UN names Myanmar native new Iraq relief official
UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - Tun Myat, a native of Myanmar and official of the Rome-based World Food Program (WFP), was named Tuesday as the new U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Iraq, the United Nations announced.
Tun Myat, who has a law degree from the University of London, has been with the WFP since 1979 and served as director of resources and external relations since 1997.
He replaces Hans von Sponeck of Germany, who resigned from his post this year after criticizing the impact of sanctions on ordinary Iraqis in public pronouncements that angered the United States.
The humanitarian coordinator runs the oil-for-food program in Baghdad that allows Iraq to sell oil to buy food, medicine and other necessities to alleviate the impact of sanctions.
The embargoes were imposed in August 1990 when Baghdad's troops invaded Kuwait.
New U.N. relief official appointed for Iraq post
UNITED NATIONS, March 29 (Reuters) - A 22-year veteran of the U.N. World Food Programme (WFP) has been appointed to the sensitive post of U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq after his two predecessors resigned in protest over the impact of sanctions.
Tun Myat, 58, of Myanmar, who was chosen by Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday for the Baghdad-based post, is expected to begin his job on Saturday. But U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said he did not know when he would go to Iraq, following meetings in New York.
Japan to back Asian currency swap pact-Miyazawa
TOKYO, March 29 (Reuters) - Finance Minister Kiichi Miyazawa said in an interview published on Wednesday that Japan supports an ASEAN proposal for a multilateral currency swap agreement aimed at heading off turbulence in foreign exchange markets.
Miyazawa told the Yomiuri Shimbun that he would take up the proposal during the annual meeting of the Asian Development Bank in Thailand in May.
Such an agreement, if it had the participation of Japan, would be highly effective in defending Asian currencies from the sort of speculative attacks that triggered the region's financial crisis in 1997, the finance minister said.
Miyazawa was speaking after finance ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed in Brunei on Sunday to expand an existing currency swap arrangement among their central banks totalling a meagre $200 million, and to invite Japan, China and South Korea to enlarge the kitty.
The Yomiuri Shimbun said Miyazawa apparently viewed the expanded swap arrangement as a stepping stone to a fully fledged Asian Monetary Fund -- an idea that ASEAN ministers, who have been discussing it for two years, again shelved at the weekend.
The United States and other western nations fiercely opposed the creation of a separate Asian monetary fund when Japan raised the idea in the wake of the 1997 financial crisis.
Washington fears a separate Asian financial facility could undermine the IMF and weaken Asian countries' willingness to embrace tough reforms advocated by the fund.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Analysts said a network of swap agreements, if it were to have any chance of holding back the tide of massive speculative currency flows, would have to be able to draw on the extensive foreign currency holdings of Japan, South Korea and China.
Miyazawa gave no indication of how much money Tokyo might be willing to commit to the pact but said that once the arrangement was up and running, participating countries could discuss how it could evolve.
Wednesday, March 29 11:55 AM SGT
Military-ruled Myanmar has made no progress in ending the widespread use of
forced labour despite promises to do so, the International Labour Organisation
(ILO) said on Tuesday.
The ILO governing body ordered Myanmar's case to be raised again at the
organisation's assembly in June, and invoked for the first time an ILO article
allowing it to recommend measures to oblige the offending party to comply.
Nobody opposed the move at the end of the session.
Myanmar, which was supposed to respond to concerns expressed by an ILO
committee of inquiry last year, did not rule out forced labour, ILO Director
General Juan Somavia said in his report.
"In practice, forced or obligatory labour continues to be imposed on a large
scale," the report said.
"No action seems to have been undertaken with regard to the law to punish
those who impose forced labour," and some legislation which Myanmar's military
authorities had agreed to re-examine has not changed, the report said.
The ILO committee of inquiry put forward recommendations two years to end
forced labour in Myanmar.
The report refers to information cited by the International Confederation of
Free Trade Unions saying that village chiefs were ordered to supply villagers as
porters in army camps or for road building.
There is no mention of payment for those doing the work, it said, adding some
orders also contained threats of fines or other sanctions. ILO condemns forced labour in Myanmar
Wednesday, March 29 4:06 PM SGT
US oil giant pulls out of Myanmar
YANGON, March 29 (AFP) -
Oil services provider Baker Hughes has become the latest United States firm to pull out of Myanmar, human rights campaigners and the firm's local partner said Wednesday.
Baker Hughes is transferring its interest in an exploration project in the Mann oil fields in northern Myanmar to its associate in Yangon, Myanmar Petroleum Resources Limited (MPRL).
Campaigners opposed to Myanmar's junta immediately hailed the decision as proof that a campaign to isolate military leaders accused of flagrant human rights abuses was working.
"We are pleased with Baker Hughes' action," said Pam Wellner of the No Petro-dollars for SLORC campaign. The SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) was the former name of the junta, which now refers to itself as the State Peace and Development Counci.
The managing director of the firm's local partner however denied that the move was motivated by political considerations.
"There is nothing political, it is about (Baker Hughes') restructuring ... the political situation does not affect MPRL at all," said Moe Myint in an interview with AFP.
"The project will be there, with the blessing of the investors, the investment commission, the cabinet, the project will continue."
"We are continuing (the project) with the same project team and we are increasing the production ... We are not scaling back."
The statement from No Petro-dollars for SLORC speculated that the firm may have been unwilling to continue fighting the campaign against investment in Myanmar or could have been put off by rising corruption.
It also said that a campaign by shareholders questioning the company's involvement in Myanmar may have been behind the decision.
"Doing business in Burma under current circumstances greatly benefits the military junta, and Baker Hughes joins the long list of companies (including Texaco, Arco and PepsiCo) who have done the right thing," said Wellner.
Firms with links to alleged totalitarian regimes are also currently eyeing a US Supreme Court case on the Massachusetts Law which is aimed at economically penalising the junta.
The statute, undertaken by several US states and cities, adds a 10 percent penalty on companies who do business in Myanmar when they bid on government procurement contracts -- effectively barring them from winning the contracts.
BBC-Tuesday, 28 March, 2000, 21:18 GMT 22:18 UK
Burma's widespread use of forced labour has come under unprecedented criticism from the United Nations.
More than 80,000 people in Burma are press-ganged into work by the military authorities, according to estimates by the International Labour Organisation (ILO), which is part of the UN.
The organisation has lost patience with Burma. For several years it has called on Rangoon to stop violating workers' rights, but without success.
The ILO's governing body on Tuesday called for all necessary action against Burma.
US and European Union representatives said Rangoon had wilfully ignored and shown its utter contempt for human rights standards.
Most of the Burmese, they said, were exploited by the military authorities, who conscripted hundreds of thousands of them to work with little or no pay as porters or building labourers.
Burma's spokesman said the allegations were unfounded and deplored Western interference in its internal affairs.
International pressure
It is now up to the ILO annual conference in June to decide what measures to take.
These could include recommendations to governments, unions, employers' associations and international organisations to review their relations with Burma.
If agreed, this would increase Burma's international isolation.
The ILO feels it has already done as much as it can to persuade Rangoon to comply with its rules. It has barred Burma from all its activities and stopped financial aid.
This latest move amounts to a final attempt to put international pressure on the country to come into line with global labour standards.
Chiang Mai A district chief here yesterday
appealed to local leaders to cut ties with the Wa Army, which has allegedly been
using the district as a narcotics trafficking base. Krisda Boonrat, Fang district chief, urged village heads, tambon
chiefs and tambon administration organisations to stop dealing with the
Wa. "Please don't accept their money, don't give them any help,
don't let them keep drugs in your villages or use the villages as transport
routes," the district chief said. Mr Krisda was speaking before a gathering of 130 local leaders
which was meeting to discuss the drug trafficking problem in Fang
district. The meeting was co-organised by anti-narcotics authorities, the
Third Army and local administration officials. Mr Krisda said certain local leaders provided support to the Wa
and seven of them have already been blacklisted. A representative of local leaders admitted that some villages
were used by the Wa to store drugs before distribution to other
provinces. He said drug abuse is common in the area because the drugs are
cheap and easy to buy. Col Chucheep Srisomboon, of the northern narcotics suppression
co-ordinating centre, said the seminar was a pilot project and would be
introduced later in two other districts with similar problems. Authorities are also keeping a close eye on Mae Ai and Mae Fa
Luang, two districts with drug-related problems. He said the meeting would also serve as a warning to local
leaders involved in the drug trade. Maj-Gen Chamlong Pothong, of the Third Army, said the Wa was
influential in border villages in Fang district and often exploited the
villagers. Mae Hong Son Ho Mong, a former stronghold of drug
warlord Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army, is being developed as a border trade and
economic centre, a source at the border said. Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, secretary-1 of Burma's State Peace and
Development Council, kicked off proceedings last week when he visited the area
on a fact-finding mission. Government officials from 12 ministries followed up his
initiative and a team of engineers was also sent to examine a dam there. The dam
was built by Khun Sa in 1992 to produce electricity and store water for
farming. About 800 drums of asphalt were delivered to the area to pave
a-30km road from the town to the Salween river. The source said the development of Ho Mong was in response to a
proposal put forward by Khun Sa before he surrendered to the junta in Jan
1996.
Bangkok Post 29 Mar, 2000.
Ho Mong emerges as trading
centre