In pictures: Burma's tunnel network
According to Bangkok-based Swedish journalist Bertil Lintner, the North Koreans have helped build tunnels beneath Nay Pyi Taw, the new capital that Burma's military rulers moved into in 2005.
Sunday, March 21, 2010
In pictures: Burma's tunnel network
In pictures: Burma's tunnel network
Another series of tunnels has been built near Taunggyi, in north-east Burma's Shan state, says Lintner, where several of the country's long-term insurgencies are being fought.
The tunnels contain meeting rooms and are said to have lights, air ventilators, a power supply and fibre-optic cables. Some of the tunnels are thought to be command centres for government figures in the event of an emergency, says the DVB.
In pictures: Burma's tunnel network
Analysts say Burma is willing to trade food and raw materials, such as rubber, in exchange for North Korea's tunnelling expertise.
Burma frees NLD leader Tin Oo Tin Oo
Burma frees NLD leader Tin Oo
 Tin Oo: under house arrest since 2004 |
Burma has freed the vice-chairman of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
Tin Oo, 82, has been in prison or under house arrest for more than a decade. The release comes as Burma's ruling military junta prepares to hold national elections in 2010, though no date has yet been set.
Rumours inside Burma say Ms Suu Kyi could also be freed, probably after the elections, and once her period of house arrest expires in November.
Speaking after officials entered his house and announced his release, Tin Oo said he would continue to work for democracy.
He said he was "very hopeful" Ms Suu Kyi would soon be released, AP reported.
Decorated general
Tomas Ojea Quintana, the UN's special envoy to Myanmar, is due in the country on Monday to assess its progress on human rights issues.
Analysts say Tin Oo could have a key role in deciding whether or not the NLD participates in the forthcoming elections.
Tin Oo, who spent three years in prison after helping to found the NLD in 1988, has been either in prison or under house arrest since he was detained along with Ms Suu Kyi in 2003.
The former defence minister, a highly decorated general, was forced into retirement in 1976. He was later sentenced to hard labour for treason.
In January, Burma's home minister reportedly said Ms Suu Kyi would be freed when her current period of house arrest expires.
Burma leader Than Shwe gives election warning
 Than Shwe said his roadmap was "the sole process for transition" |
Burma's military leader Than Shwe has urged people to make what he called the "correct choices" when elections are held at some point later this year.
General Than Shwe made his comments in a message to mark Independence Day. He said his government's seven-stage roadmap was the only way for the country to achieve democracy.
A date for the elections has not been set, but they will be the first since 1990, when the military refused to recognise the opposition's victory.
According to the BBC's South East Asia correspondent, Rachel Harvey, the coming year could prove to be a watershed for Burma, but no-one is making any firm predictions on the outcome.
Growing divide
In his annual message read out by another military general at a ceremony in the remote new capital Nay Pyi Taw, Senior General Than Shwe said his seven-step "roadmap to democracy" was "the sole process for transition".
Than Shwe did not spell out exactly what he meant by "correct choices", but many in Burma will interpret his comments as an implicit warning, our correspondent says.
The underlying message appears to be that the military government's plan is the only game in town and it will be played according to the generals' rules.
The election will be the first in Burma since the National League for Democracy (NLD), led by the detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, won a landslide victory in 1990.
It was a result the military leadership refused to recognise - and the NLD was never allowed to take power.
The NLD has not said whether it intends to contest this year's poll, but in its own Independence Day statement, the party appealed for what it called transparent and sincere dialogue towards national reconciliation.
It also referred to the growing divide between rich and poor in Burma, and said that the majority of people were suffering.
There have been unconfirmed reports in some areas of dissent in the lower ranks of the military over pay and conditions.
Some observers believe that deteriorating economic circumstances as much as political manoeuvring could ultimately decide Burma's future.
The US, which recently changed its policy to one of engagement with the military government, used the occasion of Burma's Independence Day to offer support for the country's independence.
But Washington also said it looked forward to the day when people could freely exercise their universal human rights.
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