|
-----------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 17,
2002.
-----------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar blames Karen rebels for deadly
border blast
Asia Pulse - S Korea, China to Cooperate for
Common IT Standards
AP - Refugee Centers Try to Stay Afloat
AP - Thailand to host Asia-Pacific
anti-terrorism meeting
AP - Tighter policing of borders, air travel
needed to combat terrorism: ASEAN security meeting
AP - Chinese nationalist veterans fade away as
stronghold turns to tea and tourism
Bkk Post - Army alert for signs of trouble
Bkk Post - Commando
unit set up to fight traffickers
Bkk Post - KNU denies hand in blast
Bkk Post - Suriya leads push to revise
Burma deal
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 17, 12:45 PM
Myanmar blames Karen rebels for deadly border blast (AFP) - Myanmar's military
junta blamed a rebel ethnic group for a bomb blast near the Thai border this
week which it said killed five people and injured dozens.
A spokesman for the regime said the explosion Monday at the Thai-Myanmar
Friendship Bridge during Buddhist new year celebrations was the result of
conflict between armed groups of the Karen, the country's largest ethnic
minority.
"Regretfully, the KNU (Karen National Union) has been launching terrorist
attacks on the civilian population, especially on religious occasions, and it
now seems like a routine to them," the spokesman said in a statement.
"But this time it also seems like taking a revenge on the DKBA (Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army) by indiscriminately killing innocent civilians."
The KNU, whose members are predominantly Christian, said in reports
published Wednesday that it had no hand in the blast.
"We don't want to see blood spilled," Mahn Yein Maung, of the KNU's central
executive committee, told the Bangkok Post.
Thai authorities said seven Myanmar citizens were killed and 27 injured
when a bomb fitted to a three-wheel bicycle exploded in the Myanmar township of
Myawadi just 20 metres (yards) from a military checkpoint.
But the junta spokesman said five civilians were killed and 31 injured,
including 15 seriously.
Thai military sources also said that the KNU were believed to have sought
revenge against the DKBA, a rival group allied with Myanmar's military junta,
after it bombed a gas station in Thailand's Mae Sot district last week, injuring
four people.
Traffic across the bridge between Myawadi and Mae Sot was much heavier than
normal Monday due to festivities for the traditional Buddhist new year which
began in both countries Saturday.
Thai and Western tourists also use the bridge to cross into Myanmar, many
traveling on day passes issued at the border.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday April 17, 5:58 PM
S Korea, China to Cooperate for Common IT Standards SEOUL, April 17 Asia Pulse -
Vice Information and Communication Minister Kim Tae-hyun signed a letter of
intent (LOI) in Beijing Wednesday with his Chinese counterpart Ma Songde to make
common standards for the fourth generation mobile communication technology and
promote joint research and development (R&D) projects, the ministry
said.
To shore up cooperation between fourth-generation IT companies in both
countries, they agreed to hold high-level officials meetings annually and make
up a team of working-level officials to carry out the agreements.
Later in the day, Kim attended a signing ceremony for a memorandum of
understanding between Korea's Electronics and Telecommunications Research
Institute (ETRI) and four prestigious Chinese universities: Beijing University,
Qing Hua University, Beijing University of Posts and Communications and Dongnam
University.
The MOU calls for academic ties between the Korean and Chinese institutes
and stipulates the significance of standardization of Korea-China IT business
and R&D on core IT technologies.
The vice minister also visited the Korean booth installed in "Comdex China"
which opened Wednesday to encourage participating Korean companies such as
Samsung SDS and Sewon Teletech.
Thursday, Kim will meet with Liu He, vice minister of the Chinese State
Council and Lou Qian Jian, vice minister of Information and Industry to discuss
ways to boost bilateral e-commerce and help China set up an electronic
government.
Following his five-day trip to China which ends Saturday, Kim will fly to
Myanmar to discuss bilateral cooperation with Myanmar officials.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Refugee Centers Try to Stay
Afloat
Wed Apr 17, 5:02 AM ET By MICHAEL HILL, Associated Press Writer UTICA, N.Y. - Fewer arrivals. Layoffs. Deep cuts in funding.
The agencies that help refugees adjust to life in America have had to make
adjustments of their own since the flow of immigrants slowed to a trickle after
Sept. 11, starving them of funding.
"We just keep our fingers crossed for another month," said Richard Sessler,
executive director of the Mohawk Valley Resource Center for Refugees in
Utica.
The agencies, most of them privately run, rely heavily on state and federal
dollars to teach English to newly arrived refugees and help them with job
training and placement. And since funding levels are based in part on the number
of refugees served, a sudden drop-off in arrivals after Sept. 11 left many of
the agencies short on resources.
Several centers were forced to shift staff or lay off workers. And even
though refugee numbers are creeping back up, administrators say it could be
months before they fully recover.
The old brick school building that houses the Mohawk Valley center in
downtown Utica is typically bustling, serving people who fled from places like
Bosnia, Myanmar and Sudan. In a typical year, about 700 refugees pass through
here.
Last fall, the number fell to zero.
The drop-off began nationwide on Oct. 1, when the annual federal
authorization for taking in refugees lapsed. Because authorities were reviewing
immigration and security procedures following the Sept. 11 attacks, President
Bush didn't sign a reauthorization until Nov. 21.
Even after the gates reopened, tightened security ? including more
elaborate fingerprinting procedures ? has slowed the processing of refugees,
according to resettlement agency officials.
From October through February, 5,403 refugees came into the country,
according to State Department figures. That compares with 25,524 during the same
period a year earlier, according to the Migration and Refugee Services of the
U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the largest resettlement agency.
The drop in arrivals led to a handful of layoffs at Catholic agencies.
Affiliates of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service laid off 32 people, a
third of their resettlement staff.
The Utica refugee center, a Lutheran affiliate, only laid off one staffer,
but had to shift other jobs around.
"We had some resettlement people that were doing office work," Sessler
said. "We had translators pounding nails."
Resettlement agencies lobbying the government to let in more refugees have
found allies in places like Utica, where transplanted populations from Bosnia
and other trouble spots have helped revitalize the city. Utica Mayor Timothy
Julian and the local congressman, Rep. Sherwood Boehlert, have lent their names
to the cause.
The agencies got some help this year from the State Department, which began
offering the centers reimbursement for administrative expenses usually tied to
the number of refugees processed.
A steady climb in refugee arrivals has also helped. In March, 2,659
refugees came into the country ? about half the number that came in during the
previous five months.
James Ziglar, commissioner of the Immigration and Naturalization Service,
has told Congress he would increase funding for refugee processing. And a State
Department official said the agency is working as hard as it can to process
refugees while maintaining the country's security.
Still, some resettlement workers see a long road ahead, and many doubt that
the full number of refugees authorized by Bush ? 70,000 for the fiscal year
ending Sept. 30 ? will make it stateside.
"We're no longer in a crisis that threatens the existence of the network,
but we're still in a difficult situation," said Ralston Deffenbaugh, president
of the Baltimore-based Lutheran agency.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Thailand to host Asia-Pacific
anti-terrorism meeting
Tue Apr 16, 8:26 AM ET BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)-
Thailand will host a meeting of law enforcement officers from across much of
Asia, Russia, Europe, New Zealand and the United States this week aimed at
shoring-up anti-terrorism security at international events such as the upcoming
World Cup soccer tournament.
Eighty law enforcement officials will be in Bangkok for the meeting from
April 17-19, the Thai Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday.
Delegates will discuss security measures for the World Cup, taking place in
Japan and South Korea from May 31-June 30.
They also will focus on security measures to protect heads of state and the
use of security technology by immigration authorities and the aviation industry,
the statement said.
Those attending are members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Regional Forum, which focuses on security issues within Asia and the Pacific
region.
The body comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, Australia, Canada, China,
India, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea,
Russia, the United States and the European Union
----------------------------------------------------------------- Tighter policing of borders, air
travel needed to combat terrorism: ASEAN security meeting
Wed Apr 17, 3:23 AM ET By DANIEL LOVERING, Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand - Tighter policing of borders and more security for air
travel are needed to fight the emerging threat of terrorism in Asia, Thailand's
foreign minister said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai told a conference of regional
security officials that Asia has emerged as a new battleground against terrorism
and urged delegates to share their experiences in improving security for air
travel and international events.
"We need to discuss all possible measures that will enable our law
enforcement authorities to trace terrorist movements and plans," he said.
Since Sept. 11, police in Malaysia, Singapore and the Philippines have
arrested dozens of suspected Muslim extremists, and U.S. FBI director Robert
Mueller has said that Washington has clear evidence that members of the al-Qaida
terrorist network are operating in Asia.
The Thai foreign minister was addressing the ASEAN Regional Forum, a
conference at which security officials from the 10-nation Association of
Southeast Asian Nations are joined by representatives of other countries
including the United States, Russia and China.
They gathered for a three-day workshop to review the impact on Asia of the
Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the United States.
Officials will discuss security preparations for next month's World Cup
soccer tournament in Japan and South Korea, security for heads of state and the
use of technology by immigration authorities and the aviation industry.
The forum comprises the ASEAN nations ? Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam ? plus
Australia, Canada, China, India, Japan, North Korea, South Korea, Mongolia, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Russia, the United States and the European
Union.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Chinese nationalist veterans fade
away as stronghold turns to tea and tourism
Wed Apr 17, 4:17 AM ET By DENIS D. GRAY, Associated Press Writer MAE SALONG, Thailand - As the mists swirl around this mountain settlement,
one can readily imagine the old soldiers from China's "Lost Army" ? their ranks
withered by wars and time ? setting off on their last march.
They probably won't be marching to paradise, given a history of drug
smuggling and other nefarious deeds. But these embattled veterans seem to
deserve some tranquility after surviving a cataclysmic revolution, bloody
battles and heartache over half a century of what turned out to be a permanent
exile.
"We had no money, no food, no guns and no country. We had nowhere to go,"
says Gen. Lue Ye-tein, at 86 one of the last of the Kuomintang officers who fled
China's Yunnan Province in 1949 as communist leader Mao Tse Tung consolidated
his victory over Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek's nationalists.
From the chaos of China's revolution, the remnants of the Kuomintang, or
KMT, found themselves unwelcome guests in Myanmar. In the early 1960s they were
forced into northern Thailand, where they were enlisted to help fight communist
guerrillas in exchange for asylum.
"The past was a nightmare. Let's look to the future," the sprightly,
ramrod-straight Lue likes to say.
For the veterans of the KMT's 93rd Division ? dubbed the "Lost Army" after
it fled China ? the future would seem to lie in tea, tourism and gradual
integration into Thai society.
Once a largely isolated state within a state run by its own secretive
military commanders, Mae Salong now welcomes tourists, many from Taiwan,
Southeast Asia's Chinese communities and China itself. They come to savor
history's fading images and a unique, picturesque transplant from the
motherland.
Red lanterns and scrolls inscribed with sayings from Chinese classics sway
from the eaves of Yunnanese-style houses. Elders converse in Mandarin, and
ruddy-faced youngsters practice their Chinese characters from books sent by
Taiwan.
"This is still a Chinese town," says Chang Zhu-ping, a friendly young
businessman offering cups of the strong local brew at one of the many tea shops
on the town's main road.
Five sizable tea plantations and many smaller family-run plots blanket Mae
Salong's hillsides. Some of the larger enterprises are joint ventures with the
Taiwanese, who provided technical expertise and introduced the more profitable
oolong variety.
A tea theme park is being built by the wealthy son of an ex-KMT soldier.
Two giant tea kettles, painted silver and gold, are nearing completion, and four
more are planned. Soon, tea fanciers will be able to sample teas from around the
world and even overnight inside one of the concrete kettles.
Lue says Thai authorities encourage maintaining Mae Salong's Chinese look
and atmosphere to attract tourist money.
But the town still faces economic and social problems. Sun Jiang, a shop
owner and brother of the town headman, estimates that 90 percent of high school
graduates must seek work in the Thai capital of Bangkok or in Taiwan.
Chiang Kai-shek had his KMT government in Taiwan, and the Taiwanese built
Mae Salong's school and sent teachers. But Sun said most Mae Salong youths who
go to Taiwan can find only menial work, do not marry Taiwanese women who tend to
look down on them, and often feel as strangers despite the shared culture,
language and history.
"Truly the people of Mae Salong are smart and they work hard but they don't
have many opportunities," Sun said.
For some there are none. At the Center for Disabled Soldiers, 20 veterans
subsist on a small Thai government pension and donations, sadly producing
photographs of themselves as young, handsome soldiers before they were sentenced
to lifetimes in wheelchairs and on crutches.
Mostly middle-aged men, they were wounded when the Thai government enlisted
the KMT's help in fighting the Thai communists in the 1970s and early
'80s.
Their fathers had made up the 93rd Division that trekked out of Yunnan into
Myanmar, then known as Burma, after Mao's victory. Most would never see their
families again.
From Myanmar, the KMT fighters staged futile forays into their homeland
with armed assistance from Taiwan and the United States. Lue, the old general,
remembers that decade as the time of greatest hardship for the refugees.
It was when the KMT gained a reputation as opium traffickers and smugglers
of jade and antiques. Lue denies his men were ever involved in narcotics, in
Myanmar or Thailand. "We had to fight here and there. How could we have planted
opium?" he said.
But his predecessor as head of the Mae Salong KMT, Gen. Tuan Shi-wen, once
admitted: "We have to continue to fight the evil of communism, and to fight you
must have an army, and an army must have guns, and to buy guns you must have
money. In these mountains, the only money is opium."
Chased out of Myanmar, the KMT split into two armies when it moved to
Thailand. Tuan, whose pagoda-style mausoleum overlooks the town, set up at Mae
Salong. Gen. Ly Wen-huan moved his men to neighboring Chiang Mai province.
Both colonies were closed, regimented societies with residents restricted
to the area by Thai authorities, but the exiles and their hosts came to
arrangements of mutual benefit.
The KMT helped fight the Thai communists, then disbanded its military
organization in the mid-1980s. The Bangkok government began to grant
citizenship, although some among the estimated 20,000 KMT and their families
across northern Thailand are still awaiting Thai papers.
The government also ruled that outsiders could not buy land in Mae Salong,
thus helping preserve the integrity of the community. Still, China receded in
the collective memory.
"Here people still hate the communists. They think of themselves as truly
Thai," said Lue, the general. "China is ready to receive them but they don't
want to go back."
Some ties have been forged. Tourists and businessmen come. A few men have
married women from the mainland. Lue was invited to visit China three times but
has no intention of returning to die in the land of his ancestors.
"There is nothing for me there any more," he says. "Every time I go back I
feel sad. I have no friends in China."
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Wednesday 17 April 2002
Army alert for signs of
trouble
Border beef-up for Maung Aye's visit
Wassana Nanuam
The army has been told to ensure there is no trouble along the northern
border during the visit of Burmese army chief Maung Aye from April 23-26.
Although Gen Maung Aye plans to stay well away from the frontier _ visiting
Bangkok, Phuket and Hua Hin _ the National Security Centre and the Supreme
Command have ordered a general alert along the Burmese border, a source
said.
``A close watch will be kept on Burmese students and ethnic people to
prevent any unrest during the visit,'' the source said.
Surasak Boonsiri, of the 4th Cavalry Regiment, said drug traffickers had
been expected to take advantage of busy roads and airports during Songkran to
transport drugs south from the border.
``The time from Songkran until Gen Maung Aye's departure is a period of the
highest security,'' he said. ``Staff are banned from taking leave because we
must be on full alert.''
Col Surasak said reports that fugitive drug kingpin Surachai Ngernthongfu,
alias Bang Ron, had been spotted in Tachilek over Songkran were being
checked.
It could be true, because Bang Ron was said to have visited border areas in
disguise.
``Bang Ron has taken refuge in Ban Hong near Mong Yawn. He may have come
for a vacation or a survey, but he did not cross the border to Thailand or he
would certainly have been arrested,'' Col Surasak said.
He was waiting to see if Burmese authorities would arrest Bang Ron and
another drug fugitive, Wei Hsueh-kang, as they had promised.
He dismissed a report that millions of speed pills were expected to be
smuggled into Thailand during Songkran.
His soldiers had seized only 2,000 pills from two hilltribe people in Mae
Fa Luang district of Chiang Rai on Monday, said Col Surasak.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Wednesday 17 April 2002
Commando unit set up to fight
traffickers
Anucha Charoenpo
The Narcotics Suppression Bureau has set up a commando unit especially
trained to combat armed drug traffickers in rugged border terrain and in urban
settings.
The unit was created after it was found that most drug traffickers were
armed with heavy weapons to protect their merchandise against raids by Thai
security forces.
The unit's duty is to detect suspected trafficking routes and block their
escape in rough rural terrain and back up police sting operations in the
cities.
Pol Maj-Gen Adithep Panjamanont, commander of the Narcotics Suppression
Division 1, who supervises the unit, said there are currently 40 policemen who
have passed the commando training programme and they are being deployed to
oversee border provinces in the North.
The NSB was highly concerned about the influx of several hundred million
methamphetamine pills into the country by northern highlanders who have close
ties with ethnic minority groups in Burma.
The highlanders sneak into Burma's Shan state adjoining Chiang Rai, the
largest drug production area in the region, to pick up the illicit drugs. The
pills are then smuggled into Thailand on caravans through rugged mountain
terrain.
The NSB also plans to put volunteers through the commando training
programme to have them oversee drug suppression in other parts of the country,
especially in the Northeast where many drug traffickers have diverted from their
traditional routes in the North. They are now moving through Laos before
entering the Northeast.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Wednesday 17 April
2002
KNU denies hand in
blast
The Karen National Union (KNU) has denied it set off an explosion on Monday
near the Thai-Burmese bridge, opposite Mae Sot district, and condemned those
responsible.
The bomb was reportedly attached to a tricycle taking four people to a bus
terminal near a teahouse.
It killed the four passengers and injured 29 bystanders. Burmese
authorities suspended Songkran celebrations on their side of the border.
Mahn Yein Maung, of KNU's central executive committee, said claims that the
Karen union set off the bomb in a revenge attack against the pro-Rangoon
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army were untrue. The KNU wanted peace to prevail.
``We don't want to see blood spilled,'' he said.
The KNU's predominantly Christian population had every wish to exist
harmoniously with people of other faiths. He condemned those behind the bombing
as ``unvirtuous and shameless criminals''. The injured were being treated at a
hospital in Myawaddy. Most were reported to be in safe condition.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Wednesday 17 April 2002
Suriya leads push to revise Burma deal Thailand can take more gas Chatrudee Theparat Industry Minister Suriya Juengrungruangkij wants terms governing two
Burmese gas supply contracts amended to make it easier for Thailand to accept
gas that it had to decline earlier.
Rising demand for gas in Thailand has made the move feasible. A delay in
the construction of the Ratchaburi power plant, which is run on Burmese gas,
forced Thailand to take delivery of less gas than the contractual volume because
of a decline in electricity consumption.
Thailand, through PTT Plc, is committed to paying for all the gas
stipulated in the contract under a ``take-or-pay'' deal.
Accompanied by Prasert Bunsumpun, PTT Plc's senior vice-president for the
gas business, Mr Suriya will leave for Burma later this month to negotiate with
his Burmese counterpart and two groups developing the Yadana and Yetagun gas
fields.
PTT is obliged under one contract to take delivery of 525 million cubic
feet per day (mmcfd) from Yadana and 200 mmcfd from Yetagun, rising to 260 mmcfd
this October and to 400 mmcfd by April 2004.
An industry source said Mr Suriya wanted Yadana's gas development group led
by TotalFinaElf to install additional equipment to increase gas pressure.
Increased pressure would help PTT to take delivery of 1,200 mmcfd from the
field, eliminating the take-or-pay liability.
The source said Mr Suriya wanted the developer of the Yetagun field, led by
Premier Oil of Britain, to reduce the price for the volume purchased above 300
mmcfd to make the gas competitive with fuel oil.
PTT has paid the two groups a total of 30 billion baht that it had
contracted to buy since 1998, excluding four to five billion baht in interest
charges.
Mr Prasert said natural gas demand was projected to grow by 6-7% to
2,400-2,5000 mmcfd this year because of rising demand from factories and for
power generation. The second and third units of the Ratchaburi power plant are
due to start operating this month.
----------------------------------------------------------------- |