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BURMA RELATED NEWS - July 20,
2001.
----------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
---------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar junta disappointed over Suu
Kyi no-show on Martyrs Day
Reuters - Myanmar regrets Suu Kyi snub of
national ceremony AP - Asean Struggles
With Challenges To Cohesion, Relevance
AP - Vietnam Asks Asean To Help Poorer Members
In Econ Devt
AFP - Cornering the
small arms market in northeast India
AFP - ASEAN steers clear of
missile defence row
AFP - US slowdown highlights
case for Asian reform: ASEAN chief
Reuters - ASEAN official
says slowdown won't block assistance plan
BBC - Burmese government
regrets no show
Bkk Post - Inbrief - Refugee
help
SCMP - Breakdown of
talks seen in no-show
The Independent -
Myanmar building its development
base
----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday July 20, 3:52 PM
Myanmar junta disappointed over Suu Kyi no-show on
Martyrs Day
YANGON, July 20 (AFP) - Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's
absence from an annual ceremony marking her father's 1947 assassination was
regrettable but it respected her decision not to attend, the Myanmar junta said
Friday.
"Yes, we expected Aung San Suu Kyi to attend the
Martyrs' Day ceremony," a senior spokesman for the regime told AFP in a
statement.
"The nation regrets her absence and the government has
nothing to say but to respect her decision."
Speculation over whether Aung San Suu Kyi would attend
Thursday's ceremony at Yangon's Shwedagon pagoda raged ahead of Martyrs' Day,
which commemorates the deaths of national founder General Aung San and eight
other leaders.
The Nobel laureate, who has been held under loose house
arrest since September, chose to send a high-level delegation to represent her,
in a gesture which fell short of a snub to the military government.
Diplomats and political observers said the opposition
leader's move appeared to be directed at the house arrest restrictions rather
than the historic talks with the junta which she embarked on last
October.
"She's sending messages about her own situation as much
as anything else," one diplomat said.
"And it was interesting the choice was to let the NLD
(National League for Democracy) be represented by people who were actually free
to travel. I think she's making a point there."
Speculation that the no-show was a sign the talks have
completely broken down was off the mark, he said.
Another diplomat agreed, saying talk of a renewed rift
between the two sides on Myanmar's political divide was a "storm in a
teacup."
The spokesman for the country's ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) said Aung San Suu Kyi had been expected to attend
precisely because the contacts were progressing well.
"On account of the recent positive developments taking
place between the SPDC government and the NLD party, the government believes
that the road for better understanding and cooperation has been paved
optimistically, anticipating for the best," he said.
"In this regard, not only was the invitation officially
extended but transportation as well as an escort officer was being arranged for
maximum convenience."
However, observers in Yangon said the opposition leader
typically avoids any situation which may play into the junta's
hands.
"They do try to play games by getting her to do things
that give them more of a cloak of respectability than most people say they
deserve," one diplomat said.
"She certainly is not wanting the government to get
away with portraying anything she does as being the normal situation -- as long
as the situation is not normal," he added. ----------------------------------------------------------------
Friday July 20, 5:35 PM
Myanmar regrets Suu Kyi snub of national
ceremony
By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government said on Friday the nation regretted opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's absence at a national ceremony commemorating the murder of her father -- a snub widely seen as a political statement. Suu Kyi failed to show up at the official Martyrs' Day ceremony in Yangon
on Thursday, fuelling fears that landmark peace talks between the 56-year-old
Nobel Peace Prize winner and the ruling generals are in trouble.
"The nation regrets her absence and the government has nothing to say but
to respect her decision," a government spokesman said in a statement.
The government made clear it was surprised that Suu Kyi had boycotted the
event, which marks the 1947 assassination of her father, independence hero
General Aung San, and eight other cabinet ministers. They were killed during
Myanmar's transition to independence from Britain, when Suu Kyi was just two.
"The government expected Aung San Suu Kyi to attend the Martyrs' Day
ceremony," the government said. "In fact, upon the government's invitation, Aung
San Suu Kyi always attended this ceremony in recent years."
The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been holding
regular secret meetings with Suu Kyi since October in a bid to break the
political deadlock that has gripped the impoverished country for more than a
decade.
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990 by a
landslide but has never been allowed to govern.
OLIVE BRANCHES
No news on the progress of the talks has emerged, but the military has
extended several olive branches since the start of the talks, releasing more
than 150 detained NLD activists and allowing the party to reopen 18 of its
branch offices.
"On account of the recent positive developments taking place between the
SPDC government and the NLD party, the government believes that the road for
better understanding and cooperation has been paved (and is) optimistically
anticipating for the best," the government statement said.
"In this regard, not only was the invitation officially extended but
transportation as well as an escort officer was being arranged for her maximum
convenience."
Suu Kyi has been kept confined to her Yangon residence since September, out
of contact of even her closest aides. Only a handful of foreign diplomats have
been allowed to see her.
Earlier this year, diplomatic sources said the talks appeared to have
stalled, but subsequent prisoner releases and a visit by United Nations special
envoy Razali Ismail, who helped broker the dialogue, stirred hopes the
negotiations were still on track.
But given Suu Kyi's inability to make public comments on the talks, her
failure to attend the ceremony was seen by many diplomats as a signal to the
outside world that despite the government's olive branches, the two sides remain
far apart.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Friday July 20, 5:52 PM
Asean Struggles With Challenges To
Cohesion, Relevance
By PETER ENG
HANOI (AP)--A year ago, Southeast Asian nations inched toward a bold new approach to resolving regional conflicts such as those in Myanmar and Indonesia. And by hosting reclusive North Korea at multilateral security talks, they claimed success in helping mediate conflicts of global import. That new approach now lies bruised, with political progress in Myanmar
apparently stalled and Indonesia teetering toward chaos.
Senior Southeast Asian officials, who began several days of meetings in
Hanoi Friday, are facing a new challenge as well: how to manage relations with
the U.S. and China as the two powers jostle in an intensifying strategic
rivalry.
Southeast Asian nations know these conflicts are likely to worsen over
time, but have been unable to agree on how to resolve them. That's the dilemma
the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Nations face as the senior
officials prepare for an annual meeting of Asean foreign ministers next week.
That meeting will be followed by security talks with "dialogue partners"
including the U.S., China, Russia, the European Union, Japan, and South Korea.
At last year's meeting, in Bangkok, Asean agreed to Thailand's proposal to
quickly create a "troika" of Asean ministers to resolve political and security
problems of common concern in the region. That was a small but important step
away from Asean's tradition of scrupulously avoiding any "interference" in the
"internal affairs" of member states.
On everyone's mind was Myanmar, an Asean member. Its military government
has been accused of human rights abuses and political repression and has had
repeated border clashes with Thailand. It has complicated Asean's relations with
the U.S, the EU and other countries that have imposed sanctions on Myanmar.
A few months after the Bangkok meeting, U.N. Secretary-general Kofi Annan
asked Vietnam, Asean's current chairman, to activate the troika to help start a
dialogue between Myanmar's generals and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Vietnamese Vice Foreign Minister Le Cong Phung said Thursday that his country
rejected the idea after consulting with Myanmar and agreeing that outsiders
shouldn't "interfere" in its affairs.
Tension Between Authoritarian, Democratic
Members
That showed once again the tensions between Asean's democracies - Thailand, the Philippines and Indonesia - and its authoritarian states - including Myanmar and Communist-ruled Vietnam - as they struggle to shape the future of Southeast Asia. Myanmar's generals and Suu Kyi have begun talks - but thanks to mediation
by the United Nations, not Asean. And Asean has stayed quiet on the sidelines as
the talks apparently have bogged down in recent months.
And as President Abdurrahman Wahid of Indonesia clashes with political
opponents demanding his ouster, Asean has done little to head off possible civil
conflict in the largest and most strategically important Asean member - and the
huge shocks that surely would rumble across the region.
Instead, just as when East Timor descended into war, an Asean paralyzed by
tradition and inertia has left it to countries further afield, like Australia,
to take the lead.
"The central challenges for Asean are to maintain its cohesion and to speed
up its decision-making process," said Carl Thayer, an academic expert on Asean.
"Vietnam now leads an informal caucus of states that are politically closed and
that are opposed to any measure that reduces national sovereignty."
Things are unlikely to change soon. Under a rotating system, two other
autocratic member states, Brunei and then Cambodia, will chair Asean for a year
each after Vietnam steps down next week.
Thailand's new government has reigned in that country's push for a more
"interventionist" Asean. And the grouping's elder statesman is now Malaysia's
conservative Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who has just marked 20 years in
power.
Seeking to protect its native car industry, Malaysia also has complicated
plans to establish an Asean Free Trade Area. And the poorer autocratic states
simply can't keep up with the original tariff reduction schedule.
Meanwhile, Singapore, Asean's only postindustrial country, has decided to
"go it alone" by reaching bilateral trade agreements with countries outside
Asean. Thailand is following suit.
China Is Serious Competitor For Foreign Direct
Invest
This comes as Asean must figure out ways to attract foreign direct investment, which has shifted to China since Asia's economic crisis began in 1997. Asean's competitiveness in world markets will be even more severely challenged by China's expected entry into the World Trade Organization next year. And China remains assertive in its territorial claims to islands in the
South China Sea that several Asean members claim.
The drafting of a Code of Conduct for the South China Sea dispute will be
discussed next week at the Asean Regional Forum, a dialogue on security issues
which the major powers also will attend.
The forum may take a small first step toward considering how to prevent
conflicts from occurring, instead of merely talking about them.
But its attention is likely to center on efforts to further pacify North
Korea and patch up U.S.-China relations, frayed this year over a U.S. spy plane,
human rights issues, the Taiwan question and U.S. plans for a missile defense
system.
This past week, China and Russia signed a treaty of "friendship and
cooperation" that opposes the missile defense plans and more generally,
America's framework for security in the post-Cold War world.
All this has put Asean in the awkward position of having to accommodate the
ever-diverging demands of the U.S. and China, both of which it needs for
Southeast Asia's security and economic revival.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Friday July 20, 12:39 PM
Vietnam Asks Asean To Help Poorer
Members In Econ Devt
HANOI (AP)--Vietnam is urging
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, to help its poorer members
catch up with the rest of the grouping in economic development.
Asean should declare its commitment to this effort when its foreign
ministers hold their annual meeting starting Monday in Hanoi, Vietnam's Foreign
Minister Nguyen Dy Nien wrote in a special Asean issue of International Affairs
Review, published by his ministry.
Asean was formed in 1967. The four poorest members, Vietnam, Laos, Myanmar
and Cambodia, have joined in the past six years, constraining the group's
economic cooperation and integration and global competitiveness.
Nien said average annual per capita income in Vietnam's agriculture-based
economy is about $300 while in Singapore's technology-based economy it is more
than $25,000.
Nien proposed that Asean should:
-Do joint studies to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each economy
so they can complement one another and coordinate economic policies;
-Make comprehensive plans for regional and international economic
integration;
-Increase assistance to the poorer members, giving priority to
infrastructure, training and information technology;
-Increase efforts to develop areas such as the Mekong Basin; and
-Increase cooperation with other regions and countries, particularly China,
Japan and South Korea.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Friday July 20, 2:21 PM
Cornering the small arms market in
northeast India
AIZWAL, India, July 20 (AFP) -
India's fareastern borders, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, are a gun runner's
paradise.
A porous frontier, thick with forest and corrupt border guards, have turned
the area into one of the world's busiest small arms' bazaars, feeding
insurgencies and rebellions across South Asia.
"The illegal arms markets along the international borders are continuing to
flourish with new consignments arriving via Bangladesh and Myanmar regularly,"
Mizoram Chief minister Zoramthanga (one name) told AFP in an interview in the
state capital Aizawl.
The arms are brought into the states of Assam, Mizoram, Nagaland, Tripura
and Manipur, and most make their way to the 30-odd rebel groups operating in the
region.
"The international borders along the northeastern states are arms bazaars
for smugglers to sell weapons to the region's insurgent groups," the chief
minister said.
"Unless the international borders are fenced one cannot check the flow of
illegal arms reaching the hands of the underground outfits."
The chief minister was himself a top militant leader of the outlawed Mizo
National Front before the outfit surrendered in 1986 and entered the political
mainstream.
Militant groups such as the banned United Liberation Front of Assam, the
National Socialist Council of Nagaland and the All Tripura Tiger Force have long
purchased arms from the port town of Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh.
Most of the weapons, including AK-47 and AK-56 assault rifles, mortars,
40mm rocket launchers, pistols, revolvers and grenades, come via the Arakans --
a mountainous area in Myanmar -- from parts of Thailand and Cambodia.
"The arms consignments are often routed by sea through the Bay of Bengal to
its destination in the Arakan forest, which is across from Mizoram," the chief
minister said.
The area is controlled by Arakan insurgent groups opposed to the military
regime in Yangon.
The proliferation of smuggled weapons in South Asia, including India's
northeast, has been raised at the ongoing two-week conference at the United
Nations in New York on curbing the trade in small arms.
"Small arms are the weapons of choice in many of the small regional
insurgencies in Pakistan, Kashmir, Sri Lanka, or rebel movements in northeastern
India," Faruq Faisel, a spokesman for the South Asia Partnership, which analyzes
regional security, said at the UN.
"The weapons are cheap and easy to operate even by children as young as 10
years old," Faisel said.
Methods of procuring the arms are also becoming more sophisticated.
"Many of the northeastern militant groups have opened up front companies in
Thailand and other Southeast Asian capitals to serve as a smokescreen for their
agents to seek arms deals," a top army commander, engaged in counter-insurgency
operations in Assam, told AFP.
"The militants have a sophisticated range of weapons," the commander said,
citing the seizure by the army of surface-to-air missiles.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Friday July 20, 4:54 PM
ASEAN steers clear of missile defence
row
HANOI, July 20 (AFP) - Southeast Asian foreign ministers meeting here next week will dodge a dispute between the United States and emerging Asian power China over US plans for a missile defence system, an official said Friday. Senior officials from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN),
preparing in Hanoi for their foreign ministers' gathering, agreed on a draft
statement which will "express hope" that the Sino-US dialogue on the missile
shield "will help narrow down differences", said the delegate.
There had been suggestions that the draft should "express concern" over the
contentious shield, but the ASEAN bureaucrats watered down the statement, said
the official, who asked not to be named.
China has been among the most vocal opponents of the futuristic defence
system that Washington says could be deployed against missile attacks from
so-called "rogue states" such as North Korea or Iraq.
The ASEAN meeting's hosts, Vietnam, have also stridently opposed the
scheme. But Washington counts some key Asian allies within the grouping,
including the Philippines and Thailand.
"ASEAN is not taking sides," the official said. "ASEAN was more concerned
with the process -- that if you have differences, settle it down
peacefully."
The United States has embarked on talks with European allies and other
nations, such as Russia and China, to explain its missile defence plans amid
criticism they could jeopardise existing arms-control treaties.
After meeting among themselves from Sunday to Tuesday, ASEAN foreign
ministers will hold a dialogue with their major trading and security partners
including the US, China, Japan, Russia and the European Union.
The discussions in the Vietnamese capital will form the eighth annual
meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), the region's only multilateral
security forum.
The senior ASEAN officials also agreed on a statement supporting the
importance of stable ties between the US and China to regional security and
stability, said the source.
A paragraph in the proposed statement to be submitted to the ministers will
"express hope that relations among the major powers -- particularly the US and
China -- remain stable".
"The unique thing here is that they referred in particular to the
relationship between the US and China," the official said, noting that similar
statements in the past had declined to name countries.
"The concern really is the major power relationship, the stability of Asia
especially at this time of economic difficulties. ASEAN would like to see their
relationship to be stable," he said.
The delegate noted the ARF would be an opportunity for China and the US to
discuss their differences on missile defence, with Secretary of State Colin
Powell and Chinese Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan both due to attend.
"That is the role of ASEAN in the ARF -- provide another opportunity as a
forum for the major powers to engage each other on the subject."
Both the US and China "will be pleased because ASEAN did not take sides",
the official added.
ASEAN, which operates by consensus, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
---------------------------------------------------------------- Friday July 20, 2:46 PM
US slowdown highlights case for Asian
reform: ASEAN chief
HANOI, July 20 (AFP) -
Southeast Asia must push ahead with efforts to integrate its poorer members,
implement reforms and tear down tariff barriers to better deal with the US-led
global economic slowdown, a top ASEAN official said Friday.
Rodolfo Severino, secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), said this was not the time to slacken efforts to help ASEAN's
less developed members catch up with their richer neighbours.
Asked if the global slowdown would set back ASEAN's efforts, Severino told
reporters: "No. In fact that is a spur to further integration because you can't
deal with a lot of these problems individually any more."
ASEAN has to "push regional integration in order to become more attractive
to investments", otherwise the region will lose out to China, India, Latin
America and even Eastern Europe, he said on the sidelines of annual ASEAN talks
in Vietnam.
Senior ASEAN officials are preparing for a meeting here next week of their
foreign ministers, who will also get together with their top trading and
security partners such as the United States, China, Japan and Russia.
Discussions on Friday dealt with ways to hasten the integration of newer
ASEAN members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam with the group's founders
Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.
ASEAN represents a market of 500 million people but encompasses some of the
world's poorest countries with one of the richest, Singapore.
"We are focussing on the integration of the newer members," Severino said,
adding there were discussions on how to coordinate various programmes to spur
economic development in the Mekong River countries including Vietnam and
Laos.
The ASEAN chief said integration would take time because the economic gap
"is pretty wide". The focus was on developing human resources and building
institutions that would strengthen the rule of law.
"If you are perceived to have a system of law in place, then you have a
better chance of attracting investments," he said, adding that "worries about
the political situation in some ASEAN countries" had deterred investors.
Although the annual foreign ministers' meeting is intended largely as a
forum for security issues, with Indonesia's chronic instability likely to loom
large, officials said there was no escaping the recent economic downturn.
"These are bad times and we're trying to deal with it by pushing economic
integration and harnessing ICT (information and communications technology) and
continuing with national and structural reforms," Severino said.
The ASEAN Free Trade Area, which aims to bring down tariffs to between zero
and five percent by 2003 for ASEAN's more developed members, was on track, he
added.
Singapore, ASEAN's strongest economy, has plunged into recession due to
falling exports and weak industrial output, and other export-reliant ASEAN
countries have slashed growth forecasts this year as well.
Severino said China would pose tougher competition for ASEAN nations after
it becomes a member of the World Trade Organisation, but there were also
opportunities.
"This is not a zero-sum game," he said. "If the barriers are lowered for
ASEAN exports to China then that's good for us."
---------------------------------------------------------------- Friday July 20, 2:32 PM
ASEAN official says slowdown won't block
assistance plan
HANOI (Reuters) - The secretary general of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) said on Friday the global economic slowdown would not affect a plan by the bloc to assist development of its poorer members. "This is a bad time around the world," Rudolfo Severino told reporters. "It
used to be that developed countries had a different cycle, unfortunately now
there is a convergence -- slowdown in the U.S., bad time in Europe, stagnation
in Japan."
However, Severino, speaking as officials from ASEAN countries met in Hanoi
to prepare a foreign ministers' meeting next week, said this would not stop the
group's plan to help its poorer members, which include Laos, Vietnam, Myanmar
and Cambodia.
"In fact, it is a spur for the integration because we cannot deal with a
lot of these problems individually any more," he said.
"We all have to push regional integration in order to became more
attractive to investors. Otherwise, big economies like China, India...will get
all the investment."
The foreign ministers' meeting next week is to adopt as it main formal
agenda item a Hanoi Declaration outlining strategies to narrow the development
gap between rich and poor members.
Severino said the plan would focus on human resources development, building
up institutions and trying to strengthen the rule of law.
He declined to name any particular countries where the rule of law was
still weak, but said: "If you are perceived to have a system of law in place
then you have a better chance of attracting investment."
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. Hanoi this year holds the rotating
post of association chair, which will pass to Brunei after next week's meeting.
---------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Friday, 20 July, 2001, 09:39 GMT
10:39 UK
Burmese government regrets no show The Burmese military government has described as regrettable yesterday's
decision by the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, not to attend the annual
ceremony marking her father's assassination in 1947.
In a statement the government said it had expected her to attend the
Martyrs' Day ceremony as she had done in recent years, and said it regretted her
absence but respected her decision.
Miss Suu Kyi - who's under virtual house arrest in Rangoon - instead sent a
delegation, led by a senior official of the opposition National League for
Democracy the party secretary, U Lwin, to represent her.
Observers say the gesture fell short of a full snub to the military
government, and appeared to be a protest against the travel restrictions imposed
on her and other senior opposition leaders.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
---------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - July 20,
2001.
Inbrief - Refugee
help
The Japanese government has agreed to contribute US$1.5 million to refugee
programmes in Thailand, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said
yesterday.
The money would help the UN agency support about 110,000 Burmese refugees
in 10 camps. It was part of $83 million Tokyo gave the UNHCR for its operation
worldwide.
---------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Friday, July 20, 2001
Breakdown of talks seen in no-show WILLIAM BARNES in Bangkok Fears that peace talks between the military Government and opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi are in trouble were sparked yesterday when she failed to
appear at a national ceremony commemorating the murder of her father.
Analysts said Ms Aung San Suu Kyi's absence was a strong signal that she was dissatisfied with the progress in talks she has held with the Government that started 11 months ago, observers in Rangoon said. The regime has released about 150 political prisoners so far this year - 11
of them on Wednesday - but as many as 2,000, possibly many more, remain in jail,
including at least 20 MPs elected in the opposition's massive 1990 victory.
The deceptively frail wife of an Oxford academic was first seen in public
after six years of house arrest when she laid a wreath at the bright red
communist-style monument beneath the Schwedagon Pagoda that dominates the
capital in 1995.
Yet she has rarely missed a ceremony that honours her independence hero
father, the creator of the modern army, despite her years of confinement,
according to sources in the capital.
Her talks with the military that some Burmese had giving up hoping for have
been kept highly confidential in an effort to build up trust, United Nations
special envoy to Burma Ismail Razali said recently. The apparently vital
go-between talks are due to re-start in August.
Although the prisoner releases are widely seen as a positive thing, one
observers said the political situation had only reverted to what it was before
the 1998 government crackdown.
"We have many hundreds of political prisoners. The regime tolerates no
shows of even mild political dissent and no hint of the talks has appeared in
the official media," one Rangoon resident said.
"Suu Kyi doesn't want to grant the regime credit for doing nothing, for
just acting more normally. My guess is that the regime has not yet made any
significant concessions."
The generals of a regime that has ruled since a 1962 coup maintain they are
steering the country towards a multi-party democracy.
Yet analysts are virtually united in thinking the generals remain wedded to
the vision of a country tightly controlled by the military.
The latest talks, after years of trying to break and isolate Ms Aung San
Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy, are seen by cynics as merely a
scheme to outflank threatened international sanctions, especially moves in the
US Congress to ban Burmese garment imports that have surged sharply in recent
years.
"I just don't think the military has a plan. They started talking to her
because even their friends [including Malaysia] told them it might be a good
idea," a political analyst said.
"That is why I think if anything is going to happen it is not going to
happen quickly - and that is going to be a problem for Suu Kyi. At some stage
she is going to have to say something to the world and her supporters. Right
now, I don't think she has much to show."
But her no-show yesterday may just be a refusal on her part not to let the
military - which invited her - dictate her movements. She is under de facto
house arrest with no local diplomatic visits. But during the initial talks she
tacitly acknowledged that this is with her partial consent.
"She may have decided that if she showed up it would boost the military
more than it boosted her. We simply can't be sure," a Rangoon-based diplomat
said.
---------------------------------------------------------------- The
Independent-bangladesh
July 20, 2001.
Myanmar building its development
base
Behind the political fog that shrouds Myanmar from the eyes of the
outsiders, her military rulers are building strong development base with the
help from the United Nations agencies, in health care, education and human
development.
In the vanguard of this development, two agencies are playing prominent
roles - UNOPS by implementing the projects and UNDP by funding those under the
Human Development Initiative (HDI). According to one UN official, considerable
achievement was possible in the areas of community development, poverty
alleviation and sustainable development.
As one of the major beneficiaries of this assistance, Myanmar currently
plays host to several projects, such as the Community Development for Remote
Townships, Human Development Initiative Support, Improving Rural Community
Access to Primary Health Care, Enhancing Capacity for HIV/AIDS Prevention and
Cure, and Sustainable Livelihoods through Micro-Finance for the Poor, water and
sanitation, and food security.
The UNOPS’ Annual Report mentioned that the Community Development for
Remote Townships Project is working well to alleviate poverty in the
border-states of Rakhine, Chin and Kachin. These areas are isolated, lack
economic, health, and social infrastructure, and home to a mixed ethnic
population, more than half of whom have food security for less than six months
in a year.
The stated objectives of the project are to create a measurable impact in
health, HIV/AIDS control, education/training, the environment and food security;
to involve the communities in the design and implementation of grass-roots
initiatives; and to strengthen local capacities required to sustain
community-focused development.
Participatory rural appraisals have been carried out in all the 240 target
villages up to the end of 2000, to identify who would benefit from the project,
the alternatives, how the development activities can be sustained, the impact on
the environment, and what resources need to be mobilised.
Project staff have also developed a community development model that
provides the beneficiaries with a system of focusing on the poor. A significant
move has been the promotion of Self Reliance Groups to set up savings and loans
services, with the main focus being women. Overall, the Project has reached some
700 Self Reliance Groups, representing about 12,000 households.
The Preparatory Assistance for Community Development (PA-CD) Project, based
in Myanmar’s Northern Rakhine State, is an extension of the UNDP-UNOPS Community
Development for Remote Townships Project. Covering a total of 24 villages in
three townships, Maungdaw, Buthitaung and Rathaytaung, the project objective is
to create a model of community development where two different approaches—
social mobilisation and self reliance groups— are merged. In doing so, the
poorest sections of society are today involved in the decision -making
activities of their communities. Since the project began in December 1999, and
continued up to the end of 2000, there has been significant progress in various
fields. This includes the formation of 24 Community Development Committees, 215
Self Reliance Groups, training in aqua-culture and small scale business,
construction of a school, health centre and shallow wells, provision of teaching
materials, and linkage with the World Food Programme. Project representatives
are hopeful that the lifetime of PA-CD can be extended to achieve the
objectives.
Another funded Project in Myanmar is the Human Development Initiative
Support (HDIS), which promotes community participation and sustainable
development. During September 1999 to December 2000, HDIS staff made a total of
11,816 visits to villages to encourage and monitor community mobilisation,
linkages, as well as provision of support to sister projects and communities for
activities such as social mobilisation , data collection, planning, etc. In the
villages where HDI projects had established partnerships, updating of the
village and poverty profiles, and identification of problems and opportunities,
was initiated. This would enable the sharing of information on the poor and the
communities’ needs. So far, a total of 1941 villages have been covered. There
still appears to be a need for building linkages within, and between
communities, sister projects and the private sector. During the first quarter of
2001, HDIS staff will also identify village activists/leaders, and arrange for
training of Community Mobilizers, members of community-based organisations.
The impact of the Improving Rural Community Access to Primary Health Care
Project, has been no less significant as compared to the other Projects.
(To be continued)
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