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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 06,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Aung San Suu Kyi
faces new eviction threat from Yangon home
Reuters - ASEAN to agree on currency stabilisation-Thai
FM
Asia Pulse - S Korea's
Daewoo Int L Sells Myanmar US$150 MLN Worth of Oil
The Straits Times - Myanmar activist to be deported The Nation - Thai-Burma ties on the mend: Thaksin
Bkk Post - Border
talks good start, says Thaksin
Bkk Post - Editorial - Honour promises for lasting
goodwill
Xinhuanet - Myanmar
Destroys 8,603 Hectares of Poppy Fields in 2000-01
Xinhuanet - 24
Woodcutters Killed in Myanmar Forest
Xinhuanet - Myanmar
Overruns One Opium Refinery
Xinhuanet -
Myanmar-Japan Economic Relations Keep
Strengthening
SCMP - Meeting with dissident crowns UN visit ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday April 6, 12:24 PM Aung San Suu Kyi faces new eviction threat from Yangon
home
YANGON, April 6 (AFP) - Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi faces a new threat of eviction from her
lakeside home after her brother re-launched legal action over the property,
legal sources said Friday.
US-based businessman Aung San Oo's first bid to claim half-ownership of the
house, where Aung San Suu Kyi has been confined for the last six months, was
dismissed on a technicality by a Myanmar court in January.
His legal team, led by lawyer U Han Toe, has now filed an application for
the "right of administration" over the property which it had omitted in the
original legal action.
The Yangon Divisional Court has set April 23 for the first hearing into the
claim.
Representatives of Aung San Suu Kyi's legal team, led by lawyer U Kyi Win,
are expected to visit her Friday to brief her on the developments, sources in
Yangon said.
As a US citizen, Aung San Oo is not entitled to own property in Myanmar and
if he wins the case is expected to turn his half-share over to the
government.
A decision in his favour could see the Nobel peace laureate evicted from
the home which was once owned by their late mother Khin Kyi, who died 12 years
ago.
Ironically, the legal action has been lodged a time when relations between
Myanmar's junta and the opposition leader are believed to be at their highest
point in years.
The two sides have engaged in a series of high-level contacts that appear
to be preparing ground for the launch of a landmark official dialogue -- their
first since 1994.
Aung San Oo has never played a political role in Myanmar but makes regular
low-key personal and business trips here. While not overtly political, he is far
less critical of the junta than his sister and the two are not close.
The legal action is believed to be driven by Aung San Oo's wife, motivated
more by a family rift than political concerns.
Nevertheless, there are fears that if the suit is successful it could
derail the tentative dialogue which remains at an extremely delicate
stage.
During the first legal action the democracy leader lamented the decision to
take the matter to the courts, saying through intermediaries that it could have
been settled privately.
In another sign of the political thaw in Myanmar, the military regime gave
the green light for the UN's new human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro to pay
a three-day visit here this week.
Pinheiro departed Thursday after meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi as well as
senior members of the junta.
The Brazilian academic is the first UN human rights envoy to be allowed
into Myanmar in five years. He replaced Rajsoomer Lallah who quit last year
after never being given permission to travel to Yangon.
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Friday April 6, 1:35 PM
ASEAN to agree on currency
stabilisation-Thai FM
KUALA LUMPUR, April 6 (Reuters)
- Thai Finance Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said on Friday that Southeast Asian
countries planned to cooperate on stabilising regional currencies.
"We are going to have cooperation among ASEAN nations to stabilise regional
currencies," Jatusripitak told reporters ahead of the ASEAN finance ministers
meeting in the Malaysian capital.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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Friday April 6, 11:55 AM
S Korea's Daewoo Int L Sells Myanmar
US$150 MLN Worth of Oil
SEOUL, April 6 Asia Pulse -
South Korea's Daewoo International Corp. (KSE: 47050), a spinoff from Daewoo
Corp., will supply US$150 million worth of oil products and crude to Myanmar's
state-run petrochemical agency until March 2002, the company said
Friday.
Daewoo International will purchase 3 million barrels of crude oil from from
a public Malaysian oil company and 700,000 barrels of gasoline and 600,000
barrels of diesel fuel from a Singaporean company to be delivered to
Myanmar.
Daewoo has been supplying oil to Myanmar since 1997. Last year, Daewoo was
responsible for supplying 100 percent of gasoline and 70 percent of crude oil
consumed in the country.
Last year, Daewoo recorded $330 million in trading with the three Southeast
Asian nations, and expects to reach $360 million this year.
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The Straits Times - April 06,
2001.
Myanmar activist to be deported
KUALA LUMPUR - A Myanmar pro-democracy activist who staged a protest in
Kuala Lumpur will be deported, but he will not be sent back to his home country,
a security official said yesterday.
'Just like any other Myanmar detainee, he will be deported to the
Malaysian-Thai border in a month,' said Mr Nasri Mokhtar, head of the centre
where the detainee, Peter Hee Man, is being held.
The activist was arrested with three Malaysians on March 27 after some 20
protesters gate-crashed a Myanmar Embassy party and removed their shirts to
reveal T-shirts carrying an image of Myanmar's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu
Kyi.
The Malaysians were detained overnight and released, while the Myanmar
activist was held in police custody.
He was moved to a detention centre for illegal immigrants in Malacca on
Tuesday.
Human-rights groups have urged the government not to deport him to Myanmar,
saying they feared for his safety at the hands of the military junta.
--AFP
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The Nation - April 06,
2001.
Thai-Burma ties on the mend: Thaksin
PRIME Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday said ties with Burma were on
the mend after highlevel talks aimed at defusing tension following the
crossborder shelling along the northern border more than a month ago.
The two sides had agreed to work together to eliminate drug trafficking
along the border, said Thaksin, briefing reporters on the outcome of the
recently concluded Regional Border Committee meeting.
The meeting, cochaired by Third Army commander LtGeneral Wat¬tanachai
Chaimuanwong, was the first in two years.
One of the issues apparently agreed upon by Rangoon was that Burma will
give Thai officials and media access to the muchdiscussed village of Mong Yawn,
which the Thai government believes is a production centre for methamphetamines.
“It is the beginning of a good sign. I believe we will improve our
understanding after I visit Myanmar [Burma],” Thaksin said.
The premier did not set any date for such a visit, but Foreign Minister
Surakiart Satirathai will travel to Burma later this month for an informal
retreat for Asean foreign ministers and their Chinese, South Korean and Japanese
counterparts.
Wattanachai said the tension along the border is expected to calm as the
buildup of forces on both sides pulls back. The two sides also agreed to hold
local level Township Border Committee talks at least once a month, to prevent
any future problems from getting out of hand, he said.
Bilateral relations have fallen to a low ebb since the shelling. The
trouble began after fighting between Burmese government troops and rebel Shan
State Army soldiers spilled over on to Thai soil.
Burmese troops took over a hill on which a Thai Ranger unit was positioned,
forcing the Thai Army to retaliate with mortar fire the following morning. The
incident triggered a daylong round of crossborder shelling between the two
sides, as well as a lengthy war of words between Wattanachai and the Burmese
government.
The Thai commander accused a number of Burmese officers of taking
kick¬backs from Wa allies, reportedly the world’s largest armed drugtrafficking
group.
Speaking to reporters yesterday, Wattanachai said Burma will give Thai
officials and media access to Mong Yawn in an effort to dismiss allegations that
the town is the source of millions of methamphetamines flooding Thailand. Mong
Yawn is just a few kilometres from the Thai border along Chiang Mai’s Mae Ai
district.
“This is what they said,” the outspoken Wattanachai told reporters. He
appeared to be taking a wait and see attitude towards the idea.
Wattanachai’s comments came one day after his return from Keng Tung, where
he cochaired the Regional Border Committee meeting aimed at soothing the hard
feelings between the two sides following the border clash more than a month ago.
Mong Yawn was created by the United Wa State Army, one of Burma’s rebel
outfits that signed a ceasefire agreement with Rangoon in 1989 in return for
limited autonomy.
However, it was not clear whether the UWSA would permit access to Thai
authorities and media to the area. Normally, even Burmese troops are required to
disarm themselves and obtain permission from the UWSA before entering areas
under the ethnic group’s control.
The town, which consists of a small hydroelectric dam, a school, a hospital
and other infrastructure, is believed to have been built by the UWSA’s drug
money.
Until it was shut down by the Army a year ago, the San Ton Doo border
crossing in Mae Ai district was the main link up between the area and Thailand.
Thai authorities were forced to shut the border following the killing of
nine Thai nationals from nearby Fang district, whose bodies were scattered along
the border. The incident was believed to have been linked to a drug deal gone
bad.
All fingers were pointed at Mong Yawn and the UWSA.
Bangkok Post - April 06,
2001.
Border talks good start, says
Thaksin
Planned visit should clarify relationship Wassana Nanuam and Yuwadee Tunyasiri
The outcome of the Regional Border Committee meeting bodes well for the
relationship between Thailand and Burma, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said
yesterday.
It was too early to make conclusions, but he believed the relationship
would be clearer after his planned visit to Burma, which has yet to be
scheduled.
At the April 2-4 meeting in Kengtung, Burma gave an undertaking to destroy
drug factories inside its territory on the condition their location could be
pinpointed and verified.
The two sides also agreed to exchange information on drug
trafficking.
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh said the meeting contributed
positively to relations at a certain level and would lead to higher-level talks
including a meeting of the Joint Border Committee, expected soon.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai will visit Burma to pave the way for
the prime minister's visit. It was hoped talks would cover major issues.
Gen Chavalit said he would also visit Burma to look into ways of increasing
co-operation on border demarcation and drug suppression. Asked if Rangoon was
reluctant to help Thailand combat the methamphetamine trade, Gen Chavalit said
Burma, China and Laos had voiced their readiness to co-operate.
A military source said it was agreed during informal talks at the Kengtung
meeting that senior Thai and Burmese military officers would exchange
visits.
Burmese representatives would visit Ranong for talks on the fishery
disputes, while top officers from Thailand's Fourth Army and Third Fleet would
visit Tavoy and Mergui.
At the border meeting, the Thai delegation asked for the assignment of two
Burmese officials to the Thailand-Burma Border Fishing Co-ordination Centre in
Ranong, but there was no answer from Burma.
On the border disputes at Doi Lang in Chiang Mai and Koo Teng Na Yong in
Chiang Rai, a source said Burma had demanded the withdrawal of Thai troops from
Doi Lang and the release of six arrested Burmese. Thailand had sought the
withdrawal of Burmese troops from Koo Teng Na Yong. No agreement was
reached.
The source said the new Burmese ambassador, Myo Myint, would take up his
duties in Bangkok on Monday.
Bangkok Post - April 06,
2001.
Editorial - Honour promises for lasting
goodwill
Given the hostility between Thailand and Burma, the recent fierce border
skirmish and the personal animosity between key military commanders and their
war of words through the media, the Regional Border Committee meeting in
Kengtung this week, the first in two years, has gone much better than
expected.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, the tough-talking commander of the Third
Army, has been labelled a "war monger" by the Burmese for his hard-line
position, but he proved at the meeting that he also can be a diplomat when he
headed the Thai delegation. He wore a smile and adopted a conciliatory tone all
the while he was in Burma. The Burmese, for their part, received him warmly and
treated him like a long lost friend.
Although the substantive success of the trip was rather limited, it helped
relieve the tension that has gripped the two countries in a dangerous
confrontation. Such decidedly unneighbourly acts as lobbing artillery shells at
each another should stop now the two sides have agreed to re-establish regular
border committee meetings. The commanders of the two sides will be more likely
to reach for the phone, rather than the gun, when problems arise if they can
keep this momentum going.
Thailand will pull back its troops from the Mae Sai-Tachilek pass area. And
although the territorial disputes at Doi Lang in Chiang Mai and Kuteng Nayong in
Chiang Rai remain unresolved, it was agreed to discuss them at the ministerial
level.
Other problems remain unsettled, the most important being the drug problem.
This is the root cause of the hostility between our two countries. It threatens
to cause bitter hatred that could lead to other normally manageable border
disputes degenerating into armed conflict if left unattended.
Burma has vowed to destroy any drug factory identified by Thailand on its
territory. This is welcome news, but it remains to be seen if Rangoon will
follow through. The prospects are not great. As soon as he made the promise,
Maj-Gen Thein Sein, Lt-Gen Wattanachai's counterpart, virtually ruled out the
Red Wa as a potential target. He insisted that the United Wa State Army, widely
recognised as the biggest producer of methamphetamines in this part of the
world, had nothing to do with the drug trade, and that Mong Yawn, the booming Wa
township, was not built with drug money but special development funds provided
by Rangoon because it is part of a "special administration zone".
This sounds a lot like a tall tale. Several billion baht is estimated to
have been spent developing Mong Yawn and its infrastructure, including public
utilities, a dam, a hospital and other facilities. This is money the junta does
not have. Maj-Gen Thein Sein's statement also contradicted a Wa claim that the
construction was funded by profits from sales of diamonds and rubies mined
locally.
Once you rule out the Wa as drug producers, who else is there to suppress?
Who is producing the 600 million methamphetamines expected to flow into Thailand
this year? Gen Maung Aye, the Burmese army chief, totally absolved Burma of any
links to the drug trade, saying the raw material, chemical percursors and tools
for producing drugs all come from elsewhere. Drug factories, he told Lt-Gen
Wattanachai, can be situated anywhere, not just Burma, since it takes just one
square metre to set up a factory.
These claims cast doubt on how serious the Burmese junta is about helping
Thailand suppress drugs. Unless it is sincere, any goodwill that has been
established this week will be short-lived and relations between the two
countries will sour again before very long.
Myanmar Destroys 8,603 Hectares of
Poppy Fields in 2000-01
2001.04.06 12:46:30 YANGON, April 6 (Xinhuanet) --
The Myanmar authorities destroyed 8, 603 hectares of poppy fields out of 32,644
hectares illegally cultivated in the fiscal year 2000-01 which ended in
March, state- run newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
In the previous fiscal year of 1999-2000, the authorities destroyed
4,450 hectares of poppy fields out of 36,634 hectares
cultivated.
Meanwhile, the authorities are also taking action against money laundering
out of drug trade, the report said, adding that a new money laundering
law, which is in conformity with those of the international community
including the neighboring countries, has been drafted and is being
finalized for promulgation soon.
The paper stressed the need to make thorough studies and give
education on drugs to local people in border areas in the country' s bid to wipe
out narcotic drugs.
To promote the local people's anti-drug awareness and to root out
poppy cultivation and narcotic drug production, trafficking and abuse,
Myanmar has built and opened a narcotic drug eradication museum in Laukkai
of Kokang region in northeastern Shan state in December 2000.
24 Woodcutters Killed in Myanmar
Forest
2001.04.06 12:33:32 YANGON, April 6 (Xinhuanet) --
Twenty-four villagers out of twenty- seven, who were woodcutters, were killed by
a ten-member group of the Kayin National Union (KNU), an anti-government
ethnic armed group, in a forest in Myanmar's Bago division last month,
official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
The 27 woodcutters, who were collecting firewood in the forest of
Kyaukkyi township in the division on March 23, were arrested by the KNU group
and 24 of them were said to have been tortured to death after the KNU
failed to extort money from them.
The remaining three were able to escape, the report said, adding that
the government troops are in hot pursuit of the KNU group.
The KNU is the largest anti-government ethnic armed group in the
country and has not made peace yet with the government.
Meanwhile, a total of 17 anti-government ethnic armed groups as well as the
Mong Tai Army, led by former drug warlord Khun Sa, have respectively
reached cease-fire agreements with the government.
Myanmar Overruns One Opium
Refinery
2001.04.06 11:12:04 YANGON, April 6 (Xinhuanet) --
The Myanmar authorities raided an opium refinery in a village in Lashio
township, northern Shan state of the country, last month, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday.
The opium refinery, made up of four huts and located in the ravine of
Tawnay village in the township, was overrun by a combined team comprising
local army unit, intelligence unit and the police force on March 17 and
18.
During the raid, the authorities seized hundreds of liters of
hydrochloric acid and acetic anhydride as well as hundreds of kilos
of ammonium chloride used in refining drugs.
According to official statistics, in 2000, the Myanmar authorities
confiscated 1.52 tons of opium along with 158 kilos of heroin and 590 kilos of
marijuana as well as 26.6 million tablets of stimulant drugs.
Meanwhile, the authorities also destroyed a total of over 1,600 hectares of
illegally grown poppy fields in the country's Shan and Kayah states during the
year.
Following the declaration of its Mongla region in eastern Shan state
as an opium-free zone in April 1997, Myanmar began in 1999 implementing a
255-million-U.S.-dollar 15-year drug eradication plan which covers 51
cultivating and producing townships.
Myanmar-Japan Economic Relations
Keep Strengthening
2001.04.06 11:05:24 YANGON, April 6 (Xinhuanet)--
At the end of March this year, Yangon and Tokyo signed an exchange
note on the Japanese government's provision of a debt relief of
1.777 billion yens £¨about 14.45 million U.S. dollars£© to Myanmar.
It was the 19th such debt relief that the Japanese government
extended to Myanmar, the total amount of debt relief for the last 18 times
being 372 million dollars.
Japan's frequent extension of the relief to Myanmar has indicated the
continuous strengthening of the two countries' economic and trade
ties.
According to Japanese official statistics, up to 1988, the Japanese
government had extended to Myanmar official development assistance £¨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
U.S.-led western countries, temporarily suspended its ODA and
humanitarian aid to Myanmar.
In light of the emergence of some positive changes on Myanmar's
political arena, the Japanese government has resumed its humanitarian aid
to Myanmar since 1995. In the year 2000, the aid from Japan amounted
to 1.5 billion yens £¨12.78 million dollars £©, a 70.45 percent increase
over 1999 when it was 880 million yens£¨7.5 million dollars £©¡£
In the past half year, especially since the new century began, there
emerged again a sign of thaw of Myanmar's political crisis.
The sharp contradiction between the Myanmar military government and
the opposition National League for Democracy got relaxed to some
extent.
Accordingly, the Japanese government extended on March 29 to Yangon
an ODA worth 849 million yens £¨6.98 million dollars£©, the first ODA to
this country in 13 years.
Meanwhile, Japan built up an 89-hectare industrial zone in Yangon's
Mingaladon area, which is the first ever foreign-invested industrial zone
in Myanmar. The industrial zone, after two years' construction, was
put into service in June 1998.
To promote their bilateral economic cooperation, chambers of commerce
and industry of Myanmar and Japan jointly initiated an economic
cooperation committee in February 1998.
In March that year, the Japanese government also provided the Myanmar
government with 20 million dollars for the extension project of the Yangon
International Airport.
Moreover, in May 1998, Tokyo extended to Yangon 820 million yens£¨5.5
million dollars £© of aid for drug eradication.
In the sector of finance and insurance, Japan has opened eight bank
representative offices in Myanmar, and three insurance companies
respectively initiating memorandums of understanding with the state-run
Myanma Insurance on setting up marine and fire insurance joint
ventures.
Since Myanmar opened to foreign investment in 1988, Japan's
investment in the country has reached 232 million dollars in 22 projects,
covering the sectors of oil and gas, manufacturing, real estate,
mining and hotels and tourism. The Japanese investment ranked the
9th in the line-up of Myanmar's foreign investors coming from 24 countries
and regions.
In the trade sector, Japan has become Myanmar's fourth largest
trading partner after Singapore, China and Thailand. In the past few
years, Myanmar-Japan bilateral trade stood at 360 million dollars
annually, accounting for 10.8 percent of Myanmar's annual foreign
trade of 3.32 billion dollars.
South China Morning Post
Friday, April 6, 2001
BURMA
Meeting with dissident crowns UN visit AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE in Rangoon The United Nations' new human rights envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday in the highlight of an historic three-day visit. The UN special rapporteur, whose arrival in Burma has been hailed as a sign of a diplomatic thaw in the military-run country, visited the Nobel peace laureate at her Rangoon home, where she has been confined since September. On Wednesday, Mr Pinheiro was also allowed to call on the opposition
National League for Democracy's headquarters for an hour-long meeting with
senior members.
The envoy left Rangoon for Bangkok last night after a wrap-up meeting with
Foreign Minister Win Aung. He has said he will make a report on his findings
when he returns to Geneva today.
The Brazilian academic is the first UN human rights envoy to be allowed
into Burma in five years. He replaced Rajsoomer Lallah, who quit last year after
never being given permission to travel to Rangoon.
Sources close to the talks said that in contrast to the outspoken Mr
Lallah, Mr Pinheiro had adopted a non-confrontational approach which had won
plaudits among the notoriously touchy generals in Rangoon.
During the three-day trip he met top members of the junta including its No
3, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, who over the past six months has met Ms Aung
San Suu Kyi several times. The historic contacts appear to be part of a
confidence-building process that could clear the way for their first official
talks since 1994.
The secret talks have raised cautious hopes that the two sides may be able
to negotiate a power-sharing agreement and a transition to democracy that would
end a decade of political deadlock.
Mr Pinheiro's visit has been welcomed as a sign of the ruling State Peace
and Development Council's new willingness to begin co-operating with the outside
world. Diplomats note the trip comes ahead of this month's UN General Assembly
on human rights and after last year's damning resolution by the International
Labour Organisation, which caused deep concern in Rangoon.
During his visit, Mr Pinheiro met Home Affairs Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing,
Labour Minister Major-General Tin Ngwe and representatives of Rangoon's business
community.
The regime has been singled out as one of the world's worst human rights
offenders, responsible for political repression, torture and forced labour.
The UN Human Rights Commission last year passed a resolution expressing
grave concern at the "systematic and increasingly severe" rights violations in
the country.
US lawmakers have reportedly sent a petition to President George W. Bush
this week urging him to maintain sanctions, despite signs of a political
transition. The Nation newspaper said it had obtained a copy of a bipartisan
letter signed by 35 legislators and prominent citizens which said sanctions
should not be lifted without consulting Ms Aung San Suu Kyi.
Malaysia will deport a Burmese pro-democracy activist who staged a protest
in Kuala Lumpur but will not send him back to Burma, a security official said
yesterday. "Just like any other [Burmese] detainee he will be deported to the
Malaysian-Thai border in a month," said Nasri Mokhtar, head of the centre where
Peter Hee Man is being held. Hee Man was arrested on March 27 after about 20
activists gatecrashed a Burmese embassy party wearing T-shirts depicting Aung
San Suu Kyi.
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