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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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