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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: May 4, 2000
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
May 4, 2000
Issue # 1524
NOTED IN PASSING:
"Fact is, the successful foreign investors [in Burma] are few and far
between."
Lee Kim Chew, Chief Regional Correspondent of The Singapore Straits
Times. See (STRAITS TIMES [Singapore]: MYANMAR LOSES HOLD ON FOREIGN
INVESTORS)
*Inside Burma
STRAITS TIMES [Singapore]: MYANMAR LOSES HOLD ON FOREIGN INVESTORS
REUTERS: TOTAL DENIES FUNDING MYANMAR MILITARY
INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FUND: STATUS OF THE UNOCAL/BURMA LITIGATION
REUTERS: MYANMAR OPTIMISTIC ABOUT NEW U.N. ENVOY
AP: FINE TUNING OF POWER SHARING BLAMED FOR DELAYS
SCMP: REGIME ACCUSES WEST OF HYPOCRISY
XINHUA: CHINA, MYANMAR SIGN FACTORY PROJECT AGREEMENT
*International
REAKSMEI KAMPUCHEA (Cambodia): DETAINED BURMESE REBELS DEPORTED FROM
CAMBODIA
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON): CITY DIARY: DRILLER'S KILLER ARGUMENT
BUSINESS DAY (South Africa): SURVEY - LINKS WITH GERMANY - AID
PROJECTS FOR NEEDY COUNTRIES (Germany to forgive Burma debt)
*Opinion/Editorials
BURMANET OP/ED: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ARTICLE BY GEORGE SIORIS ON
CONTAINING AUTHORITARIANISM IN MYANMAR
*Other
BURMANET: SALWEEN WATCH AVAILABLE ONLINE
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
STRAITS TIMES [Singapore]: MYANMAR LOSES HOLD ON FOREIGN INVESTORS
May 4, 2000
By LEE KIM CHEW
in YANGON
FOREIGN investors shun Myanmar because of its bad politics and red
tape.
They face many difficulties, from domestic restrictions and
corruption to foreign sanctions and consumer boycotts in the West.
New foreign investments approved last year plunged to US$29.5 million
(S$50.5) from US$777 million the previous year, down from US$2.8
billion in 1997.
Britain and the US are putting the squeeze on companies to get them
out of Myanmar. Baker Hughes, the giant American oilfield-services
firm, pulled out last month.
Pepsi Cola has long gone, the fizz having disappeared after hopes
that Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house
arrest signaled a change of heart in the military regime came to
nothing.
FOREIGN FIRMS LEAVING
THE backbone of Myanmar's foreign investments, apart from property
development and hotels, are the extractive industries.
France's Total oil company is staying put. So, too, is Unocal, which
built the Yadana gas pipeline to Thailand. These are the exceptions
to the many who have left. Their departure has dashed hopes that
Myanmar's entry into Asean would lead to a revival of the country's
moribund economy.
The incomplete building projects in Yangon stand testimony to the
political gridlock that has impoverished the country. Many new hotels
have been built, but the small number of tourists trickling into the
country is not enough to fill them up.
Brigadier-General David Abel, one of the regime's longest serving
economic ministers, is undaunted about the sharp plunge in foreign
investments. Things will get better, he says.
He will not reveal where the new investments, if any, are coming
from. But he points to what he says are successful ventures, like
cigarette company Rothmans, and Tiger beer brewery, in Myanmar.
Fact is, the successful foreign investors are few and far between.
Singapore entrepreneur Albert Hong's grand plan to turn a part of the
capital into an industrial powerhouse remains unfulfilled. He came to
Yangon in 1994 with an ambitious blueprint to develop a new
millennium township.
>From 140 sq km, the plan got scaled down to 12 sq km. The squatters
have since been resettled and land has been cleared, but his
consortium has stopped putting money into a project which has no
early prospects of economic returns. A Singapore businessman
says: "It's a difficult operating environment. There are all sorts of
restrictions. Corruption is another enduring problem. You need to
have the right connections to make it work."
NTUC Fairprice's dream of building a supermarket chain was rudely
shattered when it pulled out of the country in frustration. Its
supermarket, set up in 1994 as a Singapore-Myanmar joint venture to
cater to an expatriate clientele and rich locals, was not allowed to
import foreign products a year after its opening.
The rules were changed by a government which is perpetually short of
hard currencies. So it restricted imports and imposed controls to
prevent the outflow of capital.
Said NTUC Fairprice chairman Chandra Das: "We can't import, we can't
operate. It's as simple as that. At first, we tried selling local
produce, but it didn't work. We had no choice but to close down and
cease operations."
This happened shortly after Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong's visit to
Yangon in March 1998. NTUC Fairprice kept a small trading office in
Yangon until it pulled out of Myanmar totally last February.
Not just foreign investors, Myanmar businessmen face a tangle of red
tape.
The archeology department prevented an enterprising trader from
making bronze replicas of Burmese cultural artifacts for export.
Conditioned in the old and outdated thinking that Myanmar is self-
sufficient, the instinctive reaction of its leaders is to maintain
control. Myanmar's return to the regional mainstream has thus not
brought it economic gains.
The government talks about a free market economy but in reality, it
has not moved far from its autarkic and socialist past.
Its fundamental precept is that "the initiative to shape the national
economy must be kept in the hands of the state and the national
peoples."
BELIEF OF SELF SUFFICIENCY
MANY of Myanmar's top leaders or their families are involved in
business, and the government-owned Union of Myanmar Economic
Holdings, the country's largest company, has complete control over
foreign investments.
With foreign capital drying up, more Myanmar workers are seeking work
abroad. Their flight of professionals and the closure of the
universities have left the country bereft of the very skills it needs
to put the economy to work.
Said Mr Aung Thien, a businessman: "The only manufacturing plant that
is working full time in Myanmar is the mint. The government has
increased the salaries of civil servants by five times. Where is the
money coming from?"
There was no word of the pay rise in the official media because the
government feared that wide publicity would spark off a new round of
runaway inflation. But the news spread by word of mouth, and prices
rose in anticipation of the bigger pay packets at the end of this
month.
The government had earlier rounded up the rice traders, edible-oil
companies, fishery associations, livestock federations, and told them
to hold back price increases.
In the past, speculators and profiteers were thrown into prison. Now,
it was just a call for cooperation. No threats. Not yet.
The government also opened up new makeshift tax-free markets for
vendors to sell meat, fish and vegetables at low prices.
Like much of what the regime does, the tax-free market is a stopgap
measure to control inflation, now at running at about 30 per cent.
People fear that the prices of essentials will skyrocket when the
supplies run out in a few months. There are no shortages now.
So what if laundered drug money fuels the economy. This cash-strapped
government, which has built 101 major bridges, 104 dams, 43
hospitals, 350 primary schools and 3,700 miles of road, has few
sources of income. It needs
all the money it can get to build its way to political legitimacy.
Ten years ago, the decrepit Yangon airport did not have a luggage
conveyor belt. Today, its spanking new passenger terminal, beside the
old one, comes with electric belts and more -- duty-free shops, air-
conditioned tour buses, limousines.
But this is only one side of the picture.
The rich have arrived, but the poor remain desperately poor. The
disparity between the privileged few and the swelling ranks of the
deprived is more obvious these days.
The World Bank has found much that is wrong with the Myanmar economy,
and it has proposed radical structural reforms, like doing away with
the fictitious official exchange rate, reforming state enterprises,
and re-ordering the budget priorities to move funds from defence to
health and education.
This means a wholesale revamp of the moribund economy.
According to Mr Bradley Babson, a senior adviser of the World Bank,
Myanmar's current policies "will not yield long term stability and
development unless it adopts a more pro-people stance."
Current government spending in education as a share of national
income is among world's lowest. But the government has rejected the
World Bank's findings and its proposal to tie foreign aid to
political reforms.
Says Foreign Minister Win Aung: "We've had not received foreign aid
for a long time. Everything we did, we had to depend on ourselves.
We're not going to cry and ask for help."
The writer is Chief Regional Correspondent of The Straits Times.
This is the third of four articles.
____________________________________________________
REUTERS: TOTAL DENIES FUNDING MYANMAR MILITARY
By Gillian Handyside
PARIS, May 4 (Reuters) - Belgo-French oil giant TotalFinaElf
insisted on Thursday it had never directly funded the military in
Myanmar but said the Myanmar military junta paid its soldiers to
protect Total installations and workers in the country.
``As in many other countries, the protection of our installations
and workers is the responsibility of the state. We have no direct
link with the Myanmar army. We are only responsible for workers on
our sites,'' TotalFinaElf spokesman Thomas Fell told Reuters.
Asked whether the Myanmar military junta paid troops to provide
security for Total's projects in the former Burma, Fell said: ``Yes.
The state pays them, just as the French government does in France or
the U.S. administration does in the U.S.''
Fell was responding to a Washington Post article on Tuesday which
said U.S. State Department documents backed Myanmar refugees' claims
that Total and U.S. oil firm Unocal Corp must be held accountable for
human rights abuses while they were building a natural gas pipeline
in Myanmar.
Fell said Total would not pull out of Myanmar so long as it was
legally allowed to remain there, despite a European Union decision in
April to tighten sanctions against the junta in Rangoon because of
its poor human rights record.
``We operate within the law. There is no French, EU or UN law
barring us from working there,'' Fell said.
TOTAL/UNOCAL ACCUSED OF COMPLICITY IN RIGHTS ABUSE
Lawyers representing thousands of refugees who fled to the Myanmar-
Thailand border in the early 1990s, say Total and Unocal were
complicit in abuses by armed forces in Myanmar.
The Washington Post said the abuses, which the companies deny,
allegedly included the forced relocation of entire villages, the use
of slave labour, deaths, beatings, rapes and property seizures.
Lawyers for the refugees told the Post State Department cables
obtained under the Freedom of Information Act contradicted the oil
firms' denials. The article
cited a 1995 cable of an interview with former Unocal official Joel
Robinson.
``He (Robinson) stated forthrightly that the companies have hired
the Burmese to provide security for the project and pay for this
through the (state oil company) Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise,'' the
Post quoted the cable as saying.
Fell said Total could ``guarantee there were no villages displaced
or incidences of forced labour'' in the zone a few kilometres either
side of the ``1.2 billion pipeline, which crosses some 60 kilometres
of Myanmar territory.
``Since we have been there these practices (human rights abuses)
have not taken place. I don't know whether they have happened
elsewhere in Myanmar,'' he said.
The pipeline crosses a region traditionally inhabited by ethnic
minorities including the Karen, who have been fighting for self-rule.
Construction began in 1992 and ended in 1998.
The Washington Post article was the latest twist in a long-running
saga over Total's involvements in Burma.
French TV channel Canal Plus alleged on April 11 Total was involved
in displacing populations, sub-contracted forced labour and paid
compensation to the military regime.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine told the French parliament on
April 26 the government had asked Total to try and improve the living
conditions of local inhabitants in Myanmar.
But Paris would not copy the British government -- which urged UK
oil firm Premier Oil Plc to pull out of Myanmar in protest against
rights abuses by the regime -- and would not impose economic
sanctions on Yangon, Vedrine said.
*******
BurmaNet adds:
Related webpages--
International Labor Rights Fund's on the Unocal/Yadana litigation:
http://www.laborrights.org/projects/unocal/
Unocals' page on the suit:
http://www.unocal.com/myanmar/suit.htm
To read the full text of the "smoking gun" cable referred to by The
Washington Post, see The BurmaNet News: March 13, 2000: US STATE
DEPT: DECLASSIFIED CABLE--'PROSECUTION AND DEFENSE SQUARE OFF OVER
THE BURMA GAS PIPELINE'
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$215
____________________________________________________
INTERNATIONAL LABOR RIGHTS FUND: STATUS OF THE UNOCAL/BURMA LITIGATION
[Excerpt from web page as of May 2000]
http://www.laborrights.org/projects/unocal/
Two separate cased were filed on behalf of two different groups of
Burmese refugees in September, 1996 against Unocal Corporation
alleging primarily that Unocal's Yadana Project was using forced
labor to construct its gas pipeline in Burma. Unocal quickly moved to
dismiss both cases, arguing that there was no theory of law that
would allow Unocal to be held liable for any acts occurring in
connection with the pipeline project in Burma. In two separate
opinions, Judge Richard Paez held that the cases could go forward
under the Alien Tort Claims Act, a federal statute specifically
designed to allow foreign nationals to sue U.S. citizens for
violations of international law... Lawyers for plaintiffs in both
cases are now working closely together in their effort to bring
Unocal to justice.
The plaintiffs' victory at the dismissal stage gave them the right to
conduct discovery against Unocal. This process was completed with
limited exceptions by the Court-ordered discovery cutoff date of
December 17, 1999. As part of discovery, all of the current
plaintiffs were deposed by lawyers from the two large law firms
Unocal has retained to defend it: Munger, Tolles and Olson, and
Howrey, Simon, Arnold and White. Further, lawyers for the plaintiffs
deposed more than 25 Unocal officials, employees and consultants,
including CEO Roger Beach and former President and Vice Chair of the
Board, John Imle. Plaintiffs also have received over 40,000 pages of
documents from Unocal. Most of the documents have been
inappropriately labeled "confidential" by Unocal in an effort to keep
the public misinformed about the facts. Such documents cannot be
released by plaintiffs' lawyers to the public. Thus, Unocal denies
involvement in human rights abuses in Burma, while preventing the
public from learning the true facts.
Discovery was by no means an easy process for the plaintiffs.
Unocal's two teams of lawyers resisted virtually every discovery
request made by plaintiffs, forcing plaintiffs to file numerous
motions to the court seeking orders compelling discovery. In one
instance, plaintiffs' lawyers made a formal request that they be
permitted to visit the pipeline in Burma to examine for themselves
some of Unocal's claims of bringing peace and prosperity to the
pipeline region. Unocal refused the request. Plaintiffs then
successfully got a court order requiring Unocal to provide
plaintiffs' with access to the pipeline area. Unocal then claimed it
needed the permission of its co-venturer, Total, which was refused.
Thus, Unocal boasts on its Website that "[n]early two dozen
journalists have toured the Yadana project over the past several
years," but it claims not to be able to provide access to plaintiffs'
lawyers. If Unocal has nothing to hide, if it's claims about the many
benefits of the pipeline project are true, then what is Unocal
hiding? Plaintiffs' counsel made clear that the main purpose of the
trip would be to photograph pipeline infrastructure that plaintiffs
were forced to build. Unocal asserts with great conviction that no
forced labor was used on the pipeline, but refuses to let informed
persons verify the claim. Unocal has learned well a lesson from its
partner SLORC - you can claim whatever you like as long as you
control access to the facts.
As part of the discovery process, Unocal's lawyers aggressively
sought disclosure of information to allow Unocal to identify and
investigate the plaintiffs in Burma. Unocal proposed using officials
of a SLORC agency to investigate plaintiffs' factual claims by
visiting plaintiffs' home villages and questioning their friends and
relatives. Over plaintiffs' protests that Unocal's
proposed "investigation" was nothing more than an effort to terrorize
them into dropping out of the case, Unocal persisted in its position
and ultimately convinced the court that such an investigation should
be permitted.
The objective facts that are available to the public establish
convincingly that plaintiffs have developed substantial evidence to
support their allegations that their forced labor was used to clear
the pipeline route, build pipeline infrastructure, such as roads,
helipads, wharfs, security camps, and bridges. Further, virtually all
of the plaintiffs, and thousands of other villagers, were also forced
to serve as porters for military battalions specifically created to
protect the pipeline. The evidence is discussed in section B below.
Unable to answer plaintiffs' specific evidence that forced labor was
essential to the pipeline construction process, Unocal moved for
summary judgement on January 21, 2000, which would deny plaintiffs
their requested jury trial. Unocal made two primary arguments: First,
incredibly, Unocal cites cases on public service in the U.S. and
asserts that SLORC's use of forced labor in Burma is akin to jury
duty and would not even violate U.S. law. In other words, Unocal
defends the brutal SLORC regime's use of forced labor by asserting
that it is something akin to the WPA program during the Great
Depression. Among other reasons that makes Unocal's defense ludicrous
is that guns and shackles were not used to round up the WPA
volunteers, and the workers were not cruelly tortured for failing to
meet arbitrary work quotas. These are routine practices, however, for
Unocal's partner SLORC.
Second, Unocal argues that "Unocal Corporation" cannot be held liable
for the acts of "indirect" subsidiaries, such as Unocal Myanmar
Offshore Company Ltd, which holds the company's interest in the
Yadana gas field, and the Moatama Gas Pipeline Corporation (MGTC),
which Unocal and Total formed as a Bermuda corporation to "own" the
actual pipeline. It is remarkable that Unocal, after its years of
public relations claims that there is no forced labor on the
pipeline, and its repeated boasting that its pipeline is bringing
prosperity to the poor in Burma, is now attempting to use the classic
refuge of scoundrels -- hiding behind the corporate shield and
asserting that if people were harmed in connection with the pipeline
construction, Unocal is not responsible.
[A hearing to decide on whether the case will proceed will be held in
Los Angeles on May 22, 2000]
____________________________________________________
AP: FINE TUNING OF POWER SHARING BLAMED FOR DELAYS
May 4, 2000
Burma's Foreign Minister, Win Aung, said yesterday that drafting a
new constitution to end military rule had been taking years because
of the need to fine-tune power-sharing provisions.
The National Convention, which was formed to write a new
constitution, has not gathered in full session for more than four
years and has been boycotted by the main opposition party, which has
called the process "a sham to prolong military rule".
But Mr Win Aung said that the process was going well, even though he
acknowledged there was no way of knowing when the convention's work
would be completed. There is no deadline.
When the convention last met in full session in March 1996 - before
the National League for Democracy led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi launched its boycott - only six of a proposed 15 chapters had
been adopted.
Mr Win Aung said if a constitution was instituted too quickly without
resolving all possible complications - for example, the military
junta has long said that the country's rebellious ethnic minorities
must be accommodated - it would be inviting danger later on.
Convention members, along with special advisers, had been meeting at
least three times a week - "sometimes all day" - and had overcome a
number of important issues, said Mr Win Aung.
____________________________________________________
REUTERS: MYANMAR OPTIMISTIC ABOUT NEW U.N. ENVOY
YANGON, May 3 (Reuters) - The foreign minister of military-
ruled Myanmar said on Wednesday he expected a newly designated U.N.
special envoy to Myanmar, a Malaysian, would understand the country
better than his predecessor.
"Mr Razali is from the same region, Asia, and so he has an
opportunity to understand more about the region, the problems and
the mentality of the people," Win Aung told a news conference when
asked about Razali's planned visit.
He said Peruvian Alvaro de Soto, whom Razali succeeded as
U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan's special envoy to Myanmar, was
not so familiar with the Asian region and did not understand Asian
ways.
"We can hope to have a better understanding and
communication between us," he said. "We can see eye to eye with each
other and also discuss (in a) more friendly (way)," he said.
De Soto has paid periodic visits to Myanmar to try to
persuade the government to negotiate with the opposition National
League for Democracy, led by Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu
Kyi.
Win Aung said discussions were under way to fix a mutually
convenient date for Razali's visit.
Earlier this week, Win Aung said Razali had suggested early
May, but this was not convenient for the government so the trip
could be delayed until next month.
Razali, Malaysia's former representative at the United
Nations, was appointed to his new post in early April with a mandate
to promote human rights and the restoration of democracy in a
country that has been under military rule since 1988.
He has said he will meet representatives of both the
military and its opposition during his visit.
Last week, Tin Oo, vice-chairman of the National League for
Democracy, said it looked forward to the visit, bit it was important
Razali remained independent.
"We believe he is a true international servant," Tin Oo told
Reuters. "He has to serve internationally, not his own country --
even if he is an adviser to the prime minister of Malaysia. We
believe he will carry out his duty as a very good and able
trustworthy diplomat."
The opposition has complained of stepped up harassment in
recent weeks, with the arrest of more than 40 members, many of them
members of its youth wing.
____________________________________________________
SCMP: REGIME ACCUSES WEST OF HYPOCRISY
BURMA William Barnes in Bangkok and Agencies in Rangoon
May 4, 2000
Rangoon launched a vitriolic attack on the West yesterday, accusing
countries such as Britain and the United States of blatant hypocrisy
while issuing a flat denial that it was guilty of gross human rights
violations.
At a combative news conference, Foreign Minister Win Aung referred to
recent world news stories, such as the Elian Gonzalez case, to show
up what he said were the double standards at work in Western
capitals.
"Human rights violations mean cruelty to people, killing grounds,
people slaughtered like animals," he said. "We don't have mass
disappearances or mass graves here."
Western governments and watchdog groups charge Burma's military
rulers with a string of offences, including the use of forced labour
and the systematic persecution of political opponents and ethnic
minorities.
The military regime raised eyebrows on Tuesday by threatening in a
state newspaper to kill opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. This came
as economic ministers of members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) met in Rangoon. Informed observers said
yesterday the "extraordinary behaviour" showed that the ruling
generals thought such threats met with the approval of other Asean
leaders, or at the least demonstrated that "constructive engagement"
had failed to soften the regime.
The army newspaper the Mirror said that Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and her
followers could be executed or face life imprisonment for high
treason for having contact with dissidents. The paper claimed
the "power-crazy" Nobel Peace Prize laureate was angering ordinary
Burmese by blocking foreign aid and spreading disunity.
Although such claims are not so unusual - the state press runs
cartoons denigrating Ms Aung San Suu Kyi on an almost daily basis -
they come at a time when the regime has been preening itself as host
to Asean and its three dialogue partners, China, Japan and Korea. Top
leaders in the junta have claimed that their hosting of the meeting
demonstrates that Burma is now generally accepted to be a respectable
nation, even though virtually all full Asean members are
automatically eligible to host the meeting.
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, the regime's powerful intelligence
chief, presented to his visitors "a country that is peaceful, stable
and economically vibrant, with people full of zest and full of
confidence for the future". This showed, said one critic, that the
regime has learnt the jargon of international posturing if nothing
else. By also attacking Ms Aung San Suu Kyi and arresting 40 members
of her National League for Democracy, the military has also shown it
thinks harsh repression is acceptable, said the co-ordinator of the
Alternative Asean Network on Burma, Debbie Stothard.
"The implication is that the regime thinks this is acceptable. I hope
that some at least of the other Asean leaders feel uncomfortable,"
she added.
A Rangoon-based diplomat argued that the Government was becoming
increasingly nervous with the approach of the 10th anniversary of the
1990 election, in which the National League for Democracy picked up
most seats. The military quickly aborted the result when it realised
its puppet party had failed to win popular support, and the
parliament has never sat.
____________________________________________________
XINHUA: CHINA, MYANMAR SIGN FACTORY PROJECT AGREEMENT
May 3, 2000, Wednesday
China and Myanmar signed an agreement here Wednesday on China's
assistance to an agricultural machinery factory project in Myanmar.
Representing their respective governments, Shi Guangsheng, the
Chinese Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation, and
Brigadier-General Abel, the Myanmar Minister at the Office of the
Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, signed the
agreement. According to the agreement, the factory, to be built on an
area of 25,000 square meters, will produce annually 10,000 sets of 16
horse-power (HP) power tiller and 5,000 sets of 3.5 HP reaper.
The Chinese side will be responsible for design, supervision on civil
engineering, supply and installation and testing of equipment and
technical training, the agreement said, adding that the expenses will
be borne under the interest-free loans specified under the Agreement
on Economic and Technical Cooperation signed on December 26, 1989 and
August 23, 1991 and June 7, 1999 respectively between the two
governments.
The agreement also stated that the Myanmar government will be
responsible for the civil engineering of the project in conformity
with drawings submitted by the Chinese side and bear the expenses
incurred thereupon.
The agreement added that the Myanmar government will exempt from
duties and taxes the equipment, materials provided by the Chinese
side.
The Chinese minister arrived here Monday and visited Myanmar on the
occasion of his attendance of the meeting of economic ministers of
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and their counterparts
from three Northeast Asian countries -- China, Japan and South Korea.
__________________ INTERNATIONAL ___________________
REAKSMEI KAMPUCHEA (Cambodia): DETAINED BURMESE REBELS DEPORTED FROM
CAMBODIA
Phnom Penh in Khmer, 22 Apr
Report by S. Ritthi
[FBIS Translated Text] The Cambodian Military Court has held an
audience to try two Burmese rebels for illegal entry into Cambodia in
accordance with Article 29 of the immigration law.
At the 20 April hearing, Judge Nuon Chantha announced a verdict
sentencing Mot Sayhansamai and Kau Saknuonphai [names as
transliterated] to three months and eight days in jail, counting from
12 January 2000, the day they began to be detained temporarily. The
sentences were meted out in conformity with Article 29 of the
immigration law.
The article specifies: "Any foreigner who enters the Kingdom of
Cambodia illegally through deception or any other tricks is liable to
three to six months' imprisonment and deportation."
Mot Sayhansamai, 45, a colonel and head of the Rama-nhak camp on
the Thai-Burmese border, and Kau Saknuonphai, 26, a lieutenant at the
camp, were arrested and detained temporarily by Cambodian authorities
on 12 January 2000 while they were crossing the border into Cambodia
in Battambang Province's Samlot District.
According to the two detainees, Rama-nhak is the last camp of the
Mot Sayhansamai-led Burmese resistance movement's 500 forces fighting
to reclaim territory from Burma. Due to the shortage of materials
and funds, the movement leader instructed his men to come to Cambodia
and contact Cambodian military leaders for assistance from the
Cambodian Government. However, the intention failed and the two
Burmese were apprehended and sent to Phnom Penh.
In view of the verdict read by Judge Nuon Chantha at the hearing,
while entering illegally into Cambodia, the two Burmese did not
conduct any unlawful activities or engage in arms or opium
trafficking. However, the action has caused an adverse impact on
relations between Cambodia and Burma. Therefore, the Military Court
decided to apply Article 29 of the immigration law.
It has been 98 days between their detention and the issuance of
this verdict. Therefore, the two persons will be deported from
Cambodia today.
Mot Sayhansamai, a Mon-Thai, said that he had been serving the
movement as a soldier for 25 years and that Kau Saknuonphai for six
years. They had also been living in Thailand with their parents,
wives, and children.
An army official who demanded anonymity told Reaksmei Kampuchea
on the morning of 20 April that the movement initially controlled 21
resistance camps in Burma. However due the lack of everything, 20
of the camps have been closed, and while some fighters have
surrendered to the Burmese Government the others have returned to
civilian life.
He added that most of the movement's forces are of the Mon-
Khmer and Mon-Thai ethnic groups.
[Description of Source: Description of Source: Phnom Penh Reaksmei
Kampuchea in Cambodian -- pro-government newspaper]
____________________________________________________
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH(LONDON): CITY DIARY: DRILLER'S KILLER ARGUMENT
May 03, 2000, Wednesday
YOU will remember the unsavoury little episode last month when the
Foreign Office tried to bully Premier Oil into abandoning its
drilling programme in Burma, because Robin Cook's "ethical" policy
finds the regime distateful.
Of course it is, but this sort of pressure is a shabby way to
implement policy at the expense of an innocent third party. Now I
learn that Premier has come under renewed pressure, in its role as
sponsor of a conference tomorrow for the Institute for Social and
Ethical Accountability.
The organisers feared that Premier's presence would rather spoil
things because it would attract protesters who would claim that
accepting Premier's money is unethical.
A company spokesman explained: "Well, we offered to withdraw, but we
are concerned the Institute is losing a source of funding. We can't
all avoid doing business in areas where certain people think we ought
not to invest."
An Institute spokesman was equally regretful. "They tried to learn
about an important new area and got caught in NGO activity," he says
sadly. "Our work is serious and we try to help all types of
companies."
PAUL Greenwood has been out shopping for chinos and polo shirts for
his new job as knowledge manager (I'm told it has something to do
with computers) with Clifford Chance.
You will remember that the law firm recently introduced a dress-down
Friday, with senior partner Keith Clark setting the trend in his
combat trousers and a specially made corduroy jacket.
Greenwood's old job at McKinsey had no such frivolity. "The nearest
thing they get to casual is a jacket thrown across the back of a
chair," he chirps. I think it sounds much better.
____________________________________________________
BUSINESS DAY (South Africa): SURVEY - LINKS WITH GERMANY - AID
PROJECTS FOR NEEDY COUNTRIES (Germany to forgive Burma debt)
May 3, 2000
David Jackson
DEBT relief and financial and technical assistance programmes are a
key focus of Germanys outreach initiatives to developing countries.
Germany has had a debt relief policy in place since 1978, when about
35 of the least-developed countries benefited. The main conditions
are good governance by recipient countries and a consistent strategy
to fight poverty.
According to the German embassy in Pretoria, Germanys policy on debt
relief is to give aid to the least-developed countries in the form of
grants and not loans. In this way, the creation of new debt is
avoided.
Over the next 10 years Germany plans to provide debt relief amounting
to about R32bn.
This includes a planned debt relief programme on trade debts of about
R17bn as well as a further R13bn in financial assistance to countries
such as Myanmar, Madagascar, Liberia and the Democratic Republic of
Congo, among others.
Furthermore, Germany will contribute about about R1,6bn to a European
Union debt-relief initiative. It will support a World Bank initiative
for the same purpose with about R480m.
Since 1994 German government and non-governmental organisations have
committed more than R2bn for development in SA. The aid has consisted
of both financial and technical assistance.
The German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) office in Pretoria represents
the German Agency for Technical Co-operation in both SA and Lesotho.
GTZ operates as a private sector enterprise with a development policy
mandate to make sustainable improvements to the living conditions of
people in partner countries, and to conserve natural resources.
GTZ sponsors about 38 projects in SA with an annual budget of about
R70m.
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________
BURMANET OP/ED: SOME THOUGHTS ON THE ARTICLE BY GEORGE SIORIS ON
CONTAINING AUTHORITARIANISM IN MYANMAR.
***
Note: In it's April 29/30 issue, BurmaNet carried an article from
The Japan Times by George Sioris entitled "Containing
Authoritarianism in Myanmar."
(See
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$367).
BurmaNet is pleased to bring you Professor Josef Silverstein's
response but the views expressed here are the author's and not
necessarily those of BurmaNet's.
****
By JOSEF SILVERSTEIN
It is to be hoped that the Japanese public as well as government and
business leaders read your article in the Japan Times. It was well
written and thoughtful. Having been mentioned twice in it, I feel it
necessary to respond by expanding upon my idea to expel the
representative of the present government of Myanmar to the UN as a
way of demonstrating that the government has no more standing with
the community of nations as it does with its own people.
You ask, what are the precedents for such action; what procedures
will be followed; how can the UN proceed to "selective expulsions?
Recently, Thomas Hidgon, Esq. Law Fellow at Washington College of
Law, American University, presented a paper entitled, "Myanmar's
Regime at the UN General Assembly" at a public meeting in Washington,
D.C. In it he reminded his listeners that the General Assembly's
rules provide "that the credentials of representatives and the names
of members of a delegation shall be submitted to the Secretary
General." The Credentials Committee of the GA, appointed at the
beginning of each session, then examines the credentials and reports
to the GA. The committee can report acceptance or rejection and the
GA then votes to accept or reject the committee's report "in the
light of the purpose and principles of the Charter and the
Circumstances of each case." Hidgon pointed out that in l974, the
Credentials Committee rejected the credentials of the representative
of the Republic of South Africa and the GA accepted the report. The
rejection of the SA rep was questioned by several members of the GA
and the President of the GA was asked for a ruling from the chair, He
ruled on the basis of his authority to rule on points of order and
control of the Assembly's Rules of Procedure and upheld the decision
of the GA. The GA sustained his ruling by a vote of 91 to 22 with l9
abstentions.
Given the fact that the government in Rangoon has repeatedly ignored
the resolutions of the GA and the Comm on Human Rights, took no
acceptable action in the light of the exhaustive report of the ILO
and its efforts to bring an end to forced labor in Burma; and given
the fact that there exists a mountain of reports documenting every
kind of human rights violations by the Burma military against the
people of Burma, there is every reason why the representative of the
Burma's military rulers should not occupy the Burma seat in the GA.
In dismissing my argument, Ambassador Sioris, failed to mention that
the military rules without any popular support. In the only election
held since the military coup of l988, the people voted overwhelmingly
in favor of the National Democratic Front and against the party
supported by the military, National Unity Front. When the military
rulers decided to ignore their own election and rule under martial
law, they issued a Declaration 1/90 which said in para. 6.
"The SLORC, the Defense Services, is not bound by any constitution.
the SLORC is ruling the country with martial law. It is known to all
that the SLORC is a military government and that it is a government
recognized by countries of the world and the United Nations."
The author argues at the outset of his essay that "the sooner the
will of the majority of its people is respected, the better for all
concerned in the country, the region and beyond."
In l990, the people spoke out loud and clear; they wanted a
democratic government under leaders of their own choice. Didn't the
world hear and see this? If the people do not want the military to
rule them, why does the world community continue with the fiction
that it is the legitimate government of Burma and continue to treat
it as such.
If the General Assembly acts now as it did in l974, it will stand
with the people of Burma and destroy the myth that the military
rulers can ignore their will and substitute recognition by the world
body for it. Only by unseating the military ruler's representative in
the UN will the Burma army and its supporters see that their
government is truly a pariah.
It is my belief that part of the glue that holds the military
together is the belief that the world supports them, trades with
them, gives them aid and accepts them as the legitimate government of
their land. That glue could give way if the reality that they serve
an outlaw government which neither the people of Burma or of the
world accepts finally sinks in.
_____________________ OTHER ______________________
BURMANET: SALWEEN WATCH AVAILABLE ONLINE
Salween Watch is a project to monitor the construction of a set of
dams proposed to be built on Burma's Salween River in the Shan
State. Salween Watch produces an email edition of its newsletter,
Salween Watch Hotmailout. The web version of the Salween Watch
newsletter is in production and back issues are available at their
temporary site:
Issue #2:
http://strider.home.igc.org/Environmental/SalweenWatch.htm
Issue #3:
http://strider.home.igc.org/Environmental/SalweenWatchNo3.htm
The URL for the permanent site will be announced shortly.
To subscribe to Salween Watch, send an email to
salweenwatch@xxxxxxxxxxx
***
This article appeared in yesterday's BurmaNet was erroneously omitted
from the index so is being rerun.
_______________
Acronyms and abbreviations regularly used by BurmaNet.
AVA: Ava Newsgroup. A small, independent newsgroup covering Kachin
State and northern Burma.
KHRG: Karen Human Rights Group. A non-governmental organization
that conducts interviews and collects information primarily in
Burma's Karen State but also covering other border areas.
KNU: Karen National Union. Ethnic Karen organization that has been
fighting Burma's central government since 1948.
NLM: New Light of Myanmar, Burma's state newspaper. The New Light of
Myanmar is also published in Burmese as Myanmar Alin.
SCMP: South China Morning Post. A Hong Kong newspaper.
SHAN: Shan Herald Agency for News. An independent news service
covering Burma's Shan State.
SHRF: Shan Human Rights Foundation
SPDC: State Peace and Development Council. The current name the
military junta has given itself. Previously, it called itself the
State Law and Order Restoration Council.
________________
The BurmaNet News is an Internet newspaper providing comprehensive
coverage of news and opinion on Burma (Myanmar).
For a subscription to Burma's only free daily newspaper,
write to: strider@xxxxxxx
You can also contact BurmaNet by phone or fax:
Voice mail +1 (435) 304-9274
Fax + (202) 318-1261
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