Sources in the Burmese literary community said Ludu Sein Win told them that he obtained permission on on 24 March 2008 to again publish his writings, after there having been missing from local weeklies the week before. The censorship board removed his articles from two Rangoon-based journals after he reportedly circulated an audio file that criticises Burma's military rulers.

In an interview with the Norway-based news organisation, the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB), Ludu Sein Win said his articles were removed by officials at the censorship board although there was never an official order from higher authorities. However, an official from the censorship board has since informed him that there was no longer any restriction on his articles, he said.

Chiang Mai – The Burmese censorship board on Tuesday permitted the Rangoon-based 'Myanmar Nation Journal' to recommence publication, after being banned for a month.

The 'Myanmar Nation Journal', which rented a publishing license from an individual named Myat Soe, was banned by the Burmese censorship board on February 18.

However the Burmese censorship board, yesterday, once again permitted the journal to be printed after license owner Myat Soe agreed to take over publication.

"So, it will not be renting the license from Myat Soe. Rather the publication will see Myat Soe himself joining the editorial staff. And in some cases he will directly lead the publication," a source close to the Burmese weekly told Mizzima.

On February 15, authorities, during a raid on the journal's headquarters, found a report by UN Human Rights expert Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a book titled Let Us Build an Unbroken Union by ethnic Shan leader Shwe Ohn and a Video CD of September's Saffron Revolution.

Following the raid, Editor-in-Chief Thant Zin and Manager Sein Win Maung were arrested, charged and ultimately detained in Burma's notorious Insein prison, where they remain to date. At this time the journal was also banned from publication.

Burmese Version: http://www.mizzimaburmese.com/content/view/768/1/

New Delhi: Using its draconian laws the Burmese Censor Board under the Ministry of Information suspended the publication of '7 Days News' journal for reporting the multiple murders in Green Bank, Kamayut Township, Rangoon.

The Rangoon based '7 Days News' weekly journal reported the multiple murders in its 13th March issue with the headline 'Four souls taking order to find culprits'. It was made to suspend publication for a week, a source close to Journal told Mizzima.

The March 19 issue of the journal has been banned and will not be distributed to the market.

"They banned Wednesday's issue. This issue reported the funeral ceremony and what the police said besides having news photographs of the coffins. As far as we know, the censor board didn't allow both the news headline and the news photo, and ordered the editors to remove these. But we heard that the journal reported them as supplementary news," an editor of a weekly journal said on condition of anonymity.

Similarly the editors of 'The Voice' weekly journal published every Saturday were summoned to the censor board office and ordered to sign the pledge. The weekly journal also reported the news of the killing of five persons with news photographs.

"The editors of 'The Voice' journal were summoned and interrogated about the news photograph and ordered to sign on the bond. The news photograph of security personnel and police forces deployed at the crime scene appeared with the news report. They had to just sign on the pledge. That's all," the editor added.

"But we learnt that no action was taken against other weekly journals, like 'Weekly Eleven' and Flowers 'News Journal'. They too reported the multiple murders as it appeared in the state-run media," he added.

On March 3, four family members and a housemaid at a residence under tight security, near to the home of Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, were shot dead in broad daylight.

Businessman Charlie (Saw Kyipha), aged 60, and his wife San San Myint, 58, along with their two daughters, Mya Sanda, 36, and Hnin Pwint Aye, 27, and their housemaid Alphaw, 15, were all shot in the head inside the residence at No.126 Seinlaekanthar Street, Kamaryut Township.

The culprit, or culprits, is still at large and a police source says cash totaling at least $90,000 was missing from the victim's home.

An official with the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD) who spoke on condition of anonymity told The Irrawaddy on Monday that Maj Tint Swe, head of the PSRD, summoned editors from two weeklies, Seven Day News and The Voice, to warn them about “crossing the line” with their reporting on the incident, which occurred two weeks ago. According to the official, Seven Day Journal was subsequently ordered to suspend publication for one week.

In its March 10 issue, The Voice ran a story on the killing of five members of the richest family of the parliamentary era, prior to the military takeover in 1962. The article, “The Sein Lae Kan Thar Street Murder Case,” provided background information on the family, while a report in the March 13 issue of Seven Day News carried photographs of the funeral. Both publications were in violation of censorship laws, said PSRD officials.

The PSRD head also reportedly threatened the journals without an outright ban. “Maj Tint Swe told them that the censorship board has the authority to ban journals. He also said that journals should not break the rules after they have signed,” said a journalist in Rangoon, referring to the procedure for dealing with violations of censorship laws, which requires that offenders sign a written statement promising not to repeat the infraction.

A newsagent in Bahan Township, Rangoon said that all copies of the two weeklies, which provided more complete coverage of the sensational murder than other publications, had sold out this week, even after distributors doubled the price to 800 kyat (around US $0.80).

A veteran journalist who spoke on condition of anonymity said that sales of the two weeklies were strong because they contained factual information. He added that other magazines should follow suit if they want to increase demand in the news-starved society, where there are severe restrictions on press freedom.

The killing of members of Burma’s wealthy elite has fuelled fears among rich residents of the former capital and other urban centers, prompting many to hire private security guards, according to business sources in Rangoon, Mandalay and Myitkyina.

"The United Nations has spent too long pussy-footing around with the Gambari softly, softly approach. The state of freedom of expression and human rights is now so acute that no less than immediate and affirmative action by the United Nations Security Council and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon himself will do," said Dr Agnès Callamard, Executive Director, ARTICLE 19.

The regime is now preparing for a referendum, likely to be held in May, on a new constitution leading to elections scheduled for 2010. The process however, has been deeply flawed by its utter lack of public participation and transparency. The constitution was drafted without public consultation.

Monks, nuns, political prisoners and other prisoners will be barred from voting at the referendum. A ban has also been placed on "lecturing, distributing papers, using posters or disturbing the voting in any other manner." Criticism of the draft constitution may be punished by prison terms of up to 20 years. Clearly, the regime is making it known that a "no" vote will simply not be tolerated.

Meanwhile, the September 2007 crackdown continues into 2008, although incidents have been less frequent and often out of sight. A total block on the right to freedom of expression is one of the prime objectives of the crackdown. Since September, violations of freedom of expression have included:

- Further curtailment of the print media: Since the September protests at least 20 journalists have been arrested. Although most of them have since been released, the regime is coming down heavily on all interpretations of dissent. For example, in January, the Myanmar Times was banned for a week after going against the Censor Board's directive, when it published a story about the regime's decision to postpone the massive rise of satellite licence fees (from six thousand to one million kyat). The proposed rise seemed to have become particularly sensitive after it sparked international media coverage. Other publications have fared even worse. On 3 March, the editor and manager of the weekly news journal, Myanmar Nation, were charged under section 17/20 of the Printers and Publishers Registration Law. They were arrested on 15 February, after police searched the publication's premises. Police discovered footage of the September 2007 protests, and a Burmese copy of the report by United Nations Special Rapporteur for Human Rights, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro. The editor and manager face up to 7 years' imprisonment, if found guilty. The publication was also suspended from their arrest on 15 February until their charging on 3 March.

- Attempts to restrict information flow in and out of the country: Although Burma already censors the internet more than most countries, internet restrictions and surveillance have been further tightened since the September protests. Internet café managers are now forced to monitor their customers' internet usage with software provided by the Special Police Information Department. The monitoring results then have to be handed over to the department on a weekly basis. The regime has been conducting a proactive campaign to trace the citizen journalists responsible for recording and uploading footage and images of the protest to the internet.

Fully aware of the dangers they risk, many bloggers avert the system and exercise their right to free expression. The stakes however are high. One prominent blogger, Nay Phone Latt, went "missing" in January 2008. He had been arrested by the police and was later charged under Article 5 (J) of the Emergency Act, a law often used to suppress political activists and dissidents.

- The international media are also feeling the impact of the paucity of information coming out of the country and report great difficulty in providing informed and accurate coverage. Broadcast journalists especially report the huge problems they face in getting footage out of the country.

Today, on Burma Human Rights Day, ARTICLE 19 renews its calls on the UN to convene an immediate UN Security Council meeting that adopts a strong resolution on Burma. The resolution must include a full arms embargo, targeted trade sanctions as well as the release of all journalists and political prisoners including National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The resolution must also call for a transparent, inclusive and fair process leading to the holding of truly democratic elections and the fulfilment of the right to freedom of expression.

Burma’s military regime plans to monitor the flow of all information in and out of the country by registering all public Internet cafés.

Myanmar Info-Tech Corporation Ltd announced earlier this month a plan to compile and update a list of Internet cafés throughout Burma. The list will be given to local authorities, include police, so they can closely watch every Internet facility in the country. Apart from distributing the list to the authorities, the corporation affirmed that it would not be involved in any legal action arising from the licensing process. 

Myanmar Info-Tech was founded to implement Burma’s information and communication technology projects and became the license provider for government-recognized Internet cafés in 2005. Since then all Internet café owners seeking a “Public Access Centers” [PAC] license have had to apply to Myanmar Info-Tech and pay the company a signing-on fee plus a monthly fee.

According to a report in the Myanmar Times, the corporation’s general manager, Sein Win, said that all Internet cafés with licenses that are expired have until March 25 to renew them. Those who miss the deadline or decide not to renew their license will be erased from the list of Internet café licenses, he said.

He estimated that there are more than 1,000 Internet cafés operating in Rangoon without PAC licenses, noting that there was no mechanism to prevent the Internet cafés from being a threat to national security.

The Internet has played an important role in Burma recently. In September, Buddhist monks, students, activists, citizen journalists and bloggers all made use of the worldwide network to send information and images of the uprising to the outside world.

The military government enforces strict laws on cyber café owners, telling them when and how they have to record details about customers who come to use the Internet. Café owners are instructed to copy information—such as date, time, screen shots and URLs—then download it all onto CDs before sending it to Info-Tech to be checked.

According to a cyber café owner in Rangoon, they do not need to send reports to Info-Tech as all Internet cafés pay bribes and make informal agreements with government employees. “It will be difficult for us to continue working if the government restricts us and keeps a close eye on this,” he said.

The Burmese regime also strongly forbids people in the country to view politically related Websites.

“The government is really afraid of political motivation among the public, so they do everything to stop people from getting to the truth,” said another Internet café owner in Rangoon.

Burmese Internet users already contend with extremely slow Internet connections. Although most systems were down for the past couple of days, they appear to be back online again now.

A representative of Southeast Asia Press Alliance (SEAPA), a media watchdog based in Bangkok, said that slow or unreliable Internet connections and the abnormal telecommunication problems coincided with UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari’s five-day mission into Burma.

A Burmese activist who operates a blog says it is a cat-and-mouse game between bloggers and the junta, who constantly keeps a close watch over their activities on the Internet.

"There is never a time that we are safe while using the Internet. It is a risky game we are playing," said the blogger, who has consistently fed Mizzima with information from inside Burma.

While a slow Internet connection is a major hurdle, Burmese cyber-dissidents are playing a daring game by using proxy servers or certain software to bypass the government's stiff firewalls designed to block all dissident and political websites, including international news websites, the blogger said.

"Since the Internet connection is so slow it is almost impossible to surf at home. So, we use cybercafes, which are not safe, and we never know when we will be questioned or taken for interrogation," he elaborated, wishing not to be named for security reasons.

"It is never predictable what will happen to us when we are chatting on Gtalk with someone outside the country because we never know who is watching or monitoring us," he added.

At the end of January 2008, police in Burma's former capital of Rangoon arrested a prominent Burmese blogger, Nay Phone Latt, for running a blog that expressed his youthful feelings and aspirations. He also owns three Internet cafes in Rangoon.

While charges were made against him under the Video and Electronic Act, it is obvious that the junta had targeted him for his role in promoting the free flow of information via the Internet. He had earlier been arrested under the Emergency Provision Act and had faced a possible seven-year jail term.

As a sign of solidarity with the struggles of cyber-dissidents in Burma  as well as others across the world, a Paris-based media watchdog has designated 12 March as the inaugural Online Free Expression Day, dedicated to combating Internet censorship and fighting for freedom of online expression.

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) is encouraging everyone to visit its website to select a message and a banner directed at opposing cyber-policing in any one of nine countries. The countries in question are Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Eritrea, North Korea, Tunisia, Turkmenistan and Vietnam.

"A response of this kind is needed to the growing tendency to crack down on bloggers and to close websites," submits RSF.

According to RSF, over 60 persons are presently incarcerated worldwide as a result of their activities as cyber-dissidents. Additionally, the Paris-based organization tallied 2,600 websites, blogs and forums that experienced government-imposed obstacles to access in 2007.

At the height of the September 2007 Saffron Revolution, the Burmese junta took the almost unprecedented action of completely shutting down Internet service in the country.

RSF believes that the incentive for Burma's generals in keeping a tight grip on Internet use is two-fold - to protect the government's monopoly of telecommunications and to hunt out opposition activists.

"It keeps a very close eye on Internet cafes, in which computers automatically execute screen captures every five minutes," an RSF press release said of the junta's monitoring activities.

In conjunction with Online Free Expression Day, RSF will be offering a new booklet providing advice and skills in establishing anonymous blogs to circumvent censorship. The booklet is also said to contain firsthand experiences of bloggers from Burma.

In all, there are 15 governments in this year's RSF list of countries hostile to freedom of online expression - Belarus, Burma, China, Cuba, Egypt, Ethiopia, Iran, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Vietnam and Zimbabwe.

As the exiled Democratic Voice of Burma matures into a seasoned news organization, serving audiences in Burma and abroad, some exiled politicians criticized its “independence” last week, calling for more advocacy views and opinions representing political opposition groups.

During a panel discussion on exiled media organized by the Democratic Voice of Burma in Bangkok last week, a lively debate emerged around DVB’s independent radio and television broadcast stations.

DVB was founded in 1992 by Burmese opposition groups and leading politicians in exile.

It became independent in 2003, with a commitment to become a professional news broadcast organization. Opposition group members no longer serve on its board of directors.

A non-profit organization based in Norway, it is operated by a Burmese staff.  Its television station, created in 2005, was an influential source of news and information during the 2007 uprising.

Maung Maung, the general secretary of the National Council of Union of Burma, in a prepared speech, said Burmese opposition groups need a media outlet that clearly represents their views and visions.

“The democratic movement needs media that will spell out our political stands, priorities and actions to the people of Burma and the international community in a consistent way,” he said.

Maung Maung’s views found some support among some exiled politicians during the debate.

Maung Maung said he had been told many times that DVB donors insist on an ‘independent media’ operation at board meetings, but when the DVB was founded it clearly represented opposition political views. “Why has it changed?” he asked.

The DVB is “our radio station [opposition groups],” he said, adding, “It was accepted and acknowledged within Burma as the voice of democracy.”

“Daw Suu (Aung San Suu Kyi) supported the DVB for being the leading exiled broadcast media for democracy in Burma,” he said.

Responding to Maung Maung’s views, Aye Chan Naing, one of the founders of the DVB, said, “We are not going anywhere,” meaning that DVB is committed to the democracy movement, but he said it can best serve the movement by operating independently from opposition groups. 

Khin Maung Win, a DVB manager, said that in the past, news and editorial content were heavily censored by the exiled Burmese government and some DVB operations were overly dependent on outside groups.

“We had to wait for a signature from a minister before we could buy batteries to operate the broadcasting equipment,” he said. “We have to be honest to our audience.”

One foreign observer said he believed the Burmese exiled media has “grown up,” but some exiled politicians continue to live in the Stone Age.

A number of Western diplomats and donors at the conference expressed dismay at Maung Maung’s views.

“It is worrying for Burma’s future [if exiled politicians come into power],” said one Western diplomat.

Only two weeks after the Burmese military government closed the offices of the Myanmar Nation, the military authorities appear to be offering the publishers of the Rangoon-based weekly news journal the opportunity to start printing again, on condition that it toe the junta’s line and counter the exiled Burmese media.

According to a source close the Myanmar Nation, the government’s press scrutiny board director, Maj Tint Shwe, has been putting pressure on the Myanmar Nation’s publisher to restart operations by acting as a mouthpiece for the military regime and confronting exiled media groups which continuously expose the junta’s wrongdoings.

“The military government is pressuring Myat Soe, the Myanmar Nation publisher, to print a journal that counters the exiled Burmese media,” said the source. “Myat Soe would become editor in chief and his daughter would be appointed a member of the editorial board if he would agree to start publishing again under the government’s conditions.”

The authorities recently arrested former Myanmar Nation editor in chief Thet Zin and the office manager after a police raid on the journal’s office on February 15. During the raid, police seized footage of last year’s monk-led demonstrations and a copy of UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights to Burma Paulo Sergio Pinheiro’s recent report. The authorities then ordered the journal to cease publishing.

The case against the two arrested men is still unclear, according to former employees of the Myanmar Nation, because the journal was only published after the approval of the military government’s censorship board. In the meantime, the journalists are being detained in Rangoon’s notorious Insein Prison.

Media right groups, including the Committee to Protect Journalists, have condemned the arrests and say that the government’s ongoing suppression of journalists makes a mockery of its recent announcement to hold a referendum and introduce seemingly democratic reforms in the country.

Burma was recently ranked as among the worst countries in the world for press freedom by Washington-based pro-democracy organization Freedom House.

According to journalists in Rangoon, the military authorities have banned reporters from covering a number of governmental meetings which, in the past, they were free to attend. The reporters, who were questioned intensively, were recently prohibited from attending meetings of the Myanmar Construction Entrepreneurs Association, the Myanmar Info-Tech Meeting, and the Myanmar Forest Products & Timber Merchants Association.

Authorities later rescinded the order, but enforced a strict registration of all reporters who wished to attend the meetings.

According to sources close to Burmese journalists working in Rangoon, a staff member at weekly journal The Voice is being forced to apologize to current Rangoon mayor Brig-Gen Aung Thein Lin for strongly challenging him during a recent press conference.

The new location, 250 miles removed from the current one on Pyay Road in Rangoon, is bigger and upgraded with modern facilities, said a member of the staff.

A senior officer suggested March 17 would be the last date to move "Myanmar Athan", as it is locally known, but declined to give further details.

However, a majority of servants have yet to be informed of an exact date to move and thus have found it difficult to prepare.

"Staff housing is also included in the new facility. Though, its isolated location, far from town, disappoints the servants. If you want to go to market you have to go a long way," another employee told Mizzima.

Government controlled MRTV has been moving piece by piece to its new headquarters, built on a barren plain with scrub vegetation, since September 2007. Engineers were first to arrive.

The military government surprised people with the announced move of MRTV to Naypyitaw, saying the new location is a hub for the country and provides the foundation for a modern and developed country. But critics say it is far removed from the people.

The current building on Pyay Road is to be handed over to a section of MRTV4 which is partially privately operated but editorially controlled by the government.

“Nay Phone Latt has been unjustly held for a month,” the two organisations said. “He was initially accused of undermining morality under the Emergency Provision Act, a very vague charge that allows the military government to arrest anyone spreading ideas that challenge its policies. He is now alleged to have been in possession of a film it considers contrary to its ideology and faces up to three years in prison. We call for his release.”

He was initially charged under section 5 (J) of the 1950 Emergency Provision Act, which punishes anyone who “causes or intends to disrupt the morality or the behaviour of a group of people or the general public, or to disrupt the security or the reconstruction of stability of the union.”

But according to his family, a new charge has been brought against him under the Television and Video Law (http://www.blc-burma.org/html/myanmar%20law/lr_e_ml96_08.html) that gives the government control over political content and provides for a sentence of up to three years in prison for offenders.

It appears that Nay Phone Latt has been charged under section 32 b of this law, which punishes “copying, distributing, hiring or exhibiting videotape that has no video censor certificate,” because he had a video of a traditional Burmese play called “A-Nyeint” performed by the theatre company “Thu-Lay-Thi.” Its performances are currently banned in Burma.

Meanwhile, in a move to step up control of Internet cafés, owners have been required since January to keep the records of their clients’ online activity and deliver them each week to a special police unit at the department of information. At the same time, according to The Irrawady (http://www.irrawaddy.org/), a publication produced by Burmese exiles in Thailand, “the Burmese regime’s network of informers are now focusing their attention on Internet cafés, which are replacing traditional teashops as places where people can discreetly share their views with others.”

Internet connections have also become much slower, possibly to discourage Internet users from downloading large files such as photos and videos. Observed for the past few weeks, this slowness also prevents the use of software designed to circumvent censorship.

Khin Swe Myint, the wife of the detained "Myanmar Nation" editor-in-chief Thet Zin, told Mizzima that Military Affairs Security interrogated her husband and his colleague, Sein Win Maung, while they were held at the Thingangyun police station. She was told that they were charged under section 17/20 of the printing law for possessing a report by Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human rights in Myanmar; a book by the famous ethnic Shan author, U Shwe Ohn, called "Unbreakable Union"; and video discs of the Saffron Revolution.

If found guilty, they face up to seven years of jail.

Khin Swe Myint said, "They were remanded to 14 days in police custody and the remand was to end on 29 February. But they were shifted to Insein prison on Monday. Since they have no spare clothes, I sent a parcel to them on Tuesday. (My husband) told me that he is in good health and his morale is high."

A "Myanmar Nation" staff told Mizzima that the trial date has been set for 29 February. However, it is not certain whether it will take place at the Thingangyun police station or the Insein special court. Only family members who are listed on the registration form may attend the hearing.

The defendants have yet to decide whether to hire a lawyer. Khin Swe Myint told Mizzima that her husband had said there was no need because they would not win the case.

Meanwhile, employees of "Myanmar Nation" are reportedly facing difficulties as they no longer have jobs after the authorities closed the journal's office and stopped its publication.

Despite plans for a constitutional referendum in May and other promises of reform, the Burmese junta continues to crack down on the country's struggling independent media, say Mizzima News, Human Rights Watch and other IFEX members.

Two Burmese journalists are the most recent targets. Thet Zin and Sein Win Aung, the editor and office manager of the magazine "Myanmar Nation", were arrested on 15 February and are being detained without charge. Police carried out a search of their office and confiscated documents, including a copy of UN Special Rapporteur Paula Sergio Pinheiro's report on Burma, and material on the September protests in Rangoon.

According to Mizzima News, the country's censorship board, the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division, has instructed the publisher to stop publishing the weekly journal.

"Burma's military regime has once again shown its intolerance toward different political viewpoints by arresting journalists who were doing nothing more than reporting news and opinions," says Human Rights Watch.

"How can the Burmese authorities create even the semblance of a credible constitutional referendum in May when it won't allow journalists to report the news?"

In the wake of the September protests, the Burmese junta continues to arrest journalists and political activists. According to Reporters Without Borders (RSF), 11 journalists are known to be detained in Burma, including 78-year-old U Win Tin, who has been in jail since July 1989.

Mizzima News reports that a blogger, Nay Phone Latt, who was thought to have disappeared in January, has actually been arrested and is being held under the Emergency Provision Act.

In another case, poet Saya Saw Wai was arrested on 22 January and is still in detention for his Valentine's Day poem that carried a hidden message that called the country's military ruler "power crazy."

The journalists and writers add to the more than 1,800 political prisoners who are still behind bars, says Human Rights Watch.

The latest harassment against journalists follows recent official edicts on the press. Human Rights Watch reports that the junta recently announced that all domestic copy, including work online, must be vetted by the Press Scrutiny Board.

According to the Burmese news magazine "The Irrawaddy", the junta has also banned reporters from covering a number of governmental meetings which, in the past, they attended.

Several Rangoon newspapers were ordered to publish government-written opinion pieces characterising the pro-democracy protests as a threat to national security, and journalists are banned from publishing at all if their stories are deemed critical of the military or expose human rights concerns, or are sympathetic to the opposition.

The junta has also reduced Internet speed and bandwidth, making it more difficult to send and receive high resolution images and large files. The government action hit many Internet cafés, which are one of the few ways citizens can get online access.

Human Rights Watch says the authorities are not interested in real reform, even as plans go ahead for a constitutional referendum in May. "The arrests of journalists and repression of access to information deny the Burmese people any real opportunity to debate the proposed new constitution," says Human Rights Watch.

Some Burmese observers are also cynical of the UN's role. The UN Special Envoy to Burma, Ibrahim Gambari, is in China, India, and other Asian countries this week to gather support for his efforts to foster political reform in Burma. But observers note that on previous visits Gambari has made little headway and has been virtually a prisoner of the government.

"Aside from earning him frequent flyer mileage on his Asian tours, Gambari's mission is as dead as Burma's pro-democracy movement," says the "The Irrawaddy".

The Myanmar Times, a weekly business newspaper with close ties to Burma’s ruling junta, may soon get permission to publish the country’s first privately owned daily newspaper since the military seized power in 1962, according to sources in Rangoon.

A source close to The Myanmar Times confirmed that it now seemed very likely that the paper would get the go-ahead to publish a Burmese-language daily newspaper soon after the regime holds a national referendum scheduled to take place in May.

However, officials at the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division (PSRD), Burma’s censorship board, would not comment on reports that the government was set to approve The Myanmar Times’ request for permission to publish on a daily basis.

“I don’t know,” said an official at the office of Maj Tint Swe, director of the PSRD, when contacted by The Irrawaddy. The official immediately hung up without further comment.

All national newspapers were nationalized after the army first seized power in 1962. Since then, no private publisher has been given permission to publish a daily newspaper.

The Myanmar Times is a semi-official publication run by Australian Ross Dunkley, who has maintained close relations with regime officials since the paper was founded in 2000.

Although his original patron, Gen Khin Nyunt, was sacked as prime minister in 2004 and subsequently placed under house arrest, Dunkley has managed to retain a relatively privileged place in the country’s restrictive publishing industry.

According to a Rangoon-based editor who is close to The Myanmar Times, Dunkley has a “cordial relationship” with Minister for Information Brig-Gen Kyaw Hsan.

The move to allow The Myanmar Times to provide daily coverage was described by journalists in the former Burmese capital as part of a public-relations offensive by the Burmese regime.

“If the regime allows Dunkley to publish a newspaper, it will become a colorful mouthpiece of the junta,” said one editor. “He is an apologist of the junta, keeping real news of what’s going on in Burma under the carpet.”

In January this year Dunkley wrote an editorial unequivocally supporting the regime’s seven-point “road map” in his paper.

The Myanmar Times was founded by Dunkley and Sonny Swe, son of high-ranking military intelligence officer Brig-Gen Thein Swe. Sonny Swe was arrested in 2004 and sentenced to 14 years imprisonment for corruption.

Owners of Internet cafes and their customers are complaining that servers in Rangoon have become increasingly unreliable in recent weeks.

The reason for the frequent disruption of service is not known, but users in the former Burmese capital say that the problem has become more noticeable since the beginning of this month.

“It takes a long time to send attached files, such as photos and pictures. It is not as fast as before,” said a woman working at an Internet café in Sanchaung Township.

“Sometimes the connection fails completely while users are online and we have to change to a new proxy number. It happens all the time now,” she added.

Keeping services up and running has become a constant struggle for technical staff.

“My staffers are very busy helping our customers because the connection is down every five minutes,” said the owner of another Internet café in Sanchaung Township.

One user complained that Internet services appear to be going the way of the country’s notoriously undependable electricity supply.

“I come to the Internet café so I can contact my husband, who is overseas, because I can’t afford to make long-distance telephone calls,” said a woman contacted by The Irrawaddy. “But now there are constant problems with the Internet connection. On top of that, sometimes the lights go out.”

Last September, Internet connections in Rangoon were shut down for a week to prevent people sending digital photographs and video of a crackdown on monk-led protests.

Although service has resumed, the authorities continue to restrict Internet traffic to prevent users from gaining access to outside sources of information, and to keep damaging images from reaching exiled and other international media outlets.

According to sources in Rangoon, the Burmese regime’s network of informers are now focusing their attention on Internet cafes, which are replacing traditional teashops as places where people can discreetly share their views with others.

In late January, Burmese authorities arrested one of the country’s best known bloggers, Nay Phone Latt, who is also the owner of three Internet cafés in Rangoon. His friends believe he was probably arrested because of political content on his site.

New York - The Burmese government's arrest of two journalists and its decision to extend the detention of a prominent opposition leader demonstrate its continuing contempt for political freedoms despite its preparations for a constitutional referendum in May, Human Rights Watch said today.

Burmese authorities arrested journalists Thet Zin and Sein Win Aung of Myanmar Nation magazine at their office in Thingan Gyun township in Rangoon on the night of February 15, and have since detained them without charge in a nearby police station. Thet Zin, a prominent dissident, and his colleague were collecting material on the government's crackdown on protests in Rangoon last September and the United Nations' response to the events.

"Burma's military regime has once again shown its intolerance toward different political viewpoints by arresting journalists who were doing nothing more than reporting news and opinions," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "How can the Burmese authorities create even the semblance of a credible constitutional referendum in May when it won't allow journalists to report the news?"

The nongovernmental organization Reporters Without Borders, in its annual report issued last week (http://www.rsf.org/article.php3?id_article=25624), documented nine prominent journalists in detention in Burma, including 78-year-old U Win Tin, who has been imprisoned since July 1989. The arrest of Thet Zin and Sein Win Aung bring to 11 the number of journalists known to be detained in Burma.

Burma's government continues to sharply restrict media freedoms through a draconian system of press scrutiny that requires all domestic copy to be vetted and approved by the Press Scrutiny and Registration Division of the Ministry of Information (formerly controlled by the Ministry of Home Affairs). Journalists are routinely banned from publishing if their stories are thought to contain material critical of the military or positive towards the political opposition. Telecommunications, the internet, and even mobile phones are regulated to deter the free dissemination of information, both domestically and internationally.

"Burma's generals refuse to tolerate any criticism, however well-intentioned," said Adams. "The arrests of journalists and repression of access to information deny the Burmese people any real opportunity to debate the proposed new constitution."