SHANGA (BUDDHIST MONKS) IN BURMA DEMEND FOR FREEDOM AS THE BEGAINING

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RELIGIOUS FREEDOM IS LOSING IN BURMA: US GOV

Burma maintains the distinction of being named to the CPC list every year since the inception of the categorization in 1999 – with the exception of 2007, in which the State Department failed to compile a list.

The 2008 list, released at the end of last week, is a product of the former administration and the State Department under then Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. The CPC list is identical to its predecessor, consisting of Burma, Eritrea, Iran, North Korea, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and Uzbekistan.

The CPC designation is reserved for the governments of countries in which persecution of religious freedom is found to be "particularly severe", including torture, and characterized by the "flagrant denial of the right to life, liberty, or the security of persons."

In recent weeks, Burma's predominantly Muslim Rohingya population has come under international attention for its alleged and prolonged persecution at the hands of Burmese authorities and their travails in attempting to flee the harsh living conditions of Burma.

If not granted a waiver, designation as a CPC requires the President to take measures, such as enacting sanctions against the government in violation, to impel an improvement in the status of freedom of religion inside the country of concern.

Following the nationwide uprising of 1988, and principally after passage of the 2003 Burma Freedom and Democracy Act, the United States has maintained comprehensive sanctions against Burma and its military leaders.

Prior to releasing the results, the findings were forwarded to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) for reaction and recommendation.

In its ensuing statement, released on Friday, the USCIRF responded critically with regard to both the lack of action taken against the most serious violators and to the composition of the CPC list itself.

"[T]he Commission concludes that the State Department should have acted years ago in the case of a number of the countries our Commission recommended for CPC designation," voiced Felice Gaer, Chair of the USCIRF.

Gaer went on to say that "we [USCIRF] hope the Obama Administration will recognize the added value that CPC status can bring to American public diplomacy on human rights."

USCIRF had counseled inclusion of Pakistan, Vietnam, Turkmenistan and Iraq as CPCs in the most recent State Department listing of the world's worst violators of religious freedom – but the State Department declined to act on any of the referrals.

The list has often been criticized for being unduly influenced by political necessity, as epitomized by the waiver routinely granted to Saudi Arabia, effectively relieving the kingdom of any potential punishment stemming from their categorization, despite the Middle Eastern country's abominable record with respect to honoring freedom of religion.

REGIME THAN SHWE'S ARMFORCED DAY

NAYPYIDAW (AFP) – Myanmar junta chief Than Shwe urged political parties to shun foreign ideologies if they want democracy as the military put on a show of might at its annual parade Friday.

More than 13,000 troops marched on the parade ground of the military-ruled nation's remote administrative capital Naypyidaw for Armed Forces Day in the shadow of statues of old Burmese kings.

"Democracy in Myanmar today is at a fledgling stage and still requires patient care and attention," Senior General Than Shwe said in a 25-minute speech.

"Some parties look to foreign countries for guidance and inspiration, follow the imported ideologies and directives irrationally," he added.

Senior Myanmar junta officials attended the ceremony that began early in the morning amid tight security following a bomb blast in the commercial hub Yangon overnight that killed one person.

Than Shwe stayed for about an hour of the 90-minute ceremony that marks the beginning of resistance to Japanese occupation during World War II but is not open to the public.

The junta has announced elections in 2010 as part of its so-called "roadmap to democracy" but critics have denounced them as a sham designed to entrench the power of the military.

The party of detained pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, which won elections in 1990 put was never allowed to take power, has not said whether it will participate in the polls as she is not permitted to stand.

Under the roadmap, Myanmar has adopted a new constitution after a widely criticised referendum held days after a cyclone ravaged large swathes of the country in early May last year, leaving 138,000 people dead or missing.

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

Myanmar remains subject to strict sanctions by the United States and other Western nations who have urged the authorities to free Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been detained for most of the last 19 years on political charges.

She is one of 2,100 political prisoners held in Myanmar according to UN human rights envoy Tomas Ojea Quintana, who recently visited and criticised dozens of recent jail terms handed down in closed-door hearings.

But a surprise meeting this week between a senior US official and junta officials prompted the State Department to deny the United States was changing its stance as it undergoes a review of existing policy towards Myanmar.

Meanwhile Than Shwe said political parties needed to "refrain from inciting unrest, avoid personal attacks and smear campaigns against other parties and to find unity and diversity."

"We have to ensure that the progress of democracy in the country does not affect non-disintegration of the union and non-disintegration of national solidarity," he added.

Wearing his uniform with medals on his chest, the 75-year-old junta chief, who has ruled Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, since 1992, inspected troops from an open-top limousine at the annual parade.

It is one of the few occasions when he allows his image to appear in official media.

88GSE CALLING BATTLE STATEMENT

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CHANGE WILL COME UP IN BURMA BECAUSE OF EU AND US INTERESTS BUT PEOPLE DESIRE

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A senior U.S. official paid a rare visit to military-ruled Myanmar for talks on boosting relations, state media said Wednesday, in the latest sign of a possible change in approach by Washington.

Stephen Blake, director of Mainland Southeast Asian Affairs at the U.S. State Department, met with Myanmar foreign minister Nyan Win on Tuesday in the administrative capital, Naypyidaw, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

The government-run paper said they held "cordial discussions on issues of mutual interests and promotion of bilateral relations between the Union of Myanmar and the United States."

The trip comes as U.S. President Barack Obama's administration continues to review the tough stance his predecessor, George W. Bush, took toward Myanmar's ruling junta.

Official sources in Naypyidaw - the remote, purpose-built capital opened by the regime in 2005 - said it was the first time a senior U.S. official had visited the city to promote bilateral relations between two countries.

They also said that a reception held by the U.S. Embassy for officials in Naypyidaw to introduce the visiting director was the first held by any foreign mission in the capital.

U.S. Embassy charge d'affaires Larry Dinger accompanied Blake, they said.

"Myanmar and the U.S. have been friendly countries since the beginning. They were also the first country to recognize our independence from the British in 1948," a senior Myanmar official said on condition of anonymity.

"They misunderstood our country's situation after the 1988 uprising. We will not understand each other without talking. It was the first time a director of the U.S. visited here for talks - the U.S. did what they should do," he said.

There was no immediate comment from U.S. officials.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has been ruled by the army since 1962. A student-led uprising in 1988 ended in a military crackdown that left an estimated 3,000 people dead.

The junta ignored a landslide election victory by the party of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi in 1990, and critics say general elections planned for 2010 are a sham aimed at entrenching the generals' power.

The regime has imposed heavy jail terms on dozens of pro-democracy activists in recent months, many of them involved in protests led by Buddhist monks that erupted in 2007.

But U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said last month that the Obama administration is reviewing its policy toward Myanmar to find ways to better influence the regime and help the country's people.

Bush's administration strengthened decade-old sanctions against Myanmar, imposed under his predecessor, Bill Clinton. Bush's wife, Laura, was an outspoken critic of the military regime.

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EU IS THINKING ABOUT TO EASE SANCTIONS ON BURMA IF DAW AUNG SAN SUU SUU KYI FREES

**********The European Union could consider easing sanctions on Myanmar at a top meeting next month if it sees democratic progress in the military-ruled nation, the E.U.'s senior Myanmar envoy said Wednesday.

The European Council, the E.U.'s principal decision-making body, could vote for an easing of sanctions if Myanmar's military junta eases restrictions on opponents ahead of elections slated for 2010, Piero Fassino told reporters.

"The European Council many times declared we are ready to change the sanctions, suspend the sanctions, if there are some positive steps in the direction of our goal," Fassino said.

"If in the next month, there is some positive evolution, for example putting in place real democratic guarantees, we'll consider this, we'll reflect how to handle these measures," he said.

The European Council's external relations council is slated to discuss sanctions against Myanmar at the end of April.

Fassino said the E.U. would only consider the 2010 elections to be free and fair if the government passes fair electoral rules and frees political prisoners, including opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"It is impossible to achieve a free and fair election if the leader of the opposition is in prison," he said.

Fassino's comments were made at the end of his visit to Indonesia, following meetings with Indonesian foreign minister Hassan Wirajuda and Association of Southeast Asian Nations Secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan.

Asian nations including Indonesia, which underwent a turbulent transition from military-led rule to democracy a decade ago, could play a key role in ensuring the fairness of 2010 elections, Fassino said.

ASIA HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION IS TRYING TO PULL OUT SU SU NEW FROM GRAVE

Myanmar: Special Humanitarian Request
Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 2:00 pm
Press Release: Asian Human Rights Commission

Myanmar: Special Humanitarian Request For Urgent Medical Treatment For Detainee Suffering From Heart Condition

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is writing this special appeal to you out of grave concern that a person currently being detained in Myanmar is seriously incapacitated and could die for want of adequate medical attention.

The detainee in question is Ma Su Su Nwe, 39, who was convicted of five charges and sentenced to 12-and-a-half years in jail for her part in the events of August and September 2007, which was reduced on appeal to eight-and-a-half years in February 2009. Ma Su Su Nwe, as you may be aware, has a congenital heart defect and has been on medication for a long time.
However, we are gravely concerned that since she has been held in custody, Ma Su Su Nwe's health has worsened dramatically. According to visitors to Kalay Prison in Sagaing Division, where she has been held since November 2008, Ma Su Su Nwe is unable to walk without support from wardens and appears to be extremely weak and pale.

While we are aware that Ma Su Su Nwe has obtained some treatment at the Kalay hospital, we are gravely concerned that so long as she is held in the extremely poor conditions in the prison her health will only continue to worsen.

We are also aware that one of the reasons for Ma Su Su Nwe's seriously deteriorating health is that, like many other persons convicted over the incidents in 2007, she has been sent to a prison far from her residence, making it very difficult for friends and family to visit regularly and attend to her needs.

Without regards to other factors, we sincerely request you to allow Ma Su Su Nwe to get the urgent medical treatment that she needs to secure her health, preferably as an inpatient in a hospital outside of prison. In this respect we also kindly request that you consider transferring Ma Su Su Nwe to a prison closer to her family and relatives, in the Ayeyarwaddy or Yangon Divisions, so that other persons too may assist in seeing that she receives the food and medicine and other things that she needs.

Please be informed that we are making this request on strictly humanitarian and compassionate grounds, for the sake of the health and wellbeing of a woman detainee. We believe that your prompt intervention will allow for Ma Su Su Nwe to obtain the assistance that she needs without further delay.

We also take this opportunity to urge that the International Committee for the Red Cross again be allowed access to detainees in Myanmar in accordance with its international mandate as a matter of the highest priority.

We trust that you will give this request your highest consideration and thank you for your attention to this matter.

Yours sincerely

Basil Fernando
Executive Director
Asian Human Rights Commission, Hong Kong

REGIME IS BREAKING THE RULES OF THE NATION AND INTERNATIONAL

UN rules detention of Myanmar's Suu Kyi illegal
BANGKOK – The United Nations has ruled the continued detention of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi violates the country's own laws as well as those of the international community, a legal document says.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has spent 13 of the last 19 years under house arrest, with the ruling junta yearly extending her detention despite international outcries.

"The latest renewal (2008) of the order to place Ms. Suu Kyi under house arrest not solely violates international law but also national domestic laws of Myanmar," said a legal opinion by the U.N. Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions that has been sent to the Myanmar government.

Although the ruling is unlikely to spring Suu Kyi from detention, it is uncommon for the world body to accuse a member country of violating its own laws, and while the junta has always marched to its own tune it has also resented being regarded as an international pariah.

The working group, an arm of the U.N. Human Rights Council, said Suu Kyi was being held under Myanmar's 1975 State Protection Law, which only allows renewable arrest orders for a maximum of five years. This five-year period ended at the end of May 2008.

The opinion also questioned whether Suu Kyi represented a threat to the "security of the State or public peace and tranquility," the provision of the 1975 law authorities have pointed to as the reason for her continued detention.

Jared Genser, a Washington-based attorney retained by Suu Kyi's family who provided the document to The Associated Press, said while the United Nations group earlier found her detention arbitrary and in violation of international law, it was the first time it cited the junta as failing to abide by its own law.

He said the government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, has not responded to the U.N.'s legal arguments and has not commented on why Suu Kyi is still being detained.

Suu Kyi, who rose to prominence during a pro-democracy uprising in 1988, was placed under arrest before her party swept the 1990 general elections, which the junta did not recognize. Over the years, the government released her several times only to have her virtually isolated again in her compound in Yangon.

The United Nations has for years attempted without success to bring about political reform and a dialogue between Suu Kyi and the military.

"I am under no illusion that the junta will be listening to the United Nations," Genser said in a telephone interview. "There is no quick and easy answer to the problem of Burma, so we have to take it one step forward at a time."

In Myanmar, the spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, Nyan Win, said over the weekend that her lawyer had sent a letter to Prime Minister Gen. Thein Sein on March 13 asking for a hearing to appeal for her release when the one-year detention period expires in May.

The lawyer, Kyi Win, sent the appeal letter last October but has had no response from authorities, the spokesman said.

"The reason for her detention is false because Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, who advocates a nonviolence policy, has not caused any threat to public order," he said.

Nyan Win said every time Suu Kyi's detention is extended, authorities read out the order "but no explanation or reason was ever given for the extension or detention."

Asked if Suu Kyi's detention might be lifted in May, Nyan Win said, "It is very difficult to make any predictions as the government does not have a transparent policy."

Activist groups, under a Free Burma's Political Prisoners Now Campaign, are attempting to collect 888,888 signatures for a petition calling for the release of Suu Kyi and more than 2,100 other political prisoners.

The petition is to be sent to U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. The number "8" is regarded as highly auspicious by many Burmese.

Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962. Its leaders have scheduled elections next year that they say will lead to democracy. Critics say the balloting, held under a junta-orchestrated constitution, will merely perpetuate military control.

US STILL WORKING TO REVIEW ON BURMA AND REGIME ASKS FOR HELP FROM THAI GOV

Foreign minister Kasit Piromya, who has been visiting Myanmar since Sunday, said that his counterpart Nyan Win and Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein asked for Thai assistance.

"Myanmar has confirmed that the election will be held next year and Myanmar has asked Thailand to help talk with minority groups to join in the reconciliation process," Kasit told reporters by telephone from Myanmar.

"Thailand is willing to help," he said.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and ignored the results of the last election in 1990, instead keeping the victorious opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for most of the last two decades.

The generals have promised multi-party elections in 2010, but democracy activists say the polls are simply a ruse to entrench military rule because Suu Kyi is barred from participating.

Kasit said Myanmar government officials told him "they are listening for Aung San Suu Kyi's position," but gave no further details.

Myanmar's junta partly justifies its firm grip on power by claiming the need to fend off ethnic rebellions that have plagued remote border areas for decades.

The impoverished nation formerly known as Burma is home to at least 135 different ethnic groups, but over the years most rebel groups fighting central rule have reached ceasefire agreements with the junta.

Kasit singled out the Karen National Union for possible talks, a group which has been fighting for independence since 1949.

Tens of thousands of Karen civilians have fled fighting in the past two decades and crossed the border to refugee camps in Thailand.

"If Thailand helps talking with minority groups, maybe the problems on the border will be resolved too," said Kasit, who returns to Thailand later Monday.

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***************US Still Working on New Burma Policy ******************************

A senior US official has repeated earlier comments that the Obama administration is in the process of devising a new policy to achieve a goal of democratic reconciliation in Burma.

“It is clear that we and the international community have not been very successful in Burma,” the Acting Assistant Secretary for International Organizations, James Warlick, told a group of foreign journalists here, during a briefing on the administration’s approach with regard to various issues related to the United Nations.

“I think we all are committed to bring about change in Burma, but then the question is how? How can we influence [a government] that has a repressive military regime, which has prosecuted its own people? How can we effectively deal with them?” he asked.

“This administration is seeking a fresh look on Burma, and it has not yet concluded on a particular path but it is recognized as an area which is a concern for us,” Warlick said.

“We still see a repressive regime,” he said. “We still see political prisoners. Aung San Suu Kyi still remains under house arrest. Added to that is the physical devastation of the country due to Cyclone Nargis.”

Warlick said Burma would continue to be one of the priority issues and the Obama administration would continue to push for its goals through the UN, Asean and other countries. He noted that Burma continues to be on the agenda of the UN Security Council.

During her trip to Asia, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that the Obama administration will review the policy on Burma including economic sanctions which she said had failed to yield the desired result either to the international community or to the people of Burma.

No deadline was set for the completion of the review.

STUPID JUNTA OF UN REPOPRT

So nothing has changed? Well, not quite.
In a report to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva on Tuesday, special rapporteur Tomas Ojea Quintana painted a grim picture of conditions in the country: 400 political prisoners sentenced in the last quarter of 2008 to jail terms ranging from 25 to 64 years; a total of more than 2,100 political prisoners in thecountry (twice the figure of two years ago); and a 20-year-old student union member jailed for 104 years in January.

There was more: opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi detained for the last six years under a law that permits detention for no more than five years; multiple abuses of the rights of Rohingya Muslims in North Rakhine state; continuing recruitment of child soldiers; prevalent rape of ethnic minority women by soldiers; forced labor; use of landmines; and, in a country which should have a food surplus if properly run, acute food shortages in five states.

Quintana also noted that the junta did not accede to his request to meet political party leaders because "all the leaders were held in detention, either under house arrest or in prisons in remote areas". And yet six months into his job as special rapporteur, Quintana is trying to make it as easy as possible for Myanmar's ruling junta to grasp the nettle of human rights issues that have made it an international pariah.
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Junta’s blatant denial of rights abuse shameful:

Wunna Maung Lwin, Burmese Ambassador to the UN on Tuesday denied a report by the UN special envoy on Human Rights Tomas Ojea Quintana that over 2,000 political prisoners continue to languish in prisons across Burma.

Denying Quintana’s report, Wunna Maung Lwin at the 10th Session of Human Rights Council, being held at Geneva from March 2-27, said, “There were no prisoners of conscience, the only individuals serving prison terms had broken the laws of Myanmar [Burma].”

While several representatives at the Session condemned Burma’s military rulers for its appalling human rights records, Russia, a long time supporter of Burma’s military junta defended it.

The Russian representative in a statement said, “The increasing attention paid by the international community to the issue was artificial, and the accusations levelled at the leadership were based on unreliable information, from unverified and politicised sources.”

David Scott Mathieson, Burma consultant of the Human Rights Watch (HRW) based in Thailand said Burma’s denial of the presence of political prisoners and the appalling human rights situation could mislead the international community.

“We know that there are more than 2,000 political prisoners, but he [Wunna Maung Lwin] denied it. But the danger is not in the stupidity of what he said but the danger is what he is causing the international community into believing,” said Mathieson.

He added that it is dangerous that some countries would choose to believe such statements made by the Burmese junta and the actual human rights situation could be ignored.

HRW said the international community should not believe what the Burmese Ambassador said. They should pay more attention to the human rights situation inside Burma.

“This is not a serious statement and does not reflect a policy of honesty to the international community and to the UN. It is an insult to the global human rights project,” Mathieson added.

Quintana, who last visited Burma in February, in his report said the human rights situation in Burma is still challenging and that over 2,000 political prisoners remained locked up in prisons across the country.

He also called on Burma’s military rulers to release the political prisoners including detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before the junta convenes a general election in 2010.

Aung Myo Min, a human rights activist based in Thailand said, he had seen the Special Rapporteur’s report that carries specific human rights violations in Burma including cases of porterage, and the use of human minesweepers, but he doubts the effectiveness of the report.

“Only if all the members of the UN take effective action, then the report will be meaningful,” Aung Myo Min said.

“The Burmese ambassador’s denial means that the junta is brazenly denying human rights violations and also his [Quintana] report,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bo Kyi , joint-secretary of Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners- Burma (AAPP-B), said the condition of political prisoners in Burma is getting worse by the day.

According to the AAPP-B, there are at least 2,100 political prisoners languishing in prisons across the country. The group said following the September 2007 monk-led protests, the number of political prisoners has doubled.

“The junta’s denial is nothing new, they have always given excuses like this, without any proof,” said Bo Kyi.

But he said he is concerned with the deteriorating condition in which political prisoners have to live. Political prisoners continue to endure physical and mental torture by the authorities without proper medical treatment.

“Political prisoners are dying a slow death in the prisons,” said Bo Kyi, who was a former political prisoner in Burma.

SINGAPORE URGE BURMA REGIME TO ASSOCIATE WITH WORLD NATIONS

Speaking at a dinner in honor of visiting Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein late Tuesday, Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called the diplomatically isolated nation "an old friend" of Singapore that should "develop and prosper."

"The global environment is changing, with a new administration in the U.S. reviewing the global situation, and formulating its priorities and strategies in foreign policy for the next four years," he said.

Europe is also reassessing its foreign policy, and other countries grappling with the global economic slump are looking at more effective ways to deal with other regions of the world, he said.

"We hope Myanmar will seize this moment to take bolder steps towards national reconciliation and in engaging the international community," Lee said.

The two countries are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.

A Singapore foreign ministry statement said the Myanmar and Singapore leaders discussed bilateral ties and "potential areas of cooperation and collaboration."

Thein Sein, who holds the rank of general in the Myanmar military, arrived in Singapore on Tuesday for a two-day visit. He had earlier visited Indonesia.

His visit came as Myanmar's opposition National League for Democracy, or NLD, led by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, reported the arrest of five members and the United Nations chastised Myanmar's rulers for their treatment of dissidents.

Four men and a woman who worked as organizers for the party were arrested last week in the commercial hub and former capital, Yangon, said NLD spokesman Nyan Win.

A report Monday by the top U.N. official handling human rights in Myanmar, Tomas Ojea Quintana, said many of the more than 2,100 political prisoners held in Myanmar have been sentenced in flawed, closed-door hearings.

Detainees suffered from a lack of medical care during imprisonment and from " physical ill-treatment" during interrogation, said Quintana, who visited Myanmar Feb. 14 to 19 in his capacity as a U.N. special rapporteur.

During the Asean summit in Thailand earlier this month, Myanmar threatened to boycott a meeting with human rights advocates if a Myanmar activist was present. The activist wasn't allowed into the session.

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**********NDA-K ready to surrender arms *******************************
Zahkung Tingying, founder and leader of New Democratic Army-Kachin (NDA-K) told to media on Tuesday that they are ready to lay-down their arms if they can be sure that their demands will be fulfilled.

The NDA-K was the first Kachin armed group to reach a cease-fire agreement with Burma’s military junta, the then State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in 1989.

“We are fighting for our rights, development of our people and if these are guaranteed why do we still need to continue armed struggle?” said Tingying. The rebel leader said this in a tone that suggested that the new elected government would be able to fulfill their demands.

“It is possible that we will surrender our arms but at the same time we need to see that our demands and desires will be fulfilled,” he added.

The Burmese military junta in recent months has stepped up pressure on all cease-fire ethnic armed groups to surrender their arms before the 2010 general elections and urged them to transform into political parties to contest the election, sources said.

But, so far, the junta has been unable to convince any of the ceasefire groups to surrender their arms.

The NDA-K, which claims to be fighting for security, social, economic and educational development of its people, however, said they believe that their hopes would materialize after the elected government assumes office following the 2010 elections.

The NDA-K, which is based in North-eastern Kachin state along the Sino-Burma border, was founded by former Kachin Independent Organization (KIO) officers Zahkung Tingying and Layawk Zelum in 1989.

But sources said, following the ceasefire agreement, the NDA-K has focussed more on business than politics and has not maintained active armed cadres. Militarily and politically, the NDA-K has lost its strength, the source added.

“They are no longer interested in the welfare of the people because they could not take the responsibility of the people. So what they say is not significant,” another source, who has a close relationship with the group, told .

Similarly, a Sino-Burma border based military analyst, Aung Kyaw Zaw, said, the NDA-K lately lacks military power and strength and that it might be possible for them to surrender any time if the junta asks them to.

“They [NDA-K] have only around 300 to 400 soldiers right now. The military regime can compromise them anytime they wish to so it will not be a surprise if they lay-down their arms,” Aung Kyaw Zaw said.

He said the NDA-K was used well by the military government in its efforts to weaken the KIO, which is the major armed group among ethnic Kachin.

NDA-K has appointed five representatives to contest the ensuing election and will represent the group in the political party, which will be formed by representatives of all political and civilians groups in Kachin State.

The political party, which has not been officially announced, would be called the “Kachin State Progressive Party” (KSPP), sources said, and it will contest in the 2010 election as a representative party of the Kachin people.

UN ENVOY URGES TO OPEN PRISON DOORS FOR ALL POLITICAL PRISONERS

"I call for the progressive release of all prisoners of conscience when we know that more than 2,100 are still in detention, either under house arrest or in remote prisons," Quintana told the U.N. Human Rights Council .

"The prisoners of conscience should be released long before the elections in order for them to participate, either by casting their votes or even running as candidates," he said.

Authorities should also carry out an impartial review of the detention of opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi , whose latest house arrest began in 2003, Quintana added.

'NO PRISONERS OF CONSCIENCE'

Wunna Maung Win, Myanmar's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva, said: "There are no prisoners of conscience in Myanmar . In fact these are only individuals who are serving the prison terms for breaking existing laws of Myanmar . He told the council the prisoners were entitled to lodge appeals.

The military, which has ruled the former Burma in various guises since 1962, has promised an election in 2010 as part of what it calls a "roadmap to democracy."

Western governments have criticized the poll as a sham aimed at entrenching military rule.

Myanmar is reviewing 380 domestic laws to ensure conformity with its new constitution and international human rights standards, the ambassador said.

Quintana, an Argentinean lawyer, visited Myanmar twice in the past six months, most recently in February.

He welcomed as "positive signs" the release of some political prisoners, including 29 last month. But he noted some 400 political prisoners had been given "harsh sentences" ranging from 24 to 65 years in recent months, including the popular comedian and activist Zarganar.

"Many prisoners of conscience have been sentenced in closed-door hearings within prison compounds, without legal representations, without the presence or knowledge of their family members and without proof of evidence or with flawed evidence," Quintana said in his annual report to the council.

Some political prisoners were in dire health and he had also received reports that some had died due to lack of medical care.

Quintana visited Insein and Hpa-An prisons where he "interviewed inmates who had been porters, without remuneration, for the military in Kayin state and had tried to run away because of the harshness of the work."

Some 30 to 40 prisoners in Insein prison were shackled, in violation of U.N. standards, and some had been beaten, the envoy said, also raising concerns about anti-personnel landmines along Myanmar's borders he said posed a serious threat to villagers.

"Particularly worrying is the reported practice of human minesweepers, whereby civilians are forced by the military to clear brush in suspected mined areas or to serve as porters for the military in areas where there is a mine hazard," he said.
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*******KNLA Leaders Still Barred from Mae Sot***************************************

Senior military officials of the Karen National Union (KNU) have not been allowed to re-enter Mae Sot, Thailand, since Thai authorities forced them to leave the country on February 25, according to a KNU leader.

Saw David Taw, a member of KNU central executive committee, said that Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) senior leaders have been denied permission to re-enter Mae Sot since they were forced to return to Burma.

“Many are worried that they can’t ever return to Mae Sot,” he said.

The Thai army reportedly told the KNU that the expelled officials must obtain permission from Thai authorities to re-enter Mae Sot and must not engage in military activities while on Thai territory.

KNU leaders believe the recent pressure is a result of improved bilateral trade on the Thai-Burmese border.

Saw David Taw said, “The Thai policy today is different than before. They don’t want us to live on their territory, and many KNU leaders are having a difficult time.”

The KNLA has fought against the Burmese government since 1948. In 1995, it lost control of its former headquarters at Manerplaw in Karen State. It later shifted its command center close to the Thai-Burmese border area.

Since then, the KNU and KNLA have continued to attack Burmese army units by forming small units and basing themselves in temporary jungle camps along the Thai-Burmese border.

Meanwhile, there are reports that the Burmese government has reinforced troops in Karen State in preparation for a dry-season military offensive against the Karen army.

Military sources said that the Burmese junta has deployed more infantry battalions and a group of armored personnel carriers (APCs) in Kya Inn Seikgyi Township, a so-called “black area” in Karen State where the KNLA is active.

CLINTON EXPRESS AND CRPP IS READY TO BOYCOTT 2010 ELECTION

During her speech, at the State Department on the occasion of Women’s History Month on Thursday, Clinton encouraged women globally to draw inspiration from courageous women, including Burmese pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi.

“Aung San Suu Kyi, whom I mentioned yesterday and I mention as often as I can, because having been in prison now for most of the past two decades, she still remains a beacon of hope, strength and liberty for people around the world,” Clinton said.

In her remarks on Wednesday, during International Women’s Day celebrations, Clinton also expressed solidarity with Aung San Suu Kyi and other Burmese women, who are prisoners of conscience.

Clinton said that she expressed her solidarity with “…especially Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been kept under house arrest in Burma, for most of the past two decades, but continues to be a beacon of hope and strength to people around the world.”

“Her [Aung San Suu Kyi] example has been especially important to other women in Burma, who have been imprisoned for their political beliefs, driven into exile, or subjected to sexual violence by the military,” Clinton added.

Clinton, as much as successive US governments, has time and again called on Burma’s military junta to release political prisoners, including Aung San Suu Kyi, and kick-start an all inclusive and meaningful political dialogue.

The United States has also called on the junta to improve human rights conditions in the country, and as punishment for the junta’s failure has imposed strict economic sanctions on Burma.

Meanwhile, with critics pointing out the ineffectiveness of sanctions to induce desired behavioural change in the Burmese Junta, Clinton, during her first trip to Asia, since she took office in January, hinted that the US was reviewing its policy.

Burma’s ruling junta, who are poised with plans for a general election slated for 2010, said it was steadily implementing a seven-step roadmap to democracy.

Aung San Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party won a landslide victory in the 1990 general elections, has so far made no comment on their participation in the upcoming general elections, which is the fifth step of the junta roadmap.

In the past, Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD have time and again called for a dialogue with the government.
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**************We Will Boycott Election: CRPP ************************************
“The release of political prisoners is the first step toward democracy,” he said. “The second is to allow for a review of the new constitution. If not, we will not be involved in the election.”

The announcement came after a meeting was held in Rangoon on Thursday between representatives of the five political parties that comprise the CRPP coalition: the National League for Democracy (NLD), the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, the Mon National League for Democracy, the Arakan League for Democracy, and Zomi National Congress.

Between them, the five parties took 89 percent of the electoral votes at the 1990 general election—some 433 of the parliament’s 485 seats—with the NLD winning a landslide victory.

However, the elected representatives were never allowed to take power and many of their members were subsequently arrested and imprisoned by the military junta.

Despite the announcement, Nyan Win, a spokesperson for the NLD, refused to comment to The Irrawaddy on Friday about the CRPP decision or the 2010 election.

The NLD has previously called on the Burmese military regime to review the new constitution and release all political prisoners, including its general secretary, Aung San Suu Kyi.

At the 14th Asean Summit in Thailand last month, Burmese Prime Minister Thein Sein reportedly promised that Burma would allow United Nations to monitor the 2010 election, a date for which still has not been announced.

But Aye Thar Aung said that allowing the international community to monitor next year’s general election is not as important a factor as the need to review the new constitution.

“It is simply unacceptable that the military will reserve 25 percent of seats in the parliament for itself according to the new constitution,” he said.

He added that the CRPP seeks meaning dialogue between the military junta and the opposition groups for the future of democracy in Burma.

Some leaders of political parties within the CRPP are still in detention, including Suu Kyi and Tin Oo of the NLD, and ethnic Shan leader Hkun Htun Oo.

WBRF GIVES WARNING TO REGIME

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POSTED BY ANH

THREE VICTIMS DIE IN FORCED LABOR AND FRENCH HOME MINISTER HAS QUESTION FOR HUMAN RIGHTS IN THAILAND AND BURMA

The deaths occurred when village authorities forced villagers to excavate sand and gravel for schools and to construct government buildings, said the labor group, which monitors and documents human rights abuses in Burma.

Saw Phar Luu, 54 years old, of Kyauk Talone village in Daik-U Township was forced to work in a rock quarry in the Yoma Mountain range in Pegua Division.

“Saw Phar Luu was killed when rocks fell on him on January 29,” Aye Myint said.

In a separate incident, two brothers, Min Oo and Myint Aung of Gway Chogone village in Kyauktada Township in Pegu Division, died on February 1 when sand buried them in Phayargyi, one mile from Gway Chongone village.

The village authorities and school construction committee asked Min Oo, 30, and Myint Aung, 22, to work on a government school in Gway Chogone village and to take charge of collecting sand for the project.

“They were killed while collecting the sand at a forced labor site. The sand pit collapsed and both of them died,” said Aye Myint.

Aye Myint said the local village authorities offered no compensation to family members.

Aye Myint complained about what he termed the response of the International Labor Organization (ILO) office in Rangoon, when it was informed about the death of the two brothers.

"The ILO doesn’t want us to inform the exile media,” said Aye Myint.

Meanwhile, Phoe Phyu, a labor lawyer, has been arrested by local authorities in Magwe Township. Phoe Phyu was an advocate for farmers in Natmauk Township in Magwe Division who were arrested by local authorities. The farmers had complained to the ILO office in Rangoon that their land had been confiscated.
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French Govt Minister to Raise Burma Question during Thailand Visit

Yade, a minister of state in the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs, will also visit a refugee camp housing about 20,000 Burmese, most of them Karenni.

A French Foreign Ministry statement said that apart from bilateral issues Yade would discuss with Kasit the Burma situation.

The statement said the objective of her visit to Ban Mai Nai Soi refugee camp in northern Thailand’s Mae Hong Song Province was to strengthen cooperation between the Thai government and major donors of aid to refugees, including the European Union.

Rama Yade is a 32-year-old career politician who was born in Senegal, West Africa. She has made clear her concern for events in Burma at a number of international gatherings, and at an Asean summit in Singapore in November 2007, two months after the September uprising, she said it was time the grouping tackled the challenges posed by Burma.

“After the tragic hours of repression of the pro-democracy movement, fragile hope has appeared for the people of Burma,” Rama Yade said at the summit. “It is naturally for them to maintain and develop it by envisioning the prospects for the future.”

She said she was convinced the EU and Asean can work together for change in Burma. “I’m certain, at any rate, that we must do so, in the interest of the people of Burma,” she said.

In an article carried by the English-language daily Bangkok Post on Thursday, Yade said France and the EU, “far from preaching,” want to “stand alongside Asean, which at the Cha-am/Hua Hin summit recently reaffirmed its wishes for Burma: democracy, freedom and co-operation with the international community.”

France and the EU also wanted to “give the efforts of the United Nations Secretary General every chance,” she said.

“Expectations will, of course, remain high with respect to Burma, where we share the hope of a return to democracy and freedom, for Aung San Suu Kyi, for all political prisoners and for the population as a whole, and with freedom, the hope of a return to economic development,” she said in the article.

“We are willing to assist and support a genuine process of democratisation that respects the choices of the Burmese after an inclusive dialogue between the authorities and the opposition that everyone hopes for.

“We hold out our hand to people of goodwill in Burma to accompany it in the best possible way on its own path towards freedom.”

Yade has repeatedly called for the release of Suu Kyi—most notably in article for the French daily “Le Figaro” in September 2007 and in a statement issued jointly with French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner in May 2008.

During her stay in Singapore for the 2007 summit, Yade visited a Burmese monastery and the Burmese community there, along with British Parliamentary Undersecretary of State, Meg Munn. They met Burmese monks and activists.

When former Thai Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama visited France in June 2008, Rama Yade discussed the Burma situation with him, including the delays of international relief supplies to the victims of Cyclone Nargis.

A few days after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma, France sent its navy vessel Mistral with 1,000 tonnes of humanitarian supplies to join US and British ships off the Burmese coast. Burmese authorities refused to allow the supplies to be delivered and the ships eventually unloaded their supplies at Thai ports—although French officials reportedly pushed for unilateral action to rush relief to the cyclone victims.

The regime’s refusal of cooperation angered the French government, and a joint statement by the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and the Ministry of Defense said: “France reiterates that in her eyes nothing can possibly justify disaster victims seeing themselves denied the basic right to benefit from the necessary aid and stresses her commitment to the implementation of the ‘responsibility to protect’ principle under all circumstances.”

May I TELL TO BA Oo

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JUNTA AND HIS FAMILY ARE PULLING THE ROPE

Tens of thousands of people joined junta leader Than Shwe in Myanmar’s administrative capital yesterday for the consecration of a replica of Yangon’s famed Shwedagon Pagoda.
Uppatasanti Pagoda has been under construction since 2006, after the government moved its administrative capital to Naypyidaw, in November 2005.
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Myanmar elephant camp empty as tourists stay away

Curious elephant calf Wine Suu Khaing Thein should be the star attraction of the Pho Kyar eco-reserve down a rocky road in an isolated mountain range in central Myanmar.

The one-year-old is the youngest of about 80 elephants roaming the reserve packed with decades-old teak trees and filled with bird song.

Yet despite the promise of elephant rides and jungle treks, the eco-tourists the camp wants to attract are simply not coming to the military-ruled nation, let alone making the bumpy ride to remote Pho Kyar.

Tourist arrivals to Myanmar have been dropping since a bloody 2007 crackdown on anti-junta protests, while last year's cyclone and pressure from pro-democracy groups overseas to boycott the country also deter holiday-makers.

"We have very few visitors now," said a manager of Asia Green Travels and Tours Company, which arranges tours of Pho Kyar park, who asked not to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

"It is not because of difficult transportation to this place but because of tourist arrivals declining these past months."

On the day AFP visited, there were no foreign or local visitors at the 20-acre (eight-hectare) Pho Kyar in the Bago mountain range, despite it being the height of the tourist season, which runs from October to April.

Instead, the only attention Wine Suu Khaing Thein gets is a beating with a bamboo stick by one of the elephant handlers, known as mahouts.

"You shouldn't run here and there. Stay beside your mother," the man shouts, herding the calf back to her family as they wait for a check-up from the vet.

The reserve is about 200 miles (320 kilometres) away from the commercial and transport hub Yangon, closer to the military regime's new capital Naypyidaw, a sprawling, hidden-away city that tourists are not allowed to visit.

Myanmar has been ruled by various military juntas since 1962, and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been locked away and kept under house arrest for most of the last two decades.

She once urged foreigners to stay away from Myanmar -- formally known as Burma -- to deny the military rulers revenue from tourism, although as she is mostly kept silent by the junta it is unclear if her views have changed.

Whether to explore Myanmar's ancient temples, crumbling cities and remote jungles remains a heated debate among travellers, with the Rough Guide travel series not even publishing a book on the nation out of protest.

Moral arguments aside, the global economic downturn and recent events in Myanmar have hammered the industry just as it was finding its feet.

Images of Buddhist monks fleeing gunfire on Yangon's streets during protests in September 2007 and of bloated corpses littering paddy fields in the southern delta after Cyclone Nargis last May did not inspire tourists' confidence.

The government's hotel and tourism department has said that 177,018 foreigners arrived at Yangon International Airport in 2008, nearly 25 per cent down from the 231,587 foreigners who came in 2007.

"Tourist arrivals have declined because of Cyclone Nargis. Tourists think that we have a very bad situation and dare not visit for relaxation," said Khin, a manager of a Yangon tour company.

Exactly how many people make it to Pho Kyar elephant camp, which was set up 20 years ago, is unclear as the reserve does not keep records.

More than half the elephants at the camp are working animals still used by the Myanma Timber Enterprise in the logging industry, and spend the dry season heaving felled trees through the jungle.

Come the rainy season -- or if the elephant is too old to work -- the pachyderms return to the reserve to amuse any tourists who do show up.

"Pho Kyar elephant camp is the best one in the country," said a vet from the forestry ministry who did not want to be named. "We always take care of the elephants."

Myanmar has the largest elephant population in Southeast Asia, with an estimated 4,000 to 5,000 animals, said a recent report by wildlife group TRAFFIC that warned the animal is threatened by poaching.

Environmentalists in the country have also said that as Myanmar's junta expands logging in the teak forests, wild elephants are being captured and trained for clear-cutting operations that destroy their own habitats.

Managers at Pho Kyar camp hope that they can help educate visitors on preserving Myanmar's elephants, if only the holiday-makers would turn up.

US and British diplomats frequent visitors to Myanmar opposition : State-run media accusing

Myanmar's state-run media on Saturday accused the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) of taking instructions from the United States and Britain, noting that the countries' embassy officials had visited the party's Yangon headquarters 21 times last month. "During their visits, they met with central executive committee members of the party and gave large and small envelops and parcels to the latter," said The New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece of Myanmar's military-run government.

Washington and London have made no secret of their support for the NLD, which won the 1990 general election by a landslide but has been blocked by the military junta from taking power for the past 19 years.

The two governments have also been among the most outspoken in calling for the release of NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest since May 2003 and has spent 13 of the past 19 years in detention.

Western diplomats based in Yangon, Myanmar's former capital and largest city, have difficulty obtaining permission to visit Myanmar government officials, most of whom are now based in Naypyitaw, the military's new capital, 350 kilometres north of Yangon.

To date, no embassies have moved to Naypyitaw.

Access to NLD headquarters, is considerably easier.

Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi is kept under house arrest in Yangon in her family compound a few kilometres from from the US embassy.

She has been detained in near-complete isolation for nearly six years with occasional visits from her private doctor.

On Thursday, Suu Kyi was allowed a visit by her regular doctor, Tin Myo Win, and an eye specialist, who declared her in good health, officials said.

Tin Myo Win was last permitted to visit Suu Kyi on January 1.

HUGE HOMELESS AND DISPLACE IN 2008 REPORT

The report said the number of IDPs in Burma swelled as a result of the conflicts between the Burmese Army and armed rebels amidst continued human rights violations.

The report said that in eastern Burma, particularly in Karen, Karenni, Shan, and Mon states and Tenasserim division, IDPs are mainly the result of the Burmese military-government’s human rights violations.

“IDPs living in areas in Myanmar [Burma] still affected by armed conflict between the army and insurgent groups remained the most vulnerable, with their priority needs tending to be related to physical security, food, shelter, health and education,” said the report.

“Humanitarian access to this population continued to be very restricted,” added the report.

The report said, new IDPs in 2008 have been seen in Chin State in western Burma, as several people are reportedly fleeing to neighbouring India to avoid human rights violations. They are faced with extreme food insecurity after rat infestation in the state which destroyed livelihoods.

Similarly, in Arakan State in western Burma there were approximately about 80,000 IDPs in 2007, living and hiding in temporary settlements in jungles as conflicts increased between the Arakan Liberation Army, an armed rebel group, and the Burmese Army.

Besides, the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis that lashed the country left an initial displacement of 800,000 people while severely affecting 2.4 million people the report said.

A Thailand-based Burmese human rights activist Aung Myo Min said, the increase in IDPs shows that the situation of human rights in Burma is getting worse and it requires an effective response from the international community.

“It shows that there is an increase in human rights abuses in Burma by the military government,” said Aung Myo Min.

He said the future of the children of the IDPs is unimaginable as their parents continue hiding in the jungles and there is also a lack of security for women.

“With the situation getting worse there will be more IDPs because the military regime is continuing to violate human rights,” he added.

He said the situation calls for the international community to respond to the continued human rights violations in Burma, and the need for international assistance to the IDPs.

KNU AND ACTIVISTS MUST TRACK BACK TO BURMA SOIL : THAI AUTHORITY

The hardened stance by the Thais came after a meeting earlier this year between Thai and Burmese border officers in Myawaddy, a Burmese army-controlled border town in Karen State. The pressure to repatriate is not being exerted only on the KNU, but also on the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front armed group.

As yet, we do not know if the pressure on Burmese dissidents and rebel groups along the Thai-Burmese border will increase in the coming weeks or whether the Thais were simply paying lip service to the Burmese authorities.

With so many internationally funded NGOs, political groups and humanitarian agencies based along the border, especially in Mae Sot, many are asking whether the tightening of Thai policy will include all Burmese in the area. Time will tell.

However, what we can tell is that the writing is well and truly on the wall. From a comfortable and relatively prosperous status as a “buffer” for the Thais in the 1970s and 80s, the KNU has gradually lost influence. The Karen may not have anything to offer the Thais any more.

Since the breakaway of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the fall of its headquarters, Manerplaw, in 1995, the KNU have continually faced mutinies, military defeats, an erosion of influence and a loss of revenue from its previous border trade.

The KNU’s influence was undermined again last year when one of its leaders, Padoh Mahn Sha, was gunned down in his home in Mae Sot. The culprits and assassins were never brought to justice.

Then, in the middle of February, the KNU was accused of shelling a Burmese border town, Myawaddy. The New Light of Myanmar, a Burmese junta mouthpiece, claimed that four shells were fired, two landing about 10 km southwest of the town, one near a lodge and another in the compound of a Buddhist monastery. No casualties were reported.

Although the KNU denied the accusation, the attack occurred on the same day that the UN’s special rapporteur on human rights in Burma, Tomas Ojea Quintana, arrived in the country for a six-day visit, and a day before he was scheduled to travel to Pa-an, the capital of Karen State—clearly a moral card for the junta to play on the UN envoy.

After six decades of guerilla warfare, the KNU has faced last stands before; its leaders have always refused to cut deals with the junta. However, the recent signs are worrying.

In January, Col Ner Dah Mya, the son of the late Gen Bo Mya of the KNU, was released on bail by the Thai army, according to the BBC, fueling speculation of another waning star within the Karen rebels’ ranks.

Nonetheless, the Burmese generals may still be their own worst enemy when it comes to developing friendships. The new Democrat government in Thailand is known to prefer keeping its distance from the regime in Burma.

Although Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva stole the show at the recent Asean Summit in Hua Hin when his government hosted representatives from civil society groups, the meeting was overshadowed by the negative elements brought to the summit by the Burmese junta.

With its petulant threats to boycott the meeting with the civil society group, the Burmese delegation embarrassed their hosts. Many within Asean cannot see how the economic bloc can gain credibility with the Burmese albatross around its neck.

However, whatever the political differences, the fact is that the Thai and Burmese military leaders continue to enjoy a relatively good relationship.

Recently, junta leader Snr-Gen Than Shwe met with Thailand’s army chief, Gen Anupong Paojinda, to discuss the Rohingya boatpeople issue. For Than Shwe—a man who frequently snubs UN envoys—to agree to talks signified a warming in relations. Surely, many said, Burma wants something from Thailand.

And when Thai Supreme Commander Gen Songkitti Jaggabat visited Burma last month to discuss the Rohingya issue, he was given the red carpet treatment and a private audience with Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye.

Of course it is difficult for the generals in Naypyidaw to forget that Thailand is a major trading partner and has purchased natural gas resources from the regime and cut a deal to buy hydroelectric energy via the 7,110-megawatt Tasang dam on the Salween River.

So, despite all the Burmese regime’s faults, the Thais clearly have more common interests with the junta nowadays than with the KNU.

Perhaps to pragmatic Thais who have long abandoned the buffer zone policy, today the KNU is worth little after losing its territory and its major trade routes.

ICC issues warrant over alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes

"He is suspected of being criminally responsible ... for intentionally directing attacks against an important part of the civilian population of Darfur, Sudan, murdering, exterminating, raping, torturing and forcibly transferring large numbers of civilians, and pillaging their property," court spokeswoman Laurence Blairon said.

Hundreds of Sudanese waving pictures of the president and denouncing the court quickly turned out in a rally at the Cabinet building in Khartoum. Security was increased around many embassies, and some diplomats and aid workers stayed home amid fears of retaliation against Westerners.

Meant to destabilize Sudan?
Al-Bashir's foreign affairs adviser suggested the court's decision was linked to an effort to destabilize Sudan. But Blairon said the decision was made purely on legal grounds and was not political.

Al-Bashir denies the war crimes accusations and refuses to deal with the court, and there is currently no international mechanism to arrest him. The main tool the court has is diplomatic pressure for countries to hand over suspects.

Sudan does not recognize its jurisdiction and refuses to arrest suspects. U.N. peacekeepers and other international agencies operating in Sudan have no mandate to implement the warrant, and Sudanese officials have warned them not to go outside their mandates.

If al-Bashir is brought to trial and prosecuted, he faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

Sudanese TV did not carry the Hague news conference, but at one point broke in to programming with a brief news report that the warrant had been issued. The broadcaster on state radio announced the decision, and added, "a new chapter now begins" but did not elaborate.

Asked why judges, in a 2-1 split decision, did not issue the warrant for genocide, Blairon explained that genocide requires a clear intent to destroy in part or as a whole a specific group.

THAT IS WHO WE ARE FOR BURMA TO BE CHANGED

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the 'Whole Burma United Revolutionary Front' (WBURF), has claimed responsibility for yesterday's bomb blasts in Rangoon, according to a statement issued today.

The twin bombs, exploded yesterday only an hour apart from each other in Padomma Park, Sanchaung Township, Rangoon Division and at Hledan bus stop on the Rangoon-Insein Road. The Rangoon-based organization has claimed full responsibility for the bomb blasts.

Their statement No. 2/2009 sent to Mizzima through email reveals these serial bomb blasts are the first stage of the 'battle cry' for toppling the military dictators and they were ready to escalate such attacks in future.

Since the 'Burmese people' are devout citizens, they do not want terrorism. However, in the past, the ruling junta has ruthlessly killed peaceful demonstrators, who were struggling for freedom from their plight, the statement says.

The first bomb exploded at Padomma Park at about 9:35 p.m. yesterday and another bomb went off at 10:50 p.m at Hledan bus stop. The loud explosions damaged a car and the bus stop, without causing any casualties.

The WBURF said that peaceful demonstrations, issuing statements, asking for concrete action from the UN and foreign governments, would not work towards the emergence of a civilian government and elimination of current general crises faced by the people in Burma. Therefore, they have launched this ‘retaliatory bomb blast’ measure, the statement says.

It also said that they could not accept the proposed 2010 general elections, which would only help prolong military rule.

They also did not accept the release of only a handful of political prisoners in the recent amnesty for over 6,000 prisoners. If the UN, foreign governments and NGOs blindly supported this move, they would be the most pitiful blind people groups in the world, the statement ironically said.

The bomb blasts yesterday coincided with the 47th anniversary of late Gen. Ne Win's coup against the democratically elected government. Both blast sites were killing fields during the nationwide uprising in 1988, when many people were shot dead.

TWO BLASTS IN RANGOON AS A WARNING TO THE REGIME

The official said it was not immediately clear what caused the blasts in Yangon. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to release information.

Security personnel rushed to the sites of both blasts and blocked off one road, while soldiers and police stopped and searched vehicles along another main thoroughfare that passes by the sites of both explosions.

The was no immediate comment from the ruling junta — standard practice in the tightly controlled nation where almost all government comment is released through state-run media.

Witnesses said the first blast took place at about 9:40 p.m. at a small park in western Yangon near Myeinigone junction, a busy area with a bus terminal.

The explosion could be heard several blocks away and witnesses saw smoke rising from the scene. Police and soldiers arrived with bomb-sniffing dogs, and onlookers saw a man being walked to an ambulance.

The official said no one was injured.

The witnesses said the second blast, shortly after 11 p.m., occurred by a bus stop next to another park at Kamayut junction, another busy thoroughfare. Several truckloads of solders were quickly deployed to the area.

Terrorism is rare but not unknown in Myanmar, which has been under near-continuous military rule since 1962. Several small bombings occurred in Yangon last year, injuring about a dozen people.

The government usually blames bombings on its political opponents or ethnic rebel groups seeking autonomy. The groups deny carrying out such activities.

The deadliest such attack in recent years took place May 7, 2005, when three bombs went off almost simultaneously at two upscale supermarkets and a convention center in Yangon, killing about two dozen people and injuring more than 160 others. The perpetrators remain unknown.

In recent years, bomb explosions have also been reported in other parts of the country, notably at transport terminals and on buses, the most-used form of transportation. But the present explosions, one of the activists' groups inside Burma said that it was a warning to the regime.

ASEAN IS LOSING AUNG SAN SUU KYI' NAME AND ROLE IN THE SUBMIT

"We had an open discussion on Myanmar where the prime minister of Myanmar briefed us on developments," Abhisit told a news conference at the end of ASEAN's annual summit in the Thai beach resort of Hua Hin.

"ASEAN leaders encouraged him to continue cooperation with the United Nations and to make sure that the roadmap continues according to plan," added Abhisit, who holds the bloc's rotating chairmanship.

The ruling junta's so-called roadmap for democracy calls for elections in 2010 but critics have dismissed the polls as a sham because Aung San Suu Kyi remains in detention.

At a separate news conference, Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said the leaders discussed the elections with their Myanmar counterpart, but no one brought up the Nobel Peace Prize laureate.

"Nobody mentioned the name of Aung San Suu Kyi," Abdullah said.

An end-of-summit statement issued by Abhisit also did not mention Aung San Suu Kyi's name, but said that the release of political detainees will "contribute significantly" to the national reconciliation process.

The annual summit was marred on Saturday when Myanmar blocked a rights activist from attending a meeting with the bloc's leaders.

Myanmar has long been a headache for ASEAN, which faces persistent criticism that it has failed to use its influence to persuade the military-ruled nation to introduce reform and free political prisoners.

Abhisit said ASEAN leaders had asked Thein Sein to ensure that the roadmap "would be as inclusive as possible, which of course includes the release of political detainees and participation of political parties in elections."

ASEAN is to set up a new human rights body later this year under its new charter but rights groups say that it will be largely powerless to tackle violators such as Myanmar.

Officials revealed early details on the proposed body, which showed that it would have no investigative or punitive powers and would abide by ASEAN's controversial policy of non-intervention in domestic matters.

Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962 and has refused to recognise the results of elections in 1990 that Aung San Suu Kyi's party won by a landslide.