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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- October 20, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - U.N. envoy meets Myanmar
junta in rights probe
Channel NewsAsia - Australian to
re-visit Thai-Burma death railway
AFP - UN rights envoy declines
Myanmar offer to visit Shan state: ethnic group
AFP - Myanmar to issue some visas on
arrival: report
AFP - Cambodian security seen sorely
tested by ASEAN summit
AFP - UN rights envoy meets generals,
ethnic leaders on mission to Myanmar
AFP - Terror smear riles Malaysia,
Australia cancels national events
AP - U.N. human rights expert meets
Myanmar political prisoners
AP - U.N. human rights expert meets
with ethnic leaders
VOA News - UN Envoy Investigates
Charges of Human Rights Violations in Burma
Bernama - Police Avert Fight Between
Indon And Myanmar Workers
The Daily Star - Probe into
Biman outstations soon
Independent Online -
Embassy lied about girl's age, say police
Mizzima - Burmese sought
shelter at Red Cross office
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday October 19, 8:59 PM
U.N. envoy meets Myanmar junta in rights probe YANGON (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy met top members of Myanmar's ruling military and ethnic minority leaders on Saturday in a bid to spur political change and to probe alleged human-rights abuses, including systematic rape by the army. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, special human-rights rapporteur for Myanmar, held talks with the junta's powerful intelligence chief and secretary one, Khin Nyunt, Foreign Minister Win Aung and the leaders of eight ethnic political parties. Speaking to reporters after the meetings he declined to discuss the talks in detail, but said time restrictions meant he would not visit eastern Shan State as part of his investigation of reports of hundreds of instances of the rape of ethnic minority women and girls there by government troops. "I'm not going to Shan State this time," Pinheiro said. "The government kindly proposed it to me, but I don't think I'll be able to write a comprehensive report due to the short time... Maybe I will go there next time." He said no firm date had yet been set for a planned meeting with opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi. NLD spokesman U Lwin told Reuters a meeting with Suu Kyi was likely early next week. Pinheiro, who arrived on Thursday night, earlier said he planned to discuss the rape allegations with junta leaders as well as push for talks between Suu Kyi and the government. Suu Kyi was released from 19 months' house arrest in May, sparking hopes of talks. But so far those hopes have been disappointed, despite repeated calls from Suu Kyi for dialogue. The NLD won 1990 elections in Myanmar by a landslide but has been denied power by the military. The government on Wednesday said it invited Pinheiro to make his fourth visit to Myanmar following expressions of concern from Washington over a report from two minority rights groups saying troops had raped at least 625 girls and women between 1996 and 2001 in Shan State. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch also accused the Myanmar military of recruiting some 70,000 child soldiers. It said many had been forced to commit atrocities against ethnic minorities. But analysts say they are sceptical Pinheiro will see an accurate picture of the human-rights situation during his trip. Pinheiro said he planned to visit political prisoners at the notorious colonial-era Insein prison in Yangon on Sunday. He is due to leave Myanmar on October 28. The United States and several European countries have imposed political and economic sanctions on the regime, demanding that it clean up its rights record and move Myanmar toward democracy. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Channel
NewsAsia
Sunday October 20, 4:17 PM Australian to re-visit Thai-Burma death railway An Australian Vietnam-war veteran is retracing the journey of prisoners of war who worked on the Thai-Burma Death Railway after the fall of Singapore in 1942. The deadly Thai-Burma railway project is something 53-year-old Laurie Sams won't easily forget. His father was jailed in Changi before being sent to Thailand to work on the railway. In fact, more than 60,000 prisoners of war and 200,000 forced labourers from the region worked on the railway from 1942 to 1945. It has been 60 years since the fall of Singapore in 1942. But war veterans say there is still much to be learnt from history, especially the sufferings faced by the prisoners of war. And what better way than to visit some of the sites where they were forced to do labour. Laurie said: "It's very difficult but the feeling of being in the location of what the troops have experienced being on the jungle and of course on the railway itself to get a feeling of the huge waste and loss of contribution of many countries." So Laurie is starting his journey from the Changi Chapel and Museum. He will go to Kuala Lumpur by train to meet another two Malaysian war veterans. The trio will then travel to Thailand before starting their 250-kilometre walk to the Thai-Myanmar border to explore the railway area. Laurie plans to complete his journey by October 28. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday October 20, 4:01 PM
UN rights envoy declines
Myanmar offer to visit Shan state: ethnic group
YANGON, Oct 20 (AFP) - United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has declined an invitation by Myanmar to visit Shan state to investigate alleged human rights violations there, an ethnic party source said Sunday. Pinheiro is in the midst of an 11-day fact-finding tour of the country and held talks Saturday with senior leaders of the ruling military junta as well as representatives of ethnic minority political parties, official sources said. He was invited by the authorities to investigate a July report released by two Thai-based organisations representing the Shan ethnic minority which claimed the military used rape as a weapon of war. An official schedule listed a three-day visit to Shan state beginning Tuesday. But Pinheiro, who was given an official report on Yangon's assessment of the rape allegations upon his arrival, has decided to forego the visit, according to Khun Tun Oo, chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD). "He described the official report as sketchy," Khun Tun Oo told AFP, adding that Pinheiro had opted instead to conduct his independent investigations from inside Thailand, where most of the victims of alleged rape cases were said to be residing. Earlier, Shan groups had said they had little faith the military government would allow Pinheiro, on his third trip to Myanmar, to investigate the issue thoroughly. "We told him there was hardly any change since he was here last and that there was still no political freedom as far as we were concerned," Khun Tun Oo said. The SNLD was among six ethnic-based political parties who met with the Brazilian academic Saturday to brief him on the latest political developments as well as the issue of political prisoners languishing in jail. Khun Tun Oo, who said the meeting was positive, quoted Pinheiro as promising to "push for more freedom for political parties and the release of all political prisoners." Meanwhile, Pinheiro on Sunday visited Insein prison in suburban Yangon, the first of several trips he is expected to make to jails throughout the country. He is also expected to meet with pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before leaving Myanmar but no date has been set for the meeting. Pinheiro's visit comes as Yangon fends off mounting criticism of its human rights record. In addition to the rape allegations, US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said last week it believed more than a fifth of the soldiers serving in Myanmar's army could be under the age of 18 and that some of them were forced to participate in atrocities. Myanmar's government has repeatedly denied all the allegations. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday October 20, 02:12 PM
Myanmar to issue some visas on
arrival: report
YANGON, Oct 20 (AFP) - Myanmar is to launch a visa-on-arrival program aimed at boosting flagging tourism to the military-ruled state, a report here said. The immigration ministry said it will begin issuing the visas to individual travelers who arrive at Yangon's international airport on flights operated by Austria-based Lauda Air, according to the Myanmar Times. A similar arrangement would be made with other airlines but would take time, U Khin Maung Latt, the director general of the ministry of hotels and tourism, was cited as saying in the semi-official weekly's edition to be published Monday. It said the move follows an October 13 decision approved by the minister for hotels and tourism, Brigadier General Thein Zaw, adding that pre-arranged visas-on-arrival were already available to travelers arriving on package tours. Lauda Air is due to inaugurate a non-stop service to Yangon from Vienna on November 6, the report stated. The flight returns to Vienna via the Thai resort island of Phuket. "It will have a positive effect on the airline and will also benefit FITs (foreign individual travelers), business people and those making last-minute bookings," U Aung Naing, managing director of Myanmar travel company EPG, told the Times. Myanmar's tourism industry is in its infancy, and the country's efforts to boost it have been dogged by wide-ranging sanctions against the military regime imposed by western governments. Myanmar has been criticised for its human rights performance and refusal to hand over power to the National League for Democracy, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, which won an overwhelming election victory in 1990. The number of tourist arrivals at Yangon's airport slipped three percent last year to 204,862, a decline attributed to the industry's global downturn in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday October 20, 21:36 PM
Cambodian security seen sorely
tested by ASEAN summit
PHNOM PENH, Oct 20 (AFP) - The homeless have been ordered out, roads paved, unseemly karaoke bars closed and Phnom Penh's 20 dollar a month bureaucrats are working overtime. It's all part of Cambodia's attempt to mount a charm offensive and carry off its debut, with some aplomb, as host of an ASEAN summit in two weeks time. But at the heart of that campaign remains one crucial question: Can Cambodia ensure security for heads of state and high ranking delegates from some 15 countries? Diplomats said Cambodia's security capabilities were always a major issue for organising this summit, and in the aftermath of the devastating Bali bomb blasts the alarm bells are ringing loud and clear. One Western diplomat said that apart from the usual political agenda, ASEAN will be about Cambodia's ability to ensure security in a country which faces constant criticism for violence, corruption and a culture of impunity. "When one head of state visits here, the government can deploy 2,000 security personnel. Now for ASEAN they are going to have to do that times 15," he said. The ASEAN summit is Cambodia's biggest political extravaganza and should mark another turning point in efforts to return this country to international normality after nearly three decades of war, which ended in 1998. Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen insists his country will deliver. Shortly after the Bali bombings he assured heads of state for the November 4 to 5 summit that his country was not a terrorist target and that security would be adequate. His foreign minister, Hor Namhong, said security is "100 percent guaranteed" while both the top police chief and the Phnom Penh governor have made a Cambodian chorus of reassurances in the face of terrorist fears. But for diplomats, it's no secret that Phnom Penh has been included on a list of targets linked to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network and the militant Islamic group Jemaah Islamiya (JI), both blamed for the Bali blasts. This resulted in a two-week shut down of the US embassy and other Western missions here on the first anniversary of the September 11 attacks. Diplomats here appear to have the backing of US Attorney-General John Ashcroft who said specific evidence gleaned by the US intelligence community and a senior al-Qaeda operative contributed to the temporary closure of four South East Asian embassies. "Information indicates that al-Qaeda cells have been established in several South East Asian countries in order to conduct car bomb and other attacks on US facilities," Ashcroft said. "These cells have been accumulating explosives since approximately January 2002 in preparations for these attacks." Ashcroft's comments -- published on www.usdoj.gov -- were made before the September 11 anniversary and the bomb blasts that left nearly 200 innocent tourists and locals dead in Bali. One diplomat said "US facility" could mean any target remotely Western. "That could be a bar in Asia where Europeans or Australians drink, or a political event for leaders aligned to the United States, an oil tanker, a casino. The potential list is endless," he said. As part of a regional travel warnings in response to the Bali blasts, the Australian government, along with other Western nations, has upgraded its advice on Cambodia, urging its citizens to exercise "extreme caution" while travelling in-country. Diplomats believe the threat partially stems through JI laying claim to a vast swathe of South East Asia for a pan-Islamic state, covering Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, Brunei and the southern Philippines. The northern tip of that state would include southern Cambodia, home to an estimated one million Muslims, and according to one senior US military analyst, a population which is "ripe for infiltration". "No-one believes Cambodian Muslims as a whole are plotting anything. "But there are some local militants, and simply through the culture of impunity that exists, Cambodia would be an easy place for foreign militants to base themselves," he said. Cambodia has also witnessed its own brand of terrorism. In July 2001, two hotels were bombed and three people killed. And after a botched coup in November 2000 around 100 people were jailed after being found guilty of membership in the small rebel group called the Cambodian Freedom Fighters (CFF), which has sworn to oust Hun Sen. CFF members were also jailed for three grenade attacks in 2001. But efforts to bolster security in the Cambodian capital have been highly visible in recent weeks. Thousands of police and military personnel carry out regular exercises as part of the ASEAN preparations. A government crackdown on the carrying of guns, a constant headache for authorities here, has been enforced and a ban on outdoor eating has been issued to help clear out Phnom Penh's bustling sidewalks. The result so far has been a rare absence of street crime. And Hor Namhong, when issuing his 100 percent guarantee claimed "security and protocol preparations have been organized very well," but for security reasons he could not offer further details. Senior ASEAN diplomats believe in Cambodia's ability to duccessfully host the summit, which will bring together leaders from Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, with their Cambodian counterparts. Heads of state, or high ranking officials, are also expected from China, Japan, South Korea and India. "It will test people," said one senior ASEAN diplomat. "Cambodia has never done anything like this before so it's a very steep learning curve, but it will come together. It always does." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Saturday October 20, 08:06 PM
UN rights envoy meets
generals, ethnic leaders on mission to Myanmar
YANGON, Oct 19 (AFP) - United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met Saturday with the Myanmar junta's number-three, General Khin Nyunt, and representatives of ethnic minority political parties, official sources said. Pinheiro, who arrived in Yangon Thursday on an 11-day mission to the military-ruled country, is believed to have discussed various allegations of human rights abuses levelled against the regime recently. Before his talks with Khin Nyunt, the influential chief of military intelligence, the envoy also saw Foreign Minister Win Aung. And on Friday he met with Home Minister Tin Hlaing and Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win. On Saturday he also consulted with Khun Tun Oo, chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), and other political leaders representing ethnic minorities. The junta has invited the UN envoy to investigate a July report released by two Thai-based organisations representing the Shan ethnic minority which claimed the military used rape as a weapon of war. In another damning charge, US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch said last week it believed more than a fifth of the soldiers serving in Myanmar's army could be under the age of 18 and that some of them were forced to participate in atrocities. Myanmar's government has repeatedly denied all the allegations. Pinheiro is due to make a three-day visit to Shan state beginning on October 22, but Shan groups have said they have little faith the military government will allow him to investigate the issue thoroughly. The Brazilian academic is expected to see opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before leaving Myanmar but no date has been set for the meeting. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday October 20, 05:19 PM
Terror smear riles Malaysia,
Australia cancels national events
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 20 (AFP) - Terror-scarred Australia announced Sunday the postponement of two national events planned for Malaysia, as the government here fought what it called a terrorism smear against it carried in a United Nations report. An exhibition promoting Australia as a destination for higher education and the Australian Film Festival, both planned for Kuala Lumpur later this month, have been indefinitely delayed in the wake of the Bali bombing in neighbouring Indonesia a week ago. "Following the Bali bombings of October 12, the Australian government has received new information about possible generic threats in the region," acting High Commissioner Nic Brown said in a statement. "I sincerely regret that we have had to make this decision" to postpone the events, Brown said, pointing out that Australia's travel advisories for several countries had been upgraded. Australia, which suffered the greatest casualties in the Bali blast which killed nearly 200 people, now urges travellers to be on heightened alert in Brunei, Cambodia, East Timor, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Thailand. The Australian action will no doubt add to Malaysia's sense of being unfairly tarred with the terrorism brush as it comes in the midst of government outrage over a UN report which allegedly links the ruling coalition indirectly with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terror network. The government has demanded the UN remove the offending section of the report, which it says depicts the ruling National Front as having "ideological and political links" to the Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) in the Philippines, which has direct links to al-Qaeda. The deputy prime minister of this mainly-Muslim Southeast Asian nation, Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, has described the report as "totally untruthful and offensive". Abdullah said in a statement at the weekend that Malaysia's only involvement with the MILF was when the country was invited by both the Philippine government and the MILF to mediate in peace negotiations between them. "The Barisan Nasional (National Front) as a party was not involved," he said. Local media said the UN report was based on information in the book Inside al-Qaeda - Global Network of Terror by Sri Lankan researcher Rohan Gunaratna, who has reportedly written to Abdullah to clear the air. The Sunday Star newspaper quoted Gunaratna as saying that he had referred to individuals within political parties in Malaysia having links with the MILF, but had never claimed party-to-party links. Malaysia has already complained about travel restrictions imposed on its citizens by the United States in the wake of the September 11 terror attacks, with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad condemning what he called "anti-Muslim hysteria". Mahathir, however, conceded during a visit to India Friday that Malaysia could be a target for terrorist attacks, saying "you can never determine where they are going to attack next". But he added that Malaysia had "taken very early precautionary measures to eliminate this possibility", an apparent reference to the detention of 72 alleged Islamic extremists since November. "I don't think there is any reason to panic and I think time will show Malaysia is a safe and stable country," he said. -------------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. human rights expert meets
Myanmar political prisoners
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A United Nations expert investigating human rights in military-run Myanmar met with political prisoners for several hours Sunday. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro and two aides were allowed into Yangon's notorious Insein prison, where some past inmates claimed to have been tortured and brutalized. ``Being a prisoner is not an easy thing, but the political prisoners I met were not ill-treated,'' he said afterward. ``The purpose of my visit was to interview some of the political prisoners I met during my last visit and see how they are doing.'' Pinheiro is making his fourth visit to Myanmar. He last visited in February. He declined to provide further details. Pinheiro is expected to report to the U.N. General Assembly in November. During his 12-day visit, which began Thursday, he is to meet with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and look into allegations that the Myanmar military uses rape as a weapon of terror against women of the Shan ethnic minority, which is fighting for autonomy. The government, which has denied the charges, says it welcomes such an investigation by Pinheiro, but he will not travel to Shan State where the alleged rapes occurred. A June report by two Thailand-based rights groups claimed to document 173 cases of rape and sexual violence against girls and women. It received widespread publicity in July when the U.S. State Department took note of it. Myanmar's military regime has been criticized by Western nations and U.N. agencies for its poor human rights record, also including forced labor and alleged use of child soldiers. 2002-10-20 Sun 07:02 -------------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. human rights expert meets
with ethnic leaders
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A United Nations human rights expert will meet with political prisoners in Myanmar, but will not travel to outlying areas of the military state to investigate allegations of widespread rape of ethnic minority women by government troops, diplomatic sources said Saturday. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who is making his fourth visit to Myanmar, met with representatives of five ethnic minority political parties and Myanmar's military intelligence chief Gen. Khin Nyunt Saturday. Pinheiro earlier told reporters a focus of his visit would be to look into charges that rape was used as a weapon of terror against women of the Shan ethnic minority, which is fighting for autonomy. But diplomatic sources said he would not visit Shan State, where the rapes allegedly occurred, despite the government's offer to allow him to travel to the area. The reason for this was not immediately clear. The government on Wednesday said it welcomed such an investigation by Pinheiro, who will be in the country for 12 days. On Saturday, the U.N. official held discussions with representatives of Shan, Chin, Arakhine, Kachin and Karen political parties. During his visit, he is scheduled to meet opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and political prisoners at Yangon's notorious Insein prison. Pinheiro is expected to present a report on the human rights situation in Myanmar to the U.N. General Assembly in November. He last visited Myanmar in February. Myanmar's military regime has been criticized by Western nations and U.N. agencies for its poor human rights record, including forced labor and the detention of political prisoners. Myanmar has repeatedly denied allegations that its soldiers raped ethnic Shan women to retaliate against Shan guerrillas. The allegations were made in a June report by the Shan Women's Action Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation, two Thailand-based rights groups. Their report, which claimed to document 173 cases of rape and sexual violence against girls and women, received widespread publicity in July when the U.S. State Department took note of it. ``Deserters and armed insurgent groups taking refuge in a neighboring country are currently spreading false accusations systematically, to tarnish the image of Myanmar,'' Khin Nyunt said in a speech Friday. In a preliminary report to the United Nations last month, Pinheiro said that Myanmar's people are suffering from severe economic hardship and continuing human rights violations that can only be solved with government cooperation. He warned that political and economic factors in the country were leading to a humanitarian crisis and said the situation would not improve until there was ``substantive progress in the process of national reconciliation and political transition.'' -------------------------------------------------------------------- VOA News
UN Envoy Investigates Charges of Human Rights Violations in Burma Nancy-Amelia Collins Bangkok 18 Oct 2002, 13:17 UTC A United Nations representative has began a 10-day visit to Burma, looking into allegations that the military government is forcibly drafting young boys into the army and using rape as a weapon of war. Paolo Sergio Pinheiro, a special representative of the U.N. Secretary-General, met with military leaders and U.N. agencies in Rangoon Friday as he kicked off his fourth visit to Burma. The U.S. State Department and advocates for Burma's Shan ethnic minority released a report in July, claiming the Burmese army systematically rapes Shan women as part of its military campaign against the Shan independence movement. Rangoon has repeatedly denied the charge and says it invited Mr. Pinheiro in an effort to refute the allegation. On Wednesday, Human Rights Watch issued a lengthy report charging that Burma has forcibly recruited around 70,000 child soldiers - some as young as 11 years old - and has forced the boys to commit human rights violations. Mr. Pinheiro is scheduled to talk to the foreign affairs and home ministers later on Friday. On Saturday, he will meet the opposition Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and other ethnic minority groups. He said he would then travel to Burma's Shan State for three days next week, to investigate the allegation that the military systematically raped over 600 Shan women between 1996 and 2001. The U.N. envoy said he will also meet with the democracy leader and Nobel Laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, before he leaves the country on October 28. No date has been set for that meeting. Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy won the 1990 elections by a landslide, but the military government placed her under house arrest on and off for years and refused to allow her and her party to take power. Although she was released from 19 months of house arrest in May, talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the government have stalled, and Mr. Pinheiro said he hopes his visit will help get the talks back on track. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Malaysian National News Agency
- BERNAMA
October 19 , 2002 18:57PM Police Avert Fight Between Indon And Myanmar Workers PENANG, Oct 19 (Bernama) -- Police averted a fight between Indonesian and Myanmar workers Saturday by rushing to a construction site in Jalan Bukit Gambir here following a tip-off. A police spokesman said 20 foreign workers, including two women, were arrested in the operation at about noon. "On seeing the police, most of the workers fled into a jungle on a nearby hill," he told reporters at the scene. Police believed the suspects did not have valid travel documents, he said. He said the workers had gathered there for a fight after failing to resolve a debt-related problem on Friday. On receiving information about an impending fight, police sent a team from the district police headquarters and Federal Reserve Unit personnel to the work site. No weapons were recovered from the area. He said General Operations Force personnel had been deployed to hunt for the workers who escaped into the jungles. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Daily Star - Sun.
October 20, 2002
Probe into Biman outstations soon Star Report The civil aviation ministry will send investigation teams to all the 28 overseas stations of the Biman Bangladesh Airlines to probe alleged corruption, mismanagement and wastage of resources by officials. "The objective of the probe is to reduce Biman's operational cost," said State Minister for Civil Aviation and Tourism Mir Mohammad Nasir Uddin. He said the investigation team would also try to help in stopping harassment of the passengers and ensure better services to them, Two investigation teams already visited the London and Dubai offices of Biman and found financial mismanagement, according to ministry sources. Following this, the decision to investigate other Biman offices was made. According to sources, each investigation team will make a set of recommendations for the Biman station concerned for improving the situation. The recommendations would be sent to the Biman head office for necessary actions. Other than London and Dubai, Biman has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, Amsterdam, Athens, Manchester, Paris, Rome, Brussels, Frankfurt, Kolkata, Delhi, Karachi, Kathmandu, Yangon, Abu Dhabi, Bahrain, Doha, Kuwait, Muscat, Riyadh, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Kuala Lumpur, Singapore and Tokyo. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Independent Online,
South Africa -
October 18 2002 at 09:05PM Embassy lied about girl's age, say police By Peter Fabricius Police are still investigating charges that a young Asian girl was assaulted while working at the embassy of Myanmar (formerly Burma) in Pretoria. They are declining comment on news reports that she was also sexually abused. Police said this week that a medical examination had established that the girl was only 15 and not 21 as the embassy had claimed in their application for her diplomatic visa to enter South Africa. The girl has been held in protective custody by the Child Protection Unit for over a month while police investigate her claims. Police are investigating charges of fraud and assault with the intent to do grievous body harm, Senio Superintendent Mary Martins-Engelbrecht said this week. However, she added that no-one had been formally charged yet. She said the assault charges arose from claims that the girl had been assaulted while working at the embassy. Also, the fraud charge was initiated by South Africa authorities and involves the application which the embassy made for a visa for the child to enter South Africa. It includes the discrepancy about her age. Martins-Engelbrecht said she could not divulge whether or not the police medical examination of the girl had also confirmed that she had been sexually abused. According to reports in the Mail & Guardian newspape a
leaked police report said the Pretoria district surgeon who examined the girl
found that she had been"sexually abused and possibly been misused for the
purpose of prostitution".
The embassy could not be reached on Friday for comment. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Burmese sought shelter at Red
Cross office
Sein Win Mizzima News Group 19th October 2002 Thirteen former political prisoners from Burma attempted to seek asylum from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in New Delhi yesterday, having reached New Delhi after crossing the border at Tamu-Moreh. "After our release we were asked to report to the authorities every week. Even if we reported to them, they told us to come back the next day since they were busy. We had no time even to earn our livelihood. I have five family members to look after. Whenever an investigation for political unrest takes place, the authority prepared to arrest us", recounts thirty-seven year old Tual Sian Mang who served 4 years imprisonment in Kaley town. The political prisoners, aged between seventeen and forty were imprisoned in Kalay town, Sagaing division, for having links with banned political parties and for distributing pamphlets on political issues. While they were in prison, ICRC in Burma met them and provided them with ICRC cards. Some of them served time beyond their jail terms. "We have recognized ICRC cards from Burma. We thus approached the ICRC Office in New Delhi in the hope of getting assistance", says Pin Ki, released from a one-year jail term in Falam town, Chin State. Only one of the group was allowed to enter the ICRC Office to meet the officials while the others were made to wait outside. Now they have an appointment to meet with the officials of the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugee (UNHCR), arranged by the ICRC. As of now, the ICRC and UNHCR have refused to arrange accommodations and food for them. Mizzima News attempted to meet with UNHCR officials on the ex-prisoners behalf was refused a meeting. "When I informed the UNHCR of these cases, they said that they could not take responsibility for these asylum-seekers since they have yet been recognized as a falling under the mandate of the refugee organization", said Mr. Cang Peng, chairman of the All Burmese Refugee Committee (ABRC). At present, the United Nations High Commissioners for Refugee (UNHCR) in India officially recognize only 800 out of 1300 refugees from Burma. -------------------------------------------------------------------- |