[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
OSI: Burma News Update No. 54 (r)
- Subject: OSI: Burma News Update No. 54 (r)
- From: ccraig@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 14 Apr 1998 08:50:00
Burma Project, Open Society Institute
Burma News Update No. 54
14 April 1998
*Junta Blocks U.S. Diplomat
*Suu Kyi Condemns Japanese Aid
*Economic Crisis Deepens
*Pipeline and Forced Labor
Junta Blocks U.S. Diplomat
Burma's military junta has denied a visa to U.S. Ambassador to the
United Nations, Bill Richardson, who planned to visit the country to
press for dialogue between its army rulers and democratic forces
during his current Asia tour. A junta statement declared Mr.
Richardson is unwelcome because the U.S. government has imposed
restrictions on visits of senior members of the army regime to the
United States. A military official said the regime is "reciprocating
in the same manner."
(Bangkok, 10 April, Agence France Presse)
Suu Kyi Condemns Japanese Aid
Burmese democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi condemned Japan's
limited resumption of aid to Burma's military junta, warning that it
will encourage the generals to continue human rights abuses. Daw Suu
Kyi wrote, "In view of the recent wave of arrests, the continuing
inhumane treatment of prisoners, the unrelenting repression of
political activities, and the plight of our refugees and internally
displaced persons, the decision of the Japanese government is deeply
disappointing," adding, "The resumption of aid will doubtless be used
by vested interests to claim there has been an improvement in the
human rights record in Burma."
(Bangkok, 8 April, Associated Press)
Import/Export Bans
Burma's military regime has issued sweeping new bans on the import and
export of many goods as part of an austerity campaign to press Burmese
to use local products and to preserve scant foreign exchange. A 20
March order by Burma's Commerce Ministry bars import of soft drinks,
biscuits, canned food, alcohol, beer, fresh fruits, and other goods.
Exports of rice, peanuts, sugar, rubber, cotton minerals, and other
products are banned.
(Rangoon, Kyodo News Agency, 10 April; Bangkok Post, 11 April)
Economic Crisis Deepens
In an analysis of Burma's economic situation, Asiaweek reported:
"[T]he economic slowdown is real enough. Since July, the kyat has lost
about 35% against the U.S. dollar. . . . Foreign-exchange reserves
have fallen. . . . In mid-1997, the World Bank estimated Myanmar's
foreign reserves at about $150 million _ less than one month's worth
of imports. . . . Already, representative offices of Malaysian, South
Korean, and Thai banks have cut back staff or temporarily closed their
doors. . . . [There are] enough hotel rooms for the next five years. .
. . Cross-border trade ... has been stymied by . . . curbs on imports.
`It's bad, and worse is to follow,' says one trader. `We are facing a
big crisis. . . .'"
(Rangoon, Asiaweek [Hong Kong], 3 April)
Pipeline Zone Forced Labor
Burmese soldiers are supervising forced labor on projects in the area
of a $1 billion dollar natural gas pipeline being built across
southern Burma by America's UNOCAL and France's TOTAL oil companies, a
journalist recently in the region reports. Reporters who visited an
army camp saw "a neatly-drawn wall chart which monitored the `Progress
of Rock Collecting'. Hundreds of rock piles were numbered and
accounted. . . ." A 1996 TOTAL document lists payments to the Burmese
army for use of villagers' labor. Burmese army units stationed along
the pipeline route have been accused of numerous human rights
violations, including summary executions and rape. UNOCAL is currently
facing two lawsuits in federal court in California alleging its
complicity in army abuses along the pipeline route.
(Kanbauk, Burma, Irish Times [Dublin], 4 April)
Junta Associate Buys Fake Ph.D.
The award of an alleged honorary "Washington University" Ph.D to a
Burmese businessman close to the country's ruling army junta has
sparked a lawsuit by Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri, to
block further such activities using its name. An investigation
revealed that the degree to Khin Shwe, presented amidst heavy
publicity by state media in Rangoon on 21 February, came from an
unaccredited "degree mill" incorporated in the British Virgin Islands
with offices near Philadelphia. The "school's" owner said that Khin
Shwe paid $8,000 for the degree, but claims, "If I had known Burma was
a dictatorship where people are tortured, I would not have considered
it."
(Philadelphia Inquirer, 31 March)
BURMA NEWS UPDATE is a publication of
the Burma Project, Open Society Institute
400 West 59th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019
tel: (212) 548-0632; fax: (212) 548-4655
e-mail: burma@xxxxxxxxxxx; www.soros.org/burma.html