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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - SEP 15, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Defiant Suu Kyi Vows New Test
for Myanmar Military
BBC - Suu Kyi to defy military
again
AFP - Aung San Suu Kyi to defy junta ban on
travel outside Yangon
AFP - Singapore establishes ASEAN cultural
heritage conservation centre
AP - Myanmar Opposition To Test
Freedoms
AP - Myanmar Opposition Set To Reopen Office
After Crackdown
AP - Myanmar's Suu Kyi Off House
Arrest
The Sunday Times - Diplomats see 'defiant'
Suu Kyi
The Daily Telegraph - Suu Kyi uncowed as junta
frees her from house arrest
IHT - Burma Eases Hold On Political
Foes
The Financial Times - Suu Kyi 'will test junta
again'
Xinhua - Myanmar, Japanese Surgeons Jointly Treat Patients
FT - Burma relents on Suu Kyi
Bkk Post - Burmese can now come in for
medical treatment
The Nation - British, US diplomats allowed to
visit Suu Kyi
The Nation - Anti-drug
forces raid villages on Burmese border
BBC - Analysis: Have the Generals backed
down?
SCMP - Freed leaders vow to fight
on
SCMP - Defiant Suu Kyi leaves
residence
The Straits Times - Thailand launches border raid on drug traffickers
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday September 15 3:23 AM ET
Defiant Suu Kyi Vows New Test for Myanmar Military By Aung Hla Tun YANGON, Myanmar(Reuters) -
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi vowed Friday to test the military
government's restrictions on her movements by attempting another trip outside
the capital of Yangon within 10 days.
A day after the ruling generals ended a de-facto house arrest of the
55-year-old Nobel laureate and other senior members of her National League for
Democracy (NLD), a defiant Suu Kyi said she could not accept limitations on her
or her party.
Twice in the past two years authorities have prevented Suu Kyi from leaving
the capital, leading to widespread condemnation of the military government for
its treatment of Suu Kyi and other opposition figures.
``We are nowhere in a satisfactory position at the moment. We are back to
abnormal,'' she told a news conference at NLD headquarters attended by about 200
NLD members and journalists as well as British and U.S. diplomats.
``As I am not legally restricted in any way, we have decided that it is
time for us to make this clear. I shall be traveling outside Rangon (Yangon)
within the next 10 days. It will be an organized trip and we will do it
openly,'' she said.
Asked where she would go, Suu Kyi replied: ``I will let you know later,''
adding, ``We never announce our future strategy.''
Suu Kyi and other senior NLD officials were kept confined to their homes in
Yangon cut off from the outside world between September 2 and 14 after the
military authorities ended by force a roadside standoff with the group just
outside the capital.
Suu Kyi, her driver, and about a dozen of her colleagues had been stopped
by security forces on August 24 while attempting to travel to a party meeting
outside Yangon.
Denied permission to travel further and refusing to return to Yangon, the
group set up camp by the side of the road and confronted the police in a graphic
illustration of the restrictions placed on the NLD and its leaders.
It was the second time in two years that an attempt by Suu Kyi to leave the
capital had been foiled by the authorities and it led to a chorus of
international criticism of the Myanmar military and its treatment of the
pro-democracy opposition.
Kofi Annan Calls For Dialogue
The NLD won Myanmar's last democratic elections in 1990 by a landslide but
has never been allowed to govern. Suu Kyi spent six years under house arrest by
the military until 1995.
At the United Nations (news - web sites), Secretary-General Kofi Annan
welcomed the lifting of restrictions on Suu Kyi and Secretary of State Madeleine
Albright said she was ``gratified.''
Albright said authorities in the former Burma should follow up by
permitting Suu Kyi to move around the country, while opening a dialogue with the
NLD.
``The secretary-general reiterates his call for the government of Myanmar
to engage in a substantive political dialogue with opposition leaders, including
Aung San Suu Kyi, to initiate the process of national reconciliation as soon as
possible,'' a U.N. spokesman said.
Albright said a campaign on behalf of Suu Kyi at the United Nations this
week seemed to have had an impact. Albright and other female foreign ministers
said Tuesday they were ''appalled'' at her house arrest.
``I would only hope that we can continue to voice very loudly our
opposition to the Burmese authorities not allowing the democratically elected
NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi to take their rightful place and be able to have a
dialogue, which is what they want,'' Albright said.
Suu Kyi said she did not know exactly why the military had eased some of
the restrictions on her and her associates.
``It could be because of international pressure or it could be simply
because of a change of their minds,'' she said.
She said the NLD would challenge the legality of a police raid on NLD
offices on September 2.
``We can't accept that they raided our party's office because we are a
legally organized party. We cannot accept this. So we will try to sue the
government (for this),'' she said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Friday, 15 September, 2000,
11:37 GMT 12:37 UK
Suu Kyi to defy military again Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi says she will challenge the
military authorities again with another trip outside the capital, Rangoon.
She was speaking after emerging from two weeks of virtual house arrest
imposed on her by the military when she tried to leave the city last month.
She said she would travel "openly" outside the capital in the next 10 days
for party organisational work.
"Stop us if you dare," said the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, challenging
the ruling military council.
Asked where she would go, Aung San Suu Kyi replied: "I will let you know
later...We never announce our future strategy."
Observers said she appeared to have lost some weight but looked healthy and
cheerful as she arrived at the NLD headquarters in Rangoon on Friday.
Some 200 supporters assembled there gave her red and pink roses.
The NLD won Burma's last democratic elections in 1990 by a landslide but
the military refused to hand over power.
Nine-day protest
Aung San Suu Kyi's house arrest followed a nine-day roadside protest with
several other members of the NLD, after they were barred from travelling to a
party meeting on 24 August.
The military forcibly ended the stand-off on 2 September and confined the
leader and other members to their homes.
Aung San Suu Kyi said she did not know why the military had lifted the
restrictions on Thursday.
"It could be because of international pressure or it could be simply
because of a change of their minds," she added.
She also announced the NLD planned to mount a legal challenge to a police
raid on its headquarters during the roadside protest.
Correspondents say there are fears the generals plan to use material seized
during their search to try to discredit the NLD or even try to have it banned
altogether.
The United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan welcomed the lifting of
restrictions and urged the military government to start political talks with the
NLD.
Telephone lines to Aung San Suu Kyi and to the NLD headquarters are
reported to have been reconnected.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, September 15 5:15 PM SGT
Aung San Suu Kyi to defy junta ban on travel outside Yangon YANGON, Sept 15 (AFP) - Myanmar
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said Friday she would make a trip outside
Yangon within the next few days in defiance of the ruling military junta's ban
on travel outside the capital.
"As I'm not legally restricted in any way we have decided that it is time
for us to make this clear. I shall travel outside Rangoon (Yangon) within the
next few days," the Nobel peace laureate said.
"This will be an organised trip and will be done openly," she said to the
cheers of 300 supporters outside the National League for Democray headquarters
here.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, September 15 2:34 PM SGT
Singapore establishes ASEAN cultural heritage conservation centre SINGAPORE, Sept 15 (AFP) -
Singapore has established a centre housing 90,000 priceless artefacts from
Southeast Asia, including 150,000-year-old chopping tools discovered on the
Indonesian island of Java, officials said Friday.
The 22.5 million Singapore dollar (12.9 million US) Heritage Conservation
Centre -- Southeast Asia's first artefact repository and conservation facility
-- will be inaugurated later Friday but will not be opened to the public.
However, National Heritage Board officials said they plan to organise
school tours and special viewing sessions from April next year.
Among the artefacts in the centre is a set of chopping tools and hand axes
used by early humans discovered in central Java. They are estimated to be from
the Paleolithic age dating back 150,000 years, centre officials told AFP.
The collection also includes an oil portrait by US artist John Singer
Sargent worth 2.5 million US dollars and the Vesantara scroll which is a
33-metre (108.9-foot) Thai textile painting depicting the former life of Buddha
when he was Prince Vesantara.
The rarest treasure is a ceremonial textile used during headhunting rituals
in Sarawak and the smallest collection is a gold coin found probably in central
Java and dating between the 9th and 10th centuries.
"With the infrastructure in place, we hope to attract and offer training
opportunities for museum professionals and play and active role in heritage
development in the region," said centre director Loh Heng Noi.
The centre, protected by state-of-the-art security equipment, is fitted
with an air purification system to prevent the artefacts from
deteriorating.
Senior conservator Dean Sully was quoted in the Straits Times newspaper
Friday as saying "we are almost like health-care specialists because of the way
we care for these objects everyday."
Foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nationssigned a
declaration during their meeting last month in Bangkok to preserve and protect
the region's diverse and rich cultural heritage.
There have been reports of widespread theft from Southeast Asia's cultural
sites such as the ancient Angkor Wat temples in Cambodia.
In their declaration, the ministers said ASEAN member countries "shall
exert the utmost effort to protect cultural property against theft, illicit
trade and trafficking and illegal transfer" of cultural treasures.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, September 15 4:17 AM SGT
Myanmar Opposition To Test Freedoms By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Leaders
of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement, released Thursday after two weeks of
unofficial house arrest, said they will quickly begin political organizing to
test the limits of freedom allowed by the military government.
Ang San Suu Kyi and the eight other leaders of her National League for
Democracy party had been confined to their homes, denied telephone contact and
visits by all but their closest relatives.
A statement from the junta said the party members ``are no longer required
to stay at their respective residences'' and have been allowed to resume ``their
daily activities as usual.''
Diplomats who previously were blocked from calling on the party leaders
made visits Thursday. U.S. charge d'affaires Priscilla Clapp went to Suu Kyi's
house, and Suu Kyi told Clapp that she and other party members were in good
health, the U.S. Embassy reported.
Suu Kyi's party said it will test the government's sincerity Friday when it
reopens the party headquarters. It had been searched and sealed off by the
authorities.
The National League for Democracy's vice chairman, Tin Oo, said party
leaders will also try to travel outside Yangon again for party work.
When Suu Kyi and Tin Oo tried to drive to Kungyangon on Aug. 24, they were
stopped by security forces, who brought them back to the capital after a
nine-day standoff and then confined the party leaders to their homes.
``We will find out if we will be allowed freedom of movement,'' Tin Oo told
The Associated Press. ``We will travel again because we did not reach Kungyangon
last time. So we will try again.''
The restrictions against the party leaders drew international criticism,
mainly from the United States and Britain, who accused the regime of violating
the Myanmar opposition leaders' political rights.
The junta had cited an investigation into what it said were the democracy
party's suspected links with terrorists as the reason for imposing the
restrictions.
It also described Suu Kyi, 55, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner, as a
traitor collaborating with Western nations to destabilize Myanmar. Myanmar, also
known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962.
The party's chairman, Aung Shwe, met Thursday with Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the
third-ranking general in the ruling junta, the government statement said.
Khin Nyunt was quoted as saying: ``We have very much appreciated the NLD's
understanding of the government's fundamental obligation and responsibility to
protect the rights of all its citizens to a safe, secure and stable environment
and to safeguard the national security during the nation's transition to
democracy.''
No further details were available of the rare meeting between the party and
the regime, which refused to honor the party's sweeping 1990 general election
victory. The junta also put Suu Kyi under house arrest between 1989 and 1995.
Tin Oo said the 10-minute meeting had no meaning because Suu Kyi was not
present.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday, September 15 12:39 PM SGT
Myanmar Opposition Set To Reopen Office After Crackdown YANGON (AP)--After two weeks of
virtual house arrest, leaders of Myanmar's pro-democracy movement were set to
reopen their party headquarters Friday, vowing to test the limits of freedom
allowed them by the country's military government.
About 20 members of the National League for Democracy were gathering outside the simple two-story party office in downtown Yangon awaiting the arrival of 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders. On Thursday, the military regime announced it was lifting restrictions
against Suu Kyi and eight other NLD central executive committee members who had
been confined to their homes since Sept. 1, denied telephone contact and visits
by all but their closest relatives.
"We welcome the lifting of restrictions," said one NLD member outside the
office, who requested anonymity. "We are happy to know that our leaders are
healthy and well," she said.
NLD vice chairman Tin Oo said the party leaders planned to reopen the
headquarters later Friday morning to test the government's sincerity to let the
NLD resume party activities.
The office had been searched and sealed off by the authorities on Sept. 2
and documents seized. Security officials summoned a party organizer to witness
the return of documents Thursday, Tin Oo said.
Tin Oo said the NLD also planned to try to travel outside Yangon again. The
previous attempt by Suu Kyi and Tin Oo to drive to the town of Kungyangon on
party work had led to the security crackdown.
"We will find out if we will be allowed freedom of movement. We will travel
again because we did not reach Kungyangon last time. So we will try again," Tin
Oo told The Associated Press on Thursday.
Suu Kyi and 14 party colleagues were blocked by security forces outside
Yangon on Aug. 24 and ordered to go back. They refused and camped beside their
vehicles for nine days before police forcibly transported them back to Yangon
and confined them to their homes.
Restrictions Drew Vehement International Criticism
The restrictions drew vehement international criticism, mainly from the
United States and Britain, who accused the regime of blatantly violating the
Myanmar opposition leaders' political rights.
The government lifted the restrictions "partly because of international
pressure," Tin Oo said.
In New York, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters at
U.N. headquarters that she was "gratified" that Aung San Suu Kyi is now able to
receive some people at her residence.
"She is not yet able to have any kind of free movement around the country.
But I do believe that a concerted effort here at the United Nations through a
variety of ways to state the international community's disgust with what the
government authorities had done has had some impact," Albright said.
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan also welcomed the developments but
repeated his call on the government "to engage in a substantive political
dialogue with opposition leaders, including Aung San Suu Kyi, to initiate the
process of national reconciliation as soon as possible."
The junta had cited an investigation into what it said were NLD's suspected
links with terrorists as the reason for imposing the restrictions.
It also described Suu Kyi, 55, as a traitor collaborating with Western
nations to destabilize Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962.
The regime kept Suu Kyi under house arrest between 1989 and 1995. The NLD
won general elections in 1990 but was prevented from taking power. Hundreds of
its members have since been jailed.
Diplomats who had been physically blocked from calling on the NLD leaders
since Sept. 1 made visits Thursday. U.S. charge d'affaires Priscilla Clapp went
to Suu Kyi's house.
The NLD leader told Clapp that she and other party members were in good
health, a U.S. Embassy spokesman said.
On Thursday there was also a rare meeting between the NLD and the regime.
Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, the regime's third-ranking general, described his meeting
with NLD chairman Aung Shwe as "fruitful," a government statement said. No
further details were available of the meeting.
Amnesty International, the London-based human rights watchdog, expressed
concern over 16 NLD youth members and NLD Yangon Division chairman Soe Myint who
were reportedly still detained in Yangon's Insein Prison, a statement received
in Bangkok said Friday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday, September 15 3:47 PM SGT
Myanmar's Suu Kyi Off House Arrest YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi left her residence Friday after two weeks
of virtual house arrest and dared the military government to stop her plans to
travel outside the capital.
Accompanied by other leaders of her National League for Democracy, Suu Kyi
entered her party headquarters in downtown Yangon. The office had been sealed
off by authorities on Sept. 2.
``We are a legal political party and they have no right to raid our
party,'' Suu Kyi told a press conference at the headquarters.
She said she would be traveling ``openly'' outside the capital within the
next 10 days for party organizational work.
``It is high time that the SPDC stops putting restrictions on our rights,''
she said, referring to the ruling military council in Myanmar, which is known as
the State Peace and Development Council.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful struggle for
democracy in Myanmar - also known as Burma - did not say where she planned to
travel to, but challenged the military authorities: ``Stop us if you dare.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Sunday Times (UK)
Sep 15, 2000. Diplomats see 'defiant' Suu Kyi Burma's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, 55, was last night described
as "thinner and paler" but still defiant after the military regime relaxed
security restrictions and allowed her to have visitors for the first time in
three weeks.
She told British and American diplomats that she was wrestled to the ground by six policewomen and forcibly driven back to Rangoon when the Government ended a nine-day roadside stand-off outside the capital on September 2. Since then she has been under house arrest. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Daily Telegraph
Friday 15 September 2000 Suu Kyi uncowed as junta frees her from house arrest By Alex Spillius in Bangkok BRITISH diplomats visited Aung San Suu Kyi yesterday and declared her
"uncowed and ready to carry on the fight" after Burma's military regime lifted
tight restrictions on the pro-democracy leader.
A spokesman for the British embassy in Rangoon said: "She was well and in good spirits but thinner from her ordeal." Miss Suu Kyi told the envoys that she was wrestled to the ground by six policewomen as 200 security officers forcibly returned her and 14 party colleagues to the capital, Rangoon, on Sept 1. Some of her supporters were manhandled up and handcuffed, she said. The
group had been trapped in a paddy field in Dallah for nine days, prevented from
attempting to visit a party office near Rangoon.
In the harshest action for years against the Nobel peace laureate and her
National League for Democracy, Miss Suu Kyi was padlocked in her house for 12
days. Her whole central executive were also kept in their homes incommunicado.
The army raided the NLD's headquarters and removed large quantities of
paperwork, claiming it was investigating alleged links with terrorism. Yesterday
the office was apparently open, although armed men maintained a guard outside.
The British spokesman said: "Miss Suu Kyi was understandably furious that the
NLD offices were raided. It is a legal political party."
The NLD won a landslide victory in elections in 1990 but has never been
allowed to govern by the military. The compound of Miss Suu Kyi's house on
University Avenue, where she was held under house arrest from 1989 to 1995, was
busy with NLD members, including its vice-chairman, Tin Oo, and other
well-wishers. The American chargé d'affaires, Priscilla Clapp, was the first
foreign visitor. The British were followed by representatives from the United
Nations Development Fund.
A spokesman for the US embassy quoted Miss Suu Kyi as saying that the NLD
had been told it was free to resume party work. He said: "They are back in
business, to the extent they can do business in this country." A commentary in a
state newspaper was typically virulent, saying that if she and her followers
returned to Dallah, "they would be meat for vultures".
The easing of the restrictions were unexpected. Earlier in the day
diplomats from Britain and America, who led international protests against the
opposition leader's treatment, were yet again barred from seeing her. Diplomats
have been baffled by the timing of the action against Miss Suu Kyi and her
party. It coincided with the UN Millennium Summit, guaranteeing maximum
international condemnation of the regime.
A diplomatic source said: "I can't explain why the military did what they
did and I am not sure they could explain. But it fits into the long campaign
against the NLD and the mass rallies where people are coerced into renouncing
the party or resigning from the party."
Miss Suu Kyi, 55, is the daughter of the independence leader Aung San, and
has two sons by her late husband, the Oxford academic Michael Aris. The military
regime denied permission for him to make a final visit to his wife when he was
dying of cancer last year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
International Herald Tribune
Paris, Friday, September 15, 2000 Burma Eases Hold On Political Foes RANGOON -(Reuters) - Burma's
military rulers on Thursday lifted some of their controls on Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, the opposition leader, allowing diplomats to see her for the first time
since she was confined to her home since Sept. 2.
The government said it had lifted the home-confinement orders that were imposed on Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and other senior members of the National League for Democracy, the political party know by its initials, NLD. ''Since noon today,'' the government said in a statement, ''senior NLD
members are no longer required to stay at their respective residences,'' adding
that they could resume ''their daily activities as usual.''
The government has insisted that the confinements were not house arrests,
saying senior NLD members had merely been asked to stay at home while the
authorities investigated whether party members had been involved in ''terrorist
activity.''
As word spread that visits would be allowed, several diplomats went to the
home of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, 55. Those who had tried to see her were previously
turned away by security officials posted outside her house.
''She is in good health and glad to be visited, but she has yet to test
whether she is really free to leave her house and move without restrictions,''
said one Western diplomat who visited Thursday.
U Lwin, a member of the party's central executive committee, said he had
also visited the pro-democracy leader's home Thursday. ''She's fine,'' he said.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi had not been heard from since she was forcibly
returned to Rangoon on Sept. 2 after a nine-day vigil in her car south of the
capital to protest government restrictions on her freedom of movement.
Although she has not officially been confined to the capital, the police
have stopped all of her attempts to leave.
The party's headquarters, also shut down by the government in the
crackdown, were reopened but had not yet been reoccupied by party members.
The crackdown on the party provoked a barrage of international criticism
and was condemned by several world leaders at the United Nations Millennium
Summit meeting in New York last week. The Burmese government accused its critics
of meddling.
The government announced Thursday that Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, the
military intelligence chief, had met with the party chairman, U Aung Shwe.
''The government expressed appreciation for the cooperation of the senior
NLD members for staying at home as requested during the course of the
investigation and its regret for the inconvenience caused to those involved,'' a
statement said.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Financial Times
Suu Kyi 'will test junta again' By William Barnes in Bangkok Published: September 15 2000 03:09GMT | Last Updated: September 15 2000 03:25GMT Aung San Suu Kyi, the Burmese opposition leader, promised more probing of the military government's defences after her "house arrest" was ended on Thursday. She signalled that she thought her thwarted attempt to hold a political
meeting outside the capital had achieved a victory over the ruling generals.
"This is not the end of it. The message was very much 'watch this space',"
said a diplomat who was allowed to see her for the first time in three weeks.
"She insisted that this was an incident that they [the military] created. That
the National League for Democracy had to go about its business to stay alive."
Ms Suu Kyi and 15 party members, including Tin Oo, her septuagenarian
deputy, spent nine days in their two vehicles after being blocked from leaving
the capital by police. She and her colleagues were then kept incommunicado in
their homes for two weeks after police broke the stand-off.
The move pushed Burma back into international headlines and elicited biting
criticism of the regime at the United Nations' Millennium Summit in New York,
but noticeably failed to draw any significant response from influential Asian
neighbours in the Association of South East Asian Nations, Japan, India or
China.
"I think she won, but it was a rather costly victory," said Josef
Silverstein, professor emeritus at Rutgers University. "No one really broke
ranks internationally and the local population is obviously too cowed to be able
to show in any way that they were with her."
The military government has intensified its attempts to pull the NLD apart
in recent months by trumpeting regular "resignations" from the party and its
claims that she is now isolated and irrelevant.
"It was a bit of theatre but a powerful one. Not a thousand press releases
would have given countries edging closer to the military so much pause for
thought," said a Bangkok-based diplomat.
Burma is scheduled to meet the European Union in December, with the rest of
Asean; Japan is eager to engage with Burma, and Australia, which now opposes
sanctions, is running a programme of human rights courses in Rangoon.
The regime's clear desire to end the furore suggests that even relatively
sympathetic Asean neighbours may have quietly warned it of the consequences of
letting the situation fester. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar, Japanese Surgeons Jointly Treat
Patients
YANGON (Sept. 15) XINHUA -
Myanmar and Japanese surgeons jointly and successfully treated cardiac patients
at the Myanmar Defense Services Hospital here Thursday without conducting
surgical operations.
With the use of a Siemens Bicor machine, six local cardiac patients were successfully treated by conducting coronary artery bypass graft on them, official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Friday. It was Myanmar surgeons' another cooperation with foreign counterparts in
treating such patients after similar cooperation with Singaporean surgeons in
August 1997.
Meanwhile, Myanmar surgeons have also successfully carried out orthopedic
operation and knee replacement on patients in cooperation with Singaporean
counterparts in recent years.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Financial Times
Burma relents on Suu Kyi By FT.com staff Published: September 14 2000 15:35GMT | Last Updated: September 14 2000 15:38GMT Burmese authorities on Thursday lifted a two-week old block on the
movements of Aung San Suu Kyi and other leaders of Burma's National League for
Democracy (NDL), following mounting international criticism of the government's
commitment to the respect of human rights record.
Officials denied that Ms Suu Kyi and her colleagues were under house
arrest, saying they had been staying at home while investigations into alleged
terrorist activity were carried out.
The restrictions were lifted after a meeting between the military and the
NDL chairman.
Diplomats who visited Ms Kyi in her home said she was in good spirits
although she had lost weight. Telephone lines to Ms Kyi's house and opposition
headquarters have been reconnected.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Sep 15,
2000.
EPIDEMIC - Burmese can now come in for medical treatment Doctors must report seriously ill patients Aphaluck Bhatiasevi The Ministry of Public Health has confirmed there has been no influx of
Burmese people seeking medical treatment in Thailand but added the country is
prepared to let them in for humanitarian reasons if they need medication.
Recent reports confirmed the spread of an epidemic which reportedly killed
hundreds of people over the past two months in the United Wa State Army town of
Yawn.
Concerns arose that along with patients seeking medication in Thailand,
some Wa drug dealers might also have sneaked into the country.
Dr Sombat Thanprasertsuk, director of the Ministry of Public Health's
Epidemology Division, said it is still unknown if Wa people are infected with
scrub typhus, typhoid or malaria.
A source at the World Health Organisation said it was likely that health
authorities in Rangoon had not been alerted about the matter because of internal
politics between the government and minority groups.
About 5,000 Wa people have reportedly fallen ill or died from malaria,
anthrax, typhoid, scrub typhus and leptospirosis.
Chiang Rai governor Samroeng Panayopakorn yesterday warned Thai medical
practitioners along the border to notify authorities if they accepted seriously
sick people for treatment.
Pol Col Songkran Sangkhakorn, the immigration police chief in Mae Sai
district which is opposite the Burmese border township of Thachilek, said it was
possible some Wa patients might have crossed the border to seek treatment at any
of the 20 or so private clinics in Mae Sai district by disguising themselves as
Burmese.
He said about 300 Burmese came across the border via the Mae Sai permanent
crossing and two other checkpoints each day to work or shop.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation - Sep 16,
2000.
British, US diplomats allowed to visit Suu Kyi RANGOON - Burma's military junta yesterday lifted some of the security
restrictions on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, allowing diplomats to visit
her for the first time since her stand-off with and subsequent detention by the
authorities, diplomats said yesterday.
"We just completed a visit to see Aung San Suu Kyi and Tin Oo. We were
allowed to see them, although it remains unclear whether they will be allowed to
go around Rangoon freely," said a spokeswoman at the British Embassy.
Officials from the US Embassy, too, had visited Suu Kyi at her residence,
where all the senior leaders of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party
had gathered in a key meeting, the spokeswoman said.
Suu Kyi and NLD chief Tin Oo were noticeably thinner than they had looked
before they were placed under house arrest, and the two clearly appeared
grateful to be able to see visitors,she added.
The junta said earlier yesterday that several detained opposition leaders
were no longer required to stay in their homes, where they had been under house
arrest since September 2.
"Since noon today [Thursday], those senior National League for Democracy
members are no longer required to stay at their respective residences, resuming
their daily activities as usual," the government said in a statement.
But the NLD leaders stressed at the meeting with diplomats that the most
recent developments were not particularly encouraging, the embassy spokeswoman
said.
The NLD leaders said "it's not like they're back to square one now that
people can visit them. They're at square minus-one as their headquarters remain
closed and it doesn't appear yet that they can go around Rangoon freely," she
said.
When asked about the development, Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan
declined to comment.
But according to a diplomatic source in Bangkok, the lifting of
restrictions showed that the ruling regime has been under immense pressure to
improve the situation in anticipation of a United Nations resolution condemning
it. Other important meetings including the upcoming Asean-European Union
Ministerial Meeting in Vientiane are also in jeopardy and Burma would probably
be blamed for any failure, he said.
Also yesterday, NLD chairman Aung Shwe met Secretary-One Khin Nyunt, the
third-ranking general in the ruling State Peace and Development Council.
"We have had a fruitful meeting," Khin Nyunt was quoted as saying in the
government statement."We have very much appreciated the NLD's understanding of
the government's fundamental obligation and responsibility to protect the rights
of all its citizens to [enable] a safe, secure and stable environment and to
safeguard national security during the nation's transition to democracy," he
added.
Also attending the meeting was deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win, who
was quoted describing it as "frank, cordial and fruitful".
In another surprise development, a US Republican congressman in Washington
proposed on Wednesday that "some degree of immunity" be given to Burma's
military leaders.
Republican John Cooksey, who visited the country, said at a House
subcommittee hearing that the government of the Southeast Asian country has made
some effort to stem the flow of drugs. However, the military regime is holding
back progress, he added.
He said Burma is a country of good, smart people where "the dummies have
the guns".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation, Agencies - Sep 16,
2000.
Anti-drug forces raid villages on
Burmese border
CHIANG RAI - Hundreds of heavily armed forces yesterday conducted a massive
predawn raid on 49 villages in the North and Northwest in an escalation of the
fight against drug trafficking, police said.
In an operation of unprecedented size, border patrol officers, rangers, and
anti-narcotics officers participated in the raids, which focused on villages
along the Burmese border.
Armed with machine guns, the forces moved into villages in Chiang Rai,
Chiang Mai, Tak, Lampang and Mae Hong Son provinces starting at about 4am,
according to a reporter from Agence France-Presse.
The armed men made house-to-house searches in areas where they believed
amphetamine refineries and warehouses were located, the reporter said.
"We wanted to reduce drug traffickers' influence and to make them realise
that we are serious," Pol Colonel Narongsak Pha-ara said.
Santisuk village in Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district was the focus of the
raids, but police failed to uncover any drugs, refineries or suspected
traffickers there.
Pol Major Somkiat Sitthideja, chief of the Phamuang Taskforce, said leaders
of Burma's United Wa State Army were believed to be living in Santisuk. However,
a search revealed only communications equipment such as satellite dishes and
two-way radios.
Meanwhile in Lampang, police seized 4 million amphetamine tablets from a
truck heading from Chiang Rai's Mae Saruay district near the Burmese border to
Nakhon Sawan province.
Police discovered the tablets when they stopped and searched a truck
carrying construction gravel at 4am, said Maj General Jesada Promsaka na
Sakolnakorn.
The tablets were packed in plastic bags and buried beneath the gravel, he
said.
Jesada said the driver confessed to being hired to drive the drugs to
Nakhon Sawan. The border area where he came from is close to territory held by
the Wa army, which is believed to be a large-scale producer of amphetamines.
In Phitsanuloke, police stopped a car and detained two men inside believed
to be members of the same gang as the truck driver. However, a search failed to
locate any drugs, and police said the men might have dumped the pills after
learning the truck driver had been arrested.
Jesada said police in the North have seized more than 10 million tablets
already this year, an increase over the same period last year.
Police say more than 22 million tablets were confiscated nationwide during
the first six months of the year.
Authorities say most of the amphetamines flooding the country come from
Burma. The Narcotics Control Board estimates that 600 million amphetamine
tablets worth Bt50 billion will be smuggled in from Burma this year.
For the past few years, anti-drug officials have said methamphetamines have
become a bigger menace than heroin. As a result, the death penalty has been
extended to cover methamphetamine traffickers. It already had covered
traffickers of opium and heroin.
Thirty-four traffickers have been sentenced to death this year, while last
year a total 17 people were sentenced to death for either trafficking or murder.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC - Thursday, 14 September, 2000,
20:58 GMT 21:58 UK
Analysis: Have the Generals backed down? By Burma Analyst Larry Jagan and Asia reporter Clare Arthurs
The military authorities stubbornly resisted international pressure to lift
the restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi, telling the world not to meddle in Burma's
affairs.
Despite that stance, the removal of the restrictions which cut off the
democracy leader and many of her colleagues from the world, are not altogether
surprising.
Less than two weeks ago, the Burmese ambassador in London told a British
minister that diplomats would be allowed to visit the opposition leader in about
mid-September.
What was unexpected, however, was the meeting between the regime's powerful
Secretary Number One, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, and the Chairman of the
National League for Democracy (NLD), U Aung Shwe.
'Cordial and fruitful'
It has been three years since there has been direct contact between the
military officers of the State Peace and Development Council and the party which
won elections a decade ago.
Talks broke down over the NLD's insistence that Aung San Suu Kyi should be
included.
According to the government website, Thursday's meeting was "frank, cordial
and fruitful".
The statement contained the usual Burmese government rhetoric, repeating
the military's assurances that it was handling the transition to democracy.
However, one western diplomat who asked not to be named was told the
meeting was brief and merely informed that the NLD chairman that restrictions on
visits to senior NLD members had been lifted.
Offices raided
Now able to receive visitors NLD officials are said to be angry that their
office in Rangoon was closed and reportedly ransacked during Aung San Suu Kyi's
roadside stand-off with the Burmese authorities.
There are now fears that the generals plan to use material seized during
their search to try to discredit the NLD or even try to have it banned
altogether.
Aung San Suu Kyi's latest confrontation with the authorities guaranteed
Burma was on the agenda at the United Nations Millennium Summit last week,
whatever the military intended.
But it is not yet clear whether these latest developments indicate that
pressure on the party will ease.
Deadlock stays
The Burmese authorities are keen to portray the lifting of restrictions on
Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues as a positive development - the NLD, on the
other hand, says nothing has changed.
The Burmese military are still steadfastly refusing to talk with the NLD
about resolving the country's political deadlock.
Burma's military leaders may be hoping its latest move will stem some of
the international criticism directed at them in recent weeks.
But many observers fear that this is only a pause before the Generals try
once again to crush the NLD.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South China Morning Post
Friday, September 15, 2000 BURMA - Freed leaders vow to fight on ASSOCIATED PRESS in Rangoon Leaders of Burma's pro-democracy movement freed on Thursday from two weeks
of unofficial house arrest said on Friday they will renew attempts to organise
politically to test the limits of freedom allowed them by the country's military
government.
Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her pro-democracy work, and eight other leaders of her National League for Democracy had been confined to their homes for the last two weeks, denied telephone contact and visits by all but their closest relatives. A statement from the junta said the opposition members ''are no longer
required to stay at their respective residences'' and have been allowed to
resume ''their daily activities as usual''.
The NLD said it will test the government's sincerity on Friday when it
re-opens the party headquarters. It had been searched and sealed off by the
authorities.
NLD vice chairman Tin Oo said party leaders will also try to travel outside
Rangoon again for party work. The previous attempt by Ms Suu Kyi and Mr Tin Oo
to drive to the town of KungRangoon had led to the security crackdown.
''We will find out if we will be allowed freedom of movement. We will
travel again because we did not reach KungRangoon last time. So we will try
again,'' Mr Tin Oo said.
Ms Suu Kyi and 14 party colleagues were blocked by security forces outside
Rangoon on August 24 and ordered to go back. They refused and camped beside
their vehicles for nine days before police forcibly transported them back to
Rangoon, where they were put under virtual house arrest.
The restrictions drew vehement international criticism, mainly from the
United States and Britain, who accused the regime of blatantly violating the
Burma opposition leaders' political rights.
A statement from the junta said the opposition members ''are no longer
required to stay at their respective residences'' and have been allowed to
resume ''their daily activities as usual''.
The NLD said it will test the government's sincerity on Friday when it
re-opens the party headquarters. It had been searched and sealed off by the
authorities.
NLD vice chairman Tin Oo said party leaders will also try to travel outside
Rangoon again for party work. The previous attempt by Ms Suu Kyi and Mr Tin Oo
to drive to the town of KungRangoon had led to the security crackdown.
''We will find out if we will be allowed freedom of movement. We will
travel again because we did not reach KungRangoon last time. So we will try
again,'' Mr Tin Oo said.
Ms Suu Kyi and 14 party colleagues were blocked by security forces outside
Rangoon on August 24 and ordered to go back. They refused and camped beside
their vehicles for nine days before police forcibly transported them back to
Rangoon, where they were put under virtual house arrest.
The restrictions drew vehement international criticism, mainly from the
United States and Britain, who accused the regime of blatantly violating the
Burma opposition leaders' political rights.
The government lifted the restrictions ''partly because of international
pressure,'' Mr Tin Oo said.
In New York, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at UN
headquarters that she was ''gratified'' that Ms Suu Kyi is now able to receive
some people at her residence, and that the offices of her National League for
Democracy have now been reopened.
''She is not yet able to have any kind of free movement around the country.
But I do believe that a concerted effort here at the United Nations through a
variety of ways to state the international community's disgust with what the
government authorities had done has had some impact,'' Mrs Albright said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
South China Morning Post
Friday, September 15, 2000 BURMA - Defiant Suu Kyi leaves residence ASSOCIATED PRESS in Rangoon Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader, left her residence on
Friday after two weeks of virtual house arrest and dared the military government
to stop her plans to travel outside the capital.
On Thursday, the military regime announced it was lifting restrictions against Ms Suu Kyi and eight other central executive committee members of her National League for Democracy who had been confined to their homes since September 1, denied telephone contact and visits by all people but their closest relatives. The government did so after other countries and the United Nations had sharply criticised it for confining Ms Suu Kyi and her party. Accompanied by other leaders of her National League for Democracy, Ms Suu
Kyi on Friday entered her newly reopened party headquarters in downtown Rangoon.
''We are a legal political party and they have no right to raid our party,'' she
told reporters there.
''I shall be travelling outside Rangoon within the next ten days for party
organisational work. It will be an organised trip, and we will do it openly. It
is high time that the SPDC stops putting restrictions on our rights,'' she said.
SPDC, or the State Peace and Development Council, is the ruling military council
in Burma.
Ms Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her peaceful struggle
for democracy in Burma, did not say where she planned to travel to, but she
challenged the military authorities by saying: ''Stop us if you dare.''
On August 24, Ms Suu Kyi and 14 party colleagues were blocked by security
forces outside Rangoon and ordered to return home. They refused and camped
beside their vehicles for nine days before police forcibly transported them back
to Rangoon and confined them to their residences.
That crackdown drew vehement international criticism of the government,
mainly from the United Nations and from United States and Britain, which accused
the regime of blatantly violating the Burma opposition leaders' political
rights.
When the government lifted restrictions on Ms Suu Kyi on Thursday, US
Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told reporters at UN headquarters in New
York that she was ''gratified'' that Ms Suu Kyi is now able to receive some
people at her residence and that the offices of her party have been reopened. UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan also welcomed the lifting of restrictions and
repeated hiscall on the government to engage in a substantive political dialogue
with opposition leaders, including Ms Suu Kyi.
On Friday, Ms Suu Kyi, holding red and pink roses handed to her by some of
the around 200 supporters congregated outside her party office, looked cheerful
as she arrived there alongside party chairman Aung Shwe and vice-chairman Tin
Oo.
Observers said she appeared to have lost a little weight during her
stand-off with the government but that she looked healthy.
Ms Suu Kyi thanked the international community for its support.
''We always appreciate the international support to our cause and our
rights,'' she told reporters. ''I want to thank all those who stood up for our
rights, for freedom of movement and freedom of party organisation.''
''We hope that they'll stand by us during staunchly for full restoration of
rights not just of the NLD but for all the people of Burma,'' she said.
A commentary Friday in a Kyemon newspaper, a mouthpiece of the regime,
accused the United States and Britain of interfering in Burma's internal affairs
by aiding the ''internal traitors'' - a thinly veiled reference to the NLD. Ms
Suu Kyi rejected allegations that her party had links with terrorist
organisations, which the junta had used to justify its raid on the party
headquarters and the restrictions on NLD leaders.
The regime kept Ms Suu Kyi under house arrest between 1989 and 1995. The
NLD won general elections in 1990, but it was prevented from taking power.
Hundreds of its members have since been jailed.
On Friday, Amnesty International, the London-based human rights watchdog,
expressed concern over 16 NLD youth members and NLD Rangoon Division chairman
Soe Myint, who were reportedly still being detained in Rangoon's Insein
Prison.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Straits Times - Sep 15,
2000.
Thailand launches border raid on drug traffickers Armed with machine guns, hundreds of members of the armed forces conduct
house-to-house searches for "speed' refineries and warehouses
CHIANG RAI (Thailand) -- Hundreds of members of the armed forces yesterday
launched a massive pre-dawn raid on 49 villages across north-west Thailand in an
attempt to wipe out a growing drugs scourge.
In this operation of unprecedented size, border guards, rangers and
anti-narcotics officers raided the villages near the Thai-Myanmar border.
For two hours, starting at 4 am, the forces moved into villages in Chiang
Rai, Chiang Mai, Tak, Lampang and Mae Hong Son provinces, equipped with machine
guns.
They made house-to- house searches, where they believed amphetamine
refineries and warehouses were located.
Police Colonel Narongsak Pha-ara said: ""We wanted to reduce the influence
of drug traffickers and to make them realise that we are serious.''
Police in Lampang province intercepted a truck driver at a checkpoint and
found four million amphetamine tablets, also known as ""speed'', hidden under
rocks in his truck, anti-drug officials said.
The seizure ""was the largest drug haul ever in the northern region'', they
said.
Police said the truck driver confessed that he had been hired to transport
the drugs from Myanmar into Thailand.
Each tablet has a street value of 70 to 80 baht (S$2.90 to S$3.40) on the
Bangkok market, they said.
Thai community leaders warned that drug addiction was reaching crisis
proportions, with more than 600,000 youths reportedly hooked on amphetamines.
The Thai military estimated that 600 million amphetamine pills flooded into
Thailand from across the 2,000-km border with Myanmar last year.
Myanmar is a major source of amphetamines and some Western states have
accused the ruling military junta of turning a blind eye to the production and
trafficking of the drugs.
Thai police expressed satisfaction that the action would help staunch the
flow of amphetamines.
""We are satisfied the mission is a success,'' Col Narongsak said.
Yet some officers said traffickers had been tipped off about the raid ahead
of time and could have moved their operations and supply houses.
Police sources also indicated that more anti-drugs actions would be
launched in the near future. --AFP ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |