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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEP 13, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar Eases Restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi
BBC - Burma lifts Suu Kyi house
arrest
AFP - Junta allows Aung San Suu Kyi to have
visitors
AP - Myanmar Lawyer
Jailed
AP - Myanmars Said Killed By Malaria
AP -
Myanmar Security Restrictions
Lifted
AP -
Congressman proposes immunity for Burmese
leaders
AFP - Aung San Suu Kyi's ordeal -- 12 years and
counting
AFP - Thailand launches massive border raid on
drugs traffickers
Asia Pulse - Indonesia's Timah Eyes Reserves in Myanmar,
Vietnam
AP - Immunity Proposed For Burmese Chiefs
LA Times - Myanmar
Activist's Backers Wonder if Compromise Is in Order
The Times of India - Annan asks for action, Albright bids
farewell
The Times of India - State priorities dominate opening day of UN session
The Daily Telegraph - Premier appeals for
support
Bkk Post - FORESTRY - Six charged over
huge teak log haul
Kyodo News - LEAD: Diplomats visit Suu Kyi
after junta lifts restrictions
SCMP - BURMA - Drug zone ravaged by deadly
diseases
SCMP - BURMA - Burma allows diplomats to
visit Suu Kyi
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday September 14 6:39 AM ET
Myanmar Eases Restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON, Myanmar (Reuters) -
Myanmar's military rulers lifted some of their tight controls on opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi Thursday, allowing diplomats to see her for the first
time since she was padlocked inside her house nearly two weeks ago.
The government said in a statement senior members of Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD), who had been confined to their homes and cut off
from the world since September 2, were now allowed to leave their
residences.
``Since noon today...senior NLD members are no longer required to stay at
their respective residences,'' it said, adding they could resume ``their daily
activities as usual.''
Several diplomats went to Suu Kyi's residence as word spread that visits
would be allowed. Diplomats who had tried to see the 55-year-old Nobel laureate
earlier this month were repeatedly turned away by security officials outside her
house.
``She is in good health and glad to be visited, but she has yet to test
whether she is really free to leave her house and move without restrictions,''
said one Western diplomat who visited Suu Kyi Thursday.
U Lwin, a member of the NLD's central executive committee, said he had also
visited Suu Kyi Thursday.
``She's fine,'' he told Reuters.
Suu Kyi had not been heard from since she was forcibly returned to Yangon
on September 2 after a nine-day vigil in her car south of the capital to protest
against government restrictions on her freedom of movement.
Although she is not officially confined to Yangon, police always stop her
when she tries to leave.
Nld Headquarters Reopen
The NLD's headquarters in Yangon, shut down by the government when it
launched its crackdown, were also reopened, although they had not yet been
reoccupied by NLD members.
Myanmar's crackdown on the NLD provoked a barrage of international
criticism, with several world leaders condemning Myanmar during the U.N.
Millennium summit in New York earlier this month. Myanmar accused its critics of
meddling.
The row has also raised doubts over a planned meeting of foreign ministers
from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union
in Laos in December.
The EU has until now boycotted ministerial-level meetings with ASEAN since
Myanmar was controversially admitted in 1997.
The NLD won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to
govern. Suu Kyi spent six years under house arrest by the military until
1995.
The government has insisted her recent confinement was not house arrest,
saying senior NLD members had merely been asked to stay at home while the
authorities investigated whether NLD members had been involved in ``terrorist
activity.''
The government said Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of
Myanmar's ruling military council and head of military intelligence, had met
Thursday with NLD Chairman U Aung Shwe.
``The government expressed appreciation for the cooperation of the senior
NLD members for staying at home as requested during the course of the
investigation and its regret for the inconvenience caused to those involved,'' a
statement said.
Khin Nyunt was quoted as saying he ``very much appreciated the NLD's
understanding of the government's fundamental obligation and responsibility to
protect the rights of all its citizens to a safe, secure and stable environment
and to safeguard national security during the nation's transition to
democracy.''
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC -Thursday, 14 September, 2000,
12:29 GMT 13:29 UK
Burma lifts Suu Kyi house arrest The Burmese military authorities have lifted restrictions limiting the
movements of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and senior members of her
National League for Democracy.
The opposition leader has been under virtual house arrest for almost two weeks, after the authorities forcibly ended a roadside protest against restrictions on her travel outside the city. Diplomats based in Rangoon and some senior members of the party have been
allowed to visit Aung San Suu Kyi at her home and say she is in good spirits.
The block on her movements - which sparked international protests - was
lifted following what the military authorities described as "a fruitful meeting"
with NLD chairman, U Aung Shwe.
However, opposition members say there was little if any discussion at the
meeting.
They say the NLD chairman was simply summoned to a government guest house
and informed by the powerful Secretary-number-one, Lieutenant General Khin
Nyunt, that restrictions on party officials were being lifted.
Telephone lines to Aung San Suu Kyi's house and to NLD headquarters in
Rangoon are now also reported to have been reconnected.
First visits
One of the first people to visit the opposition leader's house was Tin Oo,
vice chairman of the National League for Democracy (NLD) whose movements have
also been subject to restriction.
According to reports military guards placed outside Aung San Suu Kyi's
house were astonished to see him walking freely towards the building, apparently
unaware that the restrictions had been lifted.
British diplomats who visited Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday afternoon told
the BBC they had found her in good spirits and "well in mind", although she
appeared to have lost some weight.
Later in the afternoon she began a series of talks with senior NLD
officials inside her house.
Government investigations
Shortly after Aung San Su Kyi and her colleagues were forcibly returned to
the capital, the Burmese Government announced that it had begun investigations
into the NLD's activities.
The move followed claims that certain members of the NLD had been involved
in "terrorist activity".
Government officials repeatedly denied that any official had been formally
placed under house arrest, saying it had requested they remain at home while
investigations were carried out.
The government's actions drew strong international criticism with the US
and UK governments accusing the Burmese authorities of blatantly violating the
rights of Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues.
In Thursday's official statement the government "expressed its appreciation
for the cooperation of the senior NLD members for staying at home", adding that
it regretted "the inconvenience caused to those involved."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, September 14 5:30 PM SGT
Junta allows Aung San Suu Kyi to have visitors YANGON, Sept 14 (AFP) - The
Myanmar junta has lifted some restrictions on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
allowing her visitors for the first time since a standoff with the authorities,
diplomats said Thrsday.
"We just completed a visit to see Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo. We were
allowed to see them, although it remains unclear whether they will be allowed to
go around Yangon freely," said a spokesperson at the British embassy in Yangon.
Officials from the US embassy in Yangon had also visited Aung San Suu Kyi
at her residence, where all of the senior leadership from her National League
for Democracy has gathered in a key meeting, the spokesperson said.
Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD chief Tin Oo looked noticeably thinner than they
had been before they were put under house arrest, and they clearly appeared
grateful to be able to see visitors, she said.
The junta said earlier Thursday that several detained opposition leaders
were no longer required to stay in their homes, where they have been under house
arrest since September 2.
"Since noon today those senior National League for Democracy members are no
longer required to stay at their respective residences, resuming their daily
activities as usual," the government said in a statement.
But the NLD leaders stressed at the meeting with diplomats that the most
recent developments were not particularly encouraging, the embassy spokeswoman
said.
The NLD leaders said "it's not like they're back to square one now that
people can visit them. They're at square minus one, since their headquarters
remain closed and it doesn't appear yet that they can go around Yangon freely,"
she said.
Despite reports that the junta had allowed the NLD headquarters to reopen,
the British spokeswoman said the offices remained closed and shuttered.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday September 14 2:09 AM ET
Myanmar Lawyer Jailed YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A
77-year-old lawyer has been sentenced to 14 years in jail for allegedly
distributing foreign press clippings with anti-government slogans written on the
back, legal sources in Myanmar said Thursday.
Cheng Poh, a well-known lawyer in Myanmar, was arrested in July. He was
sentenced Wednesday by a special court, the sources said, speaking on condition
of anonymity.
Myanmar's government was not immediately available for comment.
The sources said state prosecutors accused Cheng Poh of copying
anti-government foreign media publications and distributing them with statements
written on the back, such as ``No Freedom, Our Mouths Are Sealed.''
Myanmar, also known as Burma, is ruled by an unelected military regime that
faces widespread international censure for its human rights record. It keeps a
tight control on all media and is intolerant of any dissent.
Earlier this month, the government closed down the headquarters of the
opposition National League for Democracy and put its top nine leaders, including
1991 Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, under virtual house arrest. The
government says the NLD is being investigated for suspected links with
terrorists.
The NLD won national elections in 1990 but was never allowed to take
office. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday September 14 5:01 AM ET
Myanmars Said Killed By Malaria By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) -
Hundreds of Myanmar villagers forced to relocate from their poppy farms in the
Golden Triangle to mosquito-infested areas have died of malaria and other
diseases, sources said.
The relocation of the Wa community from mountains near China to the border
area near Thailand is part of the Myanmar government's effort to cut opium
production in the Golden Triangle, one of the biggest narcotics-producing zones
in the world. Since January, the Myanmar government has moved between 130,000
and 180,000 of the villagers and encouraged them to grow fruit instead of opium
on their new land.
But the change of environment is proving disastrous: The villagers lack
immunity to disease in lower elevations, where drug-resistant strains of
mosquitoes spread deadly cerebral malaria.
A spokesman for Myanmar's military regime said Thursday that about 400
relocated people have been ``seriously infected,'' mostly with malaria.
He said medical teams sent to the area three months ago have brought the
disease under control. But sources at the Thai border with Myanmar put the death
toll at between 800 and 2,000 people.
``It's absolutely beyond doubt that large numbers of people are very, very
sick and many have died because they really have no medical care available,''
said one observer along the Thai-Myanmar frontier. He spoke on condition of
anonymity.
The relocation was done with the approval of the United Wa State Army,
described by the U.S. State Department as the world's largest drug-trafficking
organization. Myanmar, also known as Burma, hopes the relocation will turn its
corner of the Golden Triangle into a drug-free area by 2005.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday September 14 5:32 AM ET
Myanmar Security Restrictions Lifted YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -
Myanmar's military government lifted security restrictions Thursday against
opposition leaders who had been confined to their homes for the last two weeks,
relatives and diplomats said.
At least one top leader of the opposition National League for Democracy
left his home Thursday, a family member said on condition of anonymity. But it
was not immediately clear if party leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel
Peace Prize for her pro-democracy work here, had left her home or even tried
to.
Suu Kyi and eight other top party leaders had been under virtual house
arrest since Sept. 1, following a nine-day standoff with the government in a
Yangon suburb.
She was stopped Aug. 24 while en route to the countryside with 14 party
colleagues for an NLD meeting. They camped outside and refused to return to the
city but were finally forced back.
During their confinement, the leaders were not allowed any visitors, and
they had not been seen in public. Their phone lines were also cut.
On Thursday, a family member said NLD vice chairman Tin Oo visited Suu
Kyi's residence after being allowed to leave his home in the early afternoon.
The family member spoke on condition of anonymity, and no other details were
immediately available.
The top U.S. ambassador in Myanmar, charge d'affaires Priscilla Clapp, went
to visit Suu Kyi on Thursday afternoon to verify if restrictions against her had
been lifted, but it was not immediately clear if she was able to meet her, an
official at the U.S. embassy said.
Security officers posted outside the NLD's Yangon headquarters since Sept.
1, when it was raided by Myanmar military authorities, were removed Thursday
afternoon. An Associated Press reporter saw that officers were also withdrawn
from in front of the houses of Tin Oo and party treasurer Nyunt Wai.
Suu Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her peaceful struggle
for democracy in Myanmar, also known as Burma, which has been ruled by its
military since 1962. She spent six years under house arrest, from 1989 to
1995.
The current crop of generals came to power in 1988 after a bloody crackdown
on a nationwide uprising for civilian rule. The uprising catapulted Suu Kyi to
political prominence. In 1990, the NLD won national elections but was prevented
by the military regime from taking power.
The latest restrictions on Suu Kyi's movements have drawn vehement
international criticism, mainly by the United States and Britain. They accuse
the regime of blatantly violating the Myanmar democracy leader's political
rights.
In another development Thursday, NLD chairman Aung Shwe met with the
third-ranking general in the government, Khin Nyunt, who is the secretary-one of
the ruling State Peace and Development Council, diplomats said on condition of
anonymity. No details were available of the rare meeting between the top
echelons of the NLD and the regime.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
WIRE:09/13/2000 15:15:00 ET
Congressman proposes immunity for Burmese leaders WASHINGTON (AP) _ A Republican
congressman proposed Wednesday "some degree of immunity" for military leaders of
Myanmar to get them to give up power. Rep. John Cooksey, R-La., who has visited
the country also known as Burma, said at a House subcommittee hearing that the
government of the Southeast Asian country has made some effort to stem the flow
of drugs, however. He said it is a country of good, smart people where "the
dummies have the guns." The military regime is holding back progress, he said.
The House International Relations Committee"s panel on Asia approved a
resolution marking the 10th anniversary of an election in Myanmar won by Aung
San Suu Kyi and her opposition party, which was never allowed to take office.
Under house arrest, she later won the Nobel Peace Prize. The resolution calls
for a restoration of democracy. It urges freedom of speech, a government
dialogue with Suu Kyi, and release of detained parliamentary election winners.
Cooksey said he had warned Myanmar"s regime not to harm Suu Kyi, saying, "If it
does, the wrath of the world is going to come down on you and wipe you out." An
amendment to the resolution deleted an endorsement of U.S. sanctions against
Myanmar. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., who introduced the
amendment, said the sanctions have been totally ineffective.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday, September 14 7:08 PM SGT
Aung San Suu Kyi's ordeal -- 12 years and counting YANGON, Sept 14 (AFP) - Since
forming the National League of Democracy 12 years ago, Aung San Suu Kyi has had
an endless series of troubles from the Myanmar military junta.
Following are major events:
1988, Aug-Sep 8: Mass demonstrations demanding an end to the military
dictatorship in place since 1962 are staged across the country after months of
turmoil. Troops open fire on the crowds, leaving hundreds or thousands dead
according to different estimates. Military takes charge. National League for
Democracy, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero Aung San, is
formed.
1989, July: Aung San Suu Kyi is placed under house arrest.
1990 May: Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD bags 392 out of 485 seats in parliamentary
elections. The military government, known as the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, annuls the results.
1991: Aung San Suu Kyi is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
1995: The junta releases Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest.
1996: The government bans Aung San Suu Kyi from addressing supporters
outside her house.
1997, May: Hundreds of police prevent the holding of an NLD congress at
Aung San Suu Kyi's home.
1998, July-August: Aung San Suu Kyi makes several attempts to flee the
capital but is blocked by a military escort. The NLD calls for a meeting of the
1990 parliament, a move which triggers a crackdown against the party and the
arrest of hundreds of followers.
1999, March: Aung San Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris, dies in Britain from
cancer. The junta denied Aris a visa in the last months of his illness. His wife
elects not to visit him, fearing she may be barred from returning.
2000, Aug 24: Aung San Suu Kyi faces off military authorities in a town
outside Yangon. She sparked the stand-off when she left Yangon for a meeting
with the party's youth wing in the outlying town of Kawhmu, in defiance of an
order which confines her to the capital.
The United States, Britain, France and the European Union lead a host of
countries in criticising the restrictions on her movement.
Sept 2: Military authorities announce Aung San Suu Kyi has been "escorted"
home and raid the NLD headquarters, placing senior members under house
arrest.
The United States, European Union and Britain condemn the detention of Aung
San Suu Kyi and her party.
Sept 4: Britain summons Myanmar's ambassador to protest his government's
treatment of Aung San Suu Kyi and the alleged manhandling of the British
ambassador in Yangon when he tried to contact her.
Sept 6: US President Bill Clinton and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
blast the junta for its treatment of the opposition leader.
Sept 7: The European Union calls on the Myanmar authorities to grant Aung
San Suu Kyi and all citizens of the country "immediate freedom of
movement."
Sept 8: Canada calls on Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi, rejecting
Yangon's claim that the Nobel laureate's political party is involved in
terrorist activities.
Sept 12: The world's women foreign ministers, led by US Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, denounce Myanmar for its treatment of the opposition.
Sept 14: Myanmar junta lifts some restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi and
allows British and US diplomats to visit her for the first time since the end of
her roadside standoff with the military government.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, September 14 3:56 PM SGT
Thailand launches massive border raid on
drugs traffickers
CHIANG RAI, Thailand, Sept 14 (AFP) - Hundreds of armed forces Thursday launched
a massive pre-dawn raid on 49 villages across northwest Thailand, in an attempt
to wipe out a growing drugs scourge, police said.
In this operation of unprecedented size, border patrols, rangers, and
anti-narcotics officers raided 49 villages near the Thai-Myanmar border.
For two hours, starting at 4 am Thursday (2100 GMT Wednesday), the forces
moved into villages in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Tak, Lampang and Mae Hong Son
provinces, equipped with machine guns, an AFP reporter saw.
They made house-to-house searches where they believed amphetamine
refineries and warehouses were located, the journalist said.
"We wanted to reduce drug traffickers' influence and to make them realise
that we are serious," police colonel Narongsak Pha-ara said.
Police in Lampang province intercepted a truck driver at a checkpoint and
found four million speed tablets hidden under rocks in his truck, anti-drug
officials said.
The truck seizure "was the largest drug haul ever in the northern region,"
they said.
Police said the truck driver immediately confessed that he had been hired
to transport the amphetamines from Myanmar into Thailand.
Each amphetamine tablet has a street value of 70-80 baht (1.75-2 dollars)
on the Bangkok market, they said.
Thai community leaders had warned that drug addiction was reaching crisis
proportions, with more than 600,000 youths reportedly hooked on
amphetamines.
The Thai military had estimated that 600 million amphetamine pills flooded
Thailand last year from across the 2,000 kilometer (1,240 mile) border with
Myanmar.
Myanmar is a major source of amphetamines and some western states have
accused the ruling military junta of turning a blind eye to the production and
trafficking of the drugs.
Thai police expressed satisfaction that the early morning action would help
staunch the flow of amphetamines.
"We are satisfied the mission is a success," Narongsak told AFP.
Yet some officers said traffickers had been tipped off about the raid ahead
of time and could have moved their operations and supply houses.
Police sources also told AFP that more anti-drugs actions would be launched
in the near future.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Thursday, September 14 6:47 PM SGT
Indonesia's Timah Eyes Reserves in Myanmar, Vietnam JAKARTA, Sept 14 Asia Pulse -
State-owned tin company PT Timah (JSX:TINS) is considering tapping mines in
Vietnam and Myanmar in the light of the dwindling reserves in the country.
President Erry Riyana H said tin reserves in Indonesia would be depleted in
10 years' time.
"If the production is increased to 40,000 tons a year the reserves will be
depleted in seven years," Erry said.
This year PT Timah, the world's largest tin mining company, plans to turn
out 35,000 tons of tin.
He said the company hoped to explore in Myanmar and Vietnam next year and
that PT Timah was awaiting approval from the governments of the two
countries.
The price of tin is hovering at US$5,300 a ton and it is expected to
continue to stay at that level.
Erry said dumping exports by China kept the price from rising, but PT Timah
was not worried by large supplies from China as it could sell for as low as
US$4,000 per ton.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday September 13 3:21 PM ET
Immunity Proposed For Burmese Chiefs WASHINGTON (AP) - A Republican
congressman proposed Wednesday ``some degree of immunity'' for military leaders
of Myanmar to get them to give up power.
Rep. John Cooksey, R-La., who has visited the country also known as Burma,
said at a House subcommittee hearing that the government of the Southeast Asian
country has made some effort to stem the flow of drugs, however.
He said it is a country of good, smart people where ``the dummies have the
guns.'' The military regime is holding back progress, he said.
The House International Relations Committee's panel on Asia approved a
resolution marking the 10th anniversary of an election in Myanmar won by Aung
San Suu Kyi and her opposition party, which was never allowed to take office.
Under house arrest, she later won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The resolution calls for a restoration of democracy. It urges freedom of
speech, a government dialogue with Suu Kyi, and release of detained
parliamentary election winners.
Cooksey said he had warned Myanmar's regime not to harm Suu Kyi, saying,
``If it does, the wrath of the world is going to come down on you and wipe you
out.''
An amendment to the resolution deleted an endorsement of U.S. sanctions
against Myanmar. Subcommittee chairman Rep. Doug Bereuter, R-Neb., who
introduced the amendment, said the sanctions have been totally ineffective.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Los Angeles Times - Sep 13,
2000.
Myanmar Activist's Backers Wonder if Compromise Is in Order By DAVID LAMB, Times Staff Writer BANGKOK, Thailand--The scene in Myanmar was a familiar one: Pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, headed to a political gathering that would test the
limits of the military regime's tolerance, was in her white Toyota, going
nowhere. The engine was off and the vehicle surrounded by police officers.
She was, they said, free to travel in only one direction--home. So for nine
days, the recipient of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize camped out with supporters
until early this month, when she was forcibly escorted the few miles to her posh
lakeside residence in Yangon, the capital.
Like a similar roadside protest in July 1998, Suu Kyi's aborted trip
focused world attention on the struggle for democracy in Myanmar, formerly
Burma. The standoff unleashed international criticism on the ruling generals,
with British Prime Minister Tony Blair calling her treatment a disgrace.
The military responded by raiding her National League for Democracy, or
NLD, headquarters and placing leaders under house arrest, their phone lines and
access to outsiders cut.
Suu Kyi, 55, faded from center stage to plan her next move. But a decade
after the junta voided her party's landslide electoral victory and announced
that it was keeping power, her options appear to be fewer. Many in Yangon are
beginning to question whether her democratic goals might be better served if she
softened her all-or-nothing approach and sought some form of accommodation with
the generals.
"No one doubts her courage or commitment to democracy, and she's admired
for that," said a Western resident of Yangon. "But people are growing poorer,
many of the universities are still closed, and the standoff between the
government and the opposition has brought Myanmar to a standstill. People I talk
with would like the two sides to sort out their differences and just get on with
the job of rebuilding a devastated country."
In November, a revered abbot, Ashin Kunthalabhivamsa, released a letter
backed by about 1,000 monks at his monastery near Mandalay, scolding the
country's key leaders--Suu Kyi, former strongman Ne Win and junta chief Gen.
Than Shwe--for their unwillingness to compromise. They "have been fighting one
another over the past 10 years and that makes us, the monks, sick at heart," the
abbot wrote.
In a country where monkhood is the most respected institution--Myanmar has
nearly as many monks (350,000) as soldiers (400,000)--his message was
significant. At about the same time, a senior monk in the city of Bago spoke
out, urging dialogue and agreeing with the abbot's comment that the two sides
should "join hands and work for the good of the country."
Even some Western diplomats, who consider Myanmar's repressive junta the
most repugnant government in Southeast Asia, believe that Suu Kyi's tactics have
failed to yield any progress toward democracy. If anything, they say, the
regime--known as the State Peace and Development Council--has solidified its
control and is in a stronger position today than it was five years ago, despite
U.S.-led economic sanctions.
Through intimidation and imprisonment, the regime has caused hundreds of
NLD members to renounce allegiance to the party. And through negotiations and
payoffs, Myanmar's leaders have bought peace with the independent armies of
drug-producing minority groups. Today, the regular army encounters resistance
only from scattered pockets of ethnic Karen rebels.
"We could not have stability and development until we had peace, and today
we have that peace," Foreign Minister Win Aung said in an interview last year.
"You have no idea how much better off the country is today than when I was a
boy, no idea how many bridges and schools the government has built. The world
just has to give us a chance."
Most political analysts find his argument unconvincing. However, the
military, which has ruled the country since 1962, appears to have convinced
itself that it is winning the battle for control, if not for international
acceptance. The state-run media even sent up what might have been a trial
balloon recently, suggesting that perhaps the NLD should be closed down and Suu
Kyi exiled.
With foreign investment plummeting in Myanmar--Unocal is the largest
remaining U.S. investor--China has gained greater economic, military and
diplomatic leverage and has recently agreed to help build a $90-million
pulp-and-paper factory. Japan, India and Australia have hinted that they might
be more accommodating toward Yangon if it showed greater openness and
flexibility in dealing with Suu Kyi.
The opposition leader is an Oxford graduate whose father, Aung San, helped
lead the nation to its 1948 independence from Britain. Suu Kyi was first placed
under house arrest in 1989 and has battled the regime since then.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Times of India - Sep 14,
2000.
Annan asks for action, Albright bids
farewell
By Evelyn Leopold UNITED NATIONS: Secretary-General Kofi Annan demanded the 55th UN General
Assembly start taking realistic decisions as US Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright bid farewell to the organisation that played a decisive role in her
childhood and professional life.
Fresh from pledges by world leaders at a Millennium Summit last week, Annan
told foreign ministers and other officials on Tuesday that it was time to
strengthen the UN peacekeeping department and expand the 15-member Security
Council to give developing nations a stronger voice, among other reforms.
Aware that many plans have died in the 189-member General Assembly, where a
minority often can exert informal veto power, Annan said, "Consensus is highly
desirable, but it need not mean waiting for absolute unanimity on every
subclause among 189 member states."
"The minority, often a very small minority, should not withhold its consent
unreasonably," he told the opening session of the assembly.
"Whatever we think of the veto in the Security Council, it surely has no
place in this assembly. We can no longer afford to operate always at the level
of the lowest and slowest common denominator," Annan said.
Annan said the General Assembly session -- which is usually the highlight
of the UN's year -- might appear to be something of an anticlimax, coming as it
did in the wake of last week's summit.
"But I prefer to see it as the moment when we roll up our sleeves and start
putting into action the bold pledges that our heads of state and government have
made," he said.
The General Assembly, while less powerful than the 15-nation Security
Council, approves the UN's budget, basic programmes and personnel policies.
"Never again must the United Nations find itself without the means to
protect those who have been encouraged to put their trust in it," Annan said,
referring to a overhaul of the peacekeeping department that some officials
estimate will cost at least $70 million and need the assembly's approval.
The United States supports plans to revamp peacekeeping but wants its dues
lowered before it will begin to pay part of the $1.7 billion it owes the world
body.
Albright, in her speech, denounced Iraq for not cooperating with UN arms
inspectors but said Washington would not use force just to make Baghdad let the
weapons experts back into the country.
She also castigated Myanmar on human rights, saying the military leadership
there could not "fool" the world into thinking its chief critic, Aung San Suu
Kyi, was responsible for the suppression of the country's democracy movement.
"I have always considered myself a child of the UN," she told the assembly
session, her eighth since she took the job of US ambassador to the United
Nations in 1993.
Albright, 63, who is very likely to leave office when the next US president
is inaugurated in January, said she expected her speech to be her last official
one to the world body. Her father, Joseph Korbel, served on a UN commission on
Kashmir in 1948.
"The UN provides no guarantee of global peace or prosperity. But it can
play a vital role as catalyst and coordinator and as a bridge connecting the
contributions of one to another," she told assembled foreign ministers.
Somalia's new leader, Abdiqassim Salad Hassan, was introduced to the
assembly by Djibouti, whose president, Ismael Omar Guelleh, said, "What a joy to
see Somalia regain its rightful place in the community of nations!" Djibouti
organised the talk that led to his election last month.
French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine, speaking on behalf of the European
Union, said his 15-nation bloc planned to create a 60,000-strong rapid reaction
force for international peacekeeping and crisis-management missions.
He pledged that the EU force would cooperate with the United Nations and
invited Annan to travel to Brussels for inaugural talks on how the two bodies
could work together.
Vedrine's offer reflects how far the United Nations has lost its
pre-eminent role of global peacekeeper, and Annan himself conceded that the
world body needed help from the corporate world and nongovernmental
organisations to achieve its goals.
Brazil's Foreign Minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia criticised industrial
nations for writing world trade laws according to their own interests "as if 5
billion human beings did not have equally legitimate aspirations to progress,
justice and well-being."
And Nepal's Foreign Minister Chakra Prasad Bastola noted that targets to
reduce poverty pledged at the Millennium Summit had been agreed to at global UN
conferences over the past decade and "forgotten before the ink on them dries."
(Reuters)
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The Times of India - Sep 14,
2000.
State priorities dominate opening day of UN session By Sam F. Ghattas UNITED NATIONS: The General Assembly got down to the business of
implementing the Millenium Summit agenda, but the debate was soon dominated by
the widely differing priorities and interests of member states.
Four days after nearly 150 world leaders unanimously pledged to reduce
poverty and promote peace, speakers on the opening day of the General Assembly's
follow-up ministerial session on Tuesday reiterated their countries' commitment
to those broad goals.
But the priorities and interests of individual states, from the powerful
United States to tiny Liechtenstein and impoverished Nepal, consumed the debate
from the first day.
The United States took aim at Iraq and Myanmar. The European Union shunned
Yugoslavia over human rights. Brazil complained about the industrialized world's
trade policies. Chile urged all countries to support the establishment of an
International Criminal Court to avoid jurisdictional conflicts like the one that
engulfed the Augusto Pinochet case.
Bulgaria complained about damage to its economy from sanctions on
neighboring Yugoslavia. Nepal lamented that commitments to help developing
nations ``are forgotten before the ink on them dries''. And Liechtenstein
criticized international financial restrictions aimed at fighting money
laundering.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan put the onus on the 189 UN member states,
saying in a speech opening the two-week session that they must agree on how to
implement the Millennium Summit agenda, and find the money to do it.
``The key decisions lie in your hands,'' he stressed.
A few of the speakers from 18 nations Tuesday mentioned the targets of last
week's summit - to cut in half the proportion of people living on less than one
dollar a day and ensure primary education for children worldwide by 2015.
To meet summit goals, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said every
government ``has an obligation to observe international norms on human rights,
uphold the rule of law, fight corruption and raise awareness about
HIV/AIDS.''
Then she attacked Iraq for refusing to allow UN weapons inspections and
warned Myanmar that ``the world is not fooled'' by its campaign to blame
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been confined to her home since
Sept. 1, and her party for their own repression.
France, speaking on behalf of the European Union, said Yugoslavia was being
barred from a conference on the Balkans this fall because of president Slobodan
Milosevic's regime.
French foreign minister Hubert Vedrine also touched on the EU's role as an
increasingly important world player, saying the 15-nation organization plans to
create an army of 60,000 soldiers and a 5,000-member police force to respond to
crises.
Brazil, Latin America's largest economy, criticized developed nations for
tailoring the rules of global trade to fit their own interests. ``They are not
alone in the world,'' foreign minister Luiz Felipe Lampreia said.
Chile's foreign minister Maria Soledad Alvear Valenzuela
``enthusiastically'' supported creation of an international war crimes tribunal,
saying it could avert disputes over jurisdiction.
Former Chilean dictator Pinochet spent 16 months under house arrest in
Britain pending possible extradition to Spain to stand trial for human rights
abuses. He was allowed in March to return home, where the Supreme Court stripped
him of immunity from prosecution.
Bulgaria's foreign minister Nadezhda Mihailova, her country hurting from
economic sanctions against neighboring Yugoslavia, said assistance to third
countries should be considered when U.N. sanctions are imposed.
Nepal's foreign minister Chakra Prasad Bastola said there was a credibility
problem with the United Nations, which in the last decade set targets to reduce
poverty and promote development that could not be achieved.
``We must narrow the gap between what we say and what we do,'' Bastola
said.
Liechtenstein, a tiny Alpine principality of 32,000 people, complained
about proceedings by some international financial and regional bodies directed
against it over allegations it was a money laundering haven for Central American
drug barons, the Russian underworld and the Mafia.
``The lack of transparency and the manner in which this was done are not in
conformity with the established principles of international cooperation,'' said
Andrea Willi, Liechtenstein's foreign minister.
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The Daily Telegraph
Thursday 14 September 2000
Premier appeals for support By Roland Gribben PREMIER Oil, the independent oil explorer on the government's "black list"
because of its investment in Myanmar - formerly Burma - is attempting to
persuade its biggest shareholders to do more to help accelerate the company's
recovery.
Charles Jamieson, chief executive, said yesterday: "We are working hard to come up with ways to take the company forward to narrow the gap between the share price and asset value." Premier shares have been out of favour since the group decided to gamble on
Asian expansion to provide a new lease of life and 50pc shareholders Amerada
Hess and Petronas of Malaysia made an expensive oil price hedging deal a
condition of providing more equity funding.
The shares continued to languish at 14.25p yesterday after interim results
for the six months to end June showed higher oil prices had turned losses into
profits. Operating profits were £17.8m, against a loss of £3.3m but heavy
interest charges meant net profit came out at £2.5m (£12.5m loss).
Mr Jamieson acknowledged investment sentiment had been affected by the
shareholding structure but said everyone was trying to unlock more value.
Analysts put Premier's net asset value at 25p to 35p a share.
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Bangkok Post - Sep 14,
2000.
FORESTRY - Six charged over huge
teak log haul
Officials did nothing as log rafts sailed by Supamart Kasem in Tak
Three Thais and three Burmese men were arrested separately in Mae Sot
district yesterday on illegal logging charges, while two other suspects are
still on the run.
More than 100 police and forestry officials, led by deputy national
police chief Pol Gen Kowit Watana, seized more than 200 teak logs, two saws and
a six-wheel truck from seven areas along Mae Lamao stream at Ban Mae Kasa, Mae
Sai district.
In one of the raids, three Burmese workers were caught red-handed while
taking 12 teak logs from the stream on to the river bank.
The police team also raided Ban Mae Kasa and found 250 pieces of processed
teak wood in five houses which were also used as furniture factories.
However, police could only arrest three of the five house owners as two
others were away during the raid.
The three Burmese were charged with illegal entry and illegal logging,
while the three Thais were charged with illegally operating wood processing and
furniture factories and possessing excessive amounts of wood.
Warrants have already been issued for the arrests of the other two house
owners who remain at large.
Pol Gen Kowit said all the seized logs were taken from the Taksin Maharat
national park and Mae Sot national forest reserve. He estimated their total
value at 10 million baht.
Pol Gen Kowit said: "The culprits hired Burmese workers to cut down trees
before making rafts out of logs, floating them along the stream and taking them
up onto the bank at Ban Mae Kasa for furniture-making.
"Some sawmill operators bought logs, while processed wood and furniture
dealers bought products and declared them as imported goods to Mae Sot customs
checkpoint before distributing them to wood and furniture stores here or in
other provinces." Forestry Department director Plodprasop Suraswadi said he
would investigate suspicions officials were involved in the illegal trade, as
log rafts had floated past two forestry and security checkpoints on the Mae
Lamao bank en-route to Ban Mae Kasa.
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YANGON, Sept. 14 Kyodo
LEAD: Diplomats visit Suu Kyi after junta lifts restrictions Diplomats from the United States, Britain and U.N. agencies visited
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi at her house Thursday after Myanmar's
military junta's lifted restrictions on senior members of the National League
for Democracy (NLD), NLD chairman Tin Oo said.
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South China Morning Post
Thursday, September 14, 2000 BURMA - Drug zone ravaged by deadly diseases AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Chiang Rai, Thailand Outbreaks of malaria, anthrax and typhoid are killing thousands and
infecting even more in Burma's drug-producing region, including a reputed
international narcotics kingpin, Thai military sources said.
Since mid-July, the three diseases had killed several thousand residents of Mong Yawng, a northeastern district of over 100,000 and headquarters of minority militia the United Wa State Army, one of the world's leading drug producers. One military source said as many as 10,000 residents of Mong Yawng had died, a figure that would make the outbreak one of the worst of its kind to hit Southeast Asia in recent years. "Many people are dying every day and hundreds are getting sick. It is an
uncontrollable situation," said one Thai military source posted along the
Burmese border near the northern Thai city of Chiang Rai. A spokesman for the
Burmese military Government confirmed there was a malaria outbreak in the Wa
area, but said the number of seriously infected was in the hundreds.
Some sick residents of Mong Yawng had crossed into Thailand to seek medical
treatment, one Thai military source said. The Burmese Government spokesman
admitted that might be the case.
Among those infected with anthrax reportedly was Wei Hsueh-kang, one of the
leaders of the United Wa State Army and perhaps the most powerful drug warlord
in Southeast Asia. Thai army sources said Wei was receiving medical treatment in
the Burmese town of Tachilek.
The United Wa State Army signed a peace treaty with the Rangoon junta in
1989 after years of fighting the central Government and then used the peace to
consolidate its control over the area and move into amphetamine, opium and
heroin production and smuggling.
Thai army sources said the epidemic was yet to have much impact on the Wa's
drug business, as most of the people who have died were civilians and whatever
medication exists in Mong Yawng was given to militia fighters first. But even
the medication that the soldiers received was outdated, said Thais who used to
work in Mong Yawng.
Thai army sources said Chinese doctors would be arriving soon to deal with
the crisis. Meanwhile the Thai army said it would not let in migrants and army
sources said the border near Mong Yawng had been sealed. A truck full of Mong
Yawng residents infected with malaria and anthrax was recently turned back, the
sources said.
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South China Morning Post
Thursday, September 14, 2000 BURMA - Burma allows diplomats to visit Suu Kyi REUTERS in Rangoon Burma said on Thursday it was lifting some restrictions on pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and allowed foreign diplomats to visit her for the first
time since she was confined to her house nearly two weeks ago.
Diplomatic cars were seen entering Ms Suu Kyi's Rangoon residence, and embassy officials in the city said they had been informed that they were now able to visit Ms Suu Kyi. The 55-year-old Nobel laureate and senior members of her National League
for Democracy (NLD) had been kept locked inside their residences with their
telephones cut and diplomatic access barred since September 2, when the military
government forcibly ended a nine-day roadside protest by Ms Suu Kyi.
Government sources said that from midday on Thursday NLD leaders were free
to leave their homes. Relatives of some NLD members confirmed that their
telephone lines had been reconnected and that they were being allowed to leave
their residences.
The NLD headquarters in Rangoon also appeared to have been re-opened.
The restrictions on Ms Suu Kyi sparked a barrage of international criticism
of Burma's government.
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