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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 06, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar's crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi
endangers key ASEAN-EU talks
AFP - ASEAN establishes Closer Economic
Partnership with Australia, NZ
Dowjones - Myanmar Demands Right To Sit At
Asean-EU Meeting
Bkk Post - Tackle Burma on human rights, German
MP says
IPS - RIGHTS: ACTIVISTS TARGET CHENEY FOR INVOLVEMENT IN BURMA
ABC online - U.N. envoy expected to meet
Suu Kyi next week
Xinhua - Thai Exports
to Myanmar Look Promising
Bkk Post - Navy to
address Andaman security
Bkk Post - DRUGS - Rangoon urged to fight
menace
BBC - China wages war on Aids
Friday, October 6 4:47 PM SGT
Myanmar's crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi endangers key ASEAN-EU talks CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Oct 6 (AFP) - The renewed crackdown by Myanmar's
military junta on pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has endangered
breakthrough EU-Southeast Asian talks set for December, ASEAN officials admitted
Friday.
Responding to remarks by European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy that
the conference in Laos had been jeopardised, some Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) representatives grudgingly accepted doubts over whether the
meeting of ASEAN and EU ministers would go ahead.
But they said they were hopeful the EU would not allow Myanmar to affect
ties with all ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
"We are concerned about its effects on the meeting in Laos, but it depends
on new developments as the date approaches," one senior ASEAN official told AFP
on condition of anonymity.
"But we hope that the EU will not allow the developments in Myanmar to keep
ASEAN-EU ties hostage."
Another official said ASEAN remained hopeful its policy of engaging
Myanmar, instead of isolating it, would bear the desired democratic
reforms.
The officials were speaking on the sidelines of a meeting of ASEAN
economics ministers in this northern Thai city.
On Friday Lamy, who is attending the ASEAN meeting, reiterated the EU's
condemnation of the ruling junta's crackdown against the Suu Kyi-led opposition
in Myanmar.
"We are extremely concerned by the developments in the country and what has
happened recently does not help at all," Lamy told reporters.
Asked whether the ASEAN-EU meeting would go ahead as scheduled in the
Laotian capital Vientiane, he said: "I don't know, it's too soon to say yes or
no."
In a news conference in Bangkok on Thursday, Lamy said: "What has happened
recently with Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi does not go in the right direction.
"This situation cannot continue and internal steps have to be taken by this
regime and the democratic forces."
Ministerial meetings between the EU and ASEAN were suspended after Myanmar
was admitted to the regional organization in 1997 amid protests by the Europeans
and the United States.
ASEAN has a policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of member
nations, a stance which has consistently rankled the EU and Washington.
However in April the EU decided its stance against the junta should not
affect its longstanding relations with ASEAN and agreed to attend the
ministerial meeting in Vientiane.
Lamy said EU officials were expected to discuss the recent developments in
Myanmar and consult member states.
"You all know we have a huge problem there and that the EU has consistently
deplored the continual violation of human rights by this regime. We have a clear
position. It has not shifted an inch since it was taken by the ministers," he
said Thursday.
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and other leaders of her
National League for Democracy have been placed under de facto house arrest since
last month in a renewed clampdown against political dissent by Myanmar's
military rulers.
NLD deputy chairman Tin Oo is still being held at a military base 50
kilometres (30 miles) north of Yangon.
The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the junta has
never recognised the result and is accused by foreign critics and human rights
groups of severe repression of its opponents.
Friday, October 6 3:10 PM SGT
ASEAN establishes Closer Economic Partnership with Australia, NZ CHIANG MAI, Thailand Oct 6 (AFP) - The Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) has established a Closer Economic Partnership which could lead to a free
trade zone with Australia and New Zealand, ministers said here Friday.
"Ministers agreed to work towards a Closer Economic Partnership linking the
ten ASEAN countries, Australia and New Zealand," Australian Trade Minister Mark
Vaile said.
"We have now taken a decision to take a major step forward towards
establishing a significant economic partnership," he said at a meeting of ASEAN
economic ministers in this northern city.
"If you look at the evolutionary process that has taken place ... we have
moved to the next stage" of trade links, Vaile told AFP. "We've got a clear
statement to move ahead."
"We have made much more forward progress on this issue that ever before."
The Closer Economic Partnership would include the lowering of some tariffs,
the reduction of non-tariff and technical barriers, cooperation on development
assistance and other forms of economic cooperation, said a statement from the
the ASEAN, Australian and New Zealand ministers.
Closer relations between the two groups "would strengthen the international
bargaining position of both regions and would send a positive signal to
investors," the statement said.
On Thursday senior ASEAN officials presented a report recommending ASEAN
develop closer economic links with Canberra and Wellington and ultimately merge
the new ASEAN Free Trade Zone (AFTA) with Australia and New Zealand's Closer
Economic Relations (CER) free trade agreement.
"The task force (of senior officials) recommended that ministers undertake
the necessary steps toward the establishment of the proposed AFTA-CER free trade
zone at the earliest possible time," said the statement.
The senior officials had estimated that a merging of the free trade zones
would "would double each region's GDP to a combined value of one trillion US
dollars," the statement said.
Some ministers Friday welcomed the idea of eventually turning the Closer
Economic Partnership into a free trade zone.
"I think it can happen," Vaile said.
The fact that ASEAN, which was hit hard by the financial crisis, is willing
to embrace Australia and New Zealand is a sign of much better economic relations
between the two, which could eventually lead to free trade, he said.
But some ASEAN member-states were not as optimistic about the prospects for
a merged free trade zone.
"At this point in time, the environment, as far as Malaysia is concerned,
is not right to evolve" a new trade zone, said Malaysian Minister of Trade
Rafidah Aziz.
"You have to be pragmatic and realistic. To be honest, we are not yet ready
from the Indonesian side to have a free trade area," said Indonesian Minister
for Trade Luhut Panjaitan.
But this is not the end of the discussion, he said.
The details of the Closer Economic Partnership will hammered out by senior
officials from the ten ASEAN states, Australia and New Zealand.
The officials will report back to the economic ministers next year.
ASEAN groups Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines,
Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.
Friday, October 6 6:50 PM SGT
Myanmar Demands Right To Sit At Asean-EU Meeting By Matthew Pennington CHIANG MAI, Thailand (AP)--Myanmar said Friday it has a right to sit at
an upcoming conference between Southeast Asian and European foreign ministers,
which has been thrown into doubt by a clampdown in Myanmar against pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations which admitted Myanmar in 1997
had made it clear that all its ten members must be allowed to join any dialogue
with the European Union, said David Abel, a top Myanmar official.
"If it's E.U.-Asean, why should Myanmar be left out?" Abel told a news
conference on the sidelines of an annual meeting of Asean economic ministers.
"There should be no discrimination," said Abel, who is a minister to the
office of the chief of Myanmar's ruling junta.
On Thursday, European Union's trade commissioner, Pascale Lamy, told
reporters in Bangkok that it was too early to say whether the meeting due to
take place in Vientiane, Laos, in December would go ahead, amid E.U. concerns
about the situation in Myanmar.
"If they (the E.U.) are not going to come to Vientiane, it's up to them,"
Abel said.
Suu Kyi, whose party won general elections in Myanmar in 1990 but was never
allowed to take power, has been kept under virtual house arrest since Sept. 22
after she made her second bid in a month to travel outside the Yangon on party
business.
Dozens of supporters of her National League for Democracy have been rounded
up. NLD vice chairman Tin Oo is being detained at a state guest house and other
party leaders are confined to their homes without diplomatic contact.
These developments have drawn a barrage of international criticism and
again led to a hardening of opinions in the E.U., which had recently said it
didn't want the Myanmar issue to hold relations with Asean "hostage."
Abel claimed Suu Kyi was already free to leave her house, but had to have a
"tangible reason" for leaving Yangon, the capital.
He accused Suu Kyi of being provocative in her conduct with the military
regime and in the past threatening "utter devastation" in Myanmar, also known as
Burma, unless it gave up power.
Dismissing accounts of widespread poverty and a moribund economy in
Myanmar, Abel said that per capita income had grown by 2,700% since the current
military regime took power after a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy protests in
1988.
"There is no poverty, no starvation, but people might not have the good
things," he said. Abel added there was no unemployment and near universal
provision of health care and education.
Abel said the gross domestic product growth in the fiscal year to March
2000 had been 10.9% and GDP would grow by not less than this in the current
year.
He acknowledged that a deputy minister for national planning and economic
development was sacked recently after criticizing economic policy and saying
official estimates of growth were exaggerated. But the official had been "new to
the job" and inexperienced in economic analysis, he said.
Bangkok Post - Oct 6, 2000.
ASEAN / CHIANG MAI MEETING Tackle Burma on human rights, German MP says Trade and political reforms raised Achara Ashayagachat Thailand should continue to play a leading role in tackling the issue of
Burma's poor human rights record and in enhancing Asean-EU relations, the chief
whip of Germany's ruling party said yesterday. Peter Struck, chairman of the
Parliamentary Faction of the Social Democratic Party, said Thailand had played
an instrumental role in bringing about the first meeting in three years of
ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the European
Union.
Thailand should continue playing an active role in international affairs as
well as relations with neighbouring countries, added the politician who is said
to be close to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder.
Asean and EU ministers are due to meet in Laos in December, the first
meeting of its kind since Asean admitted Burma in 1997.
"I understand the difficulty of the Burma issue but I think Thailand knows
better than us how to deal with its neighbour. Burma has isolated itself and not
opened up human rights, which concerns us," Mr Struck said.
Hermann Erath, the German ambassador to Thailand, said Germany was happy to
work with Thailand and that there finally could be a breakthrough on the
Asean-EU talks. Civil service discussions held here last year were not enough,
he said.
Mr Struck, who came to Thailand from Seoul and left for Jakarta yesterday,
said he also expected Bangkok to play a key role in the Asia-Europe Meeting to
be held in Seoul later this month.
"Thailand with its economic growth is very important to Germany and Europe.
My visit is to emphasise that despite the enlargement of the EU membership, we
do not neglect the Asean region and our interest is not only on economic aspects
but also on political reform and human rights protection as well," he
said.
Mr Struck met Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan, Transport and Communications
Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, and Thai Rak Thai Party leader Thaksin
Shinawatra.
In talks with Mr Suthep, he said German airline Lufthansa was interested in
Thai Airways International's privatisation plan.
"Thailand and Germany have good relations and we hope good co-operation
will continue no matter who becomes the government."
Inter Press Service
RIGHTS: ACTIVISTS TARGET CHENEY FOR INVOLVEMENT IN BURMA WASHINGTON, (Oct. 4) IPS -
Lawyers for victims of human rights abuses committed by the military regime in
Burma claim that the Republican Party's vice presidential nominee was involved
in a company that assisted in energy projects in Burma associated with violent
human rights abuses.
Until he was selected as vice presidential candidate for the Republican ticket, Dick Cheney headed the energy giant Halliburton, which activists say owned a subsidiary that helped build two pipelines that involved the forcible relocation of villages, forced labor, rape and murder. "Halliburton partners and subsidiaries, both before and during Dick
Cheney's tenure as CEO, have been contractors for pipeline projects that have
led to crimes against humanity in Burma," says Katie Redford, a human rights
lawyer with EarthRights.
The military government in Burma, also known as Myanmar, has long been
considered one of the world's most abusive regimes. The United States and the
European Union have imposed economic sanctions against the country due to the
military's human rights abuses.
The regime is holding Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose
political party swept national elections 10 years ago with more than 80 percent
of the vote, under house arrest.
With western countries blocking substantial economic assistance from the
World Bank and other multilateral financial institutions, the regime has been
forced to rely on foreign investment in order to earn hard currency.
Two such investment projects are the Yadana and Yetagun pipelines. The $1.2
billion Yadana pipeline will pump natural gas from offshore fields in the
Andaman Sea through Burma to Thailand. Construction began in 1992 and was
completed last year.
Lawyers with EarthRights have gathered testimony from more than 100
villagers and several alleged army deserters who claimed to be victims or
witnesses of abuses related to the army's security operations in the
pipeline.
Activists are demanding that the consortium operating the pipeline,
including French oil giant Total, U.S.-based Union Oil of California (Unocal),
and a Thai state owned company, withdraw from the project and Burma
altogether.
Redford and other lawyers for victims of human rights abuses committed by
the military regime in Burma are appealing a Los Angeles judge's recent ruling
that
they cannot sue California-based Unocal which allegedly knew about and
benefited directly from the regime's conduct.
In the case, John Doe et al v. Unocal et al, the lawyers argued that the
company should be held liable for abuses committed by the army which, according
to their legal theory, acted as paid agents of Unocal and other members of the
consortium.
On Aug. 31, U.S. District Judge Ronald Lew found that evidence had been
presented that Unocal knew or should have known about human rights abuses
committed in connection with the project and that these acts benefited the
project.
But the judge concluded even if that were all proven in court, the
plaintiffs would have to show that Unocal was much more deeply involved.
If the case proceeds, it could have major implications for recent efforts
by the United Nations and other international groups to promote codes of conduct
for companies operating in developing countries.
While activists appeal the ruling, Washington-based EarthRights is now
taking aim at Halliburton whose subsidiary European Marine Contractors, in a
joint venture with the Italian company Saipem, helped lay the offshore portion
of the
Yadana pipeline in 1996 and 1997, according to a new report by the advocacy
group.
Cheney was CEO of Halliburton during this time. Halliburton Energy Services
also provided pre-commissioning services to the Yadana pipeline with the help of
the British company, Alfred McAlpine, according to the 42-page report released
here today.
Human rights activists also connect Halliburton with a second pipeline, the
Yetagun, which was constructed parallel to the Yadana pipeline. EarthRights
claims that Bredero-Shaw, a subsidiary for Dresser Industries manufactured the
coating for the Yetagun pipeline in 1998. Dresser was purchased by Halliburton
that same year.
EarthRights has documentation that the Yetagun pipeline is associated with
the same pattern of human rights abuse as reported against the Yadana pipeline.
"To be involved in the Yetagun project is to knowingly accept brutal violations
of human rights as part of doing business," says Redford.
In response to criticism, last month Halliburton spokeswoman Wendy Hall
said "we don't do business in Burma."
Cheney announced early last month that he would forfeit some options in
Halliburton if the Republican ticket is elected. He has already sold a large
part of his holding in the energy company.
EarthRights also outlines some of Halliburton's other activities in
Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Libya and Nigeria.
One of the company's contracts with Indonesia was cancelled by the
government during a purging of corruptly awarded contracts. An Indonesian
corporate watchdog organization called Halliburton's engineering division,
Kellogg Brown and Root among 59 companies that used "collusive, corruptive and
nepotistic practices" with former president Suharto's family, according to
EarthRights.
In Nigeria, Halliburton was accused of complicity in the shooting of a
protestor by Nigeria's Mobile Police Unit.
EarthRights also documents Halliburton's strong involvement in USA- Engage
and the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC), two powerful industry groups that
lobby against U.S. sanctions.
Last June, the Supreme Court sided with the NFTC which fought against the
Massachusetts Burma law that prohibited state money from employing or
contracting with companies that work in Burma.
Pro-democracy Burmese groups and U.S. human rights activists compared the
selective purchasing law with those laws that helped bring down apartheid in
South Africa in the 1980s.
The NFTC argued that states should not be able to steer money away from
Burma dictatorship because the federal government has already enacted sanction
against Burma that pre-empt state laws.
Dick Cheney signed an amicus brief against the Massachusetts law, according
to the EarthRights report. Like Unocal corporate officers, he argued that
sanctions do not work and that what is needed is so-called "constructive
engagement' with governments accused of abuses.
But Redford says the term constructive engagement is a smokescreen and what
is really behind Halliburton's and the NFTC's agenda is commercial
interests.
"The real reason is they don't want to lose the business for themselves,"
she says
WIRE:10/05/2000 08:13:00 ET
U.N. envoy expected to meet Suu Kyi next week YANGON, Oct 5 (Reuters) - U.N.
Special Envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail will visit Yangon on October 9-12 and is
likely to hold talks with the country"s military leaders and meet opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, officials said on Thursday. A senior Myanmar foreign
ministry official told Reuters he expected the government to give the U.N. envoy
access to Suu Kyi, who has been locked in her home in central Yangon since
September 22. The Nobel peace laureate has been under de facto house arrest
following her forcible removal from Yangon"s main railway station last month
after the authorities blocked her latest attempt to travel outside the city.
Several leaders of Suu Kyi"s National League for Democracy -- which has never
been allowed to govern since it won Myanmar"s last democratic election in 1990
-- have been detained or put under house arrest in recent weeks. Asked if Ismail
would be allowed to see Suu Kyi, a government spokesman said: "I don"t see any
reason to deny." Ismail"s visit next week would be his second since being
appointed to the post by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan last April with a
mandate to promote human rights and restore democracy in Myanmar. Diplomats and
political analysts expect Myanmar"s military rulers to either ease restrictions
on Suu Kyi"s movements during the visit or to allow the Malaysian diplomat to
enter her residence to meet her. Diplomats in Yangon said British ambassador
John Jenkins and U.S. Charge d"Affaires Priscilla Clapp visited Malaysia in late
August for talks with Ismail during Suu Kyi"s previous stand-off with the
government. The Myanmar government expressed its displeasure over that meeting.
Thai Exports to Myanmar Look Promising
BANGKOK (Oct. 5) XINHUA - Thailand's exports to Myanmar from January to July rose by 21.2 percent to 292.7 million U.S. dollars over the same period of last year, according to a press release of the Commerce Ministry available here Thursday. The value of bilateral trade between the two countries totaled 407 million dollars, of which Thailand's imports accounted for 114. 3 million dollars, resulting in a trade surplus of 178.41 million dollars for Thailand. Increased exports included steel, plastic pellets, sugar, textiles and
garments, pharmaceutical products, aluminum products, dairy products, ceramics
and footwear.
Among main imports were timber, processed woods, coal, ores, fresh and
frozen shrimps, gems and jewelry, furniture, coffee and tea.
It is believed that the total volume of exports to Myanmar this year would
reach 310 million dollars. The volume is expected to be bigger than targeted if
local exports improve their products to meet international standards and try
continuously to penetrate the market in the country.
Bangkok post - Oct 6, 2000.
DEFENCE - Navy to address Andaman security Wassana Nanuam The navy is to set up a panel to study fishery problems and security in the
Andaman Sea over fears of territorial disputes with neighbouring countries,
especially Burma.
Vice Admiral Thewin Mungthunya said the navy's strategic studies revealed
that some neighbouring countries pose a threat to Thailand.
Thai authorities needed to study the power of Burma and India in the
Andaman Sea and to ensure security in that region so it could be used as a way
out in the event the Gulf of Thailand was blocked by any rival, he said.
Vice Adm Thewin said the navy needed to reinforce its troops at Phangnga
naval base, its only unit on the coast of the Andaman Sea. Thailand should
develop its deep-sea fisheries using large vessels to ensure its fishing
industry will survive even though Burma has banned Thai trawlers from its
waters, according to Vice Adm Thewin.
Bangkok Post - Oct 6, 2000.
DRUGS - Rangoon urged to fight menace Wut Nontharit Rangoon's help is needed to combat the drugs menace, says a group of
senators back from a fact-finding mission to the border.
Chairman of the senate foreign affairs panel, Kraisak Choonhavan, said drug
problems in the north were getting worse. Senators visited Chiang Mai and Chiang
Rai.
Senators, he said, would talk to their colleagues about whether to seek
talks with Rangoon. A senate anti-drugs committee could hold talks with Burmese
leaders, Mr Kraisak said.
The Office of the Narcotics Control Board says 80% of drugs smuggled into
Thailand across transit points in the North are methamphetamines.
Northern provinces hardest hit are Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Mae Hong Son and
Tak.
One million speed pills are made by drug factories in Burmese border areas
every day, it says.
The drugs menace had spread into all but 2% of 14,000 villages in the
North. More than 80% of prisoners in Chiang Rai were drug offenders.
Mr Kraisak said some Thai firms may be involved in Red Wa development
projects in Mong Yawn. The panel would look at the claims, and whether they
helped to launder drug money.
BBC - Friday, 6 October, 2000, 16:02
GMT 17:02 UK
China wages war on Aids China is drafting new laws to curb the spread of Aids, which it estimates
will affect one million people within the next decade.
The new measures could include punishing HIV/Aids carriers who intentionally infect others, a report in the state media said on Friday. Health officials are also locked in debate over whether to provide condoms
and sex education to prostitutes and their clients.
The China Daily newspaper said at least 500,000 people in the country are
HIV positive and warned the number was expected to double within a decade.
However, the United Nations has estimated China will have 10 million cases
by 2010 if the disease is left unchecked.
Jail
The China Daily said the Ministry of Health hoped to put the new HIV/Aids
regulations into force soon, but it gave no timetable.
Measures under consideration include laws to punish those who intentionally
infect others.
But Chen Baozhen, director of the infectious disease prevention office,
said this would be tricky as most carriers did not know they were infected when
they engaged in unsafe sex, shared needles, or gave blood.
Under Chinese laws anyone infected with a sexually transmitted disease -
who still engages in illicit sexual activity such as prostitution - can be
jailed for up to five years.
However, the law does not count people infected with HIV/Aids as carriers
of sexually transmitted diseases.
Condoms
Sex remains a largely taboo subject in China where the majority of the
population continues to ignore the risks of HIV/Aids infection.
At the end of last year, the Chinese authorities banned an advertising
campaign for condoms because it went against "all our customs and ethics".
China ranks fourth among Asian countries in its number of HIV-positive
people, following India, Thailand and Burma. |