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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 12,
2003.
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HEADLINES
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Reuters - UN envoy
urges engagement ahead of Myanmar visit
AFP - Security
boosted around Thai PM after bounty placed on life
BBC - Burma's
opposition calls for talks
The Nation -
Dealers flee en masse to Burma
The Nation -
CAMBODIAN TIES: Fishing ban discounted
IB - Preparations
afoot for holding trade fair in
Myanmar from
March 20
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UN envoy
urges engagement ahead of Myanmar visit
Reporting by Aung Hla Tun in
Yangon
YANGON, March 12 (Reuters) A U.N. envoy due to visit military-ruled
Myanmar next week has urged the world to engage the Southeast Asian nation's
regime, rather than isolate it.
In a report to be presented
to the United Nations Human Rights Commission in Geneva during a session
starting on March 17, the envoy urged the world to recognise that movement
toward democracy was necessarily slow in Myanmar.
''The policy
option now should be engagement, not isolation,'' U.N. special human rights
rapporteur Paulo Sergio Pinheiro said in the report, a copy of which was
obtained by Reuters in Yangon.
The United States and European
countries maintain trade and other sanctions on Myanmar, accusing its ruling
junta of widespread human rights abuses, and demanding it hand over power to the
pro-democracy opposition of Aung San Suu Kyi, which won 1990 elections in a
landslide but was denied power.
Pinheiro is due to visit Myanmar
on March 19-26, a U.N. official in Yangon told Reuters.
''The
special rapporteur is expected to meet with representatives from the government,
major opposition parties, diplomats and prominent political prisoners,'' she
said.
It will be the fifth visit to Myanmar by Pinheiro since the
Brazilian scholar was appointed special rapporteur in 2001.
''Every political transition in the world is a process, sometimes
a torturous and slow one, and it would be unrealistic and naive to expect an
instant regime change in Myanmar,'' Pinheiro said.
The
international community has been critical of the apparent lack of progress in
stalled talks between the ruling State Peace and Development Council and Suu
Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy party, accusing the junta of foot
dragging.
The junta released Suu Kyi from 19 months of house
arrest in May last year and has released more than 600 political prisoners from
jails since confidence-building dialogue began with the opposition in late 2001.
However, repeated calls from Suu Kyi for substantive dialogue on
political change have gone unheeded, drawing criticism from many Western
nations.
About 1,500 political prisoners remain behind bars in
Myanmar, according to rights group Amnesty International.
''Instead of continuing to complain that little has changed...the
international community must have its eyes wide open to see the nuclei of
change,'' Pinheiro said.
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Security boosted around Thai PM after bounty placed on
life
BANGKOK, March 12 (AFP) - Security for Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra has been boosted after a price tag was placed on his head amid his
controversial drugs crackdown, government officials and police said Wednesday.
"There is a group outside the country willing to pay money (for
his death) and even though they are not a strong group they are frightening,"
Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh told reporters asking about reports
of a group offering a reward for his death.
"They are targetting
the prime minister but other senior government members have to be careful,"
Chavalit added.
An official from the Office of Narcotics Control
Bureau (ONCB) told AFP that the prime minister was informed by the National
Security Council that a price tag had been placed on his life.
Drug lords from Myanmar's ethnic Wa group, who are blamed for
producing most of the methamphetamines that flood Thailand, could be
responsible, the official said.
"We believe the Wa are behind the
reward because they are the group which has been affected most from our war on
drugs campaign," he said without providing further details.
Thai-language newspapers Wednesday reported that Wa drug bosses
were willing to pay 80 million baht (1.8 million dollars) for Thaksin's death.
The premier has been travelling in a bullet-proof van rather than
his usual car this week and authorities are now scouring Government House for
bombs twice a week, a police security officer at the house told AFP.
The boosted security follows the weekend shooting death of an aide
to Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha, who has responsibility for
overseeing Thailand's three-month self-declared drugs war.
The
interior minister brushed off fears for his safety.
"I am not
concerned. We are working for the people, so we should not be easily concerned,"
Wan Muhamad Nor Matha said.
According to police figures, nearly
1,500 people have been killed since the government's crackdown began on February
1. The vast majority are alleged by the government to be traffickers killing
other dealers in order to protect themselves.
Thailand's blitz is
specifically targetted at metamphetamine, which five percent of the country's 63
million people are estimated to abuse.
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BBC - Burma's opposition calls for
talks
Wednesday, 12 March, 2003, 11:53 GMT
By
Larry Jagan
BBC Burma analyst
Burma's
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has renewed her appeal for the country's
military rulers to start meaningful political talks.
In an interview with
the BBC, she said the generals must know that she and her party, the National
League for Democracy, were prepared to co-operate with the army to improve the
situation of ordinary people.
Aung San Suu Kyi said she remained
upbeat about the country's political future, though she feared that its military
leaders were just not ready to talk.
She said she thought that the
top generals in the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) were
simply pretending not to understand what she and her party have been saying.
Aung San Suu Kyi was released from house arrest last year
"We have tried to make it very clear to the SPDC that we do not
want to be the enemy, we do not want to look upon them as the enemy.
We are in opposition to each other at the moment, but we should
work together for the sake of the country and we certainly bear no grudges
against them and we are not out for vengeance. We want to reach the kind of
settlement which will be beneficial for everybody, including the members of the
military," she said.
She went on to say that the generals must
understand that a dialogue is not a competition, but the only way to improve the
situation for everybody.
The National League for Democracy, she
said, remained ready to co-operate with the army in any way that would benefit
the people, but it was the military that had repeatedly rebuffed their offer.
Sanctions
On the issue of whether
the international community should strengthen economic sanctions in an effort to
put pressure on the military regime to start talks, Aung San Suu Kyi said it was
up to the countries concerned to decide for themselves whether this was
appropriate.
But she insisted that the generals knew exactly what
they needed to do if they wanted to prevent it - start concrete political talks
with the opposition political parties and the ethnic groups.
A
military spokesman, though, told the BBC that the international community should
be more patient as the government was committed to political reform, but was
progressing at its own pace.
Diplomats in Rangoon fear that
Burma's military rulers have no intentions of talking directly with the
opposition leader and are simply looking for ways to delay the dialogue process.
The UN's special envoy, Razali Ismail, has been trying for weeks
to return to Rangoon to help restart the talks between the two sides.
However, so far the generals have resisted and it seems he will
not be allowed back before the end of next month.
In the meantime,
the international community is considering whether to adopt more targeted
sanctions against Rangoon if there is no significant political progress in the
next few months.
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The Nation
Dealers flee en masse to Burma
Published on Mar 12, 2003
Over 100 drug
dealers have fled over the Burmese border to escape the government's war against
drugs, a Karen official said.
Speaking to reporters at a border
camp, Ner Dah of the Karen National Union (KNU) said yesterday that the ongoing
crackdown had forced many dealers to flee into Burma, where clandestine drug
laboratories operate independently of the Burmese government.
Ner
Dah, the KNU's assistant secretary for foreign affairs, said his forces had lent
support to the Thai security agencies in the crackdown, which has reportedly
claimed over 1,500 lives so far.
He said the KNU recently arrested
a suspected drug dealer in possession of 300 methamphetamine pills. In an
another development, a border source said that a Burmese army unit had arrested
drug traffickers on March 6 and confiscated 4 million methamphetamine pills
bound for Thailand.
The source said the traffickers were
transporting the drugs across the Thai-Burmese Friendship Bridge when Burmese
authorities apprehended them. Lt-General Udomchai Ongkasing, Commander of the
Third Army Region, said the anti-drug campaign had dramatically reduced the
transportation of narcotics across the border.
However, he said,
three months was too short a time to make any sustainable impact on the
trade.
Udomchai also said a total of 4,000 speed pills had been
seized along the northern border so far.
He said the Army would
continue taking a more proactive approach in dealing with traffickers as it had
done in the last one-and-a-half months under the government's anti-drugs
campaign.
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The Nation
CAMBODIAN TIES: Fishing ban discounted
Published on Mar 12, 2003
Foreign Minister
Surakiart Sathirathai yesterday downplayed reports that the Cambodian government
was planning to close its territorial waters to Thai vessels, saying such a move
was not in retaliation against the Thai government.
Deputy Prime
Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh was recently reported as saying Phnom Penh had
been mulling closing its waters to Thai fishermen.
Surakiart,
however, said the plan could be part of a move to reduce the number of
concessions granted to Thai fishermen.
The Thai fishing industry
has been suffering severely from a loss of accessible waters since late 1999
following Burma's decision to cancel all Thai fishing concessions in its
territorial area.
The decision was part of the fallout from the
crisis at the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok when a number of radical dissidents
stormed the compound, holding hundreds of foreign visitors and diplomats hostage
at gunpoint.
Surakiart said the normalisation process between
Thailand and Cambodia following the January 29 rioting in Phnom Penh was
progressing and that Thailand was not taking advantage of its
neighbour.
Diplomatic ties went into a tailspin when Cambodian
Prime Minister Hun Sen abruptly closed the border last week, preventing
Cambodian nationals from crossing into Thailand to buy goods.
Hun
Sen said it was unfair that Thailand was permitting Cambodians to cross over and
buy goods in Thailand, but was not permitting Thai nationals to do the same in
Cambodia.
However, the border checkpoint in Poipet was briefly
opened yesterday as Cambodian authorities allowed a convoy of trucks loaded with
construction materials to renovate the Princess Crown casino.
The
convey was witnessed by angry Cambodian traders who shouted insults at the
drivers.
They also said that the Cambodian government was giving
favours to the casino owner while watching Khmer people die of
starvation.
Thai officials at the Aranyaprathet checkpoint said
they had not stopped the convoy since it had permission from all the relevant
authorities.
The border closure has caused difficulties on both
sides, as Cambodians are now not allowed to buy goods in Thailand. This has
caused a severe business slowdown in Thai border markets.
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Independent-Bangladesh (12-03-2003)
Preparations afoot for holding trade fair in
Myanmar from
March 20
UNB,
Dhaka
Preparations are afoot for
holding a second single-country trade fair of
Bangladesh in
Myanmar from
March 20 to explore export opportunities in the market of the next-door
neighbour under a newly devised trading system.
The Bangladesh Fair this year
will be featured by signing of two bilateral trade-promotion agreements
regarding account trade and coastal shipping-as agreed upon during the
Dhaka visit of
Myanmar Premier
last December.
Besides, an agreement on joint
business council will also be signed under private sector during the four-day
showoff of
Bangladesh's
export potential in Yangoon.
Prime Minister Begum Khaleda
Zia is scheduled to reach the
Myanmar capital,
leading a 54-member entourage, on March 19.
The delegation includes three
ministers, senior government officials and business leaders. The ministers are
Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan, Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury
and Communications Minister Barrister Nazmul Huda.Some 200 people would also go
to run stalls at the fair.
As the fair also aims at
projecting country's cultural heritage, a 116-member-strong cultural troupe is
also sailing for Yangoon.
"We're getting tremendous
response. We've to drop many aspiring participants as we can't accommodate all
of them," Bangladesh Myanmar Business Promotion Council Chairman R Maksud Khan
told UNB yesterday.
So far, 90 stalls have been
booked and the number would come close to 100 in the end. The products to be
displayed include pharmaceuticals, ceramics, melamine, light engineering,
electrical, toiletries and construction materials.
The success of the first fair,
inaugurated by the Commerce Minister in March last year, stimulated both the EPB
and private sector to go for a second show of Bangladeshi commodities and
culture.
The vast potential, generated
from the first fair, could, however, not be explored fully due to some
bottlenecks regarding shipping, port and banking.
Myanmar
businesspeople have limitations in opening LC there due to strict foreign-
currency regulations.
To overcome the hurdles, both
the sides last year agreed on introducing account trade, now being practised
between Myanmar
and
Thailand.
Although
Myanmar
developed port infrastructures within its territory,
Bangladesh lacks
such facilities, leaving export potential largely untapped, businesspeople here
said. Only small-scale export takes place in official channel under border-trade
arrangement, which also faces a lot of difficulty, encouraging informal trade,
they said.
The Myanmar Premier, during
his visit to Dhaka in December last year, agreed to the proposals for
introducing account- trade system and direct shipping link between Chittagong
and Yangoon.
The two arrangements would
bolster bilateral trade between the two next-door neighbours, trade officials
and businesspeople hope.
Bangladesh's
exports to
Myanmar would
amount to US$ 8 million against her imports worth about US$ 170 million, mostly
via Singapore.
Once the proposed account-trade agreement is in place,
Bangladesh would
be able to export up to the same amount as
Myanmar laws
permit one exporter to import the same amount he or she exported. "That would be
a great advantage for us," R Maksud Khan said.
During the March 19-20 visit,
Prime Minister Begum Zia and
Myanmar leader
Senior General Than Shwe are likely to discuss establishment of a road link
between Chittagong and Yangoon,
officials hinted.
The Communications Minister
last year visited Yangoon and held talks with his counterpart there on the
possibility of Chittagong-Yangoon direct road communications, they said.
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