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OSI: Burma News Update No. 54 (r)



     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
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