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BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOV - 2, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
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India Abroad - Myanmar home minister arrives in India
AP - Myanmar Escaped Villagers Say
Forced Labor Persists
AP - Myanmar Govt Dismisses
Allegations Of Forced Labor
AP - Piracy Attacks at 10-year
High
The Times of India - Myanmar
crackdown on NSCN training camps
Xinhua - ASEAN
Ministers Meet on Youth in Myanmar
AP - Myanmar Escaped Villagers Say
Forced Labor Persists
Xinhua - ASEAN
Industrial Cooperation Meeting Opens in Myanmar
Bkk Post - Students vow to sustain
democratic fight
Kyodo News - Myanmar bans forced
labor in compliance with ILO
SCMP - Junta warns of globalisation
dangers
Thursday November 2, 8:22
PM
Myanmar home minister arrives in India By Rezaul H. Laskar, India Abroad News Service New Delhi, Nov 2 - Myanmar Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing
arrived here Thursday on an official visit at the invitation of his Indian
counterpart, Lal Krishna Advani, reflecting the warming relations between the
two countries.
Security concerns and the promotion of economic activity,
particularly with the northeastern Indian states neighboring Myanmar, will be at
the top of Hlaing's agenda during his nine-day visit. Hlaing, who is accompanied
by Lieutenant Colonel Kham Aung, director (International Relations), law
enforcement department, will hold extensive discussions with Advani on "common
security concerns," home ministry sources told IANS.
Hlaing will meet External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh and
Defense Minister George Fernandes. He is also scheduled to visit several
facilities run by the home ministry for specialized training of personnel
engaged in anti-terrorism and narcotics operations. These include the Narcotics
Training Centre at Faridabad in Haryana, the National Security Guard (NSG)
training center on the outskirts of Delhi and the National Police Academy in
Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh.
"In recent years, India and Myanmar have forged close
cooperation on matters of mutual interest, particularly those relating to our
security concerns. The visit of the Myanmar home minister will further
strengthen cooperation, which would ensure peace and tranquility in the border
areas," a spokesman for the home ministry said.
There has been a subtle shift in India's policy towards
Myanmar in recent years, with New Delhi becoming less vocal in its support for
Myanmarese pro-democracy activists opposed to the ruling military junta. A visit
to Myanmar in January this year by the former Indian Army chief, General V.P.
Malik, led to increased cooperation between the armies of the two countries in
countering the activities of anti-India guerrilla groups that have bases in
Myanmar.
Among these guerrilla groups is the Khaplang faction of the
National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K), which has been fighting for the
creation of an independent homeland for Naga tribals.
"We have not abandoned the Myanmarese pro-democracy activists,
but we also have to keep in mind practical considerations and our security
concerns," said a senior home ministry official. He said the improvement in ties
with Yangon was also aimed at curbing China's growing influence in Myanmar.
"China has been helping Myanmar in the construction of roads
and other infrastructure and it has also provided the Myanmarese armed forces
with military hardware. As a result, China has been able to establish bases in
the Coco Islands in the Bay of Bengal," the official told IANS.
"If we had not acted swiftly to improve ties with Myanmar, the
Chinese threat along the borders of our northeastern states would have
increased," he said.
Thursday, November 2 2:49 PM SGT
Myanmar Escaped Villagers Say Forced Labor Persists BANGKOK (AP)--Villagers who
recently escaped Myanmar said the army used them as unpaid laborers and porters
to carry ammunition, despite an International Labor Organization ultimatum to
the military regime to end the practice or face sanctions.
The dissident Federation of Trade Unions Burma released a report in Bangkok late Wednesday which it said shows civilians are still being forced to build roads, barracks and work on army-owned farms. In June, the ILO gave the regime four months to show its willingness to
stop forced labor. Later this month the ILO's members will review the situation
and decide whether to implement unprecedented sanctions against Myanmar, also
known as Burma.
Myanmar argues that labor is given voluntarily as people want to help
national and community development. It says it made legislative and
administrative changes in May 1999 to bring it into line with ILO conventions.
Three villagers who fled across the mountainous Thai-Myanmar border last
week told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand how the army
had coerced them into arduous manual tasks, giving them little food and no
compensation.
"I was walking on the road in my village when soldiers suddenly came and
took eight of us away," said a 56-year old ethnic Mon farmer, describing his
experience in September. "They came with their guns pointing at us, we were
afraid and we had to obey."
The villager, who did not want his name used for fear of retribution, said
he spent 18 days with an army patrol in southern Myanmar, carrying baskets of
rice, bullets and heavy weapon shells.
"I saw other people beaten by the soldiers. I wasn't beaten because I could
walk fast," he said. The villager later abandoned his farm in Ye township and
fled by foot with his wife to Thailand.
Maung Maung, FTUB general secretary, urged the ILO to take a tough stance
against Myanmar.
"Anyone who is not in a military uniform is used for forced labor," he
said. "Forced labor is still going on and unless there's a change in the
governing system of Burma, it will not go away."
Thursday, November 2 6:43 PM SGT
Myanmar Govt Dismisses Allegations Of Forced Labor BANGKOK (AP)--A Myanmar
government spokesman dismissed Thursday allegations by villagers that the army
used them as unpaid laborers despite an International Labor Organization
ultimatum to end the practice or face sanctions.
The dissident Federation of Trade Unions Burma released a report in Bangkok
late Wednesday which it said shows civilians are still being forced to build
roads, barracks and work on army-owned farms.
The spokesman called the allegations fabrications and said the country has
a tradition of voluntary community labor, most of it unrelated to the military.
"There are times" when villagers and troops work together to improve the
living standards of the village, said the spokesman in a statement faxed to the
Associated Press in Bangkok.
Due to lack of equipment and machinery, "the nation has to rely much on
community service," he said.
In June, the International Labor Organization gave the regime four months
to show its willingness to stop forced labor. Later this month the ILO's members
will review the situation and decide whether to implement unprecedented
sanctions against Myanmar.
Wednesday November 1 3:15 PM ET
Piracy Attacks at 10-year High By SEAN YOONG, Associated Press Writer KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) - Pirate attacks have soared to a 10-year high
across the globe, with Indonesia's waterways the riskiest of all, a maritime
monitoring group said Wednesday.
Authorities recorded 294 pirate attacks worldwide from January to September
of this year, up from 180 in the same period last year, the International
Maritime Bureau said in its quarterly piracy survey.
Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago with 13,000 islands, suffered 90
attacks by pirates this year, up from 66 in 1999 and 31 in 1998.
``Indonesia remains the most piracy-prone country in the world,'' the Kuala
Lumpur-based group said.
In the most recent attack Sept. 25, about 15 pirates hijacked a Malaysian
tanker near Indonesia's remote Natuna Island in the South China Sea, holding the
crew captive for a day and siphoning 2,808 tons of fuel.
The Straits of Malacca, which separate peninsular Malaysia from Indonesia's
Sumatra island, suffered 32 attacks this year, compared to none last year and
one in 1998.
Most pirates in the narrow sea channel easily elude authorities using
sophisticated communications devices and by slipping into numerous island
hide-outs, the bureau said. Pirates' boats also are hard to distinguish from the
hundreds of small ships in the straits, it said.
Bangladesh, Ecuador, India and the southern tip of the Red Sea also
experienced ``a sudden rise'' in piracy, with 32 attacks in Bangladesh since
January, compared with seven last year. India saw 23 attacks this year, compared
to two cases in the first nine month of 1999.
Piracy was also on the rise in Thailand, Myanmar, Vietnam, Peru and Angola,
but attacks dropped in Venezuela, Nigeria and Somalia.
Six ships have been hijacked so far this year. One vessel in Greece remains
missing, the bureau said.
One crew member has been killed and 16 others injured. Most of the ships
were anchored during the raids.
The Times of India - Nov 2,
2000.
Myanmar crackdown on NSCN training camps GUWAHATI: The Myanmar army has launched a crackdown on Indian separatist
guerrillas holed up inside the country, rebel leaders said Wednesday.
The outlawed National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN) said one of its
training camps located inside Myanmar had been torched by government
troops.
"Myanmarese troops have launched an offensive since October 15 against us,"
Kitovi Zhimomi, the self-styled "prime minister" of the NSCN, told AFP by
telephone from his hideout somewhere in Nagaland.
"We have shown the utmost restraint and have not retaliated as the
Myanmarese troops would indulge in indiscriminate harassment of the common Naga
people living there if we do so," Zhimoni said.
Myanmar troops on October 25 shot dead five Indian frontier guards along
the border.
Myanmar later apologized, saying the troops had mistaken the guards for
separatist guerrillas.
Zhimoni said thousands of Christian Naga people had fled across the border
into India last month, alleging persecution by the military junta.
The Naga people, mostly from villages in the Sagaing district of northern
Myanmar, crossed into Nagaland's Mon district "as their houses were set ablaze,"
the NSCN leader said.
"There has been large scale torture of the Nagas, forcing many of them to
desert their villages and take shelter either in the jungles or in parts of
Nagaland."
There are an estimated 20,000 Naga people in Myanmar.
Church leaders said the Naga Christians had been forced to close down their
churches, which had then been desecrated or used as kitchens by the Myanmar
army. (AFP)
ASEAN Ministers Meet on Youth in Myanmar
YANGON, November 2 (Xinhua)-- A
ministerial meeting on youth of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) opened here Thursday, aiming at promoting the interests of the youth of
the member nations and serving to further advance the development of
them.
The two-day Third ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Youth is the first of its kind hosted by Myanmar with the theme of "Preparing ASEAN Youth for the Challenges of Globalization." Speaking at the opening ceremony, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, first
secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council, pointed out that
globalization creates new opportunities for betterment of life and provides
means for prosperity and development, bringing with it new challenges,
particularly to some developing nations which run the risk of being marginalized
and relegated to the sidelines as others march on to greater heights of
progress.
He warned against development divide where the gap between the rich and
poor within a nation and between nations that can be widened with each passing
day.
He said that Myanmar is in the process of implementing a four- year plan
for education as part of its human resources development in its bid to keep pace
with the more advanced nations of ASEAN by raising the standard of education as
a national priority.
At the same time, he added, education opportunities are being opened up
nationwide with universities and colleges being established in all regions of
the country including border areas to enable children and youth to have access
to education.
With regard to cooperation with ASEAN in the field of education, he
disclosed that Myanmar has joined the membership of ASEAN University Network to
nurture the country's youth to be highly competent in facing the challenges
around the world in the 21st century.
He reiterated that Myanmar stands ready to cooperate with ASEAN members in
nurturing youths to materialize the objective of ASEAN Vision 2020.
It is expected that a Yangon Declaration and a joint communique of the
meeting will be issued at the end of the meeting Friday.
The meeting, which follows a two-day senior officials' meeting, is attended
by ASEAN ministers of youth and officials of ASEAN Secretariat.
The second ASEAN ministerial meeting on youth was held in Malaysia in
1997.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Thursday, November 2 2:49 PM SGT
Myanmar Escaped Villagers Say Forced Labor Persists BANGKOK (AP)--Villagers who
recently escaped Myanmar said the army used them as unpaid laborers and porters
to carry ammunition, despite an International Labor Organization ultimatum to
the military regime to end the practice or face sanctions.
The dissident Federation of Trade Unions Burma released a report in Bangkok
late Wednesday which it said shows civilians are still being forced to build
roads, barracks and work on army-owned farms.
In June, the ILO gave the regime four months to show its willingness to
stop forced labor. Later this month the ILO's members will review the situation
and decide whether to implement unprecedented sanctions against Myanmar, also
known as Burma.
Myanmar argues that labor is given voluntarily as people want to help
national and community development. It says it made legislative and
administrative changes in May 1999 to bring it into line with ILO conventions.
Three villagers who fled across the mountainous Thai-Myanmar border last
week told reporters at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand how the army
had coerced them into arduous manual tasks, giving them little food and no
compensation.
"I was walking on the road in my village when soldiers suddenly came and
took eight of us away," said a 56-year old ethnic Mon farmer, describing his
experience in September. "They came with their guns pointing at us, we were
afraid and we had to obey."
The villager, who did not want his name used for fear of retribution, said
he spent 18 days with an army patrol in southern Myanmar, carrying baskets of
rice, bullets and heavy weapon shells.
"I saw other people beaten by the soldiers. I wasn't beaten because I could
walk fast," he said. The villager later abandoned his farm in Ye township and
fled by foot with his wife to Thailand.
Maung Maung, FTUB general secretary, urged the ILO to take a tough stance
against Myanmar.
"Anyone who is not in a military uniform is used for forced labor," he
said. "Forced labor is still going on and unless there's a change in the
governing system of Burma, it will not go away."
ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Meeting
Opens in Myanmar
YANGON (Nov. 2) XINHUA - A
meeting of the working group of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) on industrial cooperation opened here to discuss ways and means of
extending the ASEAN Industrial Cooperation Scheme (AICO) from the original six
to include the remaining four member states -- Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and
Vietnam.
The two-day 28th meeting of the working group, the first of its kind hosted by Myanmar, is attended by industrial officials of the 10 ASEAN member countries, representatives of ASEAN Secretariat and ASEAN Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Addressing the opening of the meeting Wednesday, Myanmar Deputy Minister of
Industry-1 Brigadier-General Kyaw Win stressed the need to expand the area of
cooperation to the AICO projects, saying that the new ASEAN members should be
given opportunities in the scheme.
He briefed the participants on Myanmar's endeavors in development of its
industrial sector, both public and private, establishing so far a total of 18
industrial zones in the country to promote the sector.
It was reported that up to the end of 1999, there were 74 AICO projects
participated by the original six ASEAN member states except Brunei.
The AICO, initiated in the past by ASEAN, was phased in 1995 with the
agreement of the ASEAN member nations to make it more effective in bringing
ASEAN industrial development and cooperation to a higher plane.
The AICO scheme, based on the principles and concepts of the Common
Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT) scheme for the ASEAN Free Trade Area,
minimizes tariff dissimilarities and offers qualified participating companies
the immediate benefit of the CEPT tariff rates in the range of zero to five
percent.
In accordance with the bold measures adopted by ASEAN leaders to provide
special incentive and privileges to attract foreign direct investment into the
region for a two-year action program, the ASEAN member countries have agreed to
waive the 30 percent national equity requirement under the AICO scheme in
1999-2000.
ASEAN's private sector, including small and medium enterprises, accounts
for more than 90 percent of the manufacturing sector.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Bangkok Post - Nov 2,
2000.
BURMA -Students vow to sustain democratic fight Also call for release of political prisoners Supamart Kasem Burmese students in exile have vowed to continue their armed struggle to
pressure Rangoon into negotiations with Burmese democratic fighters seeking an
end to the political conflict.
The decision was reached at yesterday's meeting of the All Burma Students
Democratic Front (ABSDF) to mark the 12th anniversary of its struggle against
the military junta.
The meeting, chaired by ABSDF chairman Sai Myint Tu, took place inside
Burma opposite Mae Hong Son.
Sai Myint Tu has replaced Naing Aung whose term expired early last
month.
He called for the junta, officially called the State Peace and Development
Council, to unconditionally release Min Ko Naing, a student leader who has been
detained since the 1988 uprising, as well as opposition politicians held by the
junta.
He also urged Rangoon to grant an amnesty to all Burmese democratic
fighters and allow all sides to negotiate for national reconciliation and an end
to national conflicts.
He agreed to a suggestion that Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD), be one of the negotiators to represent the
democratic fighters.
"However, as long as the negotiations have not begun, we students based at
the Thai-Burmese, Chinese-Burmese and Indian-Burmese borders will continue with
the armed struggle against the Burmese government," said Sai Myint Tu, who
claimed that some 800 Burmese students have lost their lives fighting the
Rangoon government.
Meanwhile, 18 pro-democracy groups in Burma have agreed to call on the
government to negotiate with Ms Suu Kyi.
The 18 groups, based along the border and abroad, sent 100 representatives
to a meeting which took place between Oct 28-31 in an area opposite Tak. The
meeting was organised by U Tin Swe, joint secretary-general of the NLD,
Liberation Area, and Ko Teit, leader of the Assistance Association for Political
Prisoners in Burma.
YANGON, Nov. 2 Kyodo News
Myanmar bans forced labor in compliance with ILO Myanmar said Thursday it has issued a government ordinance banning forced
labor in compliance with demands for reform made by the International Labor
Organization (ILO).
Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win said the order became
effective last Friday.
South China Morning Post
Thursday, November 2, 2000 BURMA - Junta warns of globalisation dangers ASSOCIATED PRESS in Rangoon For the second time in eight days, a top member of Burma's ruling junta
warned on Thursday about the dangers of globalisation to developing
countries.
In a speech on Thursday, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt said that while globalisation ''creates new opportunities for betterment of life for all of us,'' it also creates new challenges to developing nations. ''These nations run the risk of being marginalised and being relegated to
the sidelines as others march on to greater heights of progress,'' General Khin
Nyunt, Secretary-One of the ruling State Peace and Development Council,
said.
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the third Asean Ministerial
Meeting on Youth. Asean is the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, to which
10 countries in the region belong.
Burma, is treated as a pariah state by many Western nations because of the
junta's poor human rights record and failure to hand over power to a
democratically-elected government.
While failing to institute political freedom, the current regime, which
came to power in 1988, has tried to liberalise the economy, inviting foreign
investment. But it has failed to make the currency, the kyat, convertible and
still places many restrictions on trade.
A survey released on Wednesday ranked Burma 134th out of 155 countries on
an ''Index of Economic Freedom''.
The survey, conducted by the conservative US-based Heritage Foundation and
the Wall Street Journal newspaper, said that ''Burma's military junta suppresses
pro-democracy forces, and its economic policies have been equally
repressive''.
Speaking to a domestic audience on October 26, General Khin Nyunt issued a
sharper warning against globalisation.
General Khin Nyunt said globalisation has not served developing nations
because rich countries with technical and economic superiority are
''manipulating the developing nations politically, socially and
economically''.
''To prevent a developing nation like [Burma] from being influenced by the
neo-colonialist countries, it is a national duty to uphold and safeguard
national character and tradition,'' he said.
His speech was published in all three official newspapers. |