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BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOV - 8, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
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Reuters - Senior Myanmar leader to visit India
mid-November
AFP - ASEAN integration, East Asian cooperation to top
Singapore summit
AP - Defection Of Laos Minister Exposes Cracks In
Regime
AP - Asean Leaders To Sign E-Commerce Free Trade
Pact
The Times of India - Myanmar troops, Karen rebels
clash: 1 dead
Bkk Post - Junta troops massing for major
attack
BBC - Burma makes progress against forced
Labour
WIRE:11/08/2000 04:22:00 ET
Senior Myanmar leader to visit India mid-November YANGON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - General Maung Aye, considered the
second most powerful member of Myanmar"s ruling military, will pay an official
goodwill visit to India in mid-November, Myanmar officials said on Wednesday.
Maung Aye, vice chairman of the ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) and commander-in-chief of the Myanmar army, will be
the most senior Myanmar government member to visit India since the SPDC took
power in 1998.
Indian embassy officials in Yangon said the visit would last
six or seven days. Myanmar and India share about 850 miles (1,400 km) of common
border, and relations between the two countries have thawed in recent years,
after cooling when India gave sanctuary to anti-government Myanmar exiles
following a 1998 uprising in Yangon.
Maung Aye visited India in January, but in his capacity as
army commander-in-chief rather than as an official representative of the
government.
Wednesday, November 8 6:09 PM SGT
ASEAN integration, East Asian cooperation to top Singapore summit SINGAPORE, Nov 8 (AFP) - Steps
to further integrate 10 countries comprising the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) and expand cooperation with China, Japan and South Korea will
take center stage at a leaders' summit here later this month, officials said
Wednesday.
At the meeting from November 24-25, the ASEAN leaders are also expected to
sign an "e-ASEAN framework" aimed at facilitating the linkage of the diverse
region through the Internet.
Michael Tay, the Singapore foreign ministry's ASEAN pointman, said that
while the summit will be informal without any fixed agenda, the region's leaders
were expected to tackle challenges facing ASEAN on the political and economic
fronts.
"The leaders will spend some time discussing where ASEAN is going" as well
as "concrete steps that have to be taken to move ASEAN forward," Tay said in a
media briefing.
ASEAN, which groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, needs greater economic
integration in order to become a credible organisation, Tay said.
The group's 10 members vary in culture, political systems and stages of
economic development.
Critics have written off ASEAN as a "sunset organisation", saying that it
failed to respond adequately to the Asian financial crisis in 1997 that severely
affected four of its members.
ASEAN's long-standing policy of non-interference in members' internal
affairs has also come under fire from the West amid the political crackdown in
Myanmar and the brutality by pro-Indonesian militias just after East Timor voted
for independence.
Tay said strengthening the cooperation with China, Japan and South Korea
under the ASEAN plus three process was also expected to top the agenda.
Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori and South
Korean President Kim Dae Jung are expected to attend the summit.
"The leaders will discuss how they see the future of East Asia," Tay said,
adding they would try to come up with "concrete steps to move the ASEAN plus
three process forward."
The ASEAN plus three process, which still has to adopt a formal name, "is
not a bloc, it is a process still," Tay said.
ASEAN leaders as a group will also hold one on one meetings with the
Chinese, Japanese and South Korean leaders.
The meeting with Japan will center on the results of a report by academics
and the private sector on how to advance ASEAN-Japan ties.
South Korea's Kim is expected to brief the ASEAN leaders of the progress in
talks with the communist North Korea and South Korea's efforts to sustain
economic reforms, Tay said.
Despite political trouble in some ASEAN countries, no leader has signified
his intention to skip the meeting, Tay said.
ASEAN leaders hold formal summits every two years, with informal meetings
held in between.
Wednesday, November 8 7:57 PM SGT
Defection Of Laos Minister Exposes Cracks In Regime BANGKOK (AP)--For 25 years, the
government in Laos has presented itself as one big happy family, a unifying
force in an ethnically diverse country.
But the unprecedented defection of a government minister appears to have exposed new cracks in the communist regime's factions, mainly among younger officials who oppose the old guard. "The competition (among them) will be very serious now," said Sunai Phasuk,
a Lao analyst at the Bangkok-based Forum Asia human rights group. "It may not be
violent, but it may lead to a very serious internal purge of the younger
generation," he said in an interview.
Last week, Khamsay Souphanouvong, a minister in the prime minister's office
and the son of Laos' first communist president, traveled to New Zealand on his
own and sought political asylum, according to government officials in
Wellington.
Khamsay, an ally of the younger officials in the Laotian government, hadn't
been seen in public in Laos for several months, raising questions about what had
happened to him.
On Wednesday, a senior New Zealand official confirmed an earlier comment by
Prime Minister Helen Clark that Khamsay was in the country. The official, who
spoke on condition of anonymity, said it could take weeks to make a final
decision about Khamsay's future.
The official refused to say any more about Khamsay, including what may have
motivated him to leave his country and seek refuge in New Zealand. However,
Khamsay had been dropped from the ruling communist party's central committee in
Laos several years ago.
Adds To Uncertainty After Mystery Bomb Blasts
The news of the defection could be embarrassing for the Laotian government,
which is scheduled on Dec. 2 to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the communists
taking power in Laos.
It also adds to a climate of uncertainty created by at least eight bomb
blasts in recent months in the capital, Vientiane, and in provincial towns. No
one has claimed responsibility for the explosions, which injured dozens of
people, including several foreigners, and the government has not accused anyone.
But some observers of the highly secretive Laotian government have blamed
the attacks on citizens who are angry over issues such as unpaid salaries and
jailed relatives.
The communist government came to power in a Vietnamese-backed revolution in
1975 after ousting a U.S.-supported government and forcing the figurehead king
to abdicate. They have since ruled the country with an iron fist, allowing no
dissent among its 4 million people from various ethnic groups, mainly the
lowland Laos and upland hill tribes.
The old guard of the communist party has long controlled the government,
but a minority of younger members is believed to be pushing for a larger role in
decision-making.
In recent years, the government has become more relaxed, opening the
economy, letting foreigners travel around the country freely and allowing
Laotians to access to foreign news.
Although outsiders still know very little about the internal workings of
the government, some observers believe that despite the internal struggle the
regime's factions are bound by their commitment to communism.
"There is no conflict of ideology, only a struggle for the bigger slice of
power," said Grant Evans, a Laos expert who teaches at the Hong Kong University.
"It is about the division of spoils. It is as simple as that," said Evans,
the head of the university's sociology department, in a telephone interview.
Khamsay, a former finance minister and a member of the former aristocracy,
also is a staunch communist. He fell from grace in 1996, when he was dropped
from the ruling communist party's 49-member central committee.
Evans said Khamsay's defection could have been prompted by being sidelined
by the old guard as part of the regime's effort to rewrite Laos' history to
scrap the royalty's positive image.
Khamsay's father, Souphanouvong, belonged to the now-exiled royal family of
Laos and was known overseas as the Red Prince. He later adopted communism and
was president from 1975 until 1986. He died in 1995.
It is not clear how much support Khamsay had among the younger government
officials, who now appear to have been subdued by the old guard, said Sunai, of
the Forum Asia. But even if the young leaders are purged, the regime would want
to keep them in powerless positions, "as puppets in showcases," to please
foreign investors that the country is courting, Sunai said.
The economy of Laos, a landlocked, agriculture-based country with virtually
no natural resources, is in a shambles, surviving largely on foreign aid.
"It is the darling of the foreign community because it does not push
anyone. It keeps to itself," said Evans, the Hong Kong academic.
Also, the civil rights violations and suppression of individual rights are
not as harsh in Laos as in other dictatorships, such as Myanmar, he said.
Wednesday, November 8 7:47 PM SGT
Asean Leaders To Sign E-Commerce Free Trade Pact SINGAPORE (AP)--Leaders of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations, or Asean, will sign a free-trade e-commerce agreement during an
informal summit in Singapore later this month, officials said Wednesday.
But leaders are unlikely to sign a code of conduct for the
South China Sea, where several Asean members and China dispute possession of
mineral-rich islands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs spokesman Michael Tay told a
news conference Wednesday.
The ministry didn't give further details of the pact, which
they have coined an "e-Asean Framework Agreement."
Tay said Asean leaders were likely to discuss the relevance
and future of the grouping during the informal summit in Singapore from Nov. 24
to 26.
Aside from the Asean leaders' meetings, there will be two
additional summits including the leaders of China, South Korea and Japan.
Tay said a South China Sea code of conduct "might be signed in
Singapore" but that it was unlikely because countries were still negotiating
terms of a code for the contested Spratlys archipelago.
The Spratlys spat has become a persistent point of contention
between China, Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines - all of
whom claim the islands which are believed to lie in the middle of rich oil and
natural gas fields.
The Asean member countries are Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia,
Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The Times of India - Nov 8,
2000.
Myanmar troops, Karen rebels clash: 1 dead PHOP PHRA, Thailand: One person was killed and two were injured in fighting
between the Myanmar army and the rebel Karen National Union (KNU), Thai
officials in this border town said Tuesday.
Fierce fighting broke out late on Monday night inside the Myanmar border
when Myanmar government troops shelled a KNU base opposite Thailand's Phop Phra
district, they said.
One woman was killed and a man and a woman were seriously wounded, the
officials said.
About 200 ethnic Karen had crossed into Thailand to seek refuge from the
fighting, the Thai officials said.
In recent weeks the Myanmar army and the KNU have stepped up their war,
which has gone on for five decades, as both sides have been bombarding each
other with mortars and grenade launchers.
The Thai military has deployed 100 soldiers along the border opposite the
battleground in Phop Phra district to prevent any incursions.
"We will protect our sovereignty from any armed intruders," military
leaders told AFP, adding that the contingent would be backed up with additional
heavy weaponry if necessary.
The KNU has fought a 51-year battle for greater autonomy from the central
government in Yangon and is one of the last major insurgent groups fighting the
junta.
Thailand is home to more than 120,000 refugees from Myanmar, many of whom
live in camps on the Thai side of the border. (AFP)
Bangkok Post - Nov 8, 2000.
Junta troops massing for major attack Ethnic minorities at border targeted Subin Khuenkaew and Supamart Kasem A large number of Burmese troops are heading for border areas opposite Tak,
Mae Hong Son and Chiang Mai provinces, apparently to attack ethnic minority
rebels, a border source said yesterday.
Several battalions of Burmese infantrymen and rapid deployment forces were
moving towards Thai-Burmese border areas opposite Phop Phra district of Tak,
Muang and Pai districts of Mae Hong Son, and Wiang Haeng and Fang districts of
Chiang Mai, he said.
Most of their target areas were about to be turned into opium fields by
some 80,000 ethnic Wa people who were relocated from northern Burma, the source
said.
Two Burmese rapid movement battalions had already reached Ban Khai Luang
opposite Pai district, while an infantry battalion had arrived at Ban Na Poo
Pom, he said.
Another rapid movement battalion 510 was seen at Ban Na Mon, one infantry
battalion at Mong Tuan opposite Fang district, while another rapid movement
battalion was approaching Ban Mae Or opposite Muang district of Mae Hong
Son.
Clashes erupted on Monday night between troops of the Infantry Battalion
225 and soldiers of the Shan State Army at Doi Kham opposite Wiang Haeng
district. Fighting still continued yesterday morning after the Burmese troops
surrounded a Shan rebel stronghold there.
A battalion of Thai soldiers was reportedly deployed in the area to keep
security.
Maj-Gen Chamlong Phothong, deputy Third Army chief, said no Thai border
villagers had been affected by fighting in Burma so far.
- Three Karen villagers were seriously wounded when a stray mortar round
from fighting in Burma landed in a corn field they were harvesting on Monday
afternoon.
A border official said the round came from an area held by the Karen
National Union in Burma where the rebels were battling Burmese government troops
from the 205th Light Infantry Battalion.
The corn field where the explosion took place was near Ban Huay Nam Nak in
tambon Chong Khaeb, Phop Phra district, the official said.
He said Burmese troops began attacking the Karen stronghold last week,
forcing the rebels to retreat southward along the border.
Some twenty stray shells landed on Thai soil in Phop Phra district,
prompting warning shots from Thai troops in the area, he said.
The Burmese side reportedly suffered seven deaths and 10 injuries, while
five Karen rebels were killed and three others wounded, the official said.
Meanwhile, a border official in Tha Song Yang district said there was
fighting between Burmese troops and Karen rebels at Ban Le Ber Her opposite Ban
Nong Bua on Monday and yesterday.
- Rangoon has denied its troops clashed with Thai soldiers in Tak late last
month, saying the intruders were actually from an ethnic group based inside
Burma.
The Burmese denial was conveyed through the Thai military attache in
Rangoon, and referred to an armed clash in Umphang district on Oct 25 in which a
Thai soldier was killed and two others wounded, said Gen Surayud Chulanont, the
army chief .
Gen Surayud said he could not argue against the Burmese denial for lack of
hard evidence to prove the foreign troops involved in the Oct 25 clash were
actually Burmese government soldiers.
BBC -Wednesday, 8 November, 2000,
15:39 GMT
Burma makes progress against forced Labour A report by the United Nations Labour Agency has concluded that Burma has
made some progress towards changing its laws to end the use of forced labour.But
it says it is unclear what the country's authorities are doing to ensure the
practice is stopped.
The report follows a visit to Burma last month by members of the
Geneva-based International Labour Organisation, the ILO.
Its publication comes ahead of discussions by the ILO's governing body on
how far Burma has complied with ILO recommendations.
The Burmese military government said it had issued a directive banning the
practice. Refugees claim the military raid villages forcing the inhabitants to
work for them for long hours and no pay, in the worst cases, they claim, those
unable to keep up are beaten or killed.
From the newsroom of the BBC World Service
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