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BURMA RELATED NEWS - December
11, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AI - Nowhere to Run
BBC - Burma releases Chinese
prisoners
AFP - Myanmar is struggling
to launch full dialogue: report
Xinhua - Myanmar Actively Develops Foreign
Economic, Trade Ties
IHT - Nobel Laureates Plead for Burmese
Dissident
Bkk Post - Anti-drug efforts get boost
Bkk Post - Pilot project to help Burma
NSTP - Meet to focus on realities 500 expected
at One Asia Assembly
CNN - Myanmar rejects criticism over Suu
Kyi
SHAN - ILO came
but life goes on, say Shans
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Amnesty International
Myanmar / Thailand - Nowhere to Run AI Index: ASA 16/024/2000 Publish date: 07/12/2001 Today Amnesty International expressed grave concern about recent attacks by
the Myanmar army on a settlement of internally displaced Karen civilians. In
late November the army raided Htee Wah Doh, just across the border from
Thailand, burning and looting houses, a hospital, and a school, and arresting 15
Karen villagers.
The previous month, 63 Karen asylum-seekers took shelter in Htee Wah Doh
after being forcibly returned to Myanmar by the Royal Thai Army. They joined
other internally displaced Karens who were living there temporarily.
"Both the Myanmar and Thai governments are at fault. These people should
never have been sent back to Myanmar in the first place, and the Myanmar army
should have protected these internally displaced people rather than attacked
them," Amnesty International said. This is a clear case of refoulement by the
Thai authorities, which is in violation of international customary law.
After the attack, over 700 Karen civilians fled to Halockanee, a nearby
area controlled by the New Mon State Party (NMSP), an ethnic minority armed
opposition group who agreed a cease-fire with the Myanmar government in 1995.
Yesterday, Myanmar's military government, the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), gave the Karen civilians in Halockanee the choice of remaining
near Htee Wah Doh or going to Three Pagoda's Pass, an area further north
controlled by the SPDC. The Thai authorities have refused to allow them to
re-enter Thailand.
"Neither option is secure for these people, who are literally caught
between two countries, with nowhere safe to go. It is imperative that the Thai
Government immediately allow them to return and to enter a Karen refugee camp
for protection," Amnesty International said.
Of the 15 people who were arrested, some were interrogated and others were
forced to act as porters for the army. Most of them either escaped or were
released, but several are still missing amid fears for their safety. One member
of the group was later found with a bullet wound in his leg, which was
eventually amputated.
The Myanmar army attack on Htee Wah Doh was reportedly provoked by the
presence of a Mon armed group who had broken away from the NMSP and started
fighting against government forces. They had set up a base close to Htee Wah
Doh, resulting in increased SPDC troop presence in the area.
The group of 63 Karen asylum-seekers had crossed the border at Kanchanaburi
Province, western Thailand on 25 October, but the 9th Infantry Division of the
Royal Thai Army decided to send them back without proper consultation with the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). In spite of the fact that
this group had fled because they had been forcibly relocated by the Myanmar
army, the Thai army claimed that they should not be allowed to remain in
Thailand because they were not "fleeing fighting". However, reliable reports
indicate that they were fleeing from serious human rights violations, including
forced labour and relocation.
Background
Over 120,000 Karen and Karenni refugees from Myanmar are currently living in camps in Thailand near the Myanmar border. Some 100,000 Shan refugees, another Myanmar ethnic minority group, are not allowed into camps by the Thai authorities. For the last several decades Thailand has been host to hundreds of
thousands of refugees from neighbouring countries. In general they have shown
tolerance and compassion in allowing most of them to stay until a durable
solution was found for them. However on several occasions in the past they have
forcibly returned refugees from Myanmar and Cambodia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Tuesday, 11 December, 2001,
12:50 GMT
Burma releases Chinese prisoners The military government in Burma says it has released more than 200 Chinese
prisoners as a goodwill gesture ahead of a visit by the Chinese President Jiang
Zemin.
An official statement did not say why the prisoners had been jailed, but an opposition report said some had been arrested on charges of illegal entry. When President Jiang arrives in Burma on Wednesday, he will be the first
Chinese head of state to visit the country since 1985.
The BBC's regional analyst says China has been Burma's main supporter since
the generals seized power 13 years ago.
He says this four-day visit will be dominated by economic affairs, and
China is likely to demand that Burma do more to stamp out the cross-border drugs
trade.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar is struggling to launch full
dialogue: report
TOKYO, Dec 11 (AFP) - Myanmar's
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has told a Japanese lawmaker that her
dialogue with the ruling junta on national recouncilation has yet to start in
full, a press report said Tuesday.
"It is not that dialogue has begun," the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate was
quoted by former Japanese foreign minister Kabun Muto as saying in a meeting at
her home in Yangon, the Jiji Press news agency reported.
"It is a period in which both sides are attempting to erase mutual
mistrust," Muto, a conservative member of the House of Representatives, quoted
Aung San Suu Kyi as saying.
Muto told Jiji that he met the leader of the opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) at her home on December 4.
Aung San Suu Kyi has lived under house arrest since September 2000, and
began preliminary talks aimed at "national reconciliation" with the junta a
month later.
But the dialogue was widely seen to have reached a virtual standstill. The
Myanmar junta, which has been the target of economic sanctions from the West,
has said it was walking the same path as the democratic opposition.
In Oslo last Saturday, 20 Nobel Peace Prize winners led a worldwide appeal
demanding that Myanmar's military rulers release Aung San Suu Kyi from house
arrest and free alleged 1,500 other political detainees.
Aung San Suu Kyi has described the pace of the release of political
prisoners as "slow," Muto said.
"It is necessary to pursue dialogue at high level by restoring confidence
soon," Muto quoted the democracy leader as saying.
She also reportedly asked the Japanese politician to tell the junta to
release political prisoners at faster pace.
If these conditions are met, Aung San Suu Kyi said she would not oppose the
start of political dialgue but would rather help push it forth, according to
Muto. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Actively Develops Foreign
Economic, Trade Ties
by Duan Tingchang YANGON, Dec 11, 2001 (Xinhua via
COMTEX) -- Immediately after coming to power on September 18,
1988, the present Myanmar government began adopting an open-door policy,
actively inducing foreign investment and launching economic and trade
cooperation with other countries to develop its national economy.
In November 1988, the government promulgated the Foreign Investment Law,
permitting foreign enterprises to make investment in the country in the form of
sole proprietorship or joint venture and so on.
It also prescribed the Detailed Rules and Regulations of Implementation
related to the Foreign Investment Law and established the Foreign Investment
Commission.
To absorb more and more foreign investment, the Myanmar government provided
privileges such as reduction or exemption of income tax and import customs
duties to some foreign enterprises.
These move have protected the rights and interests of foreign investors to
certain extent, creating an indispensable condition for foreign entrepreneurs
investing in Myanmar.
According to the latest official figures, by the end of August 2001,
Myanmar brought in a total of 7.39 billion U.S. dollars' contracted investment
in 366 projects from 25 countries and regions.
The sectors in which Myanmar absorbed most the foreign investment were
lined up as crude oil and natural gas, manufacturing and hotels and tourism. The
contracted foreign investment amount injected into these three sectors were
2.355 billion dollars, 1.557 billion and 1.054 billion, respectively.
The three major foreign investors were Singapore, Britain and Thailand with
their investments amounting respectively to 1.507 billion dollars, 1.4 billion
and 1.289 billion.
Myanmar's absorption of foreign investment has paid off. Among other
achievements, foreign oil companies have discovered two natural gas fields of
relatively rich capacity of reserve along the country's coastal areas. They are
the Yetagon and the Yadana gas fields.
In October 2000, the Yadana gas field started supplying gas to Thailand and
will earn for Myanmar a foreign exchange of 300 million dollars annually.
Another example showing Myanmar's success in drawing foreign investment is
the establishment of the Myanmar Beer, a joint venture between Myanmar and
Singapore. The plant's investment amount was 40 million dollars, with the
Myanmar side taking 45 percent, while the Singapore side holding 55
percent.
The Myanmar Beer started operation on October 24, 1997 and during the past
four years, its products have won prizes for five times in international beer
product contests respectively held in Belgium, Luxembourg, Portugal, United
States and Australia. Of the prizes, four were gold medals, while the remaining
one was a bronze medal.
The products of Myanmar Beer are not only extensively distributed in the
Myanmar domestic market but also exported to the Republic of Korea, Japan,
Singapore and Malaysia.
The foreign investment in Myanmar has mitigated the country's lack of
capital, technical know-how and equipment, and increased its tax revenues and
employment opportunity. Myanmar was also able to learn from foreign companies
some advanced business management experiences.
While inviting foreign investment, Myanmar also actively launched foreign
trade activities. Up to now, the number of the country's main trading partners
has reached 14. In the first eight months of this year, its foreign trade
totaled
3.666 billion dollars, up 32.98 percent from the same period of last year. Of the foreign trade, the bilateral trade between Myanmar and member
countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) amounted to
1.669 billion dollars, accounting for 45.52 percent of the total foreign
trade.
Border trade is an important supplement to the foreign trade. Up to now,
Myanmar has signed border trade agreements with Thailand, India and Bangladesh
as well as a memorandum of understanding on border trade with China.
At present, there are 12 border trade points on each side of the border
line between China and Myanmar, four between Myanmar and Thailand, one between
Myanmar and India and one between Myanmar and Bangladesh.
To promote the development of bilateral economic and trade ties, Myanmar
has signed agreements on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal
evasion with respect to taxes on income with Malaysia and Vietnam; an agreement
on maritime transport and an agreement on avoidance of double taxation with
Singapore; an agreement on tourism cooperation with Thailand as well as
establishment of a Myanmar-Thai Joint Trade Commission.
Besides, the Japanese government, on March 28 this year, resumed its
Official Development Assistance to Myanmar which had been terminated for 13
years.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The International Herald Tribune
Nobel Laureates Plead for Burmese Dissident David Holley Los Angeles Times Service Monday, December 10, 2001 OSLO Burma's military rulers must free the democracy leader Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi from house arrest and release all the Southeast Asian country's
political prisoners, many of her fellow Nobel peace laureates declared at a
rally here.
. "We are gathered together to salute a giant among women and men," Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa told an audience of several hundred in front of the Norwegian Parliament building on Saturday. . "In moral stature, she is a giant," the archbishop said, "so the big men are scared of her and are armed to the teeth, and they still run scared - because they know that this is a moral universe and that injustice and oppression will never have the last word." . Organizers said special events calling for democracy in Burma also were held in other cities around the world. . Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 56, has been under house arrest for most of the time since she returned to Burma from living abroad in 1988. The 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, she is the daughter of Aung San, a hero of the country's struggle for independence from Britain, and that relationship is believed to have protected her from physical harm. More than 10 peace prize recipients appeared at the Oslo rally and signed a letter to General Than Shwe, head of Burma's military council. Military governments have ruled the country since 1962, leaving it one of the poorest and most isolated in the world. The current group of generals took power in 1988 after leading a bloody crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrations. . The military council allowed a parliamentary election in May 1990 but refused to hand over power after Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, won about 80 percent of the vote. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 11, 2001.
MEKONG SUB-REGION - Anti-drug efforts get boost Four countries to step up co-operation Teerawat Kumtita Four countries in the Mekong sub-region will co-operate more in their fight
against drug trafficking along the Mekong river, a seminar was told.
Some 50 representatives from Burma, China, Laos, and Thailand joined a
workshop on drug suppression in the Golden Triangle area, held at a Chiang Rai
hotel yesterday.
Narcotics Control Board deputy secretary-general Chartchai Suthiklom said
it was agreed the four Mekong countries would step up their collaboration in
combatting drugs and exchanging information on drug trafficking and trading in
border areas.
Thailand's fierce drug suppression in the North has forced drug gangs to
switch to smuggling routes in Tak and along the Mekong river opposite Chiang Rai
since the liberalisation of water transport in the region, he said.
More drug production bases along the border have been converted into
makeshift factories with the total production capacity of about 500-600 million
speed pills per year, Mr Chartchai said.
Yngve Danling, the United Nations Drug Control Programme's senior law
enforcement adviser, said the UNDCP has always encouraged all Golden Triangle
countries to help each other fight drugs.
There was a tendency the smuggling of drugs and drug precursors would be
prominent along the Mekong, he said.
According to him, the production of methamphetamines in Burma and the
spread of drugs in Thailand were of concern but opium and heroin problems became
less serious.
Budgets totalling US$1.8 billion would be set aside by the UNDCP to support
anti-drug operations in Burma, Cambodia, China, Laos, Thailand, and
Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 11,
2001.
Pilot project to help Burma Rangoon goes for alternative cash crops Subin Khuenkaew The government will allocate 20 million baht to carry out a pilot project
in Burma's opium-growing regions under a joint co-operation plan to suppress
illegal drugs.
The project, similar to the Doi Tung royally-initiated project in Chiang
Rai, would provide local people with alternative cash crops to opium.
Maj-Gen Picharnmet Muangmanee, deputy commander of the Third Army Region,
told the Bangkok Post Burma proposed the pilot project be initiated in Toom,
along the border.
Toom town, opposite Hua Mae Kham village in Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang
district, was once a military base controlled by Shan rebels under former drug
warlord Khun Sa.
Top Burmese leaders visited the Doi Tung development project and sought
Thailand's co-operation to launch a similar project in their country.
``The pilot project was suggested after Burmese Prime Minister Gen Than
Shwe and other top government figures visited Doi Thung. Rangoon believed the
project could successfully tackle drug problems in hilltribe communities,'' the
Third Army deputy commander said.
The government will soon hold a meeting with relevant agencies to discuss
the project.
Sources said Rangoon initially proposed the pilot project be initiated in
Mawng Yawn, opposite Chiang Mai's Mae Ai district, but later opted for
Toom.
Sources said Toom is now occupied by the Wa ethnic minority group, which
moved to the area in 1999. About 2,800 households, or 17,000 Wa residents, live
in the town.
But the Shan State Army, under the leadership of Col Yod Suek, former close
aide of Khun Sa, was thought to be still active near the town.
Meanwhile, Chartchai Suthiklom, deputy secretary-general of the Office of
the Narcotics Control Board, said Thailand's efforts would encourage several
hundred other Wa families to stop producing opium and turn to alternative cash
crops.
Mr Chartchai said the project would also improve relations between Thailand
and Burma.
``We expressed sincerity in assisting Burma to help develop its land and in
return asked that Burma also help us. In a gesture of goodwill, Thailand wants
to exchange a working collaboration and co-operation with Burma on the
prevention and suppression of drug trafficking,'' he said.
Mr Chartchai said development in the area would start next year and be
completed in one year.
He said other areas in Burma would be included if the project was
successful. The project could get financial support from the world community, Mr
Chatchai said, and drug smuggling would likely decrease in areas under the
project.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The New Straits Times Press
Meet to focus on realities 500 expected at One Asia Assembly By P. Sharmini KUALA LUMPUR, Mon. — The changes in the world environment after the Sept 11
attack on the World Trade Center in New York will be among the new realities to
be discussed at an international seminar next year. The upcoming One Asia
Assembly themed "Society, Governance and the New Realities" will be an
appropriate platform to discuss issues relevant to the region and the
world.
The assembly, organised by the Press Foundation of Asia (PFA), will be held
from Aug 12 to 14 at the Putra World Trade Centre and inaugurated by Prime
Minister Datuk Seri Dr Mahathir Mohamad.
PFA (Malaysian chapter) president Datuk A. Kadir Jasin said the emergence
of Asia as a political and economic force was also expected to add to the scope
of discussions.
These issues are expected to range from governments' views on conflicts and
inconsistencies in governance, politics and economics, to globalisation and
terrorism.
Speaking at a Press conference today on the assembly were Kadir, PFA
executive chairman Datuk Mazlan Nordin, organising committee co-chairman Tan Sri
Razali Ismail and chief operating officer Khairul Bashar.
Among the highlights of the event will be a focus topic on women,
especially relevant in the Asian context as there are countries with women
leaders in this region.
The organisers hope to have a live satellite broadcast feed featuring Asian
women such as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, President Gloria
Macapagal Arroyo of the Philippines, President Megawati Sukarnoputri of
Indonesia, President Chandrika Kumaratunga of Sri Lanka and Benazir Bhutto of
Pakistan.
Kadir, who is also the chief executive of the organising committee, said
the assembly, the fifth since its inception in the 1960s, would bring together
speakers and discussion leaders made up of statesmen and members of the
diplomatic corps, social scientists, publishers, editors and journalists as well
as NGOs.
Some 500 participants from all over the world are expected at the
assembly.
Razali added that the organisers were optimistic United Nations
Secretary-General Kofi Annan would also be present at the assembly, as has been
the tradition at previous assemblies.
The PFA was founded by Asian editors and publishers to promote
professionalism in the Press, besides making journalism a positive influence in
the development of society.
Previous assemblies have included luminaries such as past UN
Secretary-Generals U Thant, Dr Kurt Waldheim and Javier Perez de Cuellar; Nobel
prize-winning economist Gunnar Myrdal; Foreign Ministers such as S. Rajaratnam
of Singapore, Carlos P. Romulo of the Philippines and Adam Malik of
Indonesia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Cable News Network
Myanmar rejects criticism over Suu Kyi December 10, 2001 Posted: 3:53 PM HKT (0753 GMT) BANGKOK, Thailand -- Responding to calls from Nobel Peace Prize winners to
release fellow laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's military government said it
was working with the opposition leader to create "a functioning democracy".
But it did not say whether Suu Kyi, who has spent most of the past decade
under house arrest, would be released.
"Today we are all in the process of joining hands walking on the same path
towards our common objective while successfully maintaining the hard-won peace,
stability and the national unity which the nation is at present enjoying for the
first time in its modern history," the government said in a statement dated
Sunday.
South African anti-apartheid campaigner Desmond Tutu and East Timorese
freedom fighter Jose Ramos-Horta led a gathering of 30 Nobel Peace Prize winners
in Oslo, demanding Suu Kyi's release.
"We know that Aung San Suu Kyi, you are on the winning side and we want to
say to [the Myanmar government] join the winning side," Tutu said.
Aung San Suu Kyi won the peace prize in 1991 for her non-violent resistance
to the military regime and her campaigning for democracy in the Southeast Asian
country.
Despite her opposition National League for Democracy party winning a
general election in 1990 by a landslide, Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house
arrest and has not left Myanmar since 1988.
The ruling junta never allowed the NLD to rule, saying that the country
could descend into chaos if the military's grip on power was weakened.
Recent talks between the opposition and the government have raised hopes of
a breakthrough.
Tributes flow
In Oslo to celebrate a century of the coveted award, Nobel Peace Prize
laureates and dignitaries heaped praise on Suu Kyi.
"We're all thinking of the empty chair that belongs to Aung Suu Kyi, and we
are looking forward to the day when she will actually come here and deliver her
Nobel lecture," Geir Lundestad, secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee said
.
U.S. President George W. Bush sent a message to the conference praising Suu
Kyi and her campaign for democracy.
"As a tireless champion of human rights and democracy in Burma, Suu Kyi
inspires countless people around the world who strive for peace, justice and
freedom," Bush said in a statement read to the crowd.
"In the face of great hardship she has never wavered in her commitment to
peaceful change."
Secret talks
Myanmar has often criticized what its calls "interference" from western
governments over its internal political affairs but said in the statement that
relations with the opposition are warming.
"The government of Myanmar warmly appreciates the opinions, concerns and
interest of its partners in the international community and believes that all of
us are on the winning side already since we all have the common objective of
creating Myanmar to become a functioning democracy," the statement said.
"But regretfully in the past due to misunderstanding between the NLD party
and the government of Myanmar, cooperation did not exist."
Talks, brokered by United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, between the
government and the NLD began in secret last year.
Since then dozens of political prisoners have been released and the Myanmar
government has allowed the NLD to reopen several offices.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shan Herald Agency for News No: 12 -
08:
ILO came but life goes on, say Shans Shans in eastern Shan State told S.H.A.N. conditions of forced labor "of
the people, by the people, for the military" had not changed since International
Labor Organization's High Level Team visit, 17 September - 6 October.
"Even wards in downtown Kengtung are not spared," according to a source.
"Residents of Nawngkham Long, Nawngkham Awn, Bawher, Tinpa and Palaeng all have
to provide free labor for the army.During my absence, my wife has to hire
someone to stand in for me at Kyat 300-500 per day wages."
"Even members of the International Committee for Red Cross and the NGO
-World Vision who have offices in Kengtung also know of this," said another.
"But their presence has done very little to ease the conditions."
The visit of the sources in Tachilek, opposite the Thai town of Maesai,
also coincided with the arrival of the 200-prisoners from Kengtung at 04:00 this
morning at the LIB 331 post in four ten-wheelers. "They had breakfast and then
left in the direction of Mongtoom-Mongkarn areas."
Mongtoom-Mongkarn of Monghsat Township, once a stronghold of warlord Khun
Sa's Mong Tai Army, is at present a contested area between Wa-Burmese troops and
the Shan State Army of Yawdserk.
Approximately 3,000 Wa families from the Chinese border are being resettled
in the area. Thailand has agreed to a B. 20 million project for the development
of the area.
According to a Thai border watcher, Rangoon had issued orders on 4 December
prohibiting the Army, Navy and Air Force from procuring labor on religious days
except for military
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