take immediate actions to protect the Burmese people from the Burmese military government. The two groups are scheduled to meet on Thursday in New York and Brussels.
“We call on the UN Security Council to take effective action to stop the humanitarian crises in Burma, created by the Burmese military government,” the ABMA said in its statement.

The statement read: “We would like to call for leaders of the EU to continue to assist Burma’s democracy movement led by detained leader Aung San Suu Kyi. We request the EU to bring [Snr-Gen] Than Shwe, leader of the Burmese military junta, before the International Criminal Court to be tried for his crimes against humanity, as recommended by the European Parliament.” Suu Kyi completed a five-year sentence under house arrest on May 27. Under the conditions of her detention, Article 10 (b) of the State Protection Act Law 1975, a person can be detained for a maximum of five years. However, the military regime announced in late May that Suu Kyi’s house arrest had been officially extended for one year.

WHO WILL SAVE BURMA'S WOMEN AND CHILDREN?

I have been separated from my daughter for nearly ten months. Amidnight knock at our door in August last year changed our livesdramatically. The military junta's security forces took my husbandKyaw Min Yu (also known as Jimmy) on the night of August 21, 2007. Heis a leader of the prominent dissident group, the 88 GenerationStudents, comprising former student leaders and former politicalprisoners. He and other leaders were taken from their homes that nightby the authorities. As a former student activist and a formerpolitical prisoner myself, I knew very well how my husband and friendswould be treated in the junta's interrogation cells. Therefore, whenthey came back to arrest me, I went into hiding. But I must continue to lead the 88 Generation Students with my othercolleagues, so that Burma may realise its freedom, and find justiceand democracy someday. I must avoid being arrested. However, there areso many difficulties and hardships in moving secretly from one hidingplace to another, and I didn't want my daughter to share thesehardships. Therefore, I decided to send my three-month- old baby to myparents. Now, I miss her so much.My mind wanders to University Avenue, where "the Lady", Daw Aung SanSuu Kyi, has been detained under house arrest for so many years. DawAung San Suu Kyi, the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prizerecipient, will have to spend her 63rd birthday today alone indetention. She will be missing her two sons, too. Her strength anddetermination helps me and many women in Burma stand up for justice. Ithank her for being with us and leading our movement. She is a greatreminder to the world that the military junta that rules our countryforcibly separates mothers and children. Coincidentally, the UN Security Council will hold a debate in New Yorktoday on "Women, Peace and Security". This debate is a discussion ofUNSC Resolution 1325, which was passed unanimously in October, 2000.Resolution 1325 "Calls on all parties to armed conflict to takespecial measures to protect women and girls from gender-basedviolence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and allother forms of violence in situations of armed conflict." It also"Emphasises the responsibility of all States to put an end to impunityand to prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes againsthumanity, war crimes including those relating to sexual violenceagainst women and girls, and in this regard, stresses the need toexclude these crimes, where feasible from amnesty provisions." US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice is expected to chair thedebate, with many world leaders discussing the development of women,peace and security. Will they discuss Burma? Will they remember DawAung San Suu Kyi and the women of Burma who are suffering all forms ofabuse by the military junta?Burma is now in the midst of two conflicts. One is the 50-year-oldcivil war, raging between the Burmese military and the minorityresistance forces, predominately in the eastern part of the country.Burmese troops are raping with impunity tribal women and girls, someas young as eight years old. Burmese soldiers use women in conflictareas as porters to carry their military equipment and supplies duringthe day, and use them as sex slaves at night. Many women have beenbrutally killed to erase the evidence of these crimes. The other conflict is a 20-year old war, waged by the Burmese juntaagainst its own unarmed citizens, who are calling for freedom, justiceand democracy. Women activists are beaten, arrested, tortured and thenput in prison for many years. Many female activists are mistreated andsexually assaulted by their interrogators and jailers. Children areused as bait by the authorities to get their mothers arrested. Of the2.5 million people severely affected by Cyclone Nargis - many of whomthe military junta simply left to die through starvation and disease -at least a million are women and girls. Recently, a UN expert saidthat up to 35,000 pregnant women, all cyclone survivors, are atextreme risk of death. However, they will never receive any care fromthe military.I hope that Secretary of State Rice and other leaders at the UNSecurity Council will give consideration to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi andthe women of Burma during their debate. Resolution 1325 is a greatdevelopment, but implementation and enforcement is still in question.When the government itself is the abuser of human rights and theperpetrator of rape and other forms of gender-based violence, who willprotect the victims? Who will end their tragedy? Who will secure thejoyful reunion of mothers with their children? The appeasement policy of some bureaucrats is shameful. Effective andurgent action from the UN Security Council is necessary to help thewomen in Burma. No more debate. Take action. Please let me be happilyreunited with my daughter.Nilar Thein is a former student leader in the 1988 democracy uprisingin Burma and spent more than nine years in prison.__

BY NILAR THEIN__________ _________ _____

A HERO NEVER LOSE HOPE

For nearly two decades, Nelson Mandela languished in global obscurity while imprisoned under the apartheid regime in South Africa. Then, during the 1980s, millions around the world mobilized an effort for his release and an end to apartheid. Now Mandela is a global icon for human rights.
Today's Mandela is Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman who has been held under arrest for 14 years in Burma. Suu Kyi, 63, has been a courageous advocate for human rights and democracy, and she is the world's only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient. She became a target of her country's military junta after spearheading a nationwide effort to end decades of military rule. The current regime is exceedingly brutal—incarcerating up to 2,000 political prisoners, recruiting more child soldiers than any other country in the world and carrying out a campaign of rape against ethnic-minority women. It has pursued a scorched-earth policy against minorities, destroying medical clinics, food supplies and homes.
Suu Kyi has appealed to the global community to take up the Burmese cause, saying "Please, use your liberty to promote ours." It took decades for us to come to Mandela's aid. Suu Kyi—and the people of Burma—are waiting to be freed now.

POSTED BY ANH

Two Chin teenaged girls raped in Burma:

Two Chin teenaged girls raped in Burma: Rapists arrested
by admin — last modified 2008-06-17 08:50

June 17, 2008 - In an incident which reveals the debased nature of some people in authority in Burma, a Burmese Army major and a lawyer allegedly raped two teenaged girls in Thangtlang town in Chin state, northwest Burma on June 8.
On June 8, Major Soe Thaik Aung of the Light Infantry Battalion No (268) and lawyer U Myint Phone from the township court in Thangtlang town in Chin state raped Ngun Chin (13) and. Par Ku (14) both from Thangtlang town in lawyer Myint Phone's house at around 4 p.m. according to locals in Chin state.
After the girls were raped, they were locked up in U Myint Phone's house.
The father of one of the rape victims is a policeman. He filed a case in the police station in Thangtlang as soon as he learnt that his daughter had been raped and locked up in the lawyer's house.
Thangtlang police personnel rushed to the house of the lawyer and rescued the girls, a local from Thangtlang said.
A medical check up in Thangtlang hospital confirmed that the girls had been raped. U Myint Phone was arrested and is being detained in Thangtlang police station. Major Soe Thaik Aung is being detained in Hakha police station, according to a local.
One of the rape victims, who has not been identified, is hospitalized in Hakha because she was seriously injured after being sexually abused. A political person in Hakha town on condition of anonymity told Khonumthung News that he had heard that a seriously injured girl has been hospitalized in Hakha town. – Khonumthung.

A MONASTERY UNDER SHUT DOWN

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE TO SEE CLEARLY.

Burmese police arrest prominent activist

Police in Burma have arrested a prominent activist who was visiting survivors of cyclone Nargis.
The ex editor of First Eleven journal, Zaw Thet Htway, was taken into custody in the town of Minbu in upper Burma.
His wife told the BBC that he was visiting the Irrawaddy Delta while accompanied by journalists.
The Burmese authorities have arrested Zaw Thet Hway several times before, in 2003 he was convicted of high treason and sentenced to death.
But this was later changed to a prison sentence and he was released in 2005 after serving eighteen months.

Disease on the Rise in Laputta

Due to the spread of diarrhea and other infectious diseases, dozens of cyclone victims in Laputta Township are seeking medical treatment in local clinics every day, according to doctors active in the area.
Aye Kyu, a Burmese doctor working in Laputta told. On Monday that about 100 patients—most suffering from diarrhea—gather at nine local clinics to receive medicine or medical treatment every day.
“About 20 patients came to my clinic this morning. Six of them were suffering from diarrhea. It’s the same at every clinic around here. Diarrhea is the single biggest problem,” said Aye Kyu.
A local resident said that diarrhea was spreading not only in the town of Laputta, but also in the surrounding area. He added that although local nongovernmental organizations are providing medicine, supplies are not sufficient to meet the needs of patients.

HRW asks junta to release arrested comedian

An international human rights group has asked the Burmese military junta to immediately release a comedian and social activist who was arrested while distributing aid to victims of last month''s deadly cyclone.Maung Thura, whose stage name is Zargana, was arrested on June 4 after giving interviews to the BBC and the exile magazine 'The Irrawaddy' about shortcomings in the government's aid efforts and the slow response by United Nations agencies, the Human Rights Watch said."To arrest one of Burma's most famous public figures for talking to the media at the time he was distributing aid shows the Burmese government is more concerned with controlling its citizens than assisting them," said Brad Adams, Asia director at the HRW."Countries genuinely concerned about Burma (Myanmar) should be pressing the government for Zargana's immediate release," he said.During his arrest, officials searched Zargana's house, seizing foreign currency and videos of the cyclone, it said. However, Zargana's network of more than 400 volunteers had reached some villages affected by the cyclone and had been distributing urgently needed food aid.Zargana was previously detained for a year following the 1988 pro-democracy demonstrations. In 1990, the authorities jailed him for four years for making political speeches.

BURMA TOP REGIME TOOK IN GENICIDE CRIME

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE

The leader of the Burmese junta, Than Shwe, personally ordered the murder of scores of unarmed villagers and Thai fishermen, according to a senior diplomat and military intelligence officer who defected to America.
Aung Lin Htut, formerly the deputy chief of mission at the Burmese Embassy in Washington, described to a radio station how 81 people, including women and children, were shot and buried on an isolated island after straying into a remote military zone in the southeast of the country in 1998.
After one general hesitated to kill the civilians, fearing that the commander who had given the order was drunk, he was informed that it came from “Aba Gyi” or “Great Father” – the term used to refer to Senior General Than Shwe, the head of the junta.
A few days later troops from the same military base captured a Thai fishing boat that had strayed close to Christie Island in the Mergui Archipelago. The 22 fishermen on board were also shot and buried on the island. “I was a witness to the two incidents in which a total of about 81 people were killed,” Mr Aung Lin Htut, formerly a major in military intelligence, told the Burmese language service of Voice of America. “All of them were unarmed civilians.” In 46 years of military rule in Burma, there have been numerous reports of grave human rights violations but few have been attested by so well placed a source as Mr Aung Lin Htut. They come at a time when General Than Shwe and his regime are coming under scrutiny, after their refusal to allow a full scale relief operation for the victims of Cyclone Nargis.
The French Government has said that it comes close to being a “crime against humanity”, and last week Robert Gates, the US Defence Secretary, called it “criminal neglect”. If a tribunal like the ones established for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia is ever created for Burma, then Mr Aung Lin Htut will doubtless be called to give evidence.
He sought asylum in the US in 2005, along with six members of his family, after a purge against the country’s prime minister and intelligence chief of the time by General Than Shwe destroyed the careers of a generation of intelligence officers. Given the control of information in Burma, his account is impossible to verify. But it has credibility because it is the first time since his defection that Mr Aung Lin Htut has made any public comment on his former masters.
In May 1998 he was stationed on Zadetkyi island, a frontline base close to Burma’s maritime border with Thailand. The commander of the base was Colonel Zaw Min, who is now Minister for Electric Power and general secretary of the Union Solidarity and Development Association, the junta’s grassroots organisation.
A unit led by the colonel landed on Christie Island and found 59 people living there to gather wood and bamboo, in violation of Burmese law. The order came back from headquarters that they were to be “eliminated”.
Myint Swe, an air force general, said that he was a religious person, and that the matter should be handled delicately. He said that he was very concerned by the timing of the elimination order – just after lunch, a time when General Maung Aye, now the number two in the junta, was usually drunk.

WORKERS TAKES A STRIKE FOR RIGHT

PLEASE CLICK ON THE PAGE

THE END OF INTERVENTION

THE Burmese government's criminally neglectful response to last month's cyclone, and the world's response to that response, illustrate three grim realities today: totalitarian governments are alive and well; their neighbors are reluctant to pressure them to change; and the notion of national sovereignty as sacred is gaining ground, helped in no small part by the disastrous results of the American invasion of Iraq. Indeed, many of the world's necessary interventions in the decade before the invasion — in places like Haiti and the Balkans — would seem impossible in today's climate.
The first and most obvious reality is the survival of totalitarian government in an age of global communications and democratic progress. Myanmar's military junta employs the same set of tools used by the likes of Stalin to crush dissent and monitor the lives of citizens. The needs of the victims of Cyclone Nargis mean nothing to a regime focused solely on preserving its own authority.<=p>
Second is the unwillingness of Myanmar's neighbors to use their collective leverage on behalf of change. A decade ago, when Myanmar was allowed to join the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, I was assured by leaders in the region that they would push the junta to open its economy and move in the direction of democracy. With a few honorable exceptions, this hasn't happened.
A third reality is that the concept of national sovereignty as an inviolable and overriding principle of global law is once again gaining ground. Many diplomats and foreign policy experts had hoped that the fall of the Berlin Wall would lead to the creation of an integrated world system free from spheres of influence, in which the wounds created by colonial and cold war empires would heal.
In such a world, the international community would recognize a responsibility to override sovereignty in emergency situations — to prevent ethnic cleansing or genocide, arrest war criminals, restore democracy or provide disaster relief when national governments were either unable or unwilling to do so.
During the 1990s, certain precedents were created. The administration of George H. W. Bush intervened to prevent famine in Somalia and to aid Kurds in northern Iraq; the Clinton administration returned an elected leader to power in Haiti; NATO ended the war in Bosnia and stopped Slobodan Milosevic's campaign of terror in Kosovo; the British halted a civil war in Sierra Leone; and the United Nations authorized life-saving missions in East Timor and elsewhere.
These actions were not steps toward a world government. They did reflect the view that the international system exists to advance certain core values, including development, justice and respect for human rights. In this view, sovereignty is still a central consideration, but cases may arise in which there is a responsibility to intervene — through sanctions or, in extreme cases, by force — to save lives.
The Bush administration' s decision to fight in Afghanistan after 9/11 did nothing to weaken this view because it was clearly motivated by self-defense. The invasion of Iraq, with the administration' s grandiose rhetoric about pre-emption, was another matter, however. It generated a negative reaction that has weakened support for cross-border interventions even for worthy purposes. Governments, especially in the developing world, are now determined to preserve the principle of sovereignty, even when the human costs of doing so are high.
Thus, Myanmar's leaders have been shielded from the repercussions of their outrageous actions. Sudan has been able to dictate the terms of multinational operations inside Darfur. The government of Zimbabwe may yet succeed in stealing a presidential election.
Political leaders in Pakistan have told the Bush administration to back off, despite the growth of Al Qaeda and Taliban cells in the country's wild northwest. African leaders (understandably perhaps) have said no to the creation of a regional American military command. And despite recent efforts to enshrine the doctrine of a "responsibility to protect" in international law, the concept of humanitarian intervention has lost momentum.
The global conscience is not asleep, but after the turbulence of recent years, it is profoundly confused. Some governments will oppose any exceptions to the principle of sovereignty because they fear criticism of their own policies. Others will defend the sanctity of sovereignty unless and until they again have confidence in the judgment of those proposing exceptions.
At the heart of the debate is the question of what the international system is. Is it just a collection of legal nuts and bolts cobbled together by governments to protect governments? Or is it a living framework of rules intended to make the world a more humane place?
We know how the government of Myanmar would answer that question, but what we need to listen to is the voice — and cry — of the Burmese people.
Madeleine K. Albright was the United States secretary o= state from 1997 to 2001.

AUGUST 8 IS READY TO ANNOUNCE AS "BURMA DAY"

Expressing solidarity with the people of Burma and their relentless struggle to fight for democratic rights, a university city in California has decided to observe August 8 as “Burma Day.”
Although Berkeley—located in northern California to the east of the San Francisco Bay—does not have much of a Burmese population, the city council at its meeting on Tuesday, June 10, unanimously passed a series of resolutions expressing strong solidarity with the people of Burma.
In the US Congress, the city is represented by Congresswoman Barbara Lee, a well-known advocate of the restoration of democracy in Burma at Capitol Hill.
Commending the people of Burma for 46 years of struggle against a brutal dictatorship and honoring the 20th anniversary of the 1988 popular uprising, the Berkeley City Council in its resolution declared August 8 as “Burma Day.”
Under Berkeley’s new resolution, on August 8, every year, the city of Berkeley will raise the national flag of Burma and the city will continue to raise the Burmese national flag until a "genuine democracy" is restored in Burma. The flag for this ceremony will be provided by the Burmese American Democracy Alliance.
"By these actions, the Council of the City of Berkeley will help promote the 8/8/88 commemorations held by the Burmese American Democratic Alliance, the Buddhist Peace Fellowship and other allies," said the resolution, which was tabled by the Peace and Justice Commission of the city council.
Berkeley City Council also thanked Congresswoman Barbara Lee for writing to US President George W Bush, urging him not to attend the Beijing Olympics because of its pro-junta policies on Burma.
The resolution further urged Lee and senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein to do whatever they could to ensure aid is delivered to Burma, with or without the junta's permission, using any means possible except military invasion or force.
Copies of the resolution are to be sent to Liu Qi, the president of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee; and its main sponsors Coca-Cola, McDonald's, General Electric, Johnson & Johnson, Kodak, Visa, Lenovo, Panasonic, Samsung, Manulife Financial, Atos Origin and Omega.
The letter to these companies will communicate Berkeley's opposition to human rights violations by the Chinese government and its opposition to the political cover that these companies give the Chinese government through their sponsorship of the Olympics in China.

LAW IN BURMA DOES NOT WORK

Burmese newspapers said that authorities were breaking no laws by holding pro-democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for a sixth straight year.
Burmese military government recently extended Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest for another year, despite international pressure to set her free. She has been detained for more than 12 of the last 18 years.
But the National League for Democracy party and other pro-democracy activists were arguing that SPDC could legally only hold her for five years.
NLD spokesman U Nyan Win said he usually doesn't comment on articles published in state-run newspapers, but he said the article's explanation of how it was not illegal to hold Daw Aung San Suu Kyi for another year is legally wrong.

LETTER TO THE INTERNATIONAL

After nationalized all the newspapers in 1964, the Burmese Military regime ceased the publication of independent newspapers and runs it own four propaganda newspapers for fifty five millions people. The reason is the regime has no guts to be criticized, and afraid of the news media, which has power to reveal the truth about their lies and corruptions.
The regime’s newspapers only praised its leaders, the generals, and attacked the opposition. Their one-sided views and blunt attacks on opposition made the people to rely on foreign news media. Burmese people hated the newspapers and never trusted the news from them.
All the articles in the newspapers only praised the regime and criticized the foreign media and democratic opposition. The authors never revealed their identity, they only use fake names because they fear that someday it will come back to them as a revenge for lying to people and favoring the regime.

Recently, on of the regime newspapers, Kye Mon, issued an article written by pseudo name “Kyaw Ye Min”. He said continuation of the detention of the 1991 Nobel Peace Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi for six-year term is legal but according to the existing law it is not legal at all. According to the law the regime only could detained her for five years and they continue to detain her even though the world cried out for her release.

Kyaw Ye Min said any country would take an action when its security is threatened. Some times, it is necessary to detain someone or denied a personal rights of a person for the good of the people and the country.
In addition, he said according to the 1975 act, it said to protect from someone who wants to disturb and destroy the country by detaining it for one year by as committee and it is necessary to continue the detention, the ministries will extend it for five more years. Therefore, it is legal to detain ASSK for one more year.
The under line words “The good of the people and the country” means not the real people and the country. Their meaning of the people is “them”, the regime and its cronies is the real meaning of the people in their dictionary. They never care or respect the people, we all see how they blocked the aid for the cyclone victims, how they denied the foreign help, and so on.

We will send KyawYe Min into a prison for its crime against the law.

Htun Aung Gyaw (88GSE)

International outcry over forced returns

Human-rights groups fired a fresh salvo at the Burmese junta yesterday, saying the generals were firm in their statement that the relief effort was over and survivors had to return to their villages.
Amnesty International condemned the junta for forcing the villagers back home as their villages were uninhabitable.
The authorities announced on May 20 that the rescue phase of the cyclone response had ended and the reconstruction phase had begun.
But Amnesty said most of the displaced survivors could not return to their original homes as large swathes of the Irrawaddy delta, which bore the brunt of the cyclone, remained uninhabitable.
"After surviving the cyclone's fury, thousands of cyclone survivors are now suffering at the hands of the junta," Benjamin Zawacki, Amnesty's Burma researcher, said in a statement.
After announcing the relief effort was over, the junta demanded assistance of more than US$10 billion (Bt320 billion) for rehabilitation and reconstruction while telling international aid workers to keep away from the devastation.
The international community disagrees with the junta's assessment as aid had just begun to flow into the devastated areas and hundreds of thousands of people were still unable help themselves.
The United Nations estimated that as of early June, about 550,000 of the 2.5 million people affected by the storm were residing in temporary settlements.
Amnesty was able to confirm more than 30 instances and accounts of forcible displacement by the junta, but anecdotal evidence from numerous sources strongly suggests a much higher number. On May 23, authorities in Rangoon forcibly removed more than 3,000 cyclone survivors from an official camp in Shwebaukan township and from an unofficial camp in State High School No 2 in Dala, Rangoon Division, it said.
They gave the survivors 7,000 kyat (Bt220) and a little rice, and told those staying in the school they were expelled as the term would resume on June 2, it said.
In the past two weeks, the relocation campaign has become more systematic and widespread.

REGIME SHOWS ITS ENVY

please click on the image

Myanmar's ruling military junta denied reports Wednesday that it was deducting 10 percent from foreign donations to cyclone victims, saying all incoming funds were spent on relief efforts. 88 GSE is tracing that HTOO TRADING CO.LTD is printing huge amount of Burmese currency to exchange with foreign currency from donation or aid channels and most of foreign currencies are under hundle of HTOO TRADING CO.LTD.
Foreign aid agencies, meanwhile, said they studying a new set of guidelines issued by the government for implementing their assistance programs, which would require a large amount of paperwork and repeated contacts with national and local government agencies.
"There were concerns expressed by the humanitarian community that additional steps for seeking approval may unnecessarily delay the relief response," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
The state-owned New Light of Myanmar newspaper said foreign radio broadcasts had wrongly accused the government of deducting the tax from donations deposited in the Myanmar Foreign Trade Bank.
The state bank, which usually deducts 10 percent from all foreign currency deposits, has opened special accounts to accept U.S. dollars, euros and Singapore dollars from which all donations would be fully channeled to cyclone survivors, the newspaper said.
Organizations and individuals who have misused relief funds sent from abroad will be punished, it said.
The United Nations estimates that Cyclone Nargis affected 2.4 million people and that more than 1 million of them, mostly in the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta, still need help. The cyclone killed more than 78,000 people, according to the government.
Although the government said the relief operations have now reached the post-emergency, recovery phase, aid agencies are still concerned that many people are lacking necessities.
"What we're concerned about is premature returns to areas where the services are not yet in a position to be used, to try and make sure we can reach people the best we can no matter where they are," said Amanda Pitt, a U.N. spokeswoman, at a press conference in Bangkok, Thailand.
The junta has been criticized for dragging its feet on issuing visas and, until recently, not allowing foreign aid workers into the Irrawaddy delta, where most victims are.

However, Tuesday's positive development contrasted with reports that 18 cyclone victims _ women and children _ on their way to the United Nations office to plead for help were arrested in the commercial capital, Yangon.
Authorities detained the 18 as they walked to the U.N. offices in Yangon to complain about not receiving any government assistance, according to a government official who refused to be identified for fear of retaliation.
The group, from Dagon township on the outskirts of Yangon, was bundled into a waiting police car and remains in detention, witnesses said.

CIVILIANS MUST LIVE UNDER KILLING FOR FUTURE

Please click on the image

No Intervention in Burma:

The influential think tank, the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), has said in its June 2008 report that there is no prospect of any outside intervention in Burma, although a man-made catastrophe looms in the wake of Cyclone Nargis. “Although the junta’s foot-dragging over the acceptance of international aid has horrified the UN and many foreign governments, there is no prospect of any outside force intervention,” the EIU said in its recently released Country Report Myanmar (Burma). The report noted there had been debate over whether the UN’s “Responsibility to Protect” mandate—which sanctions international action to prevent mass atrocities such as genocide and crimes against humanity—might apply in Burma’s case. But the general consensus appears to be that it doesn’t, and that attempts to bypass the Burmese junta when delivering aid could be counterproductive, the EIU said. The report also noted that as the ruling generals continued to enjoy the tacit support of China, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council, there was “less likelihood” of foreign intervention despite outrage from many foreign countries over the junta’s inaction during the cyclone disaster, and calls from some quarters for UN-sponsored intervention.The EIU also criticized the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) for again failing to prove that it is an influential and decisive body. Although Asean took a leading role in channeling international aid to Burma, it did it in accordance with the junta’s demands, the report said. However, the EIU saved its most stinging criticism for the Burmese military authorities, noting that “the humanitarian crisis has revealed once more the incompetence of the military junta and its callous disregard for the welfare of the Burmese people. “The military will keep its primary focus on protecting its grip on power rather than dealing with the crisis at hand,” it added. With regard to the junta’s promise to allow “all aid workers” into the country, the report concluded that there was little likelihood of a rapid increase in the amount of aid being delivered to those in desperate need who are facing the risk of starvation and disease. “The generals also appear unwilling to accept the full scale of the disaster,” the EIU said, referring to Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein’s declaration three weeks after Nargis hit that the relief effort had ended and that the second phase—reconstruction—was now being implemented. Meanwhile, in a thinly-disguised PR exercise to mock the Burmese regime, the Joint Task Force Caring Response, a US military relief effort for Burmese cyclone victims, on Tuesday invited members of the press to a media junket at Thailand’s largest port, Laechabang. Journalists were invited to view a warship from the USS Essex group which was withdrawn from international waters off Burma on June 5, and see its cargo of relief supplies which the Burmese junta rejected.

TODAY LIFE IN BURMA

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE
TODAY LIFE IN BURMA

A Burma government-affiliated group denied rumors that fish from cyclone-ravaged areas were unfit to eat after supposedly feeding on human and animals corpses, local media reported Monday.
Since Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma's Irrawaddy delta last month, some people in Rangoon — the country's biggest city — have been reluctant to eat fish because of rumors they were feeding on the bodies of storm victims. Burma also is known as Myanmar.
One rumor circulating was that some fish were found to have human fingers and pieces of jewelry in their stomachs.
"This is not true. We can guarantee that," Toe Nandar Tin, an executive member of the Burma Fisheries Federation, told the Myanmar Times newspaper. "(It) is total nonsense. The freshwater fish from delta come from fish farms, not from the rivers."
She said samples of fish were tested to prove they were safe for consumption.
Toe Nandar Tin said the rumors also resulted in the suspension of orders by some foreign buyers, but she did not elaborate. The main buyers of Burma's fish include China, Thailand and Singapore.
The Burma Fisheries Federation is an organization representing the private sector, but it is affiliated with the Ministry of Livestock and Fisheries.
About 55% of the fishing sector in the country was destroyed, including 2,000 small boats and 329 offshore fishing vessels, according to the Times, a weekly English-language newspaper affiliated with the government.
Massive waves from the cyclone also devastated 37,000 acres of shrimp farms and about 3,000 acres of fish farms, it said.
The cyclone killed more than 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing in the impoverished country.

HUGE CRIMES IN BURMA BY REGIME

SPDC accused of committing crimes against humanity
Burmese regime is committing crimes against humanity by targeting civilians during its military offensive against ethnic rebels, Amnesty International said in a report.
Amnesty International said the latest push against the KNU had been particularly punishing.
Civilians living in the areas affected have been subjected to abuses including torture, forced labour, killings, arbitrary arrest and the destruction of homes, villages, farmland and food stocks, Amnesty said.
"The report highlights that these violations constitute crimes against humanity," Amnesty's Asia-Pacific Director Sam Zarifi said in an interview with the BBC Burmese Service.

AI: Forced evictions on cyclone victims stepped up
The London based human rights group, Amnesty International, says the Burmese authorities are stepping up their efforts to evict cyclone victims out of emergency shelters.
Benjamin Zawacki of Amnesty told journalists in Thailand there were indications that the Burmese government wanted to force people back to their flattened villages in the cyclone worst hit area, the Irrawaddy Delta.
He said Amnesty International can confirm at least thirty instances or accounts of forcibly displacement since the 19th of May.
Amnesty does not have evidence to suggest that it is, at least yet, the policy of the regime to forcibly displace people back to their villages and their townships in the Delta area, but circumstantial evidence is certainly beginning to lean in that direction, added Mr Zawacki.

Forced eviction of cyclone victims intensified
The London-based human rights group, Amnesty International, says the Burmese authorities are stepping up efforts to evict cyclone victims out of emergency shelters.
The cyclone has caused extensive damages mainly in the delta region and survivors have been forced to leave their houses and live on the road side or in monastries.
Amnesty confirmed at least thrity cases of forced evictions but the spokesman said he did not see evidence to suggest that it is the government's policy.
In the mean time, aid experts from the ASEAN and the UN started deploying in Irrawaddy delta, more than a month after the cyclone devastated the region.
The survivors have been mainly relying on private donors who have been providing vital supplies which international agencies have been unable to do so freely.
The cyclone left more than 133,000 people dead or missing and UN estimates more than two million survivors need food and shelter. But 1.1 million people have yet to receive anything from foreign donors.

BBC NEWS

Son of top army general arrested

PLESE CLICK ON MYANMAR FORNT INMAGE

Son of top army general arrested for alleged drug trafficking

The son of a top Burmese Army general was taken into custody on charges of drug trafficking.Aung Zaw Ye Myint, son of Lt- Gen Ye Myint, the Chief of Bureau of Special Operation I was arrested last Saturday after a joint force of the military intelligence and police raided his office in Kyi Myin Dine township. He is being suspected of selling drugs to Burma's movie celebrities, police sources said.The accused owns the Yetagun Construction Company located in Yetagun Tower, at the corner of Pan Hlaing Street in Kyi Myin Dine Township.Aung Zaw Ye Myint (29) s believed to have been detained by the Rangoon division military command.An actress was also arrested for involvement in his drug trafficking ring but Mizzima is yet to identify her.Film stars in Burma are known to use illicit drugs such as Ecstasy, Yaba or Yama and Heroin among others.

MIZIMA NEWS

Over 100 cyclone victims reach Thai-Burma border

Over 100 cyclone victims arrived in Mae Sod, the Thai-Burma border based cyclone victim's assistance group said.The 100 cyclone victims belong to the worst hit Irrawaddy Division. They are being helped by the 'Emergency Assistance Team-Burma' (EATB) which was formed on the border after the killer cyclone lashed Burma."Eight cyclone victims arrived here this morning. They were given food for a month and 1,000 Baht each in cash," Saya Mann Mann, spokesperson of EATB told Mizzima.EATB said that they would contact and coordinate with UN agencies and NGOs to get more assistance for the cyclone victims who are arriving on the border."Some said they left their children in their home towns and villages and they came alone. They said that they would go back home if we provide them necessary assistance," Saya Mann Mann said.EATB comprises the 'National Health and Education Committee' (NHEC), Mae Taw clinic of Dr. Cynthia Maung, 'Human Right Education Institute of Burma' (HREIB), 'Burma Medical Association' (BMA) and other volunteers and charity organizations. EATB is now delivering aid to about 40,000 cyclone victims in the affected areas.EATB was formed after Cyclone Nargis struck Burma on an emergency basis and is now working with 40 networks inside Burma and focusing on delivering aid to remote cyclone-hit areas."EATB is comprised of education, health and social organizations based here. This team is seeking fund for cyclone victims from the international community and distributing the funds to all religious organizations from all faiths – Buddhists, Christians among other religious and social organizations. These organizations will deliver aid to the cyclone victims in affected areas," Naw Phaw Re, Chairman of NHEC said.Though the team was first intended for about 40,000 victims, now it can access about 120,000 to 150,000 people, the team's report said.The cyclone victim's fund is estimated at about 18 million Baht and so far it has delivered 10 million Baht.The fund will be used not only for emergency relief, but also for long term reconstruction and rehabilitation work, Saya Mann Mann said."It will be more convenient for them if we can provide them with assistance for sustainable survival in their home towns and villages rather than coming to the border," he added.The killer Cyclone Nargis which struck on May 2 and 3 left over 130,000 people dead or missing and 2.5 million homeless in Rangoon and Irrawaddy Divisions.UN agencies which are delivering aid to cyclone victims said that over 1 million people have not yet received any assistance and aid even one month after the cyclone.

MYANMAR REFUGEES OF NARGIS EXCHANG FOOD FOR LABOR

PLEASE CLICK ON THE IMAGE

Myanmar refugees of Nargis are exchanging food for labor

Myanmar's military regime has forced cyclone survivors to do menial labor in exchange for food and stepped up a campaign to evict displaced citizens from aid shelters, an international human rights group said Thursday.
London-based Amnesty International also said authorities in several cyclone-hit areas continue to divert aid despite the junta's pledge to crack down on the problem weeks ago.
"Unless human rights safeguards are observed, tens of thousands of people remain at risk," Amnesty said in a report released Thursday. "Respect for human rights must be at the center of the relief effort."
More than a month after the storm, many people in stricken areas still have not received any aid and the military regime continues to impose constraints on international rescue efforts, human rights groups say.
U.S. Navy ships laden with relief supplies steamed away from Myanmar's coast Thursday, their helicopters barred by the ruling junta even though millions of cyclone survivors need food, shelter or medical care.

In mid-May, people near the hard-hit delta township of Bogale were forced to "break rocks and level a field" to construct a helicopter landing pad in exchange for biscuits sent by the U.N.'s World Food Program, the report said.
Others in Bogale were given rice soup and shelter on condition they cleared debris and built an official camp, the report said, adding that authorities told displaced survivors in nearby Labutta they would not receive food unless they worked.
Meanwhile, a campaign to kick homeless survivors out of temporary shelters in schools, monasteries and public buildings appears to have intensified.
"Movement has been increasingly widespread geographically," Zawacki said. "It violates the human rights of those people to food, to shelter, to health and, perhaps, the right to life."
The junta, which explicitly rejected the use of foreign military helicopters in the relief effort, still has not authorized the entry of nine civilian helicopters flying on behalf of the U.N. World Food Program, though they have been sitting in neighboring Thailand since last week.
Restrictions on visa and travel permission for foreign workers, as well as on entry of some equipment, continue to hamper the aid effort, despite a pledge made almost two weeks ago by junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe to U.N. Secretary Ban Ki-moon to allow foreign aid workers free access to devastated areas, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
Of the 2.4 million people affected, only 1.3 million survivors have so far been reached with assistance by local and international humanitarian groups, the Red Cross and the U.N., said the U.N's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

Amnesty's report cites 40 accounts of Myanmar soldiers or local officials having confiscated, diverted or otherwise misused aid intended for cyclone survivors since the storm hit on May 2-3.
Although the junta has granted greater access to the hardest-hit Irrawaddy delta, "recent incidents of corruption and diversion of aid suggest a potentially serious threat to effective distribution of aid," the report said.

FIGHTING PEACOCK FLAG IS FLYING FOR 3000MILES

FIGHTING PEACOCK FLAG IS FLYING FOR 3000MILES TO FREE BURMA WITH TWO WALKING BURMESE DEMOCRATIC STUDENTS ACROSS UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

JUNE4, 2008
The weather is fine; the breeze is going slow along their walking way on local Highway No.6. The road is smooth and straight. But it is less than 82 degree of sun heat in the spring of northern States in USA. When some leading members of 88gse and Illinois Burmese Community meet them, Athein and Zaw Min Htwe are walking on their way shouldering American flag and Fighting peacock flag together, which are flying on the way too and heading to pass the border of Iowa and Illinois.
When I meet Ahtein, he warmly hugs me with his soaking body of sweat beside his walking way. When a drop of sweat from his forehead falls on my right shoulder, I feel that hits my heart and I get a sense which means I have responsibility for our nation freedom and to support the activists who are endeavoring for freedom. I have met him in Bangkok before he left to USA. So he and I are so happy to meet again and I am so proud for him because he is now doing a great job for the whole nation of Burma to be freed from over 46-years of iron fist ruling by military regime.
“I want to see our nation free”, said Athein. “For the time being, we, democratic students should not be coward to fight Burma’s regime and we should not stay away to join to oppose the dictator”, Athein said.
Athein and Zaw Min Htwe sit for awhile with all of us at the gate of Nambia Zoo in Iowa. Our group brings some kind of food and cold drinks for them to use along their way further. They do not have enough money for next 800 miles walk to get New York. They do not get adequate assistance from any where, but they have already passed 2200 miles from Oregon to Iowa. They never say anything about their difficulties of their struggle and survival along the way, but they always say that they are fighting for freedom in non violence means and to be unity altogether in order to uproot military dogma in Burma. They have to get to New York in August 8, 2008 to hand many letters from Burma to UN Secretary-General, Banki-moon in United Nation Headquarter.
Athein and Zaw Min Htwe get Wheaton town in Chicago region at 8:00 PM, May31, 2008. They have to stay at my apartment room for rest. They bring out two bags from their SUV Ford. Those two bags are full of old soaking dresses and bad small flying out because they have no time to clean all of their clothes along their walking ways, but they keep them day by day. So they have to do laundry. We say them to laundry their cloths for them, but they do not accept. “We must do ours’ and we do not want to hand over to any one our burden”. Zaw Min Htwe said. After they had dinner, both of them helped us preparing for some posters, slogans and wall sheets to show up in front of Chinese Consulate Office in Chicago on tomorrow.
In May31, we all march to Chinese Consulate Office from the gate of Chicago City at 11:00 AM. Along the marching way in Chicago downtown, many polices take care us to clear the way. We are flying Fighting Peacock Flag and American Flag through Chicago downtown. Many passers are surprised and watching our marching.
At 12:30 PM, we get the front place of the Consulate Office where more than 12 comrades from Fort Wayne, Indiana State are waiting us to join into the demonstration.
88 Generation Students Exile, democratic students group from Fort Wayne, Burmese Community of Illinois, Athein and Zaw Min htwe take demo in front of the Chinese Consulate Office in harmony.
All of us call for Chinese Government to free Tibet, to free Burma and to stay away Dufar Crisis and we show that we oppose 2008 Olympic in China.
At last we set fire Chinese flag in front of polices and consulate office security men. In June 1, 2008, some member of 88 GSE, Burmese Community of Illinois and several ethnics come and greet Athein and Zaw Min Htwe in the Wheaton Central Park.
Athein and Zaw Min Htwe turn to their unfinished 820 miles long walk journey left next day and now they are flying our Fighting Peacock Flag on the road again and they continue to across four States to get New York. “We can not stop our aim to get New York and we are seeing that Burma is killing field of neglect. So, we must hand out letters from our people to UNSC to rescue our nation ”. All members of 88GSE have to be proud and impressed deeply for 3000 miles of Fighting Peacock flying across America by Athein and Zaw Min Htwe.

Written By ANH

MONKS STEP OUT AND LOST OF HOPE

MONKS WILL STEP OUT AGAINST REGIME

Pyinya Thiha, a senior monk at Thardu monastery in Rangoon’s Kyeemyindine Township, accused the junta of exacerbating the plight of the cyclone survivors by thinking only of its own interests and placing restrictions on the delivery of aid. He called on the regime to allow international aid workers access to the cyclone-devastated areas.
About 100 nuns and more than 500 members of the general public attended the prayer ceremony, in Thardu monastery.
Pyinya Thiha said the junta was guilty of a “double injustice” in its approach to the catastrophe. “The current situation is not important for them [but] it is very important for the survival of the people now in trouble.
“It is necessary to see human beings with the eyes of a human being. They [the junta] should not see human beings as animals.”
Monks would do “whatever we can for the victims,” he promised. The monks of the Thardu monastery distributed relief supplies daily in Rangoon Division’s Hlaing Tharyar and Kyeemyindine Townships, and prayed every evening for the cyclone victims.
Monks had already delivered relief supplies—from food to mosquito nets—to about 200 villages in the Irrawaddy delta, he said.
Monasteries throughout the Irrawaddy delta and Rangoon division had taken in refugees from cyclone-hit areas. Monks had also helped clear up the cyclone damage.
One Hlaing Tharyar Township resident, Tin Yu, said the authorities didn’t dare prevent the monks from helping cyclone survivors, some of whom were still sheltering in monasteries, despite official pressure to leave. The assistance provided by the monks had been “very encouraging.”

LOST OF HOPE

The U.S. military has ordered navy ships loaded with relief aid off Myanmar's coast to leave the area after the country's xenophobic junta refused to give them permission to help survivors of last month's devastating cyclone.
Meanwhile, more than one month after Cyclone Nargis struck, the French aid agency Doctors Without Borders said Wednesday its staffers were still finding remote areas in the delta that have not received any assistance from Myanmar or international sources.
Souheil Reaiche, the group's mission chief in Myanmar, said the number of people affected is higher than U.N. estimates because among survivors found are migrants and others not officially registered by authorities.
Adm. Timothy Keating, the top U.S. commander in the Pacific, ordered the USS Essex and accompanying vessels to depart Thursday after what he said were 15 separate attempts in recent weeks to get the junta's authorization to help with relief efforts.
Myanmar's state media has said it feared a U.S. invasion aimed at seizing the country's oil deposits.
The ruling generals also barred the use of military helicopters from friendly neighboring nations, even though the aircraft are vital for rushing supplies to isolated survivors in the Irrawaddy delta. This has forced aid agencies to scour the world for civilian military-grade helicopters, and bring them in at huge expense.
The U.N. has estimated 2.4 million people are in need of food, shelter or medical care as a result of the storm, which the government said killed 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.
Speaking in Hawaii on Tuesday, Keating said the U.S. unsuccessfully tried to persuade Myanmar's leaders to allow ships, helicopters and landing craft in to provide additional disaster relief.
The ships were in the region for international exercises. Keating made them available to help with relief efforts for last month's cyclone, and they were deployed near Myanmar in case they obtained permission to enter the country's waters.
But Myanmar allowed only limited U.S. military aid flights to the country, and barred the ships from landing or otherwise directly dispatching their cargo.
Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program, said the departure of the American ships meant relief agencies wouldn't have the chance to take advantage of their fleet of helicopters.
"That is truly unfortunate because these helicopters represent immediate heavy-lift capacity in the area of the delta," Risley told reporters in Bangkok, Thailand.
Risley earlier warned that logistics, such as the chartering of helicopters, were making the operation much more expensive than anticipated.
In previous large scale disasters _ such as the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and Pakistan's 2005 earthquake _ helicopters on loan from friendly nations' militaries were used to meet the immediate emergency requirements, he said. Nearby Thailand and Singapore have many helicopters on hand, he said.
"For political reasons, the Myanmar government was reluctant to approve their use," Risley said. Myanmar was reportedly able to field only seven helicopters of its own.
WFP has budgeted US$70 million (€45 million) for food and on the ground operations, and another US$50 million (€32 million) for the charter of 10 civilian helicopters, he said. So far it has received contributions of about US$50 million toward the US$120 million (€77 million) total, he added.
A total of 1.3 million survivors have been reached with assistance by local and international humanitarian groups, the Red Cross and the U.N., said the U.N's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in a situation report Monday.
It said in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta, the area hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis, the proportion of people reached with assistance had increased to 49 percent from 23 percent on May 25.
However, the report warned, "There remains a serious lack of sufficient and sustained humanitarian assistance for the affected populations."
Meanwhile, the U.N. Development Program announced it would provide 20,000 households in 250 delta villages with cash grants over the next six months to help survivors revive the farming, fisheries and poultry sectors.
The agency will employ survivors to repair damaged buildings, roads and bridges. It also will work with the Food and Agriculture Organization to provide farmers with rice seeds, fertilizer and tools to cultivate their fields.
"This will empower the survivors," said Hla Myint Hpu, who conducted the needs assessment for the project. "People want to keep their dignity. They want help to rebuild their livelihoods and get back on their feet."