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WIRE:05/02/2000 06:55:00 ET
Suu Kyi could face death penalty for treason, Myanmar newspaper warns YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers could face the death penalty or life imprisonment for high treason stemming from alleged links to outlawed rebel groups, a government newspaper said Tuesday. A commentary in the Mirror daily accused Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, of being "power crazy," trying to block foreign aid and investment, and attempting to foment disunity among the country's ethnic minorities. The accusations came as the military regime played host to economic
ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China
and South Korea, its biggest diplomatic event since Myanmar was admitted
into ASEAN in 1997.
The government, often criticized by Western nations for human rights
abuses, has recently arrested members of Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy for alleged links to rebel groups that maintain a fading armed
struggle against the regime along Myanmar's border with Thailand.
"There is evidence that Suu Kyi has contacts with dissidents and
armed terrorist groups," the commentary said. Hence "Suu Kyi and her
accomplices could face the death penalty or life imprisonment" for high
treason.
The newspaper also said people in Myanmar, also known as Burma, were
losing confidence in Suu Kyi and wanted the government to take concrete
action against her in the national interest.
Nearly all newspapers in Myanmar are run by the government.
Editorials and commentaries often rail against Suu Kyi, who was vaulted to
world prominence during a bloody, unsuccessful uprising against military
rule in 1988.
Suu Kyi was placed under what became six years of house arrest in
1989, but a year later her party swept general elections. The military,
surprised that parties it had supported lost, never allowed parliament to
convene.
The National League for Democracy espouses nonviolence. According to
international human rights groups, hundreds of its members have been
jailed for their political views.
Last week, Aye Thar Aung, a senior party official responsible for
issues related to ethnic minorities, was arrested and reportedly accused
of connections to anti-government rebel groups.
The Mirror lashed out at Suu Kyi, whose activities are severely
restricted, for smuggling videotapes out of Myanmar. It said they were
sent to international conferences to discredit the government.
It accused Western embassies of abusing their diplomatic immunity by
helping to smuggle tapes out.
In one interview smuggled out Thursday, Suu Kyi said military
authorities arrested more than 40 NLD youth members in mid-April.
The government said a couple of NLD activists were being questioned
for alleged connections with a "terrorist demolition team" near the Thai
border. WIRE:05/02/2000 06:33:00 ET
ASEAN Meets on Trade With China, Japan, Korea YANGON (Reuters) - Southeast Asian economic ministers met for the first time as a group with their Northeast Asian neighbors China, Japan and South Korea on Tuesday to explore wider economic and trade ties. Delegates said the one-day meeting of respective trade ministers focused on development of the Mekong River region, a joint approach toward World Trade Organization negotiations and ways to assist the integration of Southeast Asian economies. It followed a day-long gathering on Monday of the ministers of the
10-member Association of South East Asian Nations, which groups Thailand,
Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia
and the Philippines.
Japan's Minister of Trade and Industry Takashi Fukaya said he told
his counterparts Japan considered the 10 ASEAN countries, China and South
Korea "equal partners."
He said Japan was ready to provide ASEAN countries with assistance to
promote investment and small and medium-sized enterprises and to establish
information technology standards.
All the countries shared the view that the failure of World Trade
Organization talks in Seattle should not be repeated, he told
reporters.
An official of Japan's Trade Ministry told Reuters it was likely the
ASEAN ministers and those of the three Northeast Asian countries would
meet again after the next ASEAN economic ministers' meeting in
October.
"The ASEAN ministers say they would like to cooperate more," he said.
"We will continue meeting."
There was no discussion of the possibility of expanding the ASEAN
Free Trade Area, delegates said.
"Not this time," said an advocate of such a move, Thai Commerce
Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, the next WTO secretary-general. "But it's
being studied."
Australia and New Zealand, linked through their Closer Economic
Relations agreement, are campaigning for a zero-tariff free trade
agreement with ASEAN countries by 2010.
The meeting has been the most senior hosted by Myanmar's ruling
military, which seized power in 1988 by killing thousands to crush a
pro-democracy uprising.
Myanmar's embattled opposition, the National League for Democracy,
said the meeting would give a psychological boost to the generals, who
ignored the opposition's landslide election win 10 years ago and have
since attempted to stifle dissent through arrests and intimidation.
Myanmar's human rights record, strongly criticized in the West and in
U.N. forums, has not been on the agenda.
Fukaya is the first Japanese cabinet member to visit Myanmar since
Japan cut full-scale aid to the country in 1988 in protest at the
killings.
On Monday night he met Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, the military
intelligence chief considered the most powerful figure in the ruling
military.
The Japanese official said Fukaya told Khin Nyunt Japan was willing
to conduct feasibility studies on providing solar and wind generated
electricity for poor rural areas and a group of experts would make
recommendations on ways to promote small and medium-sized
enterprises.
Japan also offered information technology assistance to improve
Myanmar's banking system.
"Probably the new stage would be the dispatch of experts and
training," the official said.
Myanmar's Minister for ASEAN Affairs Brigadier-General David Abel
said the meeting had gone "very, very well."
Japan has taken a more conciliatory line toward Myanmar than other
economic powers like the United States and the European Union countries,
which impose economic and political sanctions. But Tokyo continues to hold
back on large-scale assistance.
Last year it indicated a softening of its line by offering help if
Yangon took structural reform of its economy seriously. It said it would
be easier to help if Myanmar was more democratic, but analysts say its
biggest concern appears to be loss of business and political influence to
China.
The Japanese official said the assistance being offered was technical
help aimed at encouraging economic reform.
The Strait Times-May 2, 2000.
Myanmar's generals dig in their heels
(1)
By LEE KIM CHEW
IN YANGON MYANMAR is a fretful nation awaiting change. The military government wants
to change its people. Its people want to change the government.
Strangely, in this predominantly Buddhist country, famed for its
2,500-year-old Shwedagon Pagoda and its spiritualism, there is no middle ground
in the political divide.
Much maligned, much unappreciated, much unloved, the ruling generals march
to their own drumbeat, oblivious to the outside world. Secretive and largely
inaccessible, they have worked for years, with no end in sight, on a new charter
that will entrench their power.
They are writing for themselves a lead role when military involvement in
politics is out of tune with the times. Indonesia's military is taking its first
steps out of politics, but Myanmar's entrenched generals are digging in.
Foreign Minister Win Aung says: "We are an interim government. We are in
transition to form a new democratic state."
But the generals have set no date to transfer political power to civilians.
Would they?
"That's a fair question," says Lieutenant-Colonel Hla Min, the government
spokesman, as he seeks to explain. "We have been inescapably stuck" in
constitutional talks.
He asserts that the generals are soldiers, not politicians, and that they
will do what they must, as soldiers, to keep the country intact. Myanmar has
fought many ethnic insurgency wars over the past 50 years, he adds.
The signs are that the generals are in for a long stay. Former President
Suharto's Indonesia was once a model for Myanmar's generals. The picture has
changed somewhat with his fall, East Timor's independence vote and the
Indonesian military's retreat from politics.
The Myanmar generals also took note of Yugoslavia's disintegration and
South Korea's prosecution of two former presidents for corruption and abuse of
power. Now Mr Suharto and his generals are being called to account.
All this makes the regime even more jittery about yielding power to
civilians. To the generals, their chief opponent, Nobel peace laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi, is a traitor who consorts with Western countries to undermine Myanmar's
national interests.
Their idea of democratic change is to enshrine the military's
constitutional right to govern. Any other arrangement could be a mortal threat
to their political dominance.
"Change means political suicide for the government," says businessman Sein
Lwin, whose disaffection with the military regime has turned him into a
disbeliever of everything the government does.
"In Myanmar, the laws are elastic. The generals do what they like, and
those who oppose them suffer terribly for it."
For all his suppressed anger, there is a fatalistic outlook that is rooted
in the belief in reincarnation. "People are content with what they have. The
present conditions have something to do with their previous lives. So they
accept their fates," he says.
It is common practice in Myanmar to consult astrologers and believe in
auspicious dates. On the calendar, 8-8-88 (Aug 8, 1988) marks the aborted
nationwide revolt against military rule. People had hoped for radical change on
9-9-99. It did not happen.
"Confront the generals openly? They have guns. We don't. In the past, blood
was shed when that happened. We want change, but peaceful change," Mr Sein Lwin
pleads.
Them and us. Myanmar's current rulers are deeply estranged from their own
people, more so after they disavowed the sweeping victory of the National League
for Democracy (NLD), Ms Suu Kyi's party, in the 1990 elections.
The government tries hard, but it seems incapable of winning popular
support for whatever good it does.
The people turn a deaf ear to its entreaties. "It's a lot of bull, what
they say on television and in the newspaper," says a former civil servant. "Even
its own supporters do not believe the propaganda."
There is a credibility gap. Public cynicism and the military's hard line
against its political opponents diminish whatever little hope there is of
peaceful political change.
Driven to desperation, some dissidents abroad have joined forces with Karen
rebels and resorted to violence. Last October, they hijacked the Myanmar embassy
in Bangkok. Their seizure of a provincial hospital in Thailand in January ended
in disaster.
Ms Suu Kyi, a proponent of non-violent change, eschews the use of force.
She fights an uphill battle. Military intelligence agents shadow her everywhere
she goes.
This restricts her movements, even though she is allowed to go where she
wants in the capital Yangon, but not beyond, since her release from house arrest
in 1995.
University Avenue, which leads to her house, once the venue of her popular
weekend rallies, is still blocked by troops. Outside her party's headquarters
are swarms of intelligence agents. They take pictures of her visitors.
Last month, about 40 NLD youths were arrested for meeting to reorganise the
party's youth wing. Arbitrary arrest, no access to lawyers, no open court, long
jail sentences -- this is what the pro-democracy activists face, says NLD
vice-chairman Tin Oo. "This is a police state."
NLD members throughout the country are forced to resign en masse or they
get harassed and suffer retribution.
Ms Suu Kyi and the other NLD leaders doggedly keep the faith alive by
staying busy with party work. She meets her supporters regularly.
The NLD headquarters in Yangon is like a beehive. The activists attend pep
talks, never mind the spooks among them. Each week, the party's women's wing
hands out vitamins, iodised salt and sugar to poor children.
The generals dismiss Ms Suu Kyi, daughter of the country's independence
hero Aung San, as an intransigent alien, and would dearly love to see her leave
Myanmar. But she will not because the NLD will lose its most popular leader
without her.
Says tour operator Naing Naing: "She's our only hope. Without her, the NLD
is nothing.
"There has been change in other countries. In Indonesia, the military has
been pushed aside. Thailand, South Korea and Taiwan were once ruled by the
military. One day, Myanmar will change too."
But businessman Aung Thien is not so sure. He says: "People in Myanmar have
been talking about change since 1988. But little has changed. The military will
do everything to preserve its power. In fact, things have got worse."
As it is, the generals are doing all they can to emasculate the NLD.
Vice-chairman Tin Oo complains: "Ours is a registered party but we have to carry
out our activities like an underground organisation, because of the constant
harassment and intimidation of NLD members."
Some 40 to 45 NLD MPs who were elected in the 1990 election are still in
prison. The others who were freed had been given conditional releases. Others
were put in "guest houses" or forced to resign from the party. NLD MPs are not
allowed to meet their constituents.
The courts hand down heavy jail sentences for small political infractions
routinely. Students shouting anti-government slogans in the streets have been
given 15-year jail terms.
"We have to make an example of them," says Lt-Col Hla Min.
The universities, hotbeds of dissent, have stayed closed for years now.
Some of the technical colleges have been moved out of the capital, their
campuses broken up and the students dispersed.
Students who want to sit for university examinations are vetted in a
suitability test to determine if they, or any members of their families, are
connected in any way with the political opposition.
[The writer is Chief Regional Correspondent of The Straits Times.)
Suu Kyi Could Face Death
Penalty YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers could face the death penalty or life imprisonment for high treason stemming from alleged links to outlawed rebel groups, a government newspaper said Tuesday. A commentary in the Mirror daily accused Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, of being ``power crazy,'' trying to block foreign aid and investment, and attempting to foment disunity among the country's ethnic minorities. The accusations came as the military regime played host to economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea, its biggest diplomatic event since Myanmar was admitted into ASEAN in 1997. The government, often criticized by Western nations for human rights abuses, has recently arrested members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy for alleged links to rebel groups that maintain a fading armed struggle against the regime along Myanmar's border with Thailand. ``There is evidence that Suu Kyi has contacts with dissidents and armed terrorist groups,'' the commentary said. Hence ``Suu Kyi and her accomplices could face the death penalty or life imprisonment'' for high treason. The newspaper also said people in Myanmar, also known as Burma, were losing confidence in Suu Kyi and wanted the government to take concrete action against her in the national interest. Nearly all newspapers in Myanmar are run by the government. Editorials and commentaries often rail against Suu Kyi, who was vaulted to world prominence during a bloody, unsuccessful uprising against military rule in 1988. Suu Kyi was placed under what became six years of house arrest in 1989, but a year later her party swept general elections. The military, surprised that parties it had supported lost, never allowed parliament to convene. The National League for Democracy espouses nonviolence. According to international human rights groups, hundreds of its members have been jailed for their political views. Last week, Aye Thar Aung, a senior party official responsible for issues related to ethnic minorities, was arrested and reportedly accused of connections to anti-government rebel groups. The Mirror lashed out at Suu Kyi, whose activities are severely restricted, for smuggling videotapes out of Myanmar. It said they were sent to international conferences to discredit the government. It accused Western embassies of abusing their diplomatic immunity by helping to smuggle tapes out. In one interview smuggled out Thursday, Suu Kyi said military authorities arrested more than 40 NLD youth members in mid-April. The government said a couple of NLD activists were being questioned for alleged connections with a ``terrorist demolition team'' near the Thai border. Tuesday, May 2 4:06 PM SGT ASEAN trade ministers meet the neighboursYANGON, May 2 (AFP) - Southeast Asian trade ministers sat down for the first time with counterparts from China, South Korea and Japan Tuesday to discuss how to work together to fend off future economic crises. The talks took place at a Yangon hotel on the second day of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Economics Ministers retreat, Myanmar's biggest diplomatic undertaking since joining the regional grouping in 1997. East Asian governments have resolved to seek areas where they can work together in a bid to weather any future shocks similar to the one which ravaged economies across the region in 1997. "The agenda is structured so generously so that really any subject under the sun can be discussed. I expect the first meeting to be very friendly," said George Yeo, Singapore's Minister of Trade and Industry. But he cautioned against expecting too much from the talks. "There is nothing extraordinary about this consultation, the people of East Asia have been visiting each other, trading with each other back to the earliest times." Other ministers and Myanmar officials refused to discuss the agenda of the talks in detail. Little information was expected to emerge until a press conference on Tuesday evening. The meeting comes two months after ASEAN-plus-three agreed on the need for an Asian support fund to fight future financial crises. The facility would only be used in times of dire need and officials have shied away from using the term Asian Monetary Fund after a Japan-backed scheme of the same name was shot down by the United States which feared it would duplicate the functions of the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Japan is being represented at the meeting by Takashi Fukaya, a minister for international trade and industry. South Korean Minister of Trade Han Duck-Soo is also at the talks, along with China's Minister for Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng. Fukaya is the first Japanese minister to visit Myanmar since the suppression of a democracy uprising by the military government in 1988, officials here said. Japan has this year endured a tongue-lashing from democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who said it, and other Asian nations, should offer more support for the political reform movement. Japanese officials said on the sidelines of the ASEAN summit in Manila last year that Tokyo was prepared to help Myanmar overhaul its economy -- if it embraced structural reform. Former premier Ryutaro Hashimoto was dispatched to Myanmar for discussions with the generals in what was described as a "private" visit. There is considerable speculation in the business community here that Japanese investors have been sizing up infrastructure and other projects. Myanmar's economy suffers under Western sanctions and an investment drought. Aung San Suu Kyi says the generals are incapable of running a market economy. The country is plagued by roller coaster inflation, an almost worthless currency, the kyat and many people have no choice but to survive through trading on the black market. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Tuesday May 2 7:00 AM ET Suu Kyi Could Face Death PenaltyBy GRANT PECK, Associated Press WriterYANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her followers could face the death penalty or life imprisonment for high treason stemming from alleged links to outlawed rebel groups, a government newspaper said Tuesday. A commentary in the Mirror daily accused Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, of being ``power crazy,'' trying to block foreign aid and investment, and attempting to foment disunity among the country's ethnic minorities. The accusations came as the military regime played host to economic ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Japan, China and South Korea, its biggest diplomatic event since Myanmar was admitted into ASEAN in 1997. The government, often criticized by Western nations for human rights abuses, has recently arrested members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy for alleged links to rebel groups that maintain a fading armed struggle against the regime along Myanmar's border with Thailand. ``There is evidence that Suu Kyi has contacts with dissidents and armed terrorist groups,'' the commentary said. Hence ``Suu Kyi and her accomplices could face the death penalty or life imprisonment'' for high treason. The newspaper also said people in Myanmar, also known as Burma, were losing confidence in Suu Kyi and wanted the government to take concrete action against her in the national interest. Nearly all newspapers in Myanmar are run by the government. Editorials and commentaries often rail against Suu Kyi, who was vaulted to world prominence during a bloody, unsuccessful uprising against military rule in 1988. Suu Kyi was placed under what became six years of house arrest in 1989, but a year later her party swept general elections. The military, surprised that parties it had supported lost, never allowed parliament to convene. The National League for Democracy espouses nonviolence. According to international human rights groups, hundreds of its members have been jailed for their political views. Last week, Aye Thar Aung, a senior party official responsible for issues related to ethnic minorities, was arrested and reportedly accused of connections to anti-government rebel groups. The Mirror lashed out at Suu Kyi, whose activities are severely restricted, for smuggling videotapes out of Myanmar. It said they were sent to international conferences to discredit the government. It accused Western embassies of abusing their diplomatic immunity by helping to smuggle tapes out. In one interview smuggled out Thursday, Suu Kyi said military authorities arrested more than 40 NLD youth members in mid-April. The government said a couple of NLD activists were being questioned for alleged connections with a ``terrorist demolition team'' near the Thai border. Bangkok Post - May
2, 2000.
NARCOTICS
Army ruffled by Burma's border
policy
Washington to help in war
against drugs
Wassana Nanuam Increased opium production in border areas of Burma is heightening concerns that Rangoon seems to be moving more people to the area, an army source said yesterday. The relocation of Burmese and ethnic minorities had implications beyond the stated purpose of securing the border, the source said. The border policy is probably a cover for other motives, he said. "Burma must have a particular plan in mind. It moves its people to the border but does not take care of them or help them make a living," he said. "So the people plant more poppies." The Defence Council raised the issue during a meeting on Thursday and Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, in his capacity as defence minister, asked for solutions. Gen Mongkol Ampornpisit, supreme commander, said developments in those areas were being watched. The military has drawn up a plan but Gen Mongkol declined to elaborate, the source said. Gen Surayud Chulanont, the army commander-in-chief, said the authorities would have to close the drug routes since they could do nothing on Burmese soil. "We must solve our own problem," said Gen Surayud. "We have to reduce domestic demand. If we can do this, production will come to an end because there is no market." The army plans to buy two Black Hawk helicopters from the US to patrol border areas and suppress illicit drugs. The army chief confirmed that the Black Hawk had been selected because of its high capacity. Meanwhile, Washington plans to help the authorities devise a better way to treat addicts of methamphetamine, an illegal drug that poses an increasing social threat, a US embassy statement said yesterday. A new US$200,000 project funded by the Department of State, which starts this week, would bring US and Thai addiction experts together to formulate a new treatment model and develop training materials for over 2,500 health professionals here. Most current treatments were originally developed to help people hooked on heroin, which methamphetamine has outstripped as the country's worst drug menace in recent years. According to the US Drug Enforcement Administration, methamphetamine is also the fastest growing drug threat in the US. Methamphetamine, also known as "meth," "speed" and "ice" is a stimulant that can be smoked, snorted, injected, or taken orally. Chronic use has been linked to paranoia and withdrawal can produce severe depression. Narcotics officials believe most of the supply here is smuggled in from jungle laboratories in Burma, where heroin producers have diversified to make methamphetamines, which offer bigger profits. Most convicts and young offenders have been sentenced for drugs crimes. Methamphetamines, which sell for around 75 baht a pill in Bangkok, are available all over Thailand. There is growing concern about its use by schoolchildren. BBC-Tuesday, 2 May, 2000, 10:43 GMT 11:43 UK Japan unveils aid package to
Burma
Japanese radio says the government has unveiled an aid package to Burma which includes assistance to small and medium-sized companies and help towards supplying electricity to rural areas. The Japanese Trade Minister Takashi Fukaya said Burma would receive even more Japanese investment if it showed tangible steps towards democracy. The aid package was announced at a meeting in the Burmese capital, Rangoon between trade ministers from China, Japan and South Korea and members of the Association of South-Eastern Asian Nations or ASEAN. The regional grouping is seeking greater co-ordination with the three to strengthen the region's ability to cope with issues such as the economic collapse of the late1990's. From the newsroom of the BBC World Service South China Morning Post
Tuesday, May 2, 2000
BURMA
Proud Asean hosts take swipe at
West
AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Rangoon Burma yesterday welcomed Southeast Asian trade ministers to the most
significant diplomatic meeting in its history and took a defiant swipe at the
West.
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) economic ministers met at a retreat with the Asean Free Trade Area on the agenda in Burma's most high-profile international undertaking since joining in 1997. Opening the meeting, the head of military intelligence, Lieutenant-General
Khin Nyunt, took aim at critics in the West who he said saw the Asian economic
meltdown as proof that development Asian-style did not work.
"At the time of the crisis, it may be recalled there were many doomsayers,
particularly in the West," he said.
"Many attacks were launched against Asian values and doubts were expressed
about the future of Asean, about the future prospects of the Asian region.
"But the past couple of years have proved these critics wrong," said
General Khin Nyunt, who oversees Burma's Asean steering committee.
Burma's generals are determined to exploit the value of hosting the
meeting. They are styling the country as a key regional player and member of an
important group.
"Our country is open for high-level visits, and top ranking ministers from
all over the region will come and look. They will be surprised at our
development," Chief Economics Minister Brigadier-General David Abel told the
junta-backed Myanmar Times newspaper.
The meeting represents a moment of political opportunity for the Government
in its battle with the democratic opposition of Aung San Suu Kyi, who questions
the generals' qualifications to rule.
It is also a chance to thumb its nose at Western powers which do their best
to deprive the junta of a significant role on the world stage due to its human
rights record and status as a drugs producer.
Critics of Burma say the military has no right to rule following the
crushing election win of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy in
1990.
But further legitimacy will be conferred on the Government today when
envoys from Tokyo, Seoul and Beijing arrive for the "Asean-plus three" talks.
Burma's entry into Asean three years ago came despite criticism from the
West which accuses the junta of rights violations and suppressing democracy.
Nobel laureate Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy is
critical about Asean's policy of "constructive engagement" - supposed to prompt
reform through dialogue.
The party says the policy has failed and criticises Asean for giving the
junta legitimacy and encouraging the generals to strengthen their grip on power.
General Khin Nyunt said Burma's capacity to hold such a high-profile
meeting was proof that the Government was building a "country that is peaceful,
stable and economically vibrant, with people full of zest and full of confidence
in the future of the nation".
Ministers from all 10 Asean countries yesterday held closed-door talks
which included details of arrangements for the Asean free trade area due to come
into force in 2003.
Unocal 'Smoking Gun' Alleged
By William Branigin Washington Post Staff Writer Tuesday, May 2, 2000; Page E01 Attorneys for a group of Burmese refugees say they have discovered a "smoking gun" document supporting their claims that a major U.S. oil company should be held accountable for human rights violations related to construction of a natural gas pipeline in Burma. The 15 plaintiffs, representing thousands who fled to the Burma-Thailand border in the early 1990s, charge that Unocal Corp. and the French oil firm Total SA, partners in the project with the Burmese government, were complicit in human rights abuses by Burmese forces. The abuses allegedly included the forced relocation of entire villages, the use of slave labor, and numerous deaths, beatings, rapes and property seizures. Unocal denies the charges. A federal judge in Los Angeles will hear arguments May 22 on whether the suits, the first such effort to hold an American corporation liable for human rights abuses abroad, can proceed to trial. Attorneys for the refugees say State Department cables obtained under the Freedom of Information Act contradict the company's denials. They cite a 1995 State Department cable of an interview with Unocal official Joel Robinson. "On the general issue of the close working relationship between Total/Unocal and the Burmese military, Robinson had no apologies to make," the cable said. "He stated forthrightly that the companies have hired the Burmese to provide security for the project and pay for this through the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise," the Burmese state oil company. Robinson was quoted as saying that three truckloads of Burmese soldiers typically accompanied project officials as they conducted survey work and that Burmese military officers were informed of the next day's activities so that soldiers could secure the area and guard the work perimeter. "I would call this cable the smoking gun, because it refutes everything they [the defendants] said about the relationship between Unocal/Total and the military," asserted Terry Collingsworth, a lawyer representing one group of plaintiffs. He said the existence of a "contractual relationship" with the Burmese military is also supported by other documents that remain sealed by the court. A Unocal lawyer, Edwin V. Woodsome Jr., said the cables are "not factually accurate." He insisted that "there is no evidence the military was hired by Unocal or Total or anybody else." The 416-mile, $1.2 billion pipeline starts at Burma's Yadana offshore gas field in the Andaman Sea and crosses 39 miles of the Tenasserim region, which traditionally has been inhabited by ethnic minorities including the Karen, who have been fighting for self-rule for more than 50 years. Construction began in 1992 and was completed in 1998. Limited amounts of gas have flowed through the pipeline because facilities on the Thai side of the border remain unfinished. The class-action suits, filed against Unocal and its partners in 1996 by the International Labor Rights Fund, the Center for Constitutional Rights and other groups, seek more than $1 billion in damages from the giant California-based oil company. They are also aimed at setting a precedent that would deter U.S. firms from doing business with despotic regimes. In 1997, the Clinton administration prohibited new U.S. private investment in Burma, prompting some companies to pull out. Among them were Levi Strauss & Co., Eastman Kodak Co. and Hewlett-Packard Co. Levi Strauss acknowledged that its investment had been supporting "one of the leading violators of human rights in the world." In addition, four states and about 30 municipalities, including Takoma Park, have declared some form of boycott against Burma to punish the military junta that seized power in 1988 and brutally suppressed a democracy movement. A foreign trade group representing 580 corporations, including Unocal, has challenged a Massachusetts law that penalizes companies with Burmese investments. That case is now before the Supreme Court. In defending itself against the lawsuits, Unocal has consistently maintained it had nothing to do with alleged human rights violations. In a deposition last year, John F. Imle Jr., then president of Unocal, said he knew of no "contractual obligation" for the Burmese armed forces to protect the project. They did so, he said, "in the same way the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department would provide security for activities of any kind . . . in Los Angeles County." Independent human rights groups say the Burmese army routinely rounds up villagers and forces them to work on construction projects or serve as porters--sometimes, in effect, as "human minesweepers"--for military counterinsurgency operations. "Robinson acknowledged that army units providing security for the pipeline construction do use civilian porters" but said Unocal and its French partner "cannot control their recruitment process," the May 1995 cable said. It quoted the Unocal official as saying Total was responsible for ensuring porters were paid. He "admitted that villagers were not paid" for earlier work, including the arduous clearing of forest on both sides of an access road along the pipeline route. U.S. District Judge Richard Paez has dismissed Total and the Burmese government as defendants in the case. Woodsome said Unocal is confident that its summary judgment motion "will dispose of this case in its entirety." According to excerpts from the company's motion, most of which remains sealed, the company says U.S. courts have repeatedly ruled that the 13th Amendment prohibition against slavery does not prevent state and federal governments from compelling citizens to "perform certain civic duties" such as road building. The Burmese villagers' alleged forced labor consisted of "public works" activities that do not violate U.S. law and "simply do not amount to 'slavery' under any meaningful sense of that term," the motion argues. Moreover, it says, Unocal cannot be held liable for the actions of "indirect" subsidiaries. Among these is Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co., which holds Unocal's interest in the Yadana gas field. Besides, Unocal says in a report published on its Web site, Total was responsible for "day-to-day operations" on the pipeline, "including hiring all labor." Robinson, who has since retired from Unocal, gave a sworn deposition last year, before the State Department documents were released. Thus, he was never asked about the meeting with embassy officials. He declined to talk about the case. Unocal attorney Woodsome denied that any villagers were relocated or that any forced labor was used in the pipeline construction. Collingsworth said most of the "dirty work" of forced relocations and slave labor was done before the pipe-laying phase. The oil companies' later insistence on paying the workers was a charade because soldiers confiscated the money, he added. Even if some workers were paid, they were still forcibly recruited in the first place, he argued. He pointed to another U.S. Embassy cable, dated January 1996, that quoted Total briefing materials as saying local villagers were "hired by the army" and incorporated in "battalions." The cable said a Unocal consultant on the scene "claimed that the rate at which these workers run away has decreased sharply since the start of the project." Woodsome maintained that villagers in the area appreciated the employment opportunities the oil companies provided. "People who live there are delighted this pipeline project was done," he said. |