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-------------------------------------------------------------- Burma Related News - February 26,
2002. -------------------------------------------------------------- Headlines -------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Burma police block Suu Kyi
visit
AFP - US to waive Afghanistan narcotics
sanctions
AFP - September 11 spawns intensified Asian arms
race
Reuters - Korea Daewoo Int'l eyes Myanmar gas
drilling start
Reuters - Myanmar blocks delegation's visit to
Suu Kyi
Reuters - Tourist lust for ivory wiping out
Asian elephants
AP- Bush Acts to Ensure Afghans Get Aid
Reuters - U.S. Gives Afghanistan Waiver From
Drug Black List
BBC - China trains Burmese police on
drugs
LA Times - U.S. Update on Drug Growers Excuses
Some
The Nation - Police
seize ya ba haul 'of Wei associate'
Xinhuanet - Thai Police Arrest 500 Illegal Alien
Workers
CNN Europe - Forced labor investigators
hindered in Myanmar
-------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Monday, 25 February, 2002, 16:26
GMT
Burma police block Suu Kyi visit Officials from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) say they have
been prevented from seeing Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who is
under house arrest in Rangoon.
They said police refused to let them through a checkpoint blocking the road
to the house.
The two officials were at the end of a week-long visit to Burma to check
whether the government had put an end to the practice of forced labour.
A senior ILO official, Kari Tapiola, said on Sunday there was still no
evidence the Burmese military government was willing to accept assistance to end
forced labour.
A spokesman for the ILO in Geneva said the terms of the visit required
officials to be allowed freedom of movement and access to leading political
figures.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been held under virtual house arrest since September
2000.
For much of that time, the government has been involved in secret talks
with Ms Suu Kyi and her opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).
More than 200 political prisoners have been released by the government, but
there are estimated to be more than 1,500 still in jail.
Security mix up
The head of the ILO delegation, Francis Maupain said he was "very
disappointed" not to have been allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi.
Policemen refused to lift a barrier as cars carrying Mr Maupain and ILO
secretary Richard Horsey approached her lakeside home.
NLD secretary U Lwin said there seemed to have been a mix up over security
clearance.
"Security said they wanted to allow the ILO team through the checkpoint but
without proper clearance they couldn't do it, " he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 25, 11:45 PM
US to waive Afghanistan narcotics sanctions (AFP) - The United States is to
announce that it will waive sanctions imposed against Afghanistan for the
production of illicit narcotics in a move aimed at supporting the interim
government in Kabul.
Afghanistan and Haiti are to be the only countries to receive waivers when
the State Department releases its annual review of nations engaged in the
illicit drug trade, the official told AFP on Monday.
The sanctions, including an end to most US aid and a block on borrowing
from multilateral organizations, are to be waived for US "national security
interests," the official said.
Sanctions against other nations that produce narcotics or are major transit
sites for illegal drugs, such as Myanmar, will remain in place, the official
said.
The waiver for Afghanistan is part of Washington's effort to reward and
support the Afghan interim government led by Hamid Karzai that took power after
the Taliban were ousted in the US-led war on terrorism.
In 2001, for the second year in a row, Afghanistan and Myanmar, the world's
top opium and heroin producers, were the only countries out of 24 on the list to
face continued US sanctions for not cooperating with the United States on
counter-narcotics programs.
The 2002 list is to be released by Assistant Secretary of State for
International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs, Rand Beers at a news
conference on Monday.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Monday February 25, 7:56 PM
September 11 spawns intensified Asian arms race SINGAPORE, Feb 25 (AFP) - Asia
faced an intensified arms race as countries upgraded weapons systems and
modernised military forces in a security landscape altered by the September 11
terrorist attacks, defence analysts said Monday.
The acquisition of nuclear weapons by India and Pakistan, and the
modernisation of China's strategic forces added to the tension, they told an
Asia Pacific Security Conference here.
The September attacks using hijacked planes to ram buildings in New York
and Washington has forced nations to upgrade their military capability, in a
move which could stir up old animosities in Southeast Asia, they told the
conference, being held as part of the Asian Aerospace 2002 event.
Dmitri Trenin, deputy director of the Carnegie Moscow Centre, referred to
the acquisition of nuclear weapons by Asian powers as the advent of a second
nuclear age.
"The emergence of nuclear weapons states in South Asia leaves a qualitative
and new strategic environment for Asia," said Trenin, a former colonel in the
Soviet and Russian armed forces.
"Modernisation of Chinese strategic forces adds to this new environment,"
he said, adding the new situation "calls for a new level of strategic ...
interaction in Asia and there's a new need for a system of nuclear arms control
and nuclear safety."
The chairman of the International Institute for Strategic Studies Council
in London, Francois Heisbourg, noted that being a non-nuclear power in Asia was
now considered an "anomaly".
Luo Renshi, a senior research fellow at the China Institute for
International Strategic Studies in Beijing, said any deployment by the US of a
missile defence system would force China to develop and deploy its own
system.
Panitan Wattanayagorn, assistant professor of political science at
Thailand's Chulalongkorn University, said the region was "close to the classic
definition of an arms race" where a purchase by one country leads a neighbour to
do the same.
Because of the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, Southeast Asia has
not witnessed an arms race in the past decade, he said.
What has been detected was a "prestige race" where Thailand, for example,
acquired an aircraft carrier and a submarine "which really they cannot
operate."
"Now they are leasing submarines with real capabilities ... they are now
investing in high-tech weaponry such as satellite surveillance systems, missile
systems much easier to deploy.
"The race is becoming very quick," he said, also citing traditional
rivalries between Malaysia and Singapore, Indonesia and Australia, as well as
India and Pakistan.
"That would create perhaps, or stir up, the old animosities, suspicions
between nations," he said, adding Myanmar was likely to catch up with Thailand's
military modernisation.
"(Myanmar) will certainly make priorities for their defence modernisation,"
he said.
"Singapore, despite the economic crisis, really kept on modernising. That
worries Malaysia, and Malaysia is of course looking for the capable systems and
the leasing of submarines. This is really new to the region as compared to the
last decade," Panitan said.
"Of course, now they have more reason to do that due to September 11 and
the rising of uncertainties."
Asian countries could also attempt to emulate within their capabilities the
successful use by the United States of special forces and unmanned aircraft in
the campaign against al-Qaeda in Afghanistan, he said.
Steven Metz, director of research and chairman for regional strategy and
planning at the US Army Strategic Institute, said Asia's diversity should make
the region a "laboratory for the evolution of military affairs in the coming
decade."
-------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 26, 10:26 AM
Korea Daewoo Int'l eyes Myanmar gas drilling start SEOUL, Feb 26 (Reuters) - South
Korea's Daewoo International plans to drill for gas off the shore of Myanmar
from next year, but it may bring the plan forward, a company official said on
Tuesday.
Daewoo is the operator of the A-1 gas field off Myanmar's northwest coast
and holds 60 percent of the block, which could yield about 10 trillion cubic
feet of gas or 1.8 billion barrels of oil equivalent.
"We are planning to drill from next year, and we are still working on
appropriate spots for drilling," the official told Reuters on condition of
anonymity.
"Usually, the best timing for drilling is between April and November, so we
could start drilling from this year if possible," the official said.
Daewoo was granted development rights to the site in the Bengal Basin in
August 2000.
India's Oil and Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC) has 20 percent of the stake
in the gas project and state-run gas marketing firm Gas Authority of India Ltd
and state-run Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) <36460.KS> hold 10 percent each.
KOGAS is the world's second-largest importer of liquefied natural gas (LNG)
and South Korea's sole gas distributor.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 26, 1:15 PM
Myanmar blocks delegation's visit to Suu Kyi YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's ruling military has blocked members of an international labour group from visiting pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, opposition party officials said on Tuesday. The move on Monday followed criticism of the junta by International Labour
Organisation (ILO) officials meeting in neighbouring Thailand, who said Myanmar
was doing too little to curb the use of forced labour.
A car carrying the four-member ILO delegation was turned away from a
checkpoint outside Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, where the Nobel peace laureate
has been under house arrest for more than a year, witnesses said.
Myanmar's ruling generals, eager for international legitimacy which could
bring more aid, trade and investment, passed a decree in 2000 abolishing forced
labour.
But an ILO report last year said the Myanmar army was still forcing
villagers to work on farms, on infrastructure projects or as porters, especially
in areas near the Thai border where it was fighting with ethnic minority armies.
Many Western countries, including the European Union and the United States,
which maintain aid and trade sanctions on Myanmar, say they would soften their
stances if the generals improved their human rights record and moved towards
democracy.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday February 26, 7:06 AM
Tourist lust for ivory wiping out Asian elephants LONDON (Reuters) - Asia's wild
elephants are being wiped out by the demand for ivory trinkets from wealthy
tourists, a report published on Monday said.
The co-author of a report sponsored by the Save the Elephants charity said
Vietnam only had about 85 wild elephants left and blamed the ivory purchases of
French, Spanish, Italian, German, Japanese and Chinese tourists for the
disappearance of thousands across Asia over the last two decades.
"What's driving this is an increase in foreign tourism," report co-author
Esmond Martin told a London news conference.
The "South and South-East Asian Ivory Markets" report by Martin and Daniel
Stiles said local corruption had allowed some 80 percent of the wild elephants
in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to fall victim to the ivory trade from 1988 to
2000.
Martin blamed trade in Thailand as the main problem and said it was
attracting ivory from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and even imports from Africa.
The number of wild elephants in Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam fell to 1,510
from 6,250 during the 12-year period of the study, with Myanmar's population
estimated at only 4,820, about 1,000 lower than in 1990.
Martin said none of the countries surveyed, which also included Nepal, Sri
Lanka and Singapore, had enforced legislation banning the trade in ivory and
said officials in some countries even participated.
"In Nepal, nobody fears talking to me because the government is not going
to do anything about it," Martin said.
"In Cambodia and Burma the army poaches elephants, and customs and the
police can be bribed to permit exports."
Martin said one encouraging sign was that India had done much to eliminate
its ivory trade, partly by substituting camel bone for ivory in carvings.
"It shows what a government can do if they want to close the trade down.
It's not a rich place, but they've done it very successfully."
He said Sri Lanka had also clamped down on production, as had Nepal, but
cheap imports from China were still supplying the Nepali market.
The pair spent five months last year researching the trade in eight Asian
nations for the report.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Bush Acts to Ensure Afghans Get
Aid
Mon Feb 25, 6:01 PM ET By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press Writer WASHINGTON (AP) - President
Bush, issuing a report card on countries with drug problems, gave a passing
grade to Colombia and Mexico on Monday and took steps to ensure U.S. assistance
to Afghanistan will continue.
Bush's assessment covered calendar year 2001, a period, he said, when
Afghanistan had "failed demonstrably" to adhere to international drug control
standards.
Under the law, such a finding could prohibit some assistance programs, but
Bush issued a waiver on grounds that aid to the new government in Afghanistan is
"vital to the national interests of the United States."
The Taliban were in power in Afghanistan for most of 2001, before being
ousted by U.S.-led military action.
For the past several years, Afghanistan has been denied U.S. assistance,
partly because the Taliban was found to have engaged in heroin
trafficking.
Rand Beers, the State Department's top anti-crime official, told reporters
the law does not ban counterdrug and humanitarian assistance. On that basis, he
said the Bush administration was able to provide those types of assistance to
Afghanistan's interim government, which took office on Dec. 22.
The waiver allows the administration to provide all types of assistance to
Afghanistan. A month ago, Secretary of State Colin Powell pledged $296 million
in reconstruction assistance to Afghanistan for this year, part of what
officials say will be a long-term commitment to that country.
Bush found that Haiti and Myanmar also had "failed demonstrably" to
cooperate effectively in combatting drug trafficking. Haiti, like Afghanistan,
was given a national interest waiver. There was no waiver issued for Myanmar,
meaning that country will continue to be denied most types of assistance.
Of the 23 countries covered by the report, 20 were found to meet
international standards for combatting drug trafficking.
Colombia and Mexico are major producers of illicit drugs but Beers credited
both with mounting effective anti-narcotics campaigns.
"The overall efforts of the Colombian police and military, I think, have
been have been significant," Beers said. "In addition, the law enforcement
cooperation between ourselves and Colombia is superior."
Colombia is the world leader in the production and distribution of
cocaine.
Beers also praised Mexico's anti-drug effort as significant, citing in
particular the country's willingness to extradite traffickers wanted in the
United States.
Mexico is the principal transit point for U.S.-bound cocaine from South
America.
The 23 countries examined are used for drug production, drug transit, or
both.
They are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Mexico, Colombia, Nigeria, Paraguay,
the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala,
India, Jamaica, Laos, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela and
Vietnam.
On Afghanistan, Beers said the challenges for the interim government are
enormous as it attempts to curb the production of opium, the raw material for
heroin.
A State Department report last year said Afghanistan accounts for 72
percent of the world's opium supply.
Beers said the new government in Afghanistan has said it will not tolerate
cultivation or trafficking in opium poppy.
He acknowledged, however, that enforcement of this goal is difficult
because of a lack of security forces available for this task.
One possibility, he said, was the creation of incentives to induce farmers
to plow under their opium crop.
But an official in Helmand province, the biggest opium-growing region in
the world, said Monday this year's crop will be allowed to bloom and be
harvested because the new government in Kabul is too weak to stop it.
-------------------------------------------------------------- U.S. Gives Afghanistan Waiver From
Drug Black List
Mon Feb 25,12:52 PM ET WASHINGTON (Reuters) -
President Bush on Monday gave Afghanistan a waiver from a U.S. black list of
drug-producing countries to ensure it can receive American assistance.
The White House and State Department were set to announce that Myanmar, or
Burma, will be kept on the list making it ineligible for U.S. assistance, U.S.
officials said.
Afghanistan and Haiti will be on the list as well but Bush will grant them
each a waiver in the interests of U.S. national security. The United States has
said Afghanistan's former ruling Taliban militia and Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda
network used Afghan drug profits to support terrorism.
Afghanistan was on the black list last year as well but did not receive a
waiver because the Taliban was still in charge. The U.S.-led war on terrorism
helped topple Taliban rule in Afghanistan.
Myanmar was cited again this year for failing demonstrably to make
substantial efforts during the last year to adhere to international
anti-narcotics agreements, officials said.
-------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Monday, 25 February, 2002, 16:30
GMT
China trains Burmese police on drugs China has begun to train a group of Burmese police officers to tackle drugs
related crime.
The 25 officers are undergoing a five-week training course in the
southwestern Chinese province of Yunnan, which borders Burma.
The course is part of an anti-drug co-operation agreement China announced
in August with Burma, Thailand and Laos, whose drug-producing areas are known as
the Golden Triangle.
Yunnan is the main entry point for heroin from the Golden Triangle into
China, which is facing a growing problem with drug use.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
-------------------------------------------------------------- Los Angeles Times
February 26, 2002
U.S. Update on Drug Growers Excuses Some Narcotics: Review cites continued production by three nations but punishes none. By PAUL RICHTER, TIMES STAFF WRITER
WASHINGTON -- The Bush administration Monday criticized the drug-fighting
efforts of Afghanistan, Haiti and Myanmar, yet in effect penalized no
country.
The three nations have "failed demonstrably to make substantial efforts" to
fight drug trafficking, the White House said in an annual report. Twenty other
countries with major drug industries, including Mexico and Colombia, were found
to have met the U.S. standard in fighting drugs in 2001.
By federal law, countries found out of compliance are subject to a cutoff
of U.S. aid. Afghanistan was given a waiver because of the U.S. interest in
strengthening the new interim government and because the ousted Taliban
government was in power during most of the year. Haiti was let off the hook on
the grounds that halting humanitarian aid to that impoverished country could
touch off a flood of illegal immigration to Florida, threatening U.S. national
security.
As in previous years, Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, was given no
waiver. But that country hasn't received U.S. aid for some time.
Annual Procedure Is Always Controversial
The drug "certification" program has been highly controversial, especially
among U.S. allies upset about having their performance scrutinized annually. In
an effort to allay those concerns, the report this year sought to focus on the
poor performers rather than evaluating each of the 23 countries on the "majors
list."
"Instead of presuming everyone is bad and saying then who was good, we are
only making a determination on who was bad, on who didn't do enough," said Rand
Beers, assistant secretary of State for international narcotics and law
enforcement affairs.
In Afghanistan, the Taliban, which came to power in 1996, enforced a ban on
cultivation of the opium poppy in the fall of 2000 that caused opium production
to fall 94% in Afghanistan and nearly 75% worldwide.
But the Taliban did nothing to halt trafficking in the large stockpiles
that remained in the country, and in fact "assumed that the existences of large
stockpiles would continue the cash flow necessary to keep that government
alive," Beers said.
Meanwhile, production surged in the parts of the country controlled by the
Northern Alliance, the anti-Taliban opposition that fought with U.S. forces to
oust the regime.
U.S. officials acknowledged that because of the limited resources of the
fragile new government, the anti-narcotics effort in Afghanistan is not likely
to be highly effective in 2002. Although the government is committed to fighting
the drug trade, "it will [take] several months and significant assistance from
the international community before the interim authority can take concrete
measures to eradicate poppy production and counter drug trafficking in
Afghanistan," the report said.
The new poppy crop is due to be harvested at the end of March. Officials
said they might be able to pay some Afghan farmers to plow their crops under.
But "the challenges are enormous," Beers said.
Anti-Drug Performance of Haiti Termed 'Weak'
He said Haiti's anti-drug performance was "weak." The government failed to
enact key pieces of legislation and did not increase arrests, drug seizures or
prosecutions.
Nonetheless, "U.S. vital national interests require that U.S. assistance to
Haiti continues," Beers said.
Myanmar took some measures against drug trafficking, yet "large-scale poppy
cultivation and opium production continue." The country is a huge producer of
methamphetamine; 800 million methamphetamine tablets were produced there in
2001, according to the report.
Myanmar's government also failed to turn over some key trafficking
suspects, including Khun Sa, who is under indictment in the United States, the
report said.
Colombia Is Among 20 Nations Certified
Beers said that the efforts of the Colombian police and military have been
"significant" and that their cooperation with U.S. law enforcement has been
"superior." He said the government of Mexico has made "demonstrable" efforts
against drugs.
The 23 countries reviewed were Afghanistan, Myanmar, Haiti, Colombia,
Mexico, Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala,
India, Jamaica, Laos, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand,
Venezuela and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Police seize ya ba haul 'of Wei associate'
Published on Feb 26, 2002
Provincial police yesterday seized 258,000 methamphetamine tablets said to
belong to suspected trafficker Ubon Kamfubutr, 50, who was earlier arrested in a
sting operation.
Police Region 5 commissioner Pol Lt-General Jesadang Phrom-sakha na Sakon
Nakhon said Ubon was a key trafficker in the drug ring run by an accomplice of
fugitive drug lord Wei Xieu-kang.
Following Ubon's arrest, police said they found the illicit drugs at a
remote rice field in Mae Sai district before the suspect's accomplices could
destroy them.
Jesadang said Ubon acted as a go-between for supplies for the Burma's Red
Wa group and for transporting its illicit drugs to markets in the eastern
provinces and along the Thai-Cambodian border.
Authorities have impounded Ubon's assets of Bt5 million, believed to be the
profits of illegal activities, pending her prosecution.
In separate operations, drugs-suppression police rounded up another five
alleged traffickers, including a village headman in Chiang Rai, and seized
238,000 methamphetamine tablets.
Meanwhile, Narcotics Suppres-sion Bureau commissioner Pol Lt-General
Priewpan Damapong warned police officers at Tha Rua police station to stop
condoning the illicit drug trade in the Klong Toei community in Bangkok.
Priewpan said his bureau had taken over the responsibility for drug
suppression in the community from Tha Rua police. He said the Tha Rua police,
most of whom were non-commissioned officers, should reform or face the legal
action.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Thai Police Arrest 500 Illegal
Alien Workers
Xinhuanet 2002-02-26 19:02:36 BANGKOK, February 26 (Xinhuanet) -- Thai police arrested over 500
illegal foreign workers in Tak province, 420 kilometers northwest from Bangkok,
the ITV news reported Tuesday.
According to the report, most of the illegal workers came from Myanmar.
They were arrested when the police inspect local firms and factories in the
province along the Thai-Myanmar border.
Many of the arrested workers were found being infected with malaria, while
some others were found with other infectious diseases, the report said.
The crackdown followed the closure of the official registrationnationwide
of illegal alien workers from Myanmar, Laos, and Cambodia late last year.
Police said illegal alien workers who failed to turn out for the
registration as legal workers would be sternly cracked down.
Moreover, their employers would also be fined and would be responsible for
deportation costs of the illegal workers.
-------------------------------------------------------------- CNN Europe
Forced labor investigators hindered in Myanmar February 26, 2002 Posted: 0842 GMT YANGON, Myanmar (Reuters) --
Myanmar's ruling military blocked an International Labour Organisation (ILO)
delegation investigating forced labor from meeting pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, opposition party officials said.
The Monday move followed criticism of the junta by ILO officials meeting in
neighboring Thailand, who said Myanmar was doing too little to curb use of
forced labor.
The four-member ILO delegation's car was turned away from a checkpoint
outside Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, where the Nobel peace laureate has been
under house arrest for more than a year, witnesses said.
Myanmar's ruling generals, eager for international legitimacy which could
bring more aid, trade and investment, passed a decree in 2000 abolishing forced
labor.
But an ILO report last year said the Myanmar army was still forcing
villagers to farm, and work on infrastructure projects or as porters, especially
in areas near the Thai border where it was fighting with ethnic minority armies.
Many Western countries, including the European Union and the United States,
which maintain aid and trade sanctions on Myanmar, say they would soften their
stances if the ruling generals improve their human rights record and move
towards democracy.
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