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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- December 15-16, 2002.
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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar leader to visit
Bangladesh next week
AP - Suu Kyi travels to western state
for party work
AP - Five drug suspects killed in
clash with Thai soldiers
AP - Annan submits report listing
names of warring parties that recruit
Reuters - Philippines steps up
security over letter bombs
IB - Myanmar PM arrives
Tuesday
Bkk Post - Sports ground to go under
border bridge
Bkk Post - Editorial - Infamous
triangle is still tainted
Bkk Post - Getting along with the
neighbours
Bkk Post - Commentary - Wa money can
only be from drugs
TehranTimes - India, Paradise for Gem
Smugglers Along Myanmar
Asian Tribune - Four Fishermen
Arrested In Akyab For Murder Of Two Women And Throwing Two Men Into The
River
SHAN - Drugs - Yawdserk:
Burma's drug war an ethnic cleansing campaign in disguise ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- AP World
Politics
Myanmar leader to visit Bangladesh next week Sun Dec 15, 9:01 AM ET DHAKA, Bangladesh - Myanmar's prime minister will visit Bangladesh for two days next week to discuss trade, commerce and possible road links between the two neighbors countries, officials said Sunday. Senior Gen. Than Shwe, who is also the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Myanmar's ruling military junta, will arrive with his delegation Tuesday in Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka. Tan Shwe and Bangladesh's Prime Minister Khaleda Zia will hold officials talks the same day, the Foreign Ministry said in a statement. "The talks would cover the entire gamut of Bangladesh-Myanmar bilateral relations and in particular, the areas of trade and economic cooperation, and possible road linkage between the two countries," it said. Bangladesh and Myanmar have long historical ties and conduct both informal and official trade, mostly in raw materials, agriculture products and consumer goods. The general's delegation will include Myanmar's ministers for agriculture, industry, commerce, foreign affairs and health. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Suu Kyi travels to western state for
party work
Mon Dec 16, 4:06 AM
ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi left Monday for the western Rakhine state to build support for her pro-democracy party in the fifth such trip testing the freedom allowed her by the ruling military government. Suu Kyi left Yangon in a three-car motorcade accompanied by National League for Democracy vice president Tin Oo and other youth members. It was not clear how long the trip will last but party officials said she could be away for a week. They said the trip is aimed at reinvigorating the party. This is her fifth trip to other states since being released from house arrest on May 6 as part of a reconciliation process between the government and her party. However, apart from the release of Suu Kyi and some political detainees the junta has made no other concessions or given any indication that is willing to give up its grip on power. The current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement and refused to step down when Suu Kyi's party won the 1990 general elections. Suu Kyi visited the eastern Shan state last month for 15 days in the longest and most extensive party organizational trip. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Five drug suspects killed in
clash with Thai soldiers
Mon Dec 16, 2:44 AM ET BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Thai soldiers shot dead five suspected drug traffickers Monday during a clash near the border with Myanmar, army officials said. About a dozen armed men believed to be from Myanmar's Wa ethnic group opened fire on the troops after refusing to submit to a search, sparking a 20-minute gunfight, said Maj. Gen. Nakhorn Sripetphan. No Thai soldiers were injured. The fight took place in the jungle just two kilometers (1.24 miles) from the Thai-Myanmar border in Chiang Mai province, 580 kilometers (360 miles) north of Bangkok. Five of the suspects were killed while the others fled across the border into Myanmar, leaving behind three AK-47 assault rifles, Nakhorn said. It was not immediately known if any drugs were confiscated. Nakhorn said intelligence sources had tipped off the soldiers, saying that a group of ethnic Chinese and Wa drug traffickers would travel through Chiang Mai over the weekend to collect payment for an earlier delivery of methamphetamine, the drug also known as speed. On Friday, one Thai soldier was killed and three others were seriously wounded in a similar gunfight along the border. One of the wounded soldiers died Sunday. Three alleged smugglers were also killed. More than 336,000 methamphetamine tablets were seized by Thai authorities in that clash. Thai officials predict that at least 1 billion of the pills will be trafficked into Thailand next year, mainly from jungle laboratories in neighboring Myanmar. The United Wa State Army, a semiautonomous ethnic armed group along the border in Myanmar, is believed to be the world's largest producer of the drug. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Annan submits report listing
names of warring parties that recruit
Sun Dec 15, 19:44 PM ET UNITED NATIONS (AP) _ U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan submitted a report to the Security Council that identifies parties in conflicts that recruit children to fight, in an attempt to send a message that the international community is watching. The report, being released in full on Monday, lists 23 parties, including governments and insurgents in Afghanistan, Burundi, Congo, Liberia and Somalia, that recruit and use child soldiers in violation of internationally accepted standards. ``For the first time in an official report to the Security Council, those who violate standards for the protection of war-affected children have been specifically named and listed,'' said Olara Otunnu, Annan's special representative for children and armed conflict. Annan's third report to the council on children and armed conflict said the list was ``an important step forward in our efforts to induce compliance ... with international child protection obligation,'' according to Otunnu's statement. It clearly demonstrates that those who violate standards aimed at protecting children ``cannot do so with impunity,'' the statement said. The report noted that ``impressive gains'' have been made in codifying international norms and standards to protect children during conflict, including three Security Council resolutions and two landmark international treaties that entered into force this year setting age limits. But more needs to be done to raise awareness about those standards and to strengthen monitoring and reporting mechanisms ``to identify and take measures against the violators,'' the report said. The list was limited to situations currently on the Security Council's agenda, but it highlighted other conflicts _ including Colombia, Myanmar, Nepal, the Philippines, Sudan, northern Uganda and Sri Lanka _ where it said children are recruited and used as combatants. It also named conflicts that recently ended in Angola, Kosovo, the Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone and Guinea-Bissau, where demobilization and reintegration programs for child combatants are under way. ``This is the beginning of a systematic effort in a new era of monitoring and reporting on the conduct of parties and how they treat children during conflict,'' Otunnu said. The Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers last year estimated that more than 300,000 children were fighting as soldiers in 41 countries. The London-based coalition said the children, including about 120,000 in African armies, were used as front-line fighters, minesweepers, spies, porters and sex slaves. International law prohibits recruiting children under the age of 15, while several United Nations conventions condemn the practice of having anyone under 18 serve as a soldier. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Philippines steps up security
over letter bombs
MANILA, Dec 16 (Reuters) - The Philippines said on Monday it had tightened security at Manila airport and other entry points after Japanese intelligence reports showed militants were sending letter bombs to Myanmar's embassies in the region. Myanmar authorities have blamed dissident groups of exiles living outside the military-ruled state for a series of parcel bombs sent to its missions in Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines. The Philippine Bureau of Customs said all officers had been told ``to be on the lookout for any suspicious parcels.'' At Manila airport, all personnel were subject to a strict ``no identification, no entry'' policy in customs areas and private security guards had been vetted, the statement quoted Major Esmeralda Saplala, the complex's security chief, as saying. Philippine security forces are already on high alert against attacks by local leftist and Muslim militant groups, as well as after the bomb blasts that killed at least 185 people on the Indonesian island of Bali in October. In mid-November, police said they defused a letter bomb made of a button-sized battery, electrical wiring and a blasting cap at Myanmar's embassy in Manila. No one was injured and the embassy was not evacuated. Radio reports said there was a card inside the envelope that read ``Saving all my love for you, Happy Birthday.'' The return address was a street in the Thai capital, Bangkok. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Independent-Bangladesh
16-12-2002.
Myanmar PM arrives Tuesday UNB, Dhaka Prime Minister of Myanmar General Than Shwe arrives here Tuesday on a two-day visit at the head of a large delegation for wide-ranging talks with Bangladesh leaders. The Senior General, also Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), is coming on the state visit at the invitation of Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia, an official announcement said yesterday. General Than Shwe will be accompanied by his wife Madame Daw Kyiang Kyiang during the visit aimed at bolstering bilateral cooperation, particularly in the fields of trade and commerce. Besides, his large entourage comprises Secretary-1 of the SPDC and his wife, member of the SPDC Lt Gen Khin Maung Than, Minister for Agriculture and Irrigation, Minister for Industry (1), Minister for Foreign Affairs and his wife, Minister for Commerce, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs, Deputy Minister for Health, Deputy Minister for Irrigation and Population and a number of high civil and military officials from different ministries. "The landmark visit of the Chairman and other senior leaders of the SPDC and the government of Myanmar to Bangladesh will provide impetus to further strengthening relations between Bangladesh and Myanmar," says the announcement. Prime Minister Begum Zia will receive the Senior General and his entourage at the airport. His arrival will be heralded with a 21-gun salute. General Than Shwe would lay wreath at the National Mausoleum at Savar in homage to Bangladesh?s independence martyrs. He would make a courtesy call on President Prof Dr Iajuddin Ahmed at Bangabhaban on 17 December. He would attend a luncheon to be hosted in his honour by the President. Bangladesh-Myanmar official talks would be held on December 17 afternoon at the Prime Minister?s Office, which would be preceded by a tete-a-tete between the two prime ministers. "The talks would cover the entire gamut of Bangladesh-Myanmar bilateral relations and in particular, the areas of trade, economic cooperation and possible road linkage between the two countries," said the official announcement. The Senior General would be the guest of honour in a banquet to be hosted by Prime Minister Begum Zia in the evening. General Than Shwe would leave Dhaka for Yangon in the afternoon of December 18. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Monday
16 December 2002
Sports ground to go under border bridge Rangoon renews KNU-help claims Supamart Kasem - Tak Thai and Burmese authorities have agreed to develop an islet in the Moei river under the Friendship Bridge as a sport and recreation ground for people of both countries. Agreement was reached last Friday in Mae Sot district during the 21st Township Border Committee meeting_ which had been delayed for nearly two years because of sour relations between Thailand and Burma. Delegates agreed to the Thai proposal for the island, which they want to keep free of drugs, contraband and crime. Further details are to be discussed. Thailand also proposed that Burma open a border road from Myawaddy to Moulmein in Mon state for tourism. Burma agreed to look at the idea. Burmese delegates submitted a note accusing Thailand of allowing the Karen National Union to cross the border and plant bombs in Myawaddy. They also alleged the KNU fired 107mm mortar rounds from the Thai side of the border into Burma on three occasions from May 15-19, wounding many people and causing damage to property. Thailand denied the accusation, saying the KNU were never allowed to use Thai soil to commit offences against Burma. Burma asked Thailand to release a Burmese soldier, Aung Ko Oo, 21, arrested in Mae Sot district last month for selling illegal cigarettes. Thailand said he would first be charged and punished according to Thai law. The meeting was co-chaired by Col Jirasak Chomprasop of Thailand and Lt-Col Tin Aye of Burma. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Monday
16 December 2002
Editorial - Infamous triangle is still tainted Promises to clean up the Golden Triangle litter the pages of recent history. The region where the borders of Thailand join Burma and Laos is one of the world's most notorious drug trafficking regions. In recent years, especially since Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra assumed office, serious commitments to clean up the region have increased. So far they have come to nothing. In the past year, the opium crop has increased and methamphetamine smuggling has flourished. Glowing United Nations estimates of diminishing poppy fields and a heroin drought were wildly wrong. The Thai army, closest agency to the scene, estimates the flow of speed tablets in 2003 to increase by some 20%, to a billion tablets _ 2.7 million pills per day. In the past week, the governments of Burma, Laos and Thailand have all promised to attack drug trafficking with more vigour and up-to-date tactics. Promises are no longer acceptable. Concerned citizens will judge the performance. The Burmese performance must remain the top concern. The junta has recently talked a good game. It is committed to cutting opium production in half within a year. It has conducted diplomats and reporters on dog-and-pony tours of northern Burma to show off drug seizures and burnings. Government mouthpieces have produced alleged Wa leaders to deny publicly they would ever produce or smuggle drugs. The generals control information inside Burma but not elsewhere, and the facts are indisputable. A drought in northern Burma ended this year and the opium crop is up. UN figures after the current harvest will be telling. At the same time, Burma refuses to take any action against the known, wanted drug smugglers in its country, including the United Wa State Army leader Wei Hsueh-kang. Wei and his group appear to have full rein to produce and traffic methamphetamines and heroin. This has raised inevitable rumours that the generals acquiesce in drug trafficking _ and perhaps directly profit by it. More and more Burmese are victims of the drug trade. But Thailand is the chief consumer of Burmese drugs, which more often are shipped through Laos. The government came to office promising an effective drug policy and failed. Now, on advice from His Majesty the King, Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh will try again. He promises another top-down drug agency. At first appearance, the promise is once again large; the likely performance gloomy. There is no commitment to identify and neutralise the ``Mr Bigs'' who control drug trafficking in Thailand. On the demand side, Gen Chavalit and high-ranking officials pay lip service to reviving drug efforts down to the district level. Instead of delegating power and resources, the new command centre will work longer hours to tell local people what to do. To avoid angering Burma, the army's drug force has been moved to office jobs. This will help to ensure fewer drugs are seized at our border. The continual increase in methamphetamine trafficking is worrying. The renewal of the heroin trade is at least as serious. The failure of the UN Office for Drug Control and Crime Prevention to predict either trend is disappointing. One must wonder if last year's mistaken UN claim of a 2002 heroin drought actually hurt the drug effort with its optimistic tone. In the past year, poppy growers, Wa heroin producers and Chinese smuggling gangs have gained influence. The region now is predicting a future of tourism, trade and general economic prosperity in the Golden Triangle and the wider Mekong basin region. This cannot happen as long as drugs flourish. The latest government promises to fight drugs will be judged quickly by the country by results. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Monday
16 December 2002
ANALYSIS / INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS Getting along with the neighbours Thailand has its critics but it is a haven of open speech and other basic freedoms compared with its neighbours. Hence the flow of dissidents from these countries to Thai soil, and the problems this causes. SARITDET MARUKATAT Thailand is proof that a strategic location is a double-edged sword for a country if its neighbours are unsettled. Few people can forget the burden placed on the country when, back in the '70s and into the '80s, Thailand suffered the spillover of the Indochina war and its aftermath. The conflict may have ended and the flow of refugees fleeing the regimes that followed might have abated but Thailand remains a victim of political unrest in its neighbours. Along its western frontiers, armed conflicts and political battles being raged by ethnic groups and others seeking autonomy or to unseat the ruling military government of Burma are causing instability. Groups of local and overseas Laotians are unhappy with the one-party system designed by the Lao People's Revolutionary Party. And Prime Minister Hun Sen's Cambodian People's party might have won two consecutive elections to claim legitimacy to run the country, but the opposition still cries foul over harassment. Finally, to the south, many politicians are unhappy with Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad's tactics of limiting the powers of opposition members. Each in their own way, all of these positions cause problems for Thailand as it gets drawn, as often as not unwillingly, into the the quarrels of its neighbours. The latest cases are that of Sok Yoeun, a Cambodian opposition member, and certain Lao dissidents, all of whom are in detention in Thai jails. Their position has caused discomfort for the Thai government in its dealings with Phnom Penh and Vientiane. Sok Yoeun, a member of the Sam Rainsy party, was arrested in December 1999 on charges of entering the country illegally. He claimed he was fleeing his country for his life after being charged by Phnom Penh with the attempted assassination of Hun Sen. The Criminal Court last month ordered his return to Cambodia but his lawyers lodged an appeal that he be sent to a third country, Finland, which is home to his family. The Lao government, meanwhile, is waiting for the Thai courts to rule on the return of 17 dissidents accused of launching an armed attack two years ago on the Vang Tao checkpoint in Champassak, opposite Ubon Ratchathani, so they can stand trial in Vientiane. Laos has used every available opportunity to make its position known to Thailand. In a message sent by Lao ambassador to Thailand, Hiem Phommachanh, marking the 27th anniversary of the Lao People's Revolutionary Party's takeover of power in Vientiane, he praised the growing cooperation between the two countries on trade, border demarcation, drug operations, health, education, human resources and labour, but took the occasion to remind the Thai government of the outstanding matter of the dissidents. ``I have the conviction that, with the special similarity shared by both peoples and the goodwill of the two governments, the relations between the two countries will be strengthened,'' he said. ``However, some hindering issues need to be given more attention. The Lao side is very much looking for an expedition for the extradition of the bandits who raided the Vang Tao-Chong Mek checkpoint over two years ago.'' A Foreign Ministry officer said there was a growing frustration among Thai officialdom with Phnom Penh and Vientiane, as he said `` they did not try or tried to forget that Thailand has to act on the rules of law''. Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of the Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development (Forum-Asia), had warm words for the improvements on political and human rights in Cambodia _ ``The situation in Cambodia is getting better after the last general election'' _ but said Thailand's other neighbours, particularly Burma, were making few gains in these areas. As an open society, Thailand has become the country of choice for dissidents and pro-democracy activists wanting to set up an operations base, as well as a place of refuge. This has upset its neighbours and their governments have asked Bangkok to close down these groups' activities or, failing that, to keep these people in check. Forum-Asia, a regional human rights advocate, and other non-governmental organisations believe that was the condition set by Rangoon before it considered reopening its border with Thailand after a five-month closure that began in May. Such differences are posing problems for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations as well. The grouping is made up of 10 states _ Brunei, Burma, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam _ with widely varying levels of development, political systems and degrees of openness. Unlike the European Union, Asean sees no need to impose the protection of human rights and democratic principles as a precondition to membership. Its goal is integration first and possible change later on. ``Human security in Southeast Asia is victimised,'' Non-Violence International Southeast Asia Office, a non-governmental organisation, complained to the United Nations-appointed Commission on Human Security at its conference in Bangkok on Dec 11. Asean cannot speak with one voice because its members have different standards on human rights and democracy, Mr Somchai said. ``Because of that, Asean cannot expect to see unity in the region.'' ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Monday
16 December 2002
Commentary - Wa money can only be from drugs Veera Prateepchaikul The gold Rolex watch studded with over two dozen half-carat diamonds worn by Bao Youxiang, commander of the United Wa State Army, featured in the latest issue of Time magazine is a telltale sign to the wealth of the warrior born in the impoverished hinterland of Burma. The diamonds alone would easily fetch two million baht on the Thai jewellery market. Bao Youxiang, according to Time, is said to hold a substantial interest in hotel and casino operations in cities in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan. His family also reportedly owns Yangon Airways, one of Burma's two domestic airlines. So how did Bao Youxiang manage to amass the fortune to buy such an expensive wristwatch, own a business empire in southern China, and build a formidable army of about 20,000 men in just a few years? The Wa commander has persistently denied any involvement in the drug trade. Thai narcotics agencies and the US Drug Enforcement Administration say differently. The UWSA's main source of revenue has always been the drug trade, in particular methamphetamines and heroin. It is beyond any doubt that the UWSA is responsible for the methamphetamine problem in Thailand. Hundreds of millions of speed pills, manufactured by mobile and fixed small laboratories in Wa-controlled territories inside Burma, are smuggled across the border into Thailand every year by drug caravans or couriers. Then they are distributed across the nation by thousands of big- and small-time dealers. A senior officer with the Third Army recently estimated that the Wa's drug factories would churn out a billion speed pills next year and the bulk of them were destined for the Thai market. The main security threat to Thailand currently posed by the UWSA appears to be the methamphetamine scourge. But a possibly greater threat, and to Burma as well, is the 20,000-strong Wa army. The likelihood of more clashes between Thai troops and the Wa fighters protecting their drug caravans cannot be ruled out. With the profits from the drug trade estimated at several billion baht a year, the UWSA can afford the basic and even sophisticated weaponry sold on the international black market _ something the Thai army must envy as a result of the budget cuts which have hit its purchasing power. The Time cover showing a young Wa warrior holding a rather new AK47 assault rifle, possibly Chinese-made, tells a worrying story _ that is, the UWSA now can afford to buy new equipment and doesn't have to rely on used weapons from Cambodia. What other, more deadly weapons the UWSA has in its arsenal and, not shown to the public, is anybody's guess? But with the money god _ and the UWSA seems to have plenty _ the chance is that the Wa army already has modern weaponry in its stockpile. The Thaksin government's response to the security and drug problems posed by the Wa has been disappointing and unimaginative. In its meetings with the ruling junta in Rangoon, the government has avoided addressing the methamphetamine problem, apparently for fear of offending the Burmese generals. Instead, they just talk about joint cooperation on substituting opium with other cash crops. Although the opium output from the Golden Triangle is on the rise, the immediate threat to Thailand remains methamphetamines. Just how long the government can continue to appease Rangoon by not addressing the speed pill problem is a huge question. But the twin problem of drugs and the Wa army is a threat of such proportions that this government cannot just sit by twiddling its thumbs. Nor can Rangoon afford to continue to deny that this problem exists without putting its own security at risk. In any case, a solution will need to bring in China, the third player in this circle, to advise and to cooperate. - Veera Prateepchaikul is Editor,Bangkok Post. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tehrantimes -
December 16, 2002
India, Paradise for Gem Smugglers Along Myanmar GUWAHATI -- India's unfenced border with Myanmar has become a paradise for gem smugglers. A 1,623-kilometer long porous frontier, thick with forests and almost unguarded, has turned the area into one of the busiest bazaars for trading in precious and rare stones from rubies to jades and sapphires. "There has been surreptitious movement of stones, most of them uncut, through India's northeastern region to other parts of the country with the source originating in Myanmar," Donald Ingty, commissioner of customs, told IRNA by telephone from Shillong, Capital of Meghalaya state. Customs and revenue intelligence officials have been regularly seizing contraband gems in the region. A fortnight ago, sleuths of India's Revenue Intelligence Department arrested two persons in Guwahati, Assam's principal city, and seized a wide variety of precious stones worth an estimated rs 10 million, IRNA reported. "There is a traditional practice where ethnic residents on either side of the border could enter up to 40 kilometers into each other's countries without any legal hassles," the commissioner said. The general route taken by smugglers is through Moreh, the last border town in the northeastern state of Manipur. "Indian border villagers get precious stones in exchange for medicines, shoes, clothes and automobile parts from their Myanmarese counterparts," a police official in Manipur said. Myanmar is rich in gems, with huge deposits of the world's rarest stones found in the Mogok region in the north of the country. The world's largest ruby weighing 21,450 carats was found in Kin village near Mogok, while the world's biggest star sapphire was also found the same area. The biggest pearl of the world is the Myanmar pearl, weighing 845 carats. Most parts of northern Myanmar is under the control of Kachin rebels opposed to the military junta, with Indian separatists also said to have training camps in the area. "It could well be possible that some underground groups have major stakes in the gems trade that is going on in the area, working hand in glove with smugglers," the police official said. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-16 Four Fishermen Arrested In Akyab For Murder Of Two Women And Throwing Two Men Into The River Sittwe, December 16: Four Rohingya fishermen were arrested in Akyab (Sittwe) for murdering and robbing two Rakhine women and for throwing two other Rakhine men into the river while they were crossing the mouth of the Kaladan river on 11th November 2002, according to our source in the Police Department. On the day of occurrence, two Rakhine women one married and the other unmarried accompanied by two other Rakhine men were going to Pauktaw town, in a motorboat from Sittwe, the capital of the Arakan State, after selling their goods at Sittwe. While they were crossing the mouth of the Kaladan River, the engine of their motorboat was suddenly stopped due to mechanical trouble, he further added. Then the motorboat was blown bare by strong wind and struck by rough waves. At that time, the boatmen asked a group of five Rohingya fishermen, who were passing through them in a fishing boat, for help. Instead of helping them, the fishermen killed the two women, robbed their gold ornaments and money while the two other Rakhine men were thrown into the river. One of the elderly fishermen strongly opposed this heinous action of the fellow fishermen. But he was overpowered and was tied to a pole with a rope and had thus become completely helpless, an elderly villager from Nazirpara told our source. Later, the two Rakhine men were rescued by another boat and were sent to Akyab hospital, he further added. The news spread ?like wild fire? and caused large-scale dissatisfaction among the people of all communities. The people, particularly the Rohingyas, worried that the incident might lead to intolerance between two sisters communities of Rakhines and Rohingyas, a Rohingya community leader from Akyab said. The aforesaid elderly Rohingya fisherman, on arrival at Akyab, revealed the real happening to the concerned authorities lamenting that the action was inhuman and demanded stern action against the culprits, he further said. In early February 2001, a riot broke out in Akyab following a problem with a Rohingya woman vendor created by an intelligence person in disguise of a Buddhist monk. Some Rohingyas were killed, their houses were burnt dawn into ashes and a number of them arrested by the police and military intelligence personnel, said an ex- teacher to our correspondent. Sources said, the city has been put on high alert and security forces have been asked to be on watch round the clock to avoid communal riot of any kind. All strata of Rohingya people strongly condemned this heinous action. Now the situation in Akyab is normal. - Editor - Kaladan Press - ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Shan Herald Agency for
News
No: 12 - 07 - 15 December 2002 Drugs - Yawdserk: Burma's drug war an ethnic cleansing campaign in disguise Drug enforcement assistance for Rangoon merely serves as an accessory in its 'ethinc cleansing' plans, said Shan armed resistance leader Yawdserk in his statement issued today in response to the drug free Burma by the year 2015 project restated by the Burmese delegation at the bilateral meeting on drugs in Chiangmai, 13-14 December. "(It) means they are going to suppress the indigenous people on the pretext of drug eradication, as they have done several times before," said Col Yawdserk, who is also Chairman of the Restoration Council of Shan State, the Shan State Army "South"'s political wing. He cited the attack on Sankarng (Sanklang in Thai), opposite Maehongson Province, in 1983 as an example, where drugs and their refining paraphernalia were sent in by the Burma Army ahead of a team of foreign drug officials, who took photos and videotapes of the supposed seizure by the army afterwards. International assistance to Rangoon would not reach the grass root level or alleviate the miseries of the people, he warned, but only turn into arms and ammunitions against the people of Shan State and drugs would continue to flourish. "If Thais believe their counterparts are sincere and dance to the Burmese tune to suppress the opposition armed groups along the border, it can only create more problems and unrest," he said. Instead, he offered a three-point alternative: *Cessation of hostilities; *Investigation of the true situation and hardships borne by indigenous people; and *Cooperation with the people of Shan State. He also called for Shans, both at home and abroad, to present "the true situation" to the international community. With the opening of the dry season, the SSA, along with two other major armed groups; Karen National Union and Karenni National Progress Party, along the Thai-Burma border are being targeted for annihilation, according to border sources. Reliable reports also locate 4 reinforced Burma Army units: Infantry Battalions 66, 99 and 296 and Light Infantry Battalion 422 together with 240-strong Frontier Defense Force of Mahaja under Military Operations Command (MOC) #3 of Col Aung Kyaw Oo around the SSA's stronghold, Loi Tai Leng, opposite Maehongson Province. The number of the United Wa State Army, however, is still unknown, although an unconfirmed report says 2 fresh battalions from its 171st Brigade, commanded by Wei Hsuehying, had arrived recently from Mongton. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- |