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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio Australia - It's Burma in
Sweden
Business Recorder - Myanmar hosts Asean customs
moot
Bkk Post - Anti-Burma ethnic tribes get
together
The Straits Times - Drug armies using Thailand as base: Yangon
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL
PROTEST AGAINST JAPANESE GOVERNMENT ON AUG 8.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Radio Australia - July 30,
2000.
It's Burma in Sweden
Sweden says it will continue to call Burma "Burma", instead of Myanmar,
despite a rebuke by the country's military rulers.
Foreign Minister Anna Lindh was reacting to an incident at the close of an
Asean meeting in Bangkok over the weekend.
At that meeting, her Burmese counterpart Win Aung publicly corrected a
reference she had made to "Burma," saying there was no such country.
But Ms Lindh say she was making a conscious political point, since it was
the military junta that had changed the country's name to Myanmar in 1989..and
not a democratic government.
Sweden takes over the rotating presidency of the European Union in
January.
Bussiness Recorder
Myanmar hosts Asean customs
moot
YANGON (July 31) : While the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers were meeting in Bangkok, Myanmar was hosting an Asean customs meeting, officials said Sunday. Yangon has hosted the eighth Asean customs directors general meeting, designed to improve ties between customs officials and crack down on smuggling, Myanmar minister form finance Khin Maung Thein said. The meeting has been attended by customs directors from all 10 ASEAN countries as well as Japan. "I am confident that the deliberations at this meeting will produce a fruitful outcome for regional customs co-operation," Khin Maung Thein said. Yangon and Bangkok are two of Southeast Asia's major transit points for smuggling art, artefacts, drugs and people. Myanmar became a signatory to the Asean customs agreement in 1997, when the military-ruled country became a full member of the Southeast Asia group. Asean groups Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia, Brunei, the Philippines and Singapore.-AFP Bangkok Post - July 31,
2000.
BORDER Anti-Burma ethnic tribes get together Red Wa attend talks in observer capacity The four main groups still at war with the Burmese government invited the
Red Wa to observe their annual three-day meeting near the northern Thai border
over the weekend.
Diplomatic sources said the United Wa State Army sent a "mid-level" liaison
official to the meeting, which took place in Burma, across from Tak province.
Presumably, the top Wa leadership authorised the trip.
Officially, the Wa are at peace with Rangoon. On the other hand, the other
four parties at the talks are still fighting for independence from the Burmese
government. They are the Shan State Army, Karen National Union, Karenni National
Progressive Party and the Arakan Army.
The three-day meeting is supposed to end today, presumably with a joint
statement in favour of independence and against Rangoon.
"The Wa have not been pressed to sign or agree to the statement," said one
foreign source. "They are there strictly as observers."
The so-called Red Wa also fought for independence. But they signed a pact
with Rangoon in 1989. The agreement gave them some autonomy in their area in
northern Burma.
In recent years, the UWSA has financed expansion and settlements with one
of the world's largest drug cartels. They make and smuggle heroin and
methamphetamines to, and through, neighbouring countries. Last week, Foreign
Minister Win Aung said the Burmese army could not even enter areas controlled by
the Wa, who claim to have 20,000 troops. Some observers believe the Wa may again
propose independence from Burma.
Demand for trade
Mae Hong Son-The provincial chamber of commerce has called on the
government to allow more trading days at a border pass to Burma at Huay Ton Noon
in Khun Yuam district.
Poonsak Suntornpanitkit, the chamber's chairman, said trading is allowed
only once a week, but should be allowed on several days.
There was good trade potential because of the demand for Thai goods on the
Burmese side.
Trade volume would increase substantially if provincial authorities agree
to send officials to handle tax and duty clearance work at the pass.
Huay Ton Noon is located about 30km from Khun Yuam district.
The Straits Times - July 31.
2000.
Drug armies using Thailand as base:
Yangon
By JAMES EAST
STRAITS TIMES THAILAND BUREAU BANGKOK -- Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said rebel army groups, which
traffic in drugs, are using Thailand as a base.
Within minutes of the Asean meeting here closing, he charged that the Wa
National Army and the Shan State Army -- which he said together commanded about
3,000 people -- were operating from Thai territory.
He was responding to earlier media reports that the Thai military was
considering cross-border strikes to knock out Myanmar-based drug factories,
which will send an estimated 600 million amphetamine pills into Thailand this
year.
These are very irresponsible remarks made by Thai military officers,'' he
said, adding that they did not respect the sovereignty of Myanmar.
The Thai top brass is becoming increasingly frustrated at its inability to
halt the flow of drugs from Myanmar.
Hundreds of thousands of Thais are now hooked on amphetamines, and the
country's prison population has doubled in the past three years because of
drug-related offences.
Mr Win Aung said Myanmar was doing its best to conduct anti-narcotics work,
but said it was difficult for the country to control its ethnic regions.
Yangon has signed ceasefire agreements with most of the country's ethnic
rebel armies, including the 20,000-strong United Wa State Army.
But the Wa have become so powerful that Yangon fears taking the group on.
Let us not go back to the days of the past,'' he said.
The Wa army is not integrated into our forces. They are separate.''
Mr Win Aung said Yangon was also trying to encourage poor opium farmers to
stop growing poppies with crop-substitution programmes.
In the closing address to Asean and its 10 dialogue partners, he said the
country was committed to eradicating drugs by 2015.
Of course, if there is international assistance, then we can do it within
eight or nine years,'' he said. ------------------------------------- (Send your protest letter to Japanese Government and Japanese Bussiness Companies before August 8. Stage demonstration in front of Japanese Embassies around the world on Aug 8.) |