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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 20,
2002.
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HEADLINES
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Reuters - Myanmar says too busy to meet U.N.
after coup plot
Boston Globe - Forced labor in
Burma
FEER - Land of
Wiles
AFP - Myanmar "shocked" at suggestion of US air
strikes against drug army
AFP - Japanese, Singaporean ministers agree to
boost Japan-ASEAN ties
Reuters - Myanmar says U.N. envoy can visit in
April
VOA News - Asia Pacific UN Special Envoy to
Visit Burma
DY - Doctor devoted to
Myanmar refugees
UN - Citing official?s illness, Myanmar
postpones UN envoy?s visit
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 19, 6:34 PM
Myanmar says too busy to meet U.N. after coup plot By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar said
on Tuesday it was too busy dealing with an alleged coup plot to meet U.N. envoy
Razali Ismail this week, raising doubts about the future of talks with
pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Razali, a Malaysian diplomat, had been due to start his latest visit on
Tuesday, but was asked at the last minute to postpone the trip.
Razali played a key role in persuading the military government to start
talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000, and has made regular visits to the country
to evaluate progress and to encourage political change.
Diplomats were initially told the visit had been postponed because
Myanmar's deputy foreign minister had suffered a heart attack. But in a
statement on Tuesday, the government said it had asked for a delay because of
the discovery of the coup plot.
"The Myanmar authorities concerned are quite preoccupied with issues that
need immediate attention after the recent coup attempt," government spokesman
Colonel Hla Min said.
"In this regard, the U.N. envoy Mr Razali Ismail has been informed and
kindly requested to postpone his visit to Myanmar to a date convenient to both
sides in the near future."
Razali told Reuters he hoped to visit in April.
"Whatever is happening, we must continue with the process of national
reconciliation," he said. "The U.N. in New York has asked that I be rescheduled
to come in the first week of April."
SCEPTICAL DIPLOMATS
The government said earlier this month it had uncovered a plot by relatives
and cronies of Ne Win, who ruled the country for 26 years until 1988, to seize
power. It has arrested a son-in-law and three grandsons of the elderly former
dictator.
But many foreign diplomats are sceptical a coup was planned, saying the
allegations and arrests may stem from disagreements in the government over how
to deal with Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD).
The NLD won elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the military refused to
hand over power. Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been under
house arrest for the last 18 months.
Analysts say a faction in the government led by military intelligence head
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt favours dialogue with the opposition, but
supporters of army chief General Maung Aye are against making any concessions to
Suu Kyi.
Ne Win's family is seen as close to Khin Nyunt, and some analysts say the
current purge could be a bid by hardliners to get the upper hand and scupper any
easing of military rule.
Concern that the coup allegations may be paving the way for a suspension of
talks with Suu Kyi were fuelled by the postponement of Razali's visit.
U.N. "DISAPPOINTED"
The United Nations said on Monday it was disappointed the visit had been
postponed, adding that Myanmar had requested a delay because Deputy Foreign
Minister Khin Maung Win was ill.
"We are disappointed to hear of this development but we hope that the
mission can be rescheduled as soon as possible in order to facilitate the
national reconciliation process," U.N. spokeswoman Marie Okabe said in New York.
Khin Maung Win, however, had not been mentioned on a list of officials,
issued by the United Nations last Friday, that Razali was scheduled to meet.
That list included General Than Shwe, head of the junta.
The planned visit by Razali would have been his seventh to Myanmar since
his appointment in April 2000.
Myanmar's government says it is still investigating the alleged coup plot.
Kyaw Win, deputy chief of military intelligence, told a news conference on
Monday that more than 100 people were being interrogated. He said the family of
Ne Win had been plotting to install a monarchy to keep their family in power for
generations.
A European Union delegation visited Myanmar last week, shortly after the
government announced the alleged coup plot, but shed little light on the
country's political future.
The diplomats said they had to keep most of their findings private.
Diplomats in Yangon said it was not clear why Razali had been asked to
postpone his visit when the EU delegation had been allowed to proceed with its
trip.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- A BOSTON GLOBE
EDITORIAL
Forced labor in Burma 3/19/2002 HE INTERNATIONAL community has been trying, without success, to practice a
policy of engagement with the illegitimate military junta that rules Burma. The
failure of this solicitous approach to the generals' dictatorship was
illustrated recently by Burma's cancellation of a long-awaited visit to Rangoon
from UN special envoy Rezali Ismail and its rebuffs to a delegation from the
International Labor Organization.
The junta's crimes and human rights abuses are many and varied. Last year,
under the generals' protective partnering with drug lords, Burma was the source
for 68 percent of the world's opium production. And methamphetamine from Burma
has been flooding into Thailand, stoking the social pathologies associated with
addiction and illegal drug use.
One of the crudest of the junta's human rights abuses has been its
unceasing exploitation of forced labor. In November 2000 the International Labor
Organization, a UN agency, took the unprecedented step of punishing the Burmese
regime by invoking an article of its charter that requires all the ILO's 175
member states to review their policies toward Burma on the supposition that each
would decide the most effective ways to compel the junta to end the practice of
forced labor.
To many governments of ILO member states, the Burmese precedent is most
unwelcome. Countries that do little to abolish child labor fear they may be
targeted next. China, with its notorious profiteering from prison labor, lacks
enthusiasm for the ILO's chastizing of the Burmese generals. Yet the ILO's
effort to punish the junta was passed and, because that regime has been stubborn
and stupid enough to rebuff an ILO mission to Burma last month, members of the
ILO governing board, which is meeting tomorrow in Geneva, have good reason to
renew the organization's efforts to force the Burmese generals to end forced
labor.
Ironically, ILO members had been telling the junta what it needed to do to
have the review stigma lifted. It was very much in the junta's interest to
cooperate, since it desperately needs foreign investment. Nonetheless, the ILO
mission to Rangoon last month was prevented from meeting with Nobel Peace Prize
winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest. For the sake of its own
credibility, the ILO needs to keep the pressure on the Burmese junta.
The junta's abrupt cancellation of UN envoy Rezali's visit on the pretext
that a comic-opera foiled coup made the visit untimely has highlighted the
unpredictable, unstable nature of the generals' regime. If President Bush wants
to be consistent in his stand against evil regimes, he will have US diplomats
publicly demand that the Burmese junta end forced labor, release all political
prisoners, and conduct with Suu Kyi a rapid, negotiated transition to
democracy.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Far Eastern Economic
Review
BURMA
Land of Wiles
A crackdown on the family of dictator Ne Win is good
news to many, but does little for democracy
By Leo Dobbs/HONG KONG and Bertil Lintner/DHAKA
Issue cover-dated March 21, 2002
THE BURMESE JUNTA'S crackdown on the family of the architect of military
rule, Ne Win, came as a pleasant shock to Burma's long-suffering populace. But
the apparent house-cleaning is unlikely to be followed by any major movement in
the democratic process in the immediate future-despite the cautious hopes it has
raised-because of the Ne Win clan's known antipathy to opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.
The unexpected March 7 arrest of the 90-year-old former dictator's
son-in-law and three of his grandsons, and the house arrest of Ne Win and his
powerful daughter, Sandar, marks the most public split ever in the ranks of the
ruling elite. Its full impact has yet to be felt, but it has been welcomed by
some as a possible opening for political change.
"Nobody here knows what it means, but many, many people are glad to see Ne
Win and his family take a fall," says one Western diplomat in Rangoon. There had
long been an aura of invincibility around the ailing Ne Win, "a sort of Deng
Xiaoping factor-as long as he was alive, no one would move against his family,"
the diplomat says, referring to the late supreme Chinese leader.
That myth evaporated with news of the arrests of Sandar's husband,
businessman Aye Zaw Win, and their three sons, some of whose antics as leaders
of a criminal gang called the Scorpions had embittered Rangoon residents and
officials. They were arrested while apparently waiting to meet a military
commander in a Chinese restaurant.
More than 20 other people have been detained for their participation in
what Maj.-Gen. Kyaw Win, deputy head of military intelligence, said was a
conspiracy to abduct the country's top three leaders and form a military
government loyal to Ne Win.
FURTHER ARRESTS EXPECTED
Diplomats say the head of the air force, the national police chief and a
regional commander had been sacked prior to the arrests. All three are said to
be friends of Aye Zaw Win. Diplomats expected more sackings to be revealed and
more arrests made in the coming days.
Kyaw Win said Ne Win's relatives told interrogators they made their plans
because they had lost money due to the government's economic policies, and
because they no longer enjoyed special privileges.
That may well be so, but diplomats say it would not be sufficient in itself
to take on the first family while Ne Win was still alive. Moreover, few believe
those arrested were actually mounting a coup. They note the calm in the streets
of Rangoon, and the fact that key regional commanders were going about their
business as usual as evidence that the government feels secure.
The most likely motive, analysts say, is that the junta itself has been
preparing for a post-Ne Win era. "It was a very, very clever move trying to
break up Ne Win's family. They don't want them to become another force," says
Aung Zaw, editor of The Irrawaddy magazine, which covers Burmese affairs from
Thailand.
Most analysts believe the arrests were backed by the three top leaders of
the ruling State Peace and Development Council, who were allegedly the targets
of the coup plot. This would rule out suggestions that the arrests represent an
escalation in the rumoured power struggle between army head Gen. Maung Aye and
military intelligence chief Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt. Analysts say the arrests
suggest the elite felt secure enough to weed out what they saw as an internal
problem, and that they could conceivably take action against their mentor, Ne
Win.
The development is unlikely to speed up democratization by unblocking Ne
Win's opposition to talks with Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy,
says Irrawaddy editor Aung Zaw. Others believe the move could instead be used to
stall the process on the ground that the government must first address grave new
internal matters.
But there will be little sympathy for Ne Win, an independence hero who
seized power in a 1962 coup before leading the country to ruin and repression
over the next three decades.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 20, 4:01 PMMyanmar "shocked" at suggestion of US air strikes against drug army YANGON, March 20 (AFP) - Myanmar's military regime said Wednesday it was shocked at suggestions from a Thai politician that the US consider launching air strikes against ethnic minority druglords operating within its borders. Foreign Minister Win Aung rejected an editorial in The Nation newspaper
which backed Kobsak Chutikul's comments that Washington should not rule out a
military option in the fight against the Red Wa drug army.
"We are totally shocked by the editorial of the Nation," Win Aung told
reporters, adding the remarks were "irresponsible," and "a blatant attack on the
sovereignty and territorial integrity of Myanmar."
"While every attempt is being made by the Myanmar government to combat
narcotic drugs in cooperation ... Mr. Kobsak, apparently unaware of these
energetic efforts, has blown out of proportion a non-issue, and to our
consternation, recommended the most violent means," he added.
Myanmar's Wa minority has ended its armed insurgency against the military
government in return for wide-ranging autonomy.
The international community accuses the Yangon regime of turning a blind
eye to the Wa's drug businesses which churn out vast amounts of opium and
methamphetamines.
Thanks to the former Taliban regime's ban on growing opium in Afghanistan,
Myanmar is now the world's top heroin producer. Methamphetamines produced by the
Wa mostly end up in Thailand which is struggling to cope with the crisis.
The Nation's March 12 editorial, headlined "Drugs: let loose the dogs of
war", said there was some sense in the comments from Kobsak, deputy leader of
the Chart Thai party which is part of the ruling coalition.
"Drugs and terrorism are two sides of the same coin... And if our leaders
are serious about fighting drugs and terrorism, perhaps the option of giving the
military more flexibility should be given a high priority," it said.
During a briefing for diplomats, United Nations agencies and reporters, Win
Aung also struck out at what he called "regrettable" reports that a US Senate
committee had called the United Wa State Army a terrorist group.
Priscilla Clapp, head of the US mission in Yangon, expressed regret over
the misunderstanding and said the State Department had clarified the
matter.
"Although the United States remains doubtful about the Wa's non-involvement
in narcotic drugs, it has no intention of listing it as a terrorist group," she
told the meeting.
Myanmar's junta has come under harsh international criticism for its
failure to clamp down on illegal drug producers.
The military regime insists however that the Wa people have renounced their
involvement in the narcotics trade and are earnestly involved in crop
substitution programs aimed at ridding their region of drugs by 2005.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 20, 12:34 PM
Coup must not derail Myanmar's reconciliation process: UN envoy (AFP) - A recent coup attempt
in Myanmar must not be allowed to derail reconciliation talks between the ruling
military and the pro-democracy opposition, a United Nations (UN) official
said.
"All parties must remain committed. Whatever is happening, we must continue
with the national reconciliation. The process must continue," UN special envoy
Razali Ismail told AFP.
Myanmar's military regime Tuesday said they had asked Razali to postpone
his planned visit to Yangon this week because of the coup attempt.
Asked when he would visit Myanmar, he said: "It depends on the (Myanmar)
government. But I have asked to go back as soon as possible."
Razali, who was appointed in April 2000, was due to begin his seventh visit
to Myanmar on Wednesday. He recently said the peace talks were not proceeding as
fast as they should.
Asked if the coup attempt could have an impact on the talks, he said:
"Obviously, all events like this are serious. They have a direct impact."
The military government announced on March 7 that it had scuttled a coup
plot mounted by the family of former dictator Ne Win who ruled the country until
1988.
The son-in-law and three grandsons of the 92-year-old autocrat were
arrested while Ne Win and his daughter Sandar Win remain under heavy guard at
their lakeside residence in Yangon.
During the trip, Razali had been expected to try to revitalise the
long-running national reconciliation talks between the junta and the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD), led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu
Kyi.
He was scheduled to meet Myanmar's leader Senior General Than Shwe and
intelligence chief Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt as well as various other
government officials and NLD leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday March 18, 3:59 PM
Japanese, Singaporean ministers agree to boost Japan-ASEAN ties TOKYO, March 18 (AFP) - The
Japanese and Singaporean trade ministers agreed Monday on a joint effort to
boost Japan-ASEAN economic ties.
Visiting Singaporean trade and industry minister George Yeo held a
30-minute meeting with his Japanese counterpart Takeo Hiranuma in Tokyo, a trade
ministry official said.
"During the meeting, the two sides agreed to cooperate in realising a
comprehensive economic partnership between Japan and ASEAN (the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations)," said the official.
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi stressed the need for the Japan-ASEAN
economic partnership in January, when he visited key ASEAN countries including
Singapore.
During the trip, Koizumi and his Singaporean counterpart Goh Chok Tong
signed a free trade agreement (FTA), the first ever for the world's second
biggest economy.
"Based on the FTA with Singapore, we will take a firm step toward the
co-existence and co-prosperity of Japan and ASEAN," Hiranuma told Yeo, according
to the official.
The Singaporean minister replied his country was ready to be "actively"
engaged in joint efforts with Japan to enhance ties between the two sides, the
official said.
Yeo is in Japan for a three-day trip and is due to return home
Tuesday.
ASEAN, formed in 1967, groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday March 20, 5:20 PM
Myanmar says U.N. envoy can visit in April By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
ruling military said on Wednesday it will allow U.N. envoy Razali Ismail to
visit the country next month and dismissed suggestions that a split in the
government was behind a delay in his trip.
Razali played a key role in persuading the junta to start reconciliation
talks with pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in October 2000, and
has made regular visits to the country to evaluate progress and to encourage
political change.
He was due to arrive in Yangon this week for the seventh visit in his
capacity as U.N. special envoy, but was asked at the last minute to postpone his
trip. The U.N. has now asked for permission for a visit in the first week of
April.
The government first said the trip had been postponed because the deputy
foreign minister had suffered a heart attack, and then that it was too busy to
meet Razali due to the discovery of an alleged coup plot involving relatives of
former dictator Ne Win.
The postponement of Razali's visit raised fresh doubts about the future of
the talks with Suu Kyi.
But Foreign Minister Win Aung told Reuters the government was still sincere
about pursuing dialogue with the opposition, and Razali would be allowed to
visit soon.
"We're still working out the date but we can say it will take place in
April," he said.
"There are a lot of people Mr Razali has to meet here and most of them are
very busy and fully occupied at the moment. There's no other problem as reported
by some outside media. Sincerity is still there."
COUP PLOT
The government said earlier this month it had uncovered a plot by relatives
and cronies of Ne Win, who ruled the country for 26 years until 1988, to seize
power. It has arrested a son-in-law and three grandsons of the elderly former
dictator.
But many foreign diplomats are sceptical a coup was planned, saying the
allegations and arrests may stem from disagreements in the government over how
to deal with Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD).
The NLD won elections in 1990 by a landslide, but the military refused to
hand over power. Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been under
house arrest for the last 18 months.
Analysts say a faction in the government led by military intelligence head
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt favours dialogue with the opposition, but
supporters of army chief General Maung Aye are against making any concessions to
Suu Kyi.
Ne Win's family is seen as close to Khin Nyunt, and some analysts say the
current purge could be a bid by hardliners to get the upper hand and scupper any
easing of military rule.
Concerns about Myanmar's political stability in the wake of the alleged
coup bid have pushed Myanmar's kyat currency to a record low of around 820 to
the dollar on the black market. The official exchange rate -- unchanged for
nearly four decades -- is six kyat to the dollar.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific UN Special Envoy to
Visit Burma
VOA News 20 Mar 2002 10:36 UTC Burma's military government says it will allow United Nations special envoy
Razali Ismail to visit the country next month.
Foreign Minister Win Aung told the Reuters news agency that authorities are
still working out the date, but he said the visit will take place sometime in
April.
Mr. Razali was due to arrive in Rangoon this week, but an alleged coup
attempt in Burma forced officials to postpone the visit.
The U.N. envoy told the French News Agency that he hopes the coup attempt
will not affect ongoing talks between the military government and the
opposition.
Burmese officials announced earlier this month that they had uncovered a
coup plot by relatives of former dictator Ne Win.
The son-in-law and three grandsons of Ne Win have been arrested while the
92-year-old former dictator and his daughter Sandar Win remain under heavy guard
at their Rangoon residence.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Daily Yomiuri
2002 March 20
Doctor devoted to Myanmar refugees
Shigefumi Takasuka
The Japanese should be more aware of problems facing ethnic minorities in
Myanmar, says a doctor providing medical services to Myanmar refugees along the
Thailand-Myanmar border.
Cynthia Maung, 42, said in a recent interview with The Daily Yomiuri that
about 130,000 refugees have fled from Myanmar to Thailand for various political
and economic reasons, many to avoid being conscripted for forced labor by the
central government and to escape fighting between the Myanmar Army and armed
ethnic groups.
She visited Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto and Nagoya in mid-March to give lectures on
the border situation.
"In addition to the refugees, over 1 million people are internally
displaced and over 2 million are living in Thailand as illegal migrant workers
(for similar reasons)," said Maung, herself a refugee and part of the Karen
ethnic minority in Myanmar.
Maung was born in 1959 in Moulmein, eastern Myanmar, and graduated from the
medical school of Rangoon University in Yangon. Maung fled across the Thai
border in 1988 after the military regime seized power because she was involved
in the democracy movement.
In 1989, Maung established the Mae Tao Clinic, a bamboo-and-brick compound
in the jungle near Mae Sot, a border town in northern Thailand. Since then, her
clinic has been providing free health care and humanitarian services for
refugees, migrant workers and orphans in cooperation with Thai medical
institutions, international nongovernmental organizations and various ethnic
organizations from Myanmar.
"About 70 percent of the border population are living in rural areas
without access to the health care system," said Maung, who is not paid a salary
for her work. "Ten to 15 percent of our patients suffer from malaria, but there
are also many health problems, including reproductive health, malnutrition and
HIV/AIDS."
To serve internally displaced people in need of medical attention, the
clinic's backpack mobile medical teams risk crossing the border and traveling
into areas in Myanmar controlled both by armed ethnic groups and the Myanmar
Army, she said.
"They are always in danger," Maung said. "Some have been killed by land
mines or Burmese (Myanmar) soldiers."
Maung, who visited Japan for the first time, said Japan looks like a very
busy country and the people here apparently have far more opportunity and
freedom than those in Myanmar.
"Since the junta took power the education, economic and health systems have
nearly collapsed in Burma," Maung said.
Maung stressed that she hoped the Japanese government would offer Myanmar
assistance programs that empower ordinary citizens, instead of the government,
and allow the full participation of the people of Myanmar.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- United Nations
Citing official?s illness, Myanmar postpones UN envoy?s visit 18 March - Myanmar has postponed a planned visit by a United Nations envoy,
citing the illness of Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin Maung Win, a UN
spokesperson said in New York today.
"We are disappointed to hear of this development but we hope that the
mission can be re-scheduled as soon as possible in order to facilitate the
national reconciliation process,? spokesperson Marie Okabe said, noting that
Secretary-General Kofi Annan?s Special Envoy, Razali Ismail, had planned to
begin his mission on Tuesday but had not yet left Kuala Lumpur.
The UN was also informed by the Government and the National League for
Democracy that the ongoing talks between the two sides would not be affected by
reports of a coup plot, Ms. Okabe added.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- MSNBC
U.S. says Myanmar should let U.N. envoy visit
WASHINGTON, March 19 ? The United States said on Tuesday the government of
Myanmar should quickly reschedule a visit by U.N. envoy Razali Ismail, postponed
this week on the grounds that the government is busy dealing with a coup
plot.
The postponement raised doubts about the future of talks between the
government of Myanmar, which Washington still calls Burma, and pro-democracy
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Razali, a Malaysian diplomat, played a key role in persuading the military
government to start talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000, and has made regular
visits to the country to evaluate progress and to encourage political
change.
U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said: ''We are disappointed
by the postponement. ... The Burmese government postponed this mission and we
would hope that they would quickly move to reschedule it.''
''It's very important for Razali to return to Burma, continue his mission
of facilitating the political dialogue there. The delay ... reflects negatively
on the sincerity of the regime in pursuing national reconciliation,'' he added.
The spokesman said the postponement contradicted earlier indications from
the government that internal problems in Myanmar would not affect talks with the
opposition.
The government said earlier this month it had uncovered a plot by relatives
and associates of Ne Win, who ruled the country for 26 years until 1988, to
seize power.
It has arrested a son-in-law and three grandsons of the elderly former
dictator.
But many foreign diplomats are skeptical a coup was planned, saying the
allegations and arrests may stem from disagreements in the government over how
to deal with Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy.
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