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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 05, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Asean rules out Burma
intervention
AFP - Myanmar crackdown may jeopardise talks
with ASEAN: EU trade chief
AFP - Methamphetamines becoming scourge of
Thailand
AFP - ASEAN and UN to unveil action plan for
drug-free Southeast Asia
UPI - Burma classifies
caffeine as narcotic drug
ABC online - Vietnam confirms Burma contacts but rules out
intervention
BBC - Market jitters mar Asean
meeting
The Straits Times - Asean commanders to
meet next month
BBC -Wednesday, 4 October, 2000, 16:07
GMT 17:07 UK
Asean rules out Burma intervention The South-East Asian regional grouping Asean has agreed to avoid outside
interference in the current political tensions in Burma, the Vietnamese
Government has announced.
A spokeswoman for the Vietnamese Foreign Ministry, which currently chairs the 10-nation organisation, said its "relevant" Asean partners had agreed that the latest events in Burma - itself an Asean member - were a matter for Burma alone. Last July Asean agreed to form a committee of three of its members to try
to resolve regional political and security disputes.
However, this announcement appears to indicate that Asean does not believe
that Burma's political conflict falls into this category.
Responding to reporters questions in Hanoi, Foreign Ministry spokeswoman
Phan Thuy Thanh said Asean ministers had agreed to stick by the principle of
non-interference in each others internal affairs.
"[O]n the basis of consensus and non-interference in each other's internal
affairs... we recognise that the latest changes in Myanmar are Myanmar's
internal affairs and external parties should not interfere," she said.
Burma's ruling military government is involved in a protracted dispute with
the pro-democracy opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.
Election victory
Her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD) won an overwhelming
victory in nationwide elections held 10 years ago.
Refusing to recognise the result the ruling military junta, currently known
as the State Peace and Development Council, has instead clamped down on the
NLD's members, detaining many without trial and restricting the movement of
others.
There have also been widespread reports of torture and of slave labour
being used in government construction projects.
House arrest
Last month, Aung San Suu Kyi was forcibly removed from Rangoon's main
railway station after the authorities blocked her attempt to travel outside the
city.
She has since been kept under de facto house arrest in her home on
Rangoon's University Avenue.
Telephone lines to the house have been cut and western diplomats and other
visitors have been denied access to her.
The move was strongly criticised by several countries, including the United
States and Britain and has cast a shadow over a planned meeting between Asean
and European Union foreign ministers in Laos this December.
Thursday, October 5 7:42 PM SGT
Myanmar crackdown may jeopardise talks with ASEAN: EU trade chief BANGKOK, Oct 5 (AFP) - A
crackdown by Myanmar's ruling junta on the opposition could jeopardise talks
between ASEAN and the European Union scheduled for December, the EU trade
commissioner Pascal Lamy warned Thursday.
"What has happened recently with Mrs Aung San Suu Kyi does not go in the
right direction. This situation cannot continue and internal steps have to be
taken by this regime and the democratic forces," Lamy told reporters in Bangkok
before attending an ASEAN economic ministers meeting.
Ministerial meetings between the EU and members of the Association of the
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) were suspended after Myanmar was admitted to the
regional organization in 1997.
However, in April the EU decided its stance against the junta should not
affect its longstanding relations with ASEAN and agreed to attend a ministerial
meeting in December in the Laotian capital, Vientiane.
When asked by reporters whether the meeting would be cancelled given the
apparent escalation in the junta's crackdown on the opposition National League
for Democracy (NLD), Lamy said: "It's probably too soon to tell. The answer at
this stage cannot be yes or no."
"It is something we will discuss with (EU Foreign Relations Commissioner)
Chris Patten and colleagues and the president of the commission ... and of
course in consultation with the member states," he added.
"You all know we have a huge problem there and that the EU has consistently
deplored the continual violation of human rights by this regime. We have a clear
position. It has not shifted an inch since it was taken by the ministers."
The European Union said last week it was "deeply concerned" over Myanmar's
renewed clampdown on the movements of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and
reiterated its call for the establishment of a dialogue between Myanmar and all
opposition parties.
Two weeks ago, Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders were escorted from
Yangon's railway station by police after being prevented from travelling to the
northern city of Mandalay to investigate reported crackdowns on the party. At
least 100 party supporters were rounded up and detained.
NLD deputy chairman Tin Oo is still being held at a military base 50
kilometres (30 miles) north of Yangon while Aung San Suu Kyi and other NLD
central executive committee members remain under de facto house arrest.
The NLD won a landslide general election victory in 1990, but the junta has
never recognised the result and is accused by foreign critics and human rights
groups of severe repression of its opponents. Thursday, October 5 12:27 PM SGT
Methamphetamines becoming scourge of Thailand BANGKOK, Oct 5 (AFP) - Sompoon shrugs her shoulders and
despondently strokes her hair at the mention of methamphetamines. But she is
just one of the many forgotten victims of Thailand's battle against a drug which
is threatening to become the scourge of the nation.
Sompoon does not take methamphetamines herself. She abhors
them. Instead she has to watch her 19-year old son as he steals and scavenges
for money to meet his craving.
Like many other Thais, Sompoon is struggling to come to
terms with a family member hooked on drugs.
Her son, Somsak, tried his first tablet or "ya ba" as it
is popularly known in Thailand, when he was 16. Now three years later he is
addicted, taking up to 10 tablets each day, while his mother watches on
helplessly.
"Having a family member addicted to methamphetamines, like
any other drug, completely destroys a family, There's nothing left," said Father
Joseph Maier of the Bangkok-based Human Development Foundation.
Sompoon worries every day and all day about her son. His
addiction has become an unbearable burden for both her and the rest of her
family.
With the help of Father Maier she is trying to wean Somsak
away from the highly addictive tablets but with little success.
But Somsak does not want to give up his daily uppers, and
until he actually reaches out and asks for help there is very little anyone can
do for him, Maier said.
"He is frightened that he will lose face among his drug
taking peers if he asks for help," Maier added. "If he carries on he will either
die from an overdose or end up in jail."
Somsak however is just one among more than 600,000 youths
reportedly hooked on methamphetamines, according to Thai community
leaders.
A report published last month by the Thai Farmers' Bank
Research Center said that in the capital alone between 200,000 and 300,000
workers were methamphetamine abusers, spending about a billion baht (24 million
dollars) a year on the drug.
Last year Thai authorities seized more than 50 million
tablets compared to 33.4 million in 1998 and just above nine million in 1996,
according to the country's Narcotics Control Board.
But Maier says these figures are just a fraction of the
number of tablets being produced in the country and being smuggled in across the
porous 2,000 kilometer (1,240 mile) Myanmar border.
He predicts that some 800 million tablets will be taken by
Thais this year, including by child addicts as young as five.
"Every school, kindergarten and university is swamped by
them," he said.
To give some sort of idea of the scale of the problem,
137,850 people were arrested last year on charges of trafficking or possession
of methamphetamines out of a total of 187,049 people arrested nationwide on all
drugs charges, Narcotics Control Board statistics reveal.
Many methamphetamine addicts believe the speed pills are
much more socially acceptable than heroin and are not as dangerous, the center's
study found, partly explaining why people from all levels of society have fallen
foul of their addictiveness.
Myanmar continues to be the major source of
methamphetamines for Thailand, according to western narcotics
experts.
Some western states have accused the ruling military junta
of turning a blind eye to the production and trafficking of the
drugs.
The Thai military estimated some 600 million amphetamine
pills flooded Thailand last year from Myanmar.
But narcotics experts are warning that more and more
tablets are being produced within the country as security forces step up efforts
to stem the cross border flow.
However methamphetamines made in Thailand are usually of
lesser quality and mixed with additives and therefore sell at a lower price, say
drug experts. Consequently poorer sections of society such as hill tribes or
fishermen who have traditionally been reliant on other drugs like opium, are
attracted to the tablets, a US embassy narcotics official said.
Moreover the incentives for dealing in methamphetamines
are enormous. Methamphetamine generates more profits for traffickers than all
the heroin consumed regionally and sent out of Southeast Asia to world markets,
Narcotics Control Board spokeswoman Suchada Rojanaridpiched said.
Money and time are not required to harvest crops such as
poppy plants in opium production. Moreover, unlike other drugs such as opium,
methamphetamine laboratories are highly mobile and can be set up on the back of
a truck, making the task of locating them significantly more difficult than
finding acres of poppy fields.
Thai users spend a total of about 50 billion baht a year
on the drug, the research centre said. A further 50 billion baht per year is
lost to the economy through treatment of drug abusers and related costs such as
reduced production.
Thursday, October 5 8:46 PM SGT
ASEAN and UN to unveil action plan for drug-free Southeast Asia BANGKOK, Oct 5 (AFP) - Southeast Asian countries, together
with China and the United Nations, have joined forces to draw up an action plan
to make the region drug-free by 2015, a senior UN official said
Thursday.
"We are going to propose a change in the international
fight against drugs" to ensure there are "clearly defined targets" and there is
more transparency than in the past, Sandro Calvani, head of the UN International
Drug Control Programme (UNDCP) for Asia told reporters.
The "comprehensive and coordinated" plan of action,
entitled "In pursuit of a drug-free ASEAN 2015", will establish clear and
measurable targets in the fight against the use of drugs and their trafficking
in Asia, he said.
There are more than 100 national, regional and
international drug control bodies in the region tasked with preventing the
illicit drug trade yet they all have their own mandates and methods, Calvani
said.
Even though individual agencies might be good at their
jobs "the insufficiency and absence of coordination among them can result in the
duplication of efforts, and the misuse and waste of resources," he
said.
The UNDCP is responding to a plea made at a July meeting
of ASEAN ministers for all member states to tackle "the drug menace" which is
threatening the stability of the region.
In particular they warned against the increasing threat
posed by the highly addictive "newly emerging drugs" like methamphetamines and
amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS).
Myanmar, one of the 10 ASEAN members, is said to be a
major source of methamphetamines and ATS, and some western states have accused
its ruling military junta of turning a blind eye to the production and
trafficking of the drugs.
More than 600 million amphetamine pills flooded into
Thailand last year across the porous 2,000 kilometer (1,240 mile) border with
Myanmar, according to Thai military estimates.
The region is also notorious for the "Golden Triangle" --
the border areas of Myanmar, Laos, Thailand -- which remains one of the world's
largest sources of illicit opium and heroin.
In response to a remark that the plan could lead to an
increase in human rights violations given the widespread differences between
police and judicial authorities within ASEAN and China, Calvani stressed that
all enforcement would have to remain "within the rule of law."
"And the rule of law is the rule of human rights. It does
not mean shutting up people on drugs or stopping the press," he
added.
The plan will be considered by an international congress
organized by the UNDCP to be held in Bangkok from October 11 to 13 and attended
by prime ministers, ministers and non-governmental organizations from across
Asia and Europe, Calvani said.
United Press International.
Burma classifies
caffeine as narcotic drug
Wednesday, 4 October 2000 8:03 (ET) RANGOON, Burma, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- Burma's state-controlled media
Wednesday published new government regulations declaring caffeine a narcotic
drug.
"The Ministry of Health of the Union of Myanmar
(Burma) proclaimed caffeine a narcotic drug or a chemical used as a precursor in
making psychotropic substances, in exercise of sub-section (b) of Section 16 and
sub-section (b) of Section 30 of the Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances
Law," said the brief announcement.
The announcement in the English language New Light
of Myanmar newspaper did not say whether coffee drinkers would be prosecuted
under the law or what the penalties for possession would be..
Burmese law carries tough penalties, including death, for the possession of
narcotics such as heroin and opium. It also classifies amphetamines, the
production of which are rampant at clandestine laboratories along the Thai
border, as narcotics.
The U.S. government has accused the ruling junta in
Burma of widespread and systematic involvement in the production of opium,
heroin and amphetamines.
ABC online - Oct 5,
2000.
Vietnam confirms Burma contacts but rules
out intervention
Vietnam says it has held contacts
with its southeast Asian partners over the mounting crisis in Burma, but insists
they had concluded there should be no intervention. BBC -Thursday, 5 October, 2000, 03:34
GMT 04:34 UK
Market jitters mar Asean meeting Economics ministers from member countries of the Association of South-East
Asian Nations (Asean) are meeting in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai amid
growing fears that the region is slipping back into financial crisis.
The meeting follows steep falls on Asian stock markets and concern over the political stability of several member states, notably Indonesia, Thailand and Philippines. Ministers want to sound a note of reassurance, signalling their intention
to deepen regional co-operation and tackle the problems facing them.
But our South East Asian correspondent, Simon Ingram, says even before
discussions begin in earnest such a message looks certain to be blurred by
doubts over the issue of free trade.
Trade barriers
Asean is committed to liberalising trade in most areas by two 2003, but
that objective suffered a blow earlier this year when Malaysia was given
clearance to maintain tariff barriers temporarily so as to protect its national
car industry.
That decision raised fears that other members would demand exemptions of
their own while sending a highly negative signal to foreign investors who
already see more tempting opportunities in China, Korea and elsewhere.
Finding a unified Asean voice on this and other issues is harder than ever
given the vast economic disparities within the organisation's ranks.
At one end is high-tech Singapore, at the other are the emerging relatively
primitive economies of Laos, Cambodia and Burma.
Achieving a meeting of minds here will be no easy matter.
The Straits Times - Oct 5,
2000.
Asean commanders to meet next month HONGKONG -- Thailand will host the first official meeting of army
commanders from Asean.
A senior Thai military officer was quoted in the latest edition of the Far
Eastern Economic Review magazine as saying the meeting of generals from the 10
Asean member countries would be held on Nov 10.
Previous military meetings have been held only at a bilateral level.
The gathering would be classed as an "informal" meeting in the form of a
handgun shooting tournament hosted by General Surayud Chulanont, a Thai army
commander.
The report added that a guest of honour from an 11th country, possibly from
the United States, would also attend.
The speculation was based on a statement by Admiral Dennis Blair,
commander-in-chief of the US Pacific Command, who said in Manila in September
that the US would focus less on bilateral military agreements in the region and
more on multilateral cooperation. --AFP
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