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South China Morning Post
Friday, February
11, 2000
BURMA
Surrender
looks only way out for rebels
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Rangoon The military regime shows little sign of making concessions to remaining
ethnic Shan and Karen insurgents to make peace.
Government spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Hla Min said the Shan State Army (South) would have to lay down its weapons in surrender, and he effectively ruled out the political settlement sought by the Karen National Union (KNU). The Shan and Karen are Burma's largest ethnic minorities and have waged rebellions through various small armies for independence or more autonomy against the Rangoon Government for decades. These rebel armies have long operated on the fringes of Thai territory as safe rear areas, but after two hostage-takings in four months in Thailand by fringe rebel groups, the days of Thai tolerance are clearly over, leaving Rangoon in a stronger position. Bangkok sent a chilling message to border insurgents by ending the latest siege in uncompromising fashion, killing 10 gunmen who had seized hundreds of hostages at a provincial hospital on January 24. The gunmen were from a fringe Karen group, God's Army, led by 12-year-old twin boys, and a radical student group that had taken hostages at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok in October. Days after the hospital siege ended, the main Shan and Karen rebel armies said they wanted to start peace talks. But their prospects for getting a better deal than outright surrender appear bleak. Lieutenant-Colonel Hla Min said neither group had yet made contact with the Government, although the "door was open" for talks. The once powerful KNU was giving "mixed signals" on reaching a deal, although its never-say-die general, Bo Mya, has just been demoted as leader after 24 years. "I think the new chairman said that he wanted to solve this issue in a more peaceful way," said Lieutenant-General Hla Min. "But we are also reading in the media Bo Mya saying that nothing is going to change; that they have been fighting the central Government for 50 years and can continue to go on fighting." An estimated 17 ethnic insurgent groups have already reached cease-fire arrangements with the Government in the past 11 years, enabling the burgeoning Burmese army to consolidate its grip on the country it has ruled since 1962. Friday, February 11 5:03 PM SGT UN conference to try to spread globalisation dividendBANGKOK, Feb 11 (AFP) - Leaders from Asia and around the world will join global trade and finance chiefs Saturday in their first major meeting since anti-globalisation violence erupted at economic talks in Seattle and Davos. The tenth meeting of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) is claiming a mandate to share the benefits of rapid globalisation with developing nations. It will also discuss how to shield vulnerable economies and populations from the harsh side-effects of the increasingly interconnected and technology-driven global economy. "Society will ultimately be judged by how well it treats its weakest member," said Rubens Ricupero, the Brazilian secretary general of UNCTAD told a press conference Friday. Organisers have promised to offer anti-globalisation groups a role in these talks in a bid to soothe the anger which erupted last month at the World Economic Forum in Davos and the World Trade Organisation summit in Seattle in December. "People are asking for more participation, we have seen it on the streets of Seattle, on the streets of Davos," Thai Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, who will lead the WTO from 2002, said on Friday. Thailand is a fitting venue for the conference after a tortuous two-year climb out of an economic crisis which found it woefully ill prepared for the lightning capital flows accompanying globalisation. After battling out of recession it is now at the vanguard of efforts to give developing nations a greater say in world commerce. Leaders of nine Southeast Asian nations will be present at the start of the week-long conference on Saturday, as well as several others from elsewhere, including Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad -- a fierce critic of the globalisation process -- is due to deliver an address on Saturday, as is under-pressure Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid. Also at the conference will be WTO leader Mike Moore, International Monetary Fund (IMF) managing director Michel Camdessus and World Bank chief James Wolfensohn. Thailand has insisted it is not disappointed with the turnout from the developed world, which apart from Obuchi, will not be sending any heads of government. The United States is sending senior aid officials and European countries have dispatched junior ministers to the talks. Thai forces, already on red alert after 10 Myanmar rebels took over a hospital and held hundreds of hostages last month, have launched a massive security operation. In a bid to avoid any repeat of the Seattle and Davos protests, only a handful of demonstrators will be able to mount token protests at the conference centre hosting the meeting. Any large-scale street protests are expected to be confined to a city-centre park several kilometres (miles) away. Thousands of extra police are on duty in Bangkok and hospitals have been put on alert. Non-governmental organisations bitterly opposed to the current world financial system, which they say benefits powerful western nations at the expense of the developing world, held several meetings before the conference. Activists called for a sweeping overhaul of the world financial organisations of the WTO and the IMF, which they claim did more harm than good in the aftermath of the Asian crisis. "We are opposed to the usurping of the roles of national governments and citizens' democratic rights by global institutions such as the IMF," said a statement issued by an NGO coalition on Wednesday. Instead, it said, the world must "develop a system of global governance that respects local democratic processes and is based on global conventions agreed to at the United Nations." Reform must include the introduction of capital controls, improved corporate governance and the cancellation of all "illegitimate, immoral or unpayable" debt owed by developing countries, the statement said. The Nation - Feb 12, 2000. Annan out-of-turnover hospital siege
Kofi Annan's remarks in support of the Thai authorities' handling of the
hospital siege (The Nation, page A1, "Annan praises controversial hospital siege
rescue") made me extremely angry on two fronts.
First, the UN chief pushes himself as an advocate of removing children from
the battlefields, yet does he not know that some of those killed in the
Ratchaburi siege were reported to be youngsters? Second, there are very serious
concerns that the siege-breakers executed the 10 rebels - cold-bloodedly and
without any benefit of a trial. Those concerns are not without foundation, and
it would do Annan and his advisers to stay clear of this controversy because one
day there may be an accounting (though I won't be holding my breath).
It is not for the UN chief to go to a country and then condemn it for every
violation of human rights. Nor is it right in my opinion for him to praise an
action about which the very principle of human rights appears not to have been
upheld. I would advise Annan to keep his mouth shut unless he really knows what
he is talking about.
Dexter Lowe
BANGKOK Sunan
Ochakachorn A special task force made a lightning raid on the
Maneeloy holding centre for Burmese students early yesterday morning, but found
nothing illegal. The visit by a combined force of 1,000 police and military was part of the
security build-up to the 10th Unctad meeting. Komate Daengthongdee, the Ratchaburi governor, said no weapons,illegal items
or undocumented aliens were found in the four-hour search. Authorities, however, took away nine computers for further checks for
"irregular" messages or information that might reveal any political movements
and also seized a large number of communications devices and medical
equipment. Seventeen people held for questioning were all found to have ID cards issued
by the United Nations High Commission for Refugees, which runs the Maneeloy
centre, and were released. Pol Maj-Gen Charnvut Watcharapuk, deputy immigration bureau commissioner,
said it was disheartening to see the efforts to tackle illegal migration end in
failure. The illegal workers, mostly Burmese, had streamed back into Tak and
Chiang Rai barely two months after the last major repatriation in December. The
deputy commissioner said at least 30% of the 101,000 foreigners who were driven
out were now back in Thailand at their old jobs. More were expected to follow
suit. Particularly worrisome was the fact that the workers who returned have also
engaged in the narcotics trade. Pol Maj-Gen Charvut admitted their return was
assisted by immigration officials. An inquiry would be launched to single out
those officials responsible, who would be fired. Meanwhile, the bureau has
increased immigration checks at airports in the northern provinces to keep
terrorists at bay. |