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BURMA RELATED NEWS - October
29, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Global downturn, anti-terrorism top ASEAN
agenda
AFP - Southeast Asian leaders mull common
strategy to fight terrorism
AP - Task Force Focuses on Terror
Funds
Mizzima - Muslim militant groups active in NE
India
SHAN - Farmers forced to buy their paddy
back
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday October 29, 5:52 PM
Global downturn, anti-terrorism top ASEAN agenda SINGAPORE, Oct 29 (AFP) - The
global economic slowdown and US-led campaign against terrorism will dominate
next week's Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit, hosts Brunei
said Monday.
"The ASEAN leaders are expected to address immediate concerns to Southeast
Asia such as the twin challenges posed by the global economic downturn and the
international fight against terrorism," the ministry of foreign affairs said in
a statement.
"In dealing with these concerns, the ASEAN leaders are expected to discuss
a wide range of topics such as responding to longer term challenges,
accelerating regional integration and bridging the development gap."
The seventh ASEAN summit will be the first meeting of all the Southeast
Asian leaders since the September terror attacks in the United States.
Singapore and the Philippines gave their full support to the US-led
military strikes in Afghanistan but the region's biggest Muslim nations --
Indonesia and Malaysia -- have criticised the US-led attacks, which have exacted
heavy casualties among civilians.
Leaders from the 10-member regional grouping are also expected to hold
talks with their counterparts from China, Japan and South Korea as part of the
enlarged ASEAN Plus Three summits that began in 1997.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Singapore, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand,
Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Cambodia and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday October 28, 9:20 AM
Southeast Asian leaders mull common strategy to fight terrorism MANILA, Oct 28 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian leaders are expected to adopt a common strategy to combat
terrorism amid concern over the potential threat posed by growing Islamic
militancy, officials say.
The joint action is part of an anti-terrorism declaration prepared for
adoption by the 10 leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
set to meet in Brunei this week for the first time since the September 11
attacks on the United States.
According to a draft declaration obtained by AFP, the leaders would call
for the creation of an "ASEAN troika" to strengthen regional cooperation in
combating terrorism "in all its forms."
Prospective members of the troika were not named but they are believed to
be the Philippines, Malaysia and Indonesia.
The leaders of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam are also considering having
standard procedures to tackle the scourge.
The panel is expected to "review existing international instruments on
terrorism with the view of harmonising or integrating them with existing ASEAN
mechanism."
Vic Lecaros, Philippine foreign ministry spokesman, said terrorism was a
"longtime concern" of at least four of the largest Southeast Asian nations --
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand.
"ASEAN leaders can reasonably be expected to keep this subject of terrorism
high in their consciousness," Lecaros told AFP.
The Philippines has been entrusted with the task of drafting the "2001
ASEAN Declaration on Terrorism" for possible adoption at the grouping's seventh
summit meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan on November 5-6.
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo, describing the declaration as
"important," said governments were now "looking at the draft to vet it and
revise it as needed."
If the blueprint is adopted by the 10 leaders, it will be "the first step"
towards the conclusion of an ASEAN agreement on combating international
terrorism, according to a concept paper circulated with the draft
declaration.
The ASEAN leaders are also expected to jointly condemn the deadly terrorist
attacks in the United States last month, which Washington claims were
masterminded by Saudi-born dissident Osama bin Laden.
But they are split on the US-led retaliatory strikes against bin Laden and
his Taliban hosts in Afghanistan.
The region's Muslim nations Indonesia and Malaysia have deplored the US-led
attacks, which have exacted heavy casualties among civilians.
But Singapore and the Philippines gave full support to the strikes on
Afghanistan.
Muslim Brunei's Foreign Minister Prince Mohamed Bolkiah, the current
chairman of the ASEAN Standing Committee, in a recent letter to US Secretary of
State Colin Powell, acknowledged the need for closer cooperation in combating
terrorist acts worldwide, sources said.
A foreign diplomat based in Southeast Asia said debate on terrorism at the
Brunei meeting would be closely followed by international groups as it was being
held in a region where more than half the 500 million population were
Muslims.
Indonesia, ASEAN's biggest member, is the world's most populous Muslim
nation. Malaysia is a largely Muslim country, while the Philippines, Singapore
and Thailand have significant Muslim populations.
Since the attacks on Afghanistan started on October 7, there have been
near-daily protests in Indonesia as well as demonstrations in Malaysia and the
Philippines.
Southeast Asia's Muslim faithful are generally moderate but there are small
pockets of militants increasingly expanding ties with international terrorist
groups, scholars say.
The Philippines is currently facing a Muslim separatist rebellion in the
southern island of Mindanao and is battling the small but well-armed kidnap
group Abu Sayyaf, alleged to have links to bin Laden.
Malaysia has seen a rise in Islamic fundamentalism while Indonesia has
several separatist guerrilla movements, though not all are Islamic.
Some governments are worried Islamic extremists may forge links within the
region and pose a more serious threat, officials said.
"Countering terrorism is an international endeavour. The problems are
deep-rooted, and there are neither easy answers or final solutions," Singapore's
Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday October 29 1:27 AM ET
Task Force Focuses on Terror Funds By MARCY GORDON, AP Business Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - The 29-nation
group that put Russia, Israel and Indonesia on a blacklist of countries deemed
uncooperative in fighting money laundering is holding an emergency meeting to
seek ways to disrupt the finances of terrorists and their organizations.
In the latest international move in the fight against terrorism,
representatives of a financial task force that includes the United States,
Britain, Japan and other industrial powers, part of the Organization for
Economic Cooperation and Development, were meeting in Washington on Monday and
Tuesday.
Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill and Jimmy Gurule, Treasury undersecretary
for enforcement, are among the U.S. representatives.
The purpose of the emergency session, the first in the task force's 12-year
history, is to consider immediate actions to help track and block terrorists'
funds.
In recent years, the task force ``has been extremely effective in
encouraging and cajoling countries to make dramatic changes in their
anti-money-laundering regimes,'' Gurule said recently. The emergency meeting is
intended ``to refocus the ... process to address terrorist financing,'' he said.
Among proposals on the agenda is one requiring governments to compel banks
in their countries to report to authorities transactions suspected of being made
by terrorists or their organizations, as is the case in the United States.
Since the attacks of Sept. 11, the financial battle led by the United
States has been a major part of the campaign against Islamic militant Osama bin
Laden, the prime suspect, and his complex al-Qaida network.
Galvanized by the terrorist threat, international bodies have moved more
swiftly than usual. The U.N. Security Council, for example, quickly and
unanimously adopted last month a U.S.-sponsored resolution requiring all 189
U.N.-member nations to deny money, support and sanctuary to terrorists.
Soon after, finance ministers and central bank presidents of the seven
major industrial powers - the United States, Japan, Germany, Britain, France,
Italy and Canada - pledged to intensify their efforts to choke off money flowing
to terrorist organizations.
President Bush has ordered the freezing of U.S. assets of 66 individuals
and organizations suspected of conducting or financing terror. They include
senior aides to bin Laden, a militant group called Army of Mohammed and bakeries
and honey shops in Yemen accused of fronting for bin Laden's network.
Since the attacks, 81 countries have joined the effort by issuing blocking
orders against assets of the designated people and groups, according to Treasury
officials.
A sweeping anti-terrorism bill that Bush signed last week gives the
Treasury secretary authority to require special record-keeping and reporting
rules for American banks, and makes it a crime to smuggle more than $10,000 over
U.S. borders.
Congress has yet to ratify, however, the International Convention for the
Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism, which was adopted by the U.N. General
Assembly in 1999. The treaty, which is on the agenda for the task force meeting,
commits governments to prosecute or extradite people accused of funding
terrorist activities, and requires banks to take steps to identify suspicious
transactions.
Bush submitted the treaty last week to the Senate, which may vote on it
soon. So far only four countries - Britain, Botswana, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan -
have ratified the treaty, which needs 22 ratifications to enter into force.
In June 2000, the Financial Action Task Force on Money Laundering, its
formal name, created the ``blacklist'' of countries and territories considered
uncooperative. There are currently 17 on the list: the Cook Islands, Dominica,
Egypt, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Israel, Lebanon, the Marshall Islands,
Myanmar, Nauru, Nigeria, Niue, the Philippines, Russia, St. Kitts and Nevis; and
St. Vincent and the Grenadines.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Muslim militant groups active in
NE India
By Our Correspondent Mizzima News Guwahati, Oct. 29: Panic gripped people along the Indo-Bangla border
following stepped-up activities of Muslim fundamentalists in the area. Recently,
Dhubri district in Assam State (bordering Bangladesh) has witnessed an increase
of violence perpetrated by Muslim fundamentalists with active support from
Bangladesh, forcing the security forces to review their ongoing operations.
In the second major attack within 48 hours, the fundamentalists ambushed an
Assam police patrolling party in Dhubri district on Sunday, killing five police
personnel and injuring seven. The police team had intended to raid a militant
hideout when their vehicle was fired upon, followed by a major blast. The
militants also triggered a powerful blast at Puja pandal on Friday killing at
least seven people.
Security had previously been reinforced along the Indo-Bangla border in the
wake of ongoing US attacks on Afghanistan. Official sources said that
several Muslim fundamentalists had managed to sneak into the state and expanded
their activities in the entire North East region of India, aided by local
militant groups.
The Indo-Bangla and the Indo-Burma border are said to be sensitive areas
because of foreign mercenaries' attempts to destabilize the region by abetting
terrorism. “According to reports, several Muslim militants groups are active in
the region, and they said to be supplying arms and ammunitions to the militant
groups in the region“, the sources added. More alarming still is the fact
that the region has become a hotbed of militants for which Border Security
Forces (BSF) has been kept under strict surveillance.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shan Herald Agency for News
29 October 2001 No: 10 - 11: - Farmers forced to buy their paddy back In a rather surprise move, villagers in a northern Shan State township had
recently been forced to purchase rice that they were forced to sell earlier,
reported S.H.A.N. source yesterday.
On 25 October, officials from Muse, opposite Ruili, Yunnan Province, told
village headmen they were selling them back 300 baskets of paddy that was
procured earlier on the order of the Northeast Regional Command in Lashio. The
officials also threatened the headmen with imprisonment for
non-compliance.
"The joke was while they had paid us only K. 350 per basket during their
forced purchase, we had to pay them K. 2,000 to get our rice back," said the
source. "The officials, as a result, cleared nearly K. 500,000 from us."
The following is the list of the victimized villages:
1. Manhai 70 baskets 2. Nalong 77 baskets 3. Tima 52.5 baskets 4. Manzarng 22 baskets 5. Jawngkoong 35 baskets 6. Nawngwa Hsenghawm 16 baskets 7. Nahok Nawngping 16.5 basket 8. Koonghsa 11 baskets -------------------------------------------------------------------------- |