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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 16, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Myanmar To Release Jailed Activist
Reuters - Myanmar
Agrees to Release Jailed British Activist
Reuters - Myanmar confirms surprise release of
UK activist
Reuters - U.N.'s Ogata slams conditions at Thai
refugee camp
AFP - Family of Myanmar activist delighted at
impending release
AFP - Thai PM meets UNHCR chief for talks on
Myanmar refugee issue
AFP - Human Rights Watch urges Thailand to
change Myanmar refugee policy
AFP - EU seeks to play political catch-up in
East Asia
ABC online - UN report
says torture is widespread in Burma
CNN - U.N. expert says human rights situation in
Myanmar deteriorating
The Telegraph - Crusader keeps junta on the hop
from prison cell
Bernama - Asean Railway Officials'
conference opens in Myanmar
The Times (UK) - Burma to free Briton it could not silence
Associated Newspapers - Pride of freed Briton's
father
IHT - ASEAN Argues Over Burma
Strategy
The Nation - 'Shocked' Ogata slams officials
over refugee camp
SCMP - UN report exposes junta's
brutality
SCMP - Suspicion smoulders as guerillas'
cremations begin
Monday October 16 5:37 PM ET
Myanmar To Release Jailed Activist LONDON (AP) - A British human
rights activist held in a Myanmar jail for more than a year is to be released,
the British government said Monday.
Myanmar's ambassador to Britain, Kyaw Win, told the British Foreign Office
that James Mawdsley would be freed and deported to Britain, Foreign Office
Minister John Battle said. The exact timing of the release was not disclosed,
but the Foreign Office said it was ``unconditional.''
Mawdsley, 27, was sentenced last year to 17 years in prison after he
slipped into Myanmar, also known as Burma, to protest against the military
regime. He was charged with immigration offenses and violating a publications
law by handing out pro-democracy leaflets.
``I'm delighted. I'm choking up on this news,'' said Mawdsley's father,
David Mawdsley. ``All the family are phoning each other up madly. It's just
overwhelming, fantastic.
``It just shows the Burmese junta will listen when international pressure
is strong enough.''
Last week, the United Nations (news - web sites) Working Group on Arbitrary
Detention ruled that Mawdsley was being jailed unlawfully.
``I am relieved that the Burmese regime has recognized that there is no
justification in keeping James in prison and has decided to deport him as soon
as possible,'' Battle said.
Mawdsley, of Lancashire in northwest England, had been arrested in Myanmar
twice before. In 1998 he served 99 days of a seven-year sentence. He was
pardoned on condition he not return to the country.
Last month, British consular officials reported that Mawdsley had been
beaten by guards at remote Keng Tung prison, 390 miles northeast of the capital,
Yangon. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook condemned the alleged attack as
``an outrageous violation of his human rights.''
The Myanmar government said Mawdsley had injured himself ``accidentally''
in a scuffle.
Monday October 16 1:45 PM ET
Myanmar Agrees to Release Jailed British Activist By Paul Majendie
LONDON (Reuters) - Myanmar has
agreed to release British human rights campaigner James Mawdsley, the Foreign
Office announced Monday.
Mawdsley was serving a 17-year-old sentence for handing out pro-democracy
leaflets in the southeast Asian country, He was imprisoned just over a year
ago.
``The Burmese Ambassador to London called (Foreign Office Minister) John
Battle and said they would be deporting him as soon as possible, but it might
actually take two or three days,'' a Foreign Office spokeswoman said.
``I am relieved that the Burmese regime has recognized that there is no
justification in keeping James in prison and has decided to deport him as soon
as possible,'' Battle said.
His release is unconditional but Myanmar authorities were expected to
escort him out of the country.
A spokeswoman for the human rights group Burma Campaign UK told Reuters:
``This is hugely welcome. We are relieved that James is going to be released but
I think the international community should look at the timing of this.
``This is tied into the upcoming European Union meeting with ASEAN (The
Association of South East Asian Nations) in Laos that is due to take place at
the end of the year and has been repeatedly postponed.''
British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook had called for the 27-year-old
activist's release after a United Nations (news - web sites) working group said
he was being held arbitrarily.
Last month, Britain lodged a stern protest with Myanmar's ambassador to
London over reports that Mawdsley had been beaten.
Myanmar's military government denied that Mawdsley had suffered a broken
nose and black eye at the hands of guards after complaining about being kept in
solitary confinement.
But Baroness Scotland, Britain's Foreign Office Minister, described claims
that Mawdsley's wounds were self-inflicted after a scuffle as ``utterly
implausible.''
Myanmar's military junta deals harshly with dissent and keeps an iron grip
on the country.
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been
allowed to govern.
WIRE:10/17/2000 05:40:00 ET
Myanmar confirms surprise release of UK activist YANGON, Oct 17 (Reuters) -
Myanmar"s military government confirmed on Tuesday it would release jailed
British activist James Mawdsley in a surprise concession seen as a bid to patch
up its image ahead of a key regional meeting later this year. Diplomats in
Yangon said the announcement that 27-year-old Mawdsley would be released within
days came out of the blue, and insisted that no deal had been done with
Myanmar.
They said the regime may have responded to pressure from other Association
of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) members who have grown
increasingly
exasperated by the impact of Myanmar"s actions on the region"s hopes of expanding its trade and influence. But diplomats pointed out that the regime"s crackdown on the pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi showed no sign of abating. They said the regime may have decided to release Mawdsley to try to ease
international pressure while maintaining restrictions on the National League for
Democracy (NLD), which easily won elections in 1990 but has never been allowed
to govern.
A planned meeting of ASEAN and European Union foreign ministers in Laos in
December is under threat because of international anger at Myanmar"s treatment
of Suu Kyi. The EU has boycotted ministerial meetings with ASEAN since Myanmar
was controversially admitted in 1997.
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien made an unexpected visit to
Yangon this week, amid divisions in ASEAN on whether to mediate in the political
deadlock in Myanmar. Vietnam is the current chair of the 10-nation group.
Myanmar has rejected calls for a "troika" of ASEAN members to mediate between
the government and the opposition NLD, led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi.
WEST PRESSING FOR CONCESSIONS
But some ASEAN members, particularly Thailand, have been pressing for
mediation, and Western diplomats in Yangon said the Vietnamese visit was a
significant sign. "It is clear that it is not just the West that is pressing for
concessions, and that may be connected to the release of James Mawdsley," one
Western diplomat said.
A spokeswoman for the human rights group Burma Campaign UK said the timing
of Mawdsley"s release was interesting. "This is tied into the upcoming European
Union meeting with ASEAN in Laos that is due to take place at the end of the
year and has been repeatedly postponed," she told Reuters. But diplomats said
the release might also be linked to last week"s visit to Myanmar by United
Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, who met several senior government ministers
and also held two meetings with Suu Kyi. Suu Kyi, 55, has been under de facto
house arrest in Yangon since September 22 when she was prevented from travelling
by train to Mandalay to meet party members. Her telephone has been cut and
diplomatic access barred.
Other senior NLD leaders face similar restrictions and the party"s vice
chairman, U Tin Oo, is in government detention. British diplomats said the
timing of Mawdsley"s release and the logistics of his departure from the country
had still to be worked out. The activist was expected to leave the country with
his mother, travelling to London via Kuala Lumpur. Mawdsley was serving a
17-year-old sentence for handing out pro-democracy leaflets. He was imprisoned
just over a year ago.
Last month, Britain lodged a stern protest with Myanmar"s ambassador to
London over reports that Mawdsley had been beaten. Myanmar denied
Mawdsley
had suffered a broken nose and black eye at the hands of guards after complaining about being kept in solitary confinement, saying that he had accidentally injured himself while resisting being handcuffed. WIRE:10/17/2000 08:22:00 ET
U.N.'s Ogata slams conditions at Thai refugee camp BAN THAM HIN, Thailand, Oct 17 (Reuters) - U.N. High Commissioner For
Refugees Sadako Ogata slammed living conditions at a Thai camp for refugees from
Myanmar on Tuesday, saying the camp was very overcrowded and sanitation was
poor. "I am sorry to say I was quite shocked," Ogata told reporters after
visiting the camp at Ban Tham Hin on the border with Myanmar.
The 16 acre (6.5 hectare) camp, around 150 km (95 miles) west of Bangkok,
is home to some 8,200 ethnic Karen refugees. The Karen National Union guerrilla
group is fighting against Myanmar"s military government.
"I have seen many many camps in my 10 years as a high commissioner and I
have a pretty good idea what camps should be, and what are some of the
shortcomings. I have not seen such a crowded camp... Shelter-wise it is very
bad," Ogata said.
"Thailand has experience in providing camps, many good ones in the past. In
this case they haven"t done what they should. They have technical expertise and
have the experience. I will talk with the government or the military, whoever is
in charge." Ogata said she had asked that the UNHCR be given a wider role in
running refugee camps along the Myanmar border.
There are 11 camps along the border housing around 140,000 refugees. "I
have asked that we should have a presence in the camps. This is very important
for humanitarian responsibilities," Ogata said.
START FROM SCRATCH
The Ban Tham Hin camp consists of bamboo huts packed tightly together with
very little room between them. Ogata said improving conditions would probably
involve creating a new camp.
"It probably has to start from scratch. First site planning, providing the
right kind of roofing material, changing some of the bamboo that is almost out
of date in its usefulness, and making...more space," she said.
A Thai official said conditions at the camp were not as bad as they had
been portrayed. "Conditions are still better than what many Thais live in," he
said. Earlier on Tuesday, Ogata met Thai Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai. On Monday
she held talks with senior Myanmar officials to discuss the refugee problem.
Tuesday, October 17 6:24 PM SGT
Family of Myanmar activist delighted at impending release LONDON, Oct 17 (AFP) - The
father and twin brother of a British activist jailed in Myanmar expressed relief
and delight Tuesday after the Foreign Office said he was to be released after
serving just 12 months of a 17-year prison term.
James Mawdsley, 27, was sentenced by the military regime in September 1999
to 17 years in jail after being arrested in a border town for distributing
pro-democracy leaflets.
Britain's junior foreign minister John Battle said Monday that the Myanmar
ambassador to London had told him that Mawdsley would be freed.
The only question is exactly when and how.
"It's just overwhelming, fantastic," his father, David Mawdsley, said in
London.
"It just shows the Burmese (Myanmar) junta will listen when international
pressure is strong enough. I'm so grateful to all the major bodies like the UN
and all James' supporters have been fantastic. It's such a relief."
Although James Mawdsley has already been jailed twice in Myanmar for human
rights protests, his father said he did not expect him to risk another period of
imprisonment.
"I can't believe he would go back under the same circumstances. His
credibility would be brought into question and I think his sanity would also be
brought into question too.
"He has achieved his aim for the people of Burma and brought their plight
to the world."
James Mawdsley's twin brother, Jeremy, who is serving with the British
armed forces in Germany, said: "It's fantastic news.
"But it's one of those moments that I'd really like to see before I believe
it as the Burmese junta like to play morale breaking games.
"He went out there to highlight the ethnic massacres perpetrated by the
junta and he will want to remind everyone of that when he finally gets
home."
The junta has made no public comment on Mawdsley's release so far.
A Foreign Office spokesman said they did not expect any developments until
late afternoon Tuesday, British time, at the earliest, and they had no details
on when Mawdsley would be released, or to which country he would be
expelled.
He said there was "no suggestion of any hiccup."
The Foreign Office said the release was "unconditional" and that Myanmar
authorities have not requested that Mawdsley, who has joint British and
Australian nationality, serve the remainder of his sentence
elsewhere.
Tuesday, October 17 3:33 PM SGT
Thai PM meets UNHCR chief for talks on Myanmar refugee issue BANGKOK, Oct 17 (AFP) - United
Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Sadako Ogata met Thai Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai Tuesday in an attempt to find a solution to the Myanmar
refugee issue.
Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Sukhumbhand Paribatra told AFP Chuan had
assured Ogata that Thailand would only send back refugees to Myanmar once the
UNHCR was present in the country and was confident they would not face
persecution on their return.
There are more than 120,000 Myanmar refugees living in camps in Thailand,
many of whom have fled fighting since 1988 between the junta and ethnic minority
militias.
Ogata arrived in Bangkok Tuesday on a two-day visit for talks with Chuan.
After her meeting she travelled to a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar
border.
Thailand, traditionally generous towards the refugees, toughened its stance
after dissident students seized the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok in October 1999
and members of the anti-junta ethnic God's Army occupied the Ratchaburi
provincial hospital in January this year.
Thai authorities decided that all new asylum seekers from Myanmar would be
moved to camps along the border.
Among new arrivals only those fleeing fighting would be allowed to stay in
Thailand. All others would be forcibly repatriated.
Many refugees have been living in Thailand for over a decade.
While Thailand has provided shelter for the migrants, it has appealed for
the UNHCR to help it convince Myanmar to take back the refugees living on Thai
soil.
The Thai government has accused Myanmar of delaying the return of the
refugees, which Thailand says it wants to complete within three years.
Many refugees, however, have said they do not want to return until the
fighting in their country has stopped.
International rights group Human Rights Watch appealed Monday to the Thai
authorities to fulfil its obligations under international law not to forcibly
return refugees to Myanmar.
"Most refugees in Thailand are Burmese, and they're at risk of being sent
back to Burma where they face persecution and human rights abuse," Sidney Jones,
Human Rights Watch Asia's director said.
On June 12, more than 100 refugees, some of whom had never had their cases
reviewed by Thai refugee authorities, were forced back from Don Yang refugee
camp to Myanmar, the rights group said.
A further 100 people from Nu Pho camp were sent back on August 17, it
added.
But Myanmar junta intelligence chief Khin Nyunt told Ogata in a meeting in
Yangon Monday that those who have crossed the border into Thailand are rebels or
relatives of rebels, and not displaced citizens, according to official
sources.
Sukhumbhand also said Thailand was confident that Ogata would be able to
restart the repatriation process of Muslim Rohingya refugees from Myanmar living
in camps in Bangladesh.
Some 250,000 Rohingyas fled to southeastern Bangladesh in 1991 from
Myanmar's northwestern state of Arakan after alleged atrocities by the military
junta.
Most returned by 1997 under a 1992 bilateral agreement and subsequent
intervention by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees but some
20,000 refugees are still living in two frontier camps in Bangladesh's
southeastern Cox's Bazar district.
The repatriation procession has been suspended since the last group of 36
refugees was sent back on May 31, under a Dhaka-Yangon agreement backed by the
UN.
Some of the refugees in Bangladesh reportedly do not want to return to
Myanmar because they fear they will be persecuted for leaving.
Tuesday, October 17 11:08 AM SGT
Human Rights Watch urges Thailand to change Myanmar refugee policy BANGKOK, Oct 17 (AFP) - An
international human rights group urged the Thai government Tuesday to stop
forcibly returning refugees to Myanmar where they risk persecution.
"Most refugees in Thailand are Burmese, and they're at risk of being sent
back to Burma where they face persecution and human rights abuse," Sidney Jones,
Human Rights Watch Asia's director said.
The rights group's call came at the start of a two-day visit to Thailand by
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Sadako Ogata.
"Mrs Ogata's visit offers an ideal opportunity for the Thai government to
show that it can and will offer protection to those who need it," Jones said in
a statement.
Sadako Ogata is due to meet Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai and foreign
diplomats before travelling to a refugee camp near the Thai-Myanmar
border.
There are more than 120,000 Myanmar refugees living in camps in Thailand,
many of whom fled the ongoing fighting between the junta and ethnic minority
militias, Human Rights Watch said.
Many refugees have been living in Thailand for over a decade.
While Thailand has provided shelter for the migrants, it has appealed for
the UNHCR to help it convince Myanmar to take back the refugees living on Thai
soil.
The Thai government has accused Myanmar of delaying the return of the
refugees, which Thailand wants to complete within three years.
Many refugees however have said they did not want to return until the
fighting in their country has stopped.
The US-based rights group called on Thailand to abide by its obligation
under international law and stop all forcible returns of refugees to
Myanmar.
It also urged the government to allow the UNHCR a stronger role in
monitoring refugee status determination procedures in Thailand to ensure that no
refugee is returned to a country where he or she could face persecution.
Thailand, traditionally generous towards the refugees, toughened its stance
after dissident Myanmar gunmen seized the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in October
1999 and members of the anti-Myanmar God's Army occupied the Ratchaburi
provincial hospital in January this year.
Thai authorities decided that all new asylum seekers from Myanmar would be
moved to camps along the border.
Among new arrivals only those fleeing fighting would be allowed to stay in
Thailand. All others would be forcibly repatriated.
On June 12, more than 100 refugees, some of whom had never had their cases
reviewed by the provincial admission board were forced back from Don Yang
refugee camp to Myanmar, the rights group said.
A further 100 people from Nu Pho camp were sent back on August 17, it
added.
Human Rights Watch also called on the Thai government to sign, ratify and
comply with the 1951 UN refugee convention.
Myanmar junta intelligence chief Khin Nyunt told Ogata in a meeting in
Yangon Monday that those who have crossed the border into Thailand are rebels or
relatives of rebels, and not displaced citizens, according to official
sources.
Tuesday, October 17 10:41 AM SGT
EU seeks to play political catch-up in East Asia BRUSSELS, Oct 17 (AFP) - EU
leaders head to Seoul this week for their biannual summit with East Asian
leaders, all too aware that Europe's political stature in the region needs to
catch up with its robust economic presence.
Preoccupied with its eastward enlargement, the launch of the euro, and
instability at its Balkan doorstep, the European Union will be hard-pressed to
offer Asians much more than pledges of "enhanced" dialogue for the time
being.
"Ninety-eight percent of (EU) intellectual energy goes into debates on
enlargement, the Intergovernmental Conference, and formulation of a common
foreign and security policy," said Willem van der Geest, director of the
European Institute for Asian Studies in Brussels.
"Relatively little attention has been given to what role the common foreign
and security policy will be vis-a-vis Asia," he told AFP.
(The Intergovernmental Conference, or ICG, refers to complex intra-EU
negotiations to prepare the bloc for new member states; it the overriding
priority for the current French EU presidency.)
Nevertheless, the Seoul summit -- formally called the Asia-Europe Meeting
(ASEM) -- could prove to be a modest turning point.
In a pre-summit working document, the European Commission said it hopes the
Seoul talks "will set out the key directions for the Asia-Europe partnership for
the coming decade."
Brussels sees five priorities: an "enhanced exchange of views" on security
issues, enhanced dialogue and cooperation on trade, social policy and economic
issues, more educational exchanges, cooperation in consumer protection, and the
possibility of enlarging the ASEM process.
"It is important that the summit confirm and deepen the relationship
between Asia and Europe and that we provide future direction to the process,"
the commission document stated.
East Asian leaders will be happy to get something going. Having lived under
the shadow of the United States throughout the Cold War, they would appreciate a
Europe that can counter-balance Washington, analysts say.
Europe can already lay claim to real economic clout in Asia.
One quarter of EU exports go to Asia, Van der Geest said. One third of EU
imports come from the region. Asia is also the biggest recipient of EU direct
foreign investment, after the United States.
Earlier this year China's membership in the World Trade Organization (WTO)
was left hanging in the balance until Beijing reached agreement with Brussels to
open its markets wider to EU companies.
The European Union is also a prime source of development and humanitarian
aid to the region, as it is to the rest of the world.
But as Van der Geest observed: "There is a clear disproportion between the
economic importance and the political importance."
Most of the European Union's political action in Asia has been limited to
firing off communiques of protest over human rights abuses, most notably in
Myanmar and Indonesia.
Human Rights Watch, for one, hopes it will keep up the pressure.
"Trade and economic cooperation would clearly be easier if European and
Asian countries were also working closely together to effectively combat (human
rights) violations," its Brussels director Lotte Leicht said.
But while the European Union is forging ahead with a 60,000-strong rapid
reaction force to help keep a lid on conflicts from 2003, East Asians should not
expect to see it leap into action in hotspots akin to East Timor.
"It's going to be a number of years before it's operational," Van der Geest
said. "Even then, the primary tasks for deployment will probably be in Europe,
rather than outside Europe."
ABC online - Oct 17,
2000.
UN report says torture is widespread in Burma A United Nations human rights report says torture of political detainees
and ethnic minorities is widespread and systematic in Burma.
The UN's special rapporteur, Rajsoomer Lallah, said murder, rape, torture
and forcible relocation of ethnic tribes-people were part of the military's
counter-insurgency strategy.
Mr Lallah said while he had not been allowed into Rangoon, he'd received
several credible reports of massacres in Burma's Shan state, committed by
government forces.
He said he believed torture and other inhuman treatment of political
detainees was routine in Burma, especially during interrogation.
CNN - U.N. expert says human
rights situation in Myanmar deteriorating
October 17, 2000 Web posted at: 7:55 a.m. HKT (2355 GMT) UNITED NATIONS (AP) -- The human rights situation in Myanmar continues to
deteriorate with the government suppressing all opposition political activity
and engaging in "inhuman treatment" of opposition members and ethnic minorities,
a U.N. investigator said in a report released Monday.
Rajsoomer Lallah, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights' independent expert
on Myanmar, said he continues to receive reports of government policies and
directives aimed at eliminating the opposition National League for Democracy
through intimidation, threats, coercion and political charges against its
members.
The opposition party and its leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, have
been at loggerheads with Myanmar's junta since 1988, the year the military
crushed a pro-democracy uprising. The junta refuses to honor the results of the
1990 elections, which the National League for Democracy won overwhelmingly.
Lallah's report said arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition party
members and sympathizers, combined with the extension of prison terms for those
who have already served their sentence, "make up a general and consistent
pattern of the suppression of fundamental rights" to political and democratic
_expression_.
Local military intelligence units reportedly persecute party members, and
government authorities continue to organize meetings, mass rallies and petitions
to force citizens to denounce party members elected to Parliament or to call for
dissolution of the party, the report said.
Myanmar's U.N. mission had no immediate comment on the report. Myanmar
didn't allow Lallah to visit the country to prepare the assessment, which
covered the situation in the country through July 30.
Despite repeated calls to the government to improve the situation for
minorities, the report said no improvement has been observed in reports Lallah
received.
Among minority groups, the Shan, Karen, Karenni and Rohingya in particular
continue to be the target of indiscriminate violence, whether they are civilians
or insurgents, it said.
"Forced relocation in the minority areas still continues, entailing
violence, including killings, rape, torture and inhuman treatment of civilians
in the implementation of a (government) counter-insurgency strategy," the report
said.
Lallah warned that if the government fails to outlaw forced labor, a
practice used against ethnic minorities, "it is feared that the International
Labor Organization may take measures involving sanctions."
Unofficial estimates put the number of child soldiers at some 50,000 -- in
both armed ethnic groups and the national army -- the highest in any country of
the world, it said.
The report to the U.N. General Assembly said the suppression of freedom of
thought, _expression_, association and movement also continue unabated.
Lallah said he has received information that torture and abuse of detainees
"occur in a systematic and widespread manner in military intelligence
interrogation centers and certain prisons."
The administration of justice is marked by a lack of judicial independence
and the routine application of repressive laws which violate international
norms, the report said.
He urged Myanmar's government to adopt international human rights laws and
to repeal domestic laws that impinge on basic rights.
Extreme poverty persists in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, and its
children suffer from a lack of education, health care, and stunted growth, the
report said.
According to reports he received, Lallah said the government pressures the
health service to underreport HIV infections and AIDS-related illnesses, which
are increasing according to U.N. estimates.
The Telegraph ( UK) - Oct 17,
2000.
Crusader keeps junta on the hop from prison cell By Caroline Davies JAMES MAWDSLEY'S passionate defiance of the Burmese regime began four years
ago. Since then, he has been arrested three times and jailed twice. Each time he
has returned. Who is to say he will not do so again?
As his father, David, prepared to welcome him home, even he could not
predict what his son's actions might be. "I'd like to sit down and talk to him
first, but I don't think his plans cover that," he said, referring to whether he
would return to Burma. "I can't see that the credibility he's built up could be
maintained if he were to go back".
Mr Mawdsley, from Ormskirk, Lancs, was expected to achieve a double-first
in physics and maths at Bristol University, but he became disillusioned and left
the academic scene because he felt it was futile. Like many his age, he went
backpacking, first to Australia, where his mother, Diana, a nurse, was born, and
then to New Zealand, with his brother, Jonathan.
It was here that his life changed, completely and irretrievably. He met a
group of Burmese refugees who told him of the atrocities they had witnessed and
suffered. They spoke of a military regime under which the people had no voice,
of genocide, of automatic death for those who tried to change it.
Greatly affected by what he heard, Mr Mawdsley vowed to see Burma for
himself. He arrived, with no problems, in early 1997 and began teaching English
in a school for the eight million-strong Karen tribe, many of whom had been
slaughtered and displaced within Burma.
His pupils crept from their jungle hiding places to attend his classes, but
their camp was discovered by the Burmese Army. It was set on fire and they had
to flee. Mr Mawdsley fled with them, carrying a baby in his arms. According to
his mother, he was so frightened by the event that he could not stop
shaking.
He crossed the border into Thailand, but by now he had decided what his
life would be - dedicated to the emancipation of a people he saw trodden under
by the military regime. He stayed in Thailand for a while, helping in a refugee
camp, but in September 1997 he returned to Burma to make his first
protest.
He action was to spray-paint the word "metta" on to a school wall in
Rangoon. It means "peace and love". He also handed out pro-democracy leaflets
before handcuffing himself to a fence.
The Burmese dealt with this troublesome young man without too much fuss. He
was arrested, then deported, but Mr Mawdsley was not to be deterred. He returned
to Britain with a clear intention to go back to Burma. This he did in April
1998, guided by the Karen tribe across the Thailand border. He made his second
protest in front of 300 people before police arrested him.
Irked by his actions, the Burmese were less lenient. He was blindfolded and
tortured for 15 hours. He pleaded guilty to entering the country illegally and
was sentenced to five years in Rangoon's notorious Insein prison. Ninety-nine
days later he was free, and deported, but only after signing an undertaking not
to return to Burma illegally. Yet return he did. "Everybody tried to persuade
him not too," said his mother, "but I don't think we took on board his
passion."
Knowing full well what his intentions were, his father, with a heavy heart,
drove him to Heathrow Airport. The next time he would see his son would be in
jail.
Mr Mawdsley has spent more than a year in a cramped Burmese cell with only
20 minutes' exercise each day. A committed Roman Catholic, and greatly inspired
by Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate, who has led the non-violent
pro-democracy movement in Burma, he has taken solace in the Bible and other
books that he has been allowed to keep in his cell.
"The rats, toads and bats don't bother him because they are sort of
company," his father said after a visit, "The most important thing is that he's
still mentally very strong and is showing no signs of weakness."
He used his time to study German and devise board games in his mind, as he
was not allowed pen and paper. Once a month his tedium was relieved by a visit
from British embassy staff who brought food supplies provided by his supporters
in Bangkok.
There must have been times when his sister, Emma, a lecturer at Durham
University, and his parents feared for his sanity, but he has remained mentally
strong, and physically too, performing 2,100 sits-ups, press-ups, and stone
water-bottle lifts daily.
The only member of his family not allowed to visit has been his twin
brother, Jeremy, an Army officer, who called the impending release "fantastic
news, but it's one of those moments that I'd really like to see before I believe
it, as the Burmese junta like to play morale-breaking games".
"I can't wait to see him. I believe James will focus on the reasons why he
went to Burma in the first place rather than on his release."
Malaysian National News Agency
October 17 , 2000 13:01PM
ASEAN RAILWAY OFFICIALS' CONFERENCE OPENS IN MYANMAR YANGON, Oct 17 (Oana-Xinhua) -- The 22nd Conference of Railway General
Managers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) opened here
Tuesday.
Participants will discuss at the three-day conference topics covering
improvement of rail efficiency within five years, exchange of experience in
privatization, trade and exchange of equipment and spares, experience in rolling
stock heavy repair.
Speaking at the opening ceremony of the conference, the first of its kind
hosted by Myanmar, Myanmar Minister of Rail Transportation U Pan Aung said his
country is concentrating all its efforts on developing transportation
infrastructure which includes railways.
He disclosed that Myanmar has since 1988 added 1,584 kilometers (km) of new
railway track to the 3,162 km existing before and further 176 km are under
construction.
During the period, the Myanmar Railways had also constructed 3, 369 bridges
including road cum rail bridges across the country's Chindwin River and the Mu
River, he noted.
He told the conference that Myanmar recently added a new locomotive
traction motor plant and is manufacturing related spare parts and producing some
passenger bogies and freight wagon bogies on pilot scale.
He also disclosed that Myanmar has a prestressed concrete sleeper plant
producing 300,000 sleepers annually and has recently started a project to
upgrade some 320 km of track with concrete sleepers and long welded rails.
Myanmar, along with Laos, became a member of the ASEAN Railways Association
(ARA) at the grouping's 20th railway general managers' conference (RGMC) held in
Hanoi in August 1998.
The 21st ASEAN RGMC took place in Bali, Indonesia in June 1999 when
Cambodia joined the ARA.
Except Singapore and Brunei, all ASEAN countries are ARA members. --
Oana-Xinhua The Times (UK)
TUESDAY OCTOBER 17 2000 PA Burma to free Briton it could not silence BY TIM REID AND CONAL URQUHART THE British pro-democracy activist James Mawdsley is to be freed after 411
days in solitary confinement in a Burmese jail. He could be home by Thursday.
The Burmese authorities’ decision to release Mr Mawdsley from a 17-year sentence and deport him is an extraordinary triumph for a devout Roman Catholic who steadfastly refused to give ground to the regime, despite terrible privation and regular beatings. He is at present nursing a broken nose and suffering from internal bleeding
after three days of beatings inflicted two weeks ago for writing on his cell
wall.
Mr Mawdsley, 27, was arrested last August after crossing from Thailand into
the northeastern Burmese town of Tachilek — the third time he had been held by
Burmese authorities in two years.
Three days later he was sentenced to 17 years’ hard labour in Kengtung
prison for illegal entry and sedition, having been found carrying pro-democracy
leaflets. The sentence — which the UN said last week was unlawful — followed a
previous 99 days in solitary confinement and 15 hours of torture after his
second visit in 1998. But Mr Mawdsley has remained unbending in demanding the
release of all political prisoners.
Last night he had at least won his own freedom. The Burmese Ambassador met
the Foreign Office Minister John Battle yesterday afternoon and told him that
the Rangoon Government had decided to deport Mr Mawdsley “as soon as possible”.
Mr Mawdsley’s father, David, said later: “I’m delighted. I’m choking up on
this news. We had a strong inkling that something was going to happen. The
Burmese Government has been put under a lot of international pressure from
everyone, from the Foreign Office and the European Parliament to the United
Nations and the US Government.
“James will not be properly released until he gets on a plane to Bangkok.
Hopefully that will be tomorrow and that will mean he should be home on
Thursday.
“It has been 400 days since he last had a beer. I’m looking forward to
having a beer with him, maybe I’ll put some champagne on ice.”
Mr Mawdsley, a London property developer, said that his son might require
medical help when he returns to Britain — he collapsed last time he came home
from Burma — but would not be pressured into accepting treatment. “When his
mother saw him last week his wounds were beginning to heal. Maybe he will need
his nose straightened when he gets back, maybe it will be an improvement.”
Diana Mawdsley, James’s mother, who is divorced from his father, has been
in Burma since September 4.
Rachel Goldwyn, who was jailed in Rangoon for seven years last September
for singing pro-democracy songs in the Burmese capital, but who was released
after only two months when she agreed to “co-operate” with the junta on
anti-drugs policy, said last night: “I am so excited for him. It is absolutely
fabulous news. Let’s hope he is in a good mental and physical state.”
Ms Goldwyn, 29, who is studying at the London School of Economics, and who
has never met Mr Mawdsley, added: “Perhaps the Burmese regime has realised the
error of its ways. Now it must release all political prisoners.”
The decision to release Mr Mawdsley came after intense diplomatic pressure
from around the world and the behind-the-scenes involvement of Lord Alton of
Liverpool, the former Liberal Democrat MP. He said last night: “This is an epic
example of one individual’s sacrifice to challenge oppression. James has made
his stand because of the appalling genocide against the Karen and other ethnic
minorities in Burma. The international community must now listen and take action
to stop this systematic abuse of human rights.”
Mr Battle said: “I am delighted that James and his family will be reunited
very shortly and that all the efforts made by our Foreign Office staff, our
Ambassador in Rangoon, the family and the campaign groups, together with the
support of our international partners, have achieved their aim.”
The Foreign Office confirmed that Mr Mawdsley’s release was unconditional
and that the Burmese authorities had not requested that he serve the remainder
of his sentence. “They did not make any conditions and they did not explain
their reasons,” a spokesman said.
Associated Newspapers - Oct 17,
2000.
Pride of freed Briton's father by Pierre Williams Three days of beatings suffered in a Burmese prison by pro-democracy
activist James Mawdsley were the desperate acts of a broken regime, his father
said.
James was due to start his journey home to London today after being freed
410 days into a 17-year sentence imposed by Burma's military dicta-torship for
carrying pro-democracy leaflets there.
David Mawdsley said his 27-year-old son's interrogators realised there was
no hope of of breaking him and that his severe beating by guards last month was
a final attempt to bring him to heel.
"It was psychological warfare, but I have heard that James was always two
steps ahead and was succeeding in convincing his captors that democracy was the
way forward for Burma," said Mr Mawdsley, a property manager in Kensington.
"They were trying to indoctrinate him but they never stood a chance."
Burmese Ambassador Dr Kyaw Win and the British Foreign Office confirmed
James's unconditional release and immediate deportation yesterday. Nine months
ago the country's military rulers had declared that James could not expect an
early release because he would not guarantee to stop protesting.
Mr Mawdsley, 57, continued: "I am immensely proud of what he has done, not
only in fighting for the freedom of thousands of people, but in having
unshakeable belief that what he was doing was right."
However, Mr Mawdsley said his son should now stay away from Burma, adding:
"I think he would lose credibility with all of his supporters and certainly with
me if he went back under these conditions. But he will not give up and has to
find another way of keeping his protest going." Six days ago the United Nations
ruled that James was being held unlawfully.
A Foreign Office spokesman said his release "may be in response to the
increasing pressure that we and others have been putting on Burma"
International Herald Tribune
Paris, Tuesday, October 17, 2000 ASEAN Argues Over Burma Strategy -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Compiled by Our Staff From Dispatches -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HANOI - The Vietnamese foreign minister began an official visit to Burma on Monday as Southeast Asian nations wrestled over how to deal with the political deadlock in Rangoon. The Foreign Ministry said that Nguyen Dy Nien's visit would last two days
but gave no details of his agenda. Vietnam is the current chair of the
Association of South East Asian Nations.
Members of ASEAN are split over whether to mediate in Burma, where the
military government has held Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate, and
other leaders of her opposition National League for Democracy under house arrest
for weeks.
ASEAN agreed in July to form a ''troika'' of three members to try to help
resolve political and security disputes, but its secretary-general, Rodolfo
Severino, said in Hanoi last week that there was ''no question of mediation'' in
this case.
This was despite a report in a Bangkok newspaper last month quoting
diplomats as saying that the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan, had
suggested the troika help in Burma.
Vietnam said earlier this month that ''relevant'' ASEAN members had
rejected the idea on the grounds that it would be interference in Rangoon's
internal affairs. But ministers responsible for information from all 10 ASEAN
countries remained silent at a news briefing after a conference in Hanoi last
week when asked whether they were united in a policy not to mediate.
Supatra Masdit, a minister in the Thai prime minister's office, said
separately that she supported mediation and that this should be discussed at
Foreign Ministry level.
Concerns have been raised that the Burma issue could derail a long-delayed
meeting of ASEAN and European Union foreign ministers that Laos is due to host
in December. Laos has said that the meeting would not be affected.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
In another development Monday, the chief of the UN refugee agency held
talks with Burmese leaders on the fate of tens of thousands of people sheltering
in neighboring Thailand and Bangladesh.
Sadako Ogata, the UN high commissioner for refugees, met Monday with
General Than Shwe, the Burmese leader, and two top aides.
Diplomats in Rangoon said that Mrs. Ogata was expected to discuss the
possible return of 146,000 refugees from Thailand and Bangladesh to Burma.
She was to fly late Monday to Thailand, where on Tuesday she was to visit
one of the camps near the border that house about 126,000 refugees from ethnic
minority groups.
The Nation - Oct 17,
2000.
'Shocked' Ogata slams officials over refugee camp BY VORAPUN SRIVORANART SUAN PHUANG, Ratchaburi - United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Sadako Ogata yesterday blasted Thai authorities for not doing enough to help
Burmese refugees at a temporary shelter camp here.
While touring Tam Hin camp yesterday afternoon, Ogata said it was
over-crowded and the standard of shelter was very bad. She also expressed deep
concern over the camp's sanitation, but as yet there had been no epidemic
outbreak.
Tam Hin temporary shelter was established three years ago and houses more
than 8,000 refugees, most of them minority Karen fleeing fighting between the
Burmese military and the Karen National Union. It is about 10 kilometres from
the border and almost 300km east of Bangkok. "I have seen many camps in
Thailand, but none as bad as this. I am quite shocked," she said after touring
the site on the first day of her two-day visit to Thailand.
"Maybe that is why you called it a temporary shelter area. But this is no
shelter, you can't call this a shelter area."
She wondered why Thai authorities, who had a good record and experience in
dealing with former refugees from Indochina, had failed to provide Karen
refugees with adequate living conditions.
"In this case they are not doing the best they can," she said.
Ogata said new building material should be brought in to replace the old
bamboo and the camp ought to be expanded a bit.
"They are living on top of each other," she said.
Ogata added that she would definitely discuss the situation with
responsible agencies to find out what assistance the UNHCR could offer to
improve the situation.
Some points had been conveyed during her morning meeting with Prime
Minister Chuan Leekpai, especially the presence of UNHCR representatives in the
camps along the border to be responsible for humanitarian aid, she said, adding
that Chuan had agreed to look into the matter.
Ogata, who had visited Burma before arriving in Thailand, also told Chuan
of the lack of progress in her efforts to help mediate the repatriation of more
than 120,000 Burmese refugees in Thailand.
In Rangoon, Ogata said Burmese leaders just took into consideration her
wish to see those refugees return to Burma safely and with dignity. But the
military junta failed to give a timeframe for when the process could begin.
The Burmese junta has reportedly branded the Burmese refugees in the Thai
camps as either members of armed ethnic insurgent groups or their relatives, and
not displaced people. Ogata, however, said her talks with the junta were "very
frank and I would say business-like and, I hope, constructive".
She admitted, though, that conditions which would guarantee the refugees a
safe return were not imminent, especially in the Karen State.
UNHCR could not go into a conflict zone, she said, but it was ready to
assist in the repatriation when the situation was better.
Having shouldered the burden of looking after the refugees, some of them
since 1984, Thailand has asked the UNHCR to convince Burma to take them back as
soon as possible. A UNHCR presence in Eastern Burma would pave the way for the
eventual repatriation of the refugees, Thai authorities have said.
South China Morning Post
Tuesday, October 17, 2000 UN report exposes junta's brutality ASSOCIATED PRESS at the United Nations The human rights situation in Burma continues to deteriorate with the
government suppressing all opposition political activity and engaging in
''inhuman treatment'' of opposition members and ethnic minorities, a UN
investigator said in a report released overnight (HK time).
Rajsoomer Lallah, the UN Commission on Human Rights' independent expert on Burma, said he continues to receive reports of government policies and directives aimed at eliminating the opposition National League for Democracy through intimidation, threats, coercion and political charges against its members. The opposition party and its leader, Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, have
been at loggerheads with Burma's junta since 1988, the year the military crushed
a pro-democracy uprising. The junta refuses to honour the results of the 1990
elections, which the National League for Democracy won overwhelmingly.
Mr Lallah's report said arbitrary arrests and detention of opposition party
members and sympathisers, combined with the extension of prison terms for those
who have already served their sentence, ''make up a general and consistent
pattern of the suppression of fundamental rights'' to political and democratic
_expression_.
Local military intelligence units reportedly persecute party members, and
government authorities continue to organise meetings, mass rallies and petitions
to force citizens to denounce party members elected to Parliament or to call for
dissolution of the party, the report said.
Burma's UN mission had no immediate comment on the report. Burma didn't
allow Mr Lallah to visit the country to prepare the assessment, which covered
the situation in the country through July 30.
Despite repeated calls to the government to improve the situation for
minorities, the report said no improvement has been observed in reports Mr
Lallah received.
Among minority groups, the Shan, Karen, Karenni and Rohingya in particular
continue to be the target of d the government pressures the health service to
underreport HIV infections and Aids-related illnesses, which are increasing
according to UN estimates.
South China Morning Post
Tuesday, October 17, 2000 Suspicion smoulders as guerillas' cremations begin WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok The final curtain is now coming down on January's quixotic attempt by a
band of young Burmese and Karen guerillas to blackmail the Thai Government into
helping them by seizing a hospital full of 800 patients and staff. The bodies of
the raiders are being cremated this week.
The deep suspicion among human rights workers is that the 10 young men were executed by the Thai military some hours after they surrendered - as a warning to other would-be hijackers. It never appeared to be the intention of the security authorities to permit
any outsiders to examine the intact corpses, they argued. Some 40 local
officials and charity workers attended the first cremation on Sunday. The rest
of the bodies will be cremated one day at a time.
A spokesman for the Law Society of Thailand said it was a matter of
"regret" that no judicial investigation had been set up to examine the manner of
their deaths.
Some of the bodies were still bleeding from the head when they were
displayed in their shrouds - several hours after they were supposed to have been
killed in the early morning assault on the hospital.
"They were shot in the head after they had been told to undress and kneel
down," a female hospital official said afterwards.
Other former hostages said the assault by army and police commandos would
have resulted in a mighty bloodbath had the gunmen decided to fire their weapons
or use their grenades.
Commandos posing as patients or staff had managed to infiltrate the
sprawling hospital complex before their colleagues smashed their way in at about
5.30am to join in the short-lived manhunt.
Eight of the 10 guerillas were later killed near each other on the second
floor. A ninth body was found on the first floor.
A 10th raider managed to flee the building but was quickly gunned down by
police.
Some hostages said the guerillas - who had fought against the Burmese army
alongside a breakaway Karen rebel group known as God's Army - appeared
considerate, polite and young. "They had kind hearts," said one woman.
The Government was determined not to repeat its relatively kid-glove
handling of the seizure of the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok three months earlier,
when members of the same group were allowed to go free after a 26-hour siege.
Seizing the public hospital, in Ratchaburi, 120km west of Bangkok, was a
step too far in an election year when public opinion swung strongly behind a
gung ho military establishment's desire to show what it could do.
Lawyers pointed out that the law demanded a thorough investigation -
including autopsies - be carried out whenever anyone died in custody or at the
hands of the security forces.
After the siege, the bodies were sealed in a concrete catacomb in the Khai
Lue temple - where they would have quickly rotted in the heat. |