Sources in Rangoon are reporting problems accessing the Internet in recent days. Exiled Burmese are also reportedly having a more difficult time than usual in calling into the country.
Slower or unreliable Internet connections and the abnormal telecommunications problems coincide with what has now been a five-day mission into Burma by UN Special Envoy Ibrahim Gambari. Sources said they have been having problems getting online since Gambari arrived in Rangoon on 6 March 2008 for a three-day visit. Web-based email services such as Gmail, and voice over IP (VOIP) services such as GTalk and Skype, are technically banned in Burma, but remain popular as Internet-savvy Burmese use proxy servers and other technical strategies to get around government firewalls.
In recent days, however, getting online itself has become problematic, SEAPA's sources inside the country say. Meanwhile, contacts among Burmese exiles say they have been having problems calling into the country.
Gambari is in Burma ahead of a May national referendum to approve or reject a controversial constitution drafted by a government-managed assembly. The UN's offers to send observers to monitor the conduct of the referendum have been rebuffed by Burma's ruling junta.
The military government has been restricting and even suspending Internet access -- for which state-connected corporations own a monopoly -- since the eruption of widespread protests and a harsh government crackdown on activists, students and religious leaders in September 2007.
