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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- October 27, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Bush offers ASEAN free trade
deal carrot
AFP - Living on the edge is a way of
life for Myanmar's refugees
AFP - UN agency seeks to base staff
along Myanmar border: report
AFP - UN rights envoy visits major
Myanmar jail
AFP - Bush offers ASEAN free trade
deal carrot
Reuters - Bush launches free trade
initiative with ASEAN
AP - U.N. human rights envoy visits
Tharawaddy prison
Asia Tribune - National Coalition
Government of Burma lauds CRPP for accepting new members to
Parliament.
JT - An unflinching look at the face
of suffering
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Sunday October 27, 3:33 PM Bush offers ASEAN free trade deal carrot (AFP) - President George W. Bush offered to reward Southeast Asian states that prove they are committed to economic reform with a network of free trade agreements with the United States. The White House billed the offer as the Enterprise for ASEAN initiative (EAI), in an announcement on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at the Los Cabos, golf and beach resort. "The United States believes that a strong US-ASEAN relationship is a force for stability and development in the Southeast Asian region," the White House said in a statement. "The EAI will enhance already close US ties with ASEAN. The EAI offers the prospect of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and ASEAN countries that are committed to economic reforms and openness." "The goal is to create a network of bilateral FTAs, which will increase trade and investment, tying more closely together our economies and our futures." The United States is currently close to concluding an FTA with Singapore, which will be the first such deal with an Asian state, which was first mooted two years ago at an APEC summit in Brunei. A White House official said the EAI device was used by the United States with Latin American nations ahead of the launch of talks for the Free Trade Area of the Americas zone, due to be completed in 2005. Under the EAI plan, the United States is pledging that it would be willing to begin negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) with individual ASEAN nations once they have met certain conditions. In order to be eligible to begin negotiations, ASEAN nations would have to be members of the World Trade Organization. They would also also have to have the more rigorous standard of having completed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement with the United States, known as a TIFA. Earlier this week, the United States signed a TIFA with Thailand, and already has TIFAs with Indonesia and the Philippines. The United States also pledged to help ASEAN members Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, that are not yet part of the WTO, to become members of the global trade body. ASEAN -- the Association of South East Asian Nations -- groups Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, plus their Cambodian counterparts. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Living on the edge is a way of
life for Myanmar's refugees
CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Oct 27 (AFP) - Life is returning to normal for most people living along the Thai-Myanmar border now that Myanmar has reopened its checkpoints to Thailand after a five-month closure. But for refugees sheltering in Thai border camps, life is as precarious as ever. "No one here feels safe but we have to stay because we are refugees and we have no choice," said Kyauk Pha, an elder from a camp in northern Mae Hong Son province. According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, some 120,000 refugees from Myanmar are living in 11 camps along the Thai-Myanmar border. Most hail from ethnic minority border regions where rebel groups are fighting the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) for independence, and have fled to Thailand in a bid to preserve their lives. Here their lives are safe -- subject to occasional cross-border attacks by the SPDC and pro-Yangon militia groups -- but they are forced to stay in their camps and are not permitted to work, farm or forage in surrounding forests. Currently around 4,300 Karenni refugees in Mae Hong Son's Camp Three are being shifted under the orders of Thai authorities to Camp Two, an already overcrowded settlement of 12,000 refugees six kilometres (four miles) away. "The Thai authorities did not give an official reason for the move, but the rumour is it was because the nearby villagers thought the refugees were causing 'problems'," a border source said. So far, 222 bamboo huts have been built by the refugees themselves in the new location and nearly 2,000 people have made the move, the chairwoman of Karenni Refugee Assistance Committee Tula Paw told AFP. Camp Two is just two kilometres from the Myanmar border, compared to Camp Three's eight -- raising fears the refugees are more at risk of an attack by hostile forces. Two refugees were killed at the camp about five years ago when the SPDC mounted an attack, sources said. "One of the major problems is the camp's security. Refugees are concerned about their safety because the new camp is located so close to one of the Myanmar army's frontline bases," Tula Paw said. One man said children might be playing happily outside their new homes, but this belied the worry their parents were going through. "Sometimes we feel that we are just waiting for the Myanmar soldiers or their shells," he said. The move, which is occurring several families at a time and without assistance from the Thai authorities, was suspended last week as Camp Three ran out of space to build new huts. Other problems facing the new camp were a lack of water and increased health risks, with malaria and dysentry more prevalent than at the old camp, other border sources said. A teacher working in Camp Three said the move was disrupting the education of the more than 500 students at her school. "The school year is going to be lost this year. The children who have already moved have to walk to Camp Two every day and back again, at least an hour each way," she said. "And the school will have to close for a few months when it is moved too." Many of the children suffered during the start of the move as they helped with the move, walking through monsoon-drenched mud. "A lot of the children had feet infections from the mud. The roads were really bad so they were helping push the stuck trucks," the teacher said. Natural disasters are another problem refugees must grapple with. Floods ravaged much of Thailand during August and September this year, but the worst disaster occured when a mudslide and flash floods swept through Ban Sala camp, also in Mae Hong Son province. Sixteen refugees were killed, mostly by large trees toppled over by floodwaters cascading down a mountainside. Hundreds of makeshift homes and buildings were damaged, leaving a thousand people homeless. Thai authorities blamed the disaster on illegal logging carried out by the refugees, but the refugees pointed the finger at unscrupulous Thai businessmen operating in the area last decade. At Thailand's largest camp in adjacent Tak province, nearly 40,000 refugees including ethnic minorities, Muslim leaders, students and political activists are living in what they feel is a secure environment, the refugees say. "I think our camp is lucky. There is less pressure on us (than in other camps) because we are close to major towns and we feel like we are close to the outside world," Ko Chin, a former student leader now living in the camp, told AFP. The border area near their camp is controlled by the rebel Karen National Union, so the refugees are not threatened by attacks, he added. Nevertheless, Ko Chin said the refugees would still prefer to head back to their homeland, Ko Chin said. -------------------------------------------------------------------- UN agency seeks to base staff
along Myanmar border: report
YANGON, Oct 27 (AFP) - The United Nations refugee agency has sought permission from Myanmar to base staff along its border with Thailand if any agreement to repatriate refugees is made between Yangon and Bangkok, a report here said. Approximately 120,000 refugees are living in 11 holding camps in Thailand, according to UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) figures. Erika Feller, director of the UNHCR's Department of International Protection in Geneva, told the Myanmar Times during a visit to Myanmar earlier this month she had raised the issue with ministers in the ruling military regime. "We did raise with the authorities here the possibility of early access (to border areas) in anticipation that we will be able to play a constructive role in helping people return in an organised way," Feller told the semi-official weekly in its edition to be published Monday. "We are ready to play our proper role in this regard to assist the government to receive the people," she added. There had been positive talks on the repatriation issue in early October between officials from Myanmar and Thailand, she said. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said last year that refugee camps along the Myanmar border would be gradually closed after several violent incidents involving refugee political activists. Most refugees in the Thai camps have escaped fighting in border areas between rebel ethnic minority armies seeking independence from Myanmar and Yangon-aligned forces. The majority wish to return to Myanmar if ceasefire arrangements are implemented, and are not seeking settlement in a third country. -------------------------------------------------------------------- UN rights envoy visits major
Myanmar jail
YANGON, Oct 27 (AFP) - UN human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro travelled to a major jail north of the Myanmar capital Sunday to meet with political prisoners being held there, a UN source said. Pinheiro was scheduled to meet prisoners at Tharwaddy jail, 145 kilometres (90 miles) outside Yangon in Bago Division, as part of his 11-day mission here to investigate the human rights situation in the country, the source said. The envoy has already interviewed prisoners at Yangon's notorious Insein prison and told reporters they had some complaints about their treatment. International concern has been repeatedly raised over the elderly and sick in Myanmar's jails failing to receive appropriate medical treatment. Since his arrival here on October 17, Pinheiro has also held talks with top members of the ruling junta, opposition, religious and ethnic minority leaders, UN personnel and diplomats. He met with opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi last week, and is scheduled to meet with her a second time on Monday afternoon, the UN source said. On Saturday Pinheiro met with home minister Colonel Tin Hlaing, followed by an hour-long discussion with Brigadier General Than Tun, head of the political section of military intelligence. Than Tun has been one of the top government figures involved in compiling an official response refuting claims made in a report by two Shan organisations which alleged systematic rape by Myanmar's military in eastern Shan state. "License to Rape", published by two Thai-based Shan rights organisations in July, found that rape was being used as a weapon of war in the state and has evinced angry denials from the junta. Pinheiro was originally invited by the junta to investigate the allegations firsthand in Shan state, but he cancelled his planned three-day visit there. The envoy said he could not do enough fact-finding in that period of time. In his most recent report to the UN General Assembly, Pinheiro said the "recent mellowing on the political front" -- referring to the release of Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest in May -- was not enough to improve the human rights situation. He urged the UN to get ready to help with the transition to democracy, saying: "The present delicate situation... needs to be handled with great care and generosity on the part of those who wish the people of Myanmar well." Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta have been engaged in a dialogue since October 2000 aimed at shifting the country towards democracy. The talks' most substantial outcome to date has been the May granting of the Nobel peace laureate's freedom. Pinheiro has made three visits to Myanmar since being appointed in April 2001. His last was in February. He is due to depart for Thailand Monday. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bush offers ASEAN free trade
deal carrot LOS CABOS, Mexico, Oct 26 (AFP) - President George W. Bush on Saturday offered to reward Southeast Asian states that prove they are committed to economic reform with a network of free trade agreements with the United States. The White House billed the offer as the Enterprise for ASEAN initiative (EAI), in an announcement on the sidelines of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at the Los Cabos, golf and beach resort. "The United States believes that a strong US-ASEAN relationship is a force for stability and development in the Southeast Asian region," the White House said in a statement. "The EAI will enhance already close US ties with ASEAN. The EAI offers the prospect of bilateral free trade agreements (FTAs) between the United States and ASEAN countries that are committed to economic reforms and openness." "The goal is to create a network of bilateral FTAs, which will increase trade and investment, tying more closely together our economies and our futures." The United States is currently close to concluding an FTA with Singapore, which will be the first such deal with an Asian state, which was first mooted two years ago at an APEC summit in Brunei. A White House official said the EAI device was used by the United States with Latin American nations ahead of the launch of talks for the Free Trade Area of the Americas zone, due to be completed in 2005. Under the EAI plan, the United States is pledging that it would be willing to begin negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) with individual ASEAN nations once they have met certain conditions. In order to be eligible to begin negotiations, ASEAN nations would have to be members of the World Trade Organization. They would also also have to have the more rigorous standard of having completed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement with the United States, known as a TIFA. Earlier this week, the United States signed a TIFA with Thailand, and already has TIFAs with Indonesia and the Philippines. The United States also pledged to help ASEAN members Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, that are not yet part of the WTO, to become members of the global trade body. ASEAN -- the Association of South East Asian Nations -- groups Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand, plus their Cambodian counterparts. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday October 27, 11:59 AM
Bush launches free trade initiative with ASEAN By Doug Palmer LOS CABOS, Mexico (Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush launched an initiative to boost trade with Southeast Asian nations on Saturday, promising them increased access to the lucrative U.S. market in exchange for economic reform. Bush presented the plan in a meeting with leaders from seven member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). It was the first such meeting between a U.S. president and ASEAN leaders since 1984. "I think this initiative shows how much we value our trade with Asia, and Southeast Asia in particular, and how we're eager to see this trade take on a new life," a senior administration official told reporters. The "Enterprise for ASEAN Initiative" offers the prospect of bilateral free trade agreements to countries that commit to a program of economic reform. The effort resembles the "Enterprise for the Americas Initiative" that Bush's father, former president George Bush, launched in 1990. That earlier effort has evolved into negotiations aimed at crafting a regional free trade agreement covering 34 countries in North and South America and the Caribbean by 2005. The ASEAN initiative comes at a time when countries in Southeast Asian are still recovering from the devastating effects of a severe financial crisis in the late 1990s. They are also facing increased competition for foreign investment dollars from China, which continues to grow at a rate of seven to eight percent annually. Also, recent bombings in Indonesia and the Philippines have increased investment jitters. White House officials said the plan lays out a roadmap for ASEAN countries to work toward bilateral free trade agreements with the United States, without setting any deadlines. The United States already expects to sign a free trade agreement with Singapore by the end of the year. Other ASEAN members include Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Cambodia, Brunei Darussalam, Vietnam, Laos and Myanmar. ASEAN countries interested in free trade talks with the United States would first have to sign a trade and investment framework agreement covering a range of areas, such as regulatory transparency and intellectual property protection. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam would have to complete negotiations to join the World Trade Organisation before moving "up the ladder" to a trade and investment framework agreement, administration officials said. In contrast to the open-ended U.S. approach, China plans to begin talks next year with the ten ASEAN countries to create the world's largest regional free trade agreement in 10 years. The U.S. initiative is "a realistic recognition of the various levels of development of the ASEAN countries", a senior administration official said. "If the Chinese can work all the issues with the ASEANs within 10 years, more power to them." Trade between ASEAN and the U.S. was worth $120 billion in 2001. Bush met ASEAN leaders from Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam on Saturday. They were attending the annual summit of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, which groups 21 economies in Asia, the Americas and Oceania. -------------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. human rights envoy visits
Tharawaddy prison
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A United Nations human rights investigator traveled Sunday to a notorious jail outside the capital to interview political prisoners, a U.N. official said. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, who ends his 12-day trip to assess human rights in Myanmar on Monday, went to Tharawaddy prison with two aides. He was not told by authorities beforehand the inmates he would meet, the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The large-scale imprisonment of political dissidents is one of the biggest black marks against Myanmar's junta, which faces severe criticism by the West for its antidemocratic stand. According to human rights groups, the junta is believed to hold more than 1,000 political prisoners and dozens have allegedly died in detention, from old age and medical neglect. Prisoner releases are a major demand of the opposition National League for Democracy party led by 1991 Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. The party won general elections in 1990 but was not allowed to take power. Pinheiro visited Yangon's main Insein prison last week and spent several hours interviewing some 20 political prisoners. Tharawaddy, notorious as a dumping ground for political dissidents, is about 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Yangon. Pinheiro has also spent three days in Karen and Mon states as part of his investigation, but turned down a government offer to travel to northeastern Shan State to investigate allegations that the military uses rape as a weapon of terror against women there, saying there was not enough time to make a full evaluation. He is expected to meet Suu Kyi in Yangon for the second time on this trip Monday. The military has released more than 300 NLD members in a piecemeal fashion since it began reconciliation talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000. More than 350 non-NLD members have also been freed. Pinheiro, a political science professor from Brazil, is expected to present his report to the U.N. General Assembly next month. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Tribune
Date : 2002-10-27 National Coalition Government of Burma lauds CRPP for accepting new members to Parliament. The National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) is heartened by the recent decisions taken by the Committee Representing the People's Parliament (CRPP) at a regular meeting in Rangoon on 23 October 2002. The legitimate body representing the whole people decided, among others, to bring in leaders of major ethnic political parties as members and expand the CRPP to accept new members. The NCGUB also lauds the Chairmen of the Mon National Democracy Front, the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and the Zomi National Congress for deciding to represent their own parties and dedicate their full time to the important work of the CRPP to restore democracy and re-build hand-in-hand the multi-ethnic nation of Burma. Today, members of the CRPP--Arakan League for Democracy, Mon National Democracy Front, and National League for Democracy, Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, and Zomi National Congress--have shown that they are strong in their unity and are of one mind in their pursuit of democracy and to re-building the Union of Burma. Their display of unity and courage bodes well for the political future of the country because the NCGUB firmly believes that unity among political forces is the most important requisite for the future of the democratic Union of Burma. We, elected representatives in exile and the NCGUB reaffirm our unwavering support for these political parties and the CRPP as a whole. We wish the CRPP success in its endeavors and stand firmly behind it and its determined and unswerving endeavor to fulfill the wish of the people as expressed through the 1990 elections. We, the NCGUB, appeal to all Governments, Parliaments, the United Nations, and international organizations and institutions to strongly back the peaceful efforts by the CRPP and to encourage the generals to enter into a cooperative relationship with it for the benefit of the country and the people. We also wish to remind the SPDC that the military alone can never resolve the current socioeconomic and political problems and that it is vitally important to immediately begin working with the CRPP and elected political parties in order to resolve all national problems, restore democracy, and re-build the nation. The CRPP representing the aspirations of all the multi-ethnic peoples of Burma, supported firmly by all forces in the world-wide democracy movement, stands ready to move forward and rebuild the Union of Burma in the mold and direction inspired to by the people of Burma. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Japan Times: Oct.
27, 2002
An unflinching look at the face of suffering By RICHARD HUMPHRIES FEAR AND SANCTUARY: Burmese Refugees in Thailand, by Hazel J. Lang. Cornell Southeast Asia Publications: Ithaca, New York, 2002, 240 pp., $24 (paper) An army column enters a small farming village without warning. The soldiers have been taught that everyone there is a potential enemy. Should any villagers flee in fear, that can only indicate guilt. Punishment is meted out on the spot without pity. The lower ranks must live off the land, so villagers' food is seized, valuables are confiscated, and, in the event of slim pickings, extortionate taxes levied through the village headman. Perhaps a villager or two will be interrogated or tortured and someone's daughter or wife compelled to provide sexual services. For the military, suspicions can rarely be allayed, but "good behavior" might mean carrying gear and ammunition for the column as it moves on, or perhaps a lengthy labor assignment, at no pay, for the benefit of the officer corps. And the village itself might have to move forthwith and relocate to an area where they can be better watched and fulfill their role as helots. This is the harsh reality, the fear, for many of the ethnic minorities who try to survive in Myanmar near its 2,401-km border with Thailand, and the reason why they flee. Myanmar has been at war with itself since 1948 and continues to bleed. Arguments over justice, basic freedoms, ethnic diversity and the nature of the state have rarely been conducted in a calm, give-and-take manner. More often than not they have been viewed through the barrel of a gun. Hazel Lang succinctly states that "refugees are defined by the fear they flee from and the sanctuary they seek." And there are now several hundred thousand so defined as a result of that conflict. Lang looks to explain the crisis within a broader context to ascertain its nature and causes and to highlight the power relationships involved, especially at higher levels, and the changing responses being made by Thai authorities. As such the book, essentially a case study with an emphasis on the Mon ethnic group, is of strong practical value for aid workers, diplomats, journalists, and other observers wanting to understand the background and dynamics of this and other similar conflicts. For indeed the nature of war has changed, as Lang points out. During World War I, uniformed combatants accounted for some 90 percent of fatalities. Today's prevalence of low-intensity guerrilla conflicts has led to that ratio being reversed. The Maoist dictum of the people being the seas now means the sea is targeted for draining. Lang by no means excuses the ethnic minority armies who have also been guilty of obfuscation and egregious human rights violations. Nonetheless, it remains true that the overwhelming measure of responsibility lies with the Myanmar Army, whose tactics force significant populations to seek an uncertain sanctuary in foreign lands. Since 1968, the Myanmar borderlands have been color-coded by Myanmar's Army as part of its counter-insurgency "Four Cuts" program (food, funding, intelligence and recruits). White is for controlled areas, brown for contested, and black for insurgent-controlled. The last is essentially a free-fire zone, but woe be it to villagers who live in either brown or black. The book is particularly strong on the sanctuary issue and is based not only on a vast amount of research, but also, at a more personal level, by access to Thai military or government personnel and others in a position to know. Lang outlines the roles of many of the players in this unfortunate drama: refugees, activists, Thai government and military authorities, and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, whose role, somewhat controversial, has increased in the last several years. Thailand does not recognize the international conventions governing refugees, and prefers to use terminology like "illegal immigrants" and "displaced persons fleeing fighting" to describe refugees. Bad experiences with the Cold War-driven Cambodian refugee situation of the 1970s and 1980s has meant Thailand is, at best, a reluctant host. And where some minority armies, like those of the Karen, who still fight, and those of the Mon (now in a tenuous military ceasefire with the authorities in Yangon) were once seen as useful buffers against either communism or Myanmar, many Thai policy makers now view them as impediments. One determining factor is access to natural resources (oil, gas and teak) of which Myanmar has many and Thailand has few. Another is Thai officials' resistance to their country remaining a permanent haven. Bearing the brunt of this are the refugees, who live in camps along the border, or even more uncertainly and less legally in Thailand's cities. There have been cases of refoulement (forced repatriation) and, worse, of cross-border armed attacks on unprotected camps in Thailand, bringing into question the very notion of sanctuary. And Lang's description of the life in Bangkok's notorious Immigration Detention Center makes for very unpleasant reading. Still, she notes that in many cases where Thai officialdom has refused to ratify international conventions in principle, it has often sought, more importantly, to observe them in practice. Also, refugee policy as a whole is evolving as circumstances change. There are different power centers in Bangkok and along the border, and "local arrangements" have often been possible. Sometimes the proverbial blind eye has been of more use to a refugee than a U.N. document naming them "a person of concern." In her conclusion, Lang, citing Myanmar democratic opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, mentions the Myanmar word for refugee, dukka-the, which translates as "the one who has to bear suffering." Her book achieves what it sets out to do, explaining the whys and the hows of that suffering, despite the difficulty of the task and its inherent sorrow. Richard Humphries teaches at Kanda University of International Studies in Chiba. -------------------------------------------------------------------- |