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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- August 26 - 27, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Reuters - Myanmar holds two
students after political protest
AP - Myanmar Muslim group denies links with al-Qaida
AP - Myanmar government accuses dissidents of fabricating rape report
Bkk Post - Rights activists
`under threat'
Bkk Post - Chiang Rai to host
Oct 4 mobile meet will be joined by some Burmese military
leaders.
The Nation - Govt defends
history revision
Xinhuanet - Myanmar FM to visit
Thailand on border reopening
Xinhuanet - Thai-Myanmar border
to be reopened soon: FM
The Star - Thais rewrite
history textbooks to improve ties with Myanmar
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Tuesday August 27, 12:18 PM
Myanmar holds two students after political protest By Andrew Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - Most of the students arrested in a
crackdown by Myanmar's ruling junta this month have been freed but two are still
in detention for mounting a political protest, officials and human rights groups
said on Tuesday.
At least 15 students were arrested in Yangon on August 17
and 18 ahead of a visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, dimming
hopes that the junta was ready to ease its stance on political dissent and start
substantive talks with pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Two students -- Thet Naung Soe and Khin Maung Win -- were
still being held, rights groups said. The two were arrested on August 18 for
staging a protest in front of Yangon City Hall.
The Free Burma Coalition, a rights group which supports
the Myanmar democracy movement, says Thet Naung Soe unfurled the flag of
Myanmar's underground student union, which shows a fighting peacock, while Khin
Maung Win handed out leaflets.
The fighting peacock flag is a potent symbol of student
protest. Students were at the forefront of pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988
that were bloodily put down by the military, earning international condemnation
for the junta.
Sources in Yangon say Thet Naung Soe and Khin Maung Win
were quickly apprehended after starting the protest, and have not been heard
from since.
STUDENTS ROUNDED UP
Several other students were arrested at their homes the
same weekend. The Free Burma Coalition said 13 students were arrested, for
forming a literary organisation and publishing a journal without permission. It
said all had since been released.
Myanmar officials also said most of the arrested students
had been freed.
"Those who were found not to have been deeply involved
have been released," Major General Kyaw Win, deputy chief of military
intelligence, told reporters on Monday. He declined to elaborate.
The government has freed hundreds of political prisoners
over the last two years, including more than 300 members of Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD).
The releases began after the ruling generals started
confidential talks with Suu Kyi, which they said were aimed at eventually
bringing democracy to Myanmar, formerly called Burma.
But this month's arrests have raised concerns among rights
groups that the junta is planning a new crackdown on opponents.
After strong international pressure, Suu Kyi was released
from 19 months of house arrest in May. But since then she has had no meetings
with senior members of the junta.
Sporadic talks held with the junta over the last two years
have yet to move beyond "confidence building", officials say. Suu Kyi has
repeatedly called for meaningful talks to begin as soon as possible.
The 57-year old Nobel peace laureate has also said the
release of all political prisoners is a precondition for political progress in
Myanmar.
Suu Kyi's NLD was the overwhelming winner of an election
held in 1990, but the military refused to hand over power.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar Muslim group denies
links with al-Qaida
Mon Aug 26, 5:35 AM ET
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A Muslim separatist group in western Myanmar has denied it is allied to the al-Qaida terror network, and accused the country's military junta of fabricating the link to gain the support of the United States. "The junta is employing all possible ways and means to gain the support of the United States by trying to link the Rohingya (Muslim) freedom fighters with al-Qaida and Taliban," the Arakan Rohingya National Organization said in a statement dated Sunday. Rohingya rebels in Arakan, a Muslim-majority region of Myanmar that borders predominantly Islamic Bangladesh, have been fighting for decades for a separate state, accusing Myanmar's mostly Buddhist military of persecution, rape and forced labor. Rohingya is derived from Rohang, the ancient name of Arakan, a province of 4 million people. CNN reported last week that al-Qaida had been operating in western Myanmar, bringing attention to the Rohingyas. The Myanmar government said it would investigate the allegations and share information with the United States. It also said it had independent information that "Islamic terrorists" with connection to al-Qaida and Taliban are operating along Myanmar's western border. "This is a sinister design of the junta to annihilate the Muslim communities of the country, particularly that of the Rohingyas in Arakan (state)," the Rohingya group's statement said. It said the Rohingyas "are not terrorists but freedom fighters against tyranny and ruthless persecution of the military regime." Myanmar's military government, shunned by many Western nations for its poor human rights and anti-democracy record, has tried to mend fences with Washington by stressing its willingness to combat the drug trade and take part in the war against terrorism. The government claimed earlier this month that it has crushed an armed Muslim separatist group trained by the Taliban and in Middle Eastern terrorist camps. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar government accuses
dissidents of fabricating rape report
Mon Aug 26, 3:37 AM ET
By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military government on Monday accused two dissidents ? including a cousin of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi ? of fabricating reports that soldiers raped Shan minority women to retaliate against guerrillas. Senior Defense Ministry official Col. San Pwint told a news conference that the rape reports were masterminded by Han Yawngwe and Sein Win to tarnish the government's reputation and obtain aid from the West. He said the two have given financial assistance to the Shan Women's Action Network "to prepare a false report with the objective of putting the government in a tight situation and creating ethnic problems similar to that of the incidents in Bosnia, at the suggestion of some countries." Myanmar's ruling junta has repeatedly denied the rape allegations, which were made in a June report by the Shan Women's Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation, two Thai-based groups. Their report, which claimed to document 173 cases of rape and sexual violence against girls and women by Myanmar troops, received widespread publicity in July when the U.S. State Department said it would raise the issue with Myanmar officials. The Shan are one of several ethnic minorities in Myanmar, also known as Burma, who are seeking autonomy from the central government. Armed Shan guerrillas in eastern Myanmar frequently battle government troops. Myanmar's government has pointed out that the groups making the rape allegations are associated with the main Shan rebel group, the Shan State Army, which has an interest in discrediting the army. San Pwint said Han Yawngwe, the son of a former Shan leader Sao Shwe Thaik, is director of The Burma Fund, which seeks foreign assistance by publishing anti-government reports. Sein Win, the prime minister of a self-described government-in-exile, is the first cousin of opposition leader Suu Kyi. Han Yawngwe is based in Brussels and Sein Win in Washington D.C., and they couldn't immediately be reached for comment. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Tuesday 27 August 2002
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Bangkok Post - Tuesday 27 August 2002
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THE NATION ------------------------------------------------------------------------
id. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar FM to visit Thailand on border reopening
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Thai-Myanmar border to be reopened soon: FM
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The Star ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |