Burma Related News, 2 March 2000

[TIN KYI <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

REUTERS, 03/02/2000 04:29:00 ET
Myanmar military threatens opposition with ban

YANGON,March 2 (Reuters) - Myanmar's state-controlled  newspapers on
Thursday threatened the opposition National League  for Democracy (NLD) with
a ban and its members with jail for  bringing law suits against the
country's military rulers.
A commentary in all official Myanmar newspapers strongly  criticised the
NLD, which is led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu  Kyi, for taking the
generals to court last year in lawsuits  accusing them of abuse of power.
Noting that Myanmar's Supreme Court had dismissed the  actions by the NLD,
it said the cases had been submitted  "shamelessly."
"It was an act of taking every opportunity to discredit the  Tatmadaw
(military) government, the dignitaries, the ministers  and those in
responsible positions," it said.
"If the ... government lacks magnanimity and attachment and  takes action
against the NLD and remnants of party leaders  according to arrangements
made by security organisations  concerned, (the) NLD will be declared an
unlawful association,  and the remnants of party leaders jailed with various
prison  terms," it said.
It said the fact that the government had not taken such  action against the
NLD showed Yangon's rulers were "free from  hostility and grudge."
The commentary said its warning was "not an act of  intimidation."
"It is meant to acquaint the remnants of NLD leaders in  time with (the)
national political view of the Tatmadaw  government and its polite and
subtle national characteristics,"  it added.
Last October, Myanmar's Supreme Court dismissed complaints  of abuse of
power levelled by the NLD's leaders against senior  officials of the
military government.
The judge ruled the complaints, related to the arrest and  harassment of
opposition members, were not valid.
The government said at the time the opposition complaints  had been
investigated but no evidence had been found to support  them.
The NLD filed the complaints in September 1999 against the  director-general
of the National Intelligence Bureau, Home  Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing,
Information Minister Major-General  Kyi Aung and Ba Htay, the election
commission chairman.
Listing its complaints in a statement, the NLD said its  activities had been
"continuously disrupted, prevented, and  destroyed by the authorities
concerned."
It accused the authorities of illegally detaining its  members and
organising mass rallies to denounce elected  representatives.
The NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a landslide  but the military
ignored the result and has since tried to  silence dissent through arrests
and intimidation.
In 1988, hundreds of NLD members were detained and large  numbers have since
been forced to resign from the party after it  pushed for the convening of
parliament.
The newspaper commentary said members of the NLD had  committed "riotous
acts" in order to disrupt the rule of law  and harm the peace and
tranquility of the country.

AFP, 2 March 2000
Heroin trafficking renders Afghanistan, Myanmar ineligible for US aid
Washington said two countries, Afghanistan and Myanmar, are not eligible for
most forms of US aid and should be decertified because of their role in
heroin trafficking.
In his annual report card on the performance of countries used as drug
source or transit points, US President Bill Clinton however declared Mexico
and Colombia as reliable partners in the drug war.

The US State Department issues a report each year reviewing the state of
narcotics control efforts worldwide.

This year, it said Afghanistan and Myanmar are not cooperating against the
international drugs trade.

"For several years now Afghanistan and Myanmar have been world headquarters
for the heroin business. This past year they retained that deadly
dishonour," US Secretary of State Madeline Albright told a news briefing.

In Afghanistan the opium harvest grew substantially and the Taliban's full
complicity in the drug trade has extended to the point where both the
harvesting and trafficking of opium is taxed.

The report said Afghanistan became the world's largest producer of opium
poppy in 1999 and is the major supplier of heroin to Europe.

In the case of Myanmar, it said production was down due partly to the
government's eradication efforts and severe drought conditions.

The report also noted that Washington had limited influence in both
countries.

Four other governments, in Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay, also did
not meet the standards but Mrs Albright, speaking for the President, said
they will be spared sanctions on national interest grounds.

Ignoring recommendations of some Congressional leaders, however, the US
President declared Mexico and Colombia as reliable partners in the drug war
despite a 20 percent increase in coca cultivation.


AP, 2 March 2000
50 Karen rebel soldiers feared executed along border

Fifty Karen National Union rebel soldiers, who were last seen being led away
by Thai troops, are believed to have been executed over the last two days
along the Thai-Myanmar border.
They are believed to have been taking their families across the border to
Thailand when the kingdom's officials prevented them from entering while
admitting their family members.

UN High Commissioner for Refugees, which reported the missing men, have
asked the Thai government for an explanation, but the situation has
increased the already delicate border situation between the two sides.

For more, we cross to our Indochina correspondent Romen Bose who spoke to
border officials and NGOs when he visited the border earlier Thursday.

Q1. Romen, what is the situation at the border at this point?

Romen: Tense

Q2. What is the status of the various Myanmar dissident groups along the
border?

Romen: Student groups have been closing down offices as Thai officials clamp
down, foil the siege, groups now a thorn in the side for both Thai and
Myanmar governments, rebuilding of trust needed.

Q3: Romen, there have also been refugee camps on the Thai side. Will they be
closed down?

Romen: Camps cater to Karen ethnic minorities - groups that will continue to
remain here because, (they are) clearly under the protection UN High
Commissioner for Refugees. Able to stay. But I understand it is quite clear
that some 140,000 Shan minority located just next to the Karen are being
moved further down to Shan state - viewed by Thais as a shift of the drug
trade closer to Thailand.


US denies Afghanistan, Myanmar drug certification; Colombia, Mexico pass

WASHINGTON, March 1 (AFP) -
The United States on Wednesday renewed its designation of Afghanistan and
Myanmar as uncooperative in the fight against drugs, but spared Colombia and
Mexico, despite growing concerns about their anti-narcotics records.

President Bill Clinton sent to Congress a list of 26 countries deemed to be
major drugs producers or transit points. Among those listed, six nations
were identified as having failed to take adequate measures, but of these
only Afghanistan and Myanmar were targeted for possible sanctions through
so-called "decertification."

The other four countries -- Cambodia, Haiti, Nigeria and Paraguay -- were
given so-called "national interest waivers," exempting them from
drug-related sanctions.

Colombia and Mexico were among the 20 major producers and transit nations
that were found to be doing their part to contain the growing scourge of the
narcotics trade.

Presenting the 1999 International Narcotics Control Strategy Report, US drug
czar Barry McCaffrey and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright blamed
Afghanistan and Myanmar for supplying the lion's share of heroin consumed
worldwide.

"For several years now, Afghanistan and Burma (Myanmar) have been world
headquarters for the heroin business," Albright said, noting that both
countries had been decertified in last year's report.

"This past year they retained that deadly dishonor."

Afghanistan "is the source of the world's greatest heroin threat," McCaffrey
said, adding that its production of opium increased 23 percent last year.

Myanmar was also singled out, with McCaffrey and Albright accusing the
military government in Yangon of tolerating drug trafficking and money
laundering.

"Its unwillingness to implement drug laws continues to be of serious
concern," McCaffrey said, adding that a severe drought had been the only
reason why Myanmar's opium production declined last year.

"The smaller opium yield (there) owed less to good intentions than to bad
weather," Albright said.

She and McCaffrey said that while Colombia and Mexico had escaped being
"decertified," and had in fact been found to be cooperating, the United
States recognized that serious problems existed there.

Coca production in Colombia rose 20 percent last year to account for 70
percent of the world's cocaine, and Mexican drug lords were running rampant,
carrying out bold assassinations, they noted.

But the desire on the part of the United States to assist Colombian
President Andres Pastrana with his ambitious peace, anti-drug and social
improvement plan, as well as the recognition that rebel groups were involved
in a large portion of the narcotics business, kept his country off the black
list, they said.

Mexico, which some US lawmakers demanded that Clinton decertify this year,
was spared -- in part to assist bilateral efforts to control the problem,
and also because the government had been relatively successful in destroying
drug crops in 1999.

The four countries granted national interest waivers were given them mainly
to support friendly governments and stability in their regions, Albright and
McCaffrey said.

Aside from Afghanistan, Myanmar, Colombia, Mexico and the four countries to
receive the special waiver, the list of major drug producers and transit
points announced Wednesday included: the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, China,
the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Hong Kong, India, Jamaica, Laos,
Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Taiwan, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

Two countries included in the 1998 list -- Aruba and Belize -- were dropped
from the latest one.

South China Morning Post, 2 March 2000

Military leader in rare admission on state of foreign trade, investment
ASSOCIATED PRESS in Rangoon
A top general has admitted the country has found it hard to promote
international trade and attract foreign investment during the past decade,
according to a state-run newspaper.
Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, first secretary of the ruling military
council, told a Commerce Ministry co-ordination meeting on Tuesday that the
country had been hit by the 1997 Asian financial crisis and by economic
sanctions imposed by western nations, the Mirror newspaper reported.

The military imposed a command economy on the country when it seized power
in 1962, but soon after the current regime took control in 1988, it
introduced some free market reforms.

After a minor boom in the early and mid-1990s, the economy has languished.

According to a World Bank study late last year, foreign investment approvals
slumped 95 per cent during the past fiscal year.

In a rare admission about the problems facing the stricken economy, Mr Khin
Nyunt said despite government efforts to encourage foreign investment and
trade since the free market system was adopted, "noticeable achievements
have not been made".

He added that the economy was now recovering and that gross domestic product
grew by 4.6 per cent last year.

The World Bank study concluded that the regime's policies rather than the
regional economic malaise were to blame for economic stagnation.

It urged the military to undertake major political and economic reforms.

The regime has refused to hand over power to the party of pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi whose party had a sweeping win in the 1990 general
elections, but was blocked by the military from taking power.

In a thinly veiled reference to Aung San Suu Kyi, Khin Nyunt warned
officials to beware of "internal destructive elements," he said were trying
to hamper economic development and cause hardship to destablise the country.

Aung San Suu Kyi has urged Western nations not to invest in Burma, saying it
benefits only the ruling military and its associates, and not the general
public.

Burma is one of the world's poorest countries.

Last month, the United States confirmed that it would maintain its
sanctions - including a ban on new investment.



Myanmar military threatens opposition with ban
2 Mar 2000 13:38GMT

A commentary in all official Myanmar newspapers strongly criticised the NLD,
which is led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, for taking the generals to
court last year in lawsuits accusing them of abuse of power.

It was an act of taking every opportunity to discredit the Tatmadaw
(military) government, the dignitaries, the ministers and those in
responsible positions, it said.

If the ... government lacks magnanimity and attachment and takes action
against the NLD and remnants of party leaders according to arrangements made
by security organisations concerned, (the) NLD will be declared an unlawful
association, and the remnants of party leaders jailed with various prison
terms, it said.

It said the fact that the government had not taken such action against the
NLD showed Yangon's rulers were free from hostility and grudge.

The commentary said its warning was not an act of intimidation.

It is meant to acquaint the remnants of NLD leaders in time with (the)
national political view of the Tatmadaw government and its polite and subtle
national characteristics, it added.

Last October, Myanmar's Supreme Court dismissed complaints of abuse of power
levelled by the NLD's leaders against senior officials of the military
government.

The judge ruled the complaints, related to the arrest and harassment of
opposition members, were not valid.

The government said at the time the opposition complaints had been
investigated but no evidence had been found to support them.

The NLD filed the complaints in September 1999 against the director-general
of the National Intelligence Bureau, Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing,
Information Minister Major-General Kyi Aung and Ba Htay, the election
commission chairman.

Listing its complaints in a statement, the NLD said its activities had been
continuously disrupted, prevented, and destroyed by the authorities
concerned.

It accused the authorities of illegally detaining its members and organising
mass rallies to denounce elected representatives.

The NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a landslide but the military
ignored the result and has since tried to silence dissent through arrests
and intimidation.

In 1988, hundreds of NLD members were detained and large numbers have since
been forced to resign from the party after it pushed for the convening of
parliament.

The newspaper commentary said members of the NLD had committed riotous acts
in order to disrupt the rule of law and harm the peace and tranquility of
the country.


BBC, Thursday, 2 March, 2000, 13:18 GMT
Burma papers warn opposition of closure

Official newspapers in Burma say the opposition National League for
Democracy could be outlawed in retaliation for its law suits against the
military government Correspondents say the newspaper commentaries, which are
bound to have had official approval, seem to reflect a further hardening of
the government position and are a clear warning to the NLD.

Last month, the National League for Democracy attempted to revive legal
proceedings which allege the military government is destroying the party.
The original case, which was dismissed by a court last year, accused
government officials of intimidating party members into resigning, and
closing branch offices. The commentaries say the government could declare
the NLD an unlawful association, and jail its leaders but the fact it has
not done so reflects its lack of hostility towards the democracy party. The
NLD won elections in 1990 which haven't been recognised by the military
government.














----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----