|
--------------------------------------------------------------
Burma Related News - February 27,
2002.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Headlines
--------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters - Myanmar slams "self-defeating" U.S.
drugs policy
Reuters - ILO says Myanmar stymied dialogue on
forced labour
Reuters - Singapore deputy PM links Asia
recovery to Japan
Reuters - Jiang hails progress in ties with
Vietnam
AFP - Officials from 37 nations converge on Bali
to tackle people smuggling
AP- Malaysia, Singapore Say E Timor Invited To
Asean Meetings
IPS - UN Board Sounds Alarm about Internet's
Role in Trafficking
Reuters - UN Watchdog Says Drug Sales Booming in
Cyberspace
AP - ILO mission head disappointed with attitude
of Myanmar authorities in forced labor visit
AP - Myanmar government rejects U.S. drug
statement as `self-defeating'
VOA News - ILO: Burma's Offer Inadequate to
Monitor Labor Practices
Kyodo News - ILO
official protests Myanmar sanctions on ILO activities
Kyodo News - Myanmar
proposes appointment of ILO liaison officer
Kyodo News - Gov't
rescinds decision to reject Myanmar man's refugee
status
Independent - Consortium to construct gas pipeline to India,
Myanmar
The Star - Panicky illegals give themselves away
to cops
Bkk Post - Stiffer ID
card screening
The Nation - Burma
gets 'F' for drug fight
Xinhuanet - Myanmar-India Gas Pipeline Over
Bangladesh Proposed
-------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 27, 2:37 PM
Myanmar slams "self-defeating" U.S. drugs policy YANGON, Feb 27 (Reuters) -
Myanmar's ruling generals on Wednesday said a U.S. move to keep the country on a
drugs black list was self-defeating.
The comments follow U.S. President George W. Bush's announcing this week
that Myanmar, Haiti and Afghanistan had failed to cooperate against the drugs
trade in the last year.
But the United States will only keep sanctions on Myanmar, stopping most
kinds of U.S. aid flowing to the country, after declaring that helping Haiti and
Afghanistan was in the U.S. national interest.
Myanmar condemned the U.S. stance and said it was slashing the cultivation
of opium, the raw material for heroin production.
"The (U.S.) President's counter narcotic determinations...are very
alarmingly controversial in nature and self-deafeating in practice," said a
Myanmar government statement.
"In fact, the U.S. Opium Field Survey Team is currently in Myanmar working
closely together with Myanmar officials," it said.
The U.S. State Department has said that despite some reduction in the last
three years, Myanmar continues large-scale poppy production and opium
production.
It also says the military government in Yangon refuses to hand over known
drugs warlords and tolerates money laundering.
Many Western countries, accusing Myanmar of a poor record on human rights,
drugs production and repression of Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition
National League for Democracy
(NLD), have imposed limited sanctions on the country.
But the impoverished Southeast Asian country, desperate for aid, trade and
investment, has tried in the last two years to project a clean image to the
outside world.
Foreign journalists are regularly taken into the country to witness
soldiers burning poppy fields to stop opium production.
Myanmar has also agreed on anti-narcotic talks with neighbouring Thailand
and China, who are increasingly disturbed by the hundreds of millions of
methamphetamine pills flooding in through their porous borders each year.
Production of methamphetamines has mushroomed in the "Golden Triangle"
region where the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos converge, in recent
years.
Rival ethnic minority armies are tussling over the lucrative trade, but
early last year the Myanmar and Thai militaries traded live ammunition as well
as accusations of involvement in drugs trafficking.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 27, 6:26 AM
ILO says Myanmar stymied dialogue on forced labour GENEVA (Reuters) - Myanmar's
ruling military has effectively blocked international efforts to halt the army's
use of forced labour, a senior International Labour Organisation (ILO) official
said on Tuesday.
Francis Maupain, who led a week-long mission to the southeast Asian
country, said the ILO was disappointed Myanmar had refused to allow it to set up
a permanent office -- one of its key demands -- to address the widespread
problem of forced labour.
Maupain also said his team had been prevented from meeting pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday after being turned back at a checkpoint
outside her residence in the capital Yangon.
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 farm and work on infrastructure projects or as porters, especially
in areas near the Thai border where the army is fighting ethnic minority armies.
"All positive things which might have accrued to Myanmar will be lost
because the ILO presence could have brought a lot," Maupain told a news briefing
upon his return to Geneva.
"When it became clear that because of the strict instructions invoked on
the side of the authorities that there was no basis to pursue dialogue, we made
clear that if we had known that we would not have sent the mission," he added.
ILO TO CONSIDER OPTIONS
Myanmar's proposal for an ILO "liaison officer" based abroad fell short of
ILO requirements for providing technical expertise to help eradicate forced
labour, he said.
It is now up to the ILO's governing body to consider what action to take at
a meeting expected around March 20, he said.
In November 2000, the ILO executive, made up of 28 governments, 14 employer
groups and 14 trade union bodies, urged all 174 member states to review
relations with Myanmar's ruling junta. The unprecedented call was the closest
the United Nations labour agency can get to calling for outright sanctions.
On Monday, the ILO delegation's car was turned away from a checkpoint
outside Suu Kyi's residence in Yangon, where the Nobel laureate has been under
house arrest for more than a year.
"It was clear from the beginning our intent was to see Suu Kyi. We were not
allowed to go through the checkpoint and see her," Maupain said.
The move followed criticism of the junta by ILO officials meeting in
neighbouring Thailand, who said Myanmar was doing too little to curb the use of
forced labour.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 27, 12:32 PM
Singapore deputy PM links Asia recovery to Japan SINGAPORE, Feb 27 (Reuters) -
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said economic recovery in Asia
will depend on the success of Japanese reform efforts.
"We are all feeling the impact," Lee, also chairman of the Monetary
Authority of Singapore, said in an interview with the International Herald
Tribune on Wednesday.
"Japan's protracted weakness has been a significant drag through reduced
trade, investments and tourism. It is powerfully in Southeast Asia's interest to
see Japan's economy recover."
Singapore, grappling with its most severe downturn since 1964, will publish
2001 gross domestic product data on Thursday.
Official estimates forecast a contraction of 2.2 percent, but Prime
Minister Goh Chok Tong said in a Lunar New Year Message that recovery hopes were
in sight.
The government recently revised growth expectations for 2002 to 1.0 to 3.0
percent, up from minus 2.0 to plus 2.0 percent.
The trade-driven city state, whose exports make up about 70 percent of GDP,
signed a free trade deal with Japan in January.
"A reorientation of Southeast Asia's economic linkages toward China is
inevitable," Lee said. "But Japan is still the world's second-largest economy."
A weak yen will jeopardise Asia's economic recovery, he said, by putting
pressure on the Hong Kong dollar and Malaysian ringgit, both pegged to the
dollar, and causing China and Korea to worry about export competitiveness.
"I think most Association of South East Asian Nations'
(ASEAN) currencies will follow the yen down," Lee said.
But ASEAN had made progress toward attracting investment by bringing
forward the implementation of the ASEAN Free Trade Area to January 1, 2002 and
reviewing other initiatives such as an ASEAN-China free trade agreement.
Lee said the latter would take time to bear fruit but showed that the
region was pursuing economic cooperation.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 27, 7:37 PM
Jiang hails progress in ties with Vietnam By David Brunnstrom HANOI (Reuters) - China's
President Jiang Zemin began a three-day visit to Vietnam on Wednesday, hailing
fresh progress in all aspects of the relationship between what are two of the
world's last communist states.
Jiang's "official goodwill visit", aimed at nurturing a relationship that
has improved steadily since a bloody border war 23 years ago, will likely be his
last to the country before stepping down as Communist Party chief this year.
In Hanoi for the first time since 1994, Jiang was greeted at the airport by
government ministers, including Trade Minister Vu Khoan, and senior party
officials, as well as a marching band of children in the red scarves of
Communist Party young pioneers.
Jiang's motorcade passed hundreds of Vietnamese women in traditional long
flowing dresses waving red Chinese and Vietnamese flags as it took him for talks
with President Tran Duc Luong and Communist Party chief Nong Duc Manh
"We are very pleased to see the relations between the two parties and the
two countries have made fresh progress in all aspects," China's Xinhua news
agency quoted Jiang as saying in a written statement at the airport.
Jiang said he hoped his visit would further enhance the mutual trust,
friendship and cooperation between the two countries and help promote common
prosperity and development.
Vietnamese officials said Jiang would witness the signing of two documents
on Wednesday, one on economic and technical cooperation and the other a
framework agreement on a preferential credit from China to Vietnam.
Diplomats see Jiang's visit as hastily arranged reciprocation to a trip by
Manh to Beijing late last year and said it was unlikely to touch on sensitive
issues like sovereignty over the reputedly oil-rich Spratly Islands.
Jiang is expected to do his best to alter perceptions about China, which
although one of Hanoi's last ideological allies, is still seen by many
Vietnamese as more of a traditional rival.
Only 23 years ago, in February 1979, Beijing launched a brief but bloody
border war to punish Hanoi for ousting the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia. Ties were
not normalised until 1991.
A highlight of Jiang's visit will be a televised speech at Hanoi National
University on Thursday, where he will have the chance to communicate a message
of friendship to the young.
EMULATING CLINTON, PUTIN
In speaking there he will be emulating former U.S. President Bill Clinton,
who started the trend in November 2000, and Russia's Vladimir Putin in March
2001.
Vietnam's official media said Jiang's visit was aimed at taking relations
"to a new height" and highlighted an increase in trade from just $30 million in
1991 to $2.8 billion last year. The two countries have vowed to further increase
trade to $3.5 billion this year and $5 billion in 2005.
But there has been little of the fanfare that accompanied the historic U.S.
and Russian visits, testament at least in part to the regular exchanges now seen
between the two countries. Last year more than 100 delegations were exchanged.
While ideology is a bond at state level, history and proximity have had a
dampening effect on ordinary attitudes.
The countries signed a land border pact in late 1999 and another covering
the Tonkin Gulf a year later, but the former has been criticised by dissidents
in Vietnam for giving too much away, and they have yet to finalise a fishing
pact.
To soften the impact of China's World Trade Organisation accession Hanoi
has been seeking similar tariff breaks to those offered to Myanmar, Laos and
Cambodia.
Zhang Xizhen, a professor at Peking University's School of International
Relations, said something to encourage Hanoi to support a China-Southeast Asia
free trade zone.
"If China wants to promote the establishment of a free trade zone with
ASEAN (the Association of Southeast Asian Nations) it will have to make some
concessions, especially to countries with relatively backward economies," he
said.
Vietnam's official media said that among the areas of cooperation Jiang's
visit would help expand were defence and "theoretical research", the latter an
apparent reference to Vietnam's interest in China's decision to allow
entrepreneurs to join the ruling party.
On defence, analysts said Hanoi would be at pains to allay Chinese concerns
about a U.S. call for an "open port" deal to allow ships from all nations to
visit the strategic naval base of Cam Ranh Bay, once the Russian navy pulls out
this year.
Vietnam has repeatedly stressed it will not sign an agreement with any
other country to allow use of the base for military purposes after Moscow's
withdrawal. -------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday February 27, 10:38 AM
Officials from 37 nations converge on Bali to tackle people smuggling (AFP) - Ministers or top
officials from 37 Asia-Pacific countries began gathering on Indonesia's Bali
island for the first-ever international talks on curbing people-smuggling and
other transnational crimes.
During two days of talks, jointly chaired by Australia and Indonesia, 350
delegates will examine the causes of illegal immigration, ways of ensuring
humane treatment of people who are smuggled, protection guarantees for genuine
refugees, the repatriation of illegal migrants and ways to combat
people-trafficking and other cross-border crime.
Officials stress the talks are not a pledging forum, but the first chance
to forge multilateral cooperation in combating the trafficking of human
cargo.
Hundreds of illegal migrants have drowned on perilous sea voyages to
Australia and thousands are stranded after entrusting their fate to ruthless
people-smuggling gangs whose operations stretch from the Middle East to
Southeast Asia and the Pacific.
Organisers cite the attendance of officials from major source countries of
asylum-seekers, including Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran, as a key factor to the
effectiveness of the talks.
"This is the first time countries from all sides of the problem have been
brought together in one country to discuss those issues," said one
organiser.
A four-person delegation was due to arrive from Afghanistan's interim
administration, while Pakistan has said it is sending Interior Minister
Moinuddin Haider. Iran is sending five representatives. Iraq, a major source of
migrants, declined to attend.
The talks are the initiative of Indonesia, which raised the idea late last
year in the face of criticism from Canberra of how it was dealing with waves of
Middle Eastern migrants. They have been using Indonesia as a transit point to
reach Australia.
Many come to Indonesia illegally via small boats after gaining visa-free
entry to neighbouring Malaysia.
Curbing people-smuggling syndicates is high on the Australian agenda. Other
delegates are looking for more guarantees for the protection of
asylum-seekers.
At least one source country, Iran, wants to see more "legal forms" of
labour migration discussed, so that people can move around the world without
resorting to criminal syndicates and their potentially deadly methods.
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri is scheduled to open the
conference later Wednesday.
The countries taking part are Australia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan,
Brunei, Cambodia, China, East Timor, Fiji, France, India, Iran, Japan, Jordan,
Kiribati, North Korea and South Korea, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, Mongolia, Nauru,
Nepal, New Zealand, Palau, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Samoa,
Singapore, Solomon Islands, Sri Lanka, Syria, Thailand, Turkey, Vanuatu and
Vietnam.
The International Organisation for Migration and the United Nations High
Commissioner for Refugees are attending as associates and will have a say in
drafting agreements.
Observers are also attending from Austria, Belgium, Britain, Canada,
Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Russia and
the United States and international organisations such as the World Bank and the
International Committee of the Red Cross.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Malaysia, Singapore Say E Timor
Invited To Asean Meetings
Wed Feb 27, 2:05 AM ET BALI, Indonesia (AP)--The
foreign ministers of Malaysia and Singapore said Wednesday that East Timor (news
- web sites) has been invited to upcoming meetings of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations ahead of the new country's expected entry into the
regional grouping.
Malaysia 's Syed Hamid Albar said Asean will discuss East Timor 's
membership after the fledgling nation, which is currently under an interim U.N.
administration, gains full independence in May.
"We have always thought that since East Timor was formerly part of
Indonesia , there are a lot of benefits for the country to join Asean," Syed
Hamid told reporters on the sidelines of an Asia-Pacific conference on human
smuggling at Indonesia 's tourist island of Bali.
Singaporean Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar said that Asean would probably
take a "graduated approach" to accepting East Timor as a member.
He said that the new nation had already been invited to attend the upcoming
Asean foreign ministers' meeting in Brunei.
The regional grouping also comprises Brunei, Cambodia , Indonesia , Laos ,
Myanmar , the Philippines , Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------- UN Board Sounds Alarm about
Internet's Role in Trafficking
Wed Feb 27, 6:26 AM ET Gustavo Capdevila,Inter Press Service GENEVA, (IPS) - Globalization
and the latest information technologies, particularly the Internet, create a
challenge for developing effective anti-drugs policies, warned the International
Narcotics Control Board (INCB) Wednesday.
In its report for 2001, the INCB, a specialized agency of the United
Nations, alerts governments that "there is a real danger that the benefits of
new technologies might be seriously undermined by criminals for illicit gain."
Drug traffickers use the instantaneous communication of the Internet to
improve their distribution and delivery systems.
Internet technology allows them to hide information about illegal drug
shipments through encrypted messages, and on-line communications give them a
means to carry out electronic funds transfers, through which they can launder
their drug profits.
In the Netherlands, some companies have utiliszed the Internet to sell
marijuana seeds and cannabis products worldwide.
British authorities have identified more than 1,000 websites aimed at
selling illegal drugs, including marijuana, heroin, ecstasy and cocaine.
The drug cartels of Colombia and Mexico, meanwhile, have used cutting-edge
equipment to monitor those who are investigating them. Drug traffickers are
intercepting the communications of the anti-drug agents and gathering photos and
personal information about them.
The report also indicates that in a matter of minutes, anyone browsing the
Internet can obtain detailed information on the manufacture of synthetic drugs
and how to purchase the necessary chemicals and laboratory equipment.
Cyber-crime is easy, said INCB president Amid Ghodse in his presentation of
the report Wednesday in Vienna, home to this UN agency.
Committing crimes through this digital channel requires only scant
resources and the danger for the criminal, or the chance that he or she would be
caught, are minimal, said Ghodse.
The UN board proposes confronting this form of cyber-crime through a
framework of international cooperation and surveillance.
The document, which provides an overview of the operations of the
international narcotics control system, criticizes the "misdirected" anti-drugs
policies followed by certain unnamed governments.
"Many such policies tend to focus on a single aspect of the problem, for
instance, supply reduction," said Ghodse, who gathered observations made by
developing countries about the nations of the industrialiszed North.
At the same time, he said, governments often neglect "other areas that
might be equally important, such as reducing demand for illicit drugs and
preventing favorable conditions for spin-off crimes like money-laundering."
The INCB "is placing equal priority on all aspects of drug control whether
related to demand or to supply reduction," said the official.
The Board's report also points to the great differences that persist
between rich and poor countries with respect to the consumption of drugs aimed
at treating moderate to severe pain.
The 20 countries that consume the most painkillers are in the
industrialized world, such as the United States, which consumes 40 percent of
the morphine used worldwide for therapeutic purposes.
The INCB said it is "concerned that, in many countries, particularly in
Africa and Asia, the consumption of narcotic drugs for the treatment of moderate
to severe pain continues to be extremely low."
The consumption of crack, a drug based on cocaine paste, has expanded more
rapidly than other drugs in South Africa because it has the most accessible
price. Cocaine use, meanwhile, is on the rise in Angola and Namibia.
Intravenous heroin consumption is spreading through some parts of the
African continent, increasing the risk of the spread of HIV/AIDS, the pandemic
that has already devastated many of the southern countries.
The INCB study states that cocaine use in Canada the United States has
stabilized, and in some cases has dropped. However, the organization expresses
concern about the health and social costs of widespread marijuana consumption in
the two countries.
South America continues to be the only region where coca leaf - the raw
material for cocaine - is produced, with relatively stable production levels
overall.
Consumption of this drug has risen nearly everywhere, but particularly in
what are known as "transit countries" for narcotics trafficking, such as
Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador and Venezuela.
But cocaine consumption appears to have dropped in Bolivia and Peru, where
the area planted with coca was significantly reduced in recent years.
The drug eradication program known as Plan Colombia has heightened concern
that traffickers will shift their activity to neighboring countries.
The report describes how Plan Colombia covers the aerial fumigation with
herbicides to wipe out coca and opium poppy fields, and how last year such
operations involved 50,000 hectares of illicit crops.
But the INCB recognizes the protests that have erupted in Colombia against
the use of high concentrations of glyphosate in the fumigations, combined with
other products, that harm legal food crops, the environment and human health.
Meanwhile, Myanmar last year became the world's leading producer of opium
poppies after the ban established in Afghanistan by the former Taliban regime
and as a result of the drought suffered by that country.
Opium originating in Afghanistan continues to be trafficked through Iran
and Pakistan, says the INCB.
However, there has been a reduction in the total area cultivated with opium
poppies in Laos and Vietnam, while the presence of the illegal crop in Thailand
is minimal.
Europe remains the principal source of synthetic drugs, such as ecstasy,
which is consumed primarily by young adults, there and in other regions.
The INCB criticized certain European countries for legalizing the
possession and consumption of controlled substances, and for tolerating the use
of marijuana and ecstasy.
None of those governments has been able to demonstrate that the application
of such policies reduces the demand for illegal drugs, says the UN agency.
-------------------------------------------------------------- UN Watchdog Says Drug Sales
Booming in Cyberspace
Wed Feb 27, 5:16 AM ET By Louis Charbonneau VIENNA (Reuters) - The United
Nations narcotics watchdog said on Wednesday the use of the Internet and other
new technologies by drug traffickers was complicating the struggle against the
illegal drug trade and narcotics abuse. In its 2001 annual report, the
International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) said that narcotics were being sold
over the Internet, often with the aid of private chat rooms protected by
firewalls impenetrable to law enforcers.
There were also jurisdictional problems created by cross-border criminal
activity in cyberspace, exacerbated by the failure of some countries to adopt
legislation on cybercrime.
"The INCB is particularly concerned that countries without adequate
legislation against crime involving new technologies may become sanctuaries,"
the board said in the report.
Examples of cyber drug sales included reports from the Czech Republic that
narcotics purchases were agreed online at Internet cafes or via mobile phones.
Dutch companies were using the web to sell cannabis seeds and derivatives around
the world.
"The INCB is particularly concerned that young people are at risk from drug
dealers in cyberspace using the Internet."
The report said drug traffickers were using Internet banking to launder
drug money, while online pharmacies were making prescription-only drugs readily
available.
The INCB said it was worried by the increase in intravenous heroin use in
Africa, which it believed would abet the spread of HIV/AIDS infection on the
continent.
In South Africa alone, intravenous heroin use had increased 40 percent over
the last three years.
In North America, cocaine abuse appeared to be stabilizing, although heroin
abuse among young people was on the rise.
After Afghanistan's former Taliban government banned the cultivation of
opium in 2000, Myanmar became the world's top illicit opium producer last year.
A prolonged drought also reduced Afghanistan's 2001 opium output, the report
said.
The board said Afghanistan was still a key country in the global opium
trade and that after the war large quantities of opiates were released from
illicit stocks.
Throughout all of South Asia, heroin abuse is increasing, it said, and
there had been a definite shift away from smoking and inhaling the drug toward
injecting it.
Heroin abuse was an increasing problem in central and eastern Europe, which
remained a popular transit zone for drug traffickers. Intravenous heroin abuse
was contributing to a rise in HIV and Hepatitis C infections in the region.
The board also urged countries to resist increasing calls for the
legalization of cannabis, saying it would be a "historical mistake" to treat it
like alcohol or tobacco.
-------------------------------------------------------------- ILO mission head disappointed with
attitude of Myanmar authorities in forced labor visit
Tue Feb 26,11:46 AM ET By JONATHAN FOWLER, Associated Press Writer GENEVA - The head of an International Labor Organization mission to Myanmar
on Tuesday said he was disappointed with the government's lack of cooperation
during a visit to assess progress in ending forced labor.
Francois Maupain returned to Geneva Monday after seven days in Myanmar,
saying that authorities had misled the U.N. labor agency in issuing the
invitation to check on conditions.
The ILO wants to send permanent monitors to the Southeast Asian nation, but
Maupain said officials in Myanmar had stalled on the issue.
Although local authorities were ready to consider some form of U.N.
presence, they wanted to impose sweeping restrictions, said Maupain.
"It became evident that there was no basis to pursue a dialogue," he said
of the talks in Yangon. "We made it clear that if we had known this before, the
mission would not have been sent."
Myanmar has long been criticized by the United Nations (news - web sites)
and Western nations for its human rights record, including forcing people to do
unpaid manual labor on public works and to serve as army porters.
In November 2000, the ILO urged its 175 member governments to impose
sanctions and review their dealings with Myanmar to ensure they are not abetting
forced labor. An ILO team visited the country last September and said forced
labor was continuing despite a law aimed at ending the practice (news - Y!
TV).
Maupain refused to be drawn on what action the ILO would likely take
against Myanmar. He said he would submit a report of his visit to the ILO
governing body, which will discuss the problem next month.
"It's up to the governing body to draw its conclusions" he said.
Maupain criticized Myanmar authorities for blocking access to opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
On Monday a motorcade carrying Maupain and secretary Richard Horsey was
stopped at a security road barrier about 100 meters (yards) from the entrance to
Suu Kyi's lakeside home. She has been kept there under virtual house arrest
since September 2000.
Police officers at the checkpoint told him they had no instructions to let
him in, said Maupain.
"This was not in accordance with our understanding" of the terms of his
visit, he said.
Myanmar's military seized power in 1988 after crushing a democracy
uprising. It called national elections in 1990, but refused to honor the results
that gave Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party an overwhelming
victory.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar government rejects U.S.
drug statement as `self-defeating'
Wed Feb 27, 1:09 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -
Myanmar's government has rejected as "self-defeating" a U.S. report on the
country's drug control efforts, saying America with its large number of addicts
who fuel the demand is equally to blame for the problem.
In a report to the Congress on Saturday, U.S. President George W. Bush made
Myanmar ineligible for all assistance except humanitarian aid, saying it had
failed to meet international drug control standards last year. Afghanistan and
Haiti also were named but Bush waived the aid ban on them in national
interest.
A Myanmar government statement issued Tuesday called Bush's decision "very
alarmingly controversial in nature and self-defeating in practice."
"It seems to be equivocally unclear to all of us why all the targeted
countries alone are held to be responsible to reduce their domestic demand when
the nation itself that is targeting others has categorically the biggest demand
in the world for all kinds of narcotic drugs," the statement said.
"Myanmar together with many other countries has been profoundly confused
with the U.S. policy on drugs," it said.
According to U.S. figures, about 6.3 percent of Americans, or about 14
million people, were frequent drug users in 2000, compared to 25 million
Americans in 1979. Americans spend about dlrs 64 billion annually buying illicit
drugs, of which about dlrs 35 billion is spent on cocaine, dlrs 10.5 billion on
marijuana and about dlrs 10 billion heroin.
Heroin is derived from opium, and according to the U.S. presidential
memorandum, Myanmar has returned to its position as the world's largest producer
of illicit opium.
-------------------------------------------------------------- ILO: Burma's Offer Inadequate to
Monitor Labor Practices
Kate Pound Dawson Hong Kong VOA - News, 27 Feb 2002 13:38 UTC Burma says it is willing to allow the International Labor Organization to
base a liaison officer in Rangoon. The ILO says the offer is inadequate.
An ILO officer says Rangoon's offer is a step forward, but not enough to
allow the organization to adequately monitor Burma's labor practices.
Burma's military government made the offer to allow a liaison officer
during a recent visit by an ILO team.
Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win told reporters Wednesday the
government hopes the ILO accepts the offer. He says a liaison could be upgraded,
if relations with the ILO improved.
However, ILO officials say they want to open a full office in Burma. They
say such an office is needed to be able to investigate labor complaints and
monitor Burma's efforts to improve labor rights.
ILO officials say the governing body is unlikely to post a liaison officer
in Rangoon.
Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, has long had a record of using
forced labor. The government has banned the practice, but, according to an ILO
report last year, it still goes on.
In addition to opening a full ILO office in Burma, the ILO wants Rangoon to
create an ombudsman position, to deal with labor problems.
Burma's military government would like to draw more foreign investment into
the impoverished country. However, many Western countries have only limited
contact with Rangoon because of what they view as the country's repressive
government.
-------------------------------------------------------------- ILO official protests Myanmar sanctions
on ILO activities
GENEVA, Feb. 26, Kyodo - An
International Labor Organization (ILO) official returning from Myanmar this week
said Tuesday the Myanmar military junta has imposed restrictions on the proposed
creation of an ILO office in Yangon.
The official, Francis Maupain, told a press conference at the ILO
headquarters in Geneva the strictures were such that the ILO would not be able
to conduct a ''meaningful'' operation even if an office were set up.
Maupain, special adviser to the ILO Director General Juan Somavia, led a
four-member delegation to Myanmar last week to check whether the junta has taken
effective measures to stamp out public works conscription practices which
violate ILO bans on forced labor.
The fact-finding mission is scheduled to present a report of its findings
to the ILO Governing Body next month, which will decide whether to remove or
continue sanctions imposed in November 2000 against Myanmar.
Last November, the ILO Governing Body called on Myanmar to allow a
permanent ILO presence in the country to monitor efforts to end forced labor and
to set up an independent watchdog body to receive and investigate complaints
regarding forced labor.
Maupain said the military junta was in principle willing to accept a
permanent ILO office but not in a way that would be meaningful in terms of ILO's
commitment to enforce fair labor standards and practices.
During his stay in Myanmar, Maupain tried to visit pro-democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi at her house where she has been held under arrest, but was
turned back from a police checkpoint near her house.
Maupain criticized the Yangon government, emphasizing that he had explained
the intention behind his visit not only to other leaders of the pro-democracy
movement, but also to the junta. -------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar proposes appointment of ILO
liaison officer
YANGON, Feb. 27, Kyodo -
Myanmar has proposed that the International Labor Organization (ILO) initially
appoint an officer to liaise with the junta instead of opening a representative
office in Yangon as it has urged it be allowed to do, Deputy Foreign Minister
Khin Maung Win said Wednesday.
Khin Maung Win made the remarks to a press conference in Yangon in the wake
of a Feb. 19-25 visit by a four-member ILO mission to assess the forced labor
situation in the country and to discuss the proposed opening of an ILO
representative office in Yangon.
''Modalities for opening a resident representative office of the ILO are
delicate and sensitive,'' he said, noting that the International Committee for
Red Cross also started with the appointment of a liaison officer.
''We would cooperate with such an ILO liaison officer, as in case of the
ICRC, and work together toward common goals before an ILO representative office
can be opened. I hope the ILO will accept our proposal,'' he said.
On ILO mission leader Francios Maupain's failure to meet with pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Monday, Khin Maung Win called it an unfortunate
incident arising out of lack of proper communication.
Maupain's car was turned back from a police checkpoint near the house of
the National League for Democracy leader, who has been prevented from leaving
her home by the military authorities.
''Mr. Maupain went to her place without earlier informing the relevant
authorities and the police at the checkpoint did not get prior instruction from
above,'' Khin Maung Win said.
After returning to Geneva, Maupain, a special adviser to ILO Director
General Juan Somavia, on Tuesday criticized the Yangon government, telling a
press conference at ILO headquarters that he had explained to the junta the
intention behind his visit.
He said that while the junta was in principle willing to accept a permanent
ILO office in Yangon, the ILO would not be able to conduct a ''meaningful''
operation there because the junta has imposed excessive restrictions.
The fact-finding mission is scheduled to present a report of its findings
to the ILO Governing Body next month, which will decide whether to remove or
continue sanctions imposed in November 2000 against Myanmar.
Last November, the ILO Governing Body called on Myanmar to allow a
permanent ILO presence in the country to monitor efforts to end forced labor and
to set up an independent watchdog body to receive and investigate complaints
regarding forced labor.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Gov't rescinds decision to reject
Myanmar man's refugee status
TOKYO, Feb. 27, Kyodo - Justice
Minister Mayumi Moriyama said Wednesday that her ministry has rescinded an
earlier decision rejecting a Myanmar man's application for refugee status.
The 29-year-old man has a lawsuit pending with the Tokyo District Court
seeking a court decision to nullify the ministry decision.
''We have decided to rescind our earlier decision having taken into
consideration the facts that were revealed in court,'' Moriyama told the
Judicial Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives.
While it is extremely rare for the ministry to change a decision in the
middle of a court case, the man's lawyers criticized the move, saying, ''It is
trying to gloss over the mistake by avoiding a ruling at a time when a court
decision is about to be made.''
The man, whose identity has been withheld, was informed of the change Feb.
20, two weeks before the scheduled conclusion of the trial.
Takumi Nakao, head of the ministry's Immigration Bureau, told the committee
that the ministry will immediately notify the man of the approval of his refugee
status after it reconfirms his situation.
According to his lawyers, the man arrived in Japan in March 1998 and was
detained at Narita airport.
He applied for refugee status the following month saying he fled Myanmar
after having joined an opposition movement against the military government. The
ministry rejected his application in June that year and ordered his deportation,
his lawyers said.
The man filed an appeal, but the appeal was rejected in October 1998. He
then filed the lawsuit against the ministry.
During the trial, the ministry said the man's claims were inconsistent and
false.
Nakao, meanwhile, said that the ministry's earlier decision to reject the
man's application was appropriate, saying it did not grasp all of the factors
surrounding his case at that time.
The lawyers said the ministry has not offered an apology or an explanation
and they plan to seek compensation.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Independent-bangladesh.
27 February, 2002.
Consortium to construct gas pipeline to
India, Myanmar
An international consortium proposes to set up a gas pipeline over
Bangladesh connecting Myanmar with the Indian states of Tripura and West Bengal,
reports UNB.
Sources said the Energy Ministry had put forward the proposal of "Trans
Myanmar-Bangladesh Gas Pipeline" to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for getting her
approval in principle.
The consortium claimed that it had already got ?no objection? letters for
the proposed gas pipeline from the governments of Myanmar and India as well as
those of Tripura and West Bengal.
According to the proposal the Bangladesh government would not make any
investment in pipeline construction. The entire investment would be met from
foreign private sources, including payment for land acquisition.
Gas Transmission Company Limited (GTCL), a subsidiary of Petrobangla, has
been proposed as the authority for inspecting pipeline construction and
maintenance that will bring foreign exchange.
"It will also be a means of long time foreign exchange earning as the
Bangladesh government will get carriage fee for transmitting gas through the
pipeline over its land," according to the proposal.
It categorically states that the proposed line would not be an alternative
or competitor to the proposal of gas pipeline between Bangladesh and India of
UNOCAL or any other international oil company.
The proposed Trans Myanmar-Bangladesh gas pipeline would also not be
connected with any local gas field, but it could be used in future if gas import
seemed to be necessary for the country.
If the pipeline is constructed, Bangladesh would also get a gas line
connection up to Thailand as a pipeline between Myanmar and Thailand is now
under construction.
The pipeline is being constructed after the largest off-shore gas field of
Myanmar was found in the Bay of Bengal about 30 kilometres off the Myanmar west
coast in the surrounding area of Cheduba Islands.
The gas field is developed there under a production-sharing contract (PSC)
with a multinational energy conglomerate and the export pipeline is under
construction to connect the consumers in Thailand.
-------------------------------------------------------------- The Star
Wednesday, February 27, 2002 Panicky illegals give themselves away to cops KUALA LUMPUR: A police team which went to the Selayang wholesale market to
investigate a murder case ended up chasing and apprehending illegal immigrants.
The illegal workers panicked when they saw the team from the Sentul
district headquarters arriving, thinking that the policemen were there to detain
them.
Police sources said they ran helter-skelter and one even hid on the rooftop
of the market.
Police managed to detain five illegal immigrants ? two Thais, two Myanmars
and a Bangladeshi.
Upon questioning, the police found that they had no connection with the
murder of a Myanmar man who was slashed to death yesterday afternoon.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post
Wednesday 27 February 2002
Stiffer ID card screening
The governor of Chiang Mai ordered officials in border districts to
strictly screen identification card applicants to prevent the documents falling
into the hands of foreign drug traffickers.
Kosin Katethong said the measure would take effect in seven districts
bordering Burma _ Mae Taeng, Chai Prakan, Chiang Dao, Wiang Haeng, Mae Ai and
Fang.
The action followed the arrest in Chiang Mai last week of five close aides
to fugitive drug kingpin Wei Hsueh-kang, who were in possession of fake ID
cards. Mr Kosin said the five suspects, Chinese Haw with Burmese citizenship,
obtained the fake ID cards from Sa Kaew and Songkhla provinces.
Meanwhile, Pol Maj-Gen Kasem Ratanasunthorn, the Chiang Mai police chief,
said Janjira Boonchua, the owner of the Saengsiri gold shop allegedly involved
with Wei's drug gang, might have fled to Burma to take refuge with the Wah
ethnic group. There was a warrant issued for her arrest.
-------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Burma gets 'F' for drug fight
Marisa Chimprabha
Published on Feb 27, 2002
Burma was singled out by US President George W Bush as "having failed
demonstrably to make substantial efforts" to abide by international agreements
to combat illicit drug trafficking, making it the only country among 23 on a
blacklist that was ineligible for most US foreign aid.
Afghanistan and Haiti were also named by Bush as have failed in anti-drug
efforts, but were allowed to continue receiving American aid under a waiver for
countries considered "vital to the national interests of the United
States".
The determination, which does not prevent Burma from getting humanitarian
aid, was mentioned in Bush's report to the US Congress in preparation for the
2001 US Narcotics Report to be released in September.
The procedure for the US president to identify a country that has failed
over the past twelve months to adhere to international anti-drug agreements and
take appropriate measures has changed from previous years.
Previously, the US president was required to decide which countries on the
"majors" list of the worst offenders in illicit drug production and transit had
cooperated fully with the US or had taken adequate steps on their own or in
compliance with the 1988 United Nations Drug Convention.
The US decision was made despite Burma's claims of making strong efforts to
suppress drug trafficking and end drug production in the ethnic Wa-controlled
zone in 2005.
The US has usually singled out Burma for failing to combat drugs.
-------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar-India Gas Pipeline Over
Bangladesh Proposed
Xinhuanet 2002-02-27 12:36:31 DHAKA, February 27 (Xinhuanet)
-- An international consortium has proposed setting up of a gas pipeline over
Bangladesh connecting Myanmar with Indian, the Daily Star reported Wednesday.
The Bangladeshi energy ministry has put forward the proposal
of"Trans-Myanmar-Bangladesh Gas Pipeline" to Prime Minister Khaleda Zia for
approval on principle.
The consortium mentioned that it got letters of no objection for the
proposed pipeline from the governments of Myanmar and India.
The proposal said Bangladesh government would not make any investment in
pipeline construction. The entire investment will bemet from foreign private
sources, including payment for land acquirement.
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