Burma Related News - April 12, 2000.

WIRE:04/11/2000 16:30:00 ET
UPDATE 2-Premier Oil Plc won't quit Myanmar (merges stories, adds company intent to stay in country)

LONDON, April 11 (Reuters) - Oil and gas exploration firm Premier Oil Plc < >PMO.L> said on Tuesday it intended to continue operations in Myanmar despite a British government request that it pull out in protest against the military-ruled state's human rights record. 'It is our intention to stay,' Chief Executive Charles Jamieson said. 'Our view is that by being positive, (using) constructive engagement you (are) more likely to bring about results.' He said the company had a legal obligation to Myanmar companies and to a Thai firm which will buy gas from its Yetagun gas project over the next 15 years. Jamieson told Reuters he would consult with company board members before replying to a letter from Foreign Office Minister John Battle, who said on Tuesday he had urged Premier to pull out of Myanmar as soon as legally possible. Battle, trying to pile pressure on Myanmar over its poor human rights record, said he had made the request at a meeting with Jamieson on March 27. 'Our views are very clear. We are asking them to withdraw where they can. Not to break the law, but to negotiate and withdraw,' Battle told reporters. Describing Myanmar's rulers as a 'disgraceful regime,' Battle cited what he said was a record of killings, forced relocations, forced labour, lack of press freedoms, and repression of ethnic minorities in the country. 'Burma (Myanmar) has one of the worst human rights records in the world and so far shows no sign of improving,' Battle said. 'Against that background we have worked to ratchet up the pressure.' He said the renewed pressure on Premier came as Britain was pushing its European partners to take a harder line against Myanmar. The International Labour Organisation had also denounced the country's record on forced labour and was preparing moves against it. 'Burma's record on enforced labour, and allegations of child labour, is the worst in the world,' Battle said. Responding to Battle's charge that the continued presence of major companies in Myanmar would encourage its military rulers to 'flout international opinion,' Jamieson said the company was working on a number of projects to help local communities. They included learning centres for pre-school children and young adults, agricultural programmes, and women's health and anti-AIDS programmes. 'Constructive engagement backed by good business principle is more likely to bring progress than isolation,' Jamieson said. Battle's request to Premier follows a similar request to the company two years ago. Jamieson said production from Yetagun is expected to begin in 2000 and the company has described development of its gas projects as a priority. BRITAIN WANTS PRESSURE THROUGH EU Battle said Britain would not take action to force Premier into withdrawing from Myanmar and was instead trying to maintain EU-wide pressure. In moves led by Britain and Denmark to tighten sanctions on Myanmar, EU foreign ministers banned the export on Monday of 'equipment that might be used for internal repression or terrorism.' They also agreed to publish the names of the officials affected by the visa ban and to impose a freeze on the funds held abroad by these people. But the EU also held out an olive branch by agreeing to send a delegation to Myanmar to try to improve relations and proposed a high-level meeting with ASEAN, the regional group with which the EU has been at odds over Myanmar's membership. It also agreed to ask the EU's executive European Commission to look at the possibilities for increased cooperation. The EU imposed sanctions because of the treatment of the opposition led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi. Her party won an election in 1990 by a landslide but the military ignored the result and detained many of its members.

WIRE:04/12/2000 03:36:00 ET
UPDATE 1-Premier Oil finds more Indonesian gas

LONDON, April 12 (Reuters) - Oil and gas exploration firm Premier Oil Plc, which has been asked by the UK government to pull out of its key Myanmar operation, said on Tuesday it had found more natural gas offshore Indonesia in West Natuna.
"Premier's exploration and production team continue to produce good results which gives us confidence that we will have sufficient reserves to conclude a second gas sale to West Natuna," Chief Executive Charles Jamieson said in a statement.

Premier said it was considering selling the newly discovered gas, at Iguana-1 near the West Natuna export facilities, either via the yet-to-be-completed West Natuna pipeline to Singapore or to the Malaysian Duyong platform 35 kms to the west.

Iguana, which tested at a flow rate of 25 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, is close to Premier's Peligan, Garah Puteri, Bison and recent Naga discoveries.

The West Natuna gas project is a 2.5 trillion cubic feet gas development -- in which Premier has a 28 percent stake -- where first gas is scheduled to be delivered to Singapore in 2001.

West Natuna and Yetagun in Myanmar are Premier's two key gas developments which are expected to double group output to around 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2003.

On Tuesday, Jamieson had said that the company intended to continue operations in Myanmar despite the British governement request that it pull out in protest against the military-ruled state's human rights record.

Jamieson said the group had a legal obligation to Myanmar companies and a Thai firm which will buy gas from its Yetagun gas project over the next 15 years.

However, he was to consult with company board members before replying to a letter from British Foreign Office Minister John Battle urging the E group to pull out as soon as legally possible.

Premier Oil, whose key areas of operation are the UK and Pakistan as well as Myanmar and Indonesia, formed a strategic alliance last November to strengthen its gas position in Asia with Malaysian state oil company Petronas and its biggest shareholder Amerada Hess Corp.

Under that deal, which strengthened its financial base with a 136 million pounds cash injection, Petronas took a 25 percent stake in the group, while Hess took new equity to retain its 25 percent stake.

New Straits Times

Wednesday, April 12 6:30 PM SGT

National: Razali: Don't politicise my trip to Myanmar
KUALA LUMPUR, Tues. - The international community should support and not politicise efforts to promote human rights and restore democracy in Myanmar, newly-appointed United Nations special envoy to Myanmar, Tan Sri Razali Ismail, said today.
He said he planned to meet Nobel Peace Prize winner and National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi but that the meeting "should not be politicised".

"I will be going to Myanmar with an open mind and will meet various parties.

"However, my job there will be to seek solutions to Myanmar's problems and not align myself to any party," he said.

He was speaking at a Press conference after launching a national essay competition on voluntarism jointly organised by Yayasan Salam Malaysia and Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka.

Describing his new job as one which "came with a big responsibility and high expectations from all parties", he said he would strive to earn the support and confidence of the Government and people of Myanmar.

He thanked Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win for having confidence that he would be able to carry out his duties impartially.

The essay competition is open to schoolchildren from Forms Four to Five and the closing date is June 14.

The results and prize-giving ceremony will be held in July.

The Independent News
Minister blocks Burma oil project over rights abuses

By Fran Abrams, Westminster Correspondent
12 April 2000

Ministers have told a British oil company to scrap a £130m pipeline project in Burma amid growing concern over torture and forced labour under the country's totalitarian regime.

John Battle, the Foreign Office minister, has also banned the advertising of trade opportunities with Burma on a government website after the practice was highlighted by The Independent.

Mr Battle announced measures against the Burmese government yesterday after a meeting of EU ministers. Exports of equipment which might be used for repression would be banned by European states, Burmese leaders and their supporters who are banned from visiting the EU would be named for the first time and their assets would be frozen if they tried to move them here, he said.

"There have been appalling human rights violations, with killings, rape, torture, forced relocation, forced labour, political detentions, lack of press freedom and oppression of ethnic minorities such as the Karen people," Mr Battle said.

He called the chief executive of Premier Oil, Charles Jamieson, to the Foreign Office to express his "deep concern" over the firm's involvement in the Yetagun oil pipeline project.

Mr Battle said: "I really expect Premier to do the decent thing without having to resort to legal pressure."

But although Mr Battle said that Mr Jamieson responded "courteously" to the request to pull out, he had given no assurances one way or the other.

Mr Battle revealed that he had acted to stop the British Trade International website, a joint Foreign Office and Department of Trade and Industry initiative, from advertising export opportunities to Burma.

Notices on the site included numerous openings in Burma, whose military regime has been condemned across the world. The US bans new trade with Burma but the website backed by the British Government displayed projects including tourism infrastructure development, oil and gas.

Mr Battle said: "When I heard that was the case I asked for it to be stopped. Our policy as a Government is not to encourage investment and trade with Burma."

Mr Battle said Britain had also pressed for action by the International Labour Office, which has agreed for the first time in its 80-year history to condemn Burma for its use of forced labour. The Foreign Secretary, Robin Cook, was at the forefront of moves by European Union foreign ministers in Brussels earlier this week to strengthen their common position against Burma.

Mr Jamieson said Premier Oil respected the Government's human rights concerns but had no intention of pulling out of its Burma operations at present.

"Although we are pressured to pull out of areas, we strongly believe that dialogue and engagement as well as sustainable development are key to effecting changes," he said.

The Daily Telegraph

ISSUE 1783 Wednesday 12 April 2000

Premier could snub request to quit Myanmar
By David Litterick

News - Premier Oil
PREMIER Oil is likely to ignore a request to pull out of its gas exploration operations in Myanmar made by the Government because of concerns over the country's human rights record.
Foreign office minister John Battle met Charles Jamieson, Premier chief executive, to ask him to withdraw 10 days ago and followed it with a written request. Mr Jamieson said he had yet to consult with collegues but was not inclined to adhere to the Government's request, claiming the company's policy of positive engagement was more likely to lead to progress in Myanmar than isolationism.

He said: "We have developed our own human rights statement in conjunction with Amnesty International. We have community programmes in the country with Save the Children which we estimate will have helped one million people by 2005. It is difficult to see how Premier pulling out would have an effect on the situation other than our position being taken by someone else that would not have the same standards."

The Government believes that the continued prescence of reputable companies such as Premier in Myanmar encourages the military regime there. Premier has invested more than £100m in Myanmar in 10 years and gas production is expected to begin shortly.

Bangkok Post - April 12, 2000.

Wa rebels killed in clash with local troops

Two guerrillas of the United Wa State Army, the biggest methamphetamine producer in the Golden Triangle, have been killed in a clash with local paramilitary troops, a source in the Pha Muang Task Force said yesterday.

The fighting took place in rugged terrain near Doi Lang, a disputed area between Thailand and Burma.

The slain men were "UWSA's armed guards protecting a drug caravan. The clash took place around 7pm on Monday while our paramilitary forces were patrolling the border," the source said.

The Pha Muang Task Force, responsible for narcotic suppression along the border in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, has stepped up its border patrols to check the flow of illicit drugs into the country. Last month, its troops killed five UWSA guerrillas in Chiang Mai.

The Nation - April 12, 2000.
Opinion
WHAT OTHERS SAY: NAM misses chanceto make itselfmore relevant

NEW DELHI - The foreign ministers of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) have lost a valuable opportunity in Cartagena to find a new direction and relevance for the 40-year-old organisation.

Meeting at a time when the need for NAM was itself being questioned, and preparing for the first summit of the millennium next year, the foreign ministers should have focussed more on providing a political and economic orientation to the movement as developing countries face new challenges in a unipolar world.

Instead of looking for that new direction this session, NAM was bogged down by partisan considerations. The NAM now wants to champion the cause of democracy, threatening to expel member-states where military regimes have overthrown democratically-elected governments.

It was certainly correct to warn the military junta not to rule without a mandate and to restore democracy as quickly as possible. But to take that further, and in effect take a leaf out of the Organisation of African Unity's (OAU) book or that of the Commonwealth to make democracy itself a norm for membership is not really relevant in the NAM context. Even if Indian diplomacy may be celebrating its success in getting NAM to endorse democracy as part of its new political culture, it will surely sour the atmosphere even more within South Asia. Pakistan, Myanmar and the Ivory Coast are three NAM members under military rule, who have time till next year to comply with the new requirement to retain their membership.

The Colombian president, Andres Pastrana, set the right tone for the 13th NAM Ministerial Meeting by identifying globalisation and humanitarian intervention by the UN as two of the most important challenges facing the developing countries. Under the WTO regime and the process of globalisation, many developing economies and least developed countries run the risk of being totally marginalised. In the unipolar world, with virtually little challenge to the dominance of the US, it was incumbent on the part of a premier grouping like NAM to emerge as a rallying point and help shape a multipolar world. Unless the common interests of the developing countries are protected and the sovereignty of their decision-making process in foreign policy is guaranteed, the threat of being engulfed by the dictates of the global powers looms large. The NAM provided a readymade shelter for a collective leadership and an anchor for the economies in transition.

The Hindu

BBC-Wednesday, 12 April, 2000, 12:03 GMT 13:03 UK
British company will honour Burma contracts

The British company, Premier Oil, says it intends to honour its contracts in Burma despite a direct approach from the British Government asking it to pull out.

The Chief Executive of Premier Oil, Charles Jamieson, says constructive economic engagement and high standards of doing business will achieve more than isolating Burma.

Britain's Foreign Office minister, John Battle, argues that the company should do what he called the decent thing, and that government intervention is justified because Burma has the world's worst human rights record.

He says Premier Oil's withdrawal would send a huge signal about international reluctance to do business there.

Premier Oil is in partnership with other foreign firms to develop an offshore gas field in Burma. On Monday, European Union foreign ministers agreed to maintain sanctions against Burma for a further six months, but Mr Battle has acknowledged it's impossible to agree a Europe-wide ban on trade and invesment.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service

The Word of Luther
	12-Year-Old Rebel Leader Talks With American Journalist Johnny Htoo, left, a 12-year old Karen boy, watches as his twin brother Luther smokes a Myanmar cigar at their jungle base of Ka Mar Pa Law in Myanmar opposite Thailand's Ratchaburi province. (Apichart Weerawong/AP Photo)

April 12 — Like many commanders of armed insurgencies, Luther Htoo totes a rifle, wears camouflage fatigues and has godlike status among his troops.

In January, government forces reportedly overran the base of the twins’ “army.” RealVideo
(download RealPlayer)

     But unlike other rebel leaders, the 12-year-old appears more interested in hugs than leading his troops into battle.
     Video images, shot last week in a jungle hideout along the Burmese-Thai border, show a chain-smoking Luther bouncing from lap to lap in search of paternal affection.
     “It was a little bit awkward because he isn’t with his mother much of the time and he’s only with other boys and men,” said Jason Bleibtreu, an American cameraman who met with Luther and 15 of his soldiers and shot the video.
     “It seemed like all he wanted was a hug,” he told ABCNEWS.com by telephone from Thailand.

No Toys
But Luther, despite his childlike behavior, plays with very grown-up “toys.”

An American cameraman met with young rebel leader Luther Htoo in his jungle hideout along the Burmese-Thai border. (ABCNEWS.com/ Magellan Geographix)

     “I asked him what type of toys he likes to play with and his response was, ‘I have lots of toys. These weapons are my toys. My favorite toy is this 57-millimeter recoilless rifle,’” said Bleibtreu.
     Luther wields his playthings for “God’s Army,” a Karen ethnic minority movement fighting for independence from Burma, also known as Myanmar. The group of no more than a few hundred soldiers made headlines in January, when 10 of its men crossed into Thailand and held 800 hostages at a hospital (see related stories, right).
     Thai commandos killed all the captors.
     “Our people will have freedom,” Luther says on the video. “We love fighting the Burmese.”

Mythic Proportions
In predominantly Buddhist Burma, God’s Army is described as a Christian cult. Luther has banned the use of alcohol and drugs, as well as milk, eggs and pork among his troops, who believe that Luther, along with his twin brother Johnny, are reincarnations of past heroes possessing enormous magical powers.
     The boys are said to be invulnerable to bullets and land mines as well as having access to vast armies of 400,000 invisible soldiers.
     “I think it’s obvious that he doesn’t have mystical powers or that he’s a god, nor do I think he commands these forces,” said Bleibtreu. “He’s somewhat of a mascot.”
     And yet he’s a mascot who likes to give orders and continues to hold sway over his soldiers, many of whom, like Luther and Johnny, are still too young to shave.
     “He’s very difficult to interview,” Bleibtreu said of Luther, who had never spoken to reporters before hiking through the jungle for several days to do the interview. “He didn’t like my asking so many questions. At one point he got angry and told me to stop. It was an intense moment when he barked out and ordered that I should cease and desist what I was doing.”
     Soon after, as the interview came to a close, the group started to pray and Luther squirmed in pre-adolescent boredom.

ABCNEWS’ Diane Sawyer and Charles Gibson and ABCNEWS.com’s Jennifer Abrahamson contributed to this report.