|
------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS
- December 10, 2002.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------
AFP - Myanmar's feared Wa
fighters resent "narco-army" reputation
AP - Myanmar burns massive
quantity of opium poppy seeds
FCO - FCO MINISTER MIKE O'BRIEN
SPEAKS TO BURMESE OPPOSITION LEADER
The Nation - The UWSA aims at
state within a state
BBC - Aung San Suu Kyi urges
patience
Asian Tribune - A Man killed at
Minbya Immigration Office in Arakan
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Wa leader vows
to achieve drug-free goal by 2005
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar's feared Wa fighters resent
"narco-army" reputation
PANGSANG, Myanmar, Dec 10 (AFP) - Myanmar's ethnic Wa, former head hunters reviled by foreign governments as a ruthless narco-army flooding the world with heroin, insist they have abandoned drugs and bitterly resent their reputation. "Give us a chance to prove ourselves," pleaded Pauk Yu Yi, one of four brothers who control the region of half a million people and its United Wa State Army, a 20,000-strong band of feared fighters known as the Red Wa. In a rare visit to the heartland of Wa power, the group's leaders proudly showed reporters around Pangsang, a thriving border town across from China's Yunnan province which was notorious as a centre for opium poppy cultivation. The deadly crop which once bloomed red across the hillsides is now largely gone, they say, under a drive to eradicate narcotics from the region by 2005. Pangsang, home to 60,000 people, has been transformed from a ramshackle settlement wedged in nearly accessible mountain ranges into a thriving town that at night resembles a miniature Las Vegas. Wide metalled streets, grand hotels, casinos, massage parlours and an imposing four-storey administrative building are lit up by a 24-hour electricity supply that even the capital Yangon cannot boast. But international anti-narcotics experts say this prosperity was founded on the profits from vast amounts of opium which made Myanmar the world's biggest producer before it was overtaken by Afghanistan. Another Wa showpiece is the town of Mong Yawn, a bustling settlement near the Thai border surrounded by orange groves, rubber plantations and paddy fields. On fertile territory gifted to the Wa as a reward for helping rout notorious druglord Khun Sa in 1996, the town was created overnight when some 60,000 former poppy farmers were resettled here, far from the northern Wa region. Despite the Wa's denials, Thai and US authorities have labelled Mong Yawn a "drug city" that churns out hundreds of millions of speed pills annually, causing a massive addiction crisis in Thailand. "We now have food in abundance but no market to sell," Pauk Yu Yi lamented, adding that they had hoped to send their produce to Thailand but that mistrust over the drugs issue had barred commercial links. "What are we going to do with all this if we cannot sell them... we might as well go back to growing poppy," he said half-jokingly. In 1989 the Red Wa signed a ceasefire deal with Myanmar's military government, which gave the rebels wide-ranging autonomy in return for ending decades of rebellion. In recent years, the junta has been working hard to convince the world that they and their Wa allies are serious about stamping out narcotics. Even the US State Department -- the staunchest critic of the junta's autocratic rule and appalling human rights record -- has admitted they have made great strides in eradicating opium cultivation. Now the US is poised to decide whether to remove Myanmar from the list of the world's major drug producers, prompting an all-out public relations blitz from the regime to ensure the decision goes its way. On a recent visit to Pangsang and other towns in the infamous "Golden Triangle" region, four cabinet ministers accompanied reporters and several Yangon-based ambassadors on a whirlwind tour of the Wa and Kokang regions. "This place could once be described as a veritible sea of opium poppy, but now it can with real confidence be declared practically opium free thanks to the concerted efforts of both the government and the ethnic Kokang and Wa leaders," said Foreign Minister Win Aung. Drugs money is a notoriously destabilising factor, so the ban on poppy cultivation served a dual purpose -- deflecting international criticism and helping secure peace in the once war-torn region. "Knowing well that insurgency and poppy cultivation came hand in hand in this region, our military leaders decided to get rid of the latter by making peace with the former,'" said Labour Minister Tin Win, who carried the first peace overture to the Kokang group in north-eastern Myanmar. "After all, all we managed to do over decades of fighting against each other was getting ourselves killed by the thousands on both sides and getting nowhere," he said. Win Aung, who as a young man was a front-line military officer at the height of the troubles, said dozens of different armed groups fought themselves and the government for control of the lucrative drug business. "Every day the sound of artillery and gun-fire was heard in the Golden Triangle region," he said. Kokang leader Phone Kyar Shin, a 70-year-old veteran of the conflict, also insists that the ethnic armies' drug-producing days are behind them. "I have assured the government of Myanmar that we do not have any more poppy plantations here," he told the diplomats. "We all understand that opium and its derivative heroin pose a huge problem not only for the Union of Myanmar but also for the rest of the world. I appeal to your excellencies to help develop our region so we can remain drug-free." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Myanmar burns massive quantity
of opium poppy seeds
Tue Dec 10, 1:57 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military authorities have burned more than 8,500 kilograms (18,700 pounds) of opium poppy seeds, stimulant pills and other drugs in their latest show of determination to stamp out the drug trade, a newspaper reported Tuesday. The event was part of a new drug eradication program named "Project Hell Flower," in which the government persuades opium poppy farmers to swap their seeds for cereals such as rice, wheat and corn, as well as vegetables. It was not immediately known how much food products the farmers received when they turned in their poppy seeds in the latest exchange. The drug-burning Sunday in Myanmar's southern Shan State was the seventh organized in the area since June by the Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control. The U.N. Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention says Myanmar is likely the second biggest opium producer in the world after Afghanistan (news - web sites), with production in 2002 estimated to be 828 metric tons (912 U.S. tons), compared to 1,097 metric tons (1,209 U.S. tons) last year. Much of Myanmar's opium is processed into heroin, which is exported to neighboring countries and onward to the West. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Foreign and Commonwealth
Office
FCO MINISTER MIKE O'BRIEN SPEAKS TO BURMESE OPPOSITION LEADER (09/12/02) Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien spoke to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 9 December about the current situation in Burma. Following the call Mike O'Brien said: 'I spoke today with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the Burmese democracy movement and Nobel Prize winner, as part of our ongoing dialogue. I told her that while we welcomed the recent release of 115 political prisoners, wider political progress, in addition to prisoner releases, must take place to sustain confidence in Burmese authorities' stated desire to pursue a transition to civilian rule. 'I said we stand ready to support any genuine transition to national reconciliation and civilian rule. But Senior General Than Shwe must understand that relations with the UK can and will get worse unless the authorities irreversibly commit to reform. 'I also raised with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi the increased concern that has been expressed by the British Parliament about Burma. My discussions with the Burma All Party Group and the debate in the House of Lords on 3 December have shown all party support for continued action to help bring about respect for human rights, national reconciliation and democracy in Burma.' Daw Aung San Suu Kyi told Mike O'Brien about her recent visit to Shan State. She was encouraged that understanding between the National League for Democracy and the ethnic Burmese minority groups was growing. But the economic situation in Shan State was poor. The people, especially the young, were frustrated. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi thanked Mike O'Brien for the strong support of the UK, including Parliamentarians, for the democratic movement in Burma. She said that the military authorities didn't yet understand that democracy would benefit all sectors of Burmese society and that they underestimated the underlying goodwill of the international community towards Burma. Mike O'Brien and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi agreed to keep in regular contact. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Nation
The UWSA aims at state within a state Don Pathan Published on Dec 11, 2002 PANGHSANG, Burma - Ever since the United Wa State Army (UWSA) came into being, the tendency was to brush off the group off as a Burmese proxy sent to take out the then anti-Rangoon opium warlord Khun Sa and his Mong Tai Army operating along the Thai border. After the fall of Khun Sa in early 1996, it was widely assumed that the UWSA had become the biggest card for Rangoon in their dealings with Thailand. However, it would be a mistake to overlook the influence of the Chinese over the UWSA's expansion to the Thai border, says Pornpimon Trichot, a leading academic on Burmese affairs at Chulalongkorn University's Institute of Asian Studies. Pornpimon pointed to the historical link between Communist China and the Wa militia, once the strongest component within the now defunct Communist Party of Burma (CPB). Moreover, a number of the Chinese Red Guards who fought alongside their CPB comrades are still operating in the Burmese frontier area in their autonomous zone commanding their own army. The UWSA's expansion towards the Thai border, argues Pornpimon, complemented China's move to strengthen its sphere of influence into the heart of Southeast Asia. In fact, roads linking the Yunnan capital of Kunming to the Burmese and Lao borders are currently being upgraded, while huge boulders in the Mekong River are being blown up to make way for Chinese ships coming from the north. Behind these massive infrastructure initiatives is much talk of trade and commerce. Yet analysts and diplomats say these moves have serious strategic implications. The Chinese couldn't wait for the Burmese to clear up their political deadlock, Pornpimon said. And so they turned to the Wa to facilitate their move towards mainland Southeast Asia. Moreover, the Wa have taken on a wide range of investments on the Chinese side of various border towns, including hotels, shopping malls and other real estate. And with the Chinese backing the UWSA, where do the Thais and the Burmese fit in? For the time being, it appears that Rangoon is taking a wait-and-see approach. There has been no confrontation between the Burmese generals and the Wa over their expansion to the Thai border except the 1996 ultimatum from Rangoon that called for the UWSA to return to Panghsang - an order that the Wa ignored. "The Wa will continue to be a thorn in the Burmese side and Burma is going to have to weigh its options to see how they should play the Wa card," Pornpimon said. The Thai government and the Army, on the other hand, have toyed with a wide range of ideas - from engaging the UWSA economically, to flaunting crop substitution projects, to beefing up the border with more troops. There has also been talk of piercing the Wa inner circle to exploit the differences among various leaders. However, none of these measures seem to amount to anything. Thai security agencies, narcotics units and policymakers differ on to how the country should deal with Burma and the UWSA. The attitude of the current Thai administration, meanwhile, appears to be an admission of defeat. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has decided to test the waters by granting a Bt20 million crop substitution project in a Wa-controlled area. This is a far cry from his initial position almost two years ago when he vowed, immediately after taking over power, to take the matter to both the Chinese and Burmese governments. Little did Thaksin know that he was in over his head. Analysts say that Beijing has more or less taken a hands-off approach to Burma border policy, permitting the Yunnanese provincial government to deal with the Wa at its own discretion. Pornpimon argues that Thailand's drug policy has no chance of success unless all four parties - Thailand, China, Burma and the Wa - come together and reach some kind of understanding on how their respective regions as a whole will be developed. Though the idea may sound logical - and obviously the best way out for all if the military option is to be avoided - it is much easier said than done. For the time being, it appears that no one is willing to make concessions. The Thai-Burmese border is as tense as ever and will continue to be so long as the UWSA continue with their southward expansion. For the past three years, the UWSA has been forcibly relocating tens of thousands of people from the north of Burma to areas along the Thai northern border. Wa-built towns are popping up like wild mushrooms to accommodate the new arrivals who Thai security agencies see as a threat to national security. Some of the areas along the Thai border were given to the UWSA by the Burmese government, while others were taken from Khun Sa following the January 1996 surrender, said Bao Yu-xiang, the leader of the UWSA, in a recent interview in his Panghsang headquarters near the Chinese border. Bao maintained that the expansion to the south was neither strategic nor economic, but part of his plan to eradicate opium cultivation in the Wa-controlled area. The 10,000 UWSA soldiers on the Thai border, said Bao, are strictly there to assist the 60,000-plus villagers with community and agricultural development. Thai military and narcotics officials on the frontline disagree, saying opium is still being grown in areas in the Mong Yawn area, a UWSA stronghold just a few kilometres from Thailand's Mae Ai district. Moreover, say drug officials, millions of methamphetamine pills - cheaply produced in clandestine labs - are coming out of the Wa-controlled areas on a weekly basis. Bao maintains his army is not involved in any illicit drug business and the only money they make from opium is in the form of tax, which he claimed amount to only 4 per cent of the UWSA's total income. He also vowed to keep his promise of turning the Wa State, properly called the Special Region No 2, into a drug-free zone by the year 2005, or, in his own words, "you can come back and chop my head off." ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BBC - Tuesday, 10 December, 2002,
12:33 GMT
Aung San Suu Kyi urges patience Burma's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has said she is confident political change is on its way. But in an exclusive interview with the BBC, she warned that the process could be slow and urged people to be patient. Aung San Suu Kyi told the BBC World Service and News Online programme Talking Point that discussions between her party and the ruling military junta had made some progress since her release from house arrest in May, but there was "some way to go". She also stressed that it was still too early to encourage foreign tourists to visit Burma. The Nobel Peace Prize winner took calls from around the world and replied to hundreds of questions sent in to BBC News Online. She played down her own role in the fight for democracy in Burma, and the price she had paid. "I made a choice, I didn't make any sacrifices," she said. Asked about the prospects of political reform, she said she was hopeful of progress by this time next year. She noted that the struggle in South Africa "went on for decades" and therefore "you can't say it is taking too long" in Burma. "We are confident change will come - not as quickly as most of us would wish, but it will come," she said. Trust for UN envoy Talks between Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and the ruling junta have been mediated by UN envoy Razali Ismail. Aung San Suu Kyi denied one caller's suggestion that Mr Razali, a Malaysian, was a puppet of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Mr Razali was a "good friend of Burma", she said. His slow progress - he has made several trips to Burma without achieving significant success - was "in the nature of the process", she added. Relationship with generals Aung San Suu Kyi also said she felt "no personal animosity" towards the ruling generals, who deny her National League for Democracy the landslide victory it achieved in 1990 national elections. "I get along with them well enough. After all it was my father who founded the Burmese army and I do have a sense of warmth towards the Burmese army," she said. She said that her father, the country's independence hero General Aung San, was her greatest inspiration. She said that she hoped to complete his work for the country. Tourism Aung San Suu Kyi urged foreign travellers keen to visit Burma to be patient. "We have not yet come to the point where we encourage people to come to Burma as tourists," she said. The democracy leader refused to speculate about when that might be but said that she did not think it was impossible that political change could take place "within months". Aung San Suu Kyi said she had realised that one thing she could ask all her people to do in the meantime was to refuse to support injustice "simply because they are afraid". "It could achieve a lot if everyone in Burma could stop saying something is good if it is not good, or say something is just if it is not just," she said. The programme, which is part of a series of special programmes to mark the 70th anniversary of BBC World Service, will go out in full on Sunday 15 December at 1400 GMT on World Service Radio. A full video version and transcript will appear on BBC News Online from midnight on Thursday at 0000 GMT. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-10 A Man killed at Minbya Immigration Office in Arakan Minbya, Arakan State, Dec. 10: An immigration officer has beaten and killed a man during investigation with an accusation of made contact with his son by telephone in Saudi Arabia on 11th November 2002, said a source in the Minbya Township Administration. Tayum Ghulal, 65, son of Mohamed Nazu Meah, hailing from Hada Para village of Minbya township, Arakan State ( Rakhing State) three days before his death went to Akyab ( Sittwe) to attend his personal matter. After his return from Sittwe, the Immigration officer summoned him to the immigration office on 11th November for inquiry. There he was asked whether he made contact with his son by telephone who is now living in Saudi Arabia. Tayum Ghulal denied of any such telephonic contact with his son. But the immigration officer disbelieving him, ordered to pay Kyats 10,000/- as a bribe for his release. But, he did not comply his order, the source further said. He was subsequently, according to information now trickling from reliable sources, beaten severely in the office and was unconscious for many hours. In the end he died in the Immigration office later. ------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's Wa leader vows to achieve drug-free
goal by 2005 BANGKOK, Dec. 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Bao Xu-xiang, leader of the United Wa State Army (UWSA), an armed Myanmar ethnic minority group, said the area he controls will become drug-free by 2005. Bao made the remarks during a recent interview with the Nation newspaper in his headquarters in Panghsang, Myanmar, the Thai newspaper reported Tuesday. The 20,000-strong UWSA reached a ceasefire deal with the Myanmar government 13 years ago and was later granted the autonomy status. It now controls an area near the Myanmar-Thai border and has been accused by Thailand of being a major drug production and trafficking source in the Golden Triangle area. The UN Drug Control Program (UNDCP) has launched a number of projects to rid the UWSA-controled area of poppy growing, but Bao said much more international support is needed to ensure his area to become opium-free. He also dismissed allegations that the UWSA settlements along the Thai-Myanmar border are a threat to Thailand's security. Recently, the Thai military said they have evidence that the UWSA is producing huge amount of drugs in its camps near the Thai border and is expanding the production to other countries in the region. |