[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

BurmaNet News: March 16, 2001



______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
         March 16, 2001   Issue # 1757
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________

INSIDE BURMA _______
*Asiaweek: from Our Correspondent: Those Rowdy Neighbors
*DVB: SSA heavy artillery fire kills 5, wounds 8 Rangoon troops in Mong 
To

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*AFP: Malaysia detains 16 Myanmar illegal immigrants near Thai border
*Xinhua: Thai PM Downplays Concerns Over Exacerbated Thai-Myanmar Ties
*Xinhua: Myanmar-Malaysia Bilateral Ties Strengthened 

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Bangkok Post:  Pagoda Pass Checkpoint Closes Down; Rangoon Admits it Is 
Feeling Trade Pinch
*AP: Myanmar opens one border crossing with Thailand
*Bangkok Post: House sets up border panel

OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*Asiaweek: Letter?Tourism
*KNPP: Statement on tripartite dialogue

OTHER______
*Radio Free Asia: Internship announcement
		


__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________



Asiaweek: from Our Correspondent: Those Rowdy Neighbors 

The problems of having Myanmar next door 

By DOMINIC FAULDER

Wednesday, March 14, 2001
Web posted at 12:30 p.m. Hong Kong time, 12:30 a.m. GMT 

My friend could scarcely contain his amusement at the perfect crime, 
Thai style. He lives in a pleasant middle-class housing estate in the 
eastern suburbs of Bangkok. His neighbor, like many Thais, has an 
illegal-immigrant Burmese maid. She seldom ventures out in case the 
local police harass her and challenge her to sing the Thai national 
anthem. At night, she and other illegal servants emerge like moths to 
play badminton beneath the estate's fluorescent street lamps. One day, 
with only the maid at home, three "electricians" turned up unexpectedly. 
They told the maid to stand by the fuse box with her finger poised over 
the master switch ready to throw it in an emergency. As the electricians 
moved around the house checking the wiring in every room, they kept 
calling down to ensure she was in place and alert. After 15 minutes, the 
job was done. The trio bade the maid a cheery farewell and marched off. 
The house had, of course, been comprehensively burgled. And the owner 
knew full well that this was where the matter ended. He could hardly ask 
his illegal maid to make a statement at the local police station.  

Burmese maids in Thailand are a phenomenon of the 1990s. They started to 
come in when young Thai women from the provinces began to shun 
appallingly paid jobs in domestic service in favor of shift work in the 
factories, offices and hotels that sprouted during the bubble-economy 
years. By some estimates, as many as 700,000 Burmese have worked as 
domestics, builders, fishermen, sex workers - indeed in any underpaid 
(or unpaid) job that Thais prefer to avoid. Labor regulations have often 
been relaxed or openly flouted to accommodate this cheap and exploitable 
influx. They don't just come from Myanmar. Child beggars from Bangladesh 
occasionally surprise tourists with their impressive English. In 
Cambodia, I once met a former Khmer Rouge who had been building Bangkok 
skyscrapers until the economy collapsed in 1997. In one luxury Bangkok 
housing estate, the only non-Cambodian security guard stands at the 
front entrance.  

But it is the Burmese who are by far the most numerous. Apart from 
"economic migrants," over 120,000 Karen, Mon, Shan and Karenni refugees 
shelter in crude camps along the porous 2,000-km border Thailand shares 
uncomfortably with Myanmar. These people have fled not for economic gain 
but in fear of their lives before brutal dry-season military 
pacification campaigns that are often a prelude to forced resettlement. 
The junta in Yangon calls these displaced people "alleged refugees" who 
support ethnic insurgency. Unfortunately for this claim, the junta also 
insists it has signed ceasefire agreements with most of the same ethnic 
minorities. Who to believe?  

A recent Burmese military push against Shan insurgents spilled into 
Thailand. A key border town, Mae Sai, had to be evacuated after two 
civilians were killed in shelling. Tachilek, on the Myanmar side, was 
also shelled, but most of the casualties there appear to have been 
military. It was probably the most serious incident involving the armies 
of two ASEAN member states in the regional groupings three-decade-old 
history. What did ASEAN have to say? Not a word. Tensions have yet to be 
defused.  
It isn't only the minorities on the Myanmar-Thai border who are deeply 
unhappy and mistrustful. In 1991, a quarter of a million Muslims in 
Myanmar's Arakan state fled into Bangladesh in a similar state of 
terror. (An almost identical exodus occurred in the late 1970s.) It took 
the UNHCR until mid-1997 to repatriate the Rohingyas, as they are 
called, though about 20,000 still shelter in Cox's Bazaar in Bangladesh. 
India, which was deeply critical of the military repression in Myanmar 
in the late 1980s and early 1990s, has normalized relations as far as 
possible. It decided it simply could not afford to close dialogue 
channels with an immediate neighbor.  
The flood of Burmese maids is of no concern to most Thais. What does 
worry them is the fact that their country is awash with methamphetamine 
tablets produced by syndicates protected by the allegedly pro-Yangon 
United Wa State Army. The factories in the Mong Yawn area (newly 
established as a kind of methamphetamine enterprise zone) are so close 
to the Thai border they can be seen from it. Thai authorities estimate 
that over 800 million of these speed tablets flow each year into 
Thailand to be used by everyone from the lowliest stevedores to the 
children of cabinet ministers. It is often said that methamphetamine 
addiction is the single most serious social problem facing the country. 
Certainly it has become far more serious than traditional narcotic 
abuse.  
Even so, Myanmar is still the second-largest opium-producing country in 
the world, after the so-called Golden Crescent in West Asia/Afghanistan, 
generating 80% of Southeast Asia's deadly harvest. "On balance, the 
United State's government remains concerned that Burma's efforts are not 
commensurate with the extent of the illicit drug problem within its 
borders," was the dry assessment of a recent U.S. State Department 
report. Money laundering and harboring internationally recognized 
criminals were two other gripes about Myanmar that the Americans 
repeated.  

Where there's drugs, there's usually another misery-seeking missile: 
AIDS. China today has an estimated 500,000 HIV-positive citizens. The 
lethal contagion spread in large part through Yunnan province, which 
borders Myanmar. The AIDS crisis is a worldwide phenomenon in which 
apportioning blame is a pretty pointless endeavor. But both Myanmar and 
China have suppressed AIDS information and education in the past, living 
in a fool's paradise of denial. Had the situation in northeastern 
Myanmar been handled differently, it's a fair bet that China today would 
have less of an AIDS crisis on its hands.  

The New Light of Myanmar newspaper has plenty to say about neighborly 
relations. The state organ has been sermonizing endlessly on the "Five 
Principles of Peaceful Co-Existence" that purportedly govern official 
Burmese foreign policy. They are: mutual respect for territorial 
integrity and sovereignty; non-aggression; non-interference in one 
another's affairs; equality and mutual benefit; and peaceful 
co-existence. "Though Myanmar lives in accord with these principles, 
Thailand among the neighbors has failed to follow the code of conduct of 
a good neighbor," journalist Chit Kyiyay Kyi Nyunt wrote in the New 
Light.  

If Myanmar seriously imagines its present regional conduct is that of a 
good neighbor, try to imagine what it might get up to if it decided to 
be a "bad" one. A chilling thought.  


___________________________________________________




DVB: SSA heavy artillery fire kills 5, wounds 8 Rangoon troops in Mong 
Ton

DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has learned that the Shan State 
Army--south [SSA] fired several heavy artillery rounds at LIB [Light 
Infantry Battalion] No 65 and LIB No 225 stationed near Mong Ton in 
southern Shan State at about 2300 on 10 March. Three barracks were 
destroyed while five SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] soldiers 
were killed and eight were wounded. The townspeople thought the town 
would be overrun by the SSA and most evacuated to the suburbs. On the 
morning of 11 March, Mong Ton-based SPDC tactical commander held a 
meeting on the prevailing situation with the battalion commanders, 
township authorities, departmental officials, and responsible personnel. 


He ordered security posts to be manned in every ward and village and to 
immediately report any important matter. He also ordered them to report 
any news related to the SSA. That night Mong Ton-based tactical 
commander declared the Mong Ton area as an emergency zone. DVB has 
learned that according to latest reports Mong Ton area is still declared 
an emergency zone while skirmishes are sporadically occurring near the 
vicinity of Mong Ton.
 





___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				


AFP: Malaysia detains 16 Myanmar illegal immigrants near Thai border


KUALA LUMPUR, March 16 (AFP) - Malaysian authorities Friday detained 16 
illegal immigrants from Myanmar, including a woman, in the northernmost 
state of Perlis, which borders Thailand. 

 The group, aged between 16 and 28, were arrested by the anti-smuggling 
unit while waiting for their agent to send them to other towns such as 
Kuala Lumpur and the Penang island, the Bernama news agency said. 

 The unit's acting commander Abdul Aziz Hassan was quoted as saying that 
they would be charged under the Immigration Act for entering the country 
illegally. 

 Out of 1,474 illegals arrested in the state last year, 706 were Myanmar 
nationals, he added. 



___________________________________________________





Xinhua: Thai PM Downplays Concerns Over Exacerbated Thai-Myanmar Ties


BANGKOK, March 16 (Xinhua) -- Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has 
played down mounting concerns over exacerbated relations between 
Thailand and Myanmar after a Myanmar patrol boat fired on a Thai trawler 
off the Ranong Province coast on Wednesday. The Thai News Agency (TNA) 
Friday quoted Thaksin as saying on Thursday that the incident had 
regularly occurred when Thai trawlers entered the Myanmar territorial 
waters for fishing. However, since the border situation becomes tense 
now, many people viewed the latest incident as an example of Myanmar's 
hostile attitude toward Thailand, he noted. The ongoing border conflict 
between the two neighboring countries should not be seen as a big 
problem, he added. He believed the problem would eventually be solved 
through talks by officials at different levels and the bilateral 
relations would normalize soon. The Thai trawler was chased by the 
Myanmar patrol boat before it was shot, injuring a crew member on board. 
The injured person was rushed to a hospital in the province by a Thai 
marine force, which was sent out to assist the shot boat. Local 
authorities said that three similar incidents had occurred this year 
when Thai fishing boats were chased by Myanmar patrol boats. Last year, 
nearly 50 Thai trawlers were arrested by the Myanmar troops, according 
to the report. Enditem
2001-03-16 Fri 00:40 


___________________________________________________



Xinhua: Myanmar-Malaysia Bilateral Ties Strengthened 



YANGON, March 16 (Xinhua) -- A Malaysian delegation, led by Minister of 
Culture, Arts and Tourism Sheikh Fadzir, just ended its eight-day visit 
to Myanmar and left Yangon for home on Tuesday. As a follow-up, another 
52-member Malaysian delegation, led by Minister of International Trade 
and Industry Rafidah Aziz, arrived in Myanmar again on the same day and 
will take part in a Myanmar- Malaysia economic seminar here. 

In recent years, Myanmar-Malaysia bilateral ties made rapid development 
and got continuously strengthened. Myanmar and Malaysia, both located in 
Asia, belong to developing countries and are fellow members of the 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The two countries share 
a wide range of common views on many major issues such as safeguarding 
state sovereignty and opposition to hegemonism and power politics. 

The two countries mutually support each other and closely cooperate in 
international and regional affairs, becoming trustworthy and cooperative 
partners. The mutual trust and political support have laid an important 
cornerstone in the friendly and cooperative relations between the two 
countries. Malaysia once made major contribution to Myanmar's joining of 
ASEAN. In intra-ASEAN, Malaysia agrees to the adoption of the " 
constructive engagement" policy towards Myanmar. Besides, Malaysia also 
firmly stood on the Myanmar side over issues of human rights and labor 
and so on, opposing to the sanctions imposed by western countries and 
the International labor Organization. 

In the last few years, there were frequent exchange of visits at high 
level between the two countries. In August 1996, Chairman of the Myanmar 
State Peace and Development Council and Prime Minister Senior-General 
Than Shwe paid a state visit to Malaysia. In March 1998, Malaysian Prime 
Minister Mahathir Mohamad made his first tour to Myanmar since Myanmar 
joined ASEAN in July 1997. In January this year, Mahathir visited 
Myanmar again. 

These exchange of visits at high level has dynamically pushed forward 
the development of the two countries' friendly and cooperative 
relations. In recent years, Myanmar and Malaysia have signed an 
agreement on economic, scientific and technical cooperation; an 
agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of tax evasion; 
a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on mutual exemption of visas for 
holders of diplomatic and official passports; and an MOU on bilateral 
trade promotion, investment and enhancement of cooperation in 
agriculture and livestock breeding. 

According to official statistics, up to now, Malaysia has injected 587 
million U.S. dollars of investment in 25 projects in Myanmar, ranking 
the fourth largest foreign investor after Singapore, Britain and 
Thailand among the 25 countries and regions investing in Myanmar. 
Another official statistics show that in the first ten months of 2000, 
bilateral trade between Myanmar and Malaysia reached 214 million 
dollars, up 24.7 percent as compared with the same period of 1999. 
Myanmar's imports from Malaysia amounted to 159 million dollars, while 
its export to Malaysia was valued at 55 million dollars. Malaysia has 
become Myanmar's third largest trading partner after Singapore and 
Thailand among ASEAN member nations. Their bilateral trade accounted for 
6.54 percent of Myanmar's total foreign trade. Myanmar and Malaysia 
established diplomatic relations in 1958. The already existing friendly 
and cooperative relations are bound to reap rich fruits in the new 
century.



___________________________________________________




  
Bangkok Post: House sets up border panel 


March 16, 2001 

Surasak Tumcharoen 

The House yesterday set up a special panel to address Thai-Burmese 
border problems with emphasis on drugs, illegal immigration and other 
crime. 

Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said local Thai-Burmese border 
committees had reached some agreement, while a regional panel was to 
discuss problem areas on April 1. 

Rangoon, he said, had assured him it would co-operate with the anti-drug 
campaign launched by the government. 

"The matter of clashes on the border is finally coming to the 
negotiating table," Mr Surakiart said. 

Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the problems could be 
solved, and he denied ordering the Third Army to ease off along the 
northern border. 

Charoen Kanthawong, a Democrat, said Gen Chavalit had confused the Third 
Army by planning talks with Rangoon when its forces were launching 
attacks on Thai territory. 

Gen Chavalit - criticised for making "too friendly" gestures towards 
Burma - said local and regional talks between Thai and Burmese 
authorities were bearing fruit. 

Democrats alleged Gen Chavalit had vested interests in Burma, including 
logging, given his close ties with the junta. Gen Chavalit dismissed the 
allegations. M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, former deputy foreign minister, 
urged the government to speed the process of demarcating the border. 
Itthidet Kaewluang, a Thai Rak Thai MP, said Thailand was losing 50 
million baht a day from the closure of the Mae Sai pass. 




_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 



Bangkok Post:  Pagoda Pass Checkpoint Closes Down; Rangoon Admits it Is 
Feeling Trade Pinch 

March 16, 2001

Burma has closed the Three Pagoda Pass border checkpoint in Kanchanaburi 
to tourists and commerce. 

Only local people are being allowed across the border in Sangkhla Buri 
district. 

Maj-Gen Mana Prakchakchit, head of the Surasee Task Force, said closure 
of the crossing at Phayatongsu town, effective from 10.30am yesterday, 
was ordered by Lt-Col Aye Tun, chairman of the township border committee 
of Burma. 

In Chiang Rai, Thailand has unilaterally opened the crossing at Mae Sai, 
but the Burmese checkpoint opposite at Tachilek remains closed. 

Army chief Surayud Chulanont said the bilateral Regional Border 
Committee meeting scheduled in Kengtung, Burma, on April 1 was expected 
to lead to an improvement in relations. 

"We must deal with our neighbours with patience since we can't move 
away," Gen Surayud said. 

Gen Boonrod Somthas, armed forces chief-of-staff, said he did not think 
the release of pictures of Mong Yawn at the national drug conference 
last weekend was the reason Rangoon was keeping the Tachilek border 
shut. 

"We talked only about the Red Wa, not Burma. We also did not show the 
picture of Khin Nyunt, secretary one of the State Peace and Development 
Council, visiting Mong Yawn," he said. 

Supreme Commander Sampao Chusri said as long as the relations with Burma 
do not improve he would not make a farewell trip to Rangoon before he 
retires in September. 

Thai ambassador to Rangoon Oum Maolanond reported to the Foreign Affairs 
Ministry that Burma did not reopen the Tachilek checkpoint because 
officials said they did not have time to prepare. 

He was told that senior Burmese leaders in Rangoon were informed in 
advance of the opening of Mae Sai. 

The ambassador said in a telephone interview yesterday that the general 
atmosphere in Rangoon was not good. Prices had soared 20% with some 
goods in short supply, especially Thai goods. 

LOAD-DATE: March 16, 2001     





___________________________________________________



AP: Myanmar opens one border crossing with Thailand 


BANGOK, Thailand (AP) _ Myanmar reopened a border crossing with Thailand 
on Friday after a daylong closure that officials said may have been a 
show of protest against the Thai government's disclosure of widespread 
drug trafficking from that country. 

 All vehicles were stopped Thursday from entering Myanmar at the Three 
Pagoda Pass checkpoint, 260 kilometers (158 miles) southwest of Bangkok. 
The checkpoint was opened Friday morning. 

 Myanmar authorities opened the gates after a Thai delegation visited 
them and talked about the need to maintain tourist flow, Maj. Gen. Mana 
Prachakchit, the regional commander, said in a telephone interview. 

 He said local villagers were allowed to pass back and forth across the 
frontier during the closure. 

 The move followed border clashes last month between the two countries 
and detailed descriptions by the Thai government of how methamphetamines 
and heroin are flooding into the country from Myanmar. 

 Mana said he thought the closure was ``an act of retaliation for the 
exposure.'' 
 Meanwhile, the Thai army said it arrested on Friday three people who 
were smuggling one million methamphetamine tablets worth 5.6 million 
baht (dlrs 130,880) into the northern province of Chiang Mai from 
Myanmar. 

 Major Gen. Padungkiat Sithidej, the commander of Pa Muang area, said of 
those arrested was a Thai village headman. 

 The Three Pagoda Pass action came four days after Thailand reopened its 
checkpoint at Mae Sai, in northern Thailand. But the Myanmar side of 
that border crossing remains closed. 

 Mana said that Myanmar, also known as Burma, closed crossings which 
were lucrative to Thai businessmen but kept open those necessary for 
vital imports, including oil, rice and medicine, from Thailand. 

 Thai loggers and furniture makers are active in the Three Pagoda Pass 
area, which is also a destination for Western backpackers. 

 Despite the tensions, two of the three key frontier checkpoints, at 
Ranong and Mae Sot, remain open. The third important one is at Mae Sai. 

 Myanmar has accused the Thais of aiding Shan rebels, who have been 
waging a guerrilla war against the military regime in Yangon. The 
fighting spilled over into Thailand and led to Thai-Myanmar clashes. 

 Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, declaring a war on drug 
traffickers, last weekend gave a graphic presentation to senior 
officials about Mong Yawn, a town just inside Myanmar he said was built 
with drug money. 

 The town is controlled by the United Wa State Army, an ethnic guerrilla 
group believed to be kingpins of the regional drug trade. The group has 
close ties with Myanmar's military rulers. 







_______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________





Asiaweek: Letter?Tourism

March 16, 2001 


Patricia Barnett, Director, Tourism Concern, Britain 


Ron Gluckman's article on Burma and the boycott of Lonely Planet's books 
is a poor excuse for independent journalism. Mr. Gluckman traveled 
around Burma with Tony and Maureen Wheeler, who publish Lonely Planet 
guidebooks, and chose not to give voice to farmers in the rural areas 
where 75% of the population is, or forced laborers at Mandalay 
International Airport, or those forced to leave their homes for the 
construction of golf courses or hotels, or the millions in Burma's 
cities and towns who never come into contact with tourists and don't 
depend on them to make a living. 

Neither has Mr. Gluckman referred to the arguments upon which The Burma 
Campaign UK and Tourism Concern base their work: that the International 
Labor Organization has accused Burma of a "crime against humanity" for 
the widespread and systematic use of forced labor, much of which is used 
in building infrastructure for tourism. Lonely Planet is not objective 
in its guide. When it argues whether one should or should not go to 
Burma, it is dismissive of opposing voices. A travel guidebook can never 
be objective. The Lonely Planet guide exists to facilitate travel to 
Burma, and to pretend otherwise is ridiculous. However, Lonely Planet 
has also made clear in a previous edition that it believes "it is 
essential to respect the wishes of the genuine representatives of the 
people of Myanmar." They are the very voices asking us not to visit 
until democracy is in place in their country. 

Tourism Concern and The Burma Campaign UK (which has never received 
money from Lonely Planet as Mr. Gluckman states) are not asking for a 
ban but for the democratic right to choose the products you buy on an 
ethical basis. At the moment even the most sensitive, independent 
tourist provides $ 200 to the regime on entry to the country. If only 
Mr. Gluckman could have offered us an ethical choice too. 




___________________________________________________





KNPP: Statement on tripartite dialogue

Office of the Prime Minister

Statement
Serial No. 1/2001

1. The ninth Karenni National Convention, attended by representatives 
from various areas of Karenni, was successfully held on Feb 19-21, 2001. 
During the convention a new Karenni government was formed in order to 
lead and protect the country as past Karenni governments have done. 
2. The formation of the new government will stand firm on the policies, 
regulations and basic laws that have been approved and adopted by the 
statute of the State. The Government will serve the people dutifully and 
faithfully and will work to safeguard the national interest. 
3. The Government will fight strongly against drugs that threaten the 
lives of the people. It will also cooperate with the international 
community in attempts to eradicate the problem.

4. To support and work together with the Karenni people against the 
State Peace and Development Council's (SPDC) policy of annihilation 
against the Karenni. We will also join forces, politically and 
militarily, with other organizations that are engaged in armed struggle 
to fight against the common enemy.

5. In theory, the Karenni Government welcomes and supports the 
establishment of a federal union and the participation of the oppressed 
nationalities in the tripartite dialogue.

6. The Karenni Government welcomes the support of political parties 
based on equality and is willing to solve any problems, political or 
otherwise, by measures agreed upon between the parties concerned.

7. The Karenni Government declares that it will protect the sovereignty 
of the Karenni. As a party of national unity we pledge to fight against 
the invasion by external enemies. With the support and assistance of 
other world governments we intend to implement equality, unity, full 
democracy, peace and prosperity for our people. 


The Government of Karenni
Date: March 10, 2001




______________________OTHER______________________



Radio Free Asia: Internship announcement

Radio Free Asia is looking for interested candidates to apply for an  
internship that
will be conducted in Washington DC. RFA is applying under the OSI 
internship program for funding to provide training and work experience 
to a qualified candidate. Qualifications include: proficiency in the 
English language, an interest in and/or background in radio broadcasting 
and a commitment to come back to the border area to work on related 
issues.  Please send a letter of interest and resume to:  Radio Free 
Asia, Maxim  House, Suite 402, 112 Witthayu Road, Pathumwan Bangkok 
10330;  or by fax:  02 650 9177; or e-mail: ????????
All applications must be received by March 31, 2001.






________________


The BurmaNet News is an Internet newspaper providing comprehensive 
coverage of news and opinion on Burma  (Myanmar) from around the world.  
If you see something on Burma, you can bring it to our attention by 
emailing it to strider@xxxxxxx

To automatically subscribe to Burma's only free daily newspaper in 
English, send an email to:
burmanet-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

To subscribe to The BurmaNet News in Burmese, send an email to:

burmanetburmese-subscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx


You can also contact BurmaNet by phone or fax:

Voice mail or fax (US) +1(202) 318-1261
You will be prompted to press 1 for a voice message or 2 to send a fax.  
If you do neither, a fax tone will begin automatically.

Fax (Japan) +81 (3) 4512-8143


________________


Burma News Summaries available by email or the web

There are three Burma news digest services available via either email or 
the web.

Burma News Update
Frequency: Biweekly
Availability: By fax or the web.
Viewable online at http://www.soros.org/burma/burmanewsupdate/index.html
Cost: Free
Published by: Open Society Institute, Burma Project

The Burma Courier 
Frequency: Weekly 
Availability: E-mail, fax or post.  To subscribe or unsubscribe by email 
celsus@xxxxxxxxxxx
Viewable on line at: http://www.egroups.com/group/BurmaCourier
Cost: Free
Note: News sources are cited at the beginning of an article. 
Interpretive comments and background
details are often added.

Burma Today
Frequency: Weekly
Availability: E-mail
Viewable online at http://www.worldviewrights.org/pdburma/today.html
To subscribe, write to pdburma@xxxxxxxxx
Cost: Free
Published by: PD Burma (The International Network of Political Leaders 
Promoting Democracy in Burma)




________________

____________________________________________________________
T O P I C A  -- Learn More. Surf Less. 
Newsletters, Tips and Discussions on Topics You Choose.
http://www.topica.com/partner/tag01