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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Aids Still Ravages Africa, Un Says AFP - Myanmar drug traffickers
plan to churn out cheap ecstasy: source
AP - Myanmar Crying Out For Condoms,But Junta Lives In Denial SUARA MERDEKA - Int'l democracy meet opens with Suu Kyi call for action SCMP - Thai border security tightened
Bangkok Post - Army drills cause alarm Bangkok Post -Chuan to visit refugees
Bangkok Post - Gamblers told odds are against them Bangkok Post - Chuan wants more pressure on Burma to take back its people BBC - UN special envoy to visit Burma Wednesday June 28 8:47 AM ET
Aids Still Ravages
Africa, Un Says
By Stephanie Nebehay GENEVA (Reuters) - The HIV/AIDS epidemic continues to ravage Africa, where one in five adults is living with the deadly virus in some states, the United Nations said Tuesday. In Kenya, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana, at least one in every two 15-year-old boys will die of AIDS, according to a grim report by the UNAIDS program. In the West, gay men in New York, San Francisco, Sydney and London have become complacent, engaging in unprotected sex, often with multiple partners, the report warned. But it saw glimmers of hope, noting HIV/AIDS rates had stabilized in most high-income countries due to awareness campaigns and better treatment. And infection rates had dropped in a few developing nations, including Thailand and Uganda. ``A lot of progress has been made, but it is unfortunately not everywhere,'' Peter Piot, executive director of the joint U.N. Program on HIV/AIDS, told a news conference in Geneva. ``In the West...the impact of treatment has been spectacular. Mortality has really collapsed from AIDS. There is really a much better and longer life for people with HIV.'' 70 Percent Of Victims In Africa The picture in sub-Saharan Africa was very different. There, four million people were infected last year alone -- making up the bulk of the 5.4 million new cases worldwide. ``The lifetime risk of dying from AIDS has become really incredibly high in several countries,'' Piot said. In South Africa, Botswana and Zimbabwe, today's 15 year olds are more likely than not to die of AIDS. Africa will need between $1.6 billion and $2.6 billion to step up prevention programs just to contain the epidemic, said Piot, who backed debt-relief for the hardest-hit countries. AIDS is the fourth biggest killer worldwide. About 18.8 million people have perished since 1983, including 2.8 million last year, according to the report. ``Nearly twice that many -- 34.3 million -- are now living with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Barring a miracle, most of these will die over the next decade or so,'' the report said. The epidemic has orphaned about 13.2 million children. About 24.5 million or 70 percent of victims are in sub-Saharan Africa. The highest number -- 4.2 million -- are in South Africa, the region's most populous country. The report listed 16 countries where over 10 percent of the 15-49 age-group were infected with HIV: Botswana, Burundi, Central African Republic, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Ivory Coast, Kenya, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In seven countries, all in the southern cone of Africa, at least one adult in five was living with the virus. Hardest hit was Botswana at 35.8 percent, followed by Swaziland, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Zambia, South Africa and Namibia. Asian Rates Misleading In Asia, only three countries -- Cambodia, Myanmar and Thailand -- have rates exceeding one percent HIV infection among 15-49-year-olds, according to the 135-page U.N. report. But even low rates mean that huge numbers of Asians live with the virus. In India, for example, only seven adults in 1,000 are infected, but this translates into a total 3.7 million people, more than in any other country except South Africa. In China, an estimated 500,000 people live with HIV/AIDS, mainly drug users. ``It may be just a matter of time before infections reach a critical level...Certainly there is no room for complacency,'' the report said. Sexual behavior was a major cause of HIV infection in much of Latin America and the Caribbean, but the region's macho culture often led to neglect of the problem. In Eastern Europe and Central Asia, the HIV epidemic was concentrated among injecting drug users. An outbreak among users around Moscow last year resulted in 16,000 new infections, more than in the previous six years combined. An estimated 850,000 Americans have HIV/AIDS, with an average of 40,000 more joining them each year, according to Piot. Some 49,000 Canadians are currently infected. Wednesday, June 28 2:07 PM SGT Myanmar drug traffickers plan to churn out cheap ecstasy: sourceBANGKOK, June 28 (AFP) - Drug warlords accused of churning out heroin and amphetamines from their factories inside Myanmar are poised to begin mass production of cheap ecstasy, narcotics control sources told AFP. The United Wa State Army (UWSA), stung by Thai military strikes against its opium poppy plantations and offensives to stamp out the new trade in amphetamines, are now being forced to diversify again. "They have had to act because Thai officials have taken serious action on the border to fight against drugs," the source said. Within weeks they are expected to begin producing ecstasy, and move it out of Myanmar along effective new smuggling routes currently used to flood Thailand with amphetamines, he said. The Wa plan to slash the price of an ecstasy pill by more than half to about 200-300 baht (5-8 dollars) to reach a much wider market. But it is feared cost-cutting will make it much more poisonous than pure ecstasy. "Hundred percent pure ecstasy is not so harmful but these pills will not be pure and could be very dangerous," said the expert, who is familiar with Thailand's anti-drugs program on the northern border. The poor quality, however, is expected to largely prevent the Wa from trafficking their ecstasy into third countries, he said. Instead, they will send millions of pills over the southern border with Thailand and target the growing numbers of teenagers here who are experimenting with illegal drugs. At the current price of 800 baht (20 dollars), ecstasy brought in from Thailand's southern neighbour Malaysia and sold in Bangkok's ritzy nightclubs is out of the reach of most Thais. Nevertheless, ecstasy is fast catching on in Thailand -- authorities seized 24,205 tablets last year, up from 4,517 tablets in 1998. But while ecstasy may be the business of the future, and the battle against heroin is yesterday's war, authorities say amphetamines are without doubt the most serious drugs problem now facing Thailand. The Wa Army does a roaring trade in the stimulant -- Thailand estimates that 600 million tablets of "ya baa" or "crazy drug", as it is known here, were trafficked over the border last year. More than forty amphetamines factories are believed to be operating along the stretch of Myanmar's border that runs along Thailand's three north-eastern provinces. But since Thai authorities began clamping down on amphetamines, now regarded as the top national security threat, traffickers have had to blaze a new trail to get their product across the border. To bypass the Thai military's heavy presence in the northern provinces, the gateway to the overland route to Bangkok, the UWSA is now sending shipments by plane or boat over the Andaman Sea, the source said. They arrive in Ranong, a town on the southern-most border between the two neighbours, and are then trucked up north to the Thai capital. Alternatively, the traffickers travel east and slip into Laos before moving south and crossing into Thailand, he added. The new air and sea routes are also proving more effective by minimising losses caused by the bone-shaking overland journey. The source told AFP that up to half of every shipment was arriving smashed and unusable, forcing the traffickers to sometimes smuggle in component chemicals and cook them up inside Thailand. "Amphetamines are extremely easy to make. You can mix the chemicals in a space as small as a van, which is very hard for us to detect," another anti-narcotics expert said. The United States has identified Myanmar, and fellow rogue state Afghanistan, as the world's "headquarters for the heroin business". And it has also expressed concern over the growing threat of amphetamines manufactured by the Wa, the most feared of Myanmar's rebel insurgencies. The UWSA, cobbled together from the remnants of the Communist Party of Burma, has become the most powerful of several ethnic rebel groups, allegedly thanks to profits from the drugs trade. Many Western nations have accused the country's military rulers of condoning drug trafficking by armed ethnic groups such as the Wa Army in return for ceasefires. However, the junta claims it is doing its best, and accuses the international community of offering only criticism, and no help or financial assistance, in fighting the drugs trade. Wednesday, June 28 9:31 AM SGT Myanmar Crying Out For Condoms,But Junta Lives In DenialYANGON, Myanmar (AP)--The motley procession of middle-age men is spirited by street hustlers up a dim elevator into a nightclub crammed with girls halfheartedly rocking to a tuneless heavy metal band. Monied Myanmar men, Korean tourists and the occasional Western traveler are showered with attention before they even reach their seats. The din makes conversation difficult but they soon find that if they are looking for sex, $15 talks. Prostitution is blossoming in the sedate capital of military-run Myanmar, where the combination of government repression and lure of the dollar bode ill for a poor, staunchly Buddhist society still in the dark about AIDS. Myanmar, an isolated country struggling to draw foreign tourists, has relatively little of the red-light nightlife that proliferates in neighboring Thailand, but it has all the ingredients for an AIDS explosion among its 48 million people. Sex tourists are just a "snowball on top of the iceberg" that is the country's AIDS epidemic, said a foreign health worker, who refused to be quoted by name for fear he would be expelled from the country. Myanmar, also known as Burma, abuts five countries - Bangladesh, China, India, Laos and Thailand - all of which have their highest AIDS infection rates in their border areas with Myanmar. Domestic poverty drives family breadwinners to migrate to neighboring countries or to find work at Myanmar seaports and gem mines, notorious havens for prostitution and intravenous drug use. Myanmar is the world's second-largest producer of opium, the source of heroin. Infection Rate Up; Doctors Told Not To
Report Cases
Thailand has seen a drop in infection rates due to an HIV prevention
program begun after an epidemic in the early 1990s infected more than 1 million
of its 60 million people.
In Myanmar, infections are still rising sharply. The U.N. estimates 440,000 people have become HIV carriers since the first recorded case in 1988. But the estimate is based on 1995 data, and experts fear the true number is far higher. "We know doctors have been actively told to stop reporting cases, particularly in hard-hit areas," said Dr. Chris Beyrer of the John Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health in Baltimore, author of "War in the Blood," a book about the spread of AIDS in Southeast Asia. "There's no way to estimate those who've already died of AIDS, so the number of persons living with HIV is unknown - but it has to be over 750,000 at this point," Beyrer said. The ruling military, which just tallies those who test positive in surveys and at ill-equipped hospitals, puts the total number of HIV cases over a decade at around 25,000. Suggestions that Myanmar is facing an AIDS catastrophe are viewed as politically motivated. In January, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the No. 3 figure of the regime, dismissed the idea of an AIDS pandemic as propaganda sown by "destructionists" intent on harming Myanmar's image. The government maintains Myanmar will be protected by traditional cultural values that discourage sexual promiscuity. Because of government secrecy, it's hard to gauge the true scale of the epidemic, but signs are grim. In the northern city of Mandalay, home to a large emigrant ethnic Chinese population and a flourishing sex trade, an official survey of sex workers in September 1999 found 57 percent infected with the AIDS virus. Nationwide, 1% of blood donors - regarded as a low-risk group - and 2% of pregnant women were found to be infected, indicating the AIDS virus is spreading in the general population and not just high risk groups like drug users and sex workers. At Least 20 Mln Condoms Needed One U.S.-based nonprofit group, Population Services International, says it has distributed 13 million condoms across the country over the past four years, a fraction of what is needed. Dr. Owen Wrigley, manager of an AIDS control project for the U.N. Development Program in Yangon, said foreign donors have provided only about $2 million a year for AIDS programs in Myanmar, less than 3% of the annual budget available to Thailand. "The greatest need is for additional resources, specifically condoms - a minimum 20 million right away," Wrigley said. Donor nations withhold general assistance - though not medical supplies - to protest human rights abuses in Myanmar and the regime's failure to let opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi take power after winning 1990 elections. The government's prudish attitude is not helping people from learning about AIDS and ways to prevent it. The state-dominated television station is effectively off-limits to AIDS education campaigns. Such ads might raise a few eyebrows in households in rural Myanmar, with its strong Buddhist traditions that frown on premarital sex, but not in the smoky confines of the Emperor nightclub in Yangon. "Welcome, sir!" said a waiter as he jockeyed a hostess next to the latest foreign customer. "Whatever she asks for - say if it's 10,000 kyat ($28.50) - halve the price." SUARA MERDEKA
Tuesday, June 27, 2000 English Int'l democracy meet opens with Suu Kyi call for action WARSAW (AFP): The first-ever international conference on promoting
democratic rule began here on Monday with a call to action from embattled
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We would like to see action, rather than words," the leader of the
Myanmar's National League for Democracy (NLD) told foreign ministers and senior
officials from more than 100 countries attending the unprecedented two-day event
dubbed "Towards a Community of Democracies."
"There have been many words supporting democracy and we are duly grateful
for them ... but words need to be backed up by action — by action that is united
and that is focused on essentials," Aung San Suu Kyi said in videotaped remarks
made at her home in Yangon where she lives under virtual house arrest.
"Only by such action will we be able to realize our democratic
aspirations," she added, vowing not to give up the fight the NLD has been
engaged in with Myanmar authorities since it won elections a decade ago that
were nullified by the military.
Her comments followed the official opening of the conference by Polish
Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek who urged more forceful policies in expanding
democratic rule around the globe and noted also the appropriateness of his
country as the venue for the gathering.
"Twenty years ago, my country gave the world a new definition of the word
'solidarity' and 11 years ago, thanks to such solidarity, she recovered freedom
and democracy," Geremek said, referring to the labor union that led Eastern
Europe's first successful fight against communism.
"We must actively promote respect for democracy in international relations.
We should have a vested interest in expansion of democracy as a foundation for
sustainable development and peace," he said.
Geremek's position was tempered by that French Foreign Minister Hubert
Vedrine who warned of the dangers of interfering heedlessly in the internal
affairs of sovereign countries, likening the result to opening a "Pandora's
Box."
"This would not be an advancement in the organization of the world," he
said, stressing that any action perceived as interference must come under the
aegis of Chapter Seven of the United Nations charter which provides for
peacekeeping operations and the like.
In keeping with its location, the Warsaw conference has adopted as its logo
the wavy, red block lettering of Poland's Solidarity movement which U.S.
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright paid tribute to in her introduction of
Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It is up to us... to remember that 'solidarity' is a beautiful word not
only in Polish but in any language," Albright said.
The conference, also to be addressed by Albright and UN chief Kofi Annan
among others, is to close on Tuesday with the adoption of the "Warsaw
Declaration" a document reaffirming the participants' commitment to democratic
values and practices.
Hosted by Poland and cosponsored by the United States, Chile, India, Mali,
South Korea and the Czech Republic, the gathering has attracted some controversy
for the exclusion of certain countries judged not worthy of attendance but where
democracy advocates say the most work is needed.
China, Iraq, Iran, North Korea and Libya were among those not invited to
attend.
South China Morning Post
Wednesday, June 28, 2000
BURMA Thai border security
tightened
WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok Thai security forces were yesterday moving into border areas with Burma,
amid growing fears of ethnic fighting and drug trafficking.
The fears have been prompted by the drug-running ethnic Wa's plan to bring 50,000 families to the border. The mass relocation of an estimated 200,000 people from the Wa's northern base abutting China has infuriated many Thais, who see it as a blatant snub to their concerns over flourishing exports of amphetamines. "By beefing up their physical presence [on the Thai border] they are
creating an even more formidable launching pad for their evil business," said a
Thai narcotics official in Chiang Mai.
Thai intelligence estimates as many as 50 amphetamine factories are
operating in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces and that they are capable of
producing many times the 500 million tablets turned out there last year.
The exporters of "crazy drug", as amphetamines are known in Thailand, have
become public enemy No 1 after the drug has proven even more damaging than
heroin to many sections of Thai society.
The Thais are in no mood to believe Burmese officials, who have tried to
excuse the move by thousands of ethnic Wa minority villagers from the Chinese
border as a way of giving former opium producers land to farm.
"We really can't like what we see. It is difficult to read this in a
positive way," said Major-General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit of the police
narcotics suppression bureau.
Leaders of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), former communist guerillas who
have become the drug kingpins of the region, claim they will give up drug
production by 2005. Thais view this claim with cynicism as they see the UWSA,
which has relatively good relations with the Burmese army, spread along the
northern border and even as far south as the border opposite the Thai town of
Mae Sot.
"How can it not get worse? Now the Wa are producing such high quality
amphetamine that some Thais mistake it for Ecstasy. They are going full blast
over there," said a Western narcotics official in Bangkok.
Some analysts reckon the mass relocation may signal that the Wa leadership
are getting increasingly nervous over Chinese impatience with their drug
trafficking ways.
It may also provide the Golden Triangle's premier drug warlord, Wei
Hsueh-kang, with extra layers of protection. The Burmese army is likely to
calculate that increasing the hold of ferocious Wa fighters on the Thai border
will help suppress the guerilla campaign being waged by Shan rebels, who have
tried to seek outside support by also attacking drug refineries.
Rangoon has proven adept in the past at setting ethnic minority groups
against each other. But it is not clear whether the manipulators of the Wa have
calculated the longer term risks of the move that has deeply irritated the Thais
and heightened the threat of ethnic conflict in the region.
Bangkok Post- June 28,
2000.
Chuan to visit
refugees
Bhanravee Tansubhapol
Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai will on Sunday
inspect the country's largest Burmese refugee camp to find ways to help the
estimated 120,000 displaced Burmese living in Thai camps, a government source
said yesterday. Mr Chuan will visit Mae La camp in Tak's Tha Song Yang district, which houses
more than 30,000 Burmese refugees. He would assure the refugees, mostly Karen, that Thailand was concerned about
their plight and would encourage the international community and Ran goon to
work together to find a solution to the problem. Mr Chuan will be accompanied by Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan and Jahanshah
Assadi, chief representative in Thailand of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Refugees. Last March, Deputy Foreign Minister MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra led
Bangkok-based diplomats to visit three refugee camps in Mae Hong Song and Tak
provinces. The European Union said it would extend more help to NGOs who look after the
refugees, the source said.
The firing of artillery rounds during weekend
exercises was mistaken for cross-border shelling by Burmese forces, the defence
spokesman said yesterday. There was no evidence Burmese forces had fired on Ban Nai Soi in Mae Hong
Son, said Gen Sanan Kachornklam. The Third Army had been engaged in night
manoeuvres near Ban Pang Moo. Gen Sanan said villagers were told to stay indoors
at night but were not notified of the June 24-25 weekend exercises. Reports of an incursion could have negative impact on ties with Burma, he
said. A source in the Pha Muang task force said the exercise ground bordered an
area where Burmese and Karen forces had clashed but there had been no artillery
spillover as yet. Units needed the practice to be able to respond quickly in line with the
policy of Gen Surayud Chulanont, the army chief, he said. Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuengwong, the Third Army commander, said apart from
incursions, drug trafficking posed a problem that required co-operation from
Rangoon. Pol Col Adul Narongsak, superintendent of Chiang Saen district, said soldiers
have been placed on full alert at Ban Sop Ruak temporary checkpoint in Chiang
Rai's Chiang Saen district to prevent Thais from crossing the border to try
their luck in the Thai-run casino on Burmese soil. The officer said Thais who went to gamble at the casino in Burma risked being
arrested by soldiers manning the checkpoint. Once arrested, they would be handed over to local police to face charges of
illegal border crossing and money smuggling, Pol Col Adul said. If found guilty in court, they could end up in prison, warned the
superintendent. Only Burmese and Lao people could use Ban Sop Ruak checkpoint to cross into
Burma to buy goods during the day. According to Pol Col Adul, the National Security Council, the Third Army and
provincial authorities had in mid-June issued orders to discourage Thais from
crossing into Burma to gamble. Since then troops have been deployed at Ban Sop
Ruak checkpoint to prevent Thais from crossing the border. He said two casino
employees had tried to persuade him to refrain from arresting Thais who cross
the border to gamble at the casino. But he rejected their request and told them to raise the matter with the
military instead. The deployment of troops at the checkpoint had led to a sharp drop in the
number of gamblers, Pol Col Adul said. Before the troops were deployed, more
than 100 Thai gamblers crossed the border to visit the casino every weekend. The
casino, known among local villagers as the Sam Liam Thongkham (Golden Triangle)
casino, is about 2km from the checkpoint. It is part of a project called the
Golden Triangle and Paradise Resort. Sources said border patrol police and cavalrymen have been guarding the Ruak
river on the Thai side near the Paradise Resort office, which operates the
casino in Burma. The office is owned by Vithawas Pothasuthon, a nephew of Prapat
Pothasuthon, the agriculture minister and Chart Thai MP for Suphan Buri. Mr
Vithawas, whose father Prasit is Mr Prapat's elder brother, was not available
for comment about the casino in Burma yesterday. Suchin Detkul, a local activist, said the casino is located inside a
three-storey building, which is divided into three main sections. There are 60
guest rooms on the right wing, with gambling rooms on all three floors in the
centre of the building. The other section of the building has yet to be
opened. He called on the government to keep a close watch on the casino, which he
said is a meeting point of gunmen and other criminals. The casino has attracted many groups of clients ranging from politicians to
local people. One villager said the casino has some 100 local people in Ban Sop Ruak in its
employment, adding these villagers have been recruited by political canvassers
who are close to the casino owner. Mr Vithawas was reportedly planning to run
for a lower house seat in the Chiang Saen constituency in the next general
election. Sources said the casino has told its Thai clients to avoid police
arrest by applying for a border pass to cross into Laos via the Chiang Saen
checkpoint, and then continue on to the casino in Burma. Saritdet Marukatat and Bhanravee
Tansubhapol Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai will visit the Mae La camp on Sunday,
July 2 to get a first-hand look at how Burmese refugees there live. His
destination has been carefully chosen from the various sites-from Mae Hong Son
to Ratchaburi, before officials decided on Mae La in Tha Song Yang district of
Tak province. Mae La, built five years ago, is the biggest camp, housing some 30,000 of the
more than 102,000 refugees from Burma, most of whom are ethnic Karen. "We want to continue building a momentum for the international community
regarding the problem of Burmese refugees at our border," an official said. Thailand knows only too well that keeping other countries and international
organisations informed and interested in the issue is crucial to solving the
problem. They can help the country share the financial burden of caring for the
refugees and perhaps, more importantly, increase pressure on the Burmese
government to take a serious look at the situation. Past lessons from the
success in ending refugee problems with Cambodia and Laos have shown Thailand
cannot act alone. Over the past few months, many senior officials have been visiting Burmese
refugee camps. Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra led Bangkok-based
diplomatic corps to the Ban Nai Soi camp in Mae Hong Son's Muang district and
other camps in Tak in March. A month later British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook was a guest at Tham Hin
camp in Ratchaburi. In fact, his staff in London had made clear to Thai
organisers his desire to visit a refugee camp. This time, Mr Chuan's visit is aimed at showing the world that there are many
Burmese who are homeless. Mr Chuan certainly will express sympathy for the suffering they have had to
endure due to internal conflicts in Burma. To see all camps emptied of refugees
is the government's ultimate goal and to achieve this needs a concerted effort
by all supporters as well as the Rangoon regime itself. Thai negotiators on refugee issues have gained experience from years of talks
with Laos and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to eventually
end the problem by reducing tens of thousands of Lao refugees to merely 116 now
living in Napho camp in Nakhon Phanom. But the problem of Burmese refugees is getting bigger and more
complicated. Burmese leaders still regard its border areas with Thailand a war zone,
citing armed clashes between their soldiers and the Karen National Union, the
last resistance group defying Rangoon. With the military junta in Rangoon not guaranteeing their safe return, the
UNHCR is reluctant to help Thailand repatriate the refugees. Worse, Burma has claimed the people in the camps are refugees in disguise,
and that these camps are shelters where Karen insurgents rest before crossing
the border back into Burma to fight against Rangoon's forces. Thailand has repeatedly denied the claim. The country of origin where refugees come from should work closer with the UN
agency, says Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-Gen Sanan Kachorn-klam. "If that country denies to resolve the problem, we should condemn it in order
to solve it through international meetings," says Lt-Gen Sanan. It sounds like a warning but Burma seems to be shrugging off international
pressure. And Rangoon knows very well that Thailand is unlikely to resolve the
refugee problem with radical and unilateral measures. The UNHCR also can do nothing without the consent of the Burmese
government. The junta told Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees Soren Jessen-Petersen
in March that it is not ready for talks. The junta does not want to see foreigners involved in their country
especially concerning problems at the border, as it feels it is nearing a
solution to the KNU problem either militarily or peacefully, an official
observed. Chief of the UNHCR in the region Jahanshah Assadi has acknowledged
difficulties in starting talks on repatriation as long as Burma's stance remains
unchanged and until the KNU problem ends. After that, he said, "the Rangoon government might allow the UNHCR access to
the country". The first step has to come from Rangoon, whose present junta is one of the
most difficult regimes Thailand has ever had to deal with. A United Nations envoy is due to arrive in Burma this week for talks with the
military government, and to assess the human rights situation in the country.
Razali Ismail, a special envoy of UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, is
expected in Rangoon on Thursday for what will be his first visit.
The appointment of Mr Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat, was welcomed by Burma.
Correspondents say attempts by Mr Ismail's predecessor, Alvaro de Soto, to
mediate between the military authorities and the Burmese opposition leader, Aung
San Suu Kyi, resulted in little progress.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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