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BURMA RELATED NEWS - September
08, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ AP - EU mission arrives in Myanmar to
'maintain dialogue'
AFP - Myanmar posts "wanted" pictures
in latest anti-crime effort
AFP - EU delegation arrives in
Myanmar, will meet Suu Kyi: diplomats
Reuters - EU diplomats arrive to push
for change in Myanmar
AP - China says the number of its
people infected with AIDS virus to reach 1 million by year's end
BBC - EU to demand full Burma
talks
Bkk Post - Gem sales front for drug
cash
The Nation - Immigration policies to
be reassessed: PM
Swissinfo - EU diplomats in
Myanmar to press for liberation of political prisoners
ST - Yangon army accused of
killings after rapes
------------------------------------------------------------------------ EU mission arrives in Myanmar
to 'maintain dialogue'
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ The first European Union mission to Myanmar since the May release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived in Yangon Sunday, saying it wanted to maintain a dialogue with the ruling military junta. The four-member E.U. team was also expected to meet with Suu Kyi and members of her National League for Democracy party during the three-day visit, aimed at promoting political reconciliation in Myanmar, also known as Burma. ``We are seeing government representatives and representatives of the Burmese society,'' a member of the E.U. team told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity. The delegation aims ``to maintain the dialogue with the Myanmar government,'' he said. The E.U. has been one of the strongest critics of the junta and maintains tight restrictions on members of the regime traveling in Europe. However, it supports reconciliation talks the regime began with Suu Kyi in October 2000. The talks led in May this year to Suu Kyi's release after 19 months of house arrest. The government has also eased restrictions on her party and freed about 300 political prisoners. But the two sides are yet to hold discussions about the country's political future. The E.U. last sent a team to Myanmar in March. The current four-member mission is expected to meet with Suu Kyi and senior members of her party on Tuesday and has tentative plans to meet with the junta's No. 3 leader, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, at an undisclosed time. It is scheduled to meet with some ethnic minority leaders later Sunday. The mission is led by Carsten Nilaus Ped erson, regional director at the Danish Foreign Ministry.
The other members are two E.U. officials and the first secretary of the Greek
Embassy in Bangkok. Greece will take over the E.U. presidency in January.
The Myanmar junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990 but annulled the results after the National League for Democracy won. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar posts "wanted"
pictures in latest anti-crime effort
YANGON, Sept 8 (AFP) - A crackdown on crime in Myanmar has taken on new dimensions as police have begun displaying photos of suspected criminals on public notice boards in the capital Yangon, according to state-controlled media. Suspects are also being listed in the seven weekly journals published by the police force as the military-ruled state struggles to reduce criminal activity, the Myanmar Times reported in its edition to be published Monday. "We need the closer cooperation of the public so that suspects can be detained as soon as possible," police inspector U Aung Lwin was quoted as saying. Any member of the public knowing the whereabouts of suspects named on the boards or journals should contact police immediately, Aung Lwin added. Notice boards list the suspect's name, age, address, features and the offence for which they are being sought, the English-language weekly said. The latest policy has its limitations, the inspector conceded. "As long as man exists, crime will exist," Aung Lwin said. "We can only reduce the rate of crime and can not totally eliminate crime." The newspaper did not say whether photographs of any political dissidents who may be wanted by the ruling military junta would be included on the notice boards. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ EU delegation arrives in
Myanmar, will meet Suu Kyi: diplomats
YANGON, Sept 8 (AFP) - A European Union (EU) delegation arrived in Myanmar Sunday on a three-day mission due to include meetings with the ruling military junta as well as opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, diplomats here said. The delegation kicked off its fourth official EU trip to the military-ruled state since 1999 and the first since the junta released the veteran pro-democracy campaigner in May from 19 months of house arrest. Sunday would be spent visiting with non-governmental organizations and United Nations agencies, sources said, ahead of meetings Monday and Tuesday with generals of the junta and the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD). "They are seeing all the usual actors, including people from ethnic minority groups, and obviously the NLD and other interested parties," a diplomat close to the delegation told AFP. "They've come to assess the situation," the diplomat said, adding that the delegation, led by Danish foreign ministry regional director Carsten Nilaus Pederson, had a Tuesday appointment to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate. During the last EU mission to Myanmar in March, the delegation pushed hard for prisoner releases, including that of Aung San Suu Kyi herself. Aung San Suu Kyi has said her party's top priority is to secure the release of the some 1,500 political prisoners still in the country's jails, and she said last month that a mass release would be a precondition to her beginning a long-awaited political dialogue with the regime. Last week the junta announced it had freed eight political prisoners and 39 women prisoners ahead of the latest EU visit. But in an opposing move, it also sentenced two NLD members last week to three years in jail, for possessing a dissident journal. The EU in May welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi's release but said it was not enough for Brussels to lift its sanctions on the country. The sanctions include an arms embargo and a travel ban on members of the junta. The European Parliament has suggested they be extended to include a ban on EU investment. The current mission to Myanmar includes representatives from the Danish presidency, the future presidency Greece, the European Commission, and the Council Secretariat which services the Council of Ministers. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ EU diplomats arrive to push
for change in Myanmar
YANGON, Sept. 8 (Reuters) - A four-member European Union delegation arrived in Myanmar on Sunday for a three-day trip aimed at pressing the military government to free political prisoners and start substantive talks with the opposition. The team is due to meet government leaders and members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) including its leader, Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Officials said the EU team would meet representatives of some of Myanmar's many ethnic groups on Sunday afternoon, and would hold talks with Suu Kyi on Monday. The visit is the fourth by a EU delegation since 1999. The previous visit, in March, shed little light on the country's murky political machinations. Some senior members of the junta said they were too busy to meet the delegation, and members of the EU team were unable to reveal any fresh insights into Myanmar's political future. Since then, the main significant change has been Suu Kyi's release from 19 months of house arrest in May. But the military government has held no talks with Suu Kyi since her release from house arrest, and her demands for a substantive dialogue on the country's political future have so far gone unanswered. The military began confidential meetings with Suu Kyi in October 2000, but the two sides have yet to begin substantive political discussions. Last month, the United Nations special envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, said meaningful talks would begin soon. But since then, hopes of an imminent breakthrough have faded. Diplomats say the main reason the junta has eased its stance towards Suu Kyi is the dismal state of the economy -- the generals want to get international sanctions lifted. But they say the junta hopes to avoid making any further concessions to Suu Kyi and the NLD. The EU maintains a range of sanctions on Myanmar, and has said it will not ease sanctions unless there is political change. The NLD won Myanmar's last elections, in 1990, by a landslide. But the military refused to hand over power. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ China says the number of its
people infected with AIDS virus to reach 1 million by year's end
ASSOCIATED PRESS BEIJING, Sept. 6 ? The number of people in China infected with the AIDS virus will soar to 1 million this year, but the rate of new infections seems to be falling, a Health Ministry official said Friday. The announcement was the highest estimate given yet by the Chinese government, which activists and foreign health experts accuse of failing to do enough to combat the epidemic. The number of infected people in China jumped 58 percent from 2000 to 2001, but the rate of increase this year dropped to 16.7 percent, said Qi Xiaoqiu, director general of the ministry's Department of Disease Control. Previous estimates put China's population with the virus at 850,000 at the end of last year, though health officials say they have confirmed only 30,736 cases in China's 1.3 billion people. Qi gave no explanation for the reported fall in the rate of new infections. But he noted government efforts that include supplying low-cost treatment and trying to clean up an unsanitary blood-buying industry blamed for infecting thousands of rural villagers. China's first AIDS case was detected in 1985. The government denied for years that the disease was a problem, but since last year has released more information. ''We still can't stop the spread, but we can exercise some sort of control over it,'' Qi said at a news conference. Nevertheless, he said, China could have as many as 10 million people carrying the virus by the end of the decade ''if we don't do our jobs well.'' The estimate of 10 million infected people by the end of this decade first appeared in a United Nations report earlier this year. The report criticized Chinese authorities who it said had failed to act to stop the spread of the disease, and said lack of commitment could lead to a rapid increase in infected people. Qi said the government figure on infected people was based on information from local authorities and from 148 Health Ministry research centers nationwide. Foreign health experts have questioned China's official AIDS figures. They say that among other failings, local officials are avoiding testing high-risk people in order to meet targets for holding down the number of reported cases. Qi said government research showed that 68 percent of Chinese with the virus became infected by sharing contaminated needles. In poor rural areas, however, infection was mainly through unsanitary blood-buying methods that mixed blood from many people together and injected it back into donors after key components had been removed. Qi said such cases account for about 10 percent of infections. The government is also working to reduce the cost of treatment for Chinese with AIDS, most of whom already live in poverty. China recently began treating patients with a domestically produced version of the anti-AIDS drug AZT that costs far less than the imported original. Ten more Chinese firms have applied for permission to make generic anti-AIDS drugs and might be producing them by the end of the year, Qi said. He said companies would be allowed to copy medicines whose patents have expired. Foreign pharmaceutical companies have cut the cost of drugs sold to China from $16,000 for a year's treatment to about $4,000, Qi said. However, he said that was still far more than most Chinese patients could pay. He said the government is trying to negotiate further discounts. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BBC - Sunday, 8
September, 2002, 04:44 GMT 05:44 UK
EU to demand full Burma talks By Larry Jagan BBC correspondent in Bangkok A European Union delegation has arrived in the Burmese capital Rangoon for three days of talks with the government and the opposition. The delegates are scheduled to meet government ministers, including the military intelligence chief, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, and representatives of the ethnic minorities. Since the EU troika last visited Burma earlier this year, the military authorities have released the opposition leader from house arrest, and earlier this week they said eight political prisoners and 39 women were freed. This EU mission will be trying to assess what progress has been made in the dialogue process since her release. The mission includes senior diplomats from Denmark, which holds the current EU presidency, Greece, next in line to take over the presidency, and the European Commission. Calls for talks EU officials are not optimistic that this latest mission to Rangoon will produce any serious concessions from the military junta. But it will give the senior European diplomats an opportunity to assess what progress has been made in Burma, also known as Myanmar, since the opposition leader's release four months ago. The EU team will be urging the generals to release all the country's political prisoners as soon as possible, and to start substantive political talks with the opposition leader. The delegation's meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi will be very important in the EU's decision on whether they need to relax their isolation of Rangoon in the near future. The last EU mission - in March - met only lower-level government ministers and officials. 'Actions, not promises' This time, according to EU officials, the delegation is scheduled to meet the country's third most powerful general, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt. Last time he said he was too busy to meet the members of the troika. The fact that such a high-level meeting has been arranged is significant, and shows how important the junta is taking this visit. But the military authorities will have to prove their commitment to political change with concrete actions, not just promises, a senior EU official told the BBC. The very minimum, he said, would be a meeting between Aung San Suu Kyi and a senior general to discuss a tentative agenda for political talks. Only then would the EU seriously consider changing its common position on Burma. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post - Sunday
08 September 2002
MONEY LAUNDERING Gem sales front for drug cash Police to investigate connections with Wa Nauvarat Suksamran, Subin Kheunkaew and Anucha Charoenpo Wa drug producers use gemstone auctions in Rangoon every February and October by the Burmese government to launder their illicit money, sources in the Thai jewellery industry allege. Wa investors owned large jewellery businesses suspected to have been funded by drug money, they said. Many also won concessions from the Burmese government to mine gemstones in Shan state. At the auction they were rivals to Thai gem traders, mostly from Chanthaburi, and they won more often. Pittaya Jinawat, director of the Narcotics Control Board's northern branch, said the office was aware of the alleged practice and intended to raise the issue at a meeting on Sept 13-14. He had a list of names of Thai businessmen who regularly bought gemstones at the auctions. The office was looking into whether any of them had business connections with the Wa and went there to help the minority group launder its drug money. Mr Pittaya said it would be difficult for his office to take action without solid evidence to support money-laundering charges. The list of gem traders would be sent to the Anti-Money Laundering Office for further checks. Rewat Wannachote, a gem exporter, said the minerals became scarce after Burma closed border checkpoints with Thailand three months ago. Burma is among the best source of rubies and other gemstones in the world. Most traders were counting down to the next auction and trying to secure enough stones to meet orders. Mr Rewat admitted that police treated with suspicion Thai gem traders who did business in Burma. Police suspected that he and many of his colleagues were involved in trafficking. Their bank accounts were scrutinised and their houses searched. Traders often had big sums of money in hand because the business involved a large amount of revolving capital. However, this did not mean they were unusually wealthy, and police should check their intelligence. Sources, however, said some gem traders bought contraband gemstones from Burma and sent them to Chanthaburi, and on the way paid 2,000-10,000 baht to police to avoid searches. As gem and jewellery businesses owned by Wa minorities boomed in Burma, many Thai lapidaries were hired to teach cutting and polishing techniques to local workers in several towns near the Chinese border. Somkid Ratiwan, a Chanthaburi native, said he was offered that kind of job in Burma. The firm offered him a salary of tens of thousands of baht a month and was to be paid three months in advance. However, Mr Somkid said his friends told him not to go there as chances were he would be confined to the factory most of the time. ``The pay was good but I would not have freedom of movement,'' he said. Casinos were based in Burma near the Chinese border so many Thais working for Wa investors came home empty-handed, he said. Mr Somkid said friends had told him most of the factories were big and employed more than 100 staff. Most of the jewellery was sold to China. Araya Boontham, a lapidary, said he used to work at a gem factory in Pang Sang, a bustling border town with schools, hospitals, hotels, casinos and grocery stores. Travelling there from Thailand took two days, Mr Araya said. He had encountered strict drug searches by Burmese soldiers. ``The drug law there was harsh and penalties were heavy,'' he said. Mr Araya said he did not see any heroin factories during his 10-month stay in Pang Sang. The government, he said, should form business links with the Wa people as there was a huge demand for Thai consumer goods in Wa-controlled areas. It should also negotiate with Burma for gemstone mining concessions and rubber planting. Pang Sang, he said, grew almost one million rai of rubber. Mr Araya said the Wa minorities were no longer merely the drug pushers that many Thais assumed them to be. ``They used to sell drugs but now they do not do that any more,'' he said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The
Nation
Immigration policies to be reassessed: PM Published on Sep 8, 2002 Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday said his government will reassess its immigration policy toward "neighbouring countries" as Thailand had long carried their burdens. Thaksin did not single out Burma or other neighbouring nations by name. But he said malaria, illicit drugs, a million illegal foreign workers and more then 100,000 refugees living in make-shift camps along the Thai-Burma border, plus the shooting of students in Ratchaburi province had put a strain on Thailand. These incidents had forced the government to rethink its policies with neighbouring countries, he said. The premier did not say what specific aspect of foreign policy would be re-evaluated. He stuck to his old line, however, saying that if the economies of these countries were to strengthen, then their overall well-being and security could be attained. But most analysts say the foundations for peace in Burma can be achieved only when the ruling junta and minority groups fighting for self-rule reach a sustainable political settlement i The mostly ethnic Karen refugees who have fled fighting between government troops and rebels bring stories of rape and torture by soldiers. The vast majority of the one million illegal foreign workers are from Burma. Many take up low-paying jobs in labour-intensive industries that Thais refuse. Thaksin's statement comes amid growing concern from various sectors that the country is losing its international standing because the administration is moving too close and is too quick to appease Rangoon. Senator Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations, called on the government yesterday to respect the plight of Burmese refugees. He pointed to the recently published, "Licence to Rape" report, documenting the rape of 625 ethnic Shan girls and women between 1996 and 2001 by Burmese troops. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Swissinfo
September 8, 2002 10:04
AM
EU diplomats in Myanmar to press for liberation of political prisoners A European Union delegation has arrived in Myanmar for three days of talks with the country's military government and its opposition. The four-member team is expected to urge government
leaders to free political prisoners.
The visit is the fourth by a EU delegation since
1999.
The EU is maintaining sanctions on Myanmar and has refused
to lift the restrictions unless there is political change in the
country.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Straits Times -
SEPT 8, 2002 SUN
Yangon army accused of killings after rapes BANGKOK - A leading Thai senator has upped the ante in his campaign against Myanmar's treatment of ethnic minorities, saying Yangon's military had not only committed systematic rape but murdered hundreds of Shan women. Mr Kraisak Choonhavan, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, revisited the controversial allegations made originally in July by Thai-based Shan rights groups, but he went a step further by telling Parliament that 400 of the victims were killed. 'More than 600 people have been raped' in eastern Myanmar's Shan state, the Bangkok Post quoted Mr Kraisak as saying. 'Most rapes were started by colonels and completed by their subordinates. They raped in villages and military camps and two-thirds of the victims were killed,' he added. He said he had names of the victims and the soldiers responsible for the atrocities, the daily reported, but it did not elaborate. Myanmar has rejected the rape allegations as 'preposterous accusations' resulting from political pressure. The senator's statements appear designed to put the heat on Yangon as it hosts a European Union delegation on a three-day mission beginning today. The delegation expects to meet senior junta generals as well as Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, said officials from Denmark, which currently holds the revolving EU presidency. --AFP ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |