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FM AMEMBASSY RANGOON
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INFO RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS
RUEHBJ/AMEMBASSY BEIJING 0553
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 9343
RUEHKA/AMEMBASSY DHAKA 3947
RUEHLO/AMEMBASSY LONDON 1428
RUEHNE/AMEMBASSY NEW DELHI 3123
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RUEHKO/AMEMBASSY TOKYO 4053
RUEHCI/AMCONSUL CALCUTTA 0550
RUEHCN/AMCONSUL CHENGDU 0538
RHHMUNA/CDR USPACOM HONOLULU HI
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 2485
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0157
RUEKJCS/SECDEF WASHDC
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000093 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/MLS; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 01/24/2016 
TAGS:        
SUBJECT: HOME AFFAIRS MINISTER CUTS OFF NGOS 
 
REF: RANGOON 79 
 
RANGOON 00000093  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
Classified By: A/DCM W. Patrick Murphy for Reasons 1.4 (b,d) 
 
 1. (C) Summary:  The GOB's Ministry of Home Affairs, without 
explanation or advance warning, issued orders on January 20 
to six international NGOs to cease their operations in 
northern Shan State.  The six NGOs, who collaborate with 
UNODC on alternative income and harm reduction projects, are 
quietly working to reverse or mitigate the GOB's "shocking" 
action.  The move may be part of a GOB plan to more tightly 
control UN and NGO activities by eventually consolidating 
their activities under the Ministry of Planning (reftel).  We 
suspect, however, that the personal disregard the Minister 
for Home Affairs, Major General Maung Oo, holds for the 
international community may be the real explanation.  End 
Summary. 
 
 2. (C) The GOB's Ministry of Home Affairs, through its 
interagency counternarcotics entity (the Central Committee 
for Drugs Abuse Control - CCDAC), notified six international 
NGOs on January 20 that it had nullified their existing 
cooperative agreements (MOUs) and immediately suspended their 
activities in Burma.  The official letter offered apologies 
"for any inconvenience this action may cause," but gave no 
further explanation. 
 
 3. (C) The six INGOs are MSF-Holland (known in Burma by its 
Dutch acronym, AZG), Aide Medicale Internationale (AMI), 
Malteser International, the Asia Harm Reduction Network, the 
Burnet Institute, and an Australian-funded regional HIV/AIDS 
project.  All six of the INGOs operate in northeastern Shan 
State under their MOUs with Home Affairs and collaborate with 
the UNODC to develop alternative income sources for former 
poppy farmers and also to support UN harm reduction projects. 
 
 4. (C) Several of the NGOs -- including MSF, AMI, and 
Malteser -- have MOUs with other GOB ministries for 
humanitarian assistance programs elsewhere in Burma, such as 
assistance for returned refugees in Northern Rakhine State 
and various health projects in Kachin State, Rangoon 
Division, and other locations.  A UN official told us that 
the Home Affairs directive did not apply to NGO activities 
conducted in cooperation with other ministries and none of 
the NGOs planned to depart Burma in the near future. 
 
 5. (C) A UNODC official (PROTECT) told us that the GOB 
notification was a "shocking surprise" that came without 
warning and without explanation.  "Our programs will suffer," 
she said, "whatever the reason for the decision."  UNODC and 
the NGOs are uncertain about the motives behind the dramatic 
order to cease operations, but speculate that the move may be 
linked to a broader GOB tightening of international community 
activities inside Burma (reftel). 
 
 6. (C) The six NGOs affected by the Home Affairs order are 
quietly consulting with each other and with UN agencies to 
determine a course of action.  Possible next steps include 
seeking clarification from Home Affairs, advocating a 
reversal of the directive in order to avoid any disruption in 
the delivery of vital humanitarian assistance, or quickly 
seeking replacement MOUs with other ministries.  NGO 
officials expressed to us their intent to work quietly behind 
the scenes to seek redress, and to try to avoid going public 
with news of the GOB's nullification of their MOUs. 
 
COMMENT: THE GENERAL'S DISREGARD 
 
 7. (C) Perhaps the Ministry of Home Affairs has severed its 
relations with NGOs in anticipation of a larger GOB plan to 
more tightly control UN and NGO activities by consolidating 
their activities under the Ministry of Planning (reftel). 
The abrupt curtailment of these NGO activities, however, is 
 
RANGOON 00000093  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
more than mere bureaucratic bungling and creates an immediate 
and gaping hole in international assistance to impoverished, 
ethnic minority populations in northern Shan State. 
 
 8. (C) We suspect that the Minister of Home Affairs' personal 
disregard for the international community has more to do with 
the nullification of INGO MOUs.  He earned his current, and 
powerful, position after serving as the regime's thuggish 
military commander in Rakhine State, where he oversaw the 
systematic abuse of Muslims and heavy-handed treatment of the 
UN agencies and NGOs that operate there.  Now he appears to 
be duplicating those policies at the national level.  End 
Comment. 
VILLAROSA