[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Dec 17, 2002.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - December  17, 2002.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - Myanmar junta leader arrives in Bangladesh on maiden visit
AFP - Thai army kills five suspected traffickers on Myanmar border
Reuters - Myanmar PM in Bangladesh for trade, refugee talks
AP - Thai high court rules Myanmar gas pipeline legal
IPS - U.N. 'Names and Shames' Recruiters of Child Soldiers
Asian Tribune - Myanmar gets low-calibre Indian artillery
Asian Tribune - Myanmar to follow Doi Tung Royal Project
Bkk Post - OutLook - Fostering ties with fellow Buddhists
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Tuesday December 17, 3:01 PM
Myanmar junta leader arrives in Bangladesh on maiden visit

DHAKA, Dec 17 (AFP) -Myanmar's leader Senior General Than Shwe arrived on
his maiden visit to neighbouring Bangladesh as Dhaka pursues ties with South
East Asian nations to boost its export market.

A 21 gun-salute heralded the arrival of Than Shwe, Myanmar's military
commander-in-chief, prime minister and defence minister, at Dhaka's
colourfully decorated Zia International Airport where he was greeted by
Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and cabinet members Tuesday.

He reviewed an armed forces honour guard before driving to the nearby
National Martyrs' Memorial, dedicated to those who died in Bangladesh's 1971
war of independence.

Myanmar, formerly Burma, was among the first countries to recognise
Bangladesh after it won independence from Pakistan in 1971.

Than Shwe, whose planned trip last year was cancelled due to illness, is the
first Myanmar junta leader to visit Bangladesh. In 1986 the then president
Yu San Wu came to Dhaka.

He is accompanied by a 38-member delegation on his two-day visit, including
his wife Daw Kyaing Kyaing and two daughters.

The delegation also includes Foreign Minister Win Aung, Commerce Minister
Brigadier General Pyi Sone and Industry Minister Aung Thaung.

Than Shwe is due to hold talks with Zia later Tuesday to discuss bilateral
ties "particularly in the areas of trade, economic cooperation and road
linkage between the two countries," a foreign ministry official said.

He will also meet President Iajuddin Ahmed.

The foreign ministry said the junta leader's trip was a "landmark" to
provide impetus to strengthen relations between the two countries.

The visit comes as Bangladesh is pursuing ties with South East Asian
countries to boost its export market, and analysts here said the trip would
be a "step forward" in achieving its goal.

"Bangladesh's geopolitical location allows it to serve as a bridge between
South Asia and Southeast Asia," Foreign Minister Morshed Khan said.

Bangladesh is seeking to enter the Asian Regional Forum, the first step in
becoming a dialogue partner of the Association of South East Asian Nations
(ASEAN), as part of its efforts to develop ties with its eastern neighbours
who have made great economic strides.

A road linking Dhaka with Yangon is also among Bangladesh's top priorities.

Foreign affairs analysts said a road link between the two capitals would
open wider links to ASEAN member countries.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Current trade between Bangladesh and Mynamar is very small.

Relations between the neighbours were strained in the early 1990s when
around 250,000 Rohingya Muslims flooded into Bangladesh from Myanmar,
claiming atrocities by the junta.

Ties have improved since then, with the repatriation of most of the refugees
under a United Nations agreement, but more than 20,000 still live in camps
in Bangladesh.
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Thai army kills five suspected traffickers on Myanmar border

BANGKOK, Dec 17 (AFP) - Five suspected drug traffickers have been killed in
a fierce gunbattle with Thai soldiers near the Myanmar border that also
netted a haul of weapons and cash, the army said Tuesday.

A group of about 15 armed men engaged in a 10-minute firefight with Thai
troops Sunday in Chiang Mai province, about six kilometres (four miles) from
the frontier, the army said in a statement.

Three AK-47 assault rifles, two hand grenades and 370,000 baht (8,500
dollars) in cash was left at the scene when the rest of the gunmen fled, it
said, adding that they were believed to be from the Myanmar-allied ethnic Wa
militia.

Third Army Commander Major General Udomchai Ongkasing said the group was
ferrying money earned in the drugs trade.

"They were armed drug traffickers who were carrying money back to their base
because they don't want to deposit it in Thai banks any more," he said,
adding that the government had been confiscating suspect cash.

Since October there have been four clashes between Thai troops and drugs
traffickers which have left 10 gunmen dead and 15 arrested.

The Thais accuse the United Wa State Army, a group which has signed a
ceasefire deal with Myanmar's military government, of controlling the trade
in opium and methamphetamines.
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Myanmar PM in Bangladesh for trade, refugee talks
Tue Dec 17, 2:06 AM ET

DHAKA, Dec. 17 (Reuters)- Myanmar Prime Minister Than Shwe became the first
leader of his country to visit neighbouring Bangladesh on Tuesday when he
arrived for talks likely to cover trade and Muslim refugees.

Bangladeshi Prime Minister Begum Khaleda Zia greeted Than Shwe at Dhaka
airport when he flew in for a two-day visit.

As well as trade and economic cooperation, the leaders are likely to discuss
the repatriation of thousands of Myanmar Muslim refugees in Bangladesh,
officials said without giving details.

Several hundred thousand Muslims from the west of mostly Buddhist Myanmar
fled to predominantly Muslim Bangladesh in 1992, alleging persecution by the
Myanmar military.

Most have gone home but about 21,000 are still in Bangladeshi camps.
Bangladesh says their delay in going back is because of ''foot-dragging'' by
Myanmar authorities.

Bangladesh officially imports goods from Myanmar worth nearly $20 million a
year and exports items worth $5 million but much more unofficial trade goes
on between the two countries, business officials said.
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Thai high court rules Myanmar gas pipeline legal
Tue Dec 17, 3:24 AM ET

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Dismissing objections from social and environmental
activists, Thailand's Constitutional Court ruled Tuesday that construction
of a gas pipeline from Myanmar to Thailand was legal.

Prominent social critic Sulak Sivaraksa had petitioned the court to rule the
pipeline illegal, arguing that it violated the Thai constitution by damaging
the environment and private property.

The 238-kilometer (148-mile) pipeline was built between 1996 and 1998. It
carries natural gas from Myanmar across the border to an electrical power
plant in Thailand's Ratchaburi province, 95 kilometers (60 miles) west of
Bangkok. The plant has been operating since Oct. 2000.

The court ruled by a vote of 12 to 1 that the state-controlled Petroleum
Authority of Thailand, or PTT, did not violate the law by building the
pipeline. Two judges who had originally voted not to accept Sulak's petition
did not vote.

"The majority of judges ruled that PTT has the legal right to lay the
pipeline through the jungles and cut down trees if necessary. It is not
against the constitution. But if the agency caused damage to public or
private property, PTT will have to pay compensation," Judge Jul Adirek said
at a news conference.

Thai environmentalists say the pipeline's construction damaged rain forests
and displaced wildlife.

Social and political activists charge that the project profits fund
Myanmar's military regime, which has a poor human rights record and refuses
to hand over power to a democratically elected government.

They also charge that Myanmar's military junta used forced labor to build
pipeline infrastructure on its side of the border.

A U.S. federal appeals court in September reinstated a lawsuit on behalf of
Myanmar farmers, alleging that Unocal Corp. - part of the consortium that
built the pipeline - was legally responsible for the alleged human rights
violations.

The allegations against the El Segundo, California-based Unocal include
complicity in slavery, murder and rape, which the farmers say were carried
out by the Southeast Asian nation's military. The military provided the
company with security and other help in the pipeline venture with the
Myanmar government.

Unocal has repeatedly denied the accusation.
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POLITICS: U.N. 'Names and Shames' Recruiters of Child Soldiers
1 hour, 24 minutes ago
Thalif Deen,Inter Press Service

UNITED NATIONS, Dec 16 (IPS) - The United Nations is for the first time
''naming and shaming'' governments and armed groups that continue to deploy
child soldiers in violation of international agreements.

In a 14-page report to the U.N. Security Council, Secretary-General Kofi
Annan has identified 23 insurgent groups and five member states -
Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia and
Somalia - that still recruit or use children as soldiers.

''This report breaks new ground,'' U.N. Under-Secretary-General Olara Otunnu
told reporters Monday.

Otunnu, U.N. special representative for children and armed conflict, said
that ''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''.

The 23 armed groups listed include Liberians United for Reconciliation and
Democracy (LURD), the Juba Valley Alliance and Rahanwein Resistance Army in
Somalia, Mai-Mai and the Union des Patriotes Congolais in the Democratic
Republic of Congo, the Front pour la defense de la democratie of Burundi and
several factions associated with the former Northern Alliance in
Afghanistan.

Last year, the Security Council asked Annan to submit a report on child
soldiers - specifically naming governments and insurgent groups - involved
in conflicts currently on its agenda.

In requesting the list, Otunnu said, the Council sent a message that those
who violate children's rights during conflicts cannot continue to do so with
impunity and that they will be held accountable for their actions.

''It is a bold step forward in global efforts to render unacceptable the
exploitation and victimization of children during times of conflict,'' he
added.

The study also lists several countries whose conflicts are not on the
Security Council agenda but where armed groups continue to use child
soldiers. These include some of the world's worst offenders - Colombia and
Myanmar - along with Nepal, the Philippines, Sudan, Uganda and Sri Lanka.

The study also singles out Angola, Kosovo, Republic of Congo, Sierra Leone
and Guinea-Bissau as nations where demobilization of child soldiers is under
way.
The London-based 'Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers' reacted
positively to the report.

''We see this report as a solid foundation for acting to end this shameful
practice. Now that the names of some governments and armed groups abusing
children are public, the challenge to the Security Council is to demand
accountability and take action to stop children being used as soldiers,''
Coalition Coordinator Casey Kelso told IPS.

The coalition, which includes Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International,
Defense for Children International, the Quaker United Nations Office and the
International Save the Children Alliance, has also urged the 15-member
Council to make field visits ''to the gravest situations threatening
children''.

In a 195-page study released last month, the Coalition listed 72 parties to
armed conflicts that continue to use children in war and more than 25 others
that have recruited children in the past.

The study described Myanmar (formerly Burma) as the world's largest single
user of child soldiers, estimated at more than 70,000. ''Children as young
as 11 are forcibly recruited into Myanmar's national army,'' said Kelso.

Ranking behind Myanmar is Colombia, which is estimated to have 6,000 to
14,000 child soldiers. Boys and girls as young as eight years old there are
recruited into armed groups, para-militaries and militias.

In Sri Lanka, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which has been
battling a separatist war in the north-east of that country, ''has a long
record of using child soldiers as well as a record of breaking commitments
to end their recruitment and use'', the coalition said.

Kelso said he hopes that when the Security Council discusses the report in
January next year it will also focus on child soldiers in conflicts that are
not on its agenda.
Jo Becker of Human Rights Watch said her organization has documented
large-scale forced recruitment of children by Burma's national army, and
believes the country may have the largest number of child soldiers in the
world.

In northern Uganda, she pointed out, the abduction of children for use as
soldiers by the Lord's Resistance Army has increased dramatically in recent
months. At least 10,000 children have been abducted over the last 15 years.

''We urge the Security Council to actively monitor the countries named on
the Secretary-General's list, and to demand progress or suffer possible
sanctions,'' Becker added.

''The Security Council should also expand its scrutiny to include all
countries where children are being recruited or used in violation of
international law.''

The 1990 U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) set the legal
minimum age for recruitment at 15. But an 'Optional Protocol' to the CRC,
which came into force in February this year, outlaws the involvement of
children under 18 in any hostilities and sets strict standards for the
recruitment of those under 18.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-17
Myanmar gets low-calibre Indian artillery

New Delhi: In line with its new policy of doing business with the military
junta in Myanmar, India has begun shipping low-calibre artillery pieces,
ammunition and pyrotechnic signalling devices to Yangon.

The first consignment of these artillery pieces, drawn from ordnance stores
at Jabalpur and Panagarh, was shipped last month. The Army's Eastern Command
will also be sending the second consignment, comprising ammunition for the
artillery, mortar pieces and signal hardware.

Once the shipment is completed, an Army delegation will travel to Myanmar to
familiarise their counterparts with the equipment.

The cargo for Yangon includes:

* 40,000 rounds of high-explosive (HE) ammunition for the 75/24 mm howitzer

* 5000 rounds of smoke ammunition for the 120-mm mortar and 20,000 rounds of
HE mortar ammunition

* 25,000 rounds for the 40 mm L-70 AD gun

* Pyrotechnic signalling devices, 25,000 rounds each of red, green and white

* 5000 rounds for the Carl Gustav rocket launchers

The military export follows the visit to India in February this year by Maj
Gen Thura Shwe Mann of the SPDC - the junta functions as the State Peace and
Development Council - which evinced interest in Indian ordnance equipment.

Sources at Army headquarters said the Myanmarese fancied the 105-mm
artillery gun but the request was turned down. Artillery pieces of lower
calibre were instead shipped across with the promise to "familiarise and
train" them.

In February 2001, India signalled the start of a new phase in relations with
its eastern neighbour when the then External Affairs Minister, Jaswant
Singh, flew to Myanmar to open the strategic Kalay-Kalewa-Kyigon-Tamu road
constructed by the Indian Border Roads Organisation. This stretch will form
part of the designated Asian Highway from Singapore to Istanbul.

New Delhi considers Yangon as the gateway to the ASEAN though it is aware of
the growing Chinese influence in Myanmar. India is also discussing measures
to check North-East insurgents operating out of bases in Myanmar.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2002-12-17
Myanmar to follow Doi Tung Royal Project

Bangkok, Dec 16 (TNA): Myanmar will use a royal project on the development
of Doi Tung as an example for addressing its narcotic problem, according to
a T.V. news report.

Kitti Limchaikij, Secretary-General of the Office of the Narcotic Control
Board (ONCB), told reporters on Monday that Rangoon had been interested in
the Doi Tung Royal Project in the northen province of Chiang Mai, which has
successfully substituted opium plantations to those of economic crops, and
would follow the royal project to address the drugs problem in its country,
said the news report of Modernine T.V. (T.V. Channel 9).

Kitti led a Myanmar delegation, led by Myanmar police chief to visit the Doi
Tung Royal Project.

The Myanmar police chief also heads the Myanmar central committee on
narcotic control, according to the T.V. news report.

"Myanmar will follow the Doi Tung Royal Project to turn its Yong Kha area,
about two kilometres from the Thai border, to become plantations of economic
crops to address the drugs problem in the country", Kitti was quoted by the
Modernine T.V. as saying.

Ban Yong Kha has about 20,000 population, most of whom are red wa. Kitti
said that Myanmar and Thailand had also agreed to coordinate and cooperate
more closely in tackling the drugs problem.
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Bangkok Post - Tuesday 17 December 2002
OutLook - Fostering ties with fellow Buddhists
Thai dignitaries participate in `kathin' ceremony in Rangoon
Story by HEAMAKARN SRICHARATCHANYA

The solemn chanting of Namo Tassa evoked the feeling that one was attending
a religious ceremony at a temple somewhere in Thailand. But the person
intoning the prayer was clad in a white shirt over a sarong; it wasn't a
Thai-style sarong and he obviously wasn't a Thai monk.

The man was taking the lead in one of the more important religious events of
the year in Burma _ a ceremony to offer royal kathin robes bestowed by His
Majesty the King. It took place last month at the Mahavisuddhayon Shwekyin
(Great and Pure Dhamma) Monastery in Bahan township, Rangoon. Established in
1958 with donations from the Sein family, the monastery is currently home to
300 monks and 50 novices.

The ceremony has been held every year since 1995 to strengthen the bond
between neighbours which share the same belief in Theravada Buddhism. Our
government is of the view that the promotion of religious and cultural ties
between Burma and Thailand will further strengthen the bilateral
relationship, particularly on a people-to-people basis.

The Burmese authorities recommend to which temple the royal kathin robes
should go. ``From the monasteries in Yangon [Rangoon] and Mandalay
divisions, we picked this one since its abbot is one of only six monks still
alive who know the sacred Tipitakadhara off by heart,'' said Sann Lwin, 58,
director-general of Burma's Department of Religious Promotion and
Propagation.

The examination for the Tipitakadhara is the highest and most difficult of
those held by Burma's Ministry of Religious Affairs.

``Last year, we selected the monastery whose abbot was the first to pass the
qualifying exam. Now it's the turn of this monastery; its abbot, Sayadaw
Sirindabhivamsa, is the second living monk to pass.''

Other factors in making the decision, according to Sann Lwin, were that the
monks here are renowned for their strict observance of the Vinaya, the
Buddhist canon, and that their temple is recognised as a Pali monastic
university.

Participating in the approximately three-hour ceremony were key figures from
both countries. The permanent secretary of Thailand's Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, Tej Bunnag, presented the robes to Burma's minister of religious
affairs who in turn offered them to the monks. Other guests included Thai
ambassadors and their families, members of the Thailand-Myanmar Cultural and
Economic Cooperation Association and officials from Burma's Ministry of
Religious Affairs.

Also in attendance were Burma's Supreme Patriarch and his deputy, temple
abbot Sayadaw Sirindabhivamsa, senior monks and novices. All in all some 150
individuals took part.

Apart from the robes themselves, other objects presented to the monastery
included a shoulder bag, ceremonial fan and alms bowl embroidered with HM
the King's insignia plus daily necessities including medicine, an electric
saw, food containers and glassware.

The principal Buddha image at Maha-visuddhayon Shwekyin Monastery is made
from pearly white alabaster and dressed in golden robes. Alabaster is widely
used in Burma for carving Buddha statues.

In addition to the robes and other accessories, Tej Bunnag also presented to
the monastery 10,000 baht in cash from His Majesty and US$4,651 (199,993
baht) from the Thai government.

The ceremony ended with guests giving alms to all the monks and novices
present. The last monk in line was not the youngest novice, but the abbot
himself. Barefooted, he opened his alms bowl to receive an offering,
allowing the donor to make merit that hopefully will tighten the bonds
between our two countries.
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