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BURMA RELATED NEWS - May 02,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Thai, Myanmar
drug trade row escalates as foreign ministers meet
AFP - Southeast Asian ministers look north and
south for growth
AP - Pakistani Ruler Names Ally As Army's
Second-In-Command
AP - Thai Army Vows Retaliation After Killings
By Rebels
AP - Malaysia, Thailand Agree To Step Up Border
Patrols
AP - Thai Army Condemns Deadly Attack Near
Thai-Myanmar Border
Dow Jones - Thai/Gas/Terms -2: Hopes To
Limit Rise In Elec Tariff
Reuters - Pakistan says it will free democracy
activists
The Dawn - CE in
Myanmar, holds talks with Shwe: MoU signed
Business Day - Drug lordsbuy into
Myanmar'seconomy
NSTP - Business as usual in Myanmar despite US
sanction
The Observer - Promoting
freedom in Burma
Bkk Post - SSA says Burma using chemical
weapons
Bkk Post - Karen dawn raid leaves 3 villagers
dead
The Nation - SURAKIART IN BURMA : Overtures
rejected
The Nation - Tak
border raid kills three villagers
Xinhuanet - Myanmar, Pakistan to Cooperate in
Science, Technology
BBC - Musharraf meets Burmese
counterpart
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 4:47 PM
Thai, Myanmar drug trade row escalates
as foreign ministers meet
YANGON, May 2 (AFP) - Thai
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai met with his Myanmar counterpart Win Aung
here Wednesday amid an escalating bitter row over the drug trade along their
common border.
Surakiart's trip, on the heels of an Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) meeting in Yangon, was aimed at clearing the air between the two
neighbours after months of wrangling.
The trouble began in February when fighting between rival ethnic militias
operating along the border -- both reputedly involved in the drugs trade --
sparked a rare clash between the two national armies.
Some 700 million methamphetamines pills churned out in jungle refineries
inside Myanmar are estimated to make their way into Thailand each year, feeding
an addiction crisis estimated to affect six percent of the population.
High-level talks went some way to easing the tension, but renewed conflict
in the border region in past days has threatened to cause a further
deterioration in relations.
On Wednesday the military regime launched a fresh attack on Thailand,
accusing its troops of raiding border outposts alongside ethnic groups including
the Shan State Army (SSA) and the Karen National union (KNU).
Thailand's Third Army used heavy artillery to provide cover for the raids,
deputy chief of military intelligence Kyaw Win said in a press briefing.
"They are using both ground forces as well as artillery to attack these
outposts, and have now gone one step further by announcing they have found drugs
at these outposts," he said.
Thailand was "trying to smear the name of the military government by
accusing it of being involved in drugs," said Colonel San Pwint from the Office
of Strategic Studies, the military's think tank.
"It is a deliberate effort by the Thais to blame Myanmar because they
cannot handle the drug problem in their own country."
San Pwint dismissed Thailand's claims that it only fired warnings shots to
prevent fighting from spilling over the border, saying the lightning raids had
seen up to 500 artillery rounds unleashed in a single day.
The campaign was aimed at impressing United States anti-narcotics agencies
and "bringing down the censure of the international community on Myanmar," he
said.
The fighting is expected to die down in the next few weeks as the monsoon
seaon begins, hampering the movement of government and rebel troops around the
rugged border region.
But San Pwint hinted the Myanmar regime would step up military action if
the trouble persisted.
"Our nation has no intention of antagonising our neighbours ... but if
they, together with insurgent elements, continue to attack our outposts we will
retaliate against all those using arms against us," he said.
After spending the first day of his trip on a tour of Myanmar's historic
sites, Surakiart met Wednesday with Win Aung and was due to see the junta's
influential chief of military intelligence Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt.
Hanging over their heads will be the angry accusations traded between the
neighbours, and Thailand's claims that Myanmar has turned a blind eye to the
narcotics trade which it rates as its number one threat to national
security.
Thailand's new Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra fired the opening salvo in
the debate early this year by declaring a "war on drugs" and ordering officials
to find ways to close down the narcotics trade.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 5:36 PM
Southeast Asian ministers look north and
south for growth
SIEM REAP, Cambodia, May 2 (AFP) - Southeast Asian economic ministers will
take a fresh look at expanding trade into the region's Northeast and the Pacific
as they kick off a meeting here Wednesday, officials said.
The impact of the US economic slowdown on the economies from the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had underlined the need for
closer economic integration with regional economies, they said.
This includes China, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.
"There is a sense in ASEAN to take a fresher and perhaps bolder look into
this economic integration process," Philippine assistant trade secretary Jose
Antonio Buencamino told AFP.
Discussions would focus on integration, economic cooperation and a possible
round of global trade talks under the World Trade Organisation (WTO), he
said.
The US downturn has forced several Southeast Asian countries to cut growth
forecasts and "figures into why we have to take a new look at greater economic
integration," Buencamino said.
Ministers began arriving Wednesday in the northern Cambodian city of Siem
Reap, where a flurry of meetings will start with a working dinner.
They will meet Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen and retreat into the
seclusion of a luxury hotel near the ancient Angkor Wat temples for open
discussions, officials said.
On Friday, they will meet with counterparts from China, Japan and South
Korea under the ASEAN plus three dialogue process.
Chinese Minister for Trade and Economic Cooperation Shi Guangsheng, South
Korean Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade Hwang Doo-yun will attend.
Japan, where a new government has just taken over, will send a vice
minister, organisers said.
Robert Teh, director for trade at the Indonesia-based ASEAN Secretariat,
said discussions were also expected on closing the gap between ASEAN's more
developed and less developed members.
Talks would help efforts to forge a free trade area between ASEAN, China,
Japan and South Korea -- which had earlier been raised during an East Asian
leaders summit hosted by Singapore in November 2000.
The ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) will see tariffs brought down to between
zero and five percent by 2003.
Teh said ministers would also review progress on moves to link AFTA with
the Closer Economic Relations alliance -- a free trade area covering Australia
and New Zealand.
Malaysia has opposed the inclusion of both countries into a free trade
arrangement with ASEAN.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. The 10 nations offer a market of 500 million
people.
"Certainly, the discussions that are taking place between ASEAN and its
dialogue partners may be one way that the region is trying to deal with the
impact of the US economic slowdown," Teh said.
"ASEAN is trying to consolidate its economic links with the Northeast Asian
countries in particular," he said.
However, political troubles in the Philippines and Indonesia, two key ASEAN
members, continued to haunt ASEAN.
The group is struggling to project an image of stability in the face of
growing competition resulting partially from the opening up of China.
The Philippines, where President Gloria Arroyo has just crushed an
attempted power grab by supporters of deposed predecessor Joseph Estrada, sent a
deputy minister in place of Trade Secretary Manuel Roxas.
Indonesia, where President Abdurrahman Wahid faces possible impeachment, is
represented by its ambassador to Cambodia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 4:04 AM
Pakistani Ruler Names Ally As Army's
Second-In-Command
ISLAMABAD (AP)--Military ruler
Gen. Pervez Musharraf created a new position of deputy army chief, appointing a
close ally, the army announced Tuesday.
Gen. Muzaffar Hussain Usmani, who will take up his new post May 17, will
become Musharraf's second-in-command, the army statement said.
The announcement came as Musharraf arrived Tuesday in Myanmar for a
three-day visit. From Myanmar, Musharraf will go to Vietnam.
The army gave no reason for the change.
Newspaper reports Tuesday said that Musharraf plans to appoint himself
president by October 2002, when his military-led government is to allow
democratic elections in line with a Supreme Court ruling.
Usmani, a close associate of Musharraf, was one of the key figures of the
bloodless Oct. 12, 1999 coup which toppled the elected government of prime
minister Nawaz Sharif.
A corps commander in southern Sindh province, Usmani was among the first to
revolt against Sharif. His troops seized the airport in the main port city of
Karachi, the capital of Sindh, allowing Musharraf's plane to land against
Sharif's orders.
Musharraf was returning to Pakistan from Sri Lanka when Sharif ordered the
plane to be diverted to an airport outside Pakistan. In Musharraf's absence,
Sharif had sacked the army chief and replaced him with a junior general.
The army accused Sharif of corruption and undermining the constitution. But
after sentencing him to life in prison, the military freed Sharif from jail and
sent him into exile in Saudi Arabia.
The country was carved out of British India in 1947, and the army has ruled
for nearly half that time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 4:45 AM
Thai Army Vows Retaliation After
Killings By Rebels
MOLITHAI, Thailand (AP)--A Thai
general threatened retaliation after three villagers from Thailand were killed
and five injured early Tuesday when pro-Myanmar ethnic Karen guerrillas clashed
with Thai border security forces.
"We have lost three people but the intruders will lose more, the
retaliation for this will be tough," Lt. Gen. Wattanachai Chaimuanwong,
commander of the 3rd Army region in northern Thailand, told reporters.
The Thai army and villagers said the ethnic guerrillas of the Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army, or DKBA, attacked a Thai military checkpoint at Molithai on
the Thai side of the border, about 350 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, and
battered the civilian settlement with rocket propelled grenades.
Two Thai soldiers were injured in the attack. It wasn't clear if the DKBA
suffered any casualties.
Wattanachai said the DKBA launched the attack because it was angered that
the Thai army had seized large quantities of the illegal stimulant
methamphetamine from them in the past few weeks and was threatening them over
the drugs.
Thailand alleges that Myanmar isn't doing enough to stop heroin and
methamphetamines crossing their shared border. Myanmar says it does all it can
and accuses Thailand of blaming it for domestic problems such as addictions and
drug-linked crime.
The attack was also apparently in retaliation for an assault by an
anti-Yangon rebel army, the Karen National Union, on a DKBA border base April 22
that killed four people in Myanmar. Myanmar, also known as Burma, claimed
Thailand supported that raid.
Some 1,500 Thai villagers, all from the Karen ethnic minority that lives on
both sides of the border, were evacuated to a schoolhouse seven kilometers
inside Thailand.
The injured Thais were being treated at local hospitals.
"The army will submit a protest letter and at the same time the retaliation
at the scene will go on," said Gen. Wattanachai, saying the military activities
had nothing to do with a meeting in the Myanmar capital Yangon which was being
attended by the foreign ministers of Thailand, Myanmar and other Southeast Asian
nations.
"We are not fighting against Burma, but we will retaliate against the DKBA
because Burma lets the DKBA administer that area, which is rich from logging,
mining and drug producing," Wattanachai said.
The Myanmar government gave no immediate comment about Tuesday's incident,
which has heightened tensions at the border, where a string of skirmishes have
soured bilateral relations.
Myanmar's regime claims that the Thai army has been escalating the military
situation by supporting different groups of anti-Yangon rebels against Myanmar
forces, which Thailand denies.
Among the groups it believes Thailand helps is the KNU, which has been
fighting for autonomy in Myanmar for five decades. The DKBA is a pro-Myanmar
army that was set up by disgruntled KNU fighters.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 6:14 PM
Malaysia, Thailand Agree To Step Up
Border Patrols
KUALA LUMPUR (AP)--The police
chiefs of Malaysia and Thailand met Wednesday and resolved to step up border
patrols between the two countries to stem firearms smuggling and illegal
immigrants.
Illegal immigrants from Myanmar, Nepal and Bangladesh were making their way
to Malaysia through Thailand, Malaysia's Inspector General of Police Norian Mai
was reported as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.
After daylong talks with his Thai counterpart Pornsak Durongkavibulya,
Norian said that both sides have agreed to more strident measures to check
groups involved in smuggling foreigners across the border between the two
countries.
"Most importantly, the syndicates falsifying official government documents
such as passports and identity cards should be dealt with," Norian was quoted as
saying.
Malaysia and Thailand share a densely-wooded 154-kilometer land border on
the north of the Malaysian peninsula, where joint military exercises are often
conducted to curb rampant smuggling and to stem the entry of illegal immigrants.
Over the years, authorities have nabbed hundreds of illegals trying to
sneak into Malaysia from Thailand, seeking to join more than a million foreign
workers already employed in the plantation, construction and manufacturing
sector, many of them without valid permit.
Norian said Thailand had also agreed to step up measures against firearms
smuggling into Malaysia. Malaysian police have often linked an increase in armed
robberies in the country to firearms being smuggled in from Thailand.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 12:51 PM
Thai Army Condemns Deadly Attack Near
Thai-Myanmar Border
BANGKOK (AP)--The Thai Army
condemned Wednesday an attack by pro-Myanmar ethnic Karen guerrillas that killed
three Thai civilians and injured five others, heightening tension along the
Thai-Myanmar border.
The army said in a statement that Tuesday's "inhumane" attack by
"unidentified intruders" had killed innocent people. It warned Thailand would
"use all means to protect lives and property of Thai people, as well as Thai
sovereignty."
Villagers and local Thai military said about 60 guerrillas of the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, or DKBA, attacked a Thai military checkpoint
near Molithai village in northwestern Tak province, on the river border between
the two countries, using mortars and rocket propelled grenades.
Two Thai soldiers were injured. It wasn't clear if the DKBA suffered any
casualties.
The Myanmar government has yet to comment about the incident, the latest in
a string of skirmishes have soured bilateral relations. In February, Myanmar and
Thai forces clashed directly, the worst armed confrontation between the two
countries in years.
The DKBA is a pro-Yangon ethnic army that was formed by disgruntled
fighters from another ethnic Karen army that wages a resistance war against the
Myanmar regime.
Myanmar claims that the Thai army has been escalating the military
situation at the border in recent months by supporting different groups of
anti-Yangon rebels, which Thailand denies.
Late Tuesday, Lt. Gen. Wattanachai Chaimuanwong, commander of the Third
Army region in northern Thailand, said the DKBA launched the attack because it
was angered that the Thai army had seized large quantities of the illegal
stimulant methamphetamine from them in the past few weeks. He threatened deadly
retaliation for Tuesday's intrusion.
"We have lost three people but the intruders will lose more, the
retaliation for this will be tough," he told reporters.
Thailand is increasingly frustrated by the flood of heroin and
methamphetamines smuggled from Myanmar, also known as Burma. Myanmar says it
does all it can to police the border.
Meanwhile Wednesday, Myanmar denied reported allegations by the Shan rebels
that it was using chemical weapons against them. The regime dismissed the claims
as "sensational accusations," in a statement received in Bangkok.
The Bangkok Post quoted the Shan State Army as claiming its guerrillas had
developed rashes and breathing difficulties after being exposed to smoke and
dust from Myanmar shells.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 7:13 PM
Thai/Gas/Terms -2: Hopes To Limit Rise
In Elec Tariff
BANGKOK (Dow Jones)--The
Petroleum Authority of Thailand, or PTT, said Wednesday it will accelerate
negotiations with natural gas producers to amend the terms and pricing formulae
of gas purchase contracts.
The amendments will make the contracts reflect the current economic
situation and will enable PTT to purchase natural gas at a lower price, Prasert
Bunsumpun, President of PTT's Gas unit, told a news conference.
"Most contracts are for 25-30 years and were made prior to the baht
flotation (in 1997). Therefore, some amendment should be made to reflect the
changing situation," said Prasert.
Among gas producers under contracts with PTT are units of Unocal Corp.
(UCL) and TotalFinaElf S.A. (TOT) as well as PTT's listed unit PTT Exploration
& Production PCL (H.PTT).
In view of the current surge in oil prices, PTT wants to maximize gas
imports from Myanmar, at the expense of gas from the gulf of Thailand, as part
of short-term measures to cut domestic gas price and power tariff, he said.
Additional gas from Myanmar is pegged to a lower fuel oil price than
current levels.
Prasert's comments are in line with views by other government officials,
including Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra who recently said he wants a review
of the formula of local energy prices.
Thaksin is asking for a review of the margin enjoyed by refineries to help
avoid excessive domestic energy prices, which he said are rising even when
global prices are stable.
The sharp increase in energy prices was the main factor behind April's 2.6%
on year increase in Thai consumer prices, compared with an increase of 1.4% on
year in March.
(MORE) Dow Jones Newswires 02-05-01
1105GMT
Hopes To Limit Rise In Elec Tariff
PTT is also negotiating with gas producers to stabilize average prices
during periods of crude volatility, he said.
Prasert said PTT hopes that by stabilizing gas prices it would help limit
increases in electricity tariff.
A $1 rise in fuel oil would result in a rise of natural gas by 2.25 baht
($1=THB45.584) per British Thermal Unit, or BTU.
Also, each time the baht weakens by one baht against the U.S. dollar, the
price of natural gas will rise by THB2 per BTU, Prasert said. This, in turn,
pushes the fuel tariff up by THB0.65 per unit, he said.
The fuel tariff is an additional charge included in the electricity tariff,
reflecting variable factors such as the fuel price and exchange rate.
The fuel tariff rate will be revised every four months. The next revision
is due June 1.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday May 2, 8:03 PM
Pakistan says it will free democracy
activists
KARACHI (Reuters) - Pakistani
police said on Wednesday they would release most of the political activists
detained during a crackdown to prevent a pro-democracy rally.
Pakistan's ruling military has arrested thousands of political workers in
the port city of Karachi and the surrounding province of Sindh since last week
in its biggest clampdown after seizing power in an October 1999 coup.
Authorities threw a massive security blanket over Karachi and the rally,
planned for Tuesday by the 16-party Alliance for the Restoration of Democracy
(ARD), did not take place.
"Most of the detainees...held under section 144 will be released today," a
senior police official told Reuters, referring to an emergency order that can be
used to prohibit the public assembly of three or more people.
Some leaders were being held under public order laws and it would take some
time to complete legal procedures, he added, but did not elaborate.
Karachi residents said Tuesday's tight security made it seem as if an
undeclared curfew had been imposed.
Streets were blocked and thousands of police and paramilitary forces
deployed as hundreds of political workers, who mostly appeared in small groups
to peacefully protest and chant slogans, were arrested.
DETAINED WITHOUT CHARGE
Political parties said they had no information their workers would be
released and that those detained were being held without charge.
"All the people arrested yesterday and the day before are still in police
stations and jails," said Akhtar Bokhari of the Pakistan Muslim League (PML)
party of ousted and exiled former premier Nawaz Sharif.
PML lawyers had applied for detained party members to be released on bail,
he added.
"The policemen are replying, 'We are waiting for instructions from higher
up whether we release them or not'," Bokhari said.
Ejaz Shaffi, a member of the PML and the suspended national assembly, was
one of a few senior politicians to avoid arrest.
"(The jails) are not only crowded but there are no civic amenities
available to provide for such numbers of people. Last night people had to sleep
in the compounds beneath the sky," he told Reuters.
The Pakistan Peoples' Party (PPP) of self-exiled former premier Benazir
Bhutto, a key ARD component, said police remained outside its offices and it had
no news of its arrested members.
"There is no news of any (charges) against them...they are under illegal
confinement in police stations, mainly because both district and city jails of
Karachi are full," said PPP spokesman Akbar Mirza.
Military leader General Pervez Musharraf, currently on official visits to
army-ruled Myanmar and communist Vietnam, has banned public rallies and other
political activities.
He says the army will adhere to a promise to restore civilian rule by a
Supreme Court deadline of October 2002 but insists a new political order be
created as previous administrations have failed the nation.
The United States and human rights groups have condemned the clampdown,
which follows similar action late in March to stop an ARD rally in the central
city of Lahore.
Shaffi said the ARD would persist with its call for the immediate return of
democracy and may call for a general strike.
"We have another option of which we are thinking seriously and that is
they're so eager to put people in jail. Why not we offer ourselves for arrest to
pack the jails?" Shaffi said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Dawn
CE in Myanmar, holds talks with Shwe:
MoU signed
YANGOON, May 1: The Chief Executive, General Pervez Musharraf, and the
Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council of Myanmar, Senior General
Than Shwe, on Tuesday held wide-ranging talks in Yangoon on bilateral
co-operation, and regional and international issues.
The CE who arrived earlier in the day from Islamabad on a three-day
official visit, briefed the Myanmar leader about the policies of his government,
economic revival and return to democracy in Pakistan. General Than Shwe
welcoming the chief executive said the visit will help promote co-operation
between the two countries. He said contacts between the two were not frequent
and these should be geared up with focus on economic co-operation.
About regional issues General Than Shwe said Myanmar is keen to promote
rapid progress in the region. General Musharraf also held meeting with the
Secretary-I (SPDC) Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt.
Later Pakistan and Myanmar signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Minister
for Science and Technology Dr Attaur Rehman and his Myanmar counterpart Mr
U-Thaung signed the MoU, under which both agreed on the exchange of students,
research, scholars, institutionalizing the arrangements, identifying areas in
science and technology and commercially viable science and industrial research.
The CE earlier visited the mausoleum of Bahadur Shah Zafar in Yangoon, laid
wreath and offered fateha. He announced a donation of US$50,000 for its
renovation and the construction of another block.-PPI.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Business Day - May 2,
2001.
Drug lordsbuy into
Myanmar'seconomy
BANGKOK The ethnic Wa hill tribe in Burma once dubbed "the world's biggest
gang of armed drug traffickers" have taken over a bank and a domestic airline,
underlining the importance of drug money in a troubled economy.
The United Wa State Army has taken control of the ailing Myanmar Mayflower
Bank in Rangoon and its 21 nationwide branches.
The group's other interests include a third of the country's only GSM phone
project, lucrative gem mining concessions and, reputedly, nightclubs in the
capital.
The Wa chief, Pao Yu Chang, has also recently taken direct personal control
of the unprofitable Yangon Airways.
"Drug traffickers have taken over more and more of the legitimate economy,
and are getting more brazen about it, over the past couple of years," said a
drug analyst.
The Wa were the footsoldiers for the Communist party of Burma until they
overthrew their ethnic Chinese Communist masters in 1989. Fearing that the
thousands of tough fighters headhunters a couple of generations ago would link
up with rebel groups on the Thai border, the military government quickly agreed
to a dozen ceasefire deals, with the Wa and others, that allowed them a free
hand to do business which in the Shan state often means drugs.
The regime also permitted "retired" former drug warlords, such as Lo
Hsing-han and Khun Sa, to, at the very least, plough their drug profits into a
variety of businesses.
The Burmese military claims that alone it does not have the strength to
suppress big traffickers such as the Wa .
The US state department's latest narcotics review says that "drug profits
formed the seed capital for many otherwise legitimate enterprises" especially in
transport, banking, hotels, real estate and airlines.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press
Business as usual in Myanmar despite US
sanction
By KAMARUL YUNUS 02 May 2001 BUSINESS in Myanmar continues to prosper despite the US imposing sanction
two years ago, Mandalay Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice chairman Aung Win
Khainy said.
He said the Myanmar nationals do not seem to be perturbed over the US
sanction, which had been imposed to champion human rights and democracy in the
country.
"They (Myanmar nationals) were in no way affected by the sanction as they
have alternatives to boost their economic activities, mainly using local
resources, especially wood and agriculture products as well as cheap labour," he
told Malaysian journalists who were on an eight-day visit to Myanmar since April
22.
The visit was mooted following the discussion between Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad and Myanmar's ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council chairman Senior General Than Shwe in January.
Aung Win Khainy, who is also chairman of Hi-Tech Forest Industries Co Ltd
and MCI Mandalay Cement Industries Co Ltd as well as Yadanar Bone Bank director,
said the sanction had to some extent strengthened the spirit of local
entrepreneurs to work hard.
"Last year, three American senators met me, wanting to know the impact of
the sanction on the Myanmar people.
"I told them that we are not feeling the pinch.
Our exports now go to the Third World countries instead of the
Americans.
They are the ones who will suffer," he said.
Aung Win Khainy admitted that the sanction will affect major and
high-technology investments.
However, he said it would not jeopardise the inflow of investments for
small and medium-scale projects which are considered the backbone of Myanmar's
economic activities.
On whether Myanmar entrepreneurs will be threatened by the influx of
foreign investors into the country when it opens its market, he said this will
not arise.
He added that such a move will create healthy competition be-tween foreign
investors and the local entrepreneurs.
As an Association of South-East Asian Nations (Asean) member, he said
Myanmar has to bear this in mind as the gouping moves towards more liberalised
economies when the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta) takes place.
"The small and medium-scale projects are important to us as we move towards
implementing Afta requirements," he said.
He said foreigners, especially Malaysians, should capitalise on Myanmar's
cheap labour.
Salaries given to the locals range between US$10 (US$1 = RM3.80) and US$70
a month.
Meanwhile, Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin Maung Win said Myanmar
made a right move to join Asean in 1997.
"We decided to join because of the basic changes in international relations
from the new perspective.
"In our foreign policy, the neighbouring country is top priority.
Although we develop through our own efforts, Asean countries can play a
role so that we can develop beneficial relations.
"In view of the increasing pace of globalisation, the role of regional
enhancement should be strengthened," he said.
Myanmar gained independence in 1948 but prior to 1997, it has never been
part of a regional group, except under the United Nations banner.
"We joined Asean in 1997 and that is one of the fundamental changes in our
foreign policy," he said.
On why Myanmar had not taken steps earlier to join Asean, he said the
actual contact was made in 1994 when Myanmar was preparing for membership.
"But the misinterpretation by the foreign media, especially from the West
on the country, hampered our preparations," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Promoting freedom in Burma
Only the generals have the freedom of the press in Burma - but the internet
is providing one channel for real information
Aung Zaw, Editor, Irrawaddy magazine Tuesday May 1, 2001 The Observer As an exiled journalist who is detested by the Burmese military government,
my life is full of challenges.
Yet I have also had some fascinating and unexpected experiences since I began my career as journalist in 1993, when I set up an independent media group to publish a political magazine reflecting the Burmese situation. This magazine provides an alternative to those who are fed up with both the
regime-controlled papers and bulletins put out by members of the opposition in
exile.
Promoting freedom of the press among Burmese people both in and out of
Burma is a tough job, but after suffering years of oppression, there are many
Burmese who appreciate the nobility and importance of this freedom. These days,
healthy debate and professional, constructive reporting are in constant demand
from Burmese living both in and out of their homeland.
The internet is a miraculous tool for disseminating news and information.
Nevertheless, many tend to abuse it rather than using it in constructive ways to
help mankind. The benefits of using the internet for Burmese in exile are
tremendous: better communication and better information. However, the generals
in Rangoon see use of the internet as a threat to their authority.
Recently, the military intelligence chief in my country said that press
freedom in Burma is permitted to an appropriate degree. This claim is total
nonsense, as, in fact, press freedom in Burma is completely non-existent. At
this moment, about twenty professional journalists are languishing in Burma's
gulag.
Nevertheless, in a sense he is right, as the generals themselves enjoy
absolute press freedom. They can attack democratic principles, insult the whole
population and publish whatever they like in the government-controlled papers,
radio and TV.
Aung Zaw is the editor of Irrawaddy magazine, established by Burmese
citizens in exile to promote press freedom and access to unbiased information
and which also covers other areas of Southeast Asia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 02,
2001.
BURMESE BORDER - SSA says Burma
using chemical weapons
Subin Khuenkaew The Shan State Army yesterday accused Burmese troops of using chemical
weapons against its soldiers.
SSA rebels on April 22 seized a Burmese government base at Ban Takhi
opposite Ban Nolae in Fang district. Rangoon's troops have been trying to
recapture the outpost ever since.
In a statement, the SSA said its troops had developed rashes and breathing
difficulties after being exposed to smoke and dust from Burmese shells. The dust
and smoke were mostly from shells which exploded in mid-air. The shells were
believed to contain a poisonous substance.
In Thailand, security has been beefed up on Doi Angkhang, Fang district,
after more than 50 shells fired by Burmese soldiers strayed into the area.
Army spokesman Maj-Gen Siripong Boonyapat denied the Thai army had shelled
Burmese positions along the border to assist the Shan United Revolution Army
inside Burma. He said shelling was ordered only at points where Burmese stray
artillery hit Thai territory, to warn the Burmese of border violations and
protect Thai villagers.
Maj-Gen Nakhon Sriphetphan, commander of Pha Muang Task Force, said he had
been ordered by the Third Army to send a number of soldiers, armed tanks,
vehicles and 105mm artillery guns to Doi Angkhang as reinforcements to prevent
border incursions and evacuate Thai villagers if necessary. Many 120mm shells
fell on a Thai cavalry base at Ban Nolae, causing damage to part of the unit,
but there were no casualties, he said.
The task force was preparing to evacuate residents of Ban Nolae and Ban
Khobdong, near the scene of fighting, to temporary shelters at Mae Fa Luang
Oppatham School in Ban Pang Khwai. Farming under the royally-initiated Doi
Angkhang project has been affected, since most of the employees there come from
the two villages.
The SSA also claimed that on Monday at least 35 Burmese troops were killed
and more than 200 wounded in the BP.2 area near Ban Lan border pass in
Fang.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - May 02,
2001.
DKBA Karen dawn raid leaves 3
villagers dead
DKBA troops attack Thai military camp Supamart Kasem
Three Thai civilians were killed and two others and two soldiers wounded in
a clash between border security forces and pro-Rangoon Karen guerrillas in Phop
Phra district yesterday.
More than 700 villagers fled for safety.
A group of at least 30 guerrillas of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army
crossed the Moei river which marks the border, into Ban Muen Ruechai, tambon
Phop Phra, early yesterday morning, a military source said.
They attacked a military base near the village and a checkpoint manned by
troops from the 443th infantry company about 4.30am. There was a heavy exchange
of gunfire which lasted about 30 minutes, the source said.
The fighting resulted in the death of three Thai villagers and two Karen
guerrillas. Two other villagers, two Thai soldiers, and at least five Karen
rebels were also injured.
The three dead Thais were killed by shrapnel-Yuen Takham, 64, Siwaporn
Ruechaitrakul, 15, and a Thai-Karen girl known only as Beda, 15.
The fierce clash forced about 750 residents to flee the village and seek
refuge with their relatives and friends living outside Ban Muen Ruechai The
village was later reinforced by an estimated 100 soldiers and heavy weaponry
from the 4th Infantry Regiment.
There were reports that Karen guerrillas were still entrenched in an area
opposite Nam Muen Ruechai last night.
It was assumed they were waiting for reinforcements before launching a
fresh attack.
Charoen Korkijpaiboon, the village head, said the raid on Ban Muen Ruechai
might be in retaliation for a recent attack on a DKBA warehouse in Myawaddy town
across the Moei river by anti-Rangoon rebels of the Karen National Union, or the
recent seizure of more than 10 million methamphetamine pills smuggled into
Thailand.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 02,
2001.
SURAKIART IN BURMA : Overtures
rejected
Foreign minister's efforts to ease border tensions draw cool response from
Rangoon in wake of latest accusation
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai's fence-mending mission to Burma was
doomed to failure, with Rangoon remaining cool to Thai efforts to ease tensions,
a government source said yesterday.
Surakiart told Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra by telephone that the
Burmese response was less forthcoming than he had hoped and that higher-level
talks may be necessary, the source said.
Surakiart began his first official visit to Burma yesterday, holding
informal talks with the ruling State Peace and Development Council's
intelligence chief, Kyin Nyunt, and Foreign Minister Win Aung.
He also toured the northern capital of Mandalay and Rangoon's Shwedagon
pagoda. Today he is scheduled to call on junta leader Gen Than Swe.
His visit, which follows the Asean foreign ministers' retreat in Rangoon,
had already been marred by Rangoon's latest accusation: that the Thai Army fired
shots into Burma to protect Shan rebels fleeing Burmese troops.
Meanwhile, Deputy Defence Minister Yuthasak Sasiprapha confirmed that
Deputy Prime Minister Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh had asked Army Third Region
Commander Lt Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong to use less aggressive tactics toward
Burma to help efforts aimed at resolving problems related to drug trafficking
and rising tensions along the border.
Yuthasak said many simmering issues, if aggravated, had the potential to
increase mistrust between the two countries. "If the border situation is tense,
then our chances of forging a better understanding with Burma are slim," he
said.
Burmese troops' encroachment on Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai province in
February during a flanking attack on Shan rebels enraged Wattanachai. Backed by
the government's stepped-up campaign to stem the flow of drugs from areas
controlled by Rangoon-allied ethnic Wa soldiers, the commander said an estimated
700 million methamphetamine pills churned out in jungle refineries inside Burma
flowed into Thailand each year.
The Third Army Region command later directed several operations to seize
methamphetamines and heroin produced in Burma.
In the latest move, the Army fired several shots across the Burmese border
as a warning to Burmese troops fighting the Shan rebels, who are based opposite
Chiang Mai's Fang district, not to fire shells into Thai territory. Rangoon
claimed the Thai firing was meant to provide cover for the rebels.
Yuthasak said Chavalit was concerned that the hard-line approach would
further aggravate the situation at the border, especially during the dry season,
when fighting inside Burma typically intensifies and often spills over into
Thailand.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - May 02,
2001.
Tak border raid kills three
villagers
A Rangoon-Backed armed group seeking revenge for the Thai Army's anti-drugs
offensive raided a village in the Northern province of Tak yesterday, killing
three Thai and Karen villagers and injuring seven, Thai military officials said.
About 50 fighters of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) crossed the
Moei River between Thailand and Burma and launched rocket-propelled grenades on
Molithai village, located in Phop Phra district, at about 4am.
The rebels exchanged fire with Thai forces stationed nearby for 20 minutes
before retreating to Burma.
The battle left two Thai soldiers injured, killed two DKBA rebels and
injured five. A girl, a young woman and an old man were killed. The injured
Thais were being treated at local hospitals.
Over 700 villagers, a mixture of Thai and Karen nationals living on both
sides of the border, were evacuated to a schoolhouse nearby and warned not to
return to the village due to fears of another attack.
Army spokesman Somkuan Saengpataranet condemned the attack, which claimed
the lives of innocent people, as "inhumane and a violation Thai sovereignty".
The attack heightened tension between the two countries after strings of
border skirmishes since the Thai Army launched an offensive to stem the flow of
drugs from areas under the control of Rangoon-allied armed rebels.
It came just over two weeks after the Army had seized two lots of
methamphetamine pills - one of 7.6 million tablets, and the other 6.1 million -
believed to have come from DKBA areas in two separate incidents at Ban Chong Kab
and Ban Ya Por in Phop Phra district on April 11 and 16.
The army expected another DKBA attack on a border area in a few days.
Meanwhile, Burmese troops yesterday retook two of three bases captured a
week ago by the Shan State Army opposite Fang district in the Northern province
of Chiang Mai.
The regained camps are Doi Hua Loan and Doi Hua Nok. The Burmese have yet
to retake the Pachee camp, but the Thai military expected it would fall
soon.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar, Pakistan to Cooperate in
Science, Technology
2001.05.02 09:43:33 YANGON, May 2 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar and Pakistan reached an agreement on science and technology
cooperation here Tuesday evening.
Representing respective countries, Myanmar Minister of Science and
Technology U Thaung and his Pakistani counterpart Atta ur Rehman signed
the agreement.
The event was witnessed by Senior-General Than Shwe, chairman of the
Myanmar State Peace and Development Council and prime minister, and
General Pervez Musharraf, visiting Pakistani chief executive and chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee and army chief.
Musharraf arrived here on Tuesday afternoon for his three-day
official visit to Myanmar for the first time at the invitation of Than
Shwe.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Wednesday, 2 May, 2001, 07:11
GMT 08:11 UK
Musharraf meets Burmese counterpart The Pakistani military ruler, General Pervez Musharraf, has held talks with
the leader of the Burmese military government, General Than Shwe, on enhancing
economic cooperation between the two countries.
Their talks also included the issue of regional peace and the need for frequent contacts between Islamabad and Rangoon. General Musharraf is visiting Burma as part of a two-nation tour of
south-east Asia.
After Burma, he goes on to Vietnam.
Correspondents say General Musharraf's visit has given rise to speculation
that Burma is looking to buy more weapons from Pakistan.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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