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BURMA RELATED NEWS - June 12,
2001.
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HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Rights Group Says Myanmar Still Using
Forced Labor
Reuters - Myanmar still using forced labour,
rights group says
AFP - Amnesty, Human Rights Watch say forced
labor persists in Myanmar
AFP - Myanmar forces seize huge methamphetamine
haul on Mekong
AP - ILO To Assess Myanmar's Progress On Curbing
Forced Labor
AP - 41 Nations Using Child
Soldiers
Reuters - Myanmar has one of the highest child
soldiers rates in the world
BBC - Forced labour mission off to
Burma
JT - Spirit travel on Myanmar's Mount Olympus
The Nation - PM to
push trade and trust
Bkk Post - Burmese raid river boat, seize 9m
pills
Bkk Post - Chavalit to meet top
brass
Bkk Post - POSTBAG -
Gen Chavalit's true colours
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Exports Opium-Substitute
Crop to Japan
ST - Thai general warns of Myanmar
build-up
---------------------------------------------------------------- Monday June 11 11:41 PM ET
Rights Group Says Myanmar Still Using Forced Labor WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Myanmar
was still using forced labor as recently as May, despite the military
government's official ban on the practice eight months ago, Human Rights Watch
said on Monday.
The rights group urged business and labor leaders and member states of the
International Labor Organization to press the government of Myanmar, also known
as Burma, to enforce the Oct. 27, 2000, ban.
It said in a statement that Burmese officials should allow independent
monitors to verify compliance with the ban. The group urged foreign companies
from investing in the country until forced labor had ceased -- and independent
monitors could verify that.
``The international community should keep up the pressure, and until all
forced labor is ended and this has been independently verified, foreign
companies should refrain from investing in Burma,'' said Sidney Jones, executive
director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch said migrants entering Thailand from Mon, Karen and
Arakan States, and Pegu and Rangoon Divisions of Myanmar said they had
personally taken part in or had witnessed forced labor between February and May
2001.
One migrant from the city of Martaban told the rights group that in late
April a local official had forced him and a group of others -- including workers
as young as 10 years old -- to dig trenches.
The migrant said several of the 20 military police supervising the work
struck two men with batons and kicked them, Human Rights Watch reported.
Myanmar issued its ban on forced labor in October. Previous orders
prohibiting the practice in 1995 and 1999 were never enforced.
Human Rights Watch said it had found no evidence of even one case where a
Burmese official had been sanctioned for violating the ban on forced labor.
Public awareness of the ban was also limited, it said.
Finally, it noted that no international monitoring was allowed to ensure
that the ban was being enforced.
The State Department in February criticized Myanmar for harshly repressing
its citizens by denying them the most basic social and political freedoms.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday June 12, 12:04 PM
Myanmar still using forced labour,
rights group says
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Myanmar was still using forced labour as recently as May, despite the military government's official ban on the practice eight months ago, Human Rights Watch said on Monday. The rights group urged business and labour leaders and member states of the
International Labour Organization to press the government of Myanmar, also known
as Burma, to enforce the Oct. 27, 2000, ban.
It said in a statement that Burmese officials should allow independent
monitors to verify compliance with the ban. The group urged foreign companies
from investing in the country until forced labour had ceased -- and independent
monitors could verify that.
"The international community should keep up the pressure, and until all
forced labour is ended and this has been independently verified, foreign
companies should refrain from investing in Burma," said Sidney Jones, executive
director of the Asia division of Human Rights Watch.
Human Rights Watch said migrants entering Thailand from Mon, Karen and
Arakan States, and Pegu and Rangoon Divisions of Myanmar said they had
personally taken part in or had witnessed forced labour between February and May
2001.
One migrant from the city of Martaban told the rights group that in late
April a local official had forced him and a group of others -- including workers
as young as 10 years old -- to dig trenches.
The migrant said several of the 20 military police supervising the work
struck two men with batons and kicked them, Human Rights Watch reported.
Myanmar issued its ban on forced labour in October. Previous orders
prohibiting the practice in 1995 and 1999 were never enforced.
Human Rights Watch said it had found no evidence of even one case where a
Burmese official had been sanctioned for violating the ban on forced labour.
Public awareness of the ban was also limited, it said.
Finally, it noted that no international monitoring was allowed to ensure
that the ban was being enforced.
The U.S. State Department in February criticized Myanmar for harshly
repressing its citizens by denying them the most basic social and political
freedoms. ---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday June 12, 8:34 PM
Amnesty, Human Rights Watch say forced
labor persists in Myanmar
BANGKOK, June 12 (AFP) - Amnesty International and Human Rights WatchTuesday denounced the use of forced labor in Myanmar, saying the brutal practice persisted there despite an official ban introduced last year. "If Burmese (Myanmar) authorities are serious about ending forced labor,
they should mount a nationwide program to enforce their own ban," the US-based
HRW said in a statement.
Amnesty said ethnic minority groups were a particular target for forced
labor, especially in disputed zones where armed opposition groups continue to
fight the military.
"The military frequently forces men, women and children from ethnic
minorities to carry heavy loads over tough terrain for days or weeks at a time
or to work on construction projects," it said in a statement.
"Hundreds have died from exhaustion and beatings."
The ruling State Peace and Development Council last year introduced
legislation making forced labor a criminal offense, in a bid to head off a
damning International Labor Organisation (ILO) resolution.
The ILO nevertheless called on its members to review their ties with
Myanmar, an unprecedented step that paved the way for possible sanctions.
HRW said that as recently as May, migrants coming into Thailand from
Myanmar said they had taken part or witnessed forced labor projects overseen by
military police who beat villagers to make them work faster.
Some of the workers were just 10 years old, the witnesses told HRW.
The rights group said it is "not aware of a single case in which a Burmese
(Myanmar) official has been sanctioned for violating the order ... which
provides for a penalty of up to one year in prison, a fine or both."
HRW urged business, labor leaders and ILO member states "to press the
Burmese government to take immediate action to enforce the October 27 ban and
verify compliance through regular access to Myanmar by independent
monitors.
Myanmar's relations with the ILO have thawed since the November resolution,
which prompted the generals in Yangon to declare they would completely withdraw
cooperation with the organisation.
In May, an ILO technical team made an unpublicised visit to Myanmar to
negotiate an accord on the eradication of forced labor, and another visit is to
take place in September.
The ILO said last week that the September mission, which could last three
weeks, is to review the impact of steps taken by Myanmar to end forced
labour.
Members of its Committee for the Application of Standards insisted the team
be granted "broad powers, access to regions and information and witnesses, and
that there be protection for those witnesses."
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday June 12, 7:24 PM
Myanmar forces seize huge
methamphetamine haul on Mekong
YANGON, June 12 (AFP) - Myanmar said Tuesday it had made a massive drugs haul, seizing a huge number of methamphetamine pills from a boat travelling down the Mekong river to the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai. "On June 10, Myanmar law enforcement officials searched a foreign vessel
travelling down the Mekong to Chiang Mai," said an official statement. "The team
seized a huge number of methamphetamine pills."
Earlier Thai reports put the number of pills seized at nine million and
said they had been found aboard a Chinese boat.
Minister in the prime minister's office Thammarak Issarangkul na Ayuthaya
welcomed the Myanmar's interception of the stimulant drug known here as "ya ba",
or "crazy medicine."
"The amount of ya ba seized is quite enormous, and this clearly
demonstrates Burma's determination to tackle this problem," he told the Bangkok
Post, using Myanmar's former name.
Thammarak, who is responsible for the government's anti-drug drive, said he
was confident Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's visit to Myanmar this month
heralded a new era of cooperation on border and drugs issues.
The neighbours have been bickering for months over who is responsible for
the rampant border narcotics trade that produces much of the world's opium and
methamphetamines.
A naval source told the Post that the latest seizure confirmed suspicions
that traffickers were using the Mekong as a new transport route for drugs and
the chemicals needed to manufacture them.
The vessel's captain and about 10 crew members were taken to the Myanmar
side of the border for questioning, police in Chiang Mai told the daily.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday June 12, 5:21 AM
ILO To Assess Myanmar's Progress On
Curbing Forced Labor
GENEVA (AP)--The International
Labor Organization said Monday it would send a team of investigators to Myanmar
to assess progress in stopping forced labor in the country.
The ILO "welcomed Myanmar's decision to renew cooperation" with the
organization, but "deplored the lack of progress in eliminating forced labor,"
said John Doohan, spokesman for the U.N. labor agency.
Legal changes in Myanmar aimed at stopping the use of forced labor were "a
relevant but insufficient basis" for improving the situation there, Doohan said.
The ILO wanted to see legislation applied in good faith, he said.
In an unprecedented move last November, the ILO urged its 175 member
governments to impose sanctions and review their dealings with Myanmar to ensure
they are not abetting forced labor.
The body left it up to individual governments, organizations and labor
unions to determine what they will do.
The ILO reached agreement earlier this month with the Myanmar government on
a visit by an assessment team in September. But the final decision to send the
team was taken during the ILO annual conference, which began last week and runs
until June 21.
The team is expected to report back to the ILO governing body in November.
Myanmar's military rulers have won support from fellow Southeast Asian
nations that say they are serious about ending the use of forced labor.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday June 12, 9:56 PM
41 Nations Using Child
Soldiers
By SUSANNA LOOF, Associated Press Writer JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AP)
- More than 300,000 children - some as young as 7 - are fighting as soldiers in
41 countries, an international children's rights group said in a report released
Tuesday.
They are being used as front-line fighters, minesweepers, spies, porters
and sex slaves, according to the report by the Coalition to Stop the Use of
Child Soldiers. Children are often forced to guard the oil and diamond fields
that finance African insurgencies.
``Every child with an AK-47, however small they are, as long as they can
hold up that weapon, is turned into an effective killer,'' coalition spokeswoman
Judit Arenas said at a news conference Tuesday.
Governments recruit children to fight because of ``their very qualities as
children - they can be cheap, expendable and easier to condition into fearless
killing and unthinking obedience,'' the report said.
Though the number of child soldiers worldwide has not changed much in
recent years, the number of countries where they are used has increased to 41
from about 30 three years ago, Arenas said.
Africa's wars involve more than 120,000 children, the report said, while
Myanmar, the southeast Asian country also known as Burma, has the world's
highest number of child soldiers - 50,000.
Rebels in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea use child soldiers, and
children are fighting in conflicts in Macedonia and Colombia, it said.
The use of child soldiers has decreased in the Middle East and Latin
America as conflicts there have ended.
Mohammed, 17, was forcibly recruited to fight in Ethiopia when he was 15.
He recalled a 1999 battle in the report.
``It was very bad. They put all the 15- and 16-year-olds in the front line
while the army retreated. I was with 40 other kids. I was fighting for 24 hours.
When I saw that only three of my friends were alive, I ran back,'' said the boy,
who was identified with only one name.
Even countries not at war have problems, Arenas said. Children of Kurdish
descent in Sweden and Turkey are being recruited to return to their ancestral
land and fight for Kurdish independence, she said.
Most child soldiers are 15 to 18 years old, but cases of soldiers as young
as 7 are listed in the report, the first global survey of its kind.
Child soldiers are often given drugs to make them fearless. A 14-year-old
rebel soldier in Sierra Leone said those who refused the drugs were killed,
according to the report.
The U.N. General Assembly adopted a protocol in May 2000 calling on
governments to prevent troops younger than 18 from taking part in combat. The
United Nations says 79 countries have signed the treaty, but only six have
ratified it.
In 87 countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom,
children are recruited into government armed forces, paramilitaries, civil
militia and non-state armed groups, though they are not necessarily used in
combat. The United States allows voluntary enlistment at 17.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday June 12 7:18 AM ET
Report Slams Use of Child Soldiers By Mike Collett-White LONDON (Reuters) - Hundreds of
thousands of children, some only seven, are fighting in conflicts around the
world and Britain is one of the countries that sends troops into battle under
the age of 18, a report said Tuesday.
The survey by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers found that
more than 300,000 children under 18 were fighting for government forces or
opposition groups at any one time.
While most child soldiers are aged between 15 and 18, the youngest recorded
in the Child Soldiers Global Report is seven.
``Unfortunately, children are still being seen as expendable commodities
that can be deployed for military purposes,'' coalition spokeswoman Judith
Arenas said.
``Often children are recruited because of their very qualities as children
-- they can be cheap, expendable and easier to condition into fearless killing
and unthinking obedience,'' the report added.
It found 120,000 minors were participating in conflicts across Africa.
Among the worst countries in recent years were Angola, Burundi, the Democratic
Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sudan and
Uganda.
In Sierra Leone up to 30 percent of state-backed Citizens Defense Forces in
some areas are between seven and 14 years old while in Burundi and Rwanda
military schools appear to serve as backdoor recruitment centers for tens of
thousands of children.
In Uganda, the Lord's Resistance Army ``abducted children from their
schools, communities and homes to camps in Sudan, forcing them to commit
atrocities and become sexual slaves.''
A recent Reuters report on LRA captives returning home to Uganda said that
children, some as young as six, were forced to hack to death fellow child
captives who tried to escape.
ASIA IS PROBLEM REGION
The report also found widespread child participation in armed conflicts
across Asia, naming the worse affected countries as Afghanistan, Myanmar, Sri
Lanka and Cambodia. Myanmar has one of the highest
child soldiers rates in the world, it said.
In Sri Lanka, The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had mobilized
special battalions of teenage girls and boys, some as young as 10.
The report said that 49 children, including 32 girls between 11 and 15,
were among 140 LTTE personnel killed in a battle with security forces in October
1999.
The report also turned its fire on developed countries, including Britain
which it said was the only European country routinely to send 17-year-olds into
combat.
``Britain routinely insists on deploying troops before the age of 18,''
Arenas said.
``It is recruiting youths who have just left school without many
qualifications, and so must ask itself whether it is really getting the best
soldiers it could.''
A spokeswoman for the Ministry of Defense, which is struggling to recruit
and retain personnel, said British forces did their utmost to avoid sending
under-18 troops into battle, although it happened in the Falklands and Gulf
conflicts.
She said that around 5,500 troops out of a total strength of 200,000 were
under 18, of whom only 1,000 were trained and therefore eligible to be sent to
fight.
The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers wants all countries to set
18 as the minimum age for military recruitment.
---------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 12 June, 2001, 14:25
GMT 15:25 UK
Forced labour mission off to Burma By regional analyst Larry Jagan
The International Labour Organisation is keeping up the pressure on Burma
to stop the use of forced labour.
The ILO has decided to go ahead with a planned three-week visit to Burma,
to assess progress towards eliminating forced labour.
Analysts say the make-up and the itinerary of the ILO delegation will be
determined by Burma's leaders.
The annual meeting in Geneva decided on Monday to maintain its resolution
adopted last year when it called on member countries to consider taking tougher
action against Burma - including possible trade sanctions.
Burma had asked for this to be dropped.
Monitoring team
The international community wants to impress on Burma that it regards the
use of forced labour as unacceptable.
But according to the senior legal advisor at the ILO, the organisation's
policy cannot be changed until mid-2003 at the very earliest.
And that, he said, would depend on the recommendations made after the next
mission to Burma.
Last month, a senior ILO delegation visited Burma and were told that they
could send an extensive monitoring team to the country, for up to three weeks in
September, to review government's efforts to eliminate forced labour.
But analysts are concerned that the agreement effectively allows the
generals to decide the membership of the delegation and where they go.
The mission will not be allowed to go places which the generals regard as a
security risk.
Witness protection
Analysts also fear that there is no protection for witnesses who provide
testimony to the delegation.
This is always the case when the UN special rapporteur interviews people in
Burma, a senior UN official told the BBC.
ILO sources told the BBC that while the mission will spend only three weeks
in Burma, it will also visit border areas, particularly in Thailand interviewing
refugees on forced labour and the confiscation of land.
The ILO meeting concluded that one or two missions would not be sufficient
to determine whether Burma had begun to eliminate the problem - what was needed
was a process.
Privately the ILO says it wants to work towards setting up a permanent
presence in Rangoon to effectively monitor the military government's action on
forced labour.
The real test, according to the ILO, is whether the government punishes
anyone found guilty of using forced labour.
Labour organistions and human rights groups all say they have evidence that
the use of forced labour in Burma is still endemic.
Human Rights Watch Asia says the army still uses forced labour to dig
trenches and to build other military installations.
Anyone who refuses is arrested and beaten, they say.
But for Rangoon the issue of forced labour hasn't been shelved until after
the next ILO mission - the UN's Economic and Social Council will discuss the
issue when it meets in Geneva in July.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Japan Times: June 12,
2001
NATS TO YOU
Spirit travel on Myanmar's Mount Olympus By HUGH and MIDORI PAXTON
Mang Po To was eaten by a tiger, Mintha Maung Shin fell to his death from a
swing, and instead of putting down a rebellion, She Sit Thin squandered his time
cockfighting and was subsequently buried alive by his furious father. Even more
peculiar was the passing of King Mingaun, who succumbed to a combination of
dysentery and "the strong smell of onions."
Herbalists in the towns at the foot of Myanmar's Mount Popa offer all the ingredients needed to placate or fend off angry nats. All the above individuals are unquestionably dead, but live on as nats -- powerful and potentially malevolent Burmese goblins or spirits. Although Myanmar (as Burma is now known) is devoutly Buddhist, bristles
with pagodas and boasts at least half a million registered monks, the 37 major
nats (not to mention countless thousands of minor nats) still exert a potent
grip on the popular imagination.
To stay on the right side of a nat, make an offering. Myanmar has countless
little shrines for just that purpose. Nats (some of them) will accept almost
anything: alcoholic palm toddy, hard currency, cheroots, fruit.
Pork and beef are not offered, though, for fear of offending certain Muslim
and Hindu nats. The crocodile nat is a harpist and a determined vegetarian. Woe
betide you if a shred of meat gets into his fried vegetables.
Offending nats is a no-no. Cholera, fire or crocodile attack are typical
nat-ish tricks. So are car crashes, which is why people drive carefully around a
certain nat-haunted banyan tree on the Yangon airport road.
Nats can be encountered anywhere in the country, but the spiritual heart of
the nat-worshipping cult is Mount Popa, Myanmar's Mount Olympus, an extinct
volcano that thrusts very abruptly from the central lowland plains. It is a
botanist's paradise and a wildlife refuge.
The temple of Taling Kalat helps keep Mount Popa's nats contained.
Some nats were allegedly born on Popa, emerging from a cave in a nearby volcanic plug. Other nats, no doubt attracted by the cool, refreshing temperatures, were drawn to Popa from the simmering heat of the plains. Where nats are, so too are nat appeasers. The valleys below Mount Popa are
scattered with shrines and temples to appease nats and pre-empt calamities. The
most spectacularly ornate temple clings to the top of the 737-meter Taling Kalat
volcanic plug like a gilded barnacle.
If you enjoy being kept awake by gongs and chants to appease nats, there
are several guesthouses in the raucous village of magicians and medicinal-plant
salesmen that sits at the foot of the Taling Kalat plug. Alternatively, you can
sleep easy at the Mount Popa resort, an ecotouristic spread of cabins and
boardwalks set in thick forest on the higher slopes of Mount Popa.
The ambience is spectacular. Myanmar stretches away muffled in subtle and
smoky mists; sunlight gleams on the golden spires of the Taling Kalat Temple;
vividly colored birds flute from the balcony; and the nat-appeasing chants,
while audible, are a distant, exotic murmur.
During the heat of the day, when the lowlands are obscured by a smoky,
yellow haze, the mountain seems to be floating in a dreamlike sea. It's tempting
to do nothing at all but eat, drink and enjoy the views.
The resort's kitchen offers Thai food (but no pork -- the nats will not
tolerate pork on their mountain). Swimming in the resort's pool was forbidden
after monks from Taling Kalat objected that it was disrespectful for people to
frolic about at an elevation superior to the Taling Kalat Temple. After being
invited to free feasts at the resort, the monks changed their position. Swimming
is now OK.
If one feels duty-bound to do something at the resort, you could visit the
Department of Forestry's nearby museum. It is not that interesting. Just
outside, though, is a series of gardens filled with medicinal plants found on
Mount Popa. There are literally hundreds of them, and sick people from all over
the country flock to Popa's herbalists.
Climbing the Taling Kalat Temple plug is less terrifying than it appears
from a distance. Twenty minutes' climb up mainly covered staircases should get
you to the top comfortably. Climbing Mount Popa (1,518 meters) is equally
stimulating. The Forestry Department has declared 130 sq. km of Popa and 100 sq.
km of its surrounding environs a special reserve, and has cut various trails and
a circular 32-km track that girdles the lower slopes of Popa.
Popa is biologically diverse. Besides the wild medicinal plants, it has
orchids and five types of forest that culminate in pine stands on the crater
rim. Natural inhabitants also include wild boar, jungle cats (Felis chaus),
deer, several types of monkey and 140 species of birds.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation - June 12,
2001.
PM to push trade and trust
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will ask Laos to participate in joint
patrols along the Mekong River to enhance bilateral cooperation on fighting
cross-border drug trafficking, a government spokesman said yesterday.
The proposal is among topics Thaksin plans to raise when he visits the
country tomorrow and on Thursday as part of his Asean familiarisation tour,
which will also take him to Cambodia and Burma next week, according to spokesman
Yongyuth Tiyapairaj.
Laos wants Thailand to cease its two-decade-old river patrol, which it says
poses a security threat. But Thailand maintains the patrols can help both
countries guard against illegal cross-border activities, particularly contraband
and drug smuggling.
Yongyuth said the prime minister will also seek Laotian leaders' support
for a four-party drug summit to be held in Kunming, China, an initiative he
proposed to Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji last month to fight drug smuggling
originating mainly in Burma.
Other topics on the agenda include cooperation on energy and the
development of trade routes linking Thailand with Vietnam and China via Laos,
the spokesman said.
The Mukdahan-Savannakhet-Danang route was expected to become the main one
for agricultural and industrial exports from Thailand and Laos to Pacific-rim
countries, he said.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Thaksin would discuss the
inauguration of ministerial-level talks among the countries involved leading to
the establishment of special economic zones along the route.
An informed source said that according to the Foreign Ministry, chances
were slim that any help could be extended to former New Aspiration Party MP Pol
Lt Capt Suratin Bhimanmek, convicted of espionage recently by a Laotian
court.
According to the source, intelligence reports suggest he is accountable for
several misdeeds, so any help the government extended would have to be carefully
thought out.
Yongyuth said Thaksin would reiterate that Thailand would not allow itself
to be used to sabotage neighbouring states.
Surakiart said Thaksin's visit to Cambodia would be historic, as two
agreements are expected to be signed. One is a cooperation agreement to
demarcate overlapping sea borders and launch joint exploration of oil and gas
reserves. The other is a framework for economic cooperation.
Thaksin's trips to Laos, Cambodia and Burma were discussed at an
inter-agency meeting yesterday to map out government strategies towards
neighbouring countries.
Yongyuth said the trips would emphasis four points: economic cooperation,
trade, tourism and trust-building. However, the meeting adjourned before
Thaksin's trip to Burma was covered.
However, Thaksin said he would go ahead with a trip to Burma despite
objections from academics over its timing. Surakiart was confident that frank
talks between leaders of the two countries would clear up any mutual suspicion
and misunderstanding.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - June 12,
2001.
METHAMPHETAMINES
Burmese raid river boat, seize 9m
pills
'Welcome indication of co-operation' Sermsuk Kasitipradit, Wassana Nanuam and Teerawat Kamtida
Burmese security forces seized nine million methamphetamine pills from a
Chinese vessel on its way down the Mekong river to Chiang Rai's Chiang Saen port
on Sunday, PM's Office Minister Thammarak Issarangkul na Ayuthaya said last
night.
The boat, loaded with agricultural products from China, was searched while
it was moored at Mueng Pong in Burma, opposite Mueng Mom in Laos.
Gen Thammarak, who is responsible for the government's drug suppression
drive, said he was pleasantly surprised by the seizure.
"The amount of ya ba seized is quite enormous, and this clearly
demonstrates Burma's determination to tackle this problem," he said.
It was earlier reported that 900 kilogrammes of precursor chemical were
seized from the vessel.
Gen Thammarak, who last month led Thai delegation for the UN-organized drug
meeting in Rangoon, said the seizure was methamphetamines.
He was confident the coming visit to Burma by Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra this month would mark a new era of border co-operation, especially
against drugs.
Gen Thammarak last month led a Thai delegation to a United
Nations-organised drug meeting in Rangoon.
"During my trip to Burma last month, I was convinced by my meeting with
senior Burmese officials that our premier's trip will be a great achievement for
this government," said the former chief of the armed forces security
centre.
Gen Thammarak, who will accompany Mr Thaksin to Rangoon on June 19-20, said
the drug problem could not be effectively tackled unless "we get full
co-operation from our friends."
He was hopeful the misunderstanding and mistrust between the two countries
would be resolved during Mr Thaksin's visit.
He was confident the visit would mark a new era of border co-operation
between Thailand and Burma.
A naval source said the drug seizure on Sunday confirmed reports that
traffickers were using the river as a new route for drugs and precursor
chemicals shipped directly from Burma.
A police source in Chiang Rai said the vessel's captain and about 10
members of the crew were taken to Tachilek, opposite Mae Sai, in Chiang Rai
province, for questioning by Burmese authorities.
The boat which was raided is known locally in Chiang Saen as the Shiang Hai
Nie Haow.
It is reportedly owned by a Chinese man named "Yang" who resides in Chiang
Mai's Fang district.
"We are checking his connections in Chiang Saen," a local police officer
said.
Chiang Saen port is a transit point for Chinese goods shipped from China
down the Mekong river.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Junw 12,
2001.
Chavalit to meet top
brass
Drugs and border rows to top agenda Wassana Nanuam
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh flies to Rangoon on Monday to pave
the way for Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's visit later this month.
Gen Chavalit will meet Gen Than Shwe, chairman of the State Peace and
Development Council, Gen Maung Aye, the Burmese army commander, and Lt-Gen Khin
Nyunt, secretary one of the ruling State Peace and Development Council.
Major issues for discussion during Mr Thaksin's June 19-20 visit include
drug suppression and border demarcation.
Gen Sommai Wichaworn, armed forces chief-of-staff, was in Rangoon over the
weekend for preliminary talks on arrangements.
Mr Thaksin wants to sign a memorandum of understanding on drugs, but Burma
wants Thailand to acknowledge it is not to blame for a drug production base.
Rangoon also wants an admission that many of the chemicals and equipment used in
drug production come from Thailand.
Thailand also plans to propose the demilitarisation of the disputed
one-square-kilometre Kuteng Nayong area, in Mae Sai district of Chiang Rai, and
a permanent ceasefire in the 32-square-kilometre Doi Lang area of Mae Ai
district, Chiang Mai, pending demarcation.
Meanwhile, the two sides have agreed to stop criticising each other through
the media, a source said.
Army commander Gen Surayud Chulanont has also instructed Third Army chief
Lt-Gen Watanachai Chaimuanwong to maintain the peace in border areas to improve
the atmosphere for the coming talks.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - June 12,
2001.
POSTBAG - Gen Chavalit's true
colours
Billy Roland
In his recent comments that foreign journalists should not meddle in
Thai-Burma issues which they don't understand, Gen Chavalit Yongchaiyudh once
again shows his true colours. Rather than try to defend his pro-Burma stance
born of his friendship with the SPDC's generals (and the economic opportunities
that friendship offers to him and his cronies), Gen Chavalit tries to once again
blame the foreigners for meddling where they don't belong.
How pathetic. His call for journalistic ethics is clearly, in his mind, a
gag rule where he wants the foreign press to toe the line of the Thai press as
in the past, that is, if someone in power says not to report on a sensitive
subject, they don't.
If Gen Chavalit took the time to read the Thai Constitution of 1997, he
would see clearly that freedom of _expression_ and freedom of the media are
explicitly guaranteed.
Retrogressive and repressive attitudes such as that which Gen Chavalit
continually displays are out of step with Thailand's march toward fuller
democracy with active citizen participation, as outlined in the
constitution.
Gen Chavalit is clearly from a bygone age, and should seriously consider
retiring and allowing more suitable, democratically-inclined politicians in New
Aspiration party to step forward and take the reins of power.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Exports Opium-Substitute
Crop to Japan
2001.06.12 10:34:05 YANGON, June 12 (Xinhuanet) --
Myanmar has exported 54 tons of buckwheat, a kind of opium-substitute
crop, to Japan under a sale contract reached earlier this month between
the two countries.
According to the Myanmar Ministry of Commerce Tuesday, the state-run
Myanma Five Star Line vessel with the 54 tons of buckwheat left the Yangon
Port on Sunday.
The contract to export Myanmar's buckwheat to Japan was signed
between the Myanma Agricultural Produce Trading of the ministry and the
Japan International Corporation Agency on June 4.
Meanwhile, earlier in February, Myanmar also reached a memorandum of
understanding with Japan to purchase 20 tons of buckwheat seeds from Japan
for cultivation of the crop in northern Shan state of the country.
In 1992, Myanmar and Japan agreed to substitute opium poppy with
buckwheat in Myanmar's poppy-growing northern Shan state and it was
realized in 1997 with trial cultivation successfully conducted in the
state's Tarshwetang area.
Cultivation of opium-substitute crops plays a key role in tackling
the food problem of these poppy-growing areas as well as in consolidating
Myanmar's achievements made in drug control.
According to official statistics, in 2000, the cultivated areas of
poppy-substitute crops in Kokang area of northern Shan state reached
17,520 hectares, of which buckwheat took up 1,320 hectares, while sugar cane
represented 16,200 hectares.
The growing of the crops were greatly assisted by Japan and
China.
It is also reported that a plan is underway by Myanmar and Japan to
cultivate opium-substitute crops in Myanmar's northern Shan state covering
an area of 35,962 hectares.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The Straits Times - June 12,
2001.
Thai general warns of Myanmar
build-up
'Two-thirds of its forces are on the border with Thailand' CHIANG MAI - Myanmar is on a war footing, warned a Thai general who said
Yangon had posted two-thirds of its 500,000-strong army on the border.
Speaking at a seminar on Thai-Myanmar relations, General Charnchai
Sun-Thornket, deputy chief of staff of the 3rd Army Region, said 2 per cent of
Yangon's GDP is spent on building up the military.
'The Myanmar army build-up is approaching 500,000 men. Two-thirds of its
forces are posted on the Thai border,' he added.
The general's comments were in sharp contrast to the views expressed by
academics and businessmen at the seminar, who said the problems could be
solved.
They said that perceptions were to be blamed for the deteriorating ties
between the two countries.
Gen Charnchai said: 'Local problems, no matter how good the relationship
among the people, cannot be solved if the solution is not initiated from the
top.'
Representatives of the business community said that people from the two
countries still crossed borders regularly and did business with each
other.
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