Burma Related News- March 15, 2001.

[Tin Kyi <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 15, 2001.
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Headlines
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AP - God's Army Twins Reunited With Mom
AFP - Indian defence minister resigns
AFP - God Army's twins' fate uncertain after tearful reunion with mother
AFP - Asian countries join livestock bans from EU
Reuters - Thailand challenges Myanmar to tackle drugs trade
Kyodo News - Exiled Myanmar lawmakers say full Japan aid premature
Asia Times - Thailand and Myanmar spar over drugs
The Nation - Surakiart, Win Aung to hold drug talks in Chile
The Nation - Defiant Rangoon to continue closure of key border checkpoint
The Nation - Boat fired on after chase
Bkk Post - Army has an attitude problem, says junta
Bkk Post - Chavalit's personal approach let country down, says Chuan
Bangkok Post - Fingers crossed
Xinhuanet - Malaysia, Myanmar to Sign Barter Trade Agreement

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Thursday March 15, 7:52 PM
God's Army Twins Reunited With Mom
By JIRAPORN WONGPAITHOON, Associated Press Writer

SUAN PHUNG, Thailand (AP) - The young twins who led the God's Army rebel group in Thailand have been reunited with their mother, more than a year after the family was split up during fighting with Myanmar troops, officials said Thursday.

The mother arrived Tuesday at the border patrol force base where Johnny and Luther Htoo have been held since their surrender to Thai authorities on Jan. 16. The twins are believed to be 15 years old, though they look much younger.

Their father is expected to join them soon and the family will stay at the camp until the government makes a decision on whether to give them refugee status, said police Lt. Col. Somchai Visutsuwan.

``We will continue to confine them here until further notice from higher authorities,'' Somchai, the chief of the border patrol base, told The Associated Press.

The twins' parents already have refugee status and have been living in the Ban Ton Yang refugee shelter nearby. The area is about 100 miles west of the Thai capital, Bangkok.

God's Army, which at its peak had about 150 fighters, had provided minor resistance in a wider guerrilla war by ethnic Karen rebels fighting for autonomy in Myanmar, also known as Burma.

They acquired near-legendary status around 1997, when Myanmar troops came to their village during a sweep of Karen areas. The mainstream guerrillas group, the Karen National Union, reportedly fled while the twins rallied some local men and directed a successful counterattack.

After that, the twins' followers said the boys - who are Christians - had powers from God. Their followers believed bullets couldn't hit them and mines wouldn't explode under their feet.

God's Army stopped fighting after they lost their base at Ka Mar Pa Law, just inside Myanmar, in early 2000. During the fighting, they became separated from their parents, who trekked to Thailand.

Johnny, Luther and their small band held out for another year before arriving in Thailand, driven by hunger and exhaustion. Fifteen followers who surrendered with the twins are also staying at the police base.

The twins became icons for youthful rebels around the world after the widespread circulation of an Associated Press photograph showed the angelic-looking, long-haired Johnny next to his tougher-looking, cigarette-puffing brother, Luther.

Thai authorities allowed photographers and television crews into the base Thursday to take pictures of the twins, who did not speak much, except to say they are happy to be with their mother.

Asked how they felt about being the focus of journalists' attention, the long-haired Johnny said: ``I am afraid.''

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Thursday March 15, 10:27 PM
Indian defence minister resigns


NEW DELHI, March 15 (AFP) - Indian Defence Minister George Fernandes resigned Thursday in the wake of an arms bribery scandal, state-run television Doordashan reported.

Doordashan flashed the news of Fernandes' resignation on the screen during a scheduled news programme.

Fernandes is the latest and most prominent victim of a scandal that has rocked the ruling coalition government, and already claimed the scalp of ruling BJP party president Bangaru Laxman.

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Thursday March 15, 3:30 PM
God Army's twins' fate uncertain after tearful reunion with mother


SUAN PHUNG, Thailand, March 15 (AFP) - The boy leaders of the God Army's militia, who were captured two months ago on the Myanmar border, have been reunited with their mother.

Luther and Johnny Htoo burst into tears when their mother Mah Kae was brought from a refugee camp earlier this week to see her 13-year-old sons, said police who have been holding them in this frontier town.

However, the pair's fate remains uncertain, according to officials in the western province of Ratchaburi who are considering giving them refugee status that will entitle them to asylum in Thailand.

"The committee which will decide how they will be classified has until now not begun to meet," said Suan Pheung District Chief Payakphan Phokaew.

Mah Kae, 48, who posed for photographs Thursday with her elfin-faced sons, said she had been corresponding with them from the refugee camp in far-off Pha Song Yang where she and the twins' father have been living.

"We knew they had been captured because they sent us a letter to the refugee camp where we are staying, and we sent one back, so we that's how we contacted each other," she said as she nursed the boys' young sister.

The painfully shy twins, who appear years younger than their age, made halting replies as they were asked what they believed the future held in store for them.

"It is in the hands of God," they said.

Payakphan said the pair were in good health, despite their heavy smoking habit, and that they would also be reunited with their father shortly.

After their capture by Thai troops in January, the Htoo brothers debunked the myths surrounding their militia band and said they dreamed only of returning to Myanmar and going to school like ordinary children.

They downplayed their followers' belief that they possessed magical powers that made them and their fighters invincible in battle against Myanmar troops, saying the stories that they were impervious to gunfire were not true.

Their mystical anti-Myanmar rebel movement, which had gained widespread international publicity, was finally hunted down over a bloody New Year's Eve raid on a village in Ratchaburi province.

Since then the twins and some dozen supporters, mostly women and children, have been held at this border police headquarters, living together in a small cottage as their future is considered.

Investigators are trying to determine if the twins were involved in the seizure of a major Ratchaburi hospital last year, carried out by God's Army fighters and rebels from another militia band.

However, the remainder of the group's members being held here look set to escape punishment over the raid and previous attacks it has staged.

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Thursday March 15, 2:56 PM
Asian countries join livestock bans from EU


HONG KONG, March 15 (AFP) - A growing list of Asian countries have slapped bans on imports of European livestock, meat and dairy products after an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in France and Britain.

On Thursday, South Korea became the latest to halt the import of cloven-hoofed livestock from European Union countries.

The precautionary measure, decided by the agriculture and forestry ministry, added pigs to its list of banned EU livestock which already includes cattle, sheep and goats.

"The latest ban affects all the livestock from all 15 EU member states," said ministry offical Lim Kyong-Jong, although he added that sterilized, processed products were excluded.

Eighty one cattle were reported to have been infected by madcow disease in South Korea last year, according to ministry statistics.

The clampdown follows bans already imposed by several countries around the world after news that the outbreak of foot-and-mouth, first recorded in Britain three weeks ago, had spread to continental Europe.

While foot-and-mouth is not dangerous for humans, it is highly contagious in livestock. By late Wednesday, the total number of confirmed cases in Britain stood at 231. There is still only one confirmed case in continental Europe, in northwestern France.

In the Asia-Pacific, Japan, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand and China have embargos in place.

Affluent Singapore, which imports most of its needs, on Wednesday suspended the import of meat and several dairy products from France and Argentina in addition to an earlier ban on meat from Britain.

The ban is to "protect Singapore's FMD-free status and our agri-business trade," the ministry of environment and the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority said in a joint statement.

Dairy products which have not undergone high-heat treatment, including pastuerised milk, cheese, yoghurt, ice cream and butter, have also been suspended.

Earlier this month, the China Daily said Beijing had banned all cloven-hooved animals, including cattle, pigs, sheep and livestock-related products. Products that had already arrived in China would be returned or destroyed.

The paper said the ban extended to meat imports from Myanmar, Mongolia, Kazakhstan and other countries which had seen outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease.

While a Guangdong provincial government official has denied there are any cases of foot-and-mouth disease in China Hong Kong authorities say 464 pigs died of the disease between November and January.

The territory on Wednesday suspended the import of live pigs, cattle, sheep and goats from France.

A spokesman from the Agriculture, Fisheries and Conservation Department stressed the ban was a precautionary measure to prevent new strains of the virus spreading.

Hong Kong has also suspended imports of pigs, cattle, sheep and goats from Britain, the Republic of Korea, Taiwan and Japan.

Immediate bans on all meat, dairy and livestock imports from the EU are alsp in place in Australia to protect the local beef and wool industries, quarantine officials said.

In New Zealand, the government announced similar measures would also be taken to protect its key livestock industry.

Japan has strengthened measures already in place.

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Thursday March 15, 1:56 PM
Thailand, Myanmar to tackle drugs issue in first foreign ministers' meet


BANGKOK, March 15 (AFP) - Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Thursday he will ask Myanmar for its cooperation over the drugs crisis during the first talks with his counterpart Win Aung in Chile later this month.

Surakiart said the meeting would take place on the sidelines of the inaugural session of the East Asia-Latin America Forum to be held in Santiago from March 29-30.

"We will ask if it is possible for Myanmar to sign a drugs suppression and prevention cooperation agreement with Thailand, like China has done," he said in a radio interview.

The meeting with Win Aung will be the highest-level talks between the two neighbours since Thailand's new government led by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was sworn in last month.

The issue of massive drugs production within Myanmar's borders, which is feeding a serious addiction crisis in Thailand, has sparked a growing rift between the two sides in recent weeks.

Thaksin declared a "war on drugs" earlier this month at an unprecedented meeting of top officials charged with thrashing out a coordinated strategy to close down the narcotics trade.

The premier said he would demand explanations from Myanmar's generals over the deadly flow of methamphetamines from jungle refineries operated by Yangon-allied ethnic druglords.

Myanmar lashed out at the tough new approach, saying Thailand should put its own house in order before trying to use its neighbour as a "scapegoat" for its drugs problems.

As the sparring continued, the Thai foreign ministry issued a strongly worded statement late Wednesday that criticised the junta for its tetchy response to the Thai initiative.

The ministry "expressed regret to learn that the government of Myanmar would take such an attitude towards the problem of drug production and trafficking, especially methamphetamines."

It invited Myanmar to show the international community it was serious about fighting drugs, "which is a serious problem threatening regional security, the health and social well-being of all peoples in the ASEAN region."

Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) as well as China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and twelve Latin America countries are to attend the Santiago meeting, Surakiart said.

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Thailand challenges Myanmar to tackle drugs trade
Reuters - March 14 2001 at 07:50PM


Bangkok - A war of words between Thailand and neighbouring Myanmar intensified on Wednesday with Bangkok challenging Yangon to tackle what it called "known locations" of drugs production within its borders.

Stung by a Myanmar accusation that it was blaming all its drugs problems on others, the Thai foreign ministry said in a statement it had accelerated efforts aimed at drugs suppression.

"Thailand is not looking for a scapegoat for the drug problems in Asia," it said.

Myanmar, by contrast, had within its borders areas where the Wa ethnic minority, living under the control of the Yangon-backed United Wa State Army (UWSA), were producing narcotics, it said.

The Thai government has said it suspects the UWSA are the most important producer of metamphetamine stimulants coming into Thailand from the mountainous "Golden Triangle" region at the intersection of Thailand, Laos and Myanmar.

"It is now in the hands of the government of Myanmar to demonstrate to the international community that it has the will and determination to seriously eradicate drugs manufacturing, perhaps by at least starting from known locations within its territory," it said.

The statement was a response to a rebuke by Myanmar of the Thai government and of a Thai conference on drugs, which heard allegations that Myanmar was the major source of illegal narcotics in the region.

The spokesman for Myanmar's military government, Lieutenant-Colonel Hla Min, said in a statement on Monday that Thailand should concentrate on dealing with its own drugs industry rather than blaming others for its problems.

"ALL THE BLAME ON A NEIGHBOUR"

"Putting all the blame on a neighbouring country for everything that goes wrong in Thailand is not the way to solve any problems," he said.

The Thai army says that 700 million metamphetamine pills, which affect the central nervous system, will come into Thailand this year, an increase of 40 percent on last year.

Thai politicians at the weekend drugs conference said they had been shocked by photographs of impressive infrastructure in the prosperous and growing Myanmar town of Mong Yawn, which Thai officials believe has been funded by the drugs trade.

But Myanmar denies this, saying the growing wealth of the Wa comes from successful development projects.

"...The whole narcotic problem Thailand is encountering today seems to be very conveniently thrown on the UWSA," the Myanmar government spokesman said.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said this week he was looking for "sincere" discussions with the Myanmar government following his election at Thai polls in January.

But relations have taken a turn for the worse in recent weeks since fighting between Myanmar troops, backed by their Wa allies, and ethnic Shan rebels spilled over into Thai territory. Thai army sources suggest the fighting is linked to the drugs trade.

A top Myanmar military official accused the Thai army on Wednesday of treating his country like a "subordinate state" after the border skirmish last month, and vowed Myanmar would respond by keeping a key border checkpoint closed.

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Exiled Myanmar lawmakers say full Japan aid premature

TOKYO March 14 Kyodo - A group of self-exiled Myanmar lawmakers have urged Japan not to resume full aid to Myanmar despite recent signs the junta is willing to negotiate with pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Japanese Foreign Ministry officials said Wednesday.


The Myanmar lawmakers, who were elected to parliament in May 1990 but barred from the junta to assume duties, filed the plea in a meeting with Japanese Foreign Ministry officials earlier this month.

Australia resident Daniel Aung, vice president of the Members of Parliament Union, urged the ministry not to resume full official development assistance (ODA) to Myanmar. It was cut in 1988 after the junta suppressed nationwide pro-democracy uprisings by force.

The exiles included Ye Htut, head of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Japan. They submitted a statement saying that since it is unclear whether dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi has actually reopened and the prospect of democracy in Myanmar is still remote, Japanese ODA is bound to prolong military rule in the country.

A ministry official told the group Japan is closely examining democratization in Myanmar, adding Tokyo will consider the exiles' views.

Japanese government officials said earlier this month that ODA resumption would signal a major policy change by Tokyo that could draw protests from Suu Kyi's NLD and Western countries that continue to impose economic sanctions on Myanmar.

Japan has provided the country with technology aid and humanitarian grants since 1995, but has held off from resuming full ODA, which would include new low-interest yen loans.

Tokyo had given Myanmar 50 billion yen in ODA up to 1988, according to the officials.

In contrast, humanitarian grants totaled only 880 million yen in fiscal 1999 and 1.5 billion yen in fiscal 2000, they said, adding that Myanmar has been asking for Japan's help on such projects as construction of dams and roads.

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Asia Times - March 15, 2001
Thailand and Myanmar spar over drugs
By Mahesh Uniyal

BANGKOK - Barely a month after a border clash, Thailand and Myanmar are squabbling again, testing the new Thai government's declared intent of using bilateral goodwill to help Yangon break out of its international isolation.

Myanmar's military-led government has again accused Bangkok of seeking "scapegoats" across the border for what it said was Thailand's internal problem. "Putting all the blame on a neighboring country for everything that goes wrong in Thailand is not the way to solve any problems," the Myanmese government commented in a March 12 press statement.

It came a day after a meeting of top Thai government leaders and officials in the northern city of Chiang Rai, close to the Thai-Myanmese border, was shown "evidence" of alleged Burmese government backing for drug traffickers said to be flooding Thailand with narcotics. The evidence, presented by Thai army commanders, consisted of satellite photographs of the "drug township" of Mong Yawn in Myanmar, close to the border with Thailand.

The Thai military claimed that the township was being built by a Yangon-friendly, ethnic Myanmese militia that is accused of being one of the biggest illegal drug makers in the world.

"I want to hear explicitly from the Myanmese authorities that they are not responsible for Mong Yawn," Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said after the Chiang Rai meeting. That meeting was held as part of government efforts to tackle the growing drug threat to Thailand.

Thailand has reason to worry because it is no longer just a transit point for the illicit drugs produced in the "Golden Triangle" region, but has become a major drug-consuming nation itself. It is estimated that some 1 million Thais are already addicted to metamphetamines, popularly known internationally as speed and as ya ba or "crazy drug" to the Thais.

Estimates by the UN International Drug Control Program (UNDCP) show that Myanmar is the second biggest opium producer after Afghanistan. Those battling the narcotics problem in Southeast Asia identify Myanmar as the weak point in their campaign. Its military-led regime is accused of turning a blind eye to the use of its territory for the production and cross-border distribution of the stimulants. The main suspects are a large Myanmese tribal militia, known as the United Wa State Army (USWA), which once battled for independence but is now Yangon's ally. The Wa militia-run drug-production centers are believed to be situated close to Thailand's northwestern border with Myanmar.

"Thailand will take a tougher diplomatic line if Myanmar fails to give a satisfactory reply on the UWSA," an unnamed senior government official was quoted as saying in newspaper reports in mid-March.

According to Thailand's English-language daily The Nation, the Chiang Rai meeting had "dramatically changed" Bangkok- Yangon ties. "It is now time for Myanmar to realize the gravity of the drug problem and begin to sincerely cooperate with its neighbor," the paper added.

The latest strain in bilateral ties followed a short border skirmish in early February, when Myanmese troops crossed over into Thai territory in pursuit of Myanmese ethnic rebels. The Myanmese soldiers even captured 19 Thai army personnel. This subsequently led to an exchange of artillery fire from the border trade towns of Mae Sai in Thailand and Tachilek in Myanmar. However, Yangon accused the Thai army of assisting the Myanmese ethnic rebels in attacking Myanmese troops.

Media commentators in Thailand then noted that the border skirmish, which came only a few days after Thailand elected a new government, was a "deliberate action" by the military regime in Yangon to "test" the new rulers of Bangkok. They cautioned newly installed Thaksin not to rush into making friends with Yangon, after he announced his intention to visit Yangon in keeping with his hands-on approach to issues of governance.

Long shunned by the international community for its repression of democracy and alleged rights excesses, Myanmar has, however, in the past few years gained acceptance from Southeast Asian nations who argue that "constructive engagement" is a better way of persuading Yangon to conform to international norms. In a sharp break from its predecessor's policy on Myanmar, the new Thai government is seeking "forward engagement" with Yangon. According to Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, Thai government leaders would seek informal ties with theirMyanmese counterparts. "We will make it so informal that we can talk anytime on the phone or fly into the other country when we have problems to solve," he was reported as saying.

"We would like to promote democracy in Myanmar, but we would like to do it the Asian way," the minister was quoted as saying in an interview to an Asian news magazine.

The approach of the new government toward Myanmar has been criticized as one that will hurt Thailand's interests. During his three years in office, Thaksin's predecessor Chuan Leekpai never visited Myanmar, which was admitted to the Southeast nation regional grouping Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) four years ago. Under the Chuan government, Thailand was the most vocal among Asean nations in championing human rights and democracy in Myanmar.

However, some think that the new Thai government is moving with the times and that its declared Myanmar policy reflects the changing reality. According to regional foreign policy analyst Chayachoke Chulasirwrongs of Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, even the West is now shedding its hostility to Myanmar, whose military regime has been holding talks with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Chayachoke believes that the previous Thai government's ideological stand on Myanmar only succeeded in alienating Yangon. "I totally agree that we have to make some outward sign of normalizing relations," he said.

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The Nation - 15 March 2001
Surakiart, Win Aung to hold drug talks in Chile
BY VORAPUN SRIVORANART

FOREIGN Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said yesterday that he expects to raise the country's drug concerns with his Burmese counterpart, U Win Aung, at a meeting later this month.

Surakiart will meet Win Aung at the inaugural ministerial meeting of the East Asia-Latin America Forum in Santiago, Chile, on March 29-30.

The forum will unite policymakers from 27 countries on both sides of the Pacific, including 10 Asean members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, and New Zealand.

The prospective bilateral discussions will offer Surakiart an opportunity to hear directly from his Burmese counterpart on how Rangoon plans to assist Thailand in its war against drugs.

Surakiart had stated that narcotics suppression has become the top priority of bilateral relations and hence cooperation from Burma is imperative.

He said he was confident that public exposure of the Mong Yawn drug production centre by the Thai government would not jeopardise relations with Burma, which hit their lowest ebb in the wake of border clashes and the ensuing war of words.

He said the weekend conference in Chiang Rai was aimed at mobilising a "national force" by increasing Thai people's awareness of the magnitude of the problem.

During the conference there was no direct finger pointing at Rangoon concerning its alleged complicity with the United Wa State Army. But Thailand's references to Rangoon's knowledge of drug production has prompted heated rebuttals from Burmese authorities, leading to minor forms of retaliation such as closure of the Mae Sai-Tachilek crossing and a ban on many popular Thai products. Surakiart said that despite the tense atmosphere, the process to resolve problems is progressing in a positive direction in view of the opening of the Thai side of the crossing and the upcoming meeting of the Regional Border Committee.

He said he believes that Burma wants the crossing to be reopened without restrictions since it was the side that came forward first.

Daily tit-for-tat aside, Surakiart said, the focus from now on will be on how to reinvigorate existing international frameworks and enlist support for Thailand's war against narcotics.

As many officials have admitted, fighting a lone war or pinning too much hope on just Burmese cooperation will lead nowhere.

Thai authorities already had a strategy in mind as far as the recent drug summit was concerned, and options are now on the table.

According to an informed source, the choice of options will be largely determined by the outcome of three crucial events: a trip to China by Surakiart next week, his prospective meeting with U Win Aung in Santiago and the Regional Border Committee meeting in Keng Tung, respectively.

Surakiart said he would definitely raise the issue of narcotics with China but warned that this should not be construed as asking Beijing to exert its influence on Rangoon vis-?-vis drugs.

Rather, a trilateral framework between the three nations needed to be worked out, and China, he said, has no objection in principle.

Last year Thailand inked a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with China on the drug war and is currently drafting a bilateral MoU with Burma.

China and Burma have already signed their own MoU on narcotics.

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The Nation -15 March 2001
Defiant Rangoon to continue closure of key border checkpoint

Reuters - A TOP Burmese military official accused the Thai army yesterday of treating his country like a "subordinate state" after a border skirmish last month, and vowed that Burma would continue to keep a key border checkpoint closed.

Major General Kyaw Win, Deputy Director of Defence Services Intelligence, said the Thai military unilaterally shut a busy border checkpoint last month and tried to reopen it this week without consulting Burma.

The Thai army had also laid down six conditions for re-opening the checkpoint, he said. "They behaved as if Burma were a subordinate state, under their influence," he told a news conference. "They failed to abide by international norms set for promoting good neighbourly relations."

Thai officials closed a bridge linking Mae Sai in Thailand with Tachilek in Burma after a series of skirmishes last month.

Bangkok says Burmese troops crossed into Thai territory on February 10, seizing an outpost that was later recaptured. The next day, shells hit Mae Sai as Burmese soldiers and their allies in the United Wa State Army clashed with ethnic Shan rebels in Thailand.

Mae Sai and Tachilek are major trading towns through which large shipments of consumer goods flow from Thailand into Burma. Thailand and Burma also accuse each other of fostering a brisk drug trade along the border.

The Burmese general said the border closure had not hurt his country, adding the bridge would remain closed until the two countries hold formal talks.

Rangoon's latest salvo came a day after it accused Thailand of making Burma a scapegoat for its failure to tackle drug problems at home.

Thailand's Foreign Ministry yesterday issued a statement denying the allegation. A spokesman said the ministry regretted that the Burmese government would take such an attitude toward the problem of drug production and trafficking, especially with regard to methamphetamines.

"Recognising the seriousness of the drug scourge, the Thai government, far from putting the blame on any country, has undertaken to accelerate efforts aimed at drug prevention and suppression as one of its most urgent national issues," the spokesman said.

The international community has recognised Thailand's past and ongoing efforts to address its drug problem and has applauded the government's earnestness in making the war against drugs a top national priority, he added.

The spokesman urged the Burmese government to show its will and determination to seriously eradicate drug manufacturing in the locations controlled by the United Wa State Army.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who last weekend hosted a high-profile conference to fight the narcotics problem, rebutted the Opposition's accusation that he embarrassed Rangoon by exposing the Wa town of Mong Yawn, which lies in Burmese territory.

"We simply pointed out a minority group in Burma that has posed a threat to our youth. We have not blamed Rangoon," he said.

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The Nation - March 15, 2001.
Boat fired on after chase

A THAI fishing trawler was chased into Thai waters off Ranong province yesterday by a Burmese navy patrol boat that opened fire at another Thai trawler, slightly injuring two Burmese crewmembers on board, a Thai navy source said.

The medium-sized Burmese gunboat fired M-40 machine guns at the 15-metre Pornnimitr 1 with its crew of 10 at about 9am yesterday, inflicting minor damage, the source said.

"We were informed by the crew of Pornnimitr 1 that the scene of the attack was in Thai waters. Our examination of the spot proved that the claim was true," he said. He suspected that the Burmese patrol boat, with the number 441, intruded into Thai waters while in hot pursuit of another Thai trawler that was illegally fishing in its territorial waters.

"From what I was told, it may be not Pornnimitr 1 that trespassed on Burmese waters. The Burmese gunboat chased a Thai vessel into Thai waters only to face many Thai boats. So it chose the damaged ship as a new target," he said.

Thai Navy chief of staff Admiral Taweesak Somapa said the incident occurred in a no-man's zone in the Andaman Sea, but declined to say if the confrontation was in retaliation for the Thai premier's strong criticism of Burma as a major source of illicit drugs.

Another Navy source said the Navy would ask the Foreign Affairs Ministry to send Burma a protest note.

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Bangkok Post - March 15, 2001.
Army has an attitude problem, says junta
Tachilek checkpoint will remain closed

A top Burmese military officer accused the Thai army yesterday of treating his country like a "subordinate state" after a border skirmish last month and vowed Burma would respond by keeping a key border checkpoint closed.

Maj-Gen Kyaw Win, deputy director of Defence Services Intelligence, said in a Reuters report from Rangoon that the Thai military unilaterally shut a busy border checkpoint last month and tried to re-open it this week without consulting its counterpart in Burma.

The Thai army had also laid down six conditions for re-opening the checkpoint, he said.

"They behaved as if Myanmar (Burma) were a subordinate state, under their influence," he said.

"They failed to abide by international norms set for promoting good neighbourly relations."Thai officials closed a bridge linking Chiang Rai's Mae Sai town with Tachilek in Burma after a series of skirmishes last month.

Bangkok said Burmese troops crossed into Thai territory on Feb 10, seizing a military outpost which was later recaptured.

A day later, shells hit Mae Sai as Burmese soldiers and their allies in the United Wa State Army clashed with ethnic Shan rebels in Thailand.

Mae Sai and Tachilek are major trading towns through which large shipments of consumer goods flow from Thailand into Burma. Thailand and Burma also accused each other of fostering a brisk drug trade along the border.

The Burmese officer said the border closure had not hurt his country and said the bridge would stay closeduntil the two countries hold formal talks.

Thai traders in Mae Sai said the closure of the checkpoint is forcing firms out of business.

Local traders had lost up to 350 million baht since the closure of Mae Sai-Thachilek border checkpoint on Feb 11, said Boonma Techajaroenwikol, chairman of the Mae Sai Merchants' Association.

"We want the situation back to normal as soon as possible," he said. Before the closure, 30 million baht in trade money changed hands daily. Since the closure, there had been fewer tourists and local Thais could no longer find jobs in Burma.

Weerapong Panyarat, Mae Sai district's assistant customs chief, said three million baht in potential customs duties had also been lost.

Some 200 million baht worth of goods destined for Burma had been stranded on the Thai side.

Trading in smuggled goods could increase if the border closure continued, he said. Commenting on Burma's failure to reopen the checkpoint, Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Rangoon might be seeking wider coverage of trade items. Thailand has resisted trading of strategic items, a term which is open to interpretation, the minister said.-Reuters/Bangkok Post

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Bangkok Post - March 15, 2001.
Chavalit's personal approach let country down, says Chuan
Ex-PM says he never disgraced leadership
Ampa Santimetanedol

Former prime minister Chuan Leekpai yesterday defended his policy on Burma and said his administration would never disgrace itself by using "personal ties" for its own gains.

He was responding to remarks on Monday by Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, who blamed the Chuan government for failing to improve ties with Burma.

"The previous government had a clear-cut policy not to exploit personal ties to secure logging contracts or other concessions. That kind of practice makes Burma look down on us," Mr Chuan said. Relations with Burma would not have sunk this low if the two sides sat down and talked, Gen Chavalit said, citing Rangoon's failure to keep its promise to open its side of the Mae Sai-Tachilek checkpoint.

The deputy premier criticised Mr Chuan for not visiting Burma after he was invited by prime minister Than Shwe.

The Democrat-led administration tried to resolve disputes with Burma through proper channels, said Mr Chuan, who insisted there was no need for him to visit Rangoon.

Mr Chuan also criticised the government for releasing photographs of alleged drug manufacturing activities at the United Wa State Army's Mong Yawn settlement.

Deputy defence minister Gen Yutthasak Sasiprapa defended the pictures and said the Thai people had the right to know.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinwatra denied ill intentions toward Rangoon and said he never implicated any Burmese leader in the drug trade.

"We talked about the minority groups in Burma, which use the border areas to manufacture narcotics. I said nothing about the Burmese government," he said.

Gen Yutthasak said the Thaksin administration declared war on drugs, not on any particular country.

He said high-level talks would be held if discussions at the Regional Border Committee-level did not succeed.

Third Army commander Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuanwong will lead the Thai delegation in the April 1 talks.

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Bangkok Post - March 15, 2001.
Fingers crossed

Talks are to be held with Burma on things irksome along the border, but really no one is expecting all to be sweetness and roses afterwards. u A wealthy businessman with connections with the Burmese army and their drug-making mates has been shot. There is no shortage of suspects. u The claws are out inside the ranks of Chart Thai. A good-lookin' gal is stealing the show.

The suspense is building. Can the border meeting planned for early next month heal the rift between Thailand and Burma caused initially by Burma's cross-border raid on a Thai army outpost in Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang early last month?Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, deputy prime minister, defence minister and would-be peace-maker, has required that the regional border committee must meet before he troops off to present his credentials to the generals in Rangoon.

Gen Chavalit is hoping to go to Rangoon to discuss Burmese co-operation in the effort to limit the drug trafficking taking place across the border.

Also harbouring hopes is Lt-Gen Pitsanu Urai-lert, chief of civil affairs at the Armed Forces Supreme Command. He prays the regional border committee meeting set for Kengtung, just inside Burma, will help ease the border tensions.

"That [better relations] will depend totally on the topics raised at the meeting," said one veteran border watcher. He said more conflicts were inevitable if issues were raised at the meeting on which neither side was prepared to compromise.

The last meeting between Burma and Thailand at the lowest contact level, township to township, ended up exacerbating tensions as neither side was willing to yield ground.

Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuengwong, commander of the northern Third Army, will head the Thai delegation at Kengtung, while the Burmese team will be headed by Maj-Gen Khet Sein, Burma's southwest army commander.

The Third Army will meet on Saturday in Phitsanulok and gather opinions from civilian officials on what problems to raise at next month's meeting.

Lt-Gen Wattanachai himself is not expecting much to result from the meeting and questions Burma's sincerity in wanting to help Thailand tackle the drug problems affecting the border region.

The decision by the Third Army to reopen the border at Mae Sai on Monday is accepted locally as a positive development prior to the border meeting.

Burma, for its part, has kept its border gate on the Mae Sai-Tachilek bridge firmly in place.

Rangoon, say the reports, is miffed at criticisms made of its ruling generals during a Thai government-sponsored meeting on drugs held in Chiang Rai at the weekend. Rangoon was accused of turning a blind eye to the production and trafficking of methamphetamines in areas ruled over by its ally United Wa State Army.

Suspects galore
Police in Chiang Rai might not have charged anyone over the killing of Saengsanit Chaisri, the influential kamnan shot by a sniper while in his backyard late last month, but associates of the man they call Kamnan Daeng think they have the case solved.

Kamnan Daeng was widely known to have close ties with senior officers in the Burmese army and the United Wa State Army. He was shot in the head on Feb 26 while supervising work at a sand-dredging site behind his home in Mae Sai district's Ban Pang Haa.

He died instantly when hit by the sniper who was believed hidden behind a bush some 100-150m away.

"This kind of precise shot from 100m away could only be made by a specially trained unit," said one local politician.

The police have their theories, ranging from a political conflict to revenge to a conflict of business interest. Saengsanit was known to have a lot of investments, worth from 100 million to 150 million baht, inside Burma.

His close connections with the UWSA, the ethnic minority group regarded internationally as the biggest drug trafficker in the Golden Triangle region which overlaps Thailand, Burma and Laos, have hardly endeared him to many along the border and elsewhere.

His close aides, understandably enough, deny the kamnan was involved in drug trafficking. But police are not so sure.

They also suspect the border pass nearby his home in Ban Pang Haa was used as a transit point for illegal goods, including precursor chemicals sent to Burma for use in making methamphetamines. The army recently closed the pass.

Kamnan Daeng was aware he was under surveillance by intelligence agents and had tried several times to patch up his differences with senior government officers, including Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuengwong, commander of the northern Third Army, who was kept informed of Saengsanit's movements inside Burma.

"His questionable activities, especially those inside Burma, caused great displeasure among security officers," said one close associate.

The old buddy was sure the killing had nothing to do with a conflict of business interests or a personal vendetta.

Security officers seemed to have been most upset, and Saengsanit also was unhappy, by reports that 50-60 pick-up trucks belonging to the kamnan's construction company inside Burma were used by the Burmese army as part of the recent troop build-up along the border.

His mates say the trucks were commandeered.

"He was very upset by this incident but what could he do under the circumstances?" asked one. "His workers were also forced to act as porters by the Burmese military junta."

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Malaysia, Myanmar to Sign Barter Trade Agreement
2001.03.15 19:31:33

KUALA LUMPUR, March 15 (Xinhuanet) -- Malaysia and Myanmar will  soon finalize an agreement to facilitate the conduct of barter  trade between the two countries, Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz said Thursday.


There is also a need for both governments to facilitate and  promote bilateral trade by simplifying or removing various  obstacles, she said in a statement issued in conjunction with a  three-day trade and investment mission led by her to Myanmar which ended Thursday.

The Minister outlined several concerns of Malaysian companies  in doing business in Myanmar, including the multiple exchange  rates in force and the limit imposed on the transaction/remittance overseas of each company.


She advised the businessmen at both ends of the trade  connection to mingle more and create a bond that would benefit  bilateral ties between the two countries.

Barter trade is an important component of the bilateral trade  between Malaysia and Myanmar, which currently amounts to 600  million ringgit (157.89 million U.S. dollars) and 800 million  ringgit (210.52 million U.S. dollars) a year.


Products exchanged through the barter trade arrangement include agricultural products, fish, timber products, electrical items,  clocks, plastic goods, used motorcycles and bicycles, and used  vehicle parts.

Total trade between Malaysia and Myanmar last year amounted to  1.142 billion ringgit (0.3 billion U.S. dollars), a 3.1 percent  increase over that in 1999, with Malaysia's main exports to  Myanmar including crude petroleum, vegetable oil, margarine, and  plastic and glass products and its main direct imports from  Myanmar including vegetables, natural rubber, wood and fish.


Meanwhile, Malaysian companies are actively involved in 12  projects in Myanmar with investments totaling 1.248 billion  ringgit (0.32 billion U.S. dollars) in areas of furniture  manufacturing, production of apparels, toys, food products and oil and gas, as well as direct participation in hotel, tourism and  real estate development.