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Wired News on April 23 & 24, 1996



Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on April 23 & 24, 1996
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PepsiCo sells off Burma unit amid rights pressure

      RANGOON, Burma (Reuter) - U.S. soft drink giant PepsiCo Inc., which had
been under pressure from American human rights groups over its operations in
Burma, has sold its stake in a local venture, a Pepsi official said
Wednesday. 

    Thein Tun, chairman of Pepsi Cola Products Myanmar in Burma, told Reuters
that PepsiCo Inc. had sold its 40 percent stake in the venture to his firm.
He did not give the value of the sale. 

    Pressure groups in the United States have criticized Burma's current
military government, which took power in 1988 after violently suppressing
nationwide pro-democracy protests, for human rights abuses. 

    International human rights groups allege there are thousands of political
prisoners in the country as well as widespread forced labor for government
construction projects and killing and mistreatment of civilians in areas
where rebels are active. 

    Burma denies the accusations and says Western concepts of democracy do
not apply to the impoverished Southeast Asian nation. 

    Meanwhile, the American Chamber of Commerce in Thailand wants the United
States government to promote business in Burma and refrain from using
restrictive policies or sanctions. 

    Executive Director Tom Seale told Reuters Wednesday the Chamber had sent
a position paper to Washington urging a policy of promoting active business
relations with Burma. 

    Burmese Minister for National Planning and Economic Development Brig.
Gen. David Abel told a Bangkok-based newspaper that any Pepsi sale would not
hurt Burma's economy. 

    ``It will only affect the people who are working there. And the Japanese
are willing to come in,'' he told the Asia Times newspaper in an interview
published Wednesday. 

    Abel was also quoted as saying that the United States should be more
benevolent and pragmatic in its financial dealings with Burma. 

    Pepsi controls 85 percent of the Burmese soft drink market share and its
initial capitalization for the venture, Pepsi Cola Products Myanmar, was
about $4 million, Thein Tun said. 

    Despite PepsiCo's divestment from the Burmese venture, the company's soft
drinks brand-name will still exist. 

13:23 04-24-96
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Burma army officers said removed for heroin loss

      BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuter) - Two senior Burmese army officers were
removed from posts in the opium-rich Shan state headquarters of former
druglord Khun Sa after some seized heroin vanished, a Thai narcotics source
said Tuesday. 

    Col. Chit Htwe, commander of the former Ho Mong base of Khun Sa, and
Brig.-Gen. Mo Heng, commander of Burma's 55th army division, were transferred
after the loss, said a Thai narcotics officer based in the Thai town of Mae
Hong Son. 

    Khun Sa was indicted by a U.S. court in December 1989 on charges of
trafficking heroin into the country. 

    Chit Htwe had arrested two suspected subordinates of Cham Herng, the son
of Khun Sa, at near Ho Mong in late February and seized 44 lbs. of heroin
from them. 

    But only half the heroin was handed over to Burmese government
investigators a week later, the Thai source said. 

    Rangoon has deployed thousands of its troops in Ho Mong in the Golden
Triangle opium growing area on the edge of Shan state about 15 miles from the
Thai border after Khun Sa surrendered to Burmese authorities in early
January. 

    The Golden Triangle straddles the areas bordering Burma, Laos and
Thailand. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration officers estimate it is the
source of 70 percent of the world's heroin. The Thai Office of Narcotics
Control estimates up to 2,500 tons of opium is produced in the Golden
Triangle annually. 

    Also Tuesday, Thai and guerrilla sources said the troops at Khun Sa's
former headquarters are facing a critical food shortage as anti-government
guerrillas harass and cut their supply lines. 

    The government troops have asked Thailand to open its nearby border to
allow supplies to come through, the sources said. 

13:36 04-23-96
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Japan's Daiwa in New Burma venture

    RANGOON, April 5 (Reuter) - Daiwa Securities Co Ltd <8601.T> and Burma's
military government on Friday signed an agreement to set up a joint
securities firm called Myanmar Securities and Exchange Centre Co ltd. 

    The new company is a 50-50 partnership between Daiwa unit, Daiwa
Institute of Research, and the state-owned Myanmar Economic Bank. 

    Burma's Minister of Finance and Revenue, Brigadier General Win Tin, said
at a signing ceremony that the new company will help develop a stock exchange
in Burma. 

    The firm will also underwrite shares and treasury bonds and act as a
broker, he said. 

06:41 04-05-96
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UN assails Burma over human rights record

      GENEVA, April 23 (Reuter) - The U.N.'s highest human rights forum
expressed its grave concern on Tuesday at ``extremely serious'' human rights
violations in Burma including forced labour and abuse of women. 

    In a resolution adopted by consensus, the 53-state U.N. Human Rights
Commission urged Burma's military government to release all political
prisoners immediately and allow them to ``participate in the process of
national reconciliation.'' 

    The Commission welcomed the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, the Nobel peace prize winner released after five years of house
detention last July. 

    But it said it deplored the fact that many political leaders, including
elected representatives of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, remained
deprived of their liberty. 

    The Commission urged Burma to ``put an end to the impunity of
perpetrators of violations of human rights, including members of the
military.'' 

    It also said that all persons, without discrimination, should be afforded
a free trial, and called for prison conditions in Burma to be improved. 

17:15 04-23-96
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