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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- December 28, 2002.
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HEADLINES
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AP - State Dept. Confirms Myanmar Rapes
AP - Thai army
repatriates dissidents to Myanmar
AFP - ASEAN members call for meeting as soon as US
attacks Iraq
VOA News - Poverty Slows Eradication of Burma's
Drug Trade
VOA News - Rebel
War Zones Threaten Burma's Fight Against Drug Trade
UNDCP - Ongoing
UNDCP Projects in Myanmar
Bkk Post - Alien
labour and drugs on talks agenda
Bkk Post - Army
rounds up dozens of Karen rebels
The Nation
- EDITORIAL: Let the truth about mass rapes be told
Asian
Tribune - A year of regional affairs and diplomacy In
Myanmar
------------------------------------------------------------------------ State
Dept. Confirms Myanmar Rapes
Fri Dec 27,11:55 AM ET WASHINGTON (AP) - The State Department has confirmed the systematic rape of ethnic Shan minority women and girls by the military in Myanmar and says it is appalled. Department officers located many of the victims, whose mistreatment over the last five years was detailed initially in June by the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women's Action Network in Myanmar, also known as Burma. Rape continues to be a widespread problem in Myanmar, the department said in an announcement issued by its bureau of democracy, human rights and labor Dec. 17. The U.S. government has expressed its deep concern to the Myanmar government and urged an investigation. Twelve rape victims were interview by State Department officers and all said they had been gang-raped by Myanmar soldiers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thai army repatriates
dissidents to Myanmar
Sat Dec 28, 5:09 AM ET BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - About 100 Myanmar exiles who had sought refuge in Thailand are hiding out in the jungles just inside Myanmar after being evicted by the Thai military, one of the exiles said Saturday. The Thai army has acknowledged deporting some Myanmar nationals, saying they were involved in illegal activities. But it denied media reports that force had been used to evict them. One of the leaders, contacted by mobile telephone, said the group was recently given two days to leave the western border district of Sangklaburi and return to Myanmar, also known as Burma, or face arrest and repatriation. He spoke on condition of anonymity. The Thai border has been a refuge for a welter of dissident groups opposed to the military regime in Myanmar. Thailand has normally turned a blind eye to their activities but the current Thai government is seeking to improve relations with its neighbor and has put pressure on the activists. A statement from the Thai Army Friday said troops of its 9th Infantry Division were following a policy that does not allow any foreign groups to use Thai soil to conduct any activities which would be harmful to neighboring countries. Amnesty International, the London-based human rights group, said last week that six political activists from the Mon ethnic group were arrested Dec. 20 and released by the Thai military at the frontier after their offices in Sangklaburi, 200 kilometers (120 miles) west of Bangkok, were shut down. A number of other offices of Myanmar dissidents in the area were also closed at the same time, Amnesty said. The leader interviewed said some of those deported had lived in Thailand for the past decade. He said the evicted group had not carried out armed resistance but was involved in education. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
ASEAN members call for meeting
as soon as US attacks Iraq
MANILA, Dec 28 (AFP) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should call a meeting of foreign ministers as soon as war breaks out in Iraq, the Philippines said Saturday, endorsing a Cambodian proposal "There is recognition with ASEAN that any war in Iraq could have serious implications for the countries in ASEAN," Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople said. Ople said Cambodian Foreign Affairs Minister Hor Namhong sent a letter to all ASEAN foreign ministers calling for such a meeting, adding that he had expressed support for such an initiative. However the officials did not give a possible date or venue of such a meeting. ASEAN includes Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, as well as the Philippines and Cambodia. Ople has previously said that a US-led attack on Iraq appeared inevitable, remarking that "this momentum can't be stopped unless a miracle intervenes." The Philippines, a close ally of the United States, is concerned that the more than one million Filipinos working in the Middle East might be affected by the war but it is also ready to provide humanitarian assistance and access to its ports for transit should US troops go to war in Iraq. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOA News - Poverty Slows
Eradication of Burma's Drug Trade
Scott Bobb Mong Pawk, Northern Burma 28 Dec 2002, 05:37 UTC Burma, long one of the world's major sources of illegal narcotics, says it has a plan to eradicate the drug trade in a little more than a decade. The United Nations is providing some assistance, but the projects are hindered by limited funding. Poverty seems to be a major factor in this complex issue. Southeast Asia Correspondent Scott Bobb recently visited opium-producing areas in northern Burma, in the so-called Golden Triangle, and has this report. It is only mid-morning, but the sun is already beating hard on the mountains and green fields in the Mong Pawk area of northern Burma. An elderly lady named, Amun, is vigorously hoeing her small plot. Although she is hard of hearing and has almost no teeth, Amun looks younger than her 94 years. She heads a family of a hundred offspring. She is also at the base of Burma's illegal drug trade. "I have been growing opium since I was young," she said. "Other than growing poppy, I don't know any other work." The lush plants in Amun's field signal another good year. After the poppies bloom in a few weeks, she will scar the seed capsules and scrape off the opium sap that has oozed out. It will yield her about 20 kilograms of opium gum, worth about $2,000 to her and tens of thousands of dollars to drug lords, but it will buy her family rice and medicine. The head of the United Nations Drug Control Program in Burma, Jean-Luc Lemahieu, says farmers cultivate opium because of a chronic shortage of rice, due to poor soil and inadequate rainfall, common at high altitude. The hardy poppy thrives under these conditions, and likes to grow on steep mountain slopes. "They [the farmers] have a rice deficiency ranging from one to two, to over six months on an annual basis," he said. Burma last year produced 800 tons of opium. That is two-thirds of the opium worldwide, and 90 percent of the drug produced in East Asia. One-third of the crop is consumed inside the country, where traditionally it is smoked to cure illness and ease hunger. Part of the opium crop is refined into heroin in secret factories along the border, and then trafficked abroad. The opium and heroin industry generates more than a half-billion dollars a year in Burma. But opium addiction afflicts tens of thousands of people in Burma, and heroin addiction is a rising scourge in neighboring China. Burma has a long global reputation as a major illegal source of narcotics, but the head of Burma's anti-drug agency, General Kaw Thein, says his government is working to change that. "The main objective is the total elimination of, not only of poppy fields, but also of drugs," he said. The general says his agency plans to eliminate opium cultivation in northern Burma within three years, and there is a plan to eliminate all illegal drugs in 11 years. Officials want to eliminate the villagers' dependence on the opium crop, by making them self-sufficient in food. Burma is getting help from the United Nations. The U.N. Drug Control Agency launched a program three years ago to wean farmers from opium cultivation by helping them become self-sufficient food producers. The agency is assisting with irrigation projects, providing fertilizer, better seeds and introducing new crops that do well in this climate, like sweet pea, faba bean, and buckwheat. Here in the Mong Kar valley, workers break rocks to line an irrigation canal. Engineer Tin Maung Myint says the canal will provide water year-round to 500 hectares of rice paddy, and increase rice production by almost one half. "In monsoon season, with rainwater and some surplus water from irrigation, one crop," he said. "And in the summer time, double drop." The director of the northern Burma project, Xavier Bouan, says growing food crops is only part of the battle to get locals to give up growing poppy. He says other needs must also be addressed. "No education system, no health system, very poor access. The roads are very bad," he said. "So, it's difficult for the people to market any products, or to do any kind of business." The United Nations is providing bulldozers and fuel to improve the region's bad roads, constructing schools to combat rampant illiteracy, and building medical facilities. U.N. officials say the project here in Mong Pawk could serve as a model for all of northern Burma, but they are short on funds. International donors are reluctant to finance large, visible projects, until the military government begins a transition to democracy, and improves human rights. Mr. Lemahieu, the U.N. drug control chief in Burma, says linking politics to the drug issue is a mistake. "Opium reduction will help with the political transition, will help regional stability, and, definitely, benefits the international community," he said. But for people like Amun, who depend on her small opium crop for survival, the prospect of an end to poppy cultivation is a deep worry. "I have no idea what I'll do," she said. Burmese officials say they have reduced opium production by 50 percent in the past five years. But drug experts worry that, if crop substitution programs and social services are not sustained, farmers will resume cultivating opium, and reverse the progress made to date. Part one of a three-part VOA series ------------------------------------------------------------------------
VOA News - Rebel War Zones
Threaten Burma's Fight Against Drug Trade
Scott Bobb Pang Sang, Northern Burma 28 Dec 2002, 07:51 UTC Law enforcement agencies for decades have been fighting drug trafficking from northern Burma - an area wracked by poverty and war. Only recently has there been any progress, namely in reducing opium production. This is due in part to recent peace agreements with ethnic rebels. Southeast Asia Correspondent Scott Bobb visited the Wa autonomous region, along the Chinese border, and has this report from its capital, Pang Sang. Drug eradication officials often say that opium and war go hand in hand. Although poverty is a major reason why peasants cultivate opium poppy, the lack of law enforcement in war zones makes it easy for drug lords to manufacture and traffic opium, heroin, and other illegal drugs. Southeast Asia's so-called Golden Triangle, lying in the remote mountains along northeastern Burma's border with China, Laos and Thailand, is a place where these two scourges thrive. Britain fought the Opium War for control of the region nearly 200 years ago, but never fully dominated the hill tribes here. After independence in 1948, the Burmese government battled dozens of rebellious groups. The United Nations' chief drug control officer in Burma, Jean-Luc Lemahieu, says drug trafficking flourished because of the rebellions. "With the culture of warfare in the region, the opium's profits, basically, were there to fuel the war since centuries," he said. One of the most prominent rebel groups were the Wa, a people with ethnic ties to southwestern China's Yunnan province. For 40 years, 20,000 soldiers of the Wa State Army fought the Burmese government, and Wa leaders emerged as major drug traffickers in the region. In 1989, the Wa agreed to stop fighting, in exchange for autonomy from Rangoon. This brought peace and some development to the region. Drug experts in Burma say, some Wa elements still wage war, and traffic drugs along the border, primarily with Thailand. But many have joined in battling the drug problem. "Our objective and commitment is, by 2005, the Wa Region will be drug free," said Deputy Commander Bu Loi Kham, a top leader in the Wa State Army. The head of the U.N. drug project in the Wa area, Xavier Bouan, says opium eradication is essential, but it must be handled right, or it will cause other big problems. "One is, what's going to happen to the farmers when they will have to abandon, voluntarily or by force, opium poppy cultivation? Secondly, is how the Wa State is going to substitute those taxes," he said. Wa leader Bu Loi Kham acknowledges that his state is dependent financially on taxes from farmers' crops, including opium. "We have taxes on agriculture, but the percentage is becoming less and less," he said. But he says revenues now increasingly are coming from new industries, like mining, livestock breeding and commerce. The Wa are working with the Burmese government and the United Nations to wean farmers from opium. They are introducing substitute crops, fertilizer and irrigation schemes. Roads are also being improved, which is opening up the region and fostering trade. Drug experts say, as a result, opium production in the Wa area has been reduced by nearly one-third in the past year. Another by-product of the growing cooperation between the Wa and the Burmese government has been the arrival of teachers, nurses, engineers and agricultural experts from government ministries to work on Wa projects. Foreign Minister Win Aung says peace has brought trust. "Now, after 10 years of coming closely and existing together, we have a better understanding of each other," he said. "These Wa people, they will do what they have promised to us. And we are cooperating with them, and educating them." There have been setbacks. As part of the drive to increase food production, the Wa have moved some villages in the less fertile, high mountains to the richer, valley land. These sudden relocations caused hardships. Many villagers died from malnutrition and low-land diseases like malaria and fever. The Wa say they will continue the relocation program, but with more planning and support. In addition, the Burmese government is still fighting several groups along the Thai border. Trafficking there, particularly of amphetamines, is a growing concern. Last May, tensions along the border, that involved elements of the Wa and rival Shan groups, erupted into cross-border shelling. The border was closed for five months. The lingering suspicions are hindering cooperation between Burma and Thailand on drug control. But cooperation with China is growing. The head of Burma's drug control agency, Colonel Hkam Aung, says the peace accord has helped open up the Wa region, and has brought greater contact with the outside world. "The ethnic groups themselves realize, they've been left behind from the mainstream of the country," he said. "And they want to catch up. So, they are very positive, when the government goes in to help them, and they are very receptive." Drug officials are buoyed by successes in the Wa region, and want to expand the U.N.-supported drug program to other parts of northern Burma. They say increased cooperation and development will bolster peace and stability, which, ultimately, are the best antidotes to drugs and war. Part two of a three-part VOA
series
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United Nation Office on Drug
and Crime
Ongoing UNDCP Projects in Myanmar December 28, 2002 UNDCP and its predecessor, the UN Fund for Drug Abuse Control (UNFDAC), have been active in Myanmar for the past 25 years to reduce illicit cultivation, production, trafficking and abuse of drugs. The Union of Myanmar is a signatory party to the 1961 Single Convention on Narcotic Drugs, the 1971 Convention on Psychotropic Substances and the 1988 Vienna Convention against Illicit Trafficking of Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances. The Government of Myanmar has ongoing bilateral agreements for cooperation on drug control issues with many countries. At the regional level, Myanmar is part of a UNDCP sub-regional cooperation action plan with China, Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam. The UNDCP country programme strongly emphasizes the elimination of opium poppy cultivation and is involved in a prevention programme for injecting drug users to reduce the risk of HIV/AIDS transmission. UNDCP is also supporting small-scale projects for improving the provision of treatment, detoxification and rehabilitation services for drug users and increasing community awareness on the dangers of drugs. Wa Alternative Development Project (WADP) The Shan State, where some 95 per cent of Myanmar's opium cultivation is currently concentrated, covers 155,000 sq. km (an area equivalent to Bangladesh). Together, it is estimated that the Wa areas (Special Administrative Region 2 and 4) and the Kokang (Special Administrative Region 1) account for about 70 per cent of Myanmar's opium production, which is converted into heroin and makes its way onto the world market. Drug abuse within the Wa areas among various ethnic groups is also widespread. The WADP will address the supply of and demand for opium and other drugs in the Southern Wa area using a sustainable, community-based approach for the reduction and eventual elimination of the opium-based economy. The project covers about 2,000 sq. km, 260 villages and 6,250 households. Community-based demand reduction The project aims to reduce the incidence of drug abuse in North-eastern Myanmar by extending an existing community-based demand reduction programme from a few selected villages near Muse to key townships along the Mandalay-Muse transport corridor, namely Lashio, Kutkai and the wider Muse township. Using community-based offices, the project will provide and monitor revolving loans for community-based demand reduction and social development activities to villages within those townships. The project will carefully address the issues of financial and institutional sustainability to ensure that this programme can be continued by local institutions after UNDCP assistance concludes. Illicit Crop Monitoring Programme The ODCCP Illicit Crop Monitoring Programme (ICMP) assists Member States to produce internationally comparable data on the illicit cultivation of drug crops in the context of the elimination strategy adopted by the Member States at the General Assembly Special Session on Drugs in June 1998. Reducing the Harmful Consequences of Injecting Drug Use in Myanmar The United Nations recognizes the HIV/AIDS epidemic in Myanmar as a major humanitarian challenge. Thirty per cent of the HIV cases detected in the country are attributed to injecting drug use. Surveillance figures for 2000 indicate a rise in HIV infection among injecting drug users (IDUs) to 62 per cent. In some rural areas, HIV rates among IDUs have reached 80 per cent. Currently, there are over 71,000 registered drug abusers in Myanmar, primarily in the north, east and urban areas. However, there are no mechanisms to measure consumption practices such as injecting, smoking or ingesting. There have been various prevention activities initiated by the IGO/NGO community as well as the UN, but for the most part, they have remained fragmented with inadequate coverage. UNDCP's programme "Reducing the Harmful Consequences of Injecting Drug Use in Myanmar", is a comprehensive response within the framework of the UN Joint Plan of Action on HIV/AIDS in Myanmar to provide coordinated and adequate coverage. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post -
Saturday 28 December 2002
Alien labour and drugs on talks agenda Yuwadee Tunyasiri Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh is holding talks in Burma early next year on border, drugs and illegal alien worker problems. Gen Chavalit said he would ask Rangoon how it proposed to realise its goal to wipe out drugs production by 2005. Various border trading points in Prachuap Khiri Khan and Tak would also be promoted. Gen Chavalit said he would also raise the fate of Burmese minority refugees in Thailand . The challenge was to convince the junta to set aside a safe area on the Burmese side of the border to keep refugees before they are repatriated. The area may be supervised by Burmese soldiers before settlement of ethnic disputes could get underway. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post -
Saturday 28 December 2002
Army rounds up dozens of Karen rebels `Violent raid violated cabinet resolution' Ploenpote Atthakor Wassana Nanuam A task force yesterday rounded up dozens of Karen villagers in Kanchanaburi's Sangkhla Buri district, claiming they were rebels who had entered the country illegally and used Thai soil to launch attacks on Burmese troops. Col Somkhuan Saenpattaranate, an Army spokesman, said the Surasi Task Force, which oversees security along the Thai-Burmese border in Kanchanaburi, rounded up ethnic Karen rebels who had set up a stronghold in Wia Ka Di village in tambon Nong Lu of Sangkhla Buri district. ``The government and the army will not allow any foreign groups or nationals to use our territory to launch military raids or conduct unfriendly activities against Thailand's neighbouring countries. Their misadventure could seriously affect our national security and relations with our neighbours,'' Col Somkhuan said. Those arrested were members of the anti-Rangoon Karen National Union and were not carrying any identification cards. They would be forced back across the border, he said. Col Somkhuan said the task force's crackdown on ethnic rebels was part of a bigger army drive to flush the border villages of illegal aliens. Surapong Kongchantuk, director of the Karen Development and Studies Centre, said altogether 65 Karen from 19 families in Wia Ka Di Village were issued a three-day deadline to evacuate their homes after the December 24 military raid. ``The military torched three huts and stocks of rice paddy. The villagers were frightened to death and they have appealed to the Law Society of Thailand and the Human Rights Commission for help,'' he said. Mr Surapong urged an end to the military harassment and disputed the statement of Col Somkuan that the villagers in question were Burmese nationals and had entered illegally this border village without any ID cards. Mr Surapong said the raid was not legitimate. ``All the 65 villagers were ethnic Karens, and not Burmese nationals as claimed by the army. At least two villagers issued with a deportation deadline were Thais with permanent ID cards. Some were also holders of temporary ID cards now going through a nationality verification process, others had blue highlanders' cards,'' he said. Villagers without ID cards were also in the process of identifying themselves as allowed by the August 27 cabinet resolution. This group of villagers had a whole year for the verification process and no deportation order could be issued against them until at least August next year under the cabinet resolution. ``The army had no clear understanding of the cabinet decision in directing the violent raid,'' he said. The activist pointed out that Wia Ka Di was an old Karen village, dating back to the reign of King Rama V and the military should be more careful in dealing with the villagers. ``It is obvious the raid was made to make the Burmese leadership happy, and to improve trade ties between the two countries, while humanitarian aspects were completely ignored,'' he said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
The
Nation
EDITORIAL: Let the truth about mass rapes be told Published on Dec 28, 2002 An investigative report by the US State Department disclosed by The Washington Post this week said that Burmese troops have systematically raped Shan women and girls. The report verified exactly what local groups - the Shan Human Rights Foundation and the Shan Women's Action Network - reported early this year. The US report confirms beyond any doubt that the Burmese junta leaders lied in their denials. They have dismissed as a fabrication the widely distributed report that their military condones rape as a "weapon of war" against civilian populations. It is known among the ethnic communities that the Burmese military has long been using rape as part of its campaign to bring ethnic areas under its official control. When Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the United Nations special rapporteur for human rights, visited Burma in November, he refused to accept the junta's invitation to investigate the rape incidents. He said the UN would make its own independent investigation. The rape report should have reminded the world community of the real nature of the junta leaders who have ruled the country with an iron fist since they were defeated in an election in May 1990. It is ironic that some democracies are still providing financial assistance under various guises to help the junta. Top of the list is Japan, which has the dubious honour of being the leading donor to the junta. Tokyo argues that its money is aimed at helping the Burmese people. Some American lobbyists for the junta are also working very hard to ease sanctions by the US government. Of late they have been pushing for an aid package to help Burma deal with its HIV/Aids epidemic. Any assistance, even humanitarian, that reaches the military regime from now on will only be a sham, because it will further reinforce Rangoon's belief that the international community does not care about its human-rights abuses and that it has carte blanche to continue with political suppression and atrocities against minorities. It is likely that the junta will continue this pattern of behaviour and further delay the political dialogue with the opposition. After all, world attention is focussed on the coming war with Iraq. Burma can afford to drag its feet as it has done successfully for the past 14 years. What is sad is that Asean has not done anything to apply any peer pressure on Burma to behave in a more civilised way. The grouping has completely turned a blind eye on Burma in the name of non-interference. That augurs well for the junta leaders as they continue to use the grouping as a shield. The international community must reapply pressure on the regime and put aside its commercial interests. Certainly this is easier said than done. That is why it requires an extraordinary effort to forge concerted international pressure. The junta has been adept at awarding concessions and incentives to Western as well as regional corporations. These corporate leaders then lobby their governments to avoid criticising the regime. As long as this pattern continues, there will be more rapes, more atrocities, more political suppression. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-28 A year of regional affairs and diplomacy In Myanmar By Thet Khaing THE steady progress in the national reconciliation process during the past year has come as Myanmar continues to enjoy the most peaceful and stable period in its modern history. The political situation has enabled the nation to achieve further progress in economic development and higher social standards. It has also created prospects for Myanmar to assume a more prominent role in the diplomatic arena in 2003 with the help of key players, such as the United Nations. In 2002, Myanmar continued to build its relationships with the nations of the region, both bilaterally and through its membership of such organisations as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, the Greater Mekong Sub Region, and BIMST-EC, an economic grouping which also includes Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand. In domestic affairs, a highlight of the year was the govern-ment?s decision to restore freedom of movement to the members of 10 political parties, including the National League for Democracy. "Today marks a new page for the people of Myanmar and the international community," said a government statement issued on May 6 to announce the decision. The move was described by U Linn Myaing, Myanmar?s Ambassador to the United States of America, as "a milestone" in the national reconciliation process. "As contacts and meetings between leaders of the Government and the NLD party have proceeded, so has the political climate seen a steady improvement," he told a conference on Myanmar held in November at the John Hopkins University near Washington. "We will proceed in a conciliatory manner with all parties involved within the country and also with the international community," U Linn Myaing said. As Myanmar pursues its stated aim of moving towards a political, economic and social transition, the help and support of the international community will be essential and this has never been more evident than during 2002. The UN remains at the forefront in helping Myanmar to achieve its goals on national reconciliation and in helping to upgrade living standards through assistance provided by its agencies such as the UNICEF, the WHO and the FAO. "The United Nations remains committed to assisting the people of Myanmar to achieve progress and social viability in a democratic framework, since this is their inalienable right," the UN Secretary-General, Mr Kofi Annan, said in a report last March. The UN special human rights Rapporteur on Myanmar, Mr Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, visited Myanmar twice in 2002 and acknowledged that it was "undeniable" that progress was made in national reconciliation and human rights. Mr Pinheiro described as "absurd? the view held by many Western countries that Myanmar should be engaged by the international community only after the political system changed. "Political transitions are not linear phenomena but processes bound to variations, advances and setbacks," Mr Pinheiro said in a report to the UN last October. He urged those who wished the people of Myanmar well to handle relations with the country ?with care and generously." Mr Annan?s special envoy to Myanmar, Mr Razali Ismail, was also much in the spotlight during 2002 for his valuable role in the national reconciliation process between the State Peace and Development Council Government and the NLD leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The past year was perhaps the most successful for Mr Razali since he was appointed to the UN post in April 2000 as he was granted two meetings with the SPDC Chairman, Senior General Than Shwe. In another important achievement, Mr Razali announced at the end of his eighth visit to Myanmar in August that Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was ready to cooperate with the government in ways that "directly benefit all the people of Myanmar and are conducive to the evolution of a democratic state". The national reconciliation process also paved the way for the release during 2002 of more than 350 detainees, most of whom were NLD members. In November, 115 people were released, the largest single number to be freed since the national reconciliation talks began in October 2000 at Mr Razali?s encouragement. The NLD has been allowed to re-open 72 offices throughout the country since the talks began. The government paid tribute to Mr Razali after his last visit of the year in November, praising his "balanced approach and determination" in assisting the national reconciliation process. "We very much appreciate the hard work of the UN special envoy Razali and hope that friends of Myanmar worldwide will support this process with patience and understanding of the complexity of the situation," the government spokesperson Colonel Hla Min said in a statement. This gesture of trust from the government bodes well for the Malaysian diplomat?s mediation role in 2003. The government also built a firm foundation for cooperation with the International Labour Organisation on forced labor issues during 2002. In a breakthrough agreement in March, the two sides agreed on the appointment of an ILO liaison officer in Myanmar and the eventual establishment of a permanent office in Yangon. The Geneva-based ILO subsequently appointed Ms Hong-Trang Perret-Nguyen as liaison officer. After a meeting with Ms Perret-Nguyen in November the SPDC?s Secretary 1, General Khin Nyunt, pledged full support for her mandate. "General Khin Nyunt underlined the fact that the liaison officer was free to visit any place that she wished," the ILO said in a report to its governing body meeting later that month. "He encouraged her to visit as many places as she could in order to see the situation, and offered any assistance that might be required to facilitate such visits," the report said. "He stressed that the authorities did not condone forced labor and had given clear instructions prohibiting it," it said. In an important practical measures taken by the government towards eradicating forced labor, Ms Perret-Nguyen said in a report to the same meeting that the government was due to distribute translations in six national languages of orders issued in 1999 banning forced labor. The circulation of the orders in the national languages was one of the key recommendations of a high-level team of independent legal experts, which visited Myanmar more than a year ago to advise the government and the ILO. More cooperation with the ILO is likely next year following a planned visit of a high-level team from the Geneva-based organization. There has been also strong indication of positive momentum on improvements in human rights issues, with the government granting approval for the International Committee of the Red Cross to expand its activities in Shan State. The ICRC also continued a program of visits to detention centers during 2002, bringing to more than 200 the number visited since it established a permanent mission in Yangon in 2000. It said conditions in the centers had improved "incrementally" since the visits began. The government said the improvement in peace, security and social standards had helped the steady progress towards a political settlement and reconciliation. The government?s commitment to establishing a multi-party democratic state, "based on universal principle of liberty, justice and equality of rule of law," was reiterated by General Khin Nyunt during a function held in August for the visiting Malaysian Prime Minister, Dr Mahathir Mohamad. "Such a transition cannot be done in haste and in a haphazard manner," General Khin Nyunt said. Dr Mahathir, who cautioned that a hasty transition could bring ?anarchy? to the country, later echoed his comments. The visit by Dr Mahathir was one of a series in a busy year of high-level diplomatic missions. The President of Vietnam, Mr Tran Duc Luong, visited Myanmar in May in what was described as a milestone in bilateral relations. The Japanese Foreign Minister, Ms Yuriko Kawaguchi, came to Yangon in August on a visit which a diplomatic source said would lead to increased humanitarian assistance from Tokyo. Ms Kawaguchi?s visit followed a positive response from Tokyo to developments in the national reconciliation process, including the decision to lift travel restrictions on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. The Australian Foreign Minister, Mr Alexander Downer, travelled to Yangon in October in the highest-level visit by a member of the Canberra government in more than two decades. Mr Downer welcomed the government?s commitment on democratization. He also outlined Australia?s limited engagement policy in dealing with Myanmar, which contrasts to the approach taken by the United States and the European Union. But even the hardline policies in Washington and Brussels eased slightly during 2002 following high-level contacts with both the US and the EU. A visit to Washington in May by two senior Myanmar anti-narcotics officials resulted in the highest-level talks with the US government for many years. Brigadier-General Kyaw Thein and Police Colonel Hkam Awng held discussions with the Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs, Mr Matthew Daley, and the Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement, Mr Rand Beers. The visit as well as a sharp fall in Myanmar?s opium crop in 2002 is expected to lead to a resumption of aid from Washington for drug control programs. Washington also welcomed a pledge by Yangon in September to provide help in locating the remains of American military personnel who died in plane crashes in northern Myanmar during World War Two. Delegations from the EU visited Myanmar twice in 2002, in March and September. The EU has promised to respond positively to improvements in the political climate. In regional affairs, Myanmar continued to consolidate relations with its neighbours. Relations were strengthened with India, the world?s second most populous country. The reopening of Myanmar?s consulate in Kolkatta (formerly Calcutta) and India?s consulate in Mandalay paved the way for increased diplomatic and economic ties. A dispute with Thailand over a raid by members of a Shan rebel group on Myanmar army positions in Shan State was resolved amicably in October. Trade with Thailand, which was disrupted following the incident, was normalized when four border checkpoints were re-opened on October 15. A new frontier was opened in regional cooperation when the foreign ministers of Myanmar, India and Thailand signed a landmark agreement last April on building a highway linking the three countries. The 1400-kilometre-long highway, which will mainly use existing roads, will extend from Moreh in India to Mae Sot in Thailand via Bagan and Myawaddy. Work on building the new links needed to complete what the former Indian foreign minister, Mr Jaswant Singh, called "the highway of opportunities," is due to be completed in 2003. - Myanmar Times Review 2002 - ------------------------------------------------------------------------
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