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BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOV - 11, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
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AP - India Wants More Talks With Southeast Asian
Nations
AP - UN: Less Developed Nations Highly
Vulnerable To Problems
AP - Rebel Troops Invade Myanmar
Camp
The Times of India - Myanmar junta leader to visit India
Bkk Post - Editorial - Burma must abide by human
rights
The Independent(Bangladesh) - Two killed in
landmine blast on border with Myanmar
Bkk Post - Burmese troops flee as Karen take
base
Saturday, November 11 7:26 PM SGT India Wants More Talks With Southeast Asian Nations SINGAPORE (AP)--India wants
more talks with countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
officials in Singapore said Saturday.
Indian President K.R. Narayanan "expressed India's desire to have more dialogue with ASEAN countries" in a meeting with Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong, Goh's office said in a statement. The statement gave no details about the nature or topics of the dialogue
India was hoping for.
Goh and Narayanan also discussed "how to encourage more Singapore
investment into India," the statement said.
"Prime Minister Goh said that Singapore companies have already invested in
substantial projects in India's information technology, telecommunications and
other high-growth sectors," the statement said.
Singapore Telecommunications (TELE.SI) in August announced its investment
of $400 million in India's Bharti Group telecom conglomerate.
The stake is the largest taken by an international investor in India's
telecommunications sector, SingTel said.
Narayanan, who has a largely ceremonial role, was on a state visit to
Singapore from Thursday through Monday. He is the first Indian president to
visit the city-state in 30 years.
On Friday, Narayanan witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding
that will set up a task force to study the possibility of a free trade zone
between the two countries.
During the president's visit, India and Singapore also agreed to cooperate
more in areas such as heritage programs, museum exhibitions and the exchange of
archive and library materials.
Singapore is a member of ASEAN, which also groups Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam.
Saturday, November 11 6:38 PM SGT
UN: Less Developed Nations Highly Vulnerable To Problems BANGKOK (AP)--Despite average
increases in growth rates, the poorest of poor countries of Asia-Pacific remain
extremely vulnerable to external economic and social shocks and natural
disasters, says a U.N. body.
Out of 13 least developed countries, or LDC's, only five countries have
managed to cross the figure of $900 per capita annual income, the Bangkok-based
U.N. Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, or ESCAP, said.
The other countries such as Laos, Nepal and Bhutan are "far below" the $900
level, it said in a statement received Saturday.
High level representatives from 27 member and associate member countries of
ESCAP will get together for three days in Dhaka, Bangladesh, beginning Monday,
to try and find solutions to the LDCs' problems, the statement said.
The meeting is jointly organized by ESCAP and the U.N. Conference for Trade
and Development.
The statement said that if these countries stay at the rate of growth of
the past decade, none will be able to reach the $900 per capita level within the
next decade.
Bhutan and Laos would require about 20 years, Bangladesh about 25 years
while Cambodia, Myanmar and Nepal won't reach the benchmark before the middle of
this century, the statement said, quoting ESCAP's executive secretary, Kim
Hak-Su.
During 1990-98, the real gross domestic product for the LDC's as a group on
average grew at around 4.5% per annum, but with large variations among the
countries, it grew from less than 1% to over 8% for individual countries.
These countries suffer from high poverty, weak institutions, inadequate
human resources, huge external debt and decreasing aid.
"All these predicaments combined with the challenges of globalization ...
can further marginalize and, indeed retard," their integration into the global
economic system, the statement said.
After the Dhaka meeting, the Third U.N. Global Conference on the Least
Developed will be held in Brussels in May, providing a major occasion for all 48
LDC's worldwide and their development partners to formulate a program of action,
the statement said.
The Dhaka meeting will consider four key areas: social issues, economic
infrastructure, trade issues, and financing development.
Saturday, November 11 12:19 AM SGT
Rebel Troops Invade Myanmar Camp By NELSON RAND, Associated Press Writer TOJO MOUNTAIN, Myanmar (AP) -
Some 125 Karen rebel troops overran a Myanmar military camp after heavy fighting
Friday near the Thai border in their most significant victory in recent months.
Some 30 Myanmar government forces fled the mountaintop camp, leaving a
trail of blood and one dead comrade behind them. Guerrillas of the Karen
National Union were in pursuit.
An Associated Press reporter accompanied the Karens during the raid, which
was preceded by a two-hour exchange of heavy mortar and gunfire.
``Maybe before you thought the KNU was small, now you know we are big,''
said Tennyson, a senior soldier in the KNU's 201st Battalion. Like many of the
KNU's armed volunteers, he uses only one name.
The Myanmar government was not immediately available for comment.
The assault on Bianaw camp, about two miles from the border opposite Waley
Key, the Karen name for a village in Thailand's northern Tak province, was the
201st battalion's first major operation of this dry season. The season heralds
fresh fighting each year.
Mahn Sha, general-secretary of the KNU based at the Thai-Burmese border,
put the Burmese death toll at two in Friday's assault, and said one soldier was
captured alive and was being interrogated. Mahn Sha was contacted by telephone
from Bangkok, Thailand.
The KNU has been battling for more autonomy inside Myanmar, also known as
Burma, for five decades. They last overran a Myanmar camp, killing four
soldiers, four months ago.
Supported by about 75 porters, the KNU troops had sneaked to within 1,500
feet of Bianaw camp late Thursday after days of reconnaissance. The advance drew
no response from the government forces other than three rounds of sniper fire by
suspicious soldiers.
The KNU launched its attack before sunrise with 81mm mortars, heavy machine
guns and rocket-propelled grenades, triggering mortar and other fire from the
Myanmar forces. Two KNU attack groups with assault rifles then climbed to the
mountain camp.
After 11/2 hours of sporadic exchanges, the KNU attackers made their final
assault to cheers from their backup. After 30 minutes of heavy fire, the Myanmar
troops fled. Two KNU forces suffered minor injuries.
The AP reporter saw the KNU troops looting thousands of assault rifle
rounds and dozens of rocket propelled grenades from the camp, and sifting
through the personal effects including letters left behind the fleeing Myanmar
forces.
They dumped rice supplies in the camp before torching it. Eight or nine
rebels followed the path taken by the escaping troops. A trail of blood showed
at least one of the Myanmar soldiers was wounded.
The KNU forces are believed to number 2,000-3,000, a fraction of their
armed strength in their heyday more than one decade ago, when they controlled
huge tracts along the Thai-Myanmar frontier.
In recent years, Myanmar's military regime has gained the upper hand.
November 11, 2000.
Myanmar junta leader to visit India The Times of India News Service NEW DELHI: General Maung Aye, vice chairman of the state peace and
development council(SPDC) of Myanmar, is coming to India on an official visit,
with an entourage of six senior ministers, including the deputy prime
minister.
The week-long visit, beginning November 14, of this high ranking delegation
will be the first from the military regime of Myanmar.
It is an indication of how far relations between India and the military
regime have progressed, since a conscious decision was taken by the government
in 1991, to engage the SPDC.
General Maung Aye will be given a red carpet welcome in New Delhi. He will
meet President K.R.Narayanan, vice president Krishna Kant and Prime Minister
Atal Behari Vajpayee. The Confederation of Indian Industry will also host a
lunch for the visiting leader and his delegation. Myanmar is wooing Indian
businessmen to invest in that country.
The General, who will be accompanied by his wife and daughter, will land in
Patna and visit the Bodh Gaya in Bihar before coming to Delhi on November the
17. He will also travel to Bangalore, Jaipur and Agra.
Though India has since the military coup in Pakistan become a major
campaigner for democracy, the continued house arrest of Burma's pro democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, has evoked little response from the Vajpayee
governemnt.. ``We as a country are committed to democracy. We are also commited
to non-interference in the internal matters of other countries,'' an Indian
official said, trying to justify New Delhi's policy.
Much of this is because of practical considerations. Analysts say that
engagement with the military government has become a strategic compulsion,
because of China's growing influence in Myanmar. India cannot afford to have
China get cozy with a country bordering its eastern flank. Reports of Chinese
military build up in Myanmar led to a rethink in New Delhi during prime minister
Narasimha Rao's tenure in 1991. India realised that while China's ratings with
the military junta skyrocketed, its own influence began to wane, leading India
to take a hard look at its previous policy and decide to build bridges with the
government in power.
New Delhi also needs the co-operation of the military junta in Myanmar also
to combat north east rebels, who have camps in the loosely administered areas on
both sides of the international border between the two countries. A hostile
Myanmar, which could encourage India's separatist rebels in the northeast was a
danger New Delhi could not ignore. Improved relations with Myanmar would ensure
that insurgent groups of the area could not use Burmese territory for their
camps. Perhaps more important engagement would counter China's growing influence
in Myanmar.
Bangkok Post - Nov 11,
2000.
Editorial - Burma must abide by human rights The International Labour Organisation is to be congratulated for never
shying away from controversy.
Regardless of who might be offended, it regularly singles out erring
nations and doles out criticism or praise, more often the former.
Over the past decade, Burma's use of forced labour and suppression of human
rights and democracy has made that country a prime target of its wrath. Although
a signatory to the 1930 International Labour Organisation Convention, Human
Rights Watch Asia estimates that at least two million Burmese have been forced
to work without pay on the construction of roads, railways and bridges across
the country, usually on the orders of the military.
It claims that hundreds more have died from beatings, exhaustion, accidents
and lack of medical care.
Reports published by international bodies have consistently validated
claims of massive human rights violations committed by, or with the consent of,
the Burmese authorities involving forced labour which has been press-ganged from
the civilian population.
This compulsory labour and abuse of workers' rights happens in all parts of
the country, not just border or other areas prone to conflict.
Given such appalling working conditions at home, it is little wonder that
so many Burmese flee into Thailand to seek a living.
Burma's rampant use of unpaid civilian labour on infrastructure projects
has become such an irritant to the International Labour Organisation that in
June, conference delegates voted to recommend that its member countries review
their links with Burma and take measures designed to end the practice.
The precise nature of the action to be taken will be decided at the meeting
of the organisation's governing body next week in Geneva.
Prior to this decision, the International Labour Organisation sent a
fact-finding team to Burma to see if any of its warnings had been heeded.
And its report, issued on Wednesday-while falling short of giving that
country a passing grade-noted that Rangoon had finally shown signs of heeding
the outcry and made some progress in improving its restrictive laws.
The military rulers have backed down on their oft-repeated claims that
Burmese citizens were happy to work long hours for free because they wanted to
make merit-a position long scorned by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who
herself has been under house arrest for more than a decade.
This was in part based on an admission by Burma's powerful chief of
military intelligence Gen Khin Nyunt that "it had to be frankly admitted that
forced labour had occurred in the past". But he added that "given the progress
that had been made, forced labour was no longer necessary".
Such an about-face and admission of past wrongdoing by the ruling junta
following years of denial is most out of character, but then so was the bowing
to international pressure, after an initial show of defiance, which led to the
release from jail last month of British human rights activist James
Mawdsley.
If these actions can be interpreted as a move towards accepting its moral
obligation to demonstrate accountability, long a tenet of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations-of which Burma is a member, even though a rather new
one-then Rangoon could at long last be showing positive and encouraging signs
that it recognises the need for a change of policy.
That would indeed be a major breakthrough. Sceptics will dismiss these
moves by saying that a leopard cannot change its spots. But then every rule is
said to have an exception, and we fervently hope that we are witnessing one.
The Independent
(Bangladesh)
Two killed in landmine blast on border with Myanmar COX'S BAZAR, Nov 10: Two people, including a little boy, were killed in
landmine explosions near Waladong hill and Chakdhala hill on the
Bangladesh-Myanmar border in the last two days, police sources said, reports
BSS.
The victims were identified as Ahmed Sharif (11) of Ratnapalong union under
Ukhia upazila and Safar Alam (31) of Lombamath under Naikhongchari upazila.
Police said 16 Bangladeshi nationals have so far died in landmine blasts on
the Bangladesh-Myanmar border.
District administration officials said NASAKA, Myanmar border security
force, was planting landmines in the bordering areas on the plea of curbing
insurgency.
The NASAKA had abandoned planting of landmines in 1998 following protest
from the Bangladesh authorities, the police said.
Bangkok Post - Nov 11,
2000.
BORDER - Burmese troops flee as
Karen take base
Rebels find cache of grenades and rounds Tak
Karen rebels troops overran a Burmese military camp opposite Phop Phra
district yesterday in their most significant victory in recent months.
Around 30 Burmese troops of the 116th Battalion fled Bianaw camp on Hto Kyo
mountain, leaving a trail of blood and one dead comrade behind.
Guerrillas of the Karen National Union's 201st Battalion led by Maj Nada
were in pursuit. The raid on the camp opposite Ban Phadee, tambon Ruamthai
Pattana, was preceded by a two-hour exchange of mortar and gunfire.
The assault on Bianaw camp, 3km from the border opposite Waley Key, the
Karen name for a village in Tak, was the battalion's first major operation of
the dry season. The Karen last overran a Burmese camp, killing four soldiers,
four months ago.
In recent years, the Rangoon junta has gained the upper hand, flushing the
rebels from their former enclaves along the border. The fighters now operate out
of mobile bases in the jungle.
Supported by about 75 porters, KNU troops had sneaked to within 400m of
Bianaw camp late on Thursday after days of reconnaissance. The advance drew no
response from the junta forces other than three rounds of sniper fire by
suspicious soldiers.
The KNU launched their attack before sunrise with 81mm mortars, heavy
machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, triggering mortar and other fire
from the junta forces. Two KNU attack groups with assault rifles then climbed to
the mountain camp.
After 90 minutes of sporadic exchanges, the Karen made their final assault
to cheers from their backup. After 30 minutes of heavy fire, the defenders fled.
Two KNU troopers suffered minor injuries.
Karen forces looted thousands of assault rifle rounds and dozens of
rocket-propelled grenades from the camp.
The 201st Battalion dumped rice supplies in the camp before torching it and
moving on. Eight or nine rebels followed the path taken by the escaping troops
as another unit moved to cut them off.-AP/Bangkok Post |