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RUEHGG/UN SECURITY COUNCIL COLLECTIVE
RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0862
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RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS
RUEKJCS/JOINT STAFF WASHDC C O N F I D E N T I A L RANGOON 000067 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP AND IO; PACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/20/2017 
TAGS:        
SUBJECT: BURMA: ACTIVISTS CHARGED, UNCLES CRITICISED 
 
REF: A. 07 RANGOON 719 
      B. 07 RANGOON 1136 
 
Classified By: Pol Officer Sean O'Neill for Reasons 1.4 (b) & (d) 
 
 1. (C)  Summary. Zomi National Congress President Chin Sian 
Than informed us of increasing concerns within the 
pro-democracy movement over senior NLD leadership.  A group 
of 92 MPs-elect are preparing a letter to the UNSYG calling 
for the inclusion of opposition and ethnic leaders in the 
constitutional drafting process.  The MP's-elect have asked 
for the NLD leadership's support but are not optimistic they 
will give it.  Ten detained 88 Generation Students leaders, 
including Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, were charged with 
violating provisions of a law governing the publication of 
written materials.  If convicted, they could get as much as 
seven years in prison.  End Summar. 
 
 2. (C)  In a January 28 meeting with Poloff, Zomi National 
Congress leader Chin Sian Thang discussed increasing 
misgivings within the pro-democracy movement over the NLD's 
senior leadership and their apparent lack of commitment to 
the opposition cause.  He said that more and more, both 
ethnic minority and majority-Burman opposition activists 
thought the NLD Uncles were not listening to the wishes of 
the Burmese people or even to Aung San Suu Kyi. 
Specifically, he criticized the NLD Central Executive 
Committee's (CEC) failure to speak out more strongly in favor 
of including ethnic minorities in a tripartite dialogue with 
the government, as Aung San Suu Kyi has advocated (reftel B). 
 While the NLD CEC has issued recent statements calling for 
national reconciliation, none of them have repeated Aung San 
Suu Kyi's call for the inclusion of ethnic groups in a 
three-way dialogue. 
 
 3. (C)  Chin Sian Thang informed Poloff that a group of 92 
MPs-elect from a number of ethnic groups are preparing a 
letter urging UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon to pressure 
the regime to include ethnic and opposition groups in the 
constitutional drafting process.  A similar letter by the 
same group was sent in August 2007 (reftel A).  While this 
group has asked the NLD CEC to openly support the statement, 
most of its members believed the Uncles would be "too timid" 
to do so, according to Chin Sian Thang.  Nonetheless, he said 
the 92 MPs-elect have decided to give the NLD leadership 
until Union Day on February 12 to sign on before sending the 
letter themselves. 
 
 4. (C)  Opposition lawyer U Aung Thein confirmed that ten 88 
Generation Students Leaders, who were arrested on August 22, 
including Min Ko Naing and Ko Ko Gyi, were formally charged 
under Burma's Printers and Publishers Registration Law. 
According to the charges the group failed to register and 
clear their printed pro-democracy materials.  Conviction 
under this law carries a maximum penalty of seven years.  The 
other eight people charged under the law are Ko Jimmy, Mya 
Aye, Aung Thu, Min Zeya, Zaw Htet Ko Ko, Myo Aung Naing, and 
Ko Tin Htoo Aung.  All ten have been in prison without charge 
since their arrests in August.  Notably, Htay Kywe was not 
among those charged.  He has yet to be charged, and some of 
our contacts speculated that his charges could be more 
severe. 
 
 5. (C)  Comment. There is a reason Than Shwe has let the 
Uncles remain free, while he jails the rest of the 
opposition.  The NLD Uncles' failure to vigorously pursue 
Aung San Suu Kyi's stated goal of a tripartite dialogue 
demonstrates their increasing disconnect from the desires of 
the Burmese people and their own party.  The increasing 
criticism of the Uncles' leadership from within the 
pro-democracy movement demonstrates the divide between them 
and those in the movement who are ready to work for change 
now.  End Comment. 
VILLAROSA