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Civilians warned not to leak tunnel information

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Staff Reporter
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Oct 19, 2009 (DVB), Locals in a town in central Burma say they have been warned by government troops not to leak news about a tunnel being built by the military or their villages will be razed.

The 19-mile long tunnel is being built between the villages of Ywarmon and Phatthantaung in Magwe division, according to a local in the nearby town of Natmauk.

"Now even the village authorities are too scared to talk about it," he said. "Security is really tight in the area and taking photos is also prohibited."

Another local in Magwe division said that four years ago the army contacted his son, a graduate of the Government Technological College, and persuaded him to work in a weapons factory being built underground in Ngaphe town near to Magwe city.

The man said that an official from the army had offered his son 35,000 kyat ($US35) per month to work on the project. "The man said he would not be able to visit home after started working in the tunnel," he said.

In June DVB released a series of reports compiled from leaked government documents that outlined the junta's plans to develop a network of tunnels underneath Burma that would accommodate troop battalions and armoury in the event of an invasion.

Some 800 tunnels are thought to be under construction, with sections of the project dating back as far as 1996.

The project has been clouded in secrecy, but appears to be part of a longer-term strategy to bolster Burma's defence capabilities.

The junta is using North Korean advisors for its tunnel system, after a senior government delegation visited Pyongyang in November 2008 and took a tour round military tunnels there.

The majority of tunneling and construction equipment for the project has been bought from North Korea in a series of deals over the last three years which total at least $US9 billion, according to two purchase orders received by DVB.

The Bangladesh-based Narinjara news agency last week quoted a military source as saying that a tunnel had been dug into a mountain in Burma's western Arakan state to store fighter jets. The tunnel is thought to be connected to a nearby air base in Ann township.

Arakan state lies alongside Burma's border with Bangladesh, which in recent weeks has become the site of a military build-up from both sides following a dispute over ownership of gas blocks in the Bay of Bengal.

Reporting by Aye Nai

Suu Kyi expects further meetings with junta

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Staff Reporter
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Oct 19, 2009 (DVB), Burma opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said she expects more meetings to take place between her and the government liaison minister to discuss the lifting of sanctions, her lawyer said.

Suu Kyi met with her lawyers on Friday at the end of a fortnight in which she held two separate meetings with junta liaison minister Aung Kyi and Western diplomats.

It was the second time in a month that Suu Kyi has met with Aung Kyi. The initial meeting between the two on 3 October was the first time that Aung Kyi, who was assigned as interlocutor between her and the government, met with the detained opposition leader since January 2008.

Friday's meeting was primarily to discuss her pending court appeal, although lawyer Nyan Win said that Suu Kyi expected to meet with Aung Kyi again, as well as a possible meeting with senior members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party.

Specific details of the NLD leader's meeting with Aung Kyi have been kept quiet, although it is believed to be linked to a letter sent by Suu Kyi to junta chief Than Shwe urging for dialogue between the two over the lifting of international sanctions on Burma.

Nyan Win told DVB that the two discussed "the impact of the sanctions, and how to go about carrying out the tasks that were mentioned in the letter".

Suu Kyi has also agreed to allow lawyers to present an appeal over her house arrest to Burma's Supreme Court after it was rejected earlier this month by a Rangoon prison court.

A draft appeal is currently being prepared, according to Nyan Win who expects it to be filed within the next seven to ten days after receiving approval from Suu Kyi.

Suu Kyi was sentenced in August to 18 months under house arrest following the visit of US citizen John Yettaw to her lakeside compound in May.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

Twelve farmers sentenced with hard labour

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Staff Reporter
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Oct 19, 2009 (DVB), Twelve farmers in central Burma have been sentenced to up to five years imprisonment with hard labour on trespassing charges after returning to work on land confiscated by the government.

The case is being closely monitored by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Rangoon, according to the group's country liaison officer, Steve Marshall.

The farmers, from Aunglan in Magwe division, won a dispute over the 2000 acres of confiscated land following a meeting between the ILO and government officials in March this year. The land had been taken after the farmers refused to bow to government pressure to grow sugarcane for army-run Aunglan township's sugar factory.

Then in July they were sued by the sugar factory and sentenced last week on charges of trespassing and damage to property.

The sentences ranged from nine months to four years and nine months, all with hard labour, according the sister of one of the farmers.

Aye Aye Win, the wife of one of the farmers sentenced last week, received the harshest sentence after being "accused of cursing the sugar factory personals after they sued her", the sister said.

Steve Marshall said that the ILO, a United Nations body with a mandate to work on complaints over land confiscation and forced labour in Burma, is "seriously concerned" about the sentencing.

"We have raised [it] as a serious issue with the government and have requested them to affect the immediate release of the imprisoned persons," he said.

The charges, brought by local government officials in Magwe division, appeared to contradict the agreement reached in March between the ILO and central government, he said.

He added that it was "not a political issue at all. It involves farmers, the use of forced labour, the loss of the use of land, and the resolution of that problem. It is about the application of Myanmar [Burma] law".

According to the ILO, around 220 complaints of forced labour in Burma had been received. Marshall said that the vast majority of these had been resolved "without any harassment or any problems for the complainants".

In some cases, however, he said that there were "serious problems" in terms of government retribution against complainants.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

Zarganar receives PEN/Pinter award

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Staff Reporter
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Oct 16, 2009 (DVB), Imprisoned Burmese comedian and satirist Zarganar has been chosen by one of Britain's top poets to receive the prestigious PEN/Pinter award.

The award, named after the late British playwright Harold Pinter, is given annually to one British literary figure and one international 'imprisoned writer of courage', according to the PEN organization, which advocates freedom of expression.

British poet Tony Harrison, known for his poems sent from the frontline of the Bosnian war, was chosen for the main prize. He in turn picked Zarganar for the second prize.

Carole Seymour-Jones, chair of English PEN’s writers in prison committee, received the award on Zarganar's behalf and paid tribute to 'the wise fool of Burma'. She also paid tribute to the award's namesake, who was an ardent supporter of imprisoned writers.

The assistant director of English PEN, Sarah Hesketh, told DVB today that the award was also an effort to publicise Zarganar's plight and that of all the "people on the ground [in Burma] who speak out" but are not acknowledged.

Zarganar was sentenced in November 2008 to 59 years, later reduced to 35 years, after giving interviews to foreign media in which he criticized the Burmese junta's reaction to cyclone Nargis in May 2008.

He is currently detained in Myintkyina prison in Burma's eastern Kachin state, and was earlier this year reported to have been denied adequate healthcare despite suffering from hypertension and jaundice.

The satirist has long included political material in his performances and was previously jailed in 1988. His sharp political wit is credited with affording him such a formidable reputation.

Fellow comedian and former colleague, Godzilla, said he was "extremely pleased to hear the news that Zarganar is being honoured."

Reporting by Joseph Allchin

Burma activist sees positive signs from Japan

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Staff Reporter
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Oct 16, 2009 (DVB), The new Japanese government may be more sympathetic to Burma's opposition than previous administrations, according to a Burmese activist who met with Japan's deputy foreign minister this week.

Japan's stance on Burma is to call for transparency in the 2010 elections and the release of all political prisoners, said Maung Maung, secretary for National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) and Free Trade Union (FTU).

He met with Japan's deputy foreign minister Tesuro Fukuyama in Tokyo on Wednesday. This followed a recent meeting between Japanese envoys and National League for Democracy (NLD) member Win Tin in Rangoon.

"This is morally supportive for us," Maung Maung said. "This shows that they politically accept and support the Burmese opposition and are keeping their eyes and ears open for a democratic change in Burma. I see that this government more promising than the previous government."

He said however that Japanese officials had recently met with Burma's foreign minister and stated that no policy change was on the horizon.

"Policy change doesn't always immediately follow a government change… so they may have to go through steps such as reviewing [policy] first," he said.

The Democratic Party of Japan was sworn into government in September after more than 50 years of rule by the centre-right Liberal Democratic Party, whose occasional soft rhetorical condemnation of the Burmese regime attracted criticism from pro-democracy campaigners.

A letter sent by Human Rights Watch to the new government last month urged it to "make human rights a central pillar of Japanese foreign policy, and Burma is a good place to start."

The letter said that Japan’s policy toward Burma to date, which has focused on dialogue and aid, "has done little to improve human rights and in some cases has even been counterproductive".

Relations soured between the two countries in 2007 following the shooting by Burmese troops of Japanese photojournalist Kenji Nagai during the September 2007 monk-led uprising.

Japan blocked aid to Burma following the incident, but resumed in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis in May last year.

Reporting by Htet Aung Kyaw

India urged to address human rights in Burma

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Staff Reporter
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Oct 16, 2009 (DVB), The Indian government should pay closer attention to human rights abuses in its foreign policy towards Burma, an international watchdog urged this week.

The call was made as directors of the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) met in New Delhi on Wednesday for the organisation's quarterly meeting.

India has become less inclined to challenge Burma's abject human rights record as relations between the two countries have steadily warmed over the past decade.

"India has been very silent about what's going on next door," said HRW Burma researcher, David Mathieson. "They are playing it low key for their own self interest; it's got nothing to with the people of Burma."

Alongside the foreign policy plea were calls for India to improve on its own internal human rights record, notably towards minority groups such as the lower-caste Dalits.

The two countries recently ended high-level talks focused on greater military cooperation, with little discussion on human rights reportedly taking place.

According to Mathieson, it was a "very ominous sign" that the two militaries were apparently so close. "[India] should be ashamed of themselves, trying to help this very brutal, nasty army," he said.

India was also urged by HRW to raise human rights issues at "multilateral forums such as the United Nations, both at the General Assembly in New York and the Human Rights Council in Geneva".

According to Kim from the Delhi-based Burma Centre, India's former president, A P J Kalam, in 2006 agreed not to bring up Burma's human rights record at international forums during an official visit to Burma.

India has repeatedly said that it needs to cooperate with the junta over border-based Indian and Burmese insurgents who utilise one another's territory.

The Burmese junta's plan to create border security forces out of ceasefire groups has also raised concern in India.

Delhi is said to be concerned that these groups, many of them ethnic insurgents themselves, will not be able to contain India's northeastern rebels.

Reporting by Joseph Allchin

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