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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
July 31, 2000
Issue # 1587
The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com
*Inside Burma
AFP: WILD PIG MEAT KILLS 17 IN MYANMAR: REPORT
BANGKOK POST: STEER CLEAR OF WILD ANIMALS, VILLAGERS TOLD
PEOPLE'S DAILY: MORE ANTI-GOVT ARMED GROUP MEMBERS SURRENDER IN BURMA
*Regional
THE NATION: REPORTS ON DRUG TRADE 'BIASED'
THE NATION: BURMA PLANS A HUMAN-RIGHTS COMMISSION
THE STAR: BURMA IS NOW MYANMAR, EU REP REMINDED
BANGKOK POST: ANTI-BURMA ETHNIC TRIBES GET TOGETHER
BANGKOK POST: DEMAND FOR TRADE
MIZZIMA NEWS GROUP: CRACK-DOWN ON FOREIGNERS CONTINUE IN MIZORAM
THE ASIAN AGE (NEW DELHI): BANGLA TRADERS SUSPEND BURMA TIES
*International
REUTERS: MYANMAR REBUKES SWEDISH MINISTER FOR CALLING IT BURMA
THE STRAITS TIMES: EU WILL NO LONGER BOYCOTT MEETINGS
DISPUTE WITH MYANMAR
*Opinion/Editorials
THE GUARDIAN: BLIND TO GENOCIDE
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
AFP: WILD PIG MEAT KILLS 17 IN MYANMAR: REPORT
July 31, 2000
BANGKOK - Meat from a wild pig has been blamed for killing 17 people
in a Myanmar town near the Thai border, reports said Monday.
"Provincial authorities have warned residents against eating the
meat of wild animals after 17 Burmese (Myanmar) villagers died from
eating a wild pig," the Bangkok Post said.
A hunter in a small Myanmar village five kilometers (three miles)
from the western Thailand border district of Sangkhlaburi killed a
wild pig last Thursday and sold the meat to local residents, the
newspaper said.
Four children, seven men and six women who ate the meat have died.
Provincial health authorities remain unsure what caused the
deaths, but have vowed to punish anyone found selling wild animal
meat.
Thailand and Myanmar have had several problems with rural
villagers eating unusual animals in recent months.
Two weeks ago, the Thai government announced it would outlaw dog
and cat meat to prevent people in the rural northeast from eating the
animals, still an accepted practice.
In June, Thai provincial authorities raised their concerns with
the national government that villagers were eating elephant meat in
the belief it boosted their sex drive.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: STEER CLEAR OF WILD ANIMALS, VILLAGERS TOLD
July 31, 20000
Kanchanaburi
Provincial authorities have warned residents against eating the meat
of wild animals after 17 Burmese villagers died from eating a wild
pig.
Tong Teng, a Karen villager from Ban Chakae in Tambon Laiwo,
Sangkhlaburi district, said the victims were his relatives who lived
in Ban Sato, 5km from the Thai border.
Min Su, a hunter who regularly supplied meat to Thai restaurants,
managed to kill one pig on Thursday and sold the meat to the
villagers.
Four children, seven men and six women died the next day. The pig was
thought to be diseased.
Suwuth Chalechorn, the provincial livestocks official, did not know
what the disease was but urged officials to clamp down on the
smuggling of wild animals.
Forestry and public health officials will check restaurants and those
found selling the meat of wild animals will be punished, he said.
____________________________________________________
PEOPLE'S DAILY: MORE ANTI-GOVT ARMED GROUP MEMBERS SURRENDER IN
BURMA.
July 29, 2000.
A total of 55 members from five anti-government armed groups in Burma
laid down their arms to the government forces in June, official
newspaper The New Light of Burma reported Saturday.
These members of the Shan-State United Revolutionary Army (SURA),
Shan State Army (SSA), Chin National Army (CNA), All Burma Students'
Democratic Front (ABSDF) and Kayin National Union (KNU) "exchanged
arms for peace" in northern, northeastern, northwestern, eastern and
triangle region command areas in the month.
They brought along with them a total of 1,234 rounds of ammunition,
the report said.
The SURA, SSA, CNA, and KNU are anti-government Shan, Chin and Kayin
ethnic armed groups respectively operating in the country's Shan,
Chin and Kayin states, while the ABSDF is a similar students
organization operating in the Burma Thai border areas.
In May, a total of 23 other members from the SURA, CNA, KNU and ABSDF
surrendered to the government troops, bringing with them altogether
184 rounds of ammunition, according to an earlier official report.
Up to now, 17 anti-government ethnic armed groups as well as the Mong
Tai Army, led by former drug warlord Khun Sa, have made peace with
the government with cease-fire agreements reached between them.
___________________________ REGIONAL ___________________________
THE NATION: REPORTS ON DRUG TRADE 'BIASED'
July 30, 2000
BURMESE Foreign Minister Win Aung criticised the foreign press
yesterday for biased reporting of the drug situation in his country,
saying journalists tend to overlook the presence of armed narcotics
groups operating on the Thai side of the border.
Speaking to a group of reporters after a press conference marking the
end of the Asean Post-Ministerial Conference, Win Aung said that the
Wa National Army (WNA) and the 3,000-strong Shan State Army (SSA)
were also trafficking drugs.
He said the two groups are based in Thailand, but no one has
condemned them. The SSA was one of the three factions of the Mong Tai
Army, which fell apart four years ago after its leader Khun Sa
surrendered in return for amnesty from Rangoon. The SSA refused to go
along with Khun Sa and instead formed its own army to continue with
the fight for autonomy. SSA leader Col Yawd Serk said his group does
not traffic drugs.
The WNA, a small outfit of no more than a few hundred men, also
operates along the rugged Thai-Burmese border. Its activities are
being closely watched by the Thai military and security units, which
have carried out scrimmages against the group's positions. But it is
only the ethnic armed groups like the United Wa State Army (UWSA),
which had signed a cease-fire with Rangoon in 1989, that get the
blame, Win Aung said.
The UWSA came into being in 1989 shortly after the fall of the
Communist Party of Burma in which a number of foot soldiers were
ethnic Wa. Experts said the group had enough weapons to last for at
least a decade, thus prompting Rangoon to sign a cease-fire.
The UWSA has been referred to as the world's largest armed narcotics-
trafficking group by a number of Western governments. Some of its
leaders have been indicted in US courts for drug trafficking.
Burma has used the past week to defend its drug policy, saying its
achievements have been overlooked. Wing Aung dismissed suggestions
that the country is solely to blame for the millions of
methamphetamines flooding Thailand from the Burmese side of the
border in areas under the control of drug lords and ethnic armies
allied with Rangoon.
He turned the question to the neighbouring countries, saying they
have to do more to curb the trafficking of precursor
chemicals. "Without these chemicals there will be no drugs," he said,
also admitting that government troops are not in full control of
certain areas.
When asked if Rangoon is willing to go to war against the UWSA or
other armed drug-trafficking group to achieve its goal of being a
drug-free country by 2014, Win Aung said, "Let's not go back to the
day when we were fighting."
____________________________________________________
THE NATION: BURMA PLANS A HUMAN-RIGHTS COMMISSION
July 30, 2000
BURMA is not opposed to human rights and will "eventually" want to
establish an Asean human-rights commission, the country's Foreign
Minister U Win Aung said yesterday.
But at the moment, the idea of a regional human-rights mechanism is
just an initiative of a non-official Asean working group, Win Aung
said after a week-long meeting of Association of Southeast Asian
Nations foreign ministers.
"Asean ministers are not yet ready to form a human-rights commission.
There is a working group looking into that. Eventually it will
evolve," he said.
Last Saturday, the working group, which comprises lawyers and human-
rights advocates from several Asean countries, submitted to member
nations a draft agreement on the creation of an Asean human-rights
commission. Senior Asean officials, who were given the draft, said
they would study the document in detail.
Nitya Pibulsonggram, permanent secretary of the Thai Foreign
Ministry, does not see the human-rights mechanism happening "in the
immediate future", he said after meeting with the working group.
In 1993, Asean foreign ministers agreed to consider a regional rights
body. They determined that prior to a regional rights commission,
each Asean member should first create a national mechanism.
Burma is in the process of setting up a national human-rights
commission, Win Aung said. "We are still in the analysis stage," he
said.
So far, only the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia have national
human-rights bodies. Thailand is waiting for the newly elected Senate
to elect members of the national body.
Burma is getting human-rights training from Australia, Win Aung said.
Trainees include law enforcement officers charged with human-rights
abuses.
Australia's human-rights assistance programme to Burma is intended to
help improve the country's human-rights situation, Australian Foreign
Minister Alexander Downer said yesterday.
But Burmese pro-democracy activists have strongly opposed Australia's
human-rights support to the Burmese junta, which they say is directly
involved in all forms of human-rights abuses, including forced labour
and relocation.
When asked about the political stalemate inside Burma, Win Aung said
the Burmese regime has extended "olive branches", but it is the
National League for Democracy (NLD) that keeps brushing them aside.
A dialogue cannot take place if the NLD continues calling for
international pressure, isolation and sanctions against Burma, he
said.
Pressure and sanctions would only strengthen the regime's resolve "to
work harder for our people", the minister said. "The NLD needs to
abandon confrontation," he added.
In her videotaped statement to the Asean foreign ministers, NLD
leader Aung San Suu Kyi said her party has already exhausted its
compromises and has nothing left to offer.
It is the junta that has not compromised and has instead intensified
its efforts to abolish the NLD, the party that won a majority of
votes in the May 1990 general elections, she said.
____________________________________________________
THE STAR: BURMA IS NOW MYANMAR, EU REP REMINDED
July 30, 2000
By Shahanaaz Sher Habib and Foo Yee Ping
BANGKOK: Remarks from European Union representative Anna Lindh that
the EU would continue to raise issues of concern about "Burma'', led
to Bumese foreign minister Win Aung remarking that there was no such
country.
Lindh, who was here for the Post Ministerial Conferences (PMC) had
said at the joint press conference that it was positive that
relations between the EU and "Burma'' had normalised.
When it came to Win Aung's turn to speak, he drew sniggers when he
corrected Lindh by saying: "first of all, there is no country named
Burma.''
Under the military junta which nullified elections results, Burma was
changed to Myanmar in 1989 because the former was derived from the
British.
The PMC groups the Asean ten with the US, Canada, EU, New Zealand.
Australia, Russia, India, China, South Korea and Japan.
At the PMC, Laos and Cambodia signed the Asean-EU Co-operation
Agreement which covers bilateral co-operation in trade, economic and
development matter, leaving Myanmar as the only Asean country to sign
the agreement.
The EU which is Asean's oldest dialogue partner has repeatedly urged
the military junta to end human and labour rights abuses and to open
a dialogue with the pro-democracy leaders.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: ANTI-BURMA ETHNIC TRIBES GET TOGETHER
July 31, 2000
Red Wa attend talks in observer capacity
The four main groups still at war with the Burmese government invited
the Red Wa to observe their annual three-day meeting near the
northern Thai border over the weekend.
Diplomatic sources said the United Wa State Army sent a "mid-level"
liaison official to the meeting, which took place in Burma, across
from Tak province. Presumably, the top Wa leadership authorized the
trip.
Officially, the Wa are at peace with Rangoon. On the other hand, the
other four parties at the talks are still fighting for independence
from the Burmese government. They are the Shan State Army, Karen
National Union, Karenni National Progressive Party and the Arakan
Army.
The three-day meeting is supposed to end today, presumably with a
joint statement in favour of independence and against Rangoon.
"The Wa have not been pressed to sign or agree to the statement,"
said one foreign source. "They are there strictly as observers."
The so-called Red Wa also fought for independence. But they signed a
pact with Rangoon in 1989. The agreement gave them some autonomy in
their area in northern Burma.
In recent years, the UWSA has financed expansion and settlements with
one of the world's largest drug cartels. They make and smuggle heroin
and methamphetamines to, and through, neighbouring countries. Last
week, Foreign Minister Win Aung said the Burmese army could not even
enter areas controlled by the Wa, who claim to have 20,000 troops.
Some observers believe the Wa may again propose independence from
Burma.
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: DEMAND FOR TRADE
July 31, 2000
Mae Hong Son-The provincial chamber of commerce has called on the
government to allow more trading days at a border pass to Burma at
Huay Ton Noon in Khun Yuam district.
Poonsak Suntornpanitkit, the chamber's chairman, said trading is
allowed only once a week, but should be allowed on several days.
There was good trade potential because of the demand for Thai goods
on the Burmese side.
Trade volume would increase substantially if provincial authorities
agree to send officials to handle tax and duty clearance work at the
pass.
Huay Ton Noon is located about 30km from Khun Yuam district.
____________________________________________________
MIZZIMA NEWS GROUP: CRACK-DOWN ON FOREIGNERS CONTINUE IN MIZORAM
July 30,2000
Mizoram police continues its operation against foreigners and
illegal workers in the State.
About a hundred Burmese nationals have been arrested so far. U Than
Sein, an exiled member of parliament from the NLD party and two
members from the All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF) who
were also among those arrested Burmese on July 28, have been released
yesterday.
The fate of other foreigners including U Than Sein's daughter and
son in law is unknown. They are put in central jail in Aizawl, the
capital of the Mizoram State of India. They will be charged with
foreigner's act at the magistrate office on Monday and believed to be
sent back to the Burma border.
Estimated between 40,000 to 50,000 Chin and Lushai nationalities
from Burma are living in the Mizoram State of India, which is sharing
the border with Chin State of Burma. Apart from them, estimately
about one thousand handloom weavers from middle and upper part of
Burma are working in various handloom houses in the State.
Whenever the police in Mizoram launches the operation against
foreigners, these Burmese handloom workers are the most sufferers and
easy to catch them because of their recognizable appearance.
____________________________________________________
THE ASIAN AGE (NEW DELHI): BANGLA TRADERS SUSPEND BURMA TIES
July 30, 2000
Dhaka, July 29: Bangladeshi traders have kept border trade with Burma
through the Teknaf route virtually suspended for a week now,
protesting a new order issued by Bangladesh Rifles, traders said.
Only small quantities of perishable goods are being traded now, they
said. Under the new order, traders have to produce copies of an
export declaration given by the Burma Customs Department and an
export license given by the Department of Border Trade at the check
post during transportation of goods.
The traders termed it "harassment" and an "encroachment" on customs
authorities' turf by the BDR and demanded uninterrupted
transportation of goods after completion of customs formalities at
Teknaf. They said the chairman of the Bangladesh-Myanmar Business
Promotion Council, Rashed Moksud Khan, sent a letter to the Commerce
Ministry yesterday seeking its intervention in resolving the deadlock
by withdrawing the BDR order.
_________________ INTERNATIONAL __________________
REUTERS: MYANMAR REBUKES SWEDISH MINISTER FOR CALLING IT BURMA
July 30, 2000
STOCKHOLM. Sweden said on Sunday it would continue to call
Myanmar "Burma" despite a rebuke by the country's military rulers.
Foreign Minister Anna Lindh made the comment to Swedish media after
her Myanmar counterpart Win Aung corrected a reference she made
to "Burma" at the close of an ASEAN meeting in Bangkok on
Saturday. "There is no such country as Burma," Win Aung interrupted
Lindh to say, the Swedish news agency TT reported. But Lindh, who has
revived Sweden's traditional support for human rights campaigns in
countries including Turkey, Zimbabwe and Myanmar, said: "It was a
conscious political point against the military dictatorship in Burma,
since it was the military that changed the country"s name to Myanmar
in 1989. "I will continue to call Burma "Burma" since it was not a
democratic government which changed the name," she told TT. Sweden
takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in January.
EU External Affairs Commissioner Chris Patten last week accused
Myanmar of "the suppression of democracy, the appalling abuse of
human rights, the use of forced labour" and mistreatment of its
ethinic minorities. The EU and the United States have condemned
Yangon for its treatment of the pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel
Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. The government in Yangon argues
that Myanmar is the country's old pre-colonial name. Suu Kyi and her
National League for Democracy, winners of a 1990 election which was
overruled by the military, still refer to the country as Burma.
____________________________________________________
THE STRAITS TIMES: EU WILL NO LONGER BOYCOTT MEETINGS
DISPUTE WITH MYANMAR
The EU and Asean are planning talks that will include Myanmar. The
Europeans will still try and isolate Yangon, but not its citizens
July 30, 2000
By JAMES EAST
BANGKOK -- Myanmar can thank North Korea for one thing -- for
shifting the full glare of the media spotlight away from it, and the
accusations frequently levelled against it on issues like drugs and
human rights.
And while Asean watchers were following the North Koreans' arrival on
the international stage in Bangkok, the European Union was laying the
groundwork for future inter-bloc talks that will include Myanmar.
EU-Asean relations are now about to shift up a gear.
In past years, media folk covering Asean needed to look no further
than the spat between the EU and Myanmar for their controversial
conference story to write about.
Despite Myanmar's 1997 membership of Asean, Europe's imposition of
tough sanctions designed to isolate the regime had effectively frozen
Asean-EU ministerial meetings for two years.
The EU remains just as critical of what it sees as Yangon's lack of
democracy but there has been a rapprochement, of sorts.
The EU has now accepted that Myamar be allowed to attend resurrected
meetings but they will have to held outside Europe.
Myanmar officials are banned from EU countries under sanctions that
bar senior officials from obtaining travel visas.
The change of heart means that in December, ministers will meet in
Vientiane, Laos, to thrash out issues like drugs, human trafficking,
political, environment and economic matters that tax both blocs.
The EU is also certain to talk about Myanmar's record on these
issues.
The easing of the ban has nothing to do with the EU being any happier
with Myanmar and everything to do with the realisation that inter-
bloc relations were being held hostage by the ban.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan made it clear in talks with EU
representatives here that the grouping had wasted 10 years trying to
punish the military junta. Other Asean countries also pressed the EU
to be more understanding of Myanmar.
The EU is unlikely to ease up on its regard for the regime. What it
is trying to do is massage its policy so that it not only isolates
Yangon but helps the Myanmese people and keeps the door open for
talks. Ties with Asean will also be strengthened as a whole.
It is a tricky balance.
The EU has already committed a lot of money for humanitarian work,
mostly for refugee camps in Thailand. This is to be stepped up and
targeted so that it gets to the people who really need it.
Said EU external relations commissioner Chris Patten: ""I think the
EU was right not to allow the issue of Burma to take the EU-Asean
dialogue hostage.
""So what we have done is to sharpen the measures that Europe has
directed against the Burmese military regime while at the same time
resumed the Asean-EU dialogue to include Burma.''
Burma is the former name of Myanmar. The government changed the
country's name in 1989. The carrot and stick tactic remains at the
core of the EU approach.
Plans for a EU troika to go to Yangon, probably in October, have been
accepted by Myanmar. Its job will be to encourage the government to
talk to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and to see how the EU can
provide humanitarian assistance. A troika visited last year but got
nowhere.
The stick was applied on Friday.
While two of Asean's three most recent members were allowed to sign
the ceremonial Asean-EU Co-operation Agreement, Myanmar was not -- a
slap in the face for the regime in front of Asean friends.
EU delegates also continued to refer to Myanmar as Burma, irritating
the country's Foreign Minister Win Aung, who shot back at the press
conference: ""First of all there is no country named Burma.''
Despite the incident, Myanmar says it is open to outside help,
particularly in fighting drugs. What it does not like is people
meddling in its internal affairs.
Myanmar's Foreign Minister Win Aung also says he is ready to allow an
independent human rights commission to listen to complaints about
abuses, although he says how it would work is still being worked out
because this is a sensitive issue
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________
THE GUARDIAN: BLIND TO GENOCIDE
July 29, 2000
I read with anguish Maggie O'Kane's admirable article on the tragedy
of Burma (The generals, G2, July 27) for a very personal reason: my
dear son, James, is almost one year into a savage 17-year sentence to
be served in solitary confinement and foul conditions.
His "crime" was to peacefully express his concern for the suffering
of the Burmese people.
James saw at first hand the result of the junta's atrocities. He
lived for months in a camp for the internally displaced before it was
torched by the Burmese army. Burma remains a signatory to the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights, yet tolerates no dissent and
practises genocide. It remains a member of the International Labour
Organisation and practises the brutality of slavery. Mr Jamieson of
Premier Oil denies any accountability for the ethnic cleansing
required to keep the oil pipeline. James met him last year and
received the same answer as your newspaper - "he is unaware of any
abuse". There are none so blind as those who will not see.
Diana Mawdsley
Brancepeth, Co Durham
__________________________________
*Maggie O'Kane's article on the genocide against the Karen people
brings much-needed publicity to the plight of this suffering
minority. I secured a debate in parliament in April on this subject
and urged the British government to ban all new investment in Burma
by UK companies, as the US has done. Sadly, the British government
continues to hesitate. The fact that Premier Oil has ignored the
Foreign Office's calls for disinvestment proves that nothing short of
a ban will stop their involvement.
The Karen people were our faithful allies during the second world war
when the Japanese invaded Burma. Many were brutally tortured and
killed for their loyalty to the British. How have we repaid them? By
allowing British companies to get rich on their backs.
Edward Leigh MP
____________________________________________________
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