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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - OCT - 20, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
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AFP - Activist's release from Myanmar
jail imminent: British embassy
Reuters - British Activist Freed From Myanmar Jail
AP - Myanmar frees Briton after 415
days in solitary confinement
Reuters - Myanmar refugees strain
Bangladesh economy
AFP - Freed British human rights
campaigner lands in Thailand
AFP - Activist to return to London
after release from Myanmar jail: embassy The Times - Burma protester heading back to UK
Bkk Post - Burma's chance to be
reasonable
The Nation - Burma minorities
overlooked in peace efforts
Friday, October 20 2:34 PM SGT
Activist's release from Myanmar jail imminent: British embassy YANGON, Oct 20 (AFP) - Democracy activist James Mawdsley's release
from a Myanmar jail where he has served 14 months of a 17-year sentence was
imminent, a British embassy official said here Friday.
The embassy's vice-consul travelled to Keng Tung prison,
630 kilometres (390 miles) north of Yangon, to collect Mawdsley who has been
held in solitary confinement.
He was sentenced to 17 years in jail in September 1999 for
distributing pro-democracy leaflets. The stiff sentence was handed down because
he had already been deported twice from Myanmar in the two previous
years.
However, the embassy said reports quoting a Foreign Office
cable from London as saying the 27-year-old, a dual citizen of Britain and
Australia, had already been released, were wrong.
"The cable is very ambigious. We won't consider him
released until he is in the ambassador's care," the spokeperson
said.
The embassy is unable to contact the vice-consul and was
awaiting confirmation that the plane from Keng Tung had taken off for the four
and a half hour journey to Yangon.
"As far as we are aware the plane hasn't even left yet,"
the official said.
The vice-consul travelled to Keng Tung with an official
from Myanmar's foreign ministry, and had received all the necessary approvals
for Mawdsley's release.
"Providing all goes smoothly, they will be back on a plane
to Yangon shortly," the spokesperson said.
"But until we've got him here we can't say whether it's
definite. We're touching wood a lot."
Mawdsley was expected to be surrounded by guards from the
Myanmar military until he leaves Yangon airport with his mother Diana and a
British embassy escort.
The Mawdsleys are to fly home to London via Bangkok, where
the activist is expected to give a brief statement to the media.
Analysts say Myanmar's surprise decision to release
Mawdsley, announced earlier this week, is aimed at removing what has become an
increasingly troublesome irritant in its relations with the world
community.
A diplomatic row erupted between Myanmar and Britain last
month after Mawdsley said he had been beaten by his guards after complaining
about being kept in solitary confinement.
And last week the United Nations Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention declared the activist was being held in prison
illegally.
The Myanmar embassy in London has said the decision to let
him go was based on the "personal offers" of unnamed "prominent politicians" to
persuade him never to return illegally.
But diplomats said that while it is possible the junta was
responding to representations by the British and Australian embassies, it was
more likely to be motivated by the desire to be seen to be responsive to Western
concerns.
The government also announced Wednesday that it had
released six elderly political prisoners in line with a special request made
last week by visiting UN special envoy Razali Ismail.
Friday October 20 11:48 AM
ET
British Activist Freed From Myanmar Jail By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - A British activist jailed in
Myanmar for handing out pro-democracy leaflets was freed on Friday after serving
just over a year of his 17-year sentence, Britain said on Friday.
Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said James Mawdsley, 27, was
flown from Keng Tung, where he had been in prison, to the capital Yangon where
he was handed over to British officials and reunited with his
mother.
``I have just received the welcome news that James
Mawdsley is in the safe custody of our ambassador in Rangoon (Yangon),'' Cook
said in a statement. ``From there he will fly this evening to Bangkok and
freedom.''
Mawdsley's mother Diana earlier said from Yangon that she
was delighted at news her son was being freed. ``I am a very happy
mother.''
``He will be under heavy guard until we fly off for
Bangkok,'' she said, adding: ``The fact is that he is free.''
His father David told Reuters in London, however: ``I
don't consider him free until he is out of Burma.''
Mawdsley is expected to arrive in Britain early on
Saturday.
Myanmar agreed to free the human rights activist this
month after calls by the British government to release him.
``James' only crime was to highlight the suppression of
ethnic minorities in Burma (Myanmar) and to call for democratic change,'' Cook
said on Friday.
Stern Protest
The southeast Asian country's military rulers deal harshly
with dissent and keep an iron grip on the country.
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), led by
Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, won elections in 1990 by a landslide but
has never been allowed to govern.
The ruling generals say Myanmar is not ready for
democracy.
Last month, Britain lodged a stern protest with Myanmar's
ambassador to London over reports that Mawdsley had been beaten.
Myanmar denied Mawdsley had suffered a broken nose and
black eye at the hands of guards after complaining about being kept in solitary
confinement, saying that he had accidentally injured himself while resisting
being handcuffed.
Mawdsley has become a well-known figure among
pro-democracy activists in the West, many of whom are expected to welcome him
back when he returns to Britain.
Mawdsley's friend Mark Rowland, who has been lobbying for
his release, told Sky television he expected Mawdsley to continue his protests
against Myanmar's leadership when back in Britain.
Myanmar has warned Mawdsley that he will be thrown back in
jail if he returns to the country illegally.
His father said: ``James is a very determined man. But I
think he has achieved his aim of drawing attention to what is happening. He
would lose his credibility around the world if he was to go back, and it would
be against my wishes.''
It is unclear exactly why Mawdsley has been
released.
Diplomats have suggested Yangon may have responded to
pressure from other Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) members who
have grown exasperated by Myanmar's actions.
A planned meeting of ASEAN and European Union foreign
ministers in Laos in December is under threat because of international anger at
Myanmar's treatment of Suu Kyi.
The EU has boycotted ministerial meetings with ASEAN since
Myanmar was controversially admitted in 1997.
Diplomats said the release might also be linked to last
week's visit to Myanmar by United Nations (news - web sites) special envoy
Razali Ismail, who met ministers and also held meetings with Suu
Kyi.
Suu Kyi, 55, has been under de facto house arrest in
Yangon since September 22 when she was prevented from traveling by train to
Mandalay to meet party members. Her telephone has been cut and diplomatic access
barred.
Other senior NLD leaders face similar restrictions and the
party's vice chairman, U Tin Oo, is in government detention.
WIRE:10/20/2000 10:25:00
ET
Myanmar frees Briton after 415 days in solitary confinement YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A British human rights activist was
freed from a Myanmar prison Friday after serving nearly 14 months of a 17-year
sentence in solitary confinement for entering the country illegally.
James Mawdsley flew from Keng Tung, where the prison is
located, to Yangon and caught a connecting flight to Bangkok, Thailand en route
to London, airline officials said. He was accompanied on the flight to Bangkok
by his mother, Diana Mawdsley, the officials said. The British Foreign Office
said he is expected to arrive in London on Saturday morning.
Mawdsley"s release ends a yearlong tussle between Myanmar
and the British government that had put a spotlight on the Myanmar military
junta"s heavily criticized human rights record. Mawdsley, 27, was sentenced to
17 years in prison in September 1999 after he sneaked into Myanmar, also known
as Burma, to demonstrate against the junta.
He was charged with immigration offenses and violating a
publications law by handing out pro-democracy leaflets. Since his conviction, he
had been kept in an isolated cell at the Keng Tung prison. Last month, British
consular officials reported that Mawdsley had been beaten by guards and had
suffered a broken nose and two black eyes.
The Myanmar government said he had injured himself
accidentally in a scuffle with guards. Then, on Wednesday, Myanmar"s military
government said it had decided to deport Mawdsley because of requests by the
British Foreign Office to Myanmar"s ambassador in London.
In Seoul, South Korea, British Foreign Secretary Robin
Cook confirmed Friday that Mawdsley had been freed after 415 days in solitary
confinement. "James"s only crime was to highlight the suppression of ethnic
minorities in Burma and to call for democratic change," Cook said. He said
efforts by Mawdsley"s family and well-wishers coupled with British diplomatic
pressure played a key role in winning his freedom.
"This is the news we have been campaigning for, for over a
year," said Mark Rowland of Jubilee Campaign, a lobbying group that worked for
Mawdsley"s freedom. Myanmar"s military junta has been widely condemned for its
suppression of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi"s party and ethnic
minorities. The Jubilee Campaign statement quoted Mawdsley as saying in a
message conveyed earlier this month from prison that "the clock is ticking for
certain ethnic minorities." "If we do not strain ourselves to stop this
genocide, then their blood will be on our hands too," Mawdsley was quoted as
saying. "But I thank God we can make a difference."
Mawdsley, from Lancashire in northwest England, had been
arrested in Myanmar twice before his sentencing last year. In 1998, he served 99
days of a 7-year sentence. He was pardoned on condition he not return to the
country. He also holds an Australian passport.
WIRE:10/20/2000 07:51:00 ET
Myanmar refugees strain Bangladesh economy COX"S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Oct 20 (Reuters) - Thousands of Myanmar Muslims, fleeing
from military rule at home, arrive in Bangladesh every month, putting a strain
on the impoverished nation"s economy, officials said on Friday.
Bangladesh has been hosting nearly 21,000 refugees from
Myanmar for a decade now. "Nearly 21,000 Myanmar Muslim refugees, called
Rohingyas, are huddled in two camps in Bangladesh"s Cox"s Bazar district," said
Borhanuddin Ahmed, relief and repatriation commissioner at Cox"s Bazar,
bordering west Myanmar"s Muslim-majority Arakan province. The additional influx
has been causing a number of economic and social problems, he told Reuters.
"They are straining the area"s poor economy, have denuded
forests for cooking wood, involved in robbery and other crimes, and shared the
meagre jobs available," Borhanuddin said.
He said the illegal migrants worked for cheaper wages as
fishing crew or farm labourers, and also competed with the locals as traders.
"We are really at a loss about what to do with these illegal entrants.
It is feared that Cox"s Bazar population might be
outnumbered eventually by the Myanmar nationals as their inflow could not be
stemmed due to a vast open border, mostly running through jungles," he told
Reuters.
He said Bangladesh was still awaiting Yangon authorities
to repatriate the refugees from the two camps. But they seemed reluctant. They
are the remnants of more than 250,000 refugees, called Rohingyas, who fled to
Cox"s Bazar from Arakan province in 1991 trying to escape military persecution,
including killings and rape.
Most of the refugees have returned to Myanmar under the
supervision of the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), which said most
of those who crossed the borders had been economic refugees. The repatriation
process stopped in the middle of 1997. Borhanuddin said the number of Rohingyas
in and outside the camps had swelled due to more births than
deaths.
Friday, October 20 11:05 PM SGT
Freed British human rights campaigner lands in Thailand BANGKOK, Oct 20 (AFP) - British human rights campaigner James
Mawdsley arrived at Bangkok international airport late Friday after being freed
from prison in Myanmar, where he was sentenced to 17 years in jail in September
1999.
Mawdsley, 27, was jailed after being caught in possession
of "subversive" literature which criticised the regime in Myanmar.
Earlier British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook said in a
statement: "James's only crime was to highlight the suppression of ethnic
minorities in Burma and to call for democratic change."
Mawdsley landed in Bangkok after leaving Myanmar capital
Yangon earlier Friday and is expected to depart for London later Friday after
holding a press conference.
Friday, October 20 8:31 PM SGT
Activist to return to London after release from Myanmar jail: embassy YANGON, Oct 20 (AFP) - Democracy activist James Mawdsley is
expected to begin his journey home to London Friday after being released from
jail in the country's north, British embassy officials said.
The embassy's vice-consul travelled to Keng Tung prison,
630 kilometres (390 miles) north of here, early Friday to collect Mawdsley who
has been held in solitary confinement for 14 months.
He was sentenced to 17 years in jail in September 1999 for
distributing pro-democracy leaflets, after twice being deported from the country
for similar offences over the two previous years.
Due to poor telephone links with Keng Tung, the British
mission has been unable to contact its vice-consul and was awaiting confirmation
that Mawdsley was aboard a flight to Yangon.
"We have been told he has left Keng Tung but we can't
confirm that until he arrives in Yangon," an official said.
After his arrival in the capital the 27-year-old activist
is to be handed over to the British ambassador, formally marking his release
from authorities in the military-run state.
Mawdsley is scheduled to depart for Bangkok on a Thai
Airways International flight at 7:50 pm (1320 GMT) with his mother Diana and a
British embassy escort.
He is expected to make a brief statement to the media
during the stopover in Bangkok, and then fly on to London, arriving early
Saturday.
Mawdsley's father, David, said he was not sure whether his
son would decide to return to Myanmar a fourth time and risk an even stiffer
jail sentence, with markedly reduced prospects for an early
release.
"I am pretty confident that he won't say that (that he
wants to go back)" David Mawdsley told Sky News television in
London.
"(But) we must not assume what he is going to say. Let him
tell the world."
David Mawdsley said he was proud of his son's efforts to
promote democracy in Myanmar and highlight the plight of the ethnic minorities
who have been persecuted by the military government.
"I am very proud of him. James lived with the Karen and
the Shan in the jungle, he saw what was going on, he decided the only way to
bring world attention was to get himself inside and draw attention that way and
so everything has gone according to his plans."
Analysts say Myanmar's surprise decision to release
Mawdsley, announced earlier this week, is aimed at removing what has become an
increasingly troublesome irritant in its relations with the world
community.
A diplomatic row erupted between Myanmar and Britain last
month after Mawdsley said he had been beaten by his guards after complaining
about being kept in solitary confinement.
And last week the United Nations Working Group on
Arbitrary Detention declared the activist was being held in prison
illegally.
The Myanmar embassy in London has said the decision to let
him go was based on the "personal offers" of unnamed "prominent politicians" to
persuade him never to return illegally.
But diplomats said that while it is possible the junta was
responding to representations by the British and Australian embassies, it was
more likely to be motivated by the desire to be seen to be cooperating with the
West.
The government also announced Wednesday that it had
released six elderly political prisoners in line with a special request made
last week by visiting UN special envoy Razali
Ismail.
The Times (UK)
FRIDAY OCTOBER 20 2000 PA Burma protester heading back to UK James Mawdsley, the British human rights campaigner, has been freed after
415 days' solitary confinement in a Burmese jail, Robin Cook, the Foreign
Secretary, confirmed today.
The 27-year-old from Lancashire left the notorious Keng Tung prison to fly
to Rangoon this morning and is now due to jet back to Britain.
"I have just received news that James Mawdsley is in the safe custody of
our ambassador in Rangoon and has been reunited with his mother," said Mr
Cook.
"From there he will fly this evening to Bangkok and freedom."
According to details issued by the Foreign Office earlier, Mr Mawdsley is
expected to arrive at Heathrow at 0530BST tomorrow.
Mark Rowland of the Jubilee Campaign, a lobby group that has worked for his
freedom, said: "This is an epic example of one individual's sacrifice to
challenge oppression.
"James has made his stand because of the appalling genocide against the
Karen and other ethnic minorities in Burma.
Mr Mawdsley's mother, Diana, who has been in Burma since September 4, was
expected to accompany him back to Britain.
The former Bristol University student was jailed for 17 years in September
last year after being arrested in Burma for protesting against the military
regime's slaughter of ethnic groups and carrying pro-democracy leaflets.
His arrest on August 31 last year was the third time Burmese authorities
had detained him in two years.
Earlier this month the United Nations ruled that Mr Mawdsley was being held
in jail unlawfully.
Mr Mawdsley was beaten by guards at Keng Tung on three successive days last
month, his nose was broken and his food was also contaminated after he wrote
protest slogans on his cell walls.
Bangkok Post - Oct 20,
2000.
Burma's chance to be
reasonable
Anuraj Manibhandu The refugees fled terrible conditions at home only to find themselves in
what the top UN refugee official believes are terrible conditions here. Things
could be improved, but that needs Rangoon's co-operation.
Rangoon could contribute to a breakthrough in the problem of Burmese
refugees if the ruling junta accepted the proposal from the United Nations high
commissioner for refugees on repatriation from Thailand.
Sadako Ogata effectively suggested that the Mon state in eastern Burma be
made the starting point for repatriation of Burmese from Thailand by proposing
that UNHCR staff begin monitoring in a conflict-free area like this on an ad hoc
basis.
She called for a gradual building from this basis to more repeated missions
and eventually to a permanent presence on Burmese soil.
The Burmese leadership did "not negate" her proposal but said they would
examine the "modalities" for it, she said on Wednesday. "They were very clear in
positively examining it," she said when the Bangkok Post asked her about the
degree of Rangoon's commitment.
There are now about 100,000 displaced Burmese living in camps just inside
Thailand. Many would not be recognised officially as refugees but they form part
of an uprooted and largely deprived population that fled the violent suppression
in Burma in 1988.
A positive answer would show that Rangoon is capable of rational thinking,
and could help melt the still icy sentiment of the international community and
some nearby states towards the regime.
A negative answer could be seen as a demonstration of Rangoon's deep-rooted
insecurity about its position with regard to the opposition it faces in Burma
despite its implacability.
Conversely, it could be seen as a show of Rangoon's supreme security in its
ability to survive all international criticism and do without the international
community's support or assistance.
Both tendencies are likely to be at work as Rangoon ponders Mrs Ogata's
proposal. As in many other places around the world, the refugee problems have
been protracted and prolonged because politics has been allowed to overwhelm
things after the initial humanitarian crisis subsided and dropped out of the
international headlines.
At play in the complex web are relations between the Thai and Burmese
governments, rapport between these governments and the UNHCR, and, not least,
the stand-off between Rangoon and its domestic opposition.
Thai-Burmese relations, hardly healthy before the storming of the Burmese
embassy in Bangkok by Burmese exiles last October and the taking of hostages at
Ratchaburi hospital three months later in January, have become even more
strained.
Rangoon is sticking rigidly to its position because it knows the government
in Bangkok, among other things, is under pressure from fishermen to secure a
re-opening of Burmese waters closed to them for a full year now, causing many to
risk trespassing and possible arrest elsewhere.
Relations between the Burmese government and the UNHCR apparently are less
strained because the UNHCR has made some headway with the repatriation of
Rohingya Muslim refugees from Bangladesh to western Burma.
Relations between the Thai government and the UNHCR seem to run hot and
cold as different agencies put different accents on the problem, and approach it
from different experiences.
But what seems clear is that the government does not want to make life too
comfortable for Burmese refugees for fear that this will draw in more arrivals
at a time when donor compassion is on the wane.
But the authorities seem to have gone overboard. Mrs Ogata was shocked by
the conditions she found at the Tham Hin camp, in Ratchaburi's Suen Pueng
district. Besides overcrowded living quarters, she was concerned about the
sanitation.
Such sentiments from a person who has seen refugee camps all over the world
through 10 years as the top UN refugee administrator reflects badly on Thailand,
and comes on top of a history of hospitality to Indochinese refugees after the
fall of Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam to communist regimes 25 years ago.
The Foreign Ministry offered what came across as a lame response, saying
Tham Hin could not be expanded because it was located next to a restricted
military area and local farmland, and it cited a high birth rate.
Packing 8,212 Karen refugees on to just 40 rais is a bit of a squeeze on
their activities, and provides a great opportunity for disease to spread. Mrs
Ogata had seen better conditions and set-ups at camps along the Cambodian border
when she visited in 1993.
Lame or not, the Thai response does raise a valid point: Thailand has to
care for its own people, whose livelihoods would be on the line if the camp is
enlarged.
On the day of Mrs Ogata's visit to Tham Hin, a senior Thai official put
things more succinctly. He said villagers in some parts of our Northeast live in
worse conditions than the refugees in the camp.
Mrs Ogata's responded to this the following day by saying the problems of
local people are a global issue, and suggested that Thailand raise them during
global consultation on the 1951 Convention on Refugees. The expert level
discussions, open to any interested government, are due to begin early next
year.
But the Thai government's prevarication on Mrs Ogata's request for more
regular access to refugee camps on Thai soil is a mistake. It could be seen as a
bid to hide undesirable truths.
Refugee watchers remember reports from the 1980s of unseemly events taking
place in refugee camps along the Cambodian border during the hours from dusk to
dawn when international relief officers were away from the camps.
Access is part of the transparency being demanded in all aspects of life,
and Thailand as a leading democracy in Southeast Asia cannot be seen to falter
in this.
Mrs Ogata stressed that her request was aimed at improving the UNHCR's
protection work. Refusal would be an anomaly when Thailand already has allowed
the UNHCR to open field offices in Tak, Mae Hong Son and Kanchanaburi.
Mumbles about "security concerns" only make matters worse, because the
worriers are not making clear where the threats are coming from.
A solution to the Burmese refugee problem now depends on a complex web of
relationships, though it is clear that the first move has to come from the
Burmese leadership who caused the people to flee their homes in the first
place.
Rangoon should appreciate that the lifting of the gridlock on the refugee
issue is much easier than breaking through the political impasse with its
domestic opposition, which involves huge questions of power transfer or at least
power sharing.
Mrs Ogata effectively has given the generals in Rangoon a chance to show
that they are reasonable men, and they should seize this occasion with
alacrity.
The Nation - Oct 20, 2000.
FROM THE EDGE: Burma minorities overlooked in peace efforts BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK CHIANG MAI - For five years now, the international community has
concentrated their efforts primarily on breaking the political deadlock in
Rangoon. They seem to have totally ignored other political factors which brought
Burma to military rule in the first place nearly four decades ago.
Inevitably, the world has followed every word and move of Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi since her release from house arrest in mid-1995. By
refusing to obey the junta's wish to exile her overseas or to be subdued by
suppression, Suu Kyi has remained the glowing torch for the democracy struggle
in Burma. Unquestionably, she is respected as "the leader" by both the Burmese
democracy movement and the over one dozen ethnic rebel groups fighting for
autonomy from Rangoon.
But international peace attempts seem to have resulted in only a tighter
deadlock, with the Burmese junta responding with more arrests and crackdowns on
Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD). Moreover, the global
community remains divided over developing a common approach - whether to apply
the carrot or the stick - to effectively force the ruling generals to open talks
with the NLD.
Diplomats in Rangoon and key Burma players outside remain equally in the
dark as to what has bound the regime together despite persistent speculation
about serious internal splits among the ruling generals. For the time being,
they are hoping that an imminent threat of political sanctions by the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) against the use of forced labour might
influence the regime to have second thoughts over its persistent refusal to open
a dialogue with the NLD.
An ILO technical team is currently in Burma to examine if the regime has
complied with ILO recommendations for an end to the practice of forced labour.
If the ILO finding is negative, a series of sanctions will go into effect
starting November 30. It's still unclear if other UN agencies will be bound to
take similar steps to isolate the junta.
Although ILO sanctions will certainly be welcomed by Burmese democracy
activists and Western countries which have called for the imposition of tough
punishment on Rangoon, some Asian diplomats doubt if sanctions will be effective
in forcing the junta to change as long as its allies in East and Southeast Asia
- particularly China and Japan - remain supportive of the military regime.
Inside Burma, the armed ethnic groups which have struck a ceasefire
agreement with Rangoon, are equally frustrated over a stalemate in tackling
their political demands for autonomy. On the issue of Burma's ethnic minorities,
there is a virtual lack of international interest in their plight.
"The cease-fire groups are not very happy as there seems to be no political
space for them to manoeuvre at all," said an ethnic Burmese scholar. "There is
no way for them to organise or even to meet. They are trailed all the time by
the junta."
"Some groups feel that everything is being held hostage to the political
deadlock between the NLD and the junta," he added.
Like the scholar, several guerrilla leaders have made similar complaints
over the apparent concentration of global efforts on activism in Rangoon and the
total ignorance of key international Burma players about the overall
deteriorating political, economic and social situation in the ethnic minority
areas. Except for illicit drugs activities, nothing else seems worthy of
catching their attention, noted one leader.
By ignoring the force of the ethnic minority population, he added, the
international community actually plays into hands of the junta, which doesn't
want the NLD and the ethnic groups to combine their political strength and put
pressure on the regime.
The leaders pointed out that it was the demands of Burmese ethnic
minorities to secede from independent Burma which brought about the ethnic armed
revolt in the first place and the subsequent military coup in 1962 to annul "the
secession rights".
"Without an acceptable solution about the rights of ethnic nationalities in
Burma, there will never be peace in Burma," said one ethnic leader.
Although most cease-fire groups have been in touch with one another, they
have tried not to provoke Rangoon's suspicions about their activities and their
contacts with outside supporters. Still, most of them have decided to take steps
to strengthen their own position in case of eventual political changes.
Earlier last month, representatives of several ethnic groups including the
Lahu, Pa-O, Palaung, Shan and Wa met and agreed to begin drafting a Shan State
constitution. While the first draft is expected to emerge in 13 months, the
process of consultation with grassroots people has begun, thus building their
knowledge of democracy, which is the primary objective of the writing of the
charter.
"We hope to build grassroots capacity, harmony and unity among various
ethnic nationalities in Shan State. It is also aimed at ethnic reconciliation
and the building of a democratic foundation among the people," said another
prominent ethnic leader who was actively involved in the drafting process.
Other armed ethnic groups, including those in the Arakan, Chin, Kachin,
Karen and Mon states, are also embarking on the drafting of their state
constitutions, which will hopefully serve as their political documents when the
time comes for the Union of Burma to draft a federal constitution.
Although the method of drafting varies from state to state - the Shan State
drafting committee will consult local people for their input, whereas the Kachin
leadership will produce a draft and ask people in its area to comment - the
writing of the charters is an independent exercise to build the political
capacity of the ethnic population. These people, who constitute some 20-30 per
cent of the country's 45 million population, have in the past decade been
largely ignored while internal politics has focused primarily on Rangoon.
For the first time, it seems the armed ethnic groups have awakened to begin
seriously thinking about the future they want in Burma and about how to
strengthen the indigenous peoples in the border areas. As always, they refuse to
be dictated to about their future.
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