Thomson Financial News Super Focus

Thu 29 Nov 2007

Total said it will build a compression platform in Myanmar to support its gas production in the Yadana field.

A spokesman told Agence France-Presse that the move aims to offset the ‘depletion’ of production in the field and ‘thereby meet the requirements of its contract’.

Regarding the Myanmar government’s decision to exclude maritime traffic from part of the gulf area around Yadana, the spokesman said it is ‘in all likelihood a precautionary move’ that will be ‘temporary’.

Official newspaper The Mirror reported that the fishing ministry is to ban ships from a zone within the Gulf of Martaban from December.

Following president Nicolas Sarkozy’s call for French businesses to freeze their investments in Myanmar, in response to the suppression of street protests in September, Total has said it will make no new investments but will not withdraw from the country either.

According to government figures released today, the Myanmar natural gas industry drew a record 471.5 million USD in foreign investment last year, accounting for over 60 pct of the total.

Financial Times – Amy Kazmin

Fri 23 Nov 2007

Asian countries must push for democratic reform in military-ruled Burma, even though the Association of South East Asian Nations opted not to take direct action during this week’s regional summit, the bloc’s incoming secretary-general said yesterday.

Surin Pitsuwan, a former Thai foreign minister, said countries should support the efforts of Ibrahim Gambari, the United Nations’ special envoy to Burma, to nudge the junta into dialogue with the democratic opposition after suppression of anti-government protests in September.

“The region, as a neighbourhood, is still very much hoping that we can help,” Mr Surin, who takes over at Asean in January, told the Financial Times. “But the region as an organisation, as Asean, may have to be a bit more circumspect.”

Asean leaders – who have consistently rejected calls for sanctions against Burma – bowed this week to the junta’s demands and abruptly withdrew an invitation for Mr Gambari to discuss the situation in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar.

“Asean had hoped it could contribute and play an active role in the process, but Myanmar has made it clear it wants to deal with the UN special envoy on its own,” said Mr Surin. “We would respect the wish of Myanmar, but stand ready to extend our support to the process . . . Asean has been asked to step aside, but as neighbours we have to find out ways to support the process.”

The Asean summit that concluded yesterday was touted as a landmark event, but the signing of a new regional charter was overshadowed by questions over the bloc’s weak response to the Burmese junta’s use of force to quell protests.

While the new charter commits member countries to democracy, the protection of human rights and market integration, Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, president of the Philippines, cast doubt over whether it would take effect, suggesting Manila would not ratify it without meaningful reforms in Burma.

Several Asean leaders concurred with the Burmese generals’ insistence that the recent protests, crackdown and UN-mediated process are out of bounds for Asean.

21 November 2007

The ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus (AIPMC) is deeply disappointed with the decision of ASEAN leaders in disallowing UN Special Envoy to Myanmar, Prof. Ibrahim Gambari, from briefing the ASEAN Summit on the situation in Burma.

AIPMC strongly believes that the briefing, collectively, would have been crucial and timely to allow ASEAN leaders to make an informed decision in dealing with the recent crackdown and the continued mis-governance of the Myanmar military junta.

This move by ASEAN has further raised questions to its commitment in ensuring a peaceful and stable region and its commitment to upholding the rights of the ASEAN people.

AIPMC strongly urges ASEAN leaders, having recently signed the ASEAN Charter, to commit to taking the military junta to task for its years of human rights abuses, as asserted by the United Nations, and to empower itself to demand immediate and tangible democratic reforms in Burma.

The ASEAN Charter stipulates, albeit arguably ineffectual, that ASEAN be more responsive to the human rights issues in the region. ASEAN will prove to its people and the international community that – by effectively dealing with Myanmar’s junta – it remains relevant and the Charter a valuable tool and not merely an inadequate document.

The people of Burma have been pleading with leaders of ASEAN to alleviate their plight by cracking the whip on Myanmar’s brutal regime. How much longer will their pleas fall on deaf ears? ASEAN’s leader must walk the talk and not be made accomplices to Myanmar’s junta.

For media contact or to facilitate an interview with AIPMC members, please call: Roshan Jason (AIPMC Executive Director) at +6-012-3750974 or the numbers above.

Associated Press – Jim Gomez

21 November 2007

A UN envoy believes Burma’s junta has made snail-paced progress toward democracy, but much more needs to be done, including freeing opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Philippine official said Tuesday.

UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari briefed Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo on his negotiations so far with the junta and his meeting with Suu Kyi, the detained leader of the pro-democracy movement in the Southeast Asian nation.

“Gambari was saying, on the balance, there has been some forward movement. It’s not all the movement that we would want to happen but there has been some forward movement,” said Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo.

He is in Singapore with Arroyo, who attended a summit of the Association of South East Asian Nations on Tuesday. Gambari was to address a gathering of Asean and six other nations Wednesday, but a diplomatic blunder blocked the speech.

Instead, he was meeting individually with interested leaders, including Prime Minister Helen Clark of New Zealand and the foreign ministers of Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore. However, Burma’s biggest ally, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao, had no plans to meet with the envoy.

Gambari began pushing Burma’s junta to restart political reconciliation with Suu Kyi after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators in September that left at least 15 people dead, attracting global anger.

Burma has dominated deliberations at this week’s meetings of Asean, which is under pressure to take a harder line on Burma’s junta and force it to hold elections and release political detainees.

Romulo said Gambari cited his meetings with Suu Kyi and the appointment of a liaison officer to deal with her as a sign of the Burmese military government’s progress.

But Romulo said the concessions fall far short of international demands for the release of Suu Kyi, who has spent 12 of the last 18 years under house arrest.

“We have about six months to one year to see whether some movement can be made,” he said.

Separately, Arroyo’s spokesman, Ignacio Bunye, told reporters Gambari felt China would be “a very key player” in resolving the Burma crisis.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang, however, said Premier Wen will not meet with Gambari because his purpose of attending the Asean meeting was to improve cooperation with Southeast Asian nations.

Qin also insisted that there have been positive developments in Burma, but he declined to elaborate.

“Just compare the situation now in Myanmar with a month ago,” Qin said. “Don’t you think there has been positive change?”

Mizzima News

21 November 2007

Two resolutions in the United Nations General Assembly, yesterday, deplored the treatment meted out to civilians and monks by the Burmese junta and call for an immediate end to human rights violations and the release of all political prisoners.

“These resolutions send a strong signal from the international community to the governments of those countries that their failure to uphold the rights and fundamental freedoms of their citizens is unacceptable, and must end,” British Ambassador John Sawers told reporters following the votes.

Both resolutions, which are non-binding, were passed by the General Assembly’s Human Rights Committee, the General Assembly has yet to vote on either resolution.

One resolution, directed solely at Burma’s generals, accuses the regime of “beatings, killings, arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances” of demonstrators during the recent round of protests. The motion carried by a vote of 88 to 24, with 66 abstentions.

The second resolution, garnering 97 votes in favor with 23 against and 60 abstentions, grouped abuses by the Burmese government with those committed by governments in Iran and North Korea.

However member countries of the Non-Aligned Movement debated vociferously in opposition to the two resolutions, arguing that the negative language in the texts would only serve to hinder the chances for dialogue and reconciliation.

Additional objections were made on the basis that questions of human rights abuses are best left to the United Nations Human Rights Council. Special Rapporteur on Human Rights, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, representing the Council, recently returned from an exploratory mission to Burma.

While the margin of votes for and against the resolutions were impressive, the total of favorable votes as a percentage of all votes present, which is inclusive of abstentions, was far less encouraging. When calculated thusly, the two proposals received support from 49 and 54 percent of Assembly representatives, respectively. The resolution tabled specifically against Burma’s generals garnering less than 50 percent support.

All ten ASEAN countries are standing members of the Non-Aligned Movement, which has 119 members in all and is currently chaired by Cuba.

Agence France Presse – Martin Abbugao

21 November 2007

Myanmar faced demands to release democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi Wednesday, in 16-nation Asian talks that embraced both its allies in the region and its critics.

The East Asia Summit, which groups Southeast Asia with regional powers China and Japan as well as Australia, India, New Zealand and South Korea, wrapped up four days of talks dominated by the crisis in the military state.

Philippine President Gloria Arroyo left Singapore with a call for the ruling generals to immediately release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for much of the past 18 years.

“Let me be very clear. We embrace the advances of ASEAN but remain concerned about the pace of progress in Myanmar on the issue of human rights,” said Arroyo, whose country is a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

“We particularly deplore the treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi. She must be released now,” Arroyo told reporters, in the strongest statement yet against the junta at this week’s talks.

Myanmar scored a victory at this week’s ASEAN summit by forcing the cancellation of UN envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s planned briefing on the crisis in the military state, which he had been due to give to the East Asia gathering.

But Prime Minister Thein Sein was expected to face a tougher reception in the wider 16-nation talks over the violent suppression of pro-democracy protests in September, which left at least 15 dead.

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer said he was “disappointed” with the decision on the Gambari briefing and called on Asian nations to support the envoy’s efforts, singling out the junta’s close ally China.

“I hope that countries around East Asia — all of them, ASEAN countries but also importantly China and others — will all find ways of reinforcing the work of Professor Gambari,” Downer told reporters after meeting the envoy.

“It’s very important that there is real and genuine progress… in Burma,” he said, referring to Myanmar by its former name.

“Professor Gambari thinks he’s making some early progress, but of course we would like to see a lot more progress for us to be satisfied that things are heading in the right direction in Burma.

“We think there’s a very long way to go.”

Gambari reiterated Wednesday his disappointment at the abrupt cancellation, but said he had had an “enormous opportunity to meet with individual leaders” in Singapore.

“They are united behind support for the secretary-general’s good office and they promise to do everything possible to make sure that this succeeds,” he said in a television interview.

Gambari also said he had held a “very frank and a very constructive meeting” with Thein Sein and Myanmar’s Foreign Minister Nyan Win.

China, seen as one of the few countries with any influence over Myanmar’s ruling generals, spoke out after the bloodshed to urge the junta to “show restraint,” restore stability and work towards democracy.

But Chinese Prime Minister Wen Jiabao reiterated this week that sanctions and pressure would not help reconciliation efforts in Myanmar, which has been run by the military for more than four decades.

Aside from the Myanmar furore, the Asian leaders signed up to an environmental pact, pledging action on climate change and boosting forest cover, and promoting the use of nuclear energy.

The deal committed the 16 leaders to cooperate on the “development and the use of civilian nuclear power,” amid concerns soaring oil prices could hurt regional economic growth.

The summit comes ahead of a crucial UN-backed conference on the Indonesian island of Bali next month to discuss a successor treaty to the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.