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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- January 02, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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AP - Britain 'concerned' about
harassment reported in Myanmar
AFP - South Eastern ties not a shift
in Bangladesh foreign policy: FM
AFP - Britain voices concern over Suu
Kyi harassment
Reuters - 51 percent wanted Aung
San Suu Kyi named honorary Britons
Bkk Post - Thammarak calls for
patience with Burma
FCO - O'BRIEN CALLS ON BURMESE REGIME
TO END HARASSMENT OF DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION
Asia Times - Holiday homecoming for U
Thant's daughter
Asian Tribune - Aung San Suu Kyi
takes heart from big crowds
DVB - Rangoon said collecting
information on state employees linked to NLD
SHAN - EDITORIAL: - BURMA ? The
Struggle for Democracy and Self-Determination in Year 2002
SHAN - War on the border - Shan
rebels say they will not start the fight
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Britain 'concerned' about
harassment reported in Myanmar
Wed Jan 1, 1:48 PM ET LONDON (AP) - Britain voiced "deep concern" Wednesday over reports that Myanmar's military rulers are harassing supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien called on the ruling junta ? the State Peace and Development Council ? to enter into serious dialogue with the Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962 and recent reconciliation talks between the junta and Suu Kyi appear to be stalemated. But the regime has freed a number of political prisoners in recent months and says Suu Kyi, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, is free to pursue her political activities. "I am deeply concerned at reports of harassment and intimidation of ordinary people before and during Aung San Suu Kyi's recent trips within Burma, and at reports of restrictions imposed on Aung San Suu Kyi as she travels," O'Brien said Wednesday. He said he was "also appalled" by reports that a minister in the ruling junta dissuaded people from meeting the Suu Kyi, and that a government-sponsored organization distributed leaflets making personal attacks on Suu Kyi and her family. O'Brien said he has spoken with the opposition leader several times in recent weeks "and we agreed that Burma cannot make progress until we see a real will for political reform" from the ruling State Peace and Development Council. "I call on Senior Gen. Than Shwe to enter into a serious dialogue with the NLD and other opposition parties in Burma," O'Brien said. "Part of that process of development must be to allow opposition groups and the people of Burma the right to express their political views freely and to make substantial steps towards restoring democracy." On Dec. 25, a spokesman for Suu Kyi said that during Suu Kyi's trip to Rakhine State in northwestern Myanmar, authorities in some areas placed trucks, boulders and barbed wire across streets to stop her vehicle, and others warned people not to attend her rallies. --------------------------------------------------------------------
South Eastern ties not a shift
in Bangladesh foreign policy: FM
DHAKA, Jan 2 (AFP) - Bangladesh's recent foreign policy initiatives with southeast Asian countries, dubbed "Looking East," is not a shift in policy but an expansion of its diplomatic horizons, the foreign minister said Thursday. Bangladesh in recent weeks has been pursuing ties with Southeast Asian nations mainly to boost its export markets. "No, it is not a policy shift, but rather having a policy in that sphere," Foreign Minister Morshed Khan told reporters. "There is no shift in our focus in the already existing areas, but now we are encompassing larger areas as well as further expanding diplomatic horizons for the benefit of the people. Khan reiterated that Bangladesh was well located to be a bridge between the South Asia Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), of which it is a member, and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). "We are now following an aggressive foreign policy and want to put our best both in SAARC and the ASEAN region," Khan said. "We must take advantage of this" geopolitical location, the minister said. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, while SAARC combines of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Pakistan. In the past few weeks Myanmar junta leader Senior General Than Shwe and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra have visited Dhaka, while Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia has been to Bangkok and China. Khan said the "Looking East" policy would not be at the cost of existing ties with neighbours or other countries. "We fully realise the potential of our friendly ties with the United States and other western countries... relations with the United States remain a major focus," he said. "Bangladesh is keen to develop relations with India in the New Year on the basis of mutual trust, due recognition of the legitimate concerns of Bangladesh and common challenges that the two countries must face together, especially for poverty eradication and promoting the prospect for regional stability," Khan said. Ties with New Delhi were strained at the end of 2002 over number of issues, mainly when Indian leaders accused Dhaka of harbouring Islamic extremists. Dhaka has consistently denied the charges as "baseless and motivated." --------------------------------------------------------------------
Britain voices concern over
Suu Kyi harassment
LONDON, Jan 1 (AFP) - Britain voiced deep concern Wednesday over reports that Myanmar's ruling junta is harassing supporters of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Foreign Office minister Mike O'Brien called on the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), which holds power in Yangon, to enter into talks with the Nobel Prize winner's National League for Democracy (NLD). "I am deeply concerned at reports of harassment and intimidation of ordinary people before and during Aung San Suu Kyi's recent trips within Burma (Myanmar), and at reports of restrictions imposed on Aung San Suu Kyi as she travels," O'Brien said. "I am also appalled by reports that a minister in the ruling SPDC dissuaded people from meeting Aung San Suu Kyi, and that the government-sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) distributed leaflets making personal attacks on Aung San Suu Kyi and her family," he said. The most serious incident occurred during Suu Kyi's trip to the town of Myauk-Oo in the western state of Rakhine, where the leader clamoured atop a fire engine to prevent it from dispersing a crowd of 20,000 people with high-pressure hoses. "I have spoken to Aung San Suu Kyi on a number of occasions in the last few weeks and we agreed that Burma cannot make progress until we see a real will for political reform from the SPDC," O'Brien said. "I call on Senior General Than Shwe to enter into a serious dialogue with the NLD and other opposition parties in Burma. "Part of that process of development must be to allow opposition groups and the people of Burma the right to express their political views freely and to make substantial steps towards restoring democracy." The military has ruled Myanmar for the past four decades, and refused to recognise a landslide election victory claimed by the NLD in 1990. --------------------------------------------------------------------
'Deport Blair's Wife', Britons
Urge
2 hours, 34 minutes ago LONDON (Reuters) - The wife of Prime Minister Tony Blair is the person Britons most want kicked out of the country after her links to a convicted conman were exposed in the recent "Cheriegate" affair, according to a poll. In a tongue-in-cheek BBC survey drawing 15,000 votes, Cherie Blair topped the hall of shame with 31 percent after damaging revelations last month about her property dealings with a convicted fraudster dominated headlines and embarrassed the government. Cherie Blair, a high profile barrister, saw her public support tumble in December as the media focused relentlessly on details of how Peter Foster helped her buy two flats in Bristol, southwest England. The BBC radio current affairs program Today, which carried out the poll, said in a statement: "It has not been a good year-end for the prime minister's wife." In a parallel vote on who they wanted to see named honorary Britons, 51 percent went for Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released from 19 months of house arrest in May. Former U.S. President Bill Clinton came second with 18 percent. Iraqi President Saddam Hussein -- whom Britain is considering going to war against -- came fifth on the list of favorites for British citizenship with 7 percent of the vote. "He will cause far less problems where we can keep an eye on him," one voter for Saddam explained. On the deportation vote, Cherie Blair narrowly beat the London-based radical Muslim cleric Sheikh Abu Hamza al-Masri -- accused by the U.S. government of being linked to Osama bin Laden's al Qaeda network. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post -
Thursday 02 January 2003
Thammarak calls for patience with Burma Wassana Nanuam Defence Minister Gen Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya has called for patience with Burma amid its attempts to stamp out drug production along the common border, saying it may take a couple of years for Rangoon to fulfill its promises. Gen Thammarak said the threat posed by drug traffickers who smuggle their illicit wares across the border should significantly decrease in 2005, after the completion of negotiations between the Burmese junta and the country's ethnic groups, including the Wa. Rangoon was sincere in its efforts to suppress the production of drugs, but was currently unable to realise this goal, as it had yet to wrest complete control of border areas, he said. ``It is not easy to wipe out drugs,'' he said. ``We cannot cast a spell to make it disappear, but we can reduce the number of shipments that make it across the border.'' Gen Thammarak said government and military commitment toward drug suppression would ensure an improvement in the situation, adding closer co-operation would also be sought with Laos and China. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Foreign and Commonwealth
Office
Thu Jan 2 06:07:00 UTC+0900 2003 O'BRIEN CALLS ON BURMESE REGIME TO END HARASSMENT OF DEMOCRATIC OPPOSITION (01/01/03) Following reports of the harassment of opposition groups in Burma, Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien said: 'I am deeply concerned at reports of harassment and intimidation of ordinary people before and during Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's recent trips within Burma, and at reports of restrictions imposed on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi as she travels. I am also appalled by reports that a Minister in the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) dissuaded people from meeting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, and that the government sponsored Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA) distributed leaflets making personal attacks on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her family. 'I have spoken to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on a number of occasions in the last few weeks and we agreed that Burma cannot make progress until we see a real will for political reform from the SPDC. I call on Senior General Than Shwe to enter into a serious dialogue with the NLD and other opposition parties in Burma. Part of that process of development must be to allow opposition groups and the people of Burma --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Times - Dec 25,
2002
Holiday homecoming for U Thant's daughter By James Borton WESTPORT, Connecticut - Aye Aye Thant's Cape Cod residence in affluent Westport is indistinguishable from her neighbors', but its suburban facade masks an interior inextricably bound to her Irrawaddy Delta memories. Any guest entering her house is immediately transported to Thant's Burmese roots - from her family room enriched by beautiful embroidered indigenous tapestries and exquisite sculptured Buddhas, and then on to a private study lined with books, complete with numerous silver-framed photographs of her distinguished father, U Thant, the third secretary general of the United Nations (1961-71), alongside US presidents Lyndon Johnson and John F Kennedy and many other notable world leaders. This soft-spoken devoted wife and mother still wears her traditional longyi, an ankle-length wrapped skirt. She has raised four children - three daughters, Khinlei Myint-U, 34, A-Thi Myint-U, 32, and Aye Myint Myint-U, 28, and a son, Thant Myint-U, 36. All grew up in the United States. On December 25, she was to return to Myanmar on a pilgrimage to her father's grave, along with her husband, Tyn Myint-U, a mathematics professor at Fairfield University in Connecticut. "My husband and I depart from New York on Christmas Day, and although I have lived in America since 1957 when my father was first appointed as an ambassador at the UN, my heart still belongs to Burma," said Aye Aye. Aye Aye Thant's last trip to Yangon was on December 5, 1974, for her father's burial. During that memorial service, thousands of students and Buddhist monks seized the body of her father as a government-organized funeral procession was about to proceed and abruptly transported it to Yangon University to be buried in a university compound. The incident resulted in a three-day standoff between students and the government. "Yes, there were some serious problems regarding his final resting place. The students wanted to give him a state funeral and the government decided that they could never allow that ... so for three days, the family, which included my husband and my father's brothers, negotiated a settlement between the government and the students about the burial. In the end, the government granted a site for the mausoleum, and I am returning to visit the burial site again," said Thant. She added that she has heard that only recently has the government taken steps to spruce up her father's resting place. Although students at the university had demanded that U Thant receive a formal state burial, the government of president Ne Win chose not to comply and closed all the universities. Throughout that languid and still December evening, the body of U Thant continued to lie in state under the watchful eyes of students and monks until the vigil was violently interrupted by soldiers, which resulted in the death of an unknown number of students and imprisonment of many activists. "Many Burmese still refer to it as 'U Thant's uprising'," said Aye Aye, and implied that it was as if the entire Yangon populace felt the need to wake up from its political lassitude to demonstrate some courage and offer authentic signs of respect for the country's acclaimed international statesman. The university students had rallied and demanded a shrine for U Thant. Ne Win, who himself died a few weeks ago in Yangon, and U Thant had never been on friendly terms. U Thant was a steadfast political ally of former premier U Nu, whom General Ne Win ousted from power in 1963 in a coup. As her soft-spoken diplomatic father was in his day, Aye Aye is keenly aware that Burma, or Myanmar as the ruling junta calls the country today, is at a crossroads: the junta (the State Peace and Development Council) maintains its desire to preserve military control while granting selective freedoms to the opposition party, headed by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD). Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD party in 1990 won Myanmar's first and only general election since the military seized power, but the military still refuses to recognize the election result. Since gaining independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar has remained one of the most isolated countries in the world: plagued by poverty, with half of its 53 million population underfed, forced-labor issues, victimization of ethnic women, narcotics trafficking, and a widening AIDS epidemic. Over the past year, a staggering government deficit, shortfalls in energy supplies and continuing foreign-exchange shortages have plunged economic activity to an all-time low and contributed to a rapid depreciation of Myanmar's official currency, the kyat. "I am not a political scientist in a formal sense but have always remained interested in political activities because I grew up in such an environment with my father and his diplomatic friends, so I guess it is fair to say that I am mindful of activism," smiled Aye Aye. Aye Aye Thant believes that the West's isolation of her country only contributes to greater resentment and misunderstanding. As a result, she thinks the average American knows little about the generous and peaceful Burmese spirit. Although the present government appears to be trying to project a new image of change, particularly in light of the recent death of Ne Win, Aye Aye believes that vigilance and skepticism are still necessary. Nevertheless, she ruminates about what action or course her father would take if he was still living. "I know he would push for engagement, since he was always involved in global humanitarian issues, he would insist that the US State Department sanctions be lifted," said Aye Aye. Critics of the junta, including Jeremy Woodrum of the Washington, DC-based Free Burma Coalition, react differently on the subject of engagement. "The government continues to mount its international charm offensive, but there have been no substantive political dialogues with the NLD as promised upon the release of Aung San Suu Kyi earlier this year," said Woodrum in a telephone conversation. Meanwhile, the US State Department appears to be taking more of the junta's internal policing of the drug war at face value. In a speech a few weeks ago, assistant secretary of state James Kelly said that "Burmese cooperation with the international community on narcotics issues has continued to improve in real terms". And last week the junta-sponsored Myanmar Times reported that the US charge d'affaires, Carmen Martinez, offered congratulations to the country for its efforts to cut drug production and reiterated Washington's support for a home-grown political settlement in Myanmar. It's noteworthy that Myanmar's voice of hope, Aung San Suu Kyi, returned in 1988 to her childhood home on Inya Lake and began working toward the country's renewed struggle for democracy against the dictatorship. Notably, Aung San Suu Kyi spent a year in New York in 1969, certainly learning about American culture, but also receiving some guidance and support at the UN from Aye Aye's father. While in New York, Suu Kyi was often invited to receptions and dinners at U Thant's home overlooking the Hudson River. As a recent graduate from Oxford steeped in economics and political theory, Suu Kyi shared her views with a new mentor, U Thant. "I would like to see Aung San Suu Kyi while I am back in Rangoon, but of course, we must be cautious about any political conversations, since I am a guest, and I will approach her as a friend," said Aye Aye. "And perhaps she might tell me what I should be doing," she quickly added. Aye Aye said her last communication with Suu Kyi was in 1988 in a telephone call from Bangkok. At that time, the Burmese housewife established Emergency Relief Burma in New York, an organization that supplied much-needed medicine, blankets and clothing. "After September 1988, when the military took over one more time, and she was placed under house arrest, we simply lost contact with one another," said Aye Aye. Despite the daily hardships and political struggles suffered by her country, Aye Aye reminisces about some of the sweeter moments in her childhood. Memory and her strong ancestral identity sweep her heart along the Irrawaddy to scenes of the once large extended family in their Pantanaw home. "I always said this to my children, that they did not have the kind of experience I had when growing up in Burma, which was the closeness of having grandparents and aunts and uncles around every day. Even though we were affluent by Burmese standards, we had to share rooms. I would wake up in the middle of night and I can still see my grandmother smoking her cheroot and having a conversation with my aunts and uncles in the middle of the night. It always gave me so much security from that family closeness," said Aye Aye softly. "When I came here to the US for the first time, I opened my eyes and wished that I had that same feeling. In the USA, my children speak about privacy and space, just the opposite of my views. My earlier years gave me so much warmth and affection, and that is what I think about now as I prepare to return home," she said. Her father began down the road to global diplomacy as a schoolteacher. He spent years teaching English and modern history at the National High School in Yangon. Aye Aye proudly acknowledges that another Thant generation is already back at the UN. Her son, Thant Myint-U, earned his PhD in political science from Cambridge and is working for Kofi Annan, the seventh secretary general of the United Nations, helping to shape UN global policies. Like her father, Aye Aye Thant is deeply philosophical. She also has no illusions that it will not be a slow and long winding road to Myanmar's democracy. But over these holidays, she is reminded of what her father once said: "Governments, systems, ideologies come and go, but it is humanity which remains." --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-01-02
Aung San Suu Kyi takes heart from big crowds January 01, 2003:Burma's Opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, remains cautiously optimistic that political change will come to Burma, following the massive support shown to her, by people across the country this year. The Nobel peace laureate attributed her optimism to the thousands of people who flocked to see her during the several political trips she has made, aimed at resuscitating her National League for Democracy party. She said her trips had gone well, although local authorities were occasionally obstructive in spite of the military junta's May promise to allow her complete freedom of movement. Aung San Suu Kyi described the ongoing reconciliation talks, which have focused on confidence building, as being 'in limbo'. - ABC Radio Australia News - --------------------------------------------------------------------
Rangoon said collecting
information on state employees linked to NLD
DVB (2002 Dec 31) DVB has learned that the SPDC (State Peace and Development Council) has directed regional military intelligence personnel to compile the details of relatives, who are government employees, of active NLD (National League for Democracy) members. The directive emerged at a time when the NLD headquarters is planning to accept new members. According to news report received by DVB, local authorities have systematically compiled the details and personal history of U Win Maung, who is the brother of U Saw Ngwe Saw, the NLD joint secretary of Kya-in Seikkyi Township in Karen State. U Win Maung is currently an assistant director of Rangoon Electricity Distribution Department. Similarly, it has been learned that responsible local authorities have been compiling the names and personal histories of relatives, who are government employees, of members of various NLD Organizing Committees, NLD Humanitarian Assistance Committee, NLD Youth Wing, and NLD Women's group. In some townships, houses of NLD members were searched at odd hours of the night for unregistered guests. In certain wards, only the houses of some NLD members were handpicked and searched. DVB has learned that in allowing the reopening of NLD township branch offices in the states and divisions, very active NLD township offices were still not permitted to reopen. Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 31 Dec 02 --------------------------------------------------------------------
Shan-EU
2 January 2003 EDITORIAL: - BURMA ? The Struggle for Democracy and Self-Determination in Year 2002 The year 2002 was dominated by the US obsession to change the regime in Baghdad and to contain North Korea?s nuclear ambition, which it sees are rouge states. The Chechen rebels hostage-taking in Moscow and the Bali bombing also made considerable impact and headlines, where ?war on terrorism? gets murkier than ever. Thus, speculation of where the US government war on terrorism will bring us in the year 2003 is anybody?s guess. For now, President Bush seems to be putting a hold on unilateralism and heeding UN?s lead, although quite reluctantly. Hopefully, moderation and logical consideration will prevail and peace will be given a chance. On the home front in Burma arena, since 1962, 40 years of military dictatorship rule continues to drag on bearing different labels and signboards ? Revolutionary Council (RC), Burma Socialist Programme Party (BSPP), State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) and State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) -, with the same conviction and vigour to monopolize and hold on to state power indefinitely, without a slightest change, all in the name of ?national unity? and self-appointed national saviour figure that knows best of what is good and what is bad for the whole population. The only problem is that the military doesn?t seem to know that the people of Burma, even though relatively cowed by its iron-fisted rule and heavy-handedness, have quite a different opinion on its self-appointed role model. As far as the people are concerned, the military have ruined and devastated the country?s socio-economic structure by implementing its unrealistic socialist economy under its Burmese way to Socialism program and racial supremacy doctrine of forced assimilation or Burmanization, which have bled the country to the stage of having to be named one of the least developed countries in the world. It should understand that the Burmese junta's nation-building formula based on "racial supremacy" or rather, "Burmanization" at the expense of all other non-Burman ethnic nationalities is never going to work. It has not worked for the past decades and it is not going to work now either. The ongoing-armed conflicts, which have originated and started with the independence from British rule in 1948, would support the argument that the military have it all wrong in its nation-building formula. The 1961 federal reform movement, spearheaded and proposed by the Shan State Government and supported by all other nationalities, is in effect the last legal effort and political solution, to ward off the growing ethnic conflicts between the Burmans and non-Burmans by introducing amendments to the Union Constitution, which was federal only in form but unitary in practice. Burma is a multi-ethnic state and as such, only shared responsibility and peaceful co-existence together would do the job. And as so far as the non-Burmans and Burmese democratic oppositions are concerned, only an all-inclusive power sharing within the mould of genuine federalism will pave the way for political settlement and reconciliation. It would do the SPDC good to review its theoretical underpinning of "national unity" concept. The successive Burmese military regimes, including the SPDC, have embraced the "racial supremacy" notion in forging unity among all the diverse ethnic groups. Its institutionalised and forced assimilation schemes to whip all the non-Burman ethnic groups in line have only been counter-productive, as could be seen by decades of armed conflicts and devastation of the country. Apart from that, the refusal to honour the 1990 nation-wide election's result and the suppression of political parties only worsen the already explosive situation. All these have been grave failures, which need to be reviewed. Consequently, these failures could actually be corrected, if there is a will to break away from the SPDC's traditional thinking of being the sole national saviour who possesses the correct vision of "national unity" for the country. The indication now is that the SPDC, military regime, is only interested in cosmetic changes just enough to lessen international pressure and lift economic sanctions. Thus it is aiming to counter certain issues, which it thinks the international community are most sensitive to. The drugs burning or anti-drugs circus, knee-jerked reaction and outright denial of using rape as a war weapon on Shan and non-Burman ethnic peoples, releasing and allowing Aung San Suu Kyi to travel and conduct campaigns ? even though with harassment and obstructions evident by her Shan state and now Arakan state visits -, continuing its all out war on non-Burman ethnic resistance forces are all part and parcel of how SPDC is trying to defend its turf and political power. It is never genuinely interested to pave way for democratisation and reconciliation. The recent Aung San Suu Kyi?s political campaigns in Shan and Arakan States were marred with harassment and blockade by the military and it claims, on the eve of Aung San Suu Kyi?s release, of turning a new page of history and allowing political participation of the whole population becomes quite meaningless. The military self-proclaimed ?transitional authority? role also becomes irrelevant and unbelievable with it refusal to start any meaningful dialogue with the democratic oppositions and non-Burman ethnic nationalities. On top of this, the visits of General Than Shwe to neighbouring countries around for better relationship and cooperation are indications that the General is determined to stay on, rather than being a transitional figure. Regardless of such mishaps and inconveniences, Aung San Suu Kyi seems to be optimistic with her journey to Shan, Mon and Arakan States. "We have been particularly encouraged by the reception we received in Shan, Mon and Arakan states, by the people of the region," she said. "It is most encouraging that there is a tremendous sense of national solidarity, that there is no distinction being made at the ground level between the Burmese and the other ethnic nationalities," she added, using the country's former name Burma. "Our various ethnic nationalities are all aware of the need for change in this country and the majority of them are prepared to join hands together to achieve this change." The awareness of the need to change and the existing solidarity between the oppressed Burmese and non-Burman ethnic nationalities are encouraging, as Aung San Suu Kyi has correctly said. It is true that the people of Burma are united in their goal setting of wanting to restore democracy, enjoy self-determination, universal human rights and equality. The wish of the people could not be ignored by the military forever. The liberation, or better still the second independence, will come sooner than later, with the growing awareness of the people. Only the people in the military have to decide now, before it is too late, whether they want to be on the side of the people or opt to defend the survival of small group of self-serving military clique and go down in the history as villains or destructive elements. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Shan Herald Agency for
News
No: 01 - 01/2003 - 2 January 2003 War on the border - Shan rebels say they will not start the fight According to a statement issued by the Shan armed resistance yesterday (1 January 2003), following the conclusion of its 5-day annual meeting, 26-29 December, it had resolved that the Shan State Army would not fight any battles along the Thai-Burma border unless the Burma Army launched the attack first. "Since we have opted for political means in order to resolve existing disputes with Rangoon," said Nang Khurhsen Heng-awn, Spokeswoman for the Restoration Council of Shan State, the SSA's political wing, "the ball is in its court now." Rangoon, on the other hand, had rejected to confer a ceasefire status to the SSA "South" of Col Yawdserk just as it had to other armed groups such as the United Wa State Army and the SSA "South". It has steadfastly called for total submission, a demand that has invariably been countered by outright dismissal from the SSA "South". Thailand, on the other hand, had requested Burma not to launch military operations along the border between January and March, as the royal family, would be touring the north during these months, according to Bangkok Post. The clash that broke out on 25 March last year between the Burma Army's ally, the UWSA, and the Thai Army, had compelled HM Queen Sirikit to cancel her trip to one of the border villages in Chiangmai's Wianghaeng District. It was not reported how Rangoon had responded to the request. "The Burmese are ready to pounce on us anytime now," said an SSA source. "They are only waiting for the green light from Rangoon." Meanwhile, sources from America and Europe have reported that Rangoon is planning to put up the SSA "South"'s leader as Burma's new "drug kingpin," succeeding retired warlords Khun Sa and his predecessor, Law Hsinghan. One of the SSA's guiding principles is Anti-Narcotics. It has also waged a number of anti-drug operations since 1998, many of which have implicated the Burma Army in the drug trade. However, skeptics in Thailand say they still receive intermittent reports on some SSA members "who are still allowed to go scot free despite their involvement." "All the same, compared to the Wa, they are indeed very small, small fish," a Thai security officer conceded. Other resolutions from the annual meeting include: Formation of a drug survey committee Anti-terrorism To form allies with other groups on the existing "8 States" basis: Arakan, Burman, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni, Mon and Shan. -------------------------------------------------------------------- |