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BurmaNet News: April 4, 2001
- Subject: BurmaNet News: April 4, 2001
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Fri, 06 Apr 2001 03:52:00
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
April 4, 2001 Issue # 1770
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
INSIDE BURMA _______
*The Nation: Burma agrees to joint drug suppression
*Xinhua: Mekong Meeting on Refugees Ends in Myanmar
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Bangkok Post: Low expectations for border talks
*Bangkok Post: List revealed of top dealers
*Mizzima: 36 Burmese nationals remain under detention in Andamans
Islands
*Mizzima: 54 Burmese fishermen to be deported on 6th April
ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*Charlie Hebdo (France): [Article on the building of an hotel in Rangoon
by a former secretary of the French President]
*DVB: Burma-Thai border trade in Kawthaung shut down
OPINION/EDITORIALS_______
*The Irrawaddy: Talks or Dialogue in Burma?
OTHER______
*AU Free Burma Coalition: Prominent Human Rights Activist from Burma
Will Come to American University to Discuss Efforts to Free His Country
from Military Rule
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
The Nation: Burma agrees to joint drug suppression
CHIANG MAI, April 4 (The Nation) -- Thai negotiators, led by a regional
army chief, declared the Thai-Burmese Regional Border Committee (RBC)
meeting a "success" after both sides agreed to cooperate more closely on
drug suppression.
Speaking at a press conference, Lt Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong said
Burma had specifically agreed to Thailand's call for help in crackdown
on amphetamine producing plants and cross-border trafficking.
"Both sides have reached better understanding on the need to cooperate
on issues ranging from drug suppression, demarcation of border, cross
border trade and fisheries," Wattanachai said.
At the two-day meeting in Burma's Ken Tung province, the two sides also
agreed that the RBC should be held once every six months instead of
every two years. They also agreed that the border checkpoint at
Thachilek-Mae Sai should be reopened as soon as possible.
___________________________________________________
Xinhua: Mekong Meeting on Refugees Ends in Myanmar
2001.04.04 10:23:48
YANGON, April 4 (Xinhuanet) -- The two-day Second Mekong Sub- Regional
Meeting of the Asia-Pacific Consultations on Refugees, Displaced
Persons and Migrants ended here Tuesday evening.
Delegates from Cambodia, China, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam
exchanged information on displaced persons and migrants, and proposed
the best measures to solve the problem of cross- border migration.
The meeting also approved some agreements on migrants and matters to be
discussed at the next meeting without further details.
Present at the meeting, which began on Monday, were officials of the
Asia-Pacific Consultations and the U.N. High Commission for Refugees as
well as observers from Brunei.
Meanwhile, Myanmar Minister of Immigration and Population U Saw Tun has
stressed at the meeting the need for information sharing which he said
is a key to developing better understanding of the migration situation
across the Asia-Pacific region. He also underscored the importance of
sound and comprehensive judicial, legislative and executive systems in
the reconstruction of a civil society relating to repatriation and
reintegration.
___________________________________________________
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
Bangkok Post: Low expectations for border talks
April 04, 2001.
Kanjana Spindler
Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, Third Army Region commander, is the
epitome of a professional soldier. He's tough and straight talking, and
fiercely patriotic. He sees himself as a soldier rather than a diplomat
and believes the two functions don't mix well.
His job is one of the toughest in the Royal Thai Army, covering as it
does the highly sensitive border regions with Burma. Securing this
border is made much more difficult by the drug traffic, the refugee
problem, the cross-border trade issues and the anti-Rangoon forces. Add
to this cauldron of tension and hot money the fact that almost the
entire border with Burma is not properly demarcated, and that confusing
policy signals emanate from the Ministry of Defence and the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs, and you have a soldier's nightmare which includes
confusion and the political games people play.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai probably thinks his head is on the chopping
board-with good reason, although he appears to have survived Gen
Chavalit Yongchaiyudh's initial desire to remove him due to reported
intervention by Gen Prem Tinsulanonda, statesman and president of the
Privy Council. Gen Chavalit's antipathy towards the current Royal Thai
Army C-in-C Gen Surayud Chulanont is well documented (as too is Gen
Chavalit's propensity to spend forward the armed forces budget to the
maximum extent possible) so both Gen Surayud and his protege Lt-Gen
Wattanachai might be considered fair targets in the old-style game of
promoting one's close associates and "yes men", a game that Gen Chavalit
practically invented.
Moreover, neither of these two professional soldiers will utter a word
in their defence if they are "de-activated" because they are both firm
believers in a professional military subservient to democratic political
control. So, hopefully, Gen Prem will continue to provide a silent and
invisible protective shield over these two modern soldiers in order to
preserve the de-politicisation of the Thai military which has been
making solid progress over the last two years since Gen Surayud's
promotion to the position of C-in-C.
But for Lt-Gen Wattanachai the stakes are much higher.
He's currently leading the Thai delegation to the first Regional Border
Committee meeting, in Kengtung, for nearly three years. His expectations
are low because, with good reason, he doesn't believe the Burmese side
is sincere. According to sources close to Lt-Gen Wattanachai, the
Burmese are likely to do everything possible to put Lt-Gen Wattanachai
in a bad light. They want him removed from the Third Army Region because
he's a thorn in their side and they probably want to create an excuse
for Gen Chavalit to try and remove him so that he can be replaced by
someone more pliable and more susceptible to the nuances and money
politics of this wild frontier.
Of course, this would simply be playing into Burma's hands, something
that Gen Chavalit might keep in mind the next time his desire to remove
Lt-Gen Wattanachai bubbles irrepressibly.
One item up for discussion in Kengtung will be the issue of joint border
patrols which would allow Thai troops accompanied by Burmese troops to
patrol areas inside Burmese territory so that both forces can help each
other in jointly destroying the Wa's drug production bases. The
likelihood of the Burmese accepting this idea are, of course, fairly
remote for obvious reasons, but the request in itself is a useful test
of their sincerity.
Before Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai meets his Burmese
counterpart at the beginning of next month following the Asean foreign
ministers "retreat" in Burma, it might be useful if some intensive,
non-public brainstorming took place including all involved Thai parties.
We cannot and should not take a conciliatory approach towards Burma as
long as it keeps feeding off "the tears of the Thai people".
Kanjana Spindler is Assistant Editor, Editorial Pages, Bangkok Post.
___________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: List revealed of top dealers
April 4, 2001
Temsak Traisophon
A list of major drug dealers in the North was revealed at a meeting
yesterday, chaired by Interior Minister Purachai Piemsomboon.
Drug suppression chief Pol Lt-Gen Priewphan Damapong, who said the
meeting was intended to map out strategy to deal with the menace, said
no politicians were on the blacklist.
Pol Lt-Gen Priewphan said police were keeping watch on major drug
dealers in the northern provinces, especially in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai
and Mae Hong Son.
Most of the people on the list had connections with the United Wa State
Army and frequently moved locations to stay with the Wa to avoid arrest.
The interior minister said that among topics discussed were ways to
encourage provincial governors and senior police officers to co-operate
closely to combat drugs despite the fact that police were no longer
under the Interior Ministry.
Not only drug laws but also money laundering laws, other related laws
and tax measures must be used as tools to suppress the drug trade, he
said Also present at the meeting were assistant national police chief
Pol Lt-Gen Noppadol Somboonsap and Office of Narcotics Control Board
secretary-general Kitti Limchai
___________________________________________________
Mizzima: 36 Burmese nationals remain under detention in Andamans Islands
Kolkata, April 2, 2001
More than three years have passed that the investigation of the Central
Bureau of Investigation (CBI) is unable to conclude and with the
Ministry of Defence virtually refusing to cooperate, the 36 Burmese
citizens remain under illegal detention in the Andamans Islands of
India. The human rights lawyers of India are filing petitions before the
court in Port Blair this week for the immediate release of 36 Burmese
nationals. Although the light for their release remains dim, their
freedom, if it were, would expose the true story behind this
ôcontroversialö episode.
On February 12, 1998, Major-General S.C Chopra, Additional Director
General, military operations, Ministry of Defence announced in a press
conference in New Delhi that Indian security forces had intercepted, on
11 February, a major gang of ôinternational gunrunnersö in the Andamans
Seas and they had arrested 73 gunrunners who were supplying arms to the
North East militant groups. The authorities claimed that six persons
were killed in the encounter. The arrests and seizure of around US $ 1
million worth arms was described by the Indian armed forces as
ôOperation Leechö, a joint operation of army, navy, air force and Coast
Guards.
However, the other side of story is totally different. In their letters
from the jail to outside world, the prisoners revealed that they were
Arakan and Karen ethnic people from Burma engaged in the struggle
against the Burmese military junta. According to them, the Indian army
had allowed them to operate from Landfalls Island in the Andamans. In
exchange for this facility, a colonel of the Indian army û Lt. Col.
Grewal - had taken thousands of dollars and gold in exchange for the use
of the island but he double-crossed them and shot dead six of their
senior leaders in cold blood.
After months of detention and investigation, the CBI revealed in the
court that 37 of those held under detention were in fact fishermen and
thus they were released on 7th May 1999 and later deported to Burma.
The CBI said that it has not concluded investigation on the remaining 36
accused persons. In its appeal filed before the court in Port Blair on
17th May 2000, CBI mentioned the delay in investigation due to
non-cooperation of Indian Defence authorities.
The 36 are charged under the ordinary criminal code for waging war
against India, under the Arms and Explosive Substances Act, and under
section 3 (1) (b) of the National Security Act, 1980. The detention
under the National Security Act, 1980 was for one year and not renewed
after the one-year period completed on May 15, 1999.
Out of 36 detenus, 25 belong to National United Party of Arakan (NUPA)
and 11 are from Karen National Union (KNU), both fighting against the
Burmese junta with armed struggles.
The Chief Judicial Magistrate, Port Blair, on October 13, 1999, released
the 36 accused persons on bail when a well-known human rights lawyer Ms.
Nandita Haksar filed petition for their release.
The local Superintendent of Police, however, passed an order,
immediately re-arrested them and put them under arrest in a building in
Port Blair.
Since then, they have been held under ôillegalö detention in the
police-guarded building although the conditions of detention have
improved over the months due to interventions of their lawyers.
The 36 Burmese have approached the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees (UNHCR) for protection and UNHCR has agreed to consider it.
In her letter to the UNHCR in Geneva on January 15, 2001, Ms. Nandita
Haksar has mentioned that if her clients are not given the protection of
the UNHCR, they could be held indefinitely or be deported to Burma. ôAll
the 36 detenus have a well-founded fear of persecution if they are
deported..ö, she wrote.
___________________________________________________
Mizzima: 54 Burmese fishermen to be deported on 6th April
Calcutta, April 3, 2001
The 54 Burmese fishermen who have been detained at Calcutta jails for
about two years will be released and deported to their country on 6th
April, said jail authorities in Calcutta, West Bengal of India.
According to the Presidency jail officials, the Government had ordered
purchase of new shoes and clothes for all the 54 Burmese fishermen and
air tickets have also been booked for flying them to Burma on 6th April.
Mr. P. B. Chowdhury who is working for the Burmese embassy affairs in
Calcutta confirmed the report that the Burmese fishermen will be
deported on 6th April. He said that Burmese authorities will provide
expenses for shoes and clothes for the fishermen while the air tickets
expenses are being provided by the Indian government.
Meanwhile, a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by an
Indian legal activist seeking action taken report from the Indian
Foreign and Home Ministry on the Burmese fishermen is coming up for
hearing on the 9th April 2001 before the Supreme Court of India.
Deepak Prahladka, a Calcutta-based Legal Activist, stated in his
petition that on the 26th July 1997, total 63 (9 Thai and 54 Burmese)
fishermen were arrested for illegally entering Indian territorial water
and detained in Calcutta jails. On the 20th September 1999, a
Sub-Divisional Judicial Magistrate at Tamluk, West Bengal, India
convicted all the 63 fishermen under section 14 of the Indian
ForeignerÆs Act and sentenced them to suffer Rigorous Imprisonment for 2
(two) years and also directed that the period of detention of the 63
fishermen be computed and set off by the jail authority accordingly. The
Magistrate also directed that since all the 63 fishermen have already
suffered sentence of imprisonment ordered (which expired on 25th July
1999) all of them be pushed back and/or deported to their respective
homeland immediately.
The Magistrate also sent copy of the aforesaid order to Indian Foreign
and Home Ministry and all other concerned for deportation of the 63
fishermen in compliance of the said order and directed the local police
to file the compliance report by the 4th October 1999. In view of the
said order dated 20-9-1999, nine Thai fishermen were released from the
jail and deported to their country but the remaining 54 Burmese
fishermen are still illegally incarcerated in Calcutta Presidency and
Alipore Jail.
Prahladka stated that 54 Burmese fishermen were legally entitled to be
released from jail and deported to their country but the Indian Foreign
and Home Ministry have not taken any steps for their release from jail
and deportation to their country.
He also stated that illegal incarceration of 54 Burmese fishermen not
only violates their human rights and Article 21 of the Constitution of
India but also constitutes criminal contempt of subordinate court and
also causes pecuniary loss to Indian public exchequer as the jail
authority had to feed all of them at the cost of the Indian public.
However, all of them are also entitled to compensation for illegal
incarceration.
Prahladka stated further that 54 Burmese fishermen have been rotting in
jail for about two years and in May 1998 they were brutally beaten up
during a fight between them and guards in jail and now some of them have
also become HIV positive and AIDS patients and are likely to spread
serious diseases in jails.
ôEven if they are released prior to 9th April, I shall proceed with the
petition for compensation for all the 54 fishermen for their illegal
incarcerationö, says Prahladka.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
Charlie Hebdo (France): [Article on the building of an hotel in Rangoon
by a former secretary of the French President]
[Article published on the 10th january 2001 in Charlie Hebdo, a French
publication. Translation by Info-Birmanie]
Investigation
The Luxury Burmese Hotel of Michel Roussin
French President Jacques ChiracÆs right-hand man wanted to construct a
½Sofitel╗ hotel in Rangoon. A strange idea, considering that in
Burma luxury hotels are a means of laundering drug money. However it is
three years now that work on the building has ceased. French honour is
saved.
Tourists who visit Burma, in order to profit from the order that reigns
there, complain somewhat when they come across the horrible shell in
reinforced concrete that dominates the historic centre of Rangoon. One
hundred and sixty feet tall, this monumental wart should have become a
Sofitel hotel, run by the French group Accor. But the building site,
abandoned three years ago, now serves only to honour the memory of its
illustrious developer, Michel Roussin.
The Burmese adventures of Roussin go back to 1996. Jacques ChiracÆs
mentor had just quit his position at the Ministry of Overseas
Cooperation, after judicial enquiries concerning fraudulent invoices
issued by the Paris City Council. The case against him was very quickly
dropped, but he did not regain his ministerial portfolio. Logically
enough, this ex-member of the secret service (SDECE) then decided to
turn his hand to real estate. In December 1995, Roussin rejoined the
public works group Eiffage as president of its subsidiary SAE
International.
½Constructive╗ Narco-dollars
Straight away the great man conceived the idea of constructing a
five-star hotel in Rangoon. However no need for a market survey to
determine whether Burma, devastated since 1988 by a fierce dictatorship,
might lend itself better to heroin dealing than to the tourist industry.
In the capital of ?The Republic of Myanmar? (to use the terminology of
the Burmese generals) the occupancy of hotels rarely exceeds 10% of
their capacity.
Economically crazy, the project nonetheless seduced the group Eiffage
and its partner in the venture, the group Accor. Roussin, who was a
policeman in his youth, knows how to be persuasive.
There is certainly a possible explanation for this sudden enthusiasm for
Burmese hotel business. ½In fact, the primary function of luxury hotels
in Rangoon is to launder drug money╗ explains Francis Christophe,
ex-member of the Geopolitical Observatory on Drugs and author of
æBirmanie, la dictature du pavotÆ [Burma, the poppy dictatorship]
(publisher: Θditions Pierre Picquier). ½The Traders, for example,
which is one of the most expensive hotels in Rangoon, belongs to the
family of Lo Sign Harn, one of the opium lords of the Golden
Triangle.╗ Could Roussin, of the R.P.R. Party, be avid for
narco-dollars? Such a suggestion cannot be seriously entertained! We
simply draw attention to the fact that to build a Sofitel in Burma is to
expose oneself to suspicions of an infinitely more dishonourable nature
than a banal case of rigged markets.
However, Michel Roussin is not one to be intimidated by malicious
gossip. For a former Minister for French Africa, a close friend of the
Bongos, EyadΘma et al., to become partner to a narco-dictatorship
is in no way shocking. Moreover he is not alone. In the wake of Total,
which in 1992 signed a contract for 1,200 million dollars for the
development of the Yadana gas field, a whole load of French investors
has rushed to Rangoon: the arms dealer, Pierre Falcone and his friend
from the Pasqua stable, Jean-Charles Marchiani (see addendum), Thomson,
GEC-Alsthom, Indo-Suez, CrΘdit Lyonnais, Banque Nationale de Paris,
Air Liquide. The fact that the SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration
Council, official name of the military junta) uproots the population,
imposes on them forced labour, imprisons or kills its opponents, and
outlaws or decimates the unions, has never caused the least embarassment
to French decision makers.
It would be difficult to criticize them. After all, Jacques Chirac
himself has never concealed his fondness for the Burmese eldorado. In
1997 he spoke publicly at an ASEAN (Asian economic community) meeting in
favour of admitting Rangoon to membership, in the teeth of the boycott
declared by the international community. The French Foreign Office and
the French embassy in Rangoon have always approved, and even encouraged,
candidates for the profitable takings to be made in Burma. Even today,
the Jospin government is the only one in Europe to practise a policy of
½constructive engagement╗ with the worldÆs number one exporter of
heroin.
So, it is with the blessings of the highest authorities in Paris that
Michel Roussin landed in Rangoon on the 10th June 1996. To prepare the
ground for him, the French ambassador went to the trouble of sending the
junta leaders a letter of recommendation whose obsequiousness went far
beyond the usual formulae of diplomatic nicety. (See appended document)
Roussin had a very agreeable reception from the Burmese generals,
including the Prime Minister, General Than Shwe. It is not every day
that a close friend of the President of the French Republic pays hommage
to a drug dealer.
After the Sofitel, the prisons
Roussin was to make further visits to Rangoon. But despite his
excellent relationship with the junta, building of the hotel suddenly
ceased in 1997. A result of the Asian crisis? Or was the project
originally intended never to be completed? It remains a mystery.
No matter. Roussin?s career is undented by this failure. In 1999 his
firm is given responsibility for the construction, in France this time,
of three ½ultra-modern╗ prisons. After the conclusion of this
worthy contract (worth 670 million francs), Roussin abandons Eiffage to
return to his Franco-African affairs, as vice-president for Africa of
the BollorΘ group. Whilst, as regards his recent judicial
examination, concerning the affair of the publics works contracts in the
Paris region, one can swear to the fact that Burmese drug money is not
involved.
How sad, nonetheless, that a luxury hotel stands rotting. To
commercialize the Sofitel ruin, the junta generals should install on its
facade a hoarding proclaiming the name and status of their former
Presidential Palace associate. The prestige of France overseas would
find thereby a truly fitting memorial.
__________________________________________________
Last week Charlie Hebdo published details of the 1992 visit to Rangoon
of Pierre Falcone and Jean-Charles Marchiani, two of the pricipal actors
in the Angolan arms deal (the so-called ½Mitterand affair╗).
Their trip was nicely timed, as the same year the Burmese junta did a
deal with Total and, to celebrate that, they purchased twenty-four
combat helicopters from Poland. This disclosure aroused a lively
interest in Warsaw. In reply to Polish journalists, a spokesman for the
aviation group PZL, a certain Jan Mazur, acknowledged the sale of
twenty-four combat helicopters to Burma, but at the same time denied
that Brenco, the company of Falcone, was involved.
½The deal was agreed at the highest level and in total legality,╗
said Jan Mazur. According to him, moreover, the choppers were
reassuringly ½ neither armoured nor armed╗, i.e. were rather like
those used to film the Tour de France cycle race. It would be
unthinkable that the Burmese generals might themselves arm their
choppers.
To summarize, Falcone and Marchioni were only in Burma to perfect their
sun-tans. However Brenco is still active in Rangoon. The arms dealerÆs
local office is run by a former member of the French spy service.
According to the journalist Francis Christophe, the local representative
of Falcone served under Michel Roussin at a time when the latter worked
at the directorate of the secret service (SDECE). All of a sudden one
has a better understanding of why the same Roussin wanted to construct a
Sofitel in Burma: to lodge his mates and to keep an eye on the
temperature of their swimming pool.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Extract of registered letter dated 29th May 1996 addressed to the
Burmese Foreign Minister and five other officers of the military junta:
The French Republic,
The French Embassy in Burma
The Embassy of France presents its compliments to the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs of the Union of Myanmar and has the honour to inform the
latterthat Mr Michel ROUSSIN, former Minister for Cooperation, Former
CabinetHead H.E. Mr Jacques CHIRAC, Former Deputy of Paris, Managing
Director General of S.A.E. International ( Societe Auxilliaire
dÆEntreprise) Wich is now building the Sofitel Hotel in Yangon, will be
arriving in Myanmar on Monday 10 June 1996 in the
afternoon..............
DVB: Burma-Thai border trade in Kawthaung shut down
1 April
The Kawthaung District BDSC [Border Development Supervisory Committee]
has closed the Kawthaung-Ranong border trade since yesterday and border
crossing is allowed only to specified personnel. It is believed that
entrepreneurs and traders from Kawthaung and Ranong are facing
difficulties. DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] correspondent Myint Maung
Maung filed this report.
[Myint Maung Maung] The Kawthaung BDSC allows only 60 persons to go from
Kawthaung to Ranong and only 12 small boatloads of commodities for
trading per day. The 60 persons permitted to cross the border are not
allowed to carry any luggage. They had to go to the BDSC office with the
border crossing pass books, and were given the border passes after
answering some questions. The BDSC has stopped all border trade. It is
not known why the Burmese side has unilaterally closed the border trade.
Only people holding border pass books are allowed to cross the border to
Ranong since the BDSC arrived in Kawthaung. All the Burmese workers in
Ranong do not possess any border pass books and they have to sneak back
into their home country by paying 300 baht [Thai currency] boat fare for
a short trip to Kawthaung.
Regarding the border trade, the BDSC has been collecting exorbitant
taxes and most traders has stopped work for some time already. According
to the latest reports, it is learned that the Burmese side has closed
the border trade indefinitely.
Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 1 Apr 01
_______________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________
The Irrawaddy: Talks or Dialogue in Burma?
April 03, 2001
By B.K. Sen and Khin Maung Win
April 03, 2001-- The UN Special Rapporteur on Burma, Razali Ismail, has
successfully facilitated a meeting between SPDC leaders and the
Opposition in Burma, headed by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Reactions to this
meeting have been mixed. The pessimists say that this was a survival
strategy on the part of the generals. They contend that the move was a
tactic to silence the international community's pressure and that of the
International Labor Organization with a view to attract investors; that
such a tactic is directed towards slowing down the mounting anger of the
people and creating division in the ranks of the opposition, thereby
enabling the junta to stay in power longer.
The optimists view the development as if a dialogue has begun and the
generals by and large are in favor of sharing power. The reason for this
optimism is that international pressure on the junta is now at its
maximum. There is a power struggle between the pro-dialogue and
anti-dialogue factions in the army, heightened by the death of U Tin Oo
(a high-ranking army general in the Burmese military government). The
two factions cannot just fight against each other forever. They have to
come to some compromise. However, the pragmatic view appears to be that
the talks should be regarded not as a dialogue but simply as talks.
Politically, dialogue reaches much further and usually shows more
promise than talks.
It is very important to keep the talks going, no matter where they end.
If the talks go on, the generals will have to put a brake to the wheel
of repression. The talks, for example, would have to lead to Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi's house arrest being lifted. They would have to lead to the
steady disappearance of fear and frustration from the minds of the
people, who in this way would realize that the generals are not
all-powerful. In particular, the anti-dialogue leaders should not be
given an excuse to call off the process like they did in 1996.
It is necessary that the talks are held without a tense atmosphere, as
loud protests could make the generals feel very uncomfortable. It should
be remembered that perhaps this is the last chance to achieve a peaceful
change, and even if the talks do not yield an ideal result, they will
allow for flexibility to move on to higher stages. The alternative would
be a breakdown of the talks and an impasse, but this time it would not
be a simple case of going back to square one. It would create a
situation of great uncertainty and instability, and probably lead to a
prolonged debilitating conflict ending in chaos and disintegration.
Burma would then become like one of the worst nightmares of the Balkan
region. The parties involved need to clearly envisage where the country
should be heading.
The present talks have to be taken very seriously and should be seen as
being on a par with cease-fire agreements between the armed groups. The
regime will need to stop operations against the Opposition, and the
Opposition will have to follow certain ground rules to avoid provocative
actions in the name of people's power. Concerns of critics will have to
be dissipated. Both parties will have to buy time and generate mutual
respect and trust. Confidence building measures have to be put in place,
and such measures can only be taken by those in power. There are many
questions that arise out of the current situation. Would the talks lead
to power sharing? If so, what type would it be? What would be the role
of the military? At which stage would the participation of the ethnic
leaders start? What are their demands? Would there be a constitution
during the transitional period? And, if so, would it be the one that was
imposed in 1948 or the one framed by the military junta later on? These
questions must be addressed but not now, as they are a bit premature.
Priorities now are to set an agenda and put the talks on a firm course
with an astute facilitator who does not allow them to get derailed or
aborted.
A very important factor to be kept in mind is that the country has been
under autocratic rule for generations. Burma's economy is shattered, and
education has virtually ceased. The country is paralyzed by ethnic
unrest, and the drugs and Aids problems have become alarming. Thai-Burma
border clashes have presented new complications, and diplomacy is needed
to solve all these difficulties.
The current talks show that Burma's military leaders at long last appear
interested in ending this state of affairs, and are looking for ways to
begin a peace process, which is good news. The forces that have locked
Burma into stagnation, decline and ruin seem to be shifting. True, this
process is highly tentative, and no one hardly even dares to talk about
it, but the breakthrough does amount to the first genuine step forward
in many years.
Needed now are cool heads, compromise, logic, trust and, last but not
least, a willingness to reconcile differences. The years of violence and
antagonism should provide the motivation for a solution. If a deal is
made, the resulting peace could liberate Burma from its long-term
decline.
These talks have been made possible by the consistent support of the
international community for the pro-democracy Opposition, yet there is
still a strong need for international organizations, governments and
political parties of nation-states to come out in support of the talks.
What the parties talk about is not the international community's concern
at this stage, as change has to come from within. What is important,
however, is that these talks do not meet the same fate as the
Israeli-Palestinian talks in September-October 1994.
The fact the talks are being held should bring some joy and a glimpse of
what the future might hold. The guns of repression are silent for the
moment, as the military junta is playing a crucial role in helping the
talks to go on. In the interests of a peaceful transition, certain
issues have to be kept for later, so that the junta can realize that it
is also to their benefit that the first constructive steps be taken
towards a transition. The ideas for further talks, mentioned earlier,
and other crucial issues will have to be sorted out before the talks can
be said to be a real dialogue. At present it is crucial to allow fear to
subside and new hope to be born in the hearts of the people. After all,
the Buddha never stops smiling.
B.K. Sen and Khin Maung Win are members of Burma Lawyers Council.
Opinions expressed here are their own.
______________________OTHER______________________
AU Free Burma Coalition: Prominent Human Rights Activist from Burma Will
Come to American University to Discuss Efforts to Free His Country from
Military Rule
[Abridged]
When: Wednesday, April 11th, 2001, 6:00 PM
Where: Kay Spiritual Life Center
American University
4400 Massachusetts Ave, NW
Washington, DC 20016
What: A prominent human rights and environmental activist from Burma
will come
to American University as he travels on a nationwide speaking tour
educating
US citizens about the horrific abuses occurring in Burma, where a brutal
military
dictatorship has ruled since 1962. Ka Hsaw Wa, recipient of the Reebok
Human Rights Award, the Goldman Environmental Prize, and the Conde Nast
Environmental
Prize, will share his compelling life story with American University
students
and tell them what they can do to support Burmas pro-democracy movement.
Ka Hsaw Wa, a member of Burma's Karen ethnic group, participated in the
student
protests in the capital, Rangoon. At the age of 18 police arrested him
and them
tortured him for three days in an effort to locate other pro-democracy
advocates. Realizing
that his life was in danger, he fled the capital to the Thai border,
where he
planned to join the resistance to the military junta. But then Ka Hsaw
Wa realized he could play a more important role by documenting human
rights abuses
committed by the military and sharing his evidence with the
international media.
In 1995 he cofounded EarthRights International and began to gather
evidence of the destruction caused by the Yadana natural gas pipeline
in southern Burma, owned by Unocal and the French oil
firm TotalFinaElf. Ka Hsaw Wa's opposition to the pipeline was
instrumental in
raising awareness about the destructive role of oil companies in Burma.
Ka Hsaw Wa now divides his time between the US and Thailand, where he
teaches
non-violent resistance and human rights abuse documentation.
Sponsored by the University Chaplain's Office, the Office of Community
Action
and Social Justice and the AU Free Burma Coalition. For more info, call
202-885-3333.
________________
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