Noose tightens in Burma

Rangoon (dpa)

Burma's ruling junta on Sunday accused the opposition party of Aung San Suu Kyi of being behind recent protests against fuel price hikes and warned that it will brook no more dissent in the country.

The junta's warnings, made in two announcements publicised in the state-run media Sunday, coincided with still unconfirmed reports of countrywide arrests on National League for Democracy (NLD) members and torture of prisoners who participated in recent protests against the military.

The country's government-controlled newspapers carried full-page copies of the junta's announcement No. 1/2007 which blamed recent demonstrations against fuel price hikes on subversive groups and promised "to take effective action in accordance with the existing laws" to crack down on the dissidents.

On Sunday afternoon, state-run television publicised a second announcement that specifically attacked the NLD as being one of the chief organisers behind protests against fuel price hikes announced on August 15.

Burma, a country that has been under dictatorial military rule for the past 45 years, has witnessed a spate of anti-government protests since August 19 in response to the government's decision to more than double diesel and petrol prices.

Unauthorised protests are illegal in Burma, which has been under martial law since 1988 when the entire country was rocked by anti- military demonstrations which were in part sparked by the deteriorating economy.

Although no explanations were given at the time of last month's fuel hikes, the government has since explained that the price increases were necessary as Burma imports oil and has been subsidising domestic prices for years.

"Exploiting these situations, some are trying to disrupt the prevailing peace," said the junta's announcement in a lengthy diatribe against the NLD.

The proclamations come amid still unconfirmed reports of mass arrests of dissidents in the countryside and of torture of dissidents arrested in Rangoon last month.

"The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) has received unconfirmed information that 88 Generation leader, Kyaw Min Yu (alias Jimmy), has been tortured to death while being interrogated under the orders of Burma's military regime, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)," said the AAPP in a statement.

Other recently arrested dissidents from the 88 Generation Students group, including Kyaw Kyaw Htwe and Min Zeya, have allegedly been hospitalised as a result of severe torture, it claimed.

At least 13 leaders of the 88 Generation Students, a dissident group committed to non-violent tactics, were arrested last month for leading anti-inflation protests in Rangoon.

The government has put up "wanted" posters for a dozen other 88 Generation Students, and on Friday accused the group of involvement in past bombings in Rangoon, a charge that will carry lengthy prison sentences.

The AAPP allegations independently verified in Rangoon, but such practices have been commonplace in the past. The International Red Cross has had no access to political prisoners in Burma for several months after a falling out with authorities over government restrictions on visits.

Meanwhile, another 50 people were reportedly arrested over the weekend in various towns in central Burma, where Buddhist monks have led protests against the military and even in one case held officials hostage in their monastery.

In Pakokku, where the monks led a protest on Wednesday, three people have been arrested. In Bogalay, authorities allegedly arrested 15 NLD members who participated in another protest, and in Lapputta, where dissidents planned to lead a march on Rangoon against fuel price hikes, 15 have been arrested, according to unconfirmed reports from opposition sources.

Other arrests of NLD members and other dissidents were reported in Pathein, Wakhema and Mandalay.

The NLD won 80 per cent of the contested seats in Burma's 1990 general election but it has been blocked from power ever since. NLD leader Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since May 2003.

Myanmar junta links US to pro-democracy activists, said to have terror links

YANGON, Myanmar: Myanmar's military government stepped up its propaganda against the country's pro-democracy movement Sunday, alleging that top activists planned terrorist acts and received money from Western nations.

The junta also charged that prominent activist Htay Kywe, who escaped a security dragnet last month, was helped to hide by the embassy of a "powerful country" — an apparent reference to the United States, one of the regime's harshest critics.

The allegations come as the junta grapples with scattered but spirited protests against its economic policies.

Scores of people have been detained for taking part in demonstrations, which have been broken up by pro-government toughs directed by security forces.

The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, is facing worldwide condemnation for its hardline handling of demonstrations that began Aug. 19 to protest a fuel price hike and a rise in the cost of consumer goods.

The protests took a more confrontational tone last week in northern Myanmar, when Buddhist monks — angry at being beaten up for protesting economic conditions — temporarily took officials hostage and later smashed a shop and a house belonging to junta supporters.

The junta's Information Committee charged that "internal and external pessimist and opposition groups are striving to create riots and disturbances" similar to mass pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. It also blamed the groups for past bombings.

The groups' aim was "to gain power by a short cut," said its statement, published Sunday in the state-run New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

The 1988 uprising was brutally crushed by the military, which has refused to yield power even after Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's pro-democracy political party won a 1990 general election.

The government's statement also implied that the United States was involved in the opposition groups' plans. It cited funds that U.S. organizations were said to have given to dissident groups.

It said "a world-famous organization of a powerful state provided US$100,000 under the heading of helping refugees," and it alleged that the money was really used for training in bomb-making and demolition.

The statement said Htay Kywe, an activist in hiding, was being helped by an unspecified foreign embassy. He is a leader of the 88 Generation Students, a group that has been spearheading nonviolent activities against the junta for the past year.

"Htay Kywe is still at large, as he had been hidden at a secure place by an embassy of a powerful country," the statement said, without elaborating.

U.S. diplomats in Myanmar's capital, Yangon, could not be reached for comment Sunday.

About a dozen members of Htay Kywe's group were rounded up shortly after organizing the first of the latest round of protests.

The group members were held on charges of trying to disrupt Myanmar's National Convention, which is setting guidelines for a new constitution. If convicted, they could each face up to 20 years in prison.

The convention completed its work on Sept. 3 with guidelines that would keep the military heavily involved in administering the country, and would bar Suu Kyi, who has long been under house arrest, from holding political office.

Htay Kywe has issued several statements from hiding, including a Sept. 6 letter urging the U.N. Security Council to take up the Myanmar issue — a course of action Washington has endorsed.

The government said in its news release that it "will continue to take preventive measures against those malicious collaborated efforts to commit terrorist destructive acts."

Unsung hero in Burmese prison gets celebrity petition to UN for release

By Juontel White

HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 9/8/07 — Celebrities Jennifer Aniston, Dustin Hoffman, Owen Wilson, Robin Williams and Anjelica Huston were among 28 hot shots to sign their name in a letter to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Wednesday for the release of a Burmese activist. “We urge you to take action to secure her immediate release,” the letter said, referring to Aung San Suu Kyi, 62-year-old woman who has been under house arrest in Myanmar for about 11 years.

Aung was recently championed by actor Jim Carrey in a YouTube video he made calling for the heretofore obscure political prisoner’s release.

The world’s only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize recipient, Aung was first placed under house arrest after her party National League for Democracy won elections in 1990.

The Myanmar government, however, never recognized Aung’s victory as the country’s elected leader even after the party won 82 percent of the seats in parliament.

“The military regime cruelly locked her up along with many members of her party,” the letter explained to Ban. “This courageous, brave woman whom many call ‘Burma’s Nelson Mandela’ should be released and the military regime should end its attacks on civilians.”

According to the UN, Myanmar’s military junta burned down or destroyed more than 3,000 villages in the eastern part of the country; forcing more than one million people to leave their homes.

The country is currently holding about 1,200 political prisoners, Aung included. Founder of the Human Rights Action Center, Jack Healey describes Aung as “a woman that is taking on a brutal military dictatorship with nothing more than the truth in her heart and the support of her people.”

“The situation inside Burma is grave, similar to that in Darfur. The silence of the world on Aung San Suu Kyi is unconscionable,” said Jeremy Woodrum, co-founder of the U.S. Campaign for Burma.

Aung’s story has gained more publicity after actor/comedian, Jim Carey posted a you-tube video calling for American support of his “unsung hero” as he calls her.

The Human Rights Action Center and the U.S. Campaign for Burma are two organizations Carey mentions in his video for people to join and donate to in order to help bring about Aung’s release and end Myanmar’s military regime.

Daily protests against the government have been taking place in Myanmar as the most sustained demonstrations against the military regime in at least nine years.

Signatories. Eric Szmanda from the television show “Crime Scene Investigation” and Walter Koenig from “Star Trek,” recently traveled to refugee camps along the Thailand-Myanmar border to urge for more help from the UN.

The rocky road to Burma goes through Myanmar

Irish MEP Colm Burke, speaking at the European Parliament plenary session in Strasbourg, France, called on the UN Security Council to somehow intervene in Myanmar, the former Burma, where peaceful civilian protests against government-imposed fuel price hikes were brutally suppressed by the ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
He was involved in drafting a strongly-worded condemnation of the Myanmar government. During the debate, Burke said “We find ourselves, today, having to once again strongly react to the unacceptable actions of the military junta in Burma.”
The recent crackdown on peaceful protesters, who were demonstrating their right to associate, has merited yet another condemnation by the European Parliament. The scant regard the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has for its own people has become all the more evident with their recent imposition of a fuel price increase of 500 percent. The SPDC clearly wants to further impoverish its people, but Burmese civilians have shown unbridled bravery in coming out to demonstrate.
Not only were demonstrators beaten violently by police, but multiple arrests were made. Members of the ‘88 Generation Students’ group have been re-imprisoned. I call for the immediate and unconditional release of all those who have been detained since the protests began, as well as Aung San Suu Kyi, probably the world’s most famous imprisoned democratic leader.
All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. The international community is doing little, while the Burma Junta is perpetrating atrocities against its own people. How long can we justify allowing this evil to reign?”
This Parliament now leads the call for an emergency meeting of the United Nations Security Council to consider the recent events in Burma. We need a strong and binding resolution on Burma at this level as this crisis now impacts upon the overall security of this region. Countries like China and Russia - who prevented the adoption of the last UN Security Council Resolution on Burma in January of this year - need to play a more responsible role regarding this country and should lend their support to any future UN resolution.”

Burma imprisons six activists

SIX labour activists in military-run Burma have been sentenced to up to 28 years in prison for organising a seminar at a US embassy centre, a defence lawyer said yesterday.

Four were former members of Burma's opposition party, the National League for Democracy, headed by detained democracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

"They received jail terms yesterday at a Western district court for sedition and organising an unlawful gathering," lawyer Aung Thein, a party member, said. The six activists, all men in their mid-20s and early 30s, planned to hold a labour rights seminar with 50 workers at the US embassy's American Centre in Rangoon. The embassy could not be reached for comment.

Burma's military, which has ruled with an iron fist for 45 years, does not tolerate even the slightest show of public dissent.

Its recent crackdown on a rare string of protests against a big increase in fuel prices has sparked global condemnation, with US President George Bush accusing Burma's generals of "tyrannical" behaviour.

Burma's junta blamed the opposition for inciting unrest and instigating Buddhist monks to take part in growing protests over the fuel price rises, state media reported.

Myanmar Blames Suu Kyi for Unrest

Members of Myanmar pro-democracy group hold placards and a photograph of their leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi as they shout slogans during a demonstration in New Delhi, India, Tuesday, Sept. 4, 2007, against the military regime of the country.(AP Photo/Manish Swarup)

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YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar's military junta accused detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's political party of inciting unrest and instigating Buddhist monks to take part in protests over price hikes, state media reported Saturday.

The regime also claimed that pro-democracy groups outside Myanmar and foreign media were deliberately spreading false information to destabilize the government, comparing the current situation to mass protests in 1988 when thousands of demonstrators were believed killed by security forces.

"Internal and external destructive elements are inciting a period of civil unrest like the one in 1988," the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said. "It has been found that foreign broadcasting stations are launching political propaganda and exaggerated news reports on the demonstrations with the intent of misleading the public."

The report comes as Buddhist monks in northern Myanmar, angry at being beaten up for protesting fuel price rises, smashed up a shop belonging to supporters of the military government, witnesses said.

The destruction Thursday night in the town of Pakokku came just hours after monks held a group of officials captive at a monastery for several hours before releasing them, also to protest their rough treatment during a march a day earlier.

Wednesday's demonstration was the latest in a string of protests triggered by a 500 percent rise in government-set fuel prices, but one of the first in which the country's monks took part. Civilian supporters of the government kicked and beat the monks and soldiers fired shots into the air, witnesses said.

Myanmar's rulers tolerate little dissent and often crack down on activists.

In a case unrelated to the price protests, six labor activists received prison sentences of up to 28 years for organizing a seminar at a U.S. Embassy center earlier this year, a defense lawyer said Saturday.

All six were found guilty Friday of inciting "hatred or contempt" for the government, lawyer Aung Thein said. Some also were convicted of having links to illegal associations and immigration violations.

The six — all in their 20s — had planned to discuss labor rights at the U.S. Embassy's American Center in Yangon, the country's biggest city, but the plans were canceled after a few participants were arrested.

Thurein Aung, Wai Lin, Myo Min and Kyaw Win were sentenced to 28 years in prison by a Western District court. Nyi Nyi Zaw and Kyaw Kyaw were given 20-year sentences.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy could not be reached for immediate comment.

Historically, monks in Myanmar have been at the forefront of protests, first against British colonialism and later military dictatorship, and played a prominent part in the failed 1988 pro-democracy rebellion that sought an end to military rule, imposed since 1962.

The junta held general elections in 1990, but refused to honor the results when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won. Suu Kyi has been detained under house arrest for more than 11 years.

The monks' actions highlighted strong popular discontent with the military regime, even after the recent protests had appeared to be winding down. The junta's suppression of the recent demonstrations has drawn worldwide criticism, with President Bush raising the issue publicly Friday for the second time this week.

Burma cracks down on Students group

Yangon (dpa) - Burma's military on Saturday accused leaders of the 88 Generation Students Group of terrorist acts, threatening legal action against the dissidents.

State-run television and radio stations accused a dozen well-known members of the 88 Students of involvement in two unsolved bombings in Yangon, formerly blamed of Karen insurgents.

The accusations come in the wake of a spate of rare protests in Yangon against a doubling of fuel prices on August 15, in which leaders of the 88 Generation Students were actively involved.

On Friday authorities put up "wanted" posters for ten of the 88 Generation Students including Nilar Thein, Aung Thu, Ko Ko Gyi, Sein Hlaing, Aung Naing, Htay Kywe, Hla Myo Naung, Aung Myo Tin, Tin Myint Aung and Tin Htoo Aung.

State media reports said that at least one of the dissidents, Htay Kywe, "has been at large under the protective wing of a super country embassy," presumably the USA's.

The attack on the 88 students, comprising many former student activists who participated in the 1988 pro-democracy movement, comes amid signs that anti-military protests are on the rise.

On Wednesday hundreds of Buddhist monks in Pakokku, 530 kilometres north of Yangon, marched against the government for hiking fuel prices and arresting about 100 demonstrators in recent weeks.

Monks on Thursday held 20 Myanmar officials hostage in a monastery in Pakokku for half a day in retaliation for their crack down on the Wednesday protest.

Buddhists monks have a long history of political activism in Myanmar, a predominantly Buddhist country.

The monkhood played a prominent role in Burma's struggle for independence from Great Britain in 1948 and joined students in the anti-military demonstrations that rocked Burma in 1988, which ended in bloodshed.

Like the recent protests, the 1988 mass demonstrations were sparked by rising discontent with the military's mismanagement of the economy and refusal to introduce some semblance of democracy.

After the 1988 events, the military, although still very much in charge, dropped its socialist ideology and opened the country up to foreign investments and market forces.

But the generals' brutal 1988 crackdown on the pro-democracy movement, that left an estimated 3,000 dead, resulted in the severing of nearly all international aid to the regime.

The aid blockade and other sanctions have been kept in place for the past 19 years. Although the military allowed a general election in 1990 it ignored the outcome when 80 per cent of the votes went to the National League for Democracy (NLD) of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, sealing its pariah status in the West.

Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, has been under house arrest since May, 2003. Her ongoing incarceration was harshly criticized earlier this week by US President George W Bush, who is currently attending the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in Sydney.

China, India key to prodding Myanmar

By Caren Bohan and Jalil Hamid

SYDNEY, Sept 8 (Reuters) - The United States and Indonesia believe China and India, which have significant economic ties with Myanmar, should try to exert influence on its junta, since other approaches to the military-ruled country have failed.

U.S. President George W. Bush and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono agreed at a bilateral meeting in Sydney to urge India and China to lean on Myanmar, said Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirajuda.

"Bush agreed that we should talk with China and India. They are two big neighbours (of Myanmar)," Hasan told reporters after the meeting on the sideline of an Asia-Pacific summit in Sydney.

Hasan said Southeast Asian nations were at a loss as to what to do with their recalcitrant neighbour.

"Actually, all of us in ASEAN have in the past year ... recognised that constructive engagement by ASEAN has not produced any tangible result. We admit that," said Hasan.

"Likewise, also the West, they admit that the sanctions and pressure approach do not work. So we are both frustrated."

Myanmar, one of the 10 members of the Association of South East Asian Nations, has in recent days cracked down on escalating protests against huge fuel price rises and inflation in the isolated state.

"We must press the regime in Burma to stop arresting, harassing, and assaulting pro-democracy activists for organising or participating in peaceful demonstrations," Bush said in a speech to Asia-Pacific business executives on Friday.

White House Deputy National Security Adviser Jim Jeffrey said Bush had raised Myanmar with many leaders at APEC.

"We would be delighted if both of those countries (India and China) would do more. Everybody needs to do more," he said.

"They're both very important countries that have very significant economic ties with Burma. They both rely on natural resources from Burma, so they're in a good position to be influential, as are other countries," he said.

"I wouldn't want to single out specific actions. We want everybody to take the Burma situation seriously. We are working in a variety of ways and a variety of channels."

FUEL HIKE PROTESTS

More than 150 people have been arrested in Myanmar since Aug. 19, when activists began protests against an increase in fuel prices that nearly halted public transport.

There was no sign the junta was about to release them. Instead, it sounded a defiant note, accusing exile dissident groups of fomenting the protests and signalling no let-up in efforts to crush the dissent.

China, Myanmar's closest ally which is usually reticent when it comes to the affairs of others, has also sounded frustrated with its southeast Asian neighbour.

"China all along has advocated non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries. This is a very important principle," Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao told reporters in Sydney on Saturday.

But he added China felt that constructive international efforts could help create a "good external environment that is beneficial to Myanmar's situation" and reconciliation.

"In handling the relevant problems China has all along not been supportive of the use of sanctions and pressure," he said.

"We believe that on this issue mutual respect and equal dialogue is the best way to resolve things."

The flurry of diplomacy in Sydney came after two days of protests by Buddhist monks who seized 13 government officials and torched their cars in the town of Pakkoku, 80 miles (130 km) southwest of Mandalay.

The repeated outbreaks of dissent, albeit generally small and not swelled by onlookers cowed by all-pervasive security, have been notable for their persistence despite the prospect of long jail terms. (Additional reorting by John Ruwitch in Sydney)

Myanmar junta accuses top activists of terrorism

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta accused 13 detained dissidents of terrorism on Saturday, suggesting it would impose long jail sentences on some of those suspected of being behind two weeks of protests against soaring fuel prices.

"The terrorists will be exposed and legal action will be taken against them," the former Burma's ruling generals said in a rare public statement on state-run radio and television.

The announcement, accompanied by a lengthy account of the group's alleged subversion, came a day after six people who ran a May Day labour rights seminar at the American Center in Yangon were sentenced to at least 20 years for sedition -- the maximum penalty for plotting against the state.

Most of the 13 are leaders of the so-called "88 Generation Students Group" which spearheaded a nationwide uprising against decades of military rule in 1988. Up to 3,000 people are thought to have died when troops were sent in to crush the movement.

Min Ko Naing, the most prominent dissident figure after detained opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, is among the 13.

Family sources were checking rumours sweeping through opposition ranks that Ko Jimmy, one of those arrested in a series of midnight raids on Aug. 21, had died in police custody.

Some analysts said the rumours might be a junta ruse to flush out his wife, Ma Nilar, who has gone into hiding. The couple have a four-month-old daughter.

"NOTHING TO DO WITH SEDITION"

Coming so close to the harsh sentencing of the labour activists, the announcement suggests the junta is determined to squash the dissent that has mushroomed since last month's shock hikes in fuel prices -- some by as much as 500 percent.

Four of the labour activists received 20 years for sedition, five years under "illegal association" laws, and three years for immigration offences, lawyer Aung Thein said. The other two were found guilty only of sedition and given a 20-year jail term plus a fine of 1,000 kyats -- about 75 U.S. cents.

"What they did at the May Day ceremony was explain labour rights to the workers," Aung Thein, who was forced to quit as the group's attorney due to police harassment, told Reuters. "It had nothing to do with sedition."

Families were allowed into the court, but the accused had no defence lawyer.

Continuing its hunt for a few prominent activists still at large, official papers also called on the public to keep their eyes open for "saboteurs", saying the government, people and army must unite to crush "the enemies within and without".

There were no reports on Saturday of any more fuel protests that have spread from Yangon to the centre and coastal northwest, and which are starting to involve monks, major players in the 1988 revolt.

This week, several hundred young monks seized 13 government officials and set fire to their vehicles in Pakokku, 130 km west of Mandalay, in an angry response to soldiers firing warning shots at a monks' protest march the previous day.

The crackdown, one of the harshest since 1988, has drawn withering criticism from the United States and European Union, and unusually strong words from Myanmar's Asian neighbours.

Even China, the generals' main trading partner and the closest they have to a friend, said it wanted to see "reconciliation and improvement in the situation".

Myanmar to continue taking measures against destructive acts: official announcement

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12:29, September 09, 2007

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The Myanmar government will continue to take preventive measures against more possible destructive acts by internal and external terrorist groups, official media quoted an announcement of the government's Information Committee as warning Sunday.

The rare first announcement of the Information Committee of the State Peace and Development Council in 2007, issued from Nay Pyi Taw, came after some small-scale demonstrations took place in Yangon and other parts of the country since Aug. 19.

The announcement said the authorities have detained 15 activists since Aug. 21, who claimed themselves as "88 Generation Students Group," charging them with sabotaging the constitutional national convention, which just ended on last Monday, and trying to create a dialogue they wanted and to contact foreign-based terrorist organizations for such acts, according to the New Light of Myanmar.

The announcement also accused the group, led by Min Ko Naing, of instigating the people to various campaigns such as signature campaign, the white campaign, white Sunday campaign and prayer meetings to sabotage the convention and inciting popular uprising.

According to the announcement, still another one, Htay Kywe, is found to be hidden in an unidentified foreign embassy of a powerful country.

The announcement cited a lot of facts that the students group collaborated with some anti-government organizations in exile in carrying out terrorist acts against the government since late 1988 when the present government took over the power of state.

These organizations which the announcement mentioned include All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF), Democratic People for a New Society (DPNS), National League for Democracy (Liberated Area) or NLD-LA, National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB), Arakan Liberation Party (ALP), Federation of Trade Union-Burma (FTUB) and Democratic Alliance of Burma (DAB).

Of them, the ABSDF, NLD-LA, NCGUB, FTUB were declared by the authorities terrorist organizations in April 2006, while the DPNS was de-registered as a legal political party in December 1991.

Min Ko Naing, once a student leader in 1988 incident, was imprisoned for more than a decade and released in November 2004 for the first time. He was detained again in September 2006 and was freed for the second time in January 2007.

Meanwhile, for the past three weeks, a series of small-scale demonstrations scattered in several locations in the biggest city of Yangon and other places outside Yangon such as Bago, Yenangyaung, Sittway, Labutta and Pakokku seemingly in protest against fuel price raised by the energy authorities on Aug. 15 and other commodities price hike.

These series of demonstrations, charged with instigating to cause unrest in the country, were promptly broken up by the authorities successively.

The authorities described the demonstrations as harming the stability of the state, community peace and rule of law. Security has been tightened against more possible outbreak of demonstrations in the country.

Source: Xinhua