US embassy cable - 04RANGOON644

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 RANGOON 000644 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/BCLTV, OES 
BANGKOK FOR REO - TED OSIUS 
USPACOM FOR FPA 
 
E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2014 
TAGS: SENV, PGOV, EAGR, PHUM, BM 
SUBJECT: BURMA'S FORESTRY MINISTER TAKES A MEETING 
 
REF: A. BANGKOK 2448 
 
     B. BANGKOK 1804 
 
Classified By: COM Carmen Martinez for Reasons 1.4 (B,D) 
 
1. (SBU) Summary: In the COM's first meeting with Burma's 
Forestry Minister we were able to finally get the GOB's 
official line on wildlife trafficking and illegal timbering, 
and clarify an outstanding rumor regarding the punishment of 
a Ministry official for illegal contact with the Embassy. 
Though the Minister did not seem particularly engaged, 
conservation NGOs tell us he is pretty good on the important 
issues.  Perhaps Burma's protected, but neglected, regions 
will benefit.  End summary. 
 
From the Woodwork 
 
2. (SBU) After waiting nearly four months for a response to 
our meeting request, the Minister of Forestry agreed with 
less than a day's notice to meet the Chief of Mission (COM) 
on May 21st.  There was no explanation for the delay or why 
the Minister was willing to meet now, in the midst of the 
reconvening of the National Constitutional Convention. 
 
3. (SBU) Minister Brigadier General Thein Aung took office in 
August 2003.  He is a major political player, holding a 
position on the Central Executive Committee of the SPDC's 
mass-action group, the Union Solidarity and Development 
Association.  Before his promotion he was a Deputy Energy 
Minister.  Minister Brig Gen Thein Aung took over a month 
after the forced retirement of his predecessor U Aung Phone 
-- reportedly sacked for particularly egregious corruption. 
U Aung Phone has also been tied in the international press to 
the scandal surrounding the Iraqi Oil-for-Food program -- 
though undoubtedly this had no impact on his removal. 
 
A Man of Few Words 
 
4. (SBU) During the meeting, the COM covered the scope of 
environmental issues here.  She noted the Forestry Ministry's 
cooperation in recent months with the Smithsonian and 
California Academy of Sciences for an annual wild elephant 
survey, with a consortium led by Total and UNOCAL to set 
aside for protection a large swath of land around their 
natural gas pipeline in southeastern Burma, and with U.S. 
conservation NGO Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS).  WCS is 
the implementing partner in a newly announced 4,800 square 
mile tiger preserve in northwest Burma.  The COM also queried 
the Minister about Burma's problems with illegal and 
unsustainable logging and with trafficking of wildlife over 
the Chinese border. 
 
5. (SBU) The Minister was quite reticent and did not seem 
overly pleased to see us.  He accepted the COM's comments 
with a nod and answered her questions with pat explanations 
of "improved cooperation" within the ministries and with Thai 
and Chinese government officials to cut down on the export of 
illegal timber and endangered species.  He pointed to the 
capture by the army of "100 logging trucks" near the Chinese 
border as evidence of the GOB's serious efforts. 
Nonetheless, reftels and other reports published in recent 
months by conservation NGOs and scientists in China's Yunnan 
Province point out the continued magnitude of both timber and 
wildlife trafficking from Burma to China and Thailand. 
 
6. (SBU) The Minister did explain that Prime Minister Khin 
Nyunt (known for his relatively pro-conservation tendencies) 
had established a new committee on environmental conservation 
under the chairmanship of Foreign Minister U Win Aung.  The 
committee is now working on reforestation projects in Pegu 
Yoma (a heavily timbered region north of Rangoon) and on 
income generation and education programs among populations 
resident in or alongside protected areas.  Both of these 
campaigns, the Minister said pointedly, were sorely in need 
of international or INGO financial and technical assistance. 
 
Forestry Official Faces the Music 
 
7. (C) The Minister became slightly more animated when the 
COM asked for clarification of a February report from the 
Democratic Voice of Burma that a Forestry Ministry official 
had been sentenced to death for transmitting sensitive 
documents to the U.S. Embassy.  The Minister verified that 
indeed an official, U Sann Min, had been arrested after the 
post office intercepted unspecified documents he was mailing 
to the Embassy.  He said, however, that he had no knowledge 
of U Sann Min's sentence.  The COM stressed that the Embassy 
had no knowledge of this incident and certainly had not been 
soliciting classified materials from any Forestry Ministry 
officials.  The Minister took this on board without comment. 
 
National Convention? What National Convention? 
 
8. (C) Seeking a top political operator's view of the newly 
reconvened National Convention, the COM asked about the 
Convention's recent discussions on the future of the 
country's conservation, forestry, and ecotourism policies. 
The transcript of these deliberations had taken up dozens of 
column-inches in the May 20th New Light of Myanmar newspaper. 
 The Minister seemed completely puzzled by this question and 
moved on to something else. 
 
Comment: Prospects are Positive 
 
9. (C) Despite a perfunctory performance in the meeting, the 
Minister's attitude toward conservation has received 
relatively high marks by conservation NGOs in Rangoon. 
Perhaps this is just in comparison to his notoriously corrupt 
predecessor, who focused all his attention on the income 
generating side of the Ministry (timbering) at the expense of 
conservation projects.  Though these projects, and Burma's 
protected areas, continue to suffer from a lack of human and 
financial resources, perhaps with a more conservation-focused 
Minister and Prime Minister in place, and with new sources of 
private funding coming online (for instance from Total and 
WCS), the future for Burma's protected areas may be a bit 
brighter.  End comment. 
Martinez