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The BurmaNet News: March 29, 1999



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: March 29, 1999
Issue #1238

Noted in Passing: "Everybody who bears a human face must stand up and rise
to the occasion when it comes to fighting dictatorships." - Suba Churchill
Meshack, Kenyan student activist (see REUTERS: NO SAFETY IN COWARDICE)

HEADLINES:
==========
NLD: STATEMENT 41 - RIGHT TO GATHER 
NCGUB: STATEMENT ON ANNIVERSARY OF RESISTANCE DAY 
REUTERS: MYANMAR APPEALS FOR CEASEFIRE 
BKK POST: UNHCR TO AID THAILAND'S PLAN 
REUTERS: NO SAFETY IN COWARDICE 
RADIO FREE BURMA: THE BIA ATROCITIES 
ANNOUNCEMENT: FBC AUSTRALIA WEBSITE 
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NLD: STATEMENT 41 - RIGHT TO GATHER 
9 March, 1999 

National League for Democracy NO (97/B), West Shwegondine Road Bahan, Rangoon

Statement No: 41(3/99) Contents of letter dated 5 March 1999 from the
Chairman, National League for Democracy to the Chairman of the Chairman of
the State Peace and Development Council is reproduced and published for the
information of all.

START

" Subject- Convening a public meeting

1.	The National League for Democracy is a legally constituted national
political party and as such it has a legitimate duty to perform tasks for
the good of the country and the advancement of its party such as holding
public meetings, party meetings, printing and publishing information etc.

2.	On the 2nd March 1999, the National Unity Party which is another
political party as is the National League for Democracy, convened a public
meeting with signboards bearing the words "Rangoon Division Organising
Committee and the Farmers and Cultivators Seminar".

3.	Under present circumstances and conditions, no meeting can he held
except by the authorities or with their permission. This is a statement of
fact that is one hundred percent correct. The public meeting organised at
Asugyi village tract, Htantabin township, Rangoon division could only have
been held with the permission of the authorities. This cannot be denied.

4.	If the principle of "equality in law" is applied, the National League
for Democracy should be permitted to hold a public meeting in the same way
that a similar political party, the National Unity Party was granted.

5. Therefore permission is sought to hold a public meeting where the
Htantabin township, Rangoon Division, National League for Democracy can
meet the people of Rangoon Division just as the National Unity Party were
granted. permission." 

END

Central Executive Committee National League for Democracy, Rangoon 

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NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA: STATEMENT ON THE 54TH
ANNIVERSARY OF RESISTANCE DAY
27 March, 1999 

The 27th of March, the 1945, the day on which the Burma Patriotic Forces
led by Gen. Aung San, with the support of the Allies and together with the
entire people of Burma, commenced resistance against the Japanese
occupation forces practicing the evil fascist system, is historically the
Fascist Resistance Day.

(1) With the help and training given by the Japanese, Gen. Aung San, the
founder of the Burma Independence Army, and the Thirty Comrades had learned
the art of war. The struggle of the entire people of Burma, led by the
Burma Independence Army, for independence was successful because of the
assistance of the Japanese.

(2) However, when the Japanese imposed the fascist rule, which was worse
then the rule of colonialism, on the entire people of Burma, the Burma
Patriotic Forces led by Gen. Aung San acquired the assistance of the Allies
and, together with the people of Burma, launched resistance against the
fascist Japanese forces. The entire people of Burma had come to extremely
detest the fascist system. As a result, the entire people participated in
the resistance against the Japanese occupation forces, and fascism
disappeared from the land of Burma by the end of 1945.

(3) Though the alien fascists could be expelled, the "domestic fascists"
clique of the army, changing their title from time to time, are ruling
Burma again with militarism, ever since Gen. Ne Win seized the state power
from the civilian government in 1962.

(4) The SLORC/SPDC military clique has been misusing patriotism, practicing
the system of monopoly over the country's finance, economy and politics,
using the so-called Union Solidarity and Development association in like
manner as Hitler had used his Brown Shirts. It has created special military
intelligence organizations, like Hitler's Gestapo secret police
organization, to control the whole society, including the armed forces,
with fear.

(5) The armed forces of today have to blatantly oppose the people in
accordance with the wishes of the SPDC fascist militarist clique which has
to rule the country with coercion and oppression in order to perpetuate its
power. They have been relegated to the role of being the SPDC's tool of
oppression, or mercenary forces, and are being detested and feared by the
people. Sadly, we are seeing the armed forces that have become totally a
contradiction of the guide-line of their founder, Gen. Aung San, who said,
"The armed forces have been founded not for an individual but for the whole
country -- for the entire nation. They have been founded not for an
organization, a party nor a group but for the whole county, for the entire
nation. Our armed forces are not for tyrannizing the people, not for
flaunting their power in reliance of weapon. The armed forces are the
servants of the country and not the other way round."

(6) The domestically made fascist military dictators of today shamelessly
changed the name of the Anti-Fascist Resistance Day, which has its
inception in the Burmese armed forces led by Gen. Aung San and the historic
victory of the people of various ethnic nationalities of Burma over the
fascist dictators, to Armed Forces Day, disregarding the role of the people.

(7) So long as the evil fascist military dictatorship is in Burma, we will
never be able to successfully establish a federal union guaranteeing full
democratic and human rights. Like in the past, for the termination of the
fascist military dictatorship, it is time for patriotic and self-respecting
members of the armed forces to free themselves from the role of being the
tools of the SPDC and work together with the people for freedom and the
democratic cause.

(8) In conclusion, on this occasion of the 54th Anniversary of Anti-Fascist
Resistance Day, we would like to earnestly urge the members of the armed
forces, with a sense of compassion and love for justice, and the entire
people to support and cooperate with the Committee Representing the
People's Parliament, for the emergence of the People's Parliament, which is
the urgent need of the present day. 

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REUTERS: MYANMAR APPEALS TO GUERRILLA GROUPS FOR CEASEFIRE 
27 March, 1999 

YANGON (Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar marked Armed Forces Day Saturday
with an appeal to guerrilla groups fighting the government from the jungles
to make peace.

Prime Minister and Senior General Than Shwe made the call in a speech at a
parade to mark the occasion without naming the resistance groups that have
yet to sign cease-fire pacts with the government.

But his call appeared directed at the Karen National Union (KNU)
guerrillas, the last major rebel group still fighting Yangon for greater
autonomy for eastern Karen state.

The KNU, operating from the Thai-Myanmar border, is the oldest
anti-government resistance force, having been founded in 1949. Its leader
General Bo Mya and the ruling military have tried many times but failed to
agree to a truce.

``We hope that they will, like the 17 groups before them who foster good
will for the country and the people, join hands with the Tatmadaw
(military) soon,'' Than Shwe said.

The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has already made
peace with most anti-government groups representing various ethnic groups
in far flung areas of the country.

Armed Forces Day marks the army's launch of a national anti-fascist
movement against the occupying Japanese military on March 27, 1945. The
army commander at that time, General Aung San, became the country's
independence hero in 1948.

But Myanmar's main opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by
his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi, said in a statement that genuine democracy
must prevail first to foster unity and good ties between the people and the
military.

The NLD says the SPDC has curbed its activities, stepped up its pressure on
party members and detained about 150 of its members of parliament elected
in the 1990 general election, which the military refused to recognize.

``The success of the anti-fascist revolution, which was a major achievement
in the nation's struggle for independence, was due to the unity between the
political forces and the entire people,'' it said.

``It is seriously necessary for the entire nation to carry out unitedly for
the emergence of the Union of Myanmar where genuine democracy and human
rights prevail, holding hands together, bearing the historical lesson given
by the anti-fascist revolution in mind,'' it added.

[ ... ]

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THE BANGKOK POST: UNHCR TO AID THAILAND PLAN 
26 March, 1999 

Tak - The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will provide
Thailand with 390,000 baht to be spent on preparations for removing two
refugee camps from the border area for security reasons. 

An agreement for the financial support was signed yesterday by UNHCR
official Pier von Gordon and Tak deputy governor Panchai Bovornrattanapran. 

Provincial authorities drew up a plan to remove 17,000 Karen refugees from
Huay Kalok camp in Mae Sot district and Mawkier camp in Phop Phra district
to a new location which covers 800 rai  near Ban Umpiam at kilometre 86 on
the Mae Sot- Umphang highway.

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REUTERS: NO SAFETY IN COWARDICE 
25 March, 1999 by Grant McCool 

NEW YORK, March 26 (Reuters) - One travelled on foot in rural Burma
gathering testimony from villagers forcibly removed from their homes and
terrorised by soldiers. One who escaped from sexual slavery in West Africa
now helps spirit others out of bondage.  Another is a student leader who
was repeatedly arrested and tortured by authorities in his campaign for
democratic reforms in Kenya, and the fourth defends poor people sent to
death row -- sometimes wrongly -- in the United States, where capital
punishment is widespread.

All four, men and women in their 20s, met in New York this week before
receiving a human rights award Wednesday night from the Reebok
International Ltd. athletic footwear company.

Gathered around a conference table a day before the awards ceremony, they
discussed their activism, their hopes for their generation, the state of
world human rights and the compassion, pain and despair that have indelibly
marked their lives.

"Despite my suffering ... the fact that I survived has come to teach me
there is no safety in cowardice," said Suba Churchill Meshack, 26, chairman
of the Kenya University Student Organisation, who has been arrested and
tortured eight times by authorities, who he said pulled off all of his
toenails.

"Everybody who bears a human face must stand up and rise to the occasion
when it comes to fighting dictatorships," said Meshack, who was expelled
from a university for speaking out against corruption in Kenya's university
system and in the government of longtime President Daniel arap Moi.

His elderly father died of shock in 1996 after being wrongly told that his
son had been killed in prison.

ACTIVISTS RETELL STORIES OF OTHERS BEING MISTREATED

Some of the activists cried as they recounted human rights abuses and
listened to one another's stories of being tortured or seeing friends or
people they came to know being mistreated or killed in front of them.

They said they felt their work had gone largely unrecognized by the world
outside their immediate community and all expressed a determination to turn
adversity into positive change in their societies.

"The mistreatment of people is frighteningly universal," said Tanya Greene,
28, a lawyer for the Southern Centre for Human Rights. In just two years
she has become known as a tenacious defender of indigent black death row
inmates in Georgia and Alabama who are victims of racial discrimination.

"It seems like you can go to all corners of the world and find people who
are being mistreated in the name of government, order, discipline and
tradition," said Greene, a Harvard Law School graduate who lives in Atlanta.

"I think this award and meeting these three people inspires in me the power
of young people to just go out and do things."

The four received the Reebok Human Rights Award, which was established by
the company in 1988 and comes with a $25,000 grant. All 56 recipients in
the past 11 years are advocates of nonviolent change. They are selected by
company advisers who receive nominations from human rights organisations.

BURMESE MAN IN EXILE HIDING FROM MILITARY RULERS

"I used to think that people from Burma suffered the most but now what I've
heard from the others, it makes me think I need to learn more about the
other countries and why human rights abuses happen there too," said Ka Hsaw
Wa, 28, an advocate for ethnic and rural minorities in Burma (now called
Myanmar) who has lived in hiding in Thailand for 11 years.

Co-founder of EarthRights International, he documented oral evidence and
filed an unprecedented class-action lawsuit in a U.S. court against Unocal
company for alleged human rights violations on the Yadana gas pipeline
project in Burma.

The testimony accuses soldiers of the ruling military government -- the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) -- of clearing villages to
make way for the pipeline. Among the worst atrocities, he saw a woman
impaled with the branch of a tree through her vagina and was told of a
soldier who cut out the fetus of a pregnant woman and killed her.

The woman's 12-year-old brother vowed to arm himself and seek revenge
against soldiers. "I heard that he doesn't want any education, all he wants
is revenge. I don't want that happening in my country," an emotional Ka
Hsaw Wa said.

Julie Dogbadzi of Ghana was sent away from home at the age of seven in a
sexual slavery and labour tradition intended to redeem her family for the
alleged sins of an ancestor.

She said she was forced to work for a priest and fulfil him sexually. While
she declined to discuss details of her experiences, she has previously
recounted being forced to work in the fields with little or no food and
being beaten by the priest if she refused his sexual demands.

"I feel a bit sad to know what is going on around the world about human
rights and meeting my colleagues fighting for the rights of others. It
touches me, it touches my heart a lot," said Dogbadzi, covering her face
with her hand.

ESCAPE FROM BONDAGE LEADS TO FREEDOM FOR OTHERS

Dogbadzi, 24, escaped after 14 years in bondage, taking her two children
with her to the refuge of the International Needs organisation. She has
become an advocate for other young girls and women forced into the practice
known as Trokosi in the Upper Volta region of West Africa.

Speaking in the Eve language through an interpreter, she said she had
helped free 1,000 women but 4,000 were still in bondage. Her work was
instrumental in getting Ghana's parliament to pass legislation that outlaws
the practice.

"I think we are all working in the right direction. I want to call on young
people to work harder to free our colleagues from bondage and suffering and
to get their rights," she said.

At one point in the discussion, Greene, who says her family has been the
victim of racial discrimination, and the Burmese activist briefly debated
the relative merits of the U.S. political system and those in other
countries, which often look to America as a model of democracy and justice.

"So you mean you got a great system but not the best?" Ka Hsaw Wa asked.
"We have a really bad system. The worst."

Greene replied in essence that every endangered human life was worth saving
if it could be saved. "We can't make a hierarchy. I think it's dangerous
because then I can sit and think I have nothing to say," she said.

"But actually the people that I serve, whose lives I'm trying to save, are
in the same boat as the people you are trying to save because they are all
going to die at the hands of the government if we don't step in. It's just
mine is legal and yours isn't." (RBK.N).

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RADIO FREE BURMA: THE BIA ATROCITIES 
27 March, 1999 from rfb@xxxxxxxxxxx 

Dear Friends,

Please read the Saya U Thaung's  articles  "The BIA atrocities"  on Radio
Free Burma web page. Just read or print in Burmese.  News and Information
on RFB page can be freely distributed for the Burmese Democratic movement.

Radio Free Burma

http://www.fast.net.au/rfb

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ANNOUNCEMENT: FBC AUSTRALIA WEBSITE 
29 March, 1999 from Amanda Zappia <azappia@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> 

Free Burma Coalition, Australia

Visit our new Web Site.  The Burma Support Network and the Australia Burma
Council have set up a Web Site which will concentrate on issues of Burma in
Australia, Australian Government response etc.

Please check it out.  Remember it is still new but building.

The URL is:  http://www.users.bigpond.com/msn/mandf/default.htm

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