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Burma News Update, No. 96 (r)



Open Society Institute
The Burma Project

Burma News Update No. 96
03 November 1999


Court Dismisses Abuse Suit

Burma's Supreme Court has dismissed a suit by the opposition
 National League for Democracy alleging abuse of power by 29 
of the country's senior military officers. According to a junta 
statement, the court ruled that the charges had no merit, and in 
any case, that the NLD requires the junta's prior permission to file
 a suit against "civil servants." The NLD suit, filed on 30 September, 
accused the military regime of disrupting NLD party activities and 
illegally detaining and harassing NLD members of parliament. 
Observers described the decision as a formality, since the military 
tightly controls the judiciary. The ruling came as diplomats say the 
regime "has been engaged on a concerted campaign to crush the 
party's ability to organize and to isolate its leaders," and as the state 
runs daily articles claiming mass resignations from the NLD.

Rangoon, "Reuters", "Agence France Presse," 29 October



UN Reports Burma Abuses

A United Nations report released Thursday, 28 October, details 
what it calls thoroughly-documented "summary executions, rape, 
torture, ill treatment during forced labour" and other abuses of 
ethnic minorities in Burma, as well as broader human rights 
violations. "Repression of civil and political rights continues and 
intensifies whenever there is any form of public protest and any 
form of public political activity," stated the report submitted by 
Rajsoomer Lallah, the special rapporteur on Burma for the UN 
Commission on Human Rights, adding, "The rule of law cannot 
be said to exist and function as the judicial system is subject 
to a military regime and serves only as a handmaiden to a policy 
of repression."

United Nations, "Agence France Presse," 29 October


"Mighty" Army Needed

One of Burma's top generals called for strengthening the country's 
armed forces to guard against interference and manipulation by 
"big neo-colonialist powers." Ruling junta Vice Chairman General 
Maung Aye warned, "In this world today, big neo-colonialist 
powers are attempting to interfere in and manipulate the internal 
affairs of developing countries," adding, "A modern, mighty and 
qualified defence force is required to ward off this danger." [Over 
the past decade, Burma has more than doubled its army to 
nearly 500,000 members, although the country faces no credible 
external security threat-Ed.]

Rangoon, "Reuters,' 27 October 



Rice Worries?

An independent three-year investigation released on 20 October 
warned that many rural communities in Burma are facing severe
 food shortages. The 170-page report released in Hong Kong 
said that the regime is forcing farmers to sell their crop at less 
than half the market price and compelling people to work without 
compensation on public works projects.  However, a senior 
member of Burma's ruling junta, Lt. General Tin Oo, said on 
26 October that sales of official rice stocks are intended to 
curb soaring inflation, and that enough rice has been stocked 
to feed the army for two years. The retail price of the most 
popular rice variety has leapt over 100 percent in the past year, 
and there has been panic buying among some consumers. 
[Meanwhile, Associated Press on 25 October reports from Mae 
Sot, Thailand, that hundreds of Buddhist monks and nuns from 
over 80 monasteries inside Burma have fled to Thailand because
 of acute food shortages inside Burma.]

Hong Kong, "Kyodo," 20 October; Rangoon, "Reuters," 27 October



Rangoon Junta Shuffle

In the sixth set of ministerial changes in less than two years, 
Burma's army junta made minor rearrangements to its ranks
in a cabinet reshuffle announced in Rangoon on 29 October. 
Minister of Commerce Major-General Kyaw Than and 
Minister of Sports Brigadier-General Sein Win were retired. 
Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement Brigadier 
General Pyi Sone was reassigned as minister of commerce 
and Religious Affairs Minister Major-General Sein Htwa as 
minister of social welfare, relief and resettlement. The junta 
named U Aung Htwe as minister of religious affairs and 
Brigadier-General Thura Aye Myint as minister of sports.

Rangoon, "Xinhua," 29 October


South Africa Protest

The leader and 30 other members of the Confederation of 
South African Trade Union (Cosatu) were expelled from a 
major trade show in South Africa after protesting the 
participation of Burma's military regime. Cosatu  
Secretary-General Zwelinzima Vavi said that Cosatu is 
demanding that the South African government "cut all ties" 
with the military junta, which he said is guilty of "forced 
slave labour, extra-judicial killings, child labour and 
suppression of basic human rights." [Cosatu, South Africa's 
leading labor grouping, was a crucial force in the anti-apartheid 
struggle. The Burmese junta has dismissed offers by retired 
President Nelson Mandela to help mediate an end to Burma's 
political stalemate-Ed.]

Johannesburg, "South African Press Association," 21 

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