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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - January - 15, 2001. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Burma 'halts' media attacks on Suu
Kyi
Reuters - ILO sees progress in Myanmar
talks with opposition
AFP - More signs emerge of political thaw
in Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar junta allowing jailed NLD
supporters to receive food parcels
AFP - Myanmar court postpones decision on
Suu Kyi property case
AP - ILO: Myanmar Sanctions Helped Promote
Reconciliation
AP - Tensions Rising Along Bangladesh,
Myanmar Border
Xinhua - China Delivers Teaching Building
to Myanmar
Independent(Bangladesk) - Thwin delivers
Yangon's reply: Myanmar to go ahead with dam construction
When will Canada stop trade with Burma?
The Nation - Govt categorically denies
Burma arms slur
BBC -Monday, 15 January, 2001, 00:51
GMT
Burma 'halts' media attacks on Suu Kyi By South East Asia correspondent Simon Ingram The Burmese authorities have reportedly ordered a halt to attacks on the
opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, in the state-run media.
Reports, quoting military sources follow confirmation last week of secret
talks between Miss Suu Kyi and senior figures in the ruling State Peace and
Development Council.
It is hoped the move will strengthen chances of a breakthrough in Burma's
long and debilitating political stalemate.
Vicious diatribes, often accompanied by equally insulting cartoons, have
long been a staple ingredient of Burma's tightly-controlled press.
Press vitriol
Their prime target has been Aung San Suu Kyi, a woman depicted variously as
a witch, a traitor and an enemy of her people.
Many of the attacks on Miss Suu Kyi have been of a highly personal nature -
for example her marriage to the late British academic, Michael Aris earned her
particular scorn from Rangoon's media commentators.
The sneering tone and the vulgar language of these attacks became
thoroughly predictable.
However, they also underline the yawning political divide between Burma's
military rulers and Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party achieved a sweeping, but still
unrecognised, victory in 1990 parliamentary elections.
Hopes of dialogue
That seems to have been the point made by United Nations special envoy
Razali Ismail, who confirmed the contacts between Miss Suu Kyi and the military
leadership during a visit last week.
Mr Razali reportedly urged a halt to the hostile propaganda as part of his
bid to encourage a meaningful dialogue between the two sides.
The talks, which started in secret last October, have triggered unusual
optimism among opposition groups abroad.
But some worry that the government's real motive is to persuade the
international community to ease the pressure it is exerting on Rangoon.
WIRE
ILO sees progress in Myanmar talks with opposition BANGKOK, Jan 15 (Reuters) - The
International Labour Organisation (ILO) on Monday hailed talks between Myanmar"s
military rulers and the country"s pro-democracy opposition, led by Nobel Peace
Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi. "Expect progress in Myanmar," ILO Asia-Pacific
chief Yasuyuki Nodera said in a statement.
Suu Kyi"s National League for Democracy (NLD) party confirmed last week it
had been in secret talks with the government and said the dialogue already
appeared to have achieved some progress.
The NLD won Myanmar"s last general election in 1990 by a landslide but has
never been allowed to govern. It has stuck to its nothing-but-democracy
principle for years despite harassment and imprisonment by the ruling generals.
Myanmar"s military government, in power for most of the last four decades, has
never shown any sign of relinquishing control.
Nodera said in the statement the ILO sanctions against Yangon last December
for widespread and systematic use of forced labour had prompted a "re-think of
policy" by the ruling generals.
The U.N. labour agency voted overwhelmingly last November that Myanmar had
not complied with a global treaty on eradicating forced labour. It has urged its
174 member states and other international bodies to "review their relations"
with Yangon.
The 80-year-old organisation has no powers of its own to impose sanctions.
The ILO"s move irked Yangon and the military government threatened to stop
cooperating with the ILO, insisting the use of forced labour had been stopped.
Nodera said one of his priorities would be to send ILO experts to Myanmar
to assist in efforts to stamp out forced labour by modifying laws and bringing
perpetrators to justice.
Monday, January 15 6:43 PM SGT
More signs emerge of political thaw in Myanmar YANGON, Jan 15 (AFP) - New
signs emerged Monday of an improvement in the political atmosphere in
military-run Myanmar as the junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi edged
towards an historic dialogue.
Junta officials visited the headquarters of the opposition National League
for Democracy (NLD) to inform its members that 86 of its supporters jailed since
September would be allowed to receive food parcel and letters.
NLD sources said they were told the International Red Cross had visited the
group, taken delivery of letters for their families, and were monitoring the
situation. However, there was no indication as to when they would be
released.
The apparent goodwill gesture comes as the opposition leader and the
military government hold a series of talks, brokered by UN envoy Razali Ismail,
aimed at establishing their first official dialogue since 1994.
In another sign of the thaw, the regime has ordered the state-run media to
halt its routine attacks on Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest
since September 22.
The Nobel peace laureate was detained after attempting to travel by train
to northern Mandalay in defiance of the junta's ban on leaving the
capital.
The 86 party supporters were rounded up when they went to see her off at
Yangon central station and have been held without charge since then.
In another surprise move Monday, a Yangon court postponed a decision on a
property case against Aung San Suu Kyi who faces eviction after her brother
US-based Aung San Oo filed suit over half her Yangon home.
Judge U Soe Thein gave no explanation for holding the trial over to January
22 instead of handing down a decision Monday as planned.
A legal source said Aung San Oo, a US citizen, planned to hire a new legal
team who would be charged with trying to broker an out-of-court settlement, a
solution long advocated by his sister's supporters.
The reason for Aung San Oo's change in strategy was not known, but the
legal source said he had been come under fire over the lawsuit, with a stream of
critical letters and phone calls directed to his home.
There was no official indication as to whether the unexpected postponement
was linked to the political developments in Myanmar.
But a legal decision against Aung San Suu Kyi, which may have left her
homeless, would have been seen as a slap in the face for efforts to embark on
national reconciliation.
The International Labour Office (ILO) Monday also noted the new mood in
Myanmar as it forecast the military-run country would make progress in
eliminating forced labour this year.
In an unprecendented move in November, the ILO's governing body called on
its members to review their ties with Myanmar over the issue.
However, newly appointed regional chief Yasuyuki Nodera said in a statement
from Bangkok that he was now "confident that the achievements already on paper
can be converted into realities on the ground."
"Expect progress in Myanmar," he said, adding that he was making his
forecast "amid reports of democratic breakthroughs."
Monday, January 15 4:29 PM SGT
Myanmar junta allowing jailed NLD supporters to receive food parcels YANGON, Jan 15 (AFP) -
Myanmar's junta is permitting food parcels and letters to be sent to 86
opposition supporters jailed since September, National League for Democracy
(NLD) sources said Monday.
The apparent goodwill gesture comes as the opposition and the military
government edge towards a landmark dialogue brokered by UN envoy Razali
Ismail.
In another sign of the thaw, the regime has ordered the state-run media to
halt its routine attacks on NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under
house arrest since September 22.
The opposition leader was detained after attempting to travel by train to
northern Mandalay in defiance of the junta's ban on leaving the capital.
The 86 party supporters, who were arrested when they went to see off Aung
San Suu Kyi at Yangon central station, have been held without charge since then
at the notorious Insein jail.
NLD sources told AFP that officials of the military government had informed
them the group would be permitted to receive food parcels and messages.
They were told the International Red Cross had visited the group, taken
delivery of letters for their families, and were monitoring the situation.
However, there was no indication as to when they would be released.
Analysts in Yangon are also unsure whether the breakthrough talks between
Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta number-three announced by Razali last week make
it more or less likely the Nobel peace laureate will be released soon.
The regime is known to be keen to continue its contacts with the opposition
leader out of reach of the Western diplomatic missions that have staunchly
supported her cause.
The International Labour Office (ILO) Monday noted the new mood in Myanmar
as it said it expected the military-run country to make progress in eliminating
forced labour this year.
In an unprecendented move in November, the ILO's governing body called on
its members to review their ties with Myanmar over the issue.
However, newly appointed regional chief Yasuyuki Nodera said in a statement
from Bangkok Monday he was now "confident that the achievements already on paper
can be converted into realities on the ground."
"Expect progress in Myanmar," he said, adding he was making his forecast
"amid reports of democratic breakthroughs".
Monday, January 15 3:29 PM SGT
Myanmar court postpones decision on Suu Kyi property case YANGON, Jan 15 (AFP) - A
Myanmar court Monday postponed a decision on a property case against opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, whose brother Aung San Oo has filed a law suit seeking
half her Yangon home.
Judge U Soe Thein, who earlier this month said he would hand down a
decision Monday, gave no explanation for holding the trial over to January
22.
A legal source said Aung San Oo, a US citizen, planned to hire a new legal
team who would be charged with trying to broker an out-of-court
settlement.
Well-known lawyer Mya Mya Aye approached Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyer U Kyi
Win several days ago to inform him she would be taking over the case and that
she was looking for a settlement, the source said.
Friends of the opposition leader have criticised Aung San Oo's decision to
file suit over the house, once owned by their late mother Khin Kyi, and urged
him to make an out-of-court settlement.
The reason for Aung San Oo's change in strategy was not known, but the
legal source said he had been come under fire over the lawsuit, with critical
letters and phone calls directed to his home in the United States.
Neither was there any indication as to whether the surprise postponement in
the case was linked to the political developments in Myanmar, where the
opposition and the junta appear to be edging towards a landmark dialogue.
UN envoy Razali Ismail last week announced Aung San Suu Kyi had met several
times with a senior official of the military government, in contacts aimed at
breaking a decade-long political impasse.
In a sign of the thaw between the warring sides, the official press was
ordered to halt its usual stream of insulting cartoons and commentaries aimed at
Aung San Suu Kyi from last weekend.
A legal decision against the Nobel peace laureate at this delicate stage
could have been seen as a slap in the face for efforts to embark on national
reconciliation.
Aung San Oo, while not overtly political, is far less critical of the junta
than his sister and the two are not close.
Critics have said the lawsuit is a veiled attempt by the ruling State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) to evict Aung San Suu Kyi and hamper her National
League for Democracy (NLD).
As a US citizen, Aung San Oo is not entitled to own property in Myanmar and
if he wins the case he is expected to turn his half-share over to the
government.
That raises the bizarre prospect of the junta co-owning a property where it
has held the opposition leader under house arrest since September 22.
Monday January 15, 4:00 PM
ILO: Myanmar Sanctions Helped Promote Reconciliation BANGKOK (AP)--The International
Labor Organization said Monday that recent sanctions against Myanmar to protest
its use of forced civilian labor have helped pressure the military regime into
talking to prodemocracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"It's presumptuous to say we brought this about, but I think there's a
connection," said Ian Chambers, the ILO's director of operations for East Asia.
"It shows the international community is prepared to take action," he said.
Last week, the United Nations announced after a visit by a special envoy to
Myanmar that Nobel Peace laureate Suu Kyi and Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, a top leader
of the ruling junta, had since October held their first talks in six years.
The two sides are expected to start more substantive discussions on
national reconciliation soon. The government and Suu Kyi, who remains under
virtual house arrest, have yet to comment.
The apparent breakthrough follows mounting international pressure on the
Myanmar regime, which has earned opprobrium particularly from Western nations
for its human rights record and ignoring the sweeping election victory by Suu
Kyi's party in the 1990 general elections.
In November, the ILO governing body voted for unprecedented sanctions
against Myanmar to protest the widespread use of forced labor.
It recommended that the ILO's 175 member states, employers, workers and
international organizations review their dealings with Myanmar to make sure they
are not abetting forced labor.
Actions by member states, although voluntary, could hurt trade and further
restrict the already meager flow of foreign aid to the military state.
The U.S. military has stopped all orders of clothing made in factories in
Myanmar, also known as Burma.
"For the first time, at least recently, it's been brought home to the
Myanmar authorities that they can't get away with the argument that, 'What goes
on inside our borders is our own business,"' said Chambers.
The ILO said the sanctions had also prompted a rethink in government policy
on the use of forced labor, which for years it has described as voluntary work
by civilians to promote the development of the nation.
Chambers said the most concrete sign of a policy change by the Myanmar
government was the adoption of legislation six weeks ago to outlaw the use of
forced labor.
Although there would be great skepticism that it was being put into
practice, until there was clear proof, the initial indications were that there
had been a "significant reduction" in the use of forced labor, Chambers said.
"The question is, how long it will last," he said.
Yasuyuki Nodera, the ILO's new chief for the Asia-Pacific region, said in a
statement issued in Bangkok Monday that one of his top priorities would be to
send ILO experts to Myanmar to assist in efforts "to stamp out the practice
through modifying laws and bringing perpetrators to justice."
"Expect progress in Myanmar," Nodera said.
He hoped that in June, the annual conference of the ILO's membership would
be in a position to review the forced labor situation - which could lead to a
review of the sanctions.
Monday January 15, 5:37 PM
Tensions Rising Along Bangladesh, Myanmar Border TEKNAF, Bangladesh (AP)--Schools closed and thousands of villagers
fled their frontier homes Monday after Bangladesh and Myanmar reinforced troops
in a dispute over building of an embankment on a river shared by the two
neighbors.
The weekend buildup came after border troops of the two countries exchanged
fire over Myanmar's construction of the embankment on the River Naaf.
Myanmar halted the construction after Dhaka's protests.
But Myanmar continued to bring in army troops along its border since the
clashes, said Bangladesh army officers.
"We have reports that Myanmar has deployed more than 25,000 army troops
along the border. We, too, are ready to confront if they attack us," Col.
Shawkat Ali, a commander of the Bangladesh border guards, told reporters on
Monday.
About 2,500 people who left their farming villages of Ulubunia,
Anjumanpara, Totatuli and Katakhali on Sunday and Monday to live with relatives
or in school buildings.
Some families sent women and children away while men stayed back to guard
the property.
There is an undeclared curfew along the Myanmar side of the border because
of the troop movement, he said.
Bangladesh has offered to hold a meeting between senior commanders of both
countries, he said.
Ali refused to disclose the number of Bangladeshi troops deployed along a
part of the 500-kilometer border.
China Delivers Teaching Building
to Myanmar
2001.01.15 14:17:40 YANGON, January 15 (Xinhuanet)
-- The Chinese Embassy in Myanmar Monday formally delivered a new teaching
building to the Myanmar Ministry of Education.
The building is for No.2 Primary School of Yankin township in Yangon
division.
Chinese ambassador to Myanmar Liang Dong and Myanmar Education
Minister U Than Aung inaugurated the building by cutting the ribbon, and
First Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council and
Chairman of the Myanmar Education Committee Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt
unveiled the monument of the building.
Speaking at the inaugural ceremony, Liang said the donation of the
teaching building marked the good beginning of the friendly cooperation
between China and Myanmar in the new century in the sector of
education.
At the ceremony, Khin Nyunt and U Than Aung respectively delivered
speeches. They expressed thanks to the Chinese side for the donation of
the China-Myanmar friendship school, wishing continuous development of the
Myanmar-China friendship.
The teaching building was built by China's Transtech Engineering
Corporation to mark the 50th anniversary of the establishment of
diplomatic relations between China and Myanmar which fell on June 8,
2000.
The cornerstone of the two-storey building, which costs 150,000 U.S.
dollars, was laid on June 26, 2000 and it took five months to complete.
The building, which has 10 class rooms, can simultaneously
accommodate 500 pupils.
Independent-bangladesh.- January 15,
2001.
Thwin delivers Yangon's reply: Myanmar to go ahead with dam construction by Staff Reporter Myanmar will go ahead with the construction of the dam on the Naf river
which has led to the present border tension.
"We will go ahead with the construction of the dam to protect soil
erosion," said Myanmar ambassador U Ohn Thwin said after meeting a senior
official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday afternoon.
Thwin came to the Foreign Office to deliver of his government’s reply of
the protest Dhaka lodged with Yangon on January 8 over the construction of the
dam in the river by border troops Nasaka in violation of the border treaty and
international rules.
He stayed with Director General Syed Shah Muhammad Ali for 45
minutes.
Talking to the Independent, the Myanmar ambassador denied the allegation
that his country had violated the border treaty.
Instead he levelled a counter allegation that it was not his country but
Bangladesh that had violated the border treaty, adding, "Shrimp cultivation on
Bangladesh side began last year in violation of the treaty."
The Myanmar envoy advised the correspondent to contact the Ministry of
Foreign Affairs to know the real facts.
"These are exaggerated reports in the newspapers," said the envoy when
asked why his country amassed troops along the border.
Ruling out the possibility of any war between the two countries, Thwin
hoped that problems would be solved peacefully as the diplomatic efforts are
being geared up."
The Foreign Ministry official told The Independent that he had extensive
talks with the Myanmar envoy on the present border problems.
"I have asked the ambassador to abide by the existing treaty in the
interest of peace between the two countries," he said when asked if the envoy
was requested to withdraw troops from the border and stop construction of the
dam.
Article 5 of the treaty, signed in 1966, states that no contracting parties
would be allowed to go for construction for the purpose of water conservancy,
industry, irrigation, power generation and hydroelectric project.
Straight Goods
When will Canada stop trade with Burma? Dateline: Friday, January 12, 2001 By Penny Sanger History and the world's memory have deserted the 52 million people of
Burma.
Their teardrop-shaped country once exported rice, teak and high standards
of art and learning throughout southeast Asia. Now, with its agricultural
economy in ruins, HIV-AIDS on the increase and most people living in poverty,
fear and oppression, the generals in charge rely on weapons, foreign investment
and tourism to keep their rickety regime functioning.
Burma (or Myanmar) is probably the best current example of a country whose
human and natural resource capital is being destroyed by the current taste for
the uncontrolled and ostensibly uncontrollable march of corporate power across
the villages, forests, farms and rivers of the globe. And Canada is right in
there, marching with the best of them.
Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, listed Canada as one the three
biggest investors (at $21.45 million) in Burma during the first three months of
fiscal year 2000, probably because of the expansion of Burma's biggest
foreign-owned mine, Ivanhoe Mines. Ivanhoe, which is in a 50-50 partnership with
the military regime in Rangoon, is incorporated in the Yukon, has its head
office in Vancouver and is listed on the Toronto Stock exchange.
Imports of Burma-made textiles and garments to Canada have more than
doubled since Canada imposed a version of sanctions that amounted only to
removing Burma from our list of "most favoured nation" trading partners. Most
worrying of all are the corporate connections that link Canadian businesses
(among them Power Corp and Prime Minister Jean Chretien's son-in-law Andre
Desmarais) with the sale of Chinese arms to Burma.
Desmarais is on the board of directors of CITIC Pacific (China
International Trust and Investment Corporation), the huge Chinese conglomerate
that spawned the country's military export agency, Polytechnologies. As everyone
knows, military might with the help of Chinese weapons, aircraft and armoured
vehicles is what keeps Burma's 50 million people docile. The Chinese military
contract, worth about $1.2 billion, has helped the Burmese army grow in recent
years to more than 400,000. And Burma has no external military enemies.
There was brief hope that this might change when the International Labour
Organization took an unprecedented action Nov. 30 on forced labour in Burma. It
asked its 167 members, their governments, workers and employers to "take
appropriate measures to ensure that their relations (with Burma) do not
perpetuate or extend the system of forced or compulsory labour in that country .
. .."
But no one can visit or do business either in Burma or with the regime's
business partners without in some way paying into its many-tentacled ruling
military system. The military relies on forced labour and, until this summer,
the day after the ILO's commission of inquiry left the country, there was no law
against forcing people mainly villagers and children to carry out, unpaid and
unfed, any jobs the military needed. Given the quality of the Burmese judicial
system and the pandemic nature of forced labour in the country (The Economist
recently estimated 800,000 people could be virtual slave labourers), the new law
is not going not change anything in a hurry.
Young men and women carry ammunition and gear for soldiers, children break
up rocks for new roads, grandmothers clean canals, farmers build barracks. Local
military commands commonly force this work on citizens who are told they must
"contribute" their labour to the national cause. Rape, beatings and forced
prostitution are often part of the job. Farmers are compelled to hand over crops
and chickens and pigs to the military, knowing that to protest could result in
the whole village being torched.
The ILO has no authority to impose sanctions or, like the United Nations
Security Council, to require its member nations to do so. It can ask
governments, employers and workers to examine what their foreign investors and
other overseas contacts are doing in Rangoon but getting them to stop is another
thing.
Nearly two years of argument between the human rights group, Canadian
Friends of Burma, and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade,
about the legitimacy of Canadian mining companies doing business with the
regime, ended in a standoff, the foreign affairs lawyers claiming they could not
act under current World Trade Organization rules.
The United States imposed sanctions on all new investment in Burma several
years ago. A U.S. State Department report on Burma states, "Forced labour,
including forced child labour has contributed materially to the new industrial
parks subsequently used largely to produce manufactured exports including
garments." But U.S. imports of garments have risen more than sixfold, to $231.1
million worth since 1992. Robert Naiman of Washington's Centre for Economic and
Policy Research argues that since the U.S. is the destination of two-thirds of
Burma's garment exports and these represent one-quarter of the regime's access
to G-7 currency, it is time to ban those imports. A U.S. law bans the import of
goods made by prison labour and the WTO theoretically allows restrictions on
such goods.
Canada's policy on corporate complicity with human rights abuses in Burma
is far less clear than the American. Ten years ago a democratic coalition won a
landslide victory in Burma. Our corporate connections with the generals, who
continue to ignore this and to lock up and torture their opposition, will
stiffen human rights activists' determination to put Burma on Canada's moral
map.
***
Penny Sanger is an Ottawa activist and writer.
For more info, contact Canadian Friends of Burma.
Related addresses: The Nation - January 15,
2001.
Govt categorically denies Burma arms slur THAILAND yesterday categorically rejected an allegation from a Burmese
state-owned paper that it was trying to revive the ethnic minorities' armed
struggle along the border by supplying them with weapons under the pretence of
narcotics suppression.
"We categorically reject the report in the Burmese paper The Mirror.
Thailand has no policy of supplying arms to ethnic minority groups to fight the
Burmese government," said Deputy Foreign Ministry spokesman Rathakit Manathat.
The paper, in its editorial last Friday, slammed Thailand for supplying
arms and offering moral support to ethnic-minority rebels in a bid to rejuvenate
their armed struggle for autonomy.
It said Bangkok was using the excuse of drug suppression along the border
as a cover for its operations.
Rathakit said Bangkok wanted to see peace, stability and prosperity in
Burma as well as have a good neighbour.
"We believe in political means through dialogue as the only way to solve
political and ethnic conflicts and bring about reconciliation and lasting peace
in Burma.
"That is why we support the role of the UN's special envoy to Burma Razali
Ismail," he said.
Rathakit also said the Thai government believed its "unrelenting efforts in
the past will lead to serious and sincere cooperation in order to tackle the
drug problem". |