BURMA RELATED NEWS - AUGUST 05, 2011

Washington Post - Myanmar says ethnic Kachin rebels ambush car near hydropower project, killing 7
By Associated Press, Updated: Friday, August 5, 2:20 AM

YANGON, Myanmar — Rebels in northern Myanmar ambushed a car carrying workers from a Chinese-backed hydroelectric project, killing seven people, state media reported Friday.

Ethnic Kachin fighters attacked the vehicle as it traveled from the Tarpein power plant to the town of Moemauk on Tuesday, the government-owned Myanma Ahlin newspaper said.

Rebels could not be reached for comment. But the website of the Kachin News Group, which is associated with Kachin exiles, said earlier this week that Kachin fighters attacked a military truck in the same area on the same day, causing an unknown number of casualties.

Among the passengers inside the vehicle were three technicians who had just come from the Tarpein plant, the newspaper said. Only one of the eight people inside the car, a policeman, survived, it said. The gruesome aftermath of the attack appeared in photos on several front-page newspapers in Myanmar.

Fighting erupted in Kachin state in June for the first time since 1994. The rebels say the army launched an offensive to force out Kachin forces after they refused to abandon a strategic base near the Tarpein plant, a joint venture between Myanmar’s Electric Power Ministry and China. The rebels fought back, destroying bridges and power pylons in the area.

The violence has tapered off in recent weeks, but around 20,000 people are still displaced.

The 8,000-strong Kachin militia is one of several minority ethnic rebel armies in Myanmar who say they are fighting for greater autonomy from the country’s repressive government.

Environmental activists say Myanmar’s environment, often described as Asia’s last bio-diversity frontier, is being degraded as China and other neighbors rush to use its natural resources with few governmental safeguards.

The Burma Environmental Working Group, a coalition of 10 organizations in exile, has said large dams are being built in the country with little regard to their environmental or social impacts. Kachin residents believe the dams will flood riverbanks and wipe out their livelihoods, while the electricity from the dams will be largely exported to China.
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August 05, 2011 12:40 PM
Seven Shot Dead In Gunfire By Myanmar Ethnic Armed Group

YANGON, Aug 5 (Bernama) -- Seven people has been shot dead and one was injured when the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), a Myanmar ethnic armed group opened fire at a vehicle in the northernmost Kachin state, according to China's Xinhua news agency, citing local press reports on Friday.

The vehicle, during the gunfire attack, was ferrying eight people on its return from Tarpein-1 hydropower plant to Momauk on Tuesday evening.

The eight people comprised three mechanics, two Chinese interpreters, two Myanmar police members and driver were fired by the KIA, using small arms when the vehicle reached the Gwekahtaung village, the reporter said.

The authorities blamed the KIA with intentionally attacking the vehicle.

Armed clashes between the government forces and the ethnic KIA broke out in early June near a power project site of Tarpein and intermittent fighting were going on along with hard negotiation.

The KIA once returned to the government's legal fold in 1994 under ceasefire agreement.
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Assam Tribune - Myanmar finding it difficult to contain insurgents
Correspondent

SHILLONG, Aug 4 – Despite cooperation at the government-level, Myanmar’s security forces are finding it difficult to contain insurgents at the ground-level creating serious security implications in India, the Assam Rifles said today.

“The government of India and Myanmar are cooperating to fight insurgents. But they (Mynmarese security force) are finding it difficult to convert this cooperation into action at the ground-level,” AR’s Director General, Lt Gen, Rameshwar Roy said here. He was responding to the recent blast at Imphal, Manipur and the AR’s operations to counter insurgency.

After operating freely and organising themselves in Myanmar, Northeast-based insurgent outfits just have to sneak into India through the 1643-km long hostile and unfenced Indo-Myanmar International border running along Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

The Assam Rifles (AR) patrols this long unfenced border. But frequent infiltration of insurgents groups like United National Liberation Front, National Socialist Council of Nagaland (K & I-M) and others from Myanmar has raised questions on AR’s border patrolling ability.

However, the AR not only guards the Indo-Myanmar border, but is actively involved in counter-insurgency operations too. Thirty-one out of its 45 battalions are deployed in counter-insurgency operations, mostly in insurgency-ravaged Manipur. Presently, just 15 battalions can be spared to patrol the hostile Indo-Myanmar border.

Therefore, the AR has asked the Centre to raise additional battalions, so that gaps in the International border could be plugged. A decision is pending with the Home Ministry (HM) to raise 26 additional battalions to guard this vulnerable border, infamous for infiltrations, smuggling of drugs, arms, timber, fake currency and gems. “Discussions are on to raise these additional battalions,” Lt Gen Roy said.

He, however, informed that an Inspector General Headquarters at Silchar (Assam) and three Sector Command Headquarters at Dimapur (Nagaland), Haflong (Assam) and Senapati (Manipur) would be created.
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Philippine Star - Armed clashes in Myanmar intensify
(philstar.com) Updated August 05, 2011 12:03 PM

YANGON (Xinhua) -- Armed clashes in Myanmar's northernmost state have intensified as seven people were shot dead and another one injured in a latest gun fire launched by a Myanmar ethnic armed group, the Kachin Independence Army (KIA), in northernmost Kachin state, according to Friday's official media New Light of Myanmar.

The KIA opened fire at a vehicle carrying the eight victims on its return from Tarpein-1 hydropower plant to Momauk on Tuesday evening.

The eight including three mechanics, two Chinese interpreters, two Myanmar police members and two drivers were fired by the KIA with small arms when they reached a location of Gwekahtaung village.

The authorities blamed the KIA with intentionally attacking the vehicle, denying that the incident was due to hitting a land mine in KIA's prohibited area before the ceasefire was reached as claimed by the KIA.

Armed clashes between the government forces and the ethnic KIA broke out in early June near a power project site of Tarpein and intermittent fightings were going on along with hard negotiation.

The government once claimed to have occupied the KIA camp on June 12.

The Tarpein hydropower project is a heavily-invested joint venture project between Myanmar's Ministry of Electric Power-1 and Datang (Yunnan) United Hydropower Developing Company of China.

Of the two-phase 400-megawatt project, the first phase of the 240-megawatt (mw) Tarpein-1 hydropower plant comprising four 60-mw generators has been completed yielding power at 1,065 million kilowatt-hours yearly. The remaining 160-megawatt plant project is underway.

In mid-April, the KIA made threats to stop quarry work on the east bank of the Malikha river, entering Lahsa hydropower project site and threatening Chinese staff to move to the west bank of the river within two days and to withdraw the extended camps from the east bank as soon as possible.

On June 8, two government military officers, who went to KIA camp for negotiation, were detained by the KIA which also opened fire at the government forces who were marching to the Tarpein hydropower project site. After heavy weapon fire exchange, the two military officers were rescued on the next day.

Although the government forces informed the KIA to withdraw from its camp near the power project site within two days, the KIA rejected to follow by launching heavy weapon fire at the plant from its Dunbon outpost and blowing up pylons carrying cables connecting the plant and the Bhamo district. The clashes led to the occupation of the camp by the government forces on June 12.

Over the period from June 9 to 14 , a total of 215 Chinese project staff went back to China under threat and the project ceased to operate as from June 14.

Over the period from June 14 to 16, the KIA blew up 25 bridges including bailey, concrete and wooden ones which are key transportation route to Kachin state and on June 22 and June 30, it blew up some concrete bridges between Myitkyina and Nankwe, and between Mayan and Namti on the same railroad as well as on rail tracks between Namna and Hopin of Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad respectively, according to earlier official report.

In July, the KIA also blew up more rail tracks in Kachin state between Hopin and Nankhwin of Mandalay-Myitkyina railroad, cutting the rail tracks destroying sleepers.

Myanmar official media in June said the government would open door of peace to dissidents referring to the armed clashes between the government forces and the KIA based in northernmost Kachin state bordering China.

The New Light of Myanmar cited the attitude of the government as saying that " It would open the door of peace to welcome those who are holding different views if they wish to cooperate with the government in mutually concerned cases for the interest of the nation and the people and run for election in compliance with democratic practice to justly gain power".

"The only objective of the Tatmadaw (armed forces) in launching attacks on KIA is just to protect its members and an important hydropower project of the nation without even a single intention of aggression and oppression," it clarified.

The media added the government forces had to inevitably attack the KIA just to rescue its officers detained by the KIA and to protect the high-cost Tarpein hydropower project being implemented with the Chinese side.

The KIA once returned to the government's legal fold in 1994 under ceasefire agreement.
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Gulfnews - A sanctuary across the border
Unable to survive the repression in their own country, thousands of Myanmarese have taken refuge in India
By Nilima Pathak, Special to Weekend Review
Published: 00:00 August 5, 2011

Displaced due to political turmoil in their countries, more than 3,00,000 people from different cultural mores have taken refuge in India, the world's largest democracy. These include people from Myanmar, who started coming to India in 1989 because of the military crackdown after the pro-democracy uprising in 1988.

Living as refugees, the very mention of the word "home" brings back numerous memories.

Mary Neihkim, who came to India in 2007, says: "I worked as a teacher in Myanmar. Circumstances forced me to run from my country. The soldiers in Myanmar attempted to rape me and the situation had become so hopeless that it was pointless to approach the authorities for our safety."

Without money and belongings, she crossed the border and reached Mizoram. Staying with a family which provided her shelter, Mary was forced to become a housemaid.
Two months later, when she was threatened by local youth to leave Mizoram, she fled to Delhi. "People in Mizoram do not like Myanmarese nationals staying there due to dearth of jobs. But I can understand their problem," she says. "In Delhi, too, it is tough sharing space with strangers in rented environs. But then we are all sufferers and have no choice but to reconcile with the fact that there is no possibility of going back to Myanmar."

Neihkim is among those who earn a living by weaving their traditional handicrafts, including bags, scarves and shawls. She is now president of Central Chin Women Organisation (CCWO), which looks after the welfare of women of her ilk. She also works for a women's health-care organisation.

In all these years, she has not been able to speak to her mother and her brother back home in Myanmar. "Even when my father died, I could not be with my family. The only communication that I have is via e-mail and that too through family contacts," Neihkim says.

Like other refugees, she may not have dreams of her own any more but is determined to make a difference to many in society who go through similar hardships.
Several youngsters, though carrying the emotional baggage of being a refugee, are not only learning the ways of city life but are also volunteering to address issues of human rights, violence against women and vocational training.

Not knowing what the future of Myanmar, which has been under military rule for the past so many years, will be, they are working towards settling in their present environs.

A United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) official explains: "India has not ratified the 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and does not have a national refugee legal protection framework. But it continues to grant asylum to a large number of refugees from different countries. While refugees from Tibet and Sri Lanka are protected and assisted by the Indian government, UNHCR is directly involved with groups arriving from Myanmar and Afghanistan. And holders of documentation provided by us are able to obtain temporary residence permits from the authorities."

However, the official admitted that refugees often lived in poverty. Since they do not have the legal right to work, they just about manage to find low-paid employment in the informal job market and are often exploited. "Women and children are vulnerable to violence and instances of child labour are not uncommon," he said.

Though the UNHCR gives a subsistence monthly allowance, only a few fortunate people get that. Because of the lack of domestic legislation for refugees in India, the organisation is unable to provide aid to those in the northeast. That probably is the reason why scores of refugees find their way to Delhi every month.

Thus, for hundreds of Myanmarese refugees circumstances seem no better in the Indian capital. Most cannot speak English or Hindi and the language barrier adds to their struggles.

A young refugee, who fled her homeland a couple of years ago with her two sisters, said, "Our parents were scared that we would be harmed and forced us to leave."

The 20 year old has grown in the past two years, as have many others like her, who have travelled to Delhi to merge with the rest of the Myanmarese refugee population. They primarily live in west Delhi areas, including Janakpuri, Vikaspuri, Uttam Nagar and Hastsal.

Finding life daunting, she says: "We have not had the time to mourn what we left behind. Everyday struggle keeps us occupied and we live by the day rather than have plans for the future."

Rising numbers

UNHCR figures show that there were 43.7 million displaced people worldwide at the end of 2010.

They include 15.4 million refugees who fled across borders — 80 per cent of them to nearby developing countries.

The number of people forced to flee their homes to escape war or abuse has risen to its highest in the past 15 years.

Slightly more than half of all refugees are children under 18 years.

According to UNHCR, about 3,700 refugees were given identity cards as asylum-seekers in 2010, while more than 4,500 are still on the waiting list.

The number of refugees from Myanmar in India at present stands at about 10,000.

Most of them are pro-democracy activists, who faced persecution at the hands of the armed forces.

A number of men among them work as security guards and in factories and restaurants.

Nilima Pathak is a journalist based in New Delhi.
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SOUTHEAST ASIA
Bangkok Post - Opinion: Burma, Asean must leave their comfort zone
Published: 5/08/2011 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: News

Despite mounting criticism of the new Burmese government's do-nothing approach to political reform (and growing evidence that it is merely a front for the brutal junta that preceded it), Burma's rulers continue to covet the chairmanship of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 2014.

This has put the regional grouping in a bit of a bind. Strictly speaking, after 14 years as a member of Asean, Burma is entitled to its turn at the helm. After all, it has already been forced to forgo the chairmanship once, in 2006.

A great deal has happened since then _ massive monk-led protests in 2007, Cyclone Nargis and a sham referendum in 2008, and last year's dubious election and the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, among many other things. But "national reconciliation" wasn't one of them.

Last week, however, the new government made a familiar gambit clearly aimed at placating its critics: it invited Mrs Suu Kyi to meet with its "liaison minister" Aung Kyi, a former junta functionary who held the same position under the old regime.

But this token gesture isn't going to make it any easier for Asean to decide how to proceed with Burma's request for the chairmanship.

Besides the continuing allegations of war crimes in ethnic areas and the fact that there are still around 2,000 political prisoners behind bars in Burma, the new government's leaders remain subject to sanctions in the United States and European Union, which are major Asean trading partners.

Last week in Jakarta, US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton dashed any hopes that Naypyidaw might have had that merely playing the Suu Kyi card would suffice to convince anyone that the country is, at long last, moving in the right direction.

"We look to the government to unconditionally release the more than 2,000 political prisoners who continue to languish in prison," she said, adding that the country's rulers should also conduct meaningful and inclusive dialogue with the political opposition and ethnic minorities.

"The choice is clear," she said. "They can take these steps and gain back the confidence of their people and the trust of the international community. Or they can continue down the path they've been on."

Mrs Clinton also called on the military-backed civilian regime to address growing concerns about weapons proliferation. Washington has repeatedly expressed concern over Burma's military ties with North Korea.

However, Mrs Clinton's Indonesian counterpart, Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa, was much less forthright in stating what it would take for Burma to earn the trust and respect of the rest of Asean.

Indeed, when asked for his views on human rights and democratisation in Burma, he was barely coherent: "Burma is obviously a work in process, in terms of democratisation. To put it more _ in a more, I guess, yes, I don't want to use _ describe it as a work in progress."

Evidently, putting a positive spin on Burma's current political situation has become such an enormous challenge that it leaves even seasoned regional leaders completely tongue-tied.

On the question at hand _ whether Burma is fit to lead Asean _ Mr Marty didn't get himself quite so twisted out of shape, if only because he was able to resort to vaguer language:

"We have to see and have a sense of comfort level whether Burma is actually prepared and ready to assume chairmanship of Asean in 2014. I am aware, we are aware, of the responsibilities and the expectations that are inherent in a particular country chairing Asean."

To test their "comfort level", Mr Marty will lead an Asean delegation to Burma before the grouping makes a decision. When this will happen has yet to be decided, but Asean can't afford to leave the question of its future leadership open for too long. That means Burma will have to act soon to prove it is ready to act on the demands of the Burmese people and the international community.

Some political pundits speculate that the decision has been made to offer Burma the Asean chair and it is just a matter of time. However, some Asean diplomats argued that as long as Mr Marty delays his visit to Burma, the more uncertain it becomes for Burma to host the regional summit. Activists inside and outside also say that if Asean decides to allow Burma to hold the Asean chair, the regional grouping will face a serious backlash from opposition groups and ethnic groups.

At this stage, however, the Burmese regime probably feels it has done all it is going to do.

At the same time, it will be harder to drop its bid for the chairmanship this time, since it won't have the same face-saving excuses to rely on.

In other words, things are about to become very uncomfortable, for Asean and for Burma. But that is the price they will have to pay if they want to achieve their goal of moving forward.
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Brisbane Times - Opinion: Power shifts towards Asian endgame
Hamish McDonald
Asia-Pacific editor, Sydney Morning Herald
August 6, 2011

Ever play that old board game Diplomacy? It was a favourite of President John F.Kennedy, and Henry Kissinger has said he liked it, too, so it's nothing to be ashamed of.

It ranges over a map of Europe, the Middle East and North Africa before World War I. The players represent the powers of the time: Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Russia, Austro-Hungary and Ottoman Turkey. The aim is domination, partly by ganging up with other powers.

This week in Sydney, one of Washington's toughest and most unrepentant neocons, Paul Wolfowitz, harked back to the same era when discussing the strategic outlook in Asia. The contemporary rise of China had striking and disturbing parallels to the rise of the kaiser's Germany a century ago.

Many analysts had been saying that China's economy - and the growth on which its domestic stability rests - is too enmeshed with that of the United States for it to let strategic rivalry with the present dominant power turn to conflict.

But Wolfowitz pointed to the famous prediction in 1910, by the British author Norman Angell in his bestseller The Great Illusion, that the mutual dependency of modern industrial economies made war between them unthinkable. A ruinous war took place anyway.

It's not just neocons thinking like this. The Democrat administration in Washington and the Labor government in Canberra are both preparing for the worst with China, while hoping the current economic blessings continue: China keeps buying Australian resources and US Treasury bonds.

Alliance building is not proving easy in the real-life version of Diplomacy here in Asia, however. A case in point is the intense American focus on building up strategic ties with India since the former president, George Bush, tacitly blessed its nuclear weapons capability on his visit to New Delhi in March 2006.

As the Washington-based analyst Sourabh Gupta has just noted (in an essay posted on the Australian National University's East Asia Forum website), the Indians are backing away from a too-eager American embrace.

The Pentagon had been hoping to build up "interoperability" with the Indian armed forces, to the point where India would become the Japan of the Indian Ocean, without the restraints of the Japanese constitution. Joint operations of "common interest" could move from humanitarian and disaster relief to enforcing antiproliferation sanctions, to "coalition of the willing" interventions and maritime patrols into the Pacific.

"US-India joint exercises, particularly, were seen as the glue that would furnish an operational 'jointness' on the ground, which would permeate into a correspondent strategic purpose at the highest political level," Gupta writes. ''To this end, joint exercise upon joint exercise - on mountain, forest, snow, sand and sea - were conducted, such that New Delhi became Washington's most active exercise partner over the past decade." Out of this, it was hoped, would grow strategic alignment.

"But expectations have not been borne out - New Delhi appearing neither willing to confront Beijing in any security format other than one which is strictly bilateral [Sino-Indian], nor countenance the degree of interoperability in bilateral defence planning preferred by Washington," Gupta says.

"Indeed, at the point at which defence interoperability assumes the trappings of quasi-informal military alignment, the tendency in New Delhi has been to reflexively shrink from such engagement."

New Delhi has not taken up an offer to post a liaison officer at the US Pacific Command in Hawaii, and it warns its servicemen against unsupervised contact with American delegations. It is wary of US hydrographic surveys of nearby waters (though not as hostile as the Chinese) and has opted to stay with key Russian-built defence equipment.

Partly in response to Chinese protests, it has scaled back inclusion of south-east Asian and Australian warships in the annual "Malabar" naval exercises in its Indian Ocean approaches. "To the extent, further, that such ties are viewed in New Delhi as being somewhat superfluous to security requirements in its immediate maritime neighbourhood, US-Indian defence co-operation that assumes the characteristics of a quasi-informal military alignment will remain aspirational, at best - if at all - well into the future," Gupta says.

If Beijing sent warships to protect its oil and gas drilling and pipeline interests off Burma, or had its submarines patrolling the Bay of Bengal, that might change, but "such eventuality appears hypothetical at this time", he says.

On a visit to New Delhi this year, John Lee, an international relations specialist at Sydney's Centre for Independent Studies, found Indians inclined to think just growing a huge economy and looking after their own defence was doing enough as a counterweight to China.

But there are Indian analysts who think India is intrinsically aligned with the West, and that a profoundly important US-India strategic partnership will evolve. The strategic analyst and journalist C.Raja Mohan even argues India will become a "Western'' power rather than an Asian one.

While China has quickly become India's biggest trading partner, with bilateral trade passing $US60 billion ($57 billion) last year, the critical sources of technology and investment remain Europe, the US, Japan and South Korea. That could change if Indian and Chinese firms undercut the older industrial powers in each other's market. China-India trade could then exceed the importance of trans-Pacific and trans-Atlantic flows.

Canberra is meanwhile showing the keenness so far lacking in the Indians. Since annual ministerial talks last November, US and Australian officials have been looking at ways US forces can make more use of our defence facilities and bases to extend a more visible US presence across south-east Asia and the Indian Ocean.

But stationing US forces here for the first time since World War II, as recently suggested by the US Naval War College professor Toshi Yoshihara, is getting panned. It would be sending all the wrong signals, responds ANU strategic studies specialist Ron Huisken.

"If Washington conveys the impression that it is circling the wagons and building a fallback perimeter beyond the reach of projected Chinese military power," Huisken warns, "it will set off reassessments by allies and friends within the perimeter that will prove very difficult to contain."

There is a market here for an updated board game.
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The Moscow News - Moscow exports the metro – to Myanmar
by Oleg Nikishenkov at 04/08/2011 22:11

Russia is set to build a new metro line – not in Moscow, but in Myanmar, the southeast Asian military dictatorship notorious for persecuting Nobel prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi.

The contract to build the 50-kilometer metro line, reportedly won by a Russian firm, will be built deep underneath Naypyidaw, the new military capital of Myanmar, also known historically as Burma.

Voice of Russia radio, which broke the news, cited an unnamed “projects chief architect” who said the metro venture is already at the stage of surveying and designing. The line will be three times longer than Moscow’s circle line.

Local projects stalled

Svetlana Vorontsova, who heads Moscow’s Transport Infrastructure Institute, said that since Russia’s metro projects – particularly in Moscow – are proving slow to get going, plenty of Russian specialists and construction workers would be available to build Myanmar’s new metro line. Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kazan and Novosibirsk are all waiting for metro building projects to get under way, she said.

“Those cities have an urgent need for new lines, but city authorities haven’t funded them enough,” Vorontsova said. “There is a strong need for federal budget [cash] and the issue hasn’t been resolved yet.”

Geopolitical factors

The Democratic Voice of Burma, an independent media organization, is seeing a geopolitical angle to Myanmar’s metro project.

“Russia has yet to embark on any major infrastructural projects in Burma, where bids for such developments are often quickly snapped up by China,” the media outlet said.

International sanctions against the military dictatorship in Myanmar, which has ruled the country since declaring Aung San Suu Kyi’s election victory 20 years ago invalid, limit the choices for Burma’s government, which is highly depend upon its giant neighbor, China.

Balancing China

Dmitry Mosyakov, who heads the southeastern department of the Russian Academy of Sciences’ Institute of Oriental Studies, said that Myanmar was trying to counterbalance Chinese inf luence with the help of Russia.

Sanctions were imposed on Myanmar in 2007 by the United States, the EU, Canada and a group of Pacific countries, including Japan, Australia and New Zealand. The UN also condemned the military junta, which took over in the late 1980s through a coup.

In 2007 the regime put opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest. The subsequent riots and repression led to a constitutional referendum in 2008 and elections two years later, but the military still keeps control through a loyal ruling party.

Western sanctions

Sanctions remain in place, as the West sees the military as still in charge, and reports on human rights abuses are still f looding in from the country.

Clashes with opposition protesters and separatists, who have formed rebel armies in some regions, indicate that the regime is quite unstable, Mosyakov said.

This means that security concerns count for a lot, even in something as basic as awarding a contract to build a metro system, he said.

Mosyakov said he doubted Myanmar was ready for a full transition to democracy, due to intense conflicts between the military, the democratic opposition and the separatists.

Deep concerns

There’s also the issue of how deep the Naypyidaw metro will be.

Vorontsova said that Russia had been chosen to build the metro due to the similarity between Moscow’s deep underground system, built deep to act as a bomb shelter during World War II, and the one Myanmar’s paranoid military want in Naypyidaw, which is often dubbed the “hideaway city.”

The Democratic Voice of Burma reports that the planned metro system is close “to a vast underground command center on the outskirts of Naypyidaw, which witnesses said was being built to house thousands of personnel.”

Vorontsova said that it’s Russia’s experience, not the speed of Chinese construction, that’s important. (China currently builds 6,000 kilometers of new roads per year.)

“We are talking about a complicated project, which can be started in not less than two years, when all research on the ground is finished,” Vorontsova said.

Historical links

Trust in Russia, a historical ally of Burma’s, also plays a part, Mosyakov said.

“Khrushchev was the first leader who visited Burma when the Way to Socialism, a pro-Communist movement, took over the country,” he said.
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The Diplomat - From Burma Road to Road Map
August 05, 2011 By Patrick M. Cronin

Concerns over Burma’s ties with North Korea and China have prompted the US to sit up and take notice of the country. But it needs a road map.

The last time Burma really mattered to the United States, Imperial Japanese forces were marching on Asia. Vinegar Joe Stillwell built a road through the Burmese jungle to resupply China during the Pacific War, a backbreaking project that cost the lives of some 1,100 US soldiers before its completion in 1944. The Stillwell Road was pivotal then, but just like American interest in Burma, it soon fell into disrepair.

Burma matters to US strategy again. Human rights concerns about the military grip on the region’s poorest country are overshadowed by geostrategic concerns about the regime’s ties to China and North Korea. China’s desire for strategic real estate and hunger for natural resources are turning Burma into a proxy state, while North Korea’s weapons export business shifts Burma into a potential nuclear weapon state. Beijing has recently reconstructed the old British and American Burma Road.

The Obama administration has responded by naming an ambassadorial-level coordinator: Derek Mitchell, presently acting assistant secretary of defence. But what’s next? US Burma policy is notoriously feckless. Well-intentioned support for the iconic Aung San Suu Kyi, the last democratically elected leader, makes for a photo opportunity, but is failing to affect Burmese bad behaviour or constrain Chinese encroachment. In the past, an almost exclusive focus on human rights has done little to change Burma, but a great deal to isolate the United States from its allies and friends in South and East Asia.

A new approach is needed. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton took the essential first step last month in Bali by giving further definition to the policy of principled engagement. She demanded compliance with UN Security Council resolutions, a reference to the regime’s nuclear ambitions. She also called for releasing 2,200 political prisoners and opening dialogue with the opposition and ethnic minorities. But given the administration’s determination to reenergize US influence in a vibrant region, it’s noteworthy that Clinton put the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) on notice not to bestow chairmanship on Burma chairmanship for 2014 unless it earns it. At the same time, she in effect dangled the carrot of international legitimacy should Burma embrace change.

The gap between Burma and the United States yawns. We therefore need a road map for navigating between the Scylla of human rights and Charybdis of realpolitik. The original Burma Road overcame gnarly mountainous terrain; a new road map must traverse seemingly intractable machinations emanating from the new palatial capital in Naypyidaw. The first road linked Burma to China; this pathway must provide both an alternative to Chinese domination, as well as greater freedom for all Burma’s people. Gen. Stillwell built the first road; Clinton must connect this one.

There’s precedent for building US ties with an adversarial, autocratic state: Vietnam. In fact, some of the same voices who would like to test Burma’s seriousness about a new relationship have experience with this kind of challenge. Senators John McCain and John Kerry helped to convert a former enemy into a flourishing economic and security partner, despite nagging differences over human rights. If a US Navy destroyer can make a port visit to Da Nang, Vietnam (as USS John S. McCain did last year), then finding a gradual opening to Burma must be possible.

While the administration’s policy of talking with sanctions in place has achieved no breakthrough, experts on the ground see a glimmer of hope. Although the National League for Democracy was proscribed from competing in elections last autumn, Suu Kyi has been released from house arrest and a nominally civilian government has opened the dialogue beyond a single general. And recently, the Labour and Social Welfare Minister of Myanmar met face to face with Suu Kyi and suggested a new dialogue with the opposition. In addition, although few prisoners have been released, the regime has allowed International Red Cross basic sanitation inspections of jails, while nongovernmental organizations are being permitted to expand some of their presence. Indeed, the US Agency for International Development is starting to fund indigenous civil society programmes that could establish influential new voices in Burma.

The next step for the administration should be to back a track two process to help draft a workable road map. As part of the road map, we should harness the power of our business community in gradually opening up Burma. Rather than simply allow Chinese state owned enterprises to monopolize the market on Burmese oil and gas, timber, and gems, as well as new infrastructure projects, the United States should hold out the incentive of US business investment in exchange for political reforms. One day, after many small steps and future reforms, coupled with close coordination with key allies and partners, the United States could be in a far better position to normalize relations with Burma.

The roadmap may fail. Further revelations about a nuclear weapon programme or future attempts by North Korean cargo ships to deliver missile warheads should trigger some of the penalties that Clinton intimated in Bali. This isn’t the first time Burma has hinted at reform, but in light of shifting geostrategic circumstances it’s critical to test the veracity of what Burmese leaders are telling top US officials about desiring better relations. Even an out-of-touch regime may have heard of the Arab Spring. As McCain said after his visit last month, ‘Governments that shun evolutionary reforms now will eventually face revolutionary change later.’

This much is clear: as with Vietnam, ultimately Burmese must take the first step. If they mean what they say, then a road map may well be the solution. It would allow bipartisan support for any administration’s desire to do what every American should want: effective responses to human misery and geostrategic interests.

Dr. Patrick M. Cronin directs the Asia-Pacific Security Programme at the Center for a New American Security in Washington, D.C.
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Pattaya Mail - Dusit Thani hosts S.E. Asian Green Leaf environmental exhibition
Friday, 05 August 2011 From Issue Vol. XIX No. 31 By Manoon Makpol

Hospitality executives from nine countries converged on Pattaya’s Dusit Thani Resort for the Green Leaf Foundation’s “Go for Green” Southeast Asian conference.

Deputy Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism and Sports Thanitha Sawetsila Manichot opened the July 28 exhibition showcasing environmentally conscious initiatives related to hotel environments, information technology and communications, corporate social responsibility, water and energy conservation, waste disposal and anti-smoking campaigns.

Green Leaf Vice Chairman Chatchawal Supachayanont, Thai Hotels Association Chairman Sampan Panpat and Jirapol Sinthunava, Environmental and Natural Resources Studies professor from Mahidol University topped the list of dignitaries present to welcome representatives from Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.

The workshop was intended to spread the Green Leaf Foundation’s environmental standard to hotels around Southeast Asia. The Dusit Thani has been one of Thailand’s pre-eminent Green Leaf members, winning numerous honors for its green initiatives.
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The Irrawaddy - Indonesia's FM to Vet Burma for Asean Chair
By SAW YAN NAING Friday, August 5, 2011

Indonesia's Foreign Minister Marty Natalegawa is set to visit Burma in the near future with observers saying that Naypyidaw's bid to chair the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) in 2014 may rest on his conclusions.

According to a report on Aug. 3 by Voice of America quoting Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Michael Tene, the foreign minister has already received an official invitation from Burma and is preparing a mission to evaluate whether the Burmese government has made enough democratic progress to win backing for its Asean chairmanship.

However, speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday, Kavi Chongkittavorn, a senior editor and columnist at the Bangkok-based daily The Nation, said, “He [Natalegawa] will go only if Burma has made satisfactory progress. Otherwise, he will not go. That much is clear.”

He said he doubts the visit will happen, because Natalegawa has not confirmed a schedule for the trip. However, he added, if the Indonesian foreign minister does go to Burma, then Naypyidaw can take it for granted that it will chair Asean in 2014.

Kavi said the conditions that Burma has to meet include the release of political prisoners, a ceasefire with ethnic groups, and a dialogue toward national reconciliation.

Burma first voiced the idea of chairing Asean just a month after the new government took office in March. It then launched an official bid for the bloc's chairmanship in Bali at an Asean foreign ministerial meeting in July.

However, several Burma watchers have said that no satisfactory steps have been taken toward resolving the issues, especially with regard to dialogue with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic minority groups.

International and opposition groups have roundly urged Burma to make tangible progress. Otherwise, they say, Naypyidaw does not merit the honor of chairing Asean.

In June, the US raised concerns over Burma's bid to chair the bloc, citing the renewed violence in Kachin State and other regions of the country. The US State Department called on Naypyidaw to call a halt to hostilities, and said the conflicts underscore the need for an inclusive dialogue between the Burmese government, opposition parties and ethnic minority groups to begin a process of genuine national reconciliation.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy from Indonesia on Thursday, Rafendi Djamin, the Indonesian representative to the Asean Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, said, “My concern is that there is no significant change in Burma in terms of human rights violations in the conflict areas, and that the issue of political prisoners also remains a serious problem.”

In 2006, Burma missed its turn to chair Asean due to international pressure on it to enact democratic reforms.

In recent months, several armed conflicts have flared across Burma, forcing thousands of people from their homes.

Naypyidaw has recently made several “olive branch” gestures to Kachin rebels, a move many Burma watchers say could be related to its bid to assume the 2014 Asean chairmanship.

Observers say the Burmese authorities also want to be seen to be engaging Suu Kyi, and may invite her to attend an upcoming parliamentary workshop on Rural Development and Poverty Alleviation in the capital.

Nay Zin Latt, a member of the Burmese president’s political advisory board, told The Irrawaddy that he heard Suu Kyi may be invited to “cooperate individually as an observer attendee” at the workshop.

Regional activist Debbie Stothard, the coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network, said that Naypyidaw's sudden involvement with Suu Kyi might just be a show for the international community.

She said the Indonesian foreign minister needs to look at the armed conflicts, attacks against ethnic minority people, the rape of ethnic women, and the issue of political prisoners in Burma.

Rangoon-based veteran Arakan politician Aye Tha Aung agreed, saying that internal progress on the issues of human rights abuses, democratic reform and national reconciliation should be met before a decision is taken on Burma's Asean chairmanship.

Win Htein, a close friend of Suu Kyi, told The Irrawaddy that the opposition leader wants internal affairs—essentially economic, social and political issues—to be prioritized by the new government at this current juncture.
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The Irrawaddy - Floods in Northern Thailand Hit Burmese Refugee Camps
By SAI ZOM HSENG and SAW YAN NAING Friday, August 5, 2011

MAE HONG SON, Northern Thailand—Flooding in Mae Hong Son Province of northern Thailand hit Burmese refugees camps, destroying more than 400 houses, as well as school buildings, libraries, rice stores, roads and farms, according to local sources.

According to the Karen Refugee Committee (KRC), three rice stores with 2,970 bags of rice were flooded, and 406 houses in the Mae La Oon and Mae Ra Ma Luang refugee camps, located in the Mae Sariang District in Mae Hong Son Province, were destroyed by the flood and landslides.

There have been no causalities thus far, but people made homeless by the floods have been forced to camp at local schools, churches and monasteries, according to the KRC.

“The main challenge for the refugees is food—they can’t make a fire and therefore they can’t cook food for themselves,” Saw Tu Tu, a spokesperson for the KRC in Mae Sariang, told The Irrawaddy on Friday,

He said that some NGOs called a meeting today to organize emergency support for refugee families effected by the flood. The NGOs included the UN High Commissioner for Refugees relief agency, the Thailand Burma Border Consortium and the KRC.

Due to the heavy rain, the Mae Sariang River flooded farms belonging to refugees on the banks of the river. Refugees in the Mae La Oon camp said they had never seen flooding this significant since the camp was established in 2004.

Thirty houses and one high school in Mae La Oon were destroyed by the flood, while other houses were also destroyed by landslide.

Road links between two Karen refugee camps and Mae Sariang town, where rice and vegetables were distributed to refugees, were also damaged by landsides resulting from the heavy rain, said a member of the Mae La Oon camp committee.

Refugees in Ban Mae Surin, a Karenni refugee camp located 60 kilometers from Mae Hong Son, are suffering from some diseases as a result of the flood.

Diarrhea had broken out even before the flood, and many residents are now experiencing eye problems, according to camp residents. According to a local source, at least one person per household has eye problems, and camp medical staff suspect it is related to their water source.

Medical support and medicine for the refugees are being delayed because of damage to the track leading to the camp.

In Ban Mai Nai Soi, which is 16 kilometers from Mae Hong Son, sesame fields farmed by ethnic Shan people were also destroyed by flooding from the Pai River.

Lone Mart, a resident of Ban Mai Nai Soi, said that the water level rose immediately and his sesame fields were destroyed by the flood. He said he lost at least 30,000-50,000 baht
(US $1,000-1,670) that he invested in his sesame fields.

More than 100 Shan live in Ban Mai Nai Soi, and the planting of paddy and seeds is their main source of income. The 180 km-long Pai River originates in Pai, a mountainous area of Mae Hong Son Province, and flows down to the Mae Hong Son town.

“Almost all of the people from Nai Soi depend on the Pai River for their incomes. We owe many things to the river, but this time it destroyed our fields,” said Lone Mart.

In total, nine people died and six are missing in landslides, drowning and other storm and flood related incidents in Thailand's north and northeast, as the number of flood-hit provinces rose to 17, reported Thai News Agency MCOT, which quoted Thailand’s Public Health Ministry's deputy permanent secretary, Dr Narong Sahamethapat.

The northern province of Mae Hong Son recorded the highest number of deaths with three people, two of them boys, dying in landslides triggered by incessant downpours in Sop Moei District. Chiang Mai registered two deaths, while Sukhothai, Sakon Nakhon, Phrae and Udon Thani provinces had one death each.
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The Irrawaddy - USDP Wins Import Licenses
Friday, August 5, 2011

RANGOON—Burma's military-backed ruling party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP), has received permission to import 5,000 automobiles from Thailand as a way to raise revenue, according to party sources.

The permit was given to the party to enable it to pay salaries to executive members, said a Rangoon Region executive committee (EC) member who spoke on condition of anonymity, adding that various kinds of vehicles had been imported since July 26.

Monthly salaries awarded to party executives vary according to level and responsibilities: Central executive committee members receive 300,000 kyat (US $390); state- and region-level secretaries receive 120,000 kyat ($155); district-level executives receive between 70,000 and 80,000 kyat ($90-$103); and township-level executive committee members receive between 50,000 and 60,000 kyat ($65-$78), said the Rangoon Region EC member.

All salaries came into effect at the beginning of July, he added.

The decision to grant import licenses to the USDP was criticized by other parties, who said the move was unfair.

“There's nothing wrong with the USDP paying its members salaries out of its own funds, but the government should give all parties the same opportunity to earn money. We're all struggling financially,” said Khin Maung Shwe, a leading member of the National Democratic Force.

The cars are entering the country at Myawaddy, opposite the Thai border town of Mae Sot. A tax of just 1.2 million kyat (US $1,550) is imposed on all vehicles going through a checkpoint on the Sittaung Bridge in Moulmein—far less than the usual duty on imported cars.

Politicians were not the only ones complaining about the sudden influx of a large number of vehicles at relatively low prices. Car dealers in Rangoon said that the move would likely cause chaos in the automobile market, especially since no other importer has been allowed to bring in such a large number of vehicles.

“Demand for cars is increasing. Depending on what kind of automobile they are importing, there will be an effect on the car market,” said one dealer, adding that rumors in June that a large number of cars would be imported without licenses caused prices to fall.

Current prices for popular models is around 15,000,000 kyat to 25,000,000 kyat ($19,350-$32,260).

The USDP won 259 out of 325 seats in the Pyitthu Hluttaw, or Lower House of Parliament; 129 out of 168 seats in the Amyotha Hluttaw, or Upper House; and 495 out of 661 seats in state and regional legislatures.
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Suu Kyi invited to meet with USDP officials
Friday, 05 August 2011 16:11 Mizzima News

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – In another sign that the Burmese government is reaching out to pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, she has been invited to meet with officials of the government-backed political party, the Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP).

USDP General-Secretary Htay Oo said on Friday that the date of the meeting has not been set.

Htay Oo informed reporters of the planned meeting following a meeting at the office of the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chambers of Commerce and Industry in Rangoon.

Officials at the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), told Mizzima that they were unaware of the USDA invitation to Suu Kyi to hold a meeting. The USDP is the majority party in the new Burmese Parliament.

On July 25, NLD General-Secretary Suu Kyi met with a high-ranking government representative, Minister Aung Kyi, at a state guesthouse. They described the meeting as “productive” and “constructive” and said more meetings would be held.

Meanwhile, Dr. Nay Zin Latt, a member of Burmese President Thein Sein’s political advisory board, said that Suu Kyi would be invited to attend an official high-level government workshop on macroeconomics and poverty to be held in Naypyitaw, the capital.

In the November 2010 parliamentary election, the USDP won 259 out of 325 seats in the Lower House; 129 out of 168 seats in the Upper House; and 494 out of 661 seats in region and state assemblies.
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Some USDP officials paid ‘stipends’ for work
Friday, 05 August 2011 21:05 Mizzima News

(Mizzima) – Union Solidarity and Development Party (USDP) General-Secretary Htay Oo confirmed reports that some party members receive cash stipends or allowances for their work.

Htay Oo’s comments on Friday were made in reply to reporters’ questions after reports appeared saying salaries were paid to party leaders in township, region and state branches.

“We cannot give them a salary, we just collect party membership fees from our party members at 1,000 kyat (US$ 1.28). But some of our full-time members who are working for the party are given allowances or a stipend,” he said.

Htay Oo didn’t disclose the amount of the stipends, but a party MP said that the figure varied from 50,000 to 300,000 kyat (US$ 64-385) per month depending on rank in the party. He said the payments started in July.

Htay Oo made his remarks following a meeting at the Union of Myanmar Federation of Chamber of Commerce in Rangoon.

The following are unofficial allowances for USDP party officials in regions, states and township branches:
Allowance for Region/State branch chiefs – 300,000 kyat per month (US$ 385)

Allowance for secretary of Region/States – 120,000 kyat pm (US$ 154)

Allowance for joint secretary of Regions/States – 100,000 kyat pm (US$ 128)

Allowance for EC of Regions/States – 80,000 kyat (US$ 103)

Allowance for district branch secretary – 80,000 kyat (US$ 103)

Allowance for EC of district branches – 70,000 kyat (US$ 90)

Allowance for township branch secretary – 70,000 kyat (US$ 90)

Allowance for township branch EC – 60,000 kyat (US$ 77)

Allowance for sub-township branch EC – 50,000 kyat (US$ 64)

Meanwhile, Htay Oo denied a report that the government-backed USDP party had received a permit to import 5,000 vehicles from Thailand to reward party officials. The report appeared on The Irrawaddy web site.

“We don’t import luxury cars,” he said. “Please ask other parties if they received this permit. We will get this permit only if other parties get it too. Now we are in a multi-party system not a one-party rule system. So we don’t get such privileges. This news of getting a permit for importing vehicles is not true.” Under the Constitution, Burmese political parties can operate as businesses to raise operating funds.

Htay Oo also denied reports that Russia was awarded a contract to building a 50-km long underground rail network in Naypyitaw, which was reported on Voice of Russia.

The Russian news agency said that Russian experts were doing survey and design work and cited an unidentified chief architect.

Earlier, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) also reported on a planned underground rail network in Naypyitaw based on a military master plan. DVB said the underground rail network would be close to a underground military bunker near the War Office.

When contacted by Mizzima, the Rail Ministry in Naypyitaw also denied the report saying it had no plan to build a rail network in Naypyitaw.

Htay Oo has also denied reports that the USDP would take over the water transport service in Rakhine State. Water transport is a major mode of transportation in coastal Rakhine State. USDP party Rangoon Region branch Chief Aung Thein Lin said in July that the USDP party had loaned 1 billion kyat (US$ 1.28 million) in Rangoon Region alone.
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Ivanhoe Mines receives $103 million from Monywa Mine sale
Friday, 05 August 2011 13:42 Thomas Maung Shwe

Chiang Mai (Mizzima) – Burma activists in Canada are demanding a full probe of Canadian mining giant Ivanhoe Mines that they claim has underhandedly broken sanctions against the Burmese government.

The Burma activists are demanding an investigation of the Vancouver-based company’s withdrawal from Burma, after the firm acknowledged in a statement released on Wednesday that it received a US$ 103 million payment from the “independent, third-party” Monywa trust which Ivanhoe created to dispose of its 50 per cent stake in the joint venture that runs Burma’s largest copper mine.

The statement also acknowledged that Ivanhoe’s stake in the Monywa copper project was sold by the trust, something that critics of Ivanhoe have claimed already occurred last year or late 2009. The statement claimed, “Ivanhoe Mines had no involvement in discussions between the Monywa Trust and its service provider with potential purchasers or with the ultimate sale of the interest.”

Ivanhoe’s statement follows recent reports in Burmese state-controlled media that Norinco (China North Industries Corporation), a Chinese weapons firm, has acquired production rights to mine the Monywa copper deposits.

Responding to the disclosure, the Canadian Friends of Burma (CFOB) called for both Canadian and US financial regulatory agencies to investigate what they claim is clear proof that Ivanhoe’s 50 per cent operating interest in the joint venture firm that runs the Monywa mine, Myanmar Ivanhoe Copper Company Limited (MICCL), was transferred in a manner that violated both Canadian and US sanctions. MICCL, which was created as a joint venture between Ivanhoe and a Burmese state-owned firm, has been on the US Burma sanctions list since January 2009.

The New Light of Myanmar reported on April 5 that the previous day Norinco concluded a “Production Sharing Contract” with the quasi state-owned Union of Myanmar Economic Holdings Ltd (UMEH) for the rights to three of the Monywa mine’s deposits: Sabetaung, Sabetaung South and Kyisintaung. UMEH is also on the US Burma sanctions list run by the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). Norinco, one of the Chinese military’s biggest suppliers, has long been the subject of intense Western scrutiny for its activities. The former US administration of George W. Bush alleged that Norinco exported missile technology to Iran and sanctioned the firm for doing so.

The Sabetaung and Kyisintaung deposits are next to each other and were developed jointly as the S&K project by MICCL. Under an agreement previously reached between Ivanhoe and the Burmese regime, Ivanhoe’s joint venture MICCL received for each deposit a lease of “twenty years from the date of commercial production” which began at S&K on November 2 1998, giving MICCL the rights to mine the deposits for at least seven more years.

On May 17, the Chinese embassy in Rangoon sent out a press release confirming that a production-sharing agreement for Monywa was signed the previous month during the visit to Burma of Jia Qinglin, the chairman of the 11th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC).

Both the Chinese embassy’s press release and the report in the New Light of Myanmar detailing Norinco’s obtaining production rights to the S&K site supports information first reported by Mizzima last year that Ivanhoe’s 50 per cent stake in MICCL had already been transferred to a group of businessman closely connected with Burma’s military regime.

CFOB’s executive director Tin Maung Htoo said that the report in the New Light of Myanmar about a production sharing deal between Norinco and UMEH, an entity that is 60 per cent owned by a group of regime cronies, suggests Ivanhoe violated Western sanctions. Tin Maung Htoo told Mizzima: “It appears that Ivanhoe’s stake in MICCL went from the so- called blind trust to UMEH and then to the Chinese weapons firm Norinco. The fact UMEH is a junta-controlled entity targeted by both US and Canadian sanctions raises serious questions as to whether sanctions were violated by the Monywa Trust and Ivanhoe Mines.” Tin Maung Htoo added that the US $103 million payment Ivanhoe received from the blind trust for its stake in MICCL should also be probed because of what he termed, “Ivanhoe’s practice of employing questionable accounting practices for its Burmese assets.”

In October 2007, some six months after putting its MICCL stake in the blind trust, Ivanhoe claimed that it had determined it was “prudent to record a US $134.3 million write down” in the value of their 50 per cent stake, thereby reducing its value to nothing. In the firm’s regulatory filings dated March 2008, Ivanhoe justified the write down in value by saying “it was determined that IVN's non-involvement in the Monywa Copper Project operations since it was transferred to the Monywa Trust, the lack of knowledge of the project's current activities and the fact that no sale had been achieved in almost a year since the asset was transferred to the Monywa Trust, indicated that the carrying value of the investment is impaired."

Tin Maung Htoo disagreed, telling Mizzima: “It’s quite outrageous for Ivanhoe artificially to determine that their stake in MICCL was worth nothing, when they had been previously saying that Monywa was one of the most profitable copper mines in the world. It was pretty clear that Ivanhoe did this so they would no longer have to include details about their Burmese assets in their financial filings. Now four years later Ivanhoe says they got US $103 million for their supposedly worthless stake in MICCL. This is a real scandal.”

The exiled Burma opposition activist said he would write to financial regulators in both Canada and the US where Ivanhoe’s shares are also traded to demand a full investigation of Ivanhoe’s alleged “accounting trickery.” Tin Maung Htoo added: “Ivanhoe has some very serious questions to answer. First, they must explain why their stake in a mine they previously claimed was worthless was bought for more than $100 million, then they must explain how this sale transpired and who acted as the middleman.”

Previous reports of Norinco’s involvement in Monywa denied by Ivanhoe

News of Norinco’s involvement in Monywa was first disclosed last year on the Norinco web site. According to a press release in June 2010, Norinco’s chairman Zhang Guoqing signed the “Monywa Copper Mine Project Co-operation Contract” with Major General Win Than of UMEH. The Norinco press release stated the deal was concluded in the presence of then-junta prime minister and current President Thein Sein while he was visiting China with a trade delegation.

Ivanhoe Mine responded to news reports about Norinco’s involvement in Monywa by denying that the Monywa Trust had sold the stake. According to a statement released by Ivanhoe Mines on June 30, 2010, the firm had been “assured by the Monywa Trust that at this time the independent, third-party trustee has not reached any agreement for the sale of the Trust’s 50 per cent interest in the Monywa Copper Project in Myanmar.”

Two months after Ivanhoe’s denial, The Myanmar Times, Burma’s state-backed English-language business weekly, reported on August 16, 2010, that Norinco would spend US $997 million to develop Monywa’s Letpadaung deposit. The largely undeveloped cache is about four miles (seven kilometers) southeast of the three other deposits that make up the S&K mine.

A March 2003 press release from Ivanhoe quoted then deputy chairman Ed Flood as that “Letpadaung is widely recognized as one of the best undeveloped copper projects in the world.”

According to Ivanhoe, the “total measured and indicated resources at Letpadaung are 946 million tonnes grading 0.43 per cent copper, using a cut-off grade of 0.15 per cent copper.”

Under the agreement signed between Ivanhoe and the Burmese regime, MICCL would have the rights to Letpadaung for 20 years from the beginning of commercial production. Although Letpadaung was left largely undeveloped, Ivanhoe’s Quarterly Technical Report filed September 2003 revealed that operations began at the Letpadaung deposit in July 2003 on a small scale. According to the filing, a mini-pit that went into operation at the time was designed to produce 10,000 tons per of high-grade ore per day. This would give MICCL the rights to operate the Letpadaung deposit until 2023.

Critics claim Ivanhoe responsible for Monywa pollution

In addition to demanding that Ivanhoe be investigated for the suspicious transfer of Burmese assets, Tin Maung Htoo and the Canadian Friends of Burma said that Ivanhoe is responsible for damage to farmland in the area surrounding the Monywa mine. Since MICCL first began full-scale commercial operations at the S&K mine in 1998, farmers living in the mine’s vicinity complained that run off from the mine has increased the acidity in their fields and prevented their crops from growing.

Tin Maung Htoo and CFOB charged that Ivanhoe, as a long-time owner of a 50 per cent stake in MICCL Ivanhoe, bears responsibility for what the opposition activists said are serious environmental problems in the vicinity of the mine. The question of Ivanhoe’s direct involvement in the day-to-day operations at MICCL remains controversial. A Burma fact file on the Ivanhoe Web site is phrased in such a way as to suggest Ivanhoe didn’t run the mine, something Tin Maung Htoo calls “extremely misleading.”

Tin Maung Htoo noted Ivanhoe’s regulatory filings from 1996 when the firm then-named Indochina Goldfields disclosed that it had a 50 per cent operating interest in MICCL. While owning an operating interest would suggest that Ivanhoe had some responsibility in running the mine, Ivanhoe ceased using the term “operating interest” after 1996 to describe its involvement in Monywa.

Tin Maung Htoo said in practice, however, Ivanhoe was running day-to-day operations at the mine until 2007. At least half of the board members of MICCL were Ivanhoe Mine’s staff and at least two consecutive MICCL general managers were described in corporate filings as direct employees of Ivanhoe Mines.

The extent of the pollution is disputed as well. While Ivanhoe has always maintained that the mine was operated in a professional manner, a study by the international human rights and environmental NGO Earth Rights published in 2007 quoted local farmers who said that acid levels in the fields were so bad that could not grow any food on their land and were forced to make a living sifting left over mining waste created by the S&K mine’s operations. Subsequent anecdotal reports indicate that the pollution in the area has only become worse since the Earth Rights study was conducted four years ago.

Ivanhoe Mines has responded to the pollution charges by suggestion that problems affecting the farmers are not a result of MICCL’s activities but were caused by previous operations conducted at the Monywa mine site. From 1983 until the mid-1990s, the Burmese regime ran what a senior Ivanhoe geologist termed a “small commercial-scale plant” at the mine site processing ore extracted from a small open pit at Sabetaung. The plant run by Burma’s state- owned Mining Enterprise No. 1 was built in the early 1980s by the RTB-Bor Copper Institute of Yugoslavia.

CFOB, while acknowledging the existence of pollution created by the Yugoslav-Burmese copper project, told Mizzima that at the time the mine did not use acid, the generating heap leach process introduced by Ivanhoe. According to Tin Maung Htoo: “It is clear from photos and previously published studies when Monywa was run using the Yugoslav-Burmese built plant, the mine was far smaller and produced far less copper on a daily basis. While obviously pollution was created during this time, it wasn’t until Ivanhoe came on the scene that the mine vastly grew in size and began to severely affect local farmers.”

A 1996 prospectus for Ivanhoe (then called Indochina Goldfields) noted that while there had been a small commercial operation at Sabetaung there “has been no commercial production to date from Kyisintaung.” The prospectus goes on to paint a similar picture for Letpadaung which was the subject of a failed commercial venture in the 1930s and was the site of test drilling performed by teams from the United Nations Development Fund and the Japanese government until Ivanhoe became involved.

To support CFOB’s claims about Ivanhoe’s culpability in the pollution, Tin Maung Htoo cited several studies produced by a team from Australia's national science agency’s Land and Water division who were hired by Ivanhoe to study the Monywa mine’s three large-scale heap leach pads. In an article published in 2007, the Australians called the leach pads at Monywa some of the most acidic in the world; they described the chemistry of the pad’s heap solution as “extremely acidic, with a solution pH of usually less than 1.5 and in some cases less than 1.0.”

According to a 2008 paper published by two of the same researchers, unlike the Monywa mine, "Most heap bioleaching operations treating low-grade ore operate with a solution pH between 1.5 and 2.5".

The researchers concluded that the pyrite content of the ore found at Monywa is the cause of the unusually high acid levels found in the leach pad solution, something that Tin Maung Htoo said Ivanhoe should have been aware of when they started the project.
A 1997 paper written by other consultants hired by MICCL to assist in the building and operating of a pilot plant at the Monywa site noted the area “is very acid refractory which has the potential to present special processing challenges with respect to acid generation in the leaching system."

The acid at the leach pads is alleged to have had a severe impact on workers at the mine site. One worker told Earth Rights: “The acid used at MICC is very strong and hurts my eyes, especially near the acid pond. Many of my friends work at the acid ponds, and they told me how hard it is. They try to take care of the acid but it’s not easy.”

Another miner described the mine as creating a moon-like landscape. “The forest and trees are gone from the area where MICCL is located. Trees are unable to grow in this area any more. I think it is because there is a lot of acid in the soil surrounding the mine site.”

Key Ivanhoe investor Rio Tinto: mum on Ivanhoe’s Burma deal

In late 2006, Rio Tinto Anglo-Australian mining giant announced it would partner with Ivanhoe Mines to develop the massive US $6 billion Oyu Tolgoi copper, gold and silver project in Mongolia. In an agreement reached between Ivanhoe and Rio Tinto, Ivanhoe promised it would dispose of its Burmese assets. Rio has been steadily increasing its shares in Ivanhoe ever since and is widely expected to buy a majority stake in the firm in the near future. Rio Tinto currently owns 46.5 per cent of Ivanhoe’s shares.

During Rio Tinto’s annual shareholders’ meeting earlier this year, the firm’s CEO Tom Albanese declined to answer any questions about Ivanhoe’s Monywa Trust or the controversy surrounding reports of Nornico’s takeover of the mine. According to an observer at the meeting, Albanese “claimed that, since the Trust was administered under Canadian law, what it did was none of Rio Tinto's concern.”
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DVB News - Scorched earth threat in Shan state
Published: 5 August 2011

Burmese troops in southern Shan state are reportedly threatening to raze villages if fighting spreads, sparking concerns that an egregious tactic of the government’s controversial Four Cuts strategy is soon to rear its head.

Village chiefs from four villages – Mongnan, Mongkong, Naungswan and Wanpang – in Kehsi Mansan township were summoned by officials from the army’s Battalion 9 on 31 July and warned of the threat.

They were reportedly told to ensure that fighting between Burmese forces and the opposition Shan State Army (SSA) does not spread to Kehsi Mansan. Colonel Perng Fa, from the SSA’s political wing, the Shan State Progressive Party (SSPP), said that villagers not in a position to prevent fighting.

“The village headmen cannot do anything [to prevent fighting.] They wouldn’t know when fighting is to break out,” he said. “[The army] threatens the villagers like this so that the SSA will avoid fighting with them.”

He said that his group, which has a strong support base in southern Shan state, warns locals when fighting is likely.

Scorched earth tactics are a key part of the Four Cuts strategy, which looks to sever lines of support and communication for Burma’s various ethnic armed groups. In August 2009 the Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF) documented the destruction of 40 villages in southern Shan state in three weeks of heavy fighting. Burmese troops had accused the villagers of supporting the SSA.

A number of houses in Kehsi Mansan have already been razed, locals say. Fighting in the township on 25 July ended with artillery being fired into a village, followed by troops burning a house there.

Reports of forced recruitment of Shan locals have consistently surfaced since fighting intensified in March this year. A man in Kyaukme township told DVB that last week “soldiers arrived in a truck and started looking for young males to use as porters”.

Fighting across central and southern Shan state began in March following a refusal by the SSA’s northern faction to become a government-controlled Border Guard Force. Similar refusals by other ethnic armies have sparked heavy fighting in Karen and Kachin states.

Two Burmese troops were killed during a clash with the SSA between Nongpain and Sakhanthar villages on 2 August.
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