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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 30,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar gives green light for U.N.
rights visit
BBC - Burma to admit human rights
expert
AP - Myanmar To Allow Visit
By New UN Human Rights Envoy
AFP - Detained Myanmar pro-democracy activist fights
deportation
Dowjones
- Thai PTT/Defers/Yadana Gas Payment: Yetagun Also
Delayed
Reuters - Malaysia to deport Myanmar T-shirt
protester
Asia Pulse - S Korea's
Daewoo Motor Starts Restructuring Overseas
Plants
Dow
jones - Chiang Mai/ADB: May Form Basis For Asian
Fund
Reuters - Thailand says Myanmar agrees to help
fight drugs
BBC -
Analysis: Burma's new
approach
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Seizes Large Amount of
Stimulants
Xinhuanet - 133 Fires Reported in Myanmar in
February
Xinhuanet - Japan to Aid
Two Myanmar
Projects
Xinhuanet - Lao Vice-President Visits
Myanmar
Kyodo
News - Japan resumes aid to Myanmar, pledges 849 mil. yen in
grant
The
Times of India - ASEAN foreign ministers to meet in Yangon
in April Friday March 30, 12:21 PM
Kyodo News - Promises of a new dawn in Burma but its
people remain in the dark
Myanmar gives green light for U.N.
rights visit
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government has given permission for the new U.N. human rights envoy for
the country to visit in the first week of April, a senior Myanmar Foreign
Ministry official said.
"We have given the green light to the visit of the new U.N. special
rapporteur," the official told Reuters.
Diplomatic sources in Yangon said Brazil's Paulo Sergio Pinheiro would meet
representatives of both the military government and the opposition National
League for Democracy (NLD), including its leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The NLD won Myanmar's most recent elections, in 1990, by a landslide but
has never been allowed to govern.
Suu Kyi has been held in de facto house arrest since September, with access
to her tightly controlled.
But foreign governments have welcomed news that the government has held
several meetings with Suu Kyi to try to find common ground.
Pinheiro succeeded Rajsoomer Lallah of Mauritius, who resigned in November
after four years in the job. Lallah was never allowed to visit Myanmar.
Lallah's last report, in October, accused the military government of
torturing, raping and executing civilians, particularly members of ethnic
minority groups.
The United States' annual report on global human rights, released last
month, grouped Myanmar with Cuba and North Korea as the world's three worst
countries for human rights abuses.
BBC - Friday, 30 March, 2001, 06:15
GMT 07:15 UK
Burma to admit human rights expert By south-east Asia correspondent Jonathan Head
The Burmese Government has given permission to the United Nations to send
its newly-appointed rapporteur on human rights to the country next month.
Burma had refused entry to the previous rapporteur, who resigned last year
complaining that he did not have sufficient resources or co-operation to do his
job.
Special rapporteurs are independent experts who present reports on human
rights to the UN.
The decision by Burma's military rulers to grant access to the UN
rapporteur, after blocking it for so long, is yet another sign of a more
conciliatory approach towards the outside world.
New mood
The previous rapporteur was barred from entering the country throughout his
four years in the job.
After delivering a damning report on the human rights situation inside
Burma at the end of last year, he then resigned, saying he could not do his job
properly.
There have been other indications of a new mood in Rangoon.
One senior general has held several meetings with opposition leader, Aung
San Suu Kyi, over the past few months.
Their discussions have been kept secret, but they are likely to be focussed
on some kind of compromise between the military and the opposition.
Power struggle?
Earlier this week, on Armed Forces Day, the ruling military council avoided
condemning opposition leaders, as it usually does on such occasions.
The death of a hard-line member of the ruling council earlier this year has
also raised speculation about a possible power-struggle inside the regime.
But with so little reliable information coming out of Burma, it is still
impossible to predict whether there will be any significant political changes
there in the near future.
Friday March 30, 6:11 PM
Myanmar To Allow Visit By New UN Human
Rights Envoy
YANGON (AP)--Myanmar said
Friday it will allow a new U.N. human rights official into the country, ending a
four-year ban on visits by his predecessor in a sign of the military junta's
increasing openness.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, a Brazilian politics professor, will visit Myanmar
next week, the Foreign Ministry said but didn't give the exact dates for the
trip or his program.
Pinheiro was named the U.N. special human rights rapporteur in February,
replacing Rajsoomer Lallah, a Mauritian judge who resigned in November claiming
he didn't have the resources to carry out his task. Lallah had never been
allowed into Myanmar since he took over the job in 1996.
He had replaced Japanese professor Yozo Yokota, who resigned for similar
reasons. In his reports to the U.N., Lallah had been highly critical of the
human rights situation in Myanmar.
"The new special rapporteur seems to us pragmatic and non-biased - that is
why we accept him," said a Foreign Ministry statement faxed to The Associated
Press in Bangkok, Thailand.
It said Lallah had taken a "one-sided position" without even visiting
Myanmar.
The first sign of flexibility by the junta came in January after it was
reported by a special U.N. envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, that the government
has been holding secret reconciliation talks with pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi.
When he was appointed in February, Pinheiro said he had already made
contact with authorities of Myanmar, also known as Burma, in Geneva.
"I am very encouraged by recent positive and constructive developments in
Myanmar, especially with regard to the progress in the field of national
reconciliation," he had said.
Asked about Pinheiro's upcoming visit, a government official said: "We
welcome the visit of officials who have an open mind."
"We don't want people coming into the country with preconceived ideas,"
said the official, speaking on the customary condition of anonymity.
Friday March 30, 2:37 PM
Detained Myanmar pro-democracy activist
fights deportation
KUALA LUMPUR, March 30 (AFP) -
The UN refugee agency and Myanmar pro-democracy supporters here Friday urged
Malaysia not to deport an activist who is holed up in police detention as it may
endanger his life.
"We appeal to the Malaysian government not to deport him before UNHCR
interviews him to make an assessment," Shinji Kubo, protection officer with the
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) here told AFP.
Altsean-Burma, a rights group Thursday said it had "grave concerns" for the
safety of Peter Hee Man, who may face deportation into the hands of Myanmar's
ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).
Hee Man was arrested by police along with three other Malaysians on Tuesday
for gate-crashing a Myanmar embassy party where they stripped off to reveal Aung
San Suu Kyi T-shirts.
In front of some 200 guests, about 20 activists unveiled T-shirts
emblazoned with the image of Myanmar's democracy leader who has been under house
arrest in Yangon since September.
"They were all very surprised. The Burmese military officials were
extremely embarrassed and angry," Altsean quoted one of the protesters, K.P.
Lee, as saying before he was taken away by Malaysian police.
Kubo said UNHCR has informed the police of its intention to interview Hee
Man before he is handed to the immigration authorities.
"I would decide whether Hee Man can be accorded refugee status to save him
from deportation," he said.
Lee, of the Burma Solidarity Group Malaysia, who was among the three
Malaysians detained overnight and released late Wednesday said they had a
"cordial" meeting with the police Friday over Hee Man's detention.
"The police said he was an illegal immigrant since he did not have any
travel documents hence it is an immigration matter," he said.
Lee said according to Mat Zain Ibrahim, the officer in charge for criminal
investigations, it was up to the immigration authorities to decide what to do
with Hee Man.
"He (Hee Man) may face deportation," Lee said citing Mat Zain. The meeting
was also attended by two opposition lawmakers who have demanded the immediate
release of the Myanmar national.
Lee said they were denied meeting the detainee who remains in police
detention, adding that they fear the worst.
"The fear of Hee Man being deported is real. If they deport him, they will
do it fast and without informing anyone," he said.
Lee urged the UNHCR to interview quickly as time was against them.
"We will continue our appeal to fight Hee Man's deportation, he said.
Lee said Hee Man is a political refugee who needs protection.
"If he is sent back, he would be arrested by the military and tortured," he
added.
"There is also concern that the SPDC is pressuring the Malaysian
authorities to take drastic action against Burma pro-democracy supporters in an
effort to stamp out growing activism in Malaysia," the Bangkok-based
Altsean-Burma group said in a statement.
Friday March 30, 6:46 PM
Thai PTT/Defers/Yadana Gas
Payment-4:Yetagun Also Delayed
(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 30-03-01, 0946GMT US$300M Due March 1
SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--The
Petroleum Authority of Thailand has further deferred an overdue US$300 million
payment for gas from Myanmar, PTT director for corporate relations Songkiert
Tansamrit said Friday.
Terms of the payment are still "under negotiations", he said.
The payment - originally due March 1 - was owed to developers of the Yadana
gas field for contracted volumes of natural gas that PTT didn't offtake as
originally scheduled.
"We are going to pay them," Songkiert said. "But we would like to clear
conditions concerning gas make-up," or delivery of gas that PTT had not been
able to offtake earlier.
PTT seeks to offtake more gas this year than allowed by the contract,
Songkiert said. The contract allows it to offtake 15% over contracted volumes of
525 million standard cubic feet a day of gas.
Delays in completing a gas-fired power plant and pipeline meant that PTT
incurred charges for Myanmar gas, under a take-or-pay contract signed with gas
developers Totalfina Elf SA (TOT), PTT Exploration & Production PCL (H.PTT),
Unocal Corp. (UCL), and Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise.
PTT is now negotiating to apply its earlier take-or-pay obligations to
increase volumes from Myanmar. The Wang Noi pipeline, completed in late 2000,
joins the western pipeline system with demand centers in the East, enabling PTT
to offset Gulf of Thailand gas with the Myanmar gas, which is already paid for.
Using the additional volume from Myanmar will also save money for PTT, as
the gas is pegged to fuel oil at levels below current prices.
(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires
30-03-01
0950GMT No Payment Date Set
Representatives from Totalfina Elf's Thai offices weren't available to
comment Friday.
Unocal Thailand spokesman Konthi Kulachol also declined to comment, citing
confidentiality agreements within the Yadana consortium.
"PTTEP hasn't heard from PTT" about the payments, nor has any new target
date for payment been set, PTTEP spokeswoman Bussaban Cheenjaroen said Friday.
She noted, however, that PTT's deadline for payment was Saturday, March 31.
The Yadana field is operated by Totalfina Elf, with a 31.24% stake. Unocal
holds a 28.26% stake in Yadana, PTTEP holds 25.5% of Yadana and MOGE has the
remaining 15%.
Totalfina Elf, Unocal and PTTEP all have substantial gas holdings in the
Gulf of Thailand.
PTT also offtakes gas from the Yetagun field in Myanmar, where production
is expected to reach contracted levels of 200 mmscf/d by mid-2001. Yetagun is
operated by Premier Oil Co. (PMOIY), with a 26.67% stake.
Premier's partners in Yetagun are Malaysia's Petroliam Nasional Bhd
(P.PET), or Petronas, with 30%, MOGE with 15%, and PTTEP and Nippon-Mitsubishi
Oil Corp. (J.NPO), each with 14.17%.
Friday March 30, 3:42 PM
Malaysia to deport Myanmar T-shirt
protester
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) -
Malaysia will deport a Myanmar man who crashed a Myanmar Embassy party wearing a
T-shirt celebrating opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, police said on Friday.
Peter Hee Man and three Malaysians were arrested on Tuesday after 20
protesters took off their shirts to reveal underneath Suu Kyi T-shirts. The four
had crashed the party in a Kuala Lumpur hotel to mark Myanmar's Armed Forces
Day.
The Malaysians were released on police bail on Wednesday. None of the four
has been charged.
A police official who declined to be identified told Reuters that Hee Man,
a member of Myanmar's Chin ethnic minority group, was being held for illegal
entry and would be detained in a camp before being deported.
The police official did not say if he would be sent back to Myanmar or
deported to a third country.
One of the arrested Malaysian protesters said Hee Man would be in danger if
sent back to military ruled Myanmar.
"We fear his life will be in danger if he's sent back," K.P Lee, a member
of the Kuala Lumpur-based Burma Solidarity Group, told a news conference outside
Kuala Lumpur police headquarters.
Lee said on Friday Hee Man's only identification was a letter from the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), where he had sought
refugee status.
A UNHCR official said he was trying to contact police to discuss Hee Man's
case.
"He applied for refugee status about two weeks ago. We still do not know if
he has a refugee claim or not," UNHCR protection officer, Shinji Kubo, told
Reuters.
Kubo said the agency had managed to prevent planned deportations in the
past.
"This particular case, because of its high profile, we don't know what will
happen," he said.
But if deported, Hee Man might not be sent to Myanmar, Kubo said. "Usually
these people are deported to the Thai border."
Myanmar's ruling military body, the State Peace and Development Council,
has had a respite from harsh criticism in recent months after it was revealed it
was holding talks with Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi.
Her National League for Democracy (NLD) won Myanmar's last election in 1990
but has never been allowed to govern.
Lee said critics need to keep up the pressure on the Yangon government.
"Although they are talking at the moment, the military is doing atrocious
things."
Malaysia has defended Myanmar, a fellow member of the Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN), against international condemnation of its poor human
rights record.
Friday March 30, 5:20 PM
S Korea's Daewoo Motor Starts
Restructuring Overseas Plants
SEOUL, March 30 Asia Pulse -
President of Daewoo Motor Lee Jong-dae has arrived in Europe to assist in with
the restructuring of the company's overseas plants.
Lee, who left the country Wednesday, will meet with officials in Poland,
the Czech Republic and Romania and discuss restructuring plans with the plant
chiefs, the company said.
The tour will take Lee to the FSO auto assembly plant in Poland, Daewoo
Motor's biggest overseas plant with an annual capacity of 272,000 units, and the
Daewoo-AVIA plant in the Czech Republic, with an annual capacity to produce
20,000 trucks. He will also go to Romania to visit the DWAR plant, which turns
out 100,000 passenger cars a year plus engines and transmissions.
During the visits, he will check on the progress of the restructuring of
these plants before returning home April 4.
The auto maker plans to arrange a debt-for-equity swap for the plants in
Poland and India when their restructuring is successfully completed under an
agreement with labor unions, creditors and other concerned parties.
Yeo Seong-kook, president of FSO in Poland, visited Seoul last week and met
with officials of the Korea Development Bank (KDB) to discuss the
debt-for-equity swap arrangement. The KDB reportedly told Yeo that it is willing
to agree to the deal provided that the Polish government nullifies the joint
venture agreement it signed with Daewoo Motor in 1996.
A Daewoo Motor official said the company intends to allow its overseas
plants and sales companies to seek their own survival through various means
without being sold off or helped by their parent company.
He said that, out of 12 production and 31 sales
affiliates overseas, four sales companies in Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand and
Myanmar have either been sold off or liquidated.
He also said around 6,500 out of over 46,000 employees will be dismissed
based on the restructuring programs being carried out by the overseas
plants.
A number of overseas affiliates are in the last stages of sales, including
the Worthing Research Institute in Britain, he said.
The FSO plant in Poland has been able to reach an agreement with labor and
the Polish government to lay off 1,294 employees out of 4,943, while DMIL in
India already laid off 865 workers.
Friday March 30, 7:55 PM
Chiang Mai/ADB -2: May Form Basis For
Asian Fund
BEIJING (Dow Jones)--The first
bilateral currency swap agreements under the Chiang Mai initiative are expected
to be completed before an ASEAN plus Three meeting in May, an Asian Development
Bank official said Friday.
ADB regional economic monitoring unit manager Pradumna Rana said the Chang
Mai initiative could eventually form the basis for an Asian Monetary Fund.
But Rana warned such an Asian-oriented fund would have to complement and
supplement the International Monetary Fund if it is to gain the support of the
U.S. and Fund officials.
The Japanese-led plan for a $2.5 billion Asian network of currency swaps is
designed to head off future financial crises and provide a quick regional
response to a currency collapse. The plan first arose at an ASEAN Plus Three
meeting in the Thai city of Chiang Mai in May last year.
The initial stage of the Chiang Mai initiative, extending currency
cooperation between all 10 ASEAN members is already finalized, Rana told a
briefing for China-based diplomats.
ASEAN Plus Three groups the South East Asian nations of Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam
as well as their eastern neighbors, China, South Korea and Japan.
Finance ministers from the group gather next week in Kuala Lumpur with
another session scheduled on the sidelines of the ADB annual meeting in Honolulu
in May.
Rana said delegates at a two-day Manila Framework Group meeting in Beijing
this week were told "progress is being made in that regard."
"And we could have some announcements at the ASEAN Plus Three meeting to be
convened in May," he said.
Thailand says Myanmar agrees to help
fight drugs
By Tanawat Suayaem
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Friday Myanmar has agreed to join
Thailand and China in a joint effort to crack down on rampant drug production
and trafficking in the Golden Triangle region.
Surakiart told reporters in a conference call from the Chilean capital
Santiago after meeting Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win that
Myanmar had accepted his proposal for tripartite cooperation to tackle
narcotics.
"I am happy that the Myanmar deputy foreign minister agreed in principle
with the idea," Surakiart said.
"I believe all three countries can meet soon."
Surakiart met Khin Maung Win on the sidelines of the first East Asia-Latin
America Forum. Relations between the two countries have been soured by the issue
of drugs, and by clashes that erupted on their joint border last month.
Surakiart visited China last week and asked Beijing to help Bangkok fight
the influx of methamphetamines from Myanmar.
Surakiart said the Friday talks could also lead to a bilateral agreement
between Thailand and Myanmar.
The infamous Golden Triangle region, where Myanmar's border meets Thailand,
Laos and China, has long been a source of drugs. Opium production is being
increasingly replaced in the region by the lucrative methamphetamines trade.
Clashes broke out last month between Thai and Myanmar soldiers, amid
fighting between the Myanmar military, their allies in the United Wa State Army
(UWSA) and anti-government Shan rebels.
Thailand says the battles spilled over onto Thai soil, forcing a response.
Myanmar denies this.
Bangkok says the UWSA is the source of hundreds of millions of
methamphetamine tablets flooding Thailand each year, and has accused Yangon of
turning a blind eye to the problem.
Myanmar says Shan rebels are the main drug traffickers.
The two countries, which share a 1,500-mile border, have waged a war of
words since the February clashes.
Military officials from both sides are due to meet next week to try to
patch up their strained relations.
Surakiart said Myanmar had invited him to make an official visit on May 1-2
after an informal meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of South
East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in Yangon on April 30.
BBC - Friday, 30 March, 2001, 14:17
GMT 15:17 UK
Analysis: Burma's new approach By Southeast Asia analyst Larry Jagan
Burma's military government has said the newly-appointed United Nations
rapporteur on human rights will be allowed to visit the country next week.
It is the first visit by a UN human rights expert in almost five years.
The previous rapporteur was denied access to the country and resigned last
year.
Since his appointment two months ago, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has kept a
low-profile.
Unlike his predecessors, he has not held extensive discussions with
diplomats, nor consulted human rights activists or Burmese opposition figures.
UN sources say he has taken a discreet approach to his mission.
He is due to visit Burma early next week.
Resolution ahead
Although no details of his schedule are available, he is expected to meet
Burma's military leaders and the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is
still under house arrest.
The visit is intended to provide the rapporteur with a chance to assess
first-hand the Burmese situation before the Human Rights Commission discusses a
resolution on Burma next month.
The UN has confirmed that Mr Pinheiro will address the commission late next
week.
Mr Pinheiro's predecessor, Rajsoomer Lallah was never allowed to visit
Burma, although the two previous envoys, Professor Yozo Yokata and Mrs Sadako
Ogata were given access.
Mr Pinheiro has also not adopted his predecessors' practice of widely
consulting the leaders and representatives of Burma's ethnic minorities.
Instead he has been discussing Burma with many of Asia's leaders.
Regional anxiety
He has held talks with Japan, Malaysia and Thailand.
As a result, UN sources in Geneva say, the resolution to be discussed at
the Human Rights Commission in a fortnight's time will have a lot of Asian
input.
It is likely to be strongly critical of Burma's human rights situation
while praising the junta's efforts to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi about the
country's political future.
Western diplomats in Asia believe that Burma's neighbours, the countries in
the regional grouping Asean, are increasingly anxious that Burma's record does
not impede relations with Europe and the United States.
There is also growing embarrassment that Burma has made little progress
towards democracy in the past four years since it joined Asean.
Peer pressure
Some countries like Singapore are concerned that most business ventures in
Burma have not been profitable, and that capital invested in the country cannot
be repatriated.
The Thais remain primarily concerned about the drugs trade in Burma, which
has resulted in ever-increasing numbers of drug addicts in Thailand.
Many analysts believe it is pressure from its neighbours, particularly the
Malaysian Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohammad, which has contributed to the
Burmese generals taking a more conciliatory approach to Aung San Suu Kyi.
There have been ongoing talks between the two sides since October.
These talks have been held in complete secret. And with little concrete
information coming out of Burma it is difficult to know how they are
progressing.
There has only been one confirmed face-to-face meeting between the
intelligence chief Lt General Khin Nyunt and Aung San Suu Kyi.
There is no doubt that the military authorities are keen to exploit the
situation and represent any movement to their advantage.
Hint of change
At recent official occasions, including last week's Army Day, the country's
leader General Than Shwe has hinted at the thaw in relations with Aung San Suu
Kyi.
He has even suggested that in the long-run democracy may even a desirable
form of government.
But there is no doubt that Burma's military will not be rushed into
introducing multi-party democracy.
After all, they established a National Convention to draw up a new
constitution which appears to be no closer to finishing its task than it was
when it started eight years ago.
While analysts are seeing Mr Pinheiro's trip to Rangoon as further evidence
that the Burmese military is adopting a more conciliatory approach to the
outside world, there signs it is not going as far as it would like the
international community to believe.
Although the human rights rapporteur has been given access to Burma,
diplomatic sources say a further visit by the UN special envoy Dr Razali Ismail
has been refused.
Sources close to the envoy believe Rangoon was upset by Dr Razali's attempt
to get the ethnic minorities involved in tripartite talks with the generals and
Aung San Suu Kyi.
If this is the case the international community needs to be careful in how
far it endorses Burma's ruling military's new found flexibility.
Myanmar Seizes Large Amount of
Stimulants
2001.03.30 12:17:15 YANGON, March 30 (Xinhuanet) --
The Myanmar authorities seized 140, 000 tablets of stimulant drugs earlier this
month in border town of Muse, the country's northern Shan state, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
The seizure was made by a combined team comprising local intelligence unit
and the police force when they stopped and searched a Nissan pick-up on March
11.
The driver of the pick-up was arrested in connection with the case
and punishment is being given to him by the authorities under the country's
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, the report said.
Official statistics show that in 2000, the authorities
confiscated 26.6 million tablets of stimulant drugs along with 1.52 tons
of opium, 158 kilograms (kg) of heroin and 590 kg of
marijuana.
During the year, the authorities also exposed a total of 3,535 drug-related
cases and punished 4,881 drug offenders in the country, the statistics also
show.
It was reported that stimulant drugs were first found
trafficked in Myanmar in 1996.
133 Fires Reported in Myanmar in
February
2001.03.30 10:47:00 YANGON, March 30 (Xinhuanet) --
A total of 133 fires broke out in Myanmar in February this year, causing a
loss of 101.62 million kyats (over 254,000 U.S. dollars), official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
The report, however, did not mention the casualties in the
fires.
Most of the fire cases reported in the country were generally due to
negligence, while the others resulted from electrical faults and the rest
from arson.
As it has entered the hot and dry season which lasts from March to May, the
Myanmar authorities are urging the people to take fire prevention measures and
to have buildings well inspected and get fire equipment ready.
Japan to Aid Two Myanmar
Projects
2001.03.29 23:18:38 YANGON, March 29 (Xinhuanet) --
The Japanese government will provide a grant aid for two Myanmar
health-related projects under its official development assistance (ODA)
program, according to a press release of the Japanese embassy here
Thursday.
The notes for the first project of rural drinking water supply in
Myanmar's Shan state worth of 624 million yens (5.13 million U. S. dollars) were
signed and exchanged between Japanese ambassador Shigeru Tsumori and
Myanmar Minister at the Office of the Chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council Brigadier-General Abel.
The notes for the second project of improvement of medical equipment
for the Yangon General Hospital worth 225 million yens(1. 85 million dollars)
were signed and exchanged between the Japanese ambassador and Myanmar Health
Minister Major-General Ket Sein.
According to Japanese official statistics, up to 1988, the Japanese
government has extended to the Myanmar government ODA worth of 50 billion
yens (426.1 million dollars).
After the present Myanmar military government came to power on
September 18, 1988, the Japanese government, under the pressure exerted by
the international community and the United-States-led western countries,
temporarily suspended its ODA and humanitarian aid to Myanmar.
In consideration of the emergence of some positive changes of
Myanmar's political situation, the Japanese government has resumed its
humanitarian aid to Myanmar since 1995.
It will be the first ODA to be provided by the Japanese government to
the Myanmar government in 13 years under such circumstances as that in
recent half year, especially when it entered the new century, there
emerged again a sign of thaw of Myanmar's political crisis and the sharp
contradiction between the Myanmar military government and the opposition
National League for Democracy got relaxed to some extent.
Lao Vice-President Visits
Myanmar
2001.03.29 22:19:06 YANGON, March 29 (Xinhuanet) --
Newly-elected Lao Vice-President Lieutenant-General Choummaly Sayasone
arrived here Thursday on a three-day official visit to Myanmar.
Sayasone is here at the invitation of Myanmar Deputy Prime Minister
and Minister of Military Affairs Lieutenant-General Tin Hla.
Last year saw some exchanges of high-level visits between Myanmar and
Laos. In August, Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat
Lengsavad visited Yangon, during which the two countries held the Fifth
Meeting of their Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation and discussed
issues concerning promotion of their existing traditional friendship and
cooperation, and some regional and international issues.
In December last year, Vice-Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and
Development Council General Maung Aye toured Vientiane, during which a protocol
on border trade pursuant to the trade agreement between Myanmar and Laos
was signed.
On that occasion, the two countries also announced the establishment
of Lao-Myanmar and Myanmar-Lao Friendship Associations in their respective
capitals.
Myanmar and Laos are also cooperating in drug control, having an
agreement on preventing trafficking of drugs and psychotropic substances,
and on controlling banned chemical substances.
Japan resumes aid to Myanmar, pledges
849 mil. yen in grant
YANGON March 30 Kyodo - Japan
signed a foreign aid agreement with the Myanmar government on Thursday pledging
849 million yen in grant aid to finance a water-supply and a hospital project in
Myanmar.
This marks the first Japanese grant to Myanmar since 1995 when Tokyo
donated 1,625 million yen to Yangon's campaign to expand facilities for nursing.
The Japanese decision to resume foreign aid apparently signals that Tokyo
wants to encourage the dialogue that has been initiated between the military
government and the opposition camp led by pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Japanese officials said 624 million yen of the new grant is earmarked for
the acquisition of equipment to build wells for drinking water in the eastern
province of Shan and 225 million yen will be used for the purchase of medical
facilities at the Yangon general hospital.
The Times of India - March 30,
2001.
ASEAN foreign ministers to meet in
Yangon in April
YANGON: Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) foreign ministers
are tentatively scheduled to meet here on April 30 for an informal retreat, the
government said on Thursday.
The ministerial meeting was originally scheduled for mid-April.
"The ASEAN foreign minister informal retreat will take place tentatively on
30 April," it said in a statement.
Thailand's Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai is also to make an
official visit to Yangon on the two days preceding the ASEAN meeting, he
confirmed.
Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has said he will visit Myanmar
soon, but that a date for the trip has not yet been set. (AFP)
Sydney Morning Herald - March 29, 2001.
Promises of a new dawn in Burma but its
people remain in the dark
Reports from Rangoon this week hold a glimmer of hope for the downtrodden
Burmese people -- and not before time, says Kendall Hill.
The security situation in Asia is a shambles again. North Korea's messing
with missile testing and China's been blackmarked as the bad guy by Washington.
Japan's economy and political leadership are in freefall, ditto Indonesia. But
amid all this - and more - uncertainty, there is one unlikely glimmer of hope.
Burma.
If reports from Rangoon can be believed, the military junta appears to be
tiring finally of having its country being the untouchable of Asia and is moving
slowly towards some form of accommodation with opposition leader and Nobel Peace
laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Burmese politics routinely involves a deal of deception but the reference
this week by the head of Burma's ruling euphemism, the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), to a "political transition" in his country gives
cause for hope.
It is Orwellian newspeak of the highest order but those who claim to be
able to decipher the rigid code of SPDC pronouncements see reason for optimism
in the general's words and in recent meetings between the government and Ms Suu
Kyi. Regrettably, news of these latest, promising developments is unlikely to
have reached the majority of Burma's 50 million people. State-run media is
referred to as "the daily propaganda" and reports little more than the generals'
junkets. Internet access is not available to ordinary citizens, nor is cable TV
with its window to the outside world.
So David, who lives with his family north of Mandalay, is probably still
waiting for what he poetically calls "the new dawn".
We first met in 1993 when he was teaching at a small school in the hills.
His family, like most, were living tough after the armed forces, fresh from
their triumph gunning down thousands of pro-democracy demonstrators in Rangoon
in 1988, had begun raiding homes and seizing possessions.
His parents, a quiet couple who had seen way too much sadness, were forced
at gunpoint to hand over to the government anything of value, including the
title to their small parcel of land.
David told his story one evening while watching the sunset on a hilltop far
from his town and the alert ears of informants. "We hope that one day we will
live to see a new dawn," he said afterwards. "Everyone is waiting for the new
dawn."
Conditions have undoubtedly improved since then. There is noticeably more
freedom of movement and speech whereas before, as one Rangoon-based friend puts
it, "people were afraid of their own shadow".
Living standards are another matter. The majority still battle to buy even
essential foods such as rice, which uncontrolled inflation has rendered almost
unaffordable. Sanctions bite deeper among ordinary folk than they do among the
well-cushioned military elite. As the Rangoon friend remarked last year: "You
can't see how people live by looking at the cities. It is in the jungle that
people can't live. They are close to starvation. In Myanmar you will see many
people, they are laughing in the throat but they are crying on the
inside."
Most Burmese have pinned their hopes for a brighter future on Suu Kyi, who
is known simply as "The Lady". But some within Rangoon's elite murmur that she
is also part of Burma's inability to evolve.
"Both are responsible, the Government and the opposition," one former
senior government employee says. "They have no regard for our future prosperity.
We have abundant potential but they have had deadlock for a long time."
The tragedy for the Burmese people, he says, is that "only through books do
we know democracy. We can be satisfied with the sort of government in Pakistan,
or even Indonesia. There could be a transitional period from this to
Western-style democracy, but it's high time we started that transitional
period."
With luck, a year after he spoke those words, that high time has almost
arrived.
For the sake of my friend Violet, I hope the SPDC is sincere and that Suu
Kyi and her National League for Democracy colleagues can come to some compromise
with their oppressors to secure a brighter future for Burma.
Violet, who is 66 this year and increasingly frail, is one of many who
can't afford to lose hope that one day Burma will awake from its
nightmare.
"We are all waiting for the happy time," she says, "but I fear I will be
dead by then."
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