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BURMA RELATED NEWS - NOV - 16, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar Lashes Out at ILO Call
for Sanctions
AFP - ILO adopts sanctions against Myanmar
over forced labour
BBC - Burma sacks forty corrupt
officials
BBC - Burma sanctions
imminent
AFP - Myanmar expresses bitter
disappointment over ILO vote
The New York Times - By Deals With Burmese
Junta, Minorities Thrive
The New York Times - Sanctions for
Burmese
Reuters - Angry
Myanmar Breaks Off Links with ILO
Reuters - Protest muted as Myanmar woos
India for investment
AFP - New Delhi defends visit by Myanmar
general
AFP - Vietnam leaves reporters stewing in
search for illegals
Asia Pulse - Burmese Leader Says Ties With
India to Improve
AP - Bangladesh Alerts Border Guards Along
Myanmar Frontier
Xinhua - Myanmar Rejects ILO Resolution on
"Forced Labor"
Pakistan Observer - Almost one million forced labourers in Myanmar:
ICFTU
Friday November 17 4:11 AM ET
Myanmar Lashes Out at ILO Call for Sanctions By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government lashed out at the International Labor Organization (ILO) on
Friday after it accused Yangon of employing widespread forced labor and called
for fresh sanctions.
Government spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Hla Min told Reuters that Myanmar
was being ``threatened by big and powerful nations misusing labor rights as a
pretext to coerce, pressure and interfere in...domestic affairs.''
After a day-long debate, the ILO's governing body voted overwhelmingly on
Thursday that Myanmar had not complied with a global treaty on eradicating
forced labor.
It urged the U.N. labor agency's 174 member states, private companies and
other international bodies to ``review their relations'' with Myanmar from
November 30 and ``take appropriate measures'' to ensure they were not abetting
use of forced labor.
Diplomats said the appeal by the ILO -- which has no powers of its own to
impose sanctions -- could lead governments to press Western oil companies to
withdraw from Myanmar.
Britain's Premier Oil Plc, France's TotalFinaElf, and U.S. company Unocal
have commercial oil interests in Myanmar, according to Western diplomatic
sources.
Myanmar Denies Use Of Forced Labour
Myanmar insists the use of forced labor has been stopped, and in late
October issued a new government order stating that ''requisition of forced labor
is illegal and is an offence under the existing laws of the Union of
Myanmar.''
An ILO commission of inquiry in 1998 found forced labor to be ''widespread
and systematic,'' and follow-up ILO missions, including one just last month,
reported little progress.
Hla Min said the ILO was ignoring the country's efforts.
``The ILO decision to activate measures against Myanmar proves that the
ILO, and the governing body in particular, have already made up their minds and
don't want to be confused with any facts,'' he said.
``They have turned a blind eye on the efforts, positive developments,
sincere cooperation and the political will the Myanmar government has
(demonstrated) regarding the issue of forced labor.''
The United States and European Union (news - web sites), which voted in
favor of sanctions, welcomed the unprecedented decision by the 80-year-old
ILO.
It confirmed a resolution by the ILO's full conference last June which
declared sanctions would automatically go into effect on November 30 unless
Myanmar stepped into line.
The ILO's governing body has 56 members with votes -- 28 governments, 14
employers groups and 14 workers groups.
Most governments taking the floor at the meeting said they were not
satisfied with Myanmar's progress. All of the employers' and workers' groups
voted in favor of sanctions.
In a show of hands, only four delegations -- China, India, Malaysia and
Russia -- voted against.
Myanmar remains shunned by most of the international community for its
treatment of the pro-democracy opposition, which won elections in 1990 by a
landslide but has never been allowed to govern.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in de facto house arrest,
with diplomatic access barred and her telephone cut, for nearly two
months.
A planned meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (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.
Several European countries have indicated they will not be sending their
foreign ministers to the Laos meeting, and will be represented instead by junior
ministers or diplomats.
Friday, November 17 1:58 AM SGT
ILO adopts sanctions against Myanmar over forced labour GENEVA, Nov 16 (AFP) - The
International Labour Organisation (ILO) called on its members here Thursday to
review their ties with Myanmar over the country's use of forced labour, a
spokesman for the ILO said.
The ILO's governing body rejected a last-minute attempt by Malaysia to put
off the sanctions and the measures against Myanmar will take effect from
November 30, spokesman John Doohan said.
The move, adopted without a vote, recommends ILO members -- workers and
employers' groups, and countries -- review their relations with Myanmar and take
steps to ensure their ties do not help continue or extend forced
labour.
BBC - Thursday, 16 November, 2000,
11:54 GMT
Burma sacks forty corrupt officials Reports from Burma say that about forty officials in Karen state bordering
Thailand have been dismissed for bribery and corruption.
Police officers and officials from the customs and immigration services
were reportedly among those dismissed.
The dismissals follow a visit to the region last month by the government's
second-in-command, General Maung Aye.
The Burmese government has not confirmed the reports.
But correspondents say that there is a thriving black market in the area,
with smugglers bringing cooking oil and other day-to-day necessities from
Thailand to Burma, and logs in the other direction.
BBC - Thursday, 16 November, 2000,
21:16 GMT
Burma sanctions imminent By the BBC's Larry Jagan The International Labour Organisation has decided to go ahead with
sanctions against Burma over the issue of forced labour.
In an informal vote by the ILO's governing body, only four of its 56 member
states opposed the move against Burma and the sanctions will come into force at
the end of November.
The measures were drawn up at the ILO's annual conference in June, when it
warned Burma it would implement stern measures if it did not stamp out the use
of forced labour - both in law and in practice.
The decision to approve the sanctions comes after an ILO delegation visited
Burma last month and concluded that while the country had improved its laws on
forced labour, it was still not doing enough.
The ILO has, for several years, called on Rangoon to put an end to forced
labour.
Pressure
The organisation is now urging all workers, businesses and governments of
member countries to review their relations with Burma and to increase pressure
on the generals who rule the country to stamp out the use of forced labour.
It is also calling on all United Nations bodies to review their contacts
with Burma.
Only Malaysia and some other South East Asian nations urged the ILO to
postpone sanctions.
The Burmese Government formally outlawed force labour last week, but has
not publicised this fact in the country's state-owned media.
A military spokesman told the BBC that the government had distributed the
order through local government offices and police stations.
Some critics believe this suggests that the government is still unwilling
to tackle the issue of forced labour.
Massive army
Human rights activists say the Burmese economy cannot support the country's
massive army of more than 400,000 soldiers without using forced labour to feed
it.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions submitted a 1,000-page
report to the ILO earlier this week which documents more than 2,000 incidents of
forced labour since the ILO adopted its resolution against forced labour in
June.
According to that report, more than 1 million people were involved in
forced labour on road, bridge and railroad construction, as well as in working
on army bases and camps.
Some will see the ILO's move as a call for an international trade boycott,
but whether this happens or not will depend on the political will of individual
countries.
So far only the United States and Europe have adopted limited sanctions,
and most countries seem reluctant to isolate Burma further. But for Rangoon it
is certainly a political set-back.
Friday, November 17 5:15 PM SGT
Myanmar expresses bitter disappointment over ILO vote YANGON, Nov 17 (AFP) - Myanmar
expressed bitter disappointment on Friday over the ILO's decision to invite its
members to bring sanctions against the military regime over the issue of forced
labour.
A senior spokesman for the junta said that efforts to stamp out the
practice, and its willingness to cooperate with the International Labour
Organisation (ILO) monitoring team which visited Yangon twice this year, had
been ignored.
"The ILO decision to activate measures against Myanmar proves that the ILO
and the governing body in particular have already made up their minds and don't
want to be confused with any facts," he said.
"They have turned a blind eye on the efforts, positive developments,
sincere cooperation and the political will the Myanmar government has taken to
be in accordance with the ILO convention (on) forced labour."
The spokesman said "big and powerful nations" were using labour rights as
"a pretext to coerce, pressure and interfere in the domestic affairs" of poorer
countries.
The ILO had ordered Myanmar to comply with recommendations made by a 1998
committee of inquiry which found use of forced labour to be "widespread and
systematic."
Sanctions were recommended by the International Labour Conference in June
but put on hold until the end of this month to give the junta time to adopt
concrete action.
The ILO team, which made a six-day mission to the country last month, found
the government had made progress in changing its laws to end the use of forced
labour, but far less in putting legislative changes into practice.
In the months preceding the ILO's decision, Myanmar's generals had
indicated they were extremely concerned about the action, which could lead to
further sanctions from its member states and organisations.
It now remains to be seen what action will be taken against the regime,
which is already labouring under wide-ranging international sanctions that have
helped cripple the economy.
Sources in Yangon said the junta was anxious to avoid trade union bans that
would see its agricultural exports turned away from ports around the world,
particularly on the eastern seaboard of India.
It is feared that any new trade bans would deal a mortal blow to the
economy, which critics say is saved from complete collapse only by the thriving
black market and profits from the drugs trade.
Sources close to the negotiations between ILO team leader Francis Maupain
and the government said the two sides developed a good working relationship
during the mission's visits.
Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win told AFP last week that Myanmar was
"hoping for the best but prepared for the worst" ahead of the ILO's vote, but
nevertheless the decision has come as a great disappointment.
The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) says nearly
one million people are currently subjected to forced labour in Myanmar.
The Brussels-based organisation said this week it had also examined more
than 400 labour requisition orders issued by members of the army and several
dozen witness statements since June.
ICFTU's general secretary Bill Jordan has welcomed the ILO's "firm
position" and said it "not only sends a strong signal to the generals in Rangoon
but is also a message of hope for Burmese democrats and for the hundreds of
thousands of victims of inhuman exploitation.
The New York Times - November 17,
2000
By Deals With Burmese Junta, Minorities Thrive By BLAINE HARDEN KEKKU, Myanmar — Freedom's just another word for cutting a deal with the
generals.
That is what the business manager of the Pao National Organization
explained over a lunch of spicy chicken and avocado salad here in the rebel
outback of a country that is a perennial contender for the title of world's most
repressive state.
By agreeing to a cease-fire with the generals who run what used to be
called Burma, the Pao, an ethnic minority of about 400,000 people in a country
of 50 million, have won themselves civil rights and economic opportunities all
but unimaginable to most Burmese.
A look at the semi-good life in Pao land explains why, in the last decade,
at least 15 armed ethnic minorities in Myanmar have been willing to end decades
of bloodshed and do business with the generals.
"It is not a perfect arrangement," said the Pao business manager, smoking a
cigarette through a bamboo water pipe after lunch. "But it is better than
war."
The Pao are prospering primarily as hoteliers, garlic farmers and jade
miners. But other ethnic minorities — the Wa and the Shan, in particular — have
used cease-fires to expand their interests in the heroin and amphetamine trades,
according to the United States Drug Enforcement Administration. They have also
been encouraged by the government to launder drug profits through the legitimate
Burmese economy.
For the generals, ceding "contingent sovereignty" to groups like the Pao,
Shan and Wa has been a win-win deal.
The agreements have, for the most part, ended a series of expensive
insurgent wars that had become a way of life in the mountainous fringes of this
country. Fighting continues against the Karen National Union, but that group has
only 2,000 to 3,000 fighters, a fraction of its strength before the generals
made deals with Karen subgroups.
Probably more important, cease- fires have freed the generals to focus
state resources on saving their own skins. Since killing hundreds of pro-
democracy marchers in 1988 and ignoring an election they lost in 1990, the
generals have used an ever-expanding web of repression as the key to their
continued rule.
The long, strong arm of that repression is an agency called Military
Intelligence that locks up opposition leaders, spies on citizens and forces
potential troublemakers like students out of cities.
The general in charge of Military Intelligence is the one who came up with
the idea of making peace with the Pao and other rebel groups: Lt. Gen. Khin
Nyunt, who is often described as the brains behind the government. In its
Orwellian argot, he is called Secretary One.
Secretary One is widely feared by members of the Burman ethnic group. They
live in the lowlands and make up about 65 percent of the country's population.
But among the hill people, Secretary One is not considered to be such a bad guy.
"He has a very sophisticated political mind, and he keeps his word," said
the business manager of the Pao. Although he generally has good relations with
Secretary One, he is somewhat afraid of him. To protect him, this article omits
his name.
The business manager, though, was more than happy to explain how life is
better in a world where the generals are no longer your enemy. "The most
important benefit for our people is that they are no longer being forced to work
as slaves for Slorc's army," he said.
The New York Times
November 17, 2000
Sanctions for Burmese GENEVA, Nov. 16 — The International Labor Organization cleared the way today for sanctions against Myanmar for using widespread and systematic forced labor. Last June, for the first time in its 81-year history, the organization, a
United Nations agency, resolved to invoke an article of its Constitution to
allow sanctions by Nov. 30 unless Myanmar provided evidence that it had ended
the use of forced labor.
Though Malaysia led an effort to soften any penalties, it was
overwhelmingly defeated today by the agency's governing body.
Friday November 17 8:15 AM ET
Angry Myanmar Breaks Off Links with ILO By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
ruling military said on Friday it would stop cooperating with the International
Labor Organization (ILO) after the body accused Yangon of employing widespread
forced labor and called for fresh sanctions.
``Today, Myanmar is singled out for punitive action. Tomorrow it may be
another developing country,'' the foreign affairs ministry said in a
statement.
``This decision sets a most dangerous precedent in which the big powers can
use the pretext of labor rights and unfounded allegations to exert pressure and
interfere in the internal affairs of developing nations.''
Myanmar said the decision called into question the ''credibility, integrity
and reputation of the governing body and ILO.''
After a day-long debate, the ILO's governing body voted overwhelmingly on
Thursday that Myanmar had not complied with a global treaty on eradicating
forced labor.
It urged the U.N. labor agency's 174 member states, private companies and
other international bodies to ``review their relations'' with Myanmar from
November 30 and ``take appropriate measures'' to ensure they were not abetting
use of forced labor.
Diplomats said the appeal by the ILO -- which has no powers of its own to
impose sanctions -- could lead governments to press Western oil companies to
withdraw from Myanmar.
Britain's Premier Oil Plc, France's TotalFinaElf, and U.S. company Unocal
have commercial oil interests in Myanmar, according to Western diplomatic
sources.
Myanmar Denies Use Of Forced Labour
An ILO commission of inquiry in 1998 found forced labor to be ``widespread
and systematic,'' and follow-up ILO missions, including one last month, reported
little progress.
But Myanmar insists the use of forced labor has been stopped, and in late
October issued a new government order stating that ``requisition of forced labor
is illegal and is an offence under the existing laws of the Union of
Myanmar.''
The foreign ministry said the call for sanctions was ``most unfair, most
unreasonable and most unjust.''
``The present situation arose out of the attempts of some Western nations
to impose their will on Myanmar. Myanmar will never be shaken by such pressure
tactics,'' it said.
``Myanmar has already taken the necessary legislative, executive and
administrative steps to prohibit the use of forced labor.''
The United States and European Union (news - web sites), which voted in
favor of sanctions, welcomed the decision by the 80-year-old ILO.
It confirmed a resolution by the ILO's full conference last June which
declared sanctions would automatically go into effect on November 30 unless
Myanmar stepped into line.
In a show of hands, only four delegations -- China, India, Malaysia and
Russia -- voted against.
Myanmar Shunned
Myanmar remains shunned by most of the international community for its
treatment of the pro-democracy opposition, which won elections in 1990 by a
landslide but has never been allowed to govern.
Opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in de facto house arrest,
with diplomatic access barred and her telephone cut, for nearly two
months.
A planned meeting of the Association of South East Asian Nations (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.
Several European countries have indicated they will not be sending their
foreign ministers to the Laos meeting, and will be represented instead by junior
ministers or diplomats.
WIRE:11/17/2000 07:48:00 ET
Protest muted as Myanmar woos India for investment NEW DELHI, Nov 17 (Reuters) -
India talked business and diplomacy with military-ruled Myanmar on Friday,
undeterred by minor protests over its efforts to engage with a country buffeted
by allegations of human rights abuses.
General Maung Aye, vice chairman of the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) and commander-in-chief of the army, told Indian business leaders in New
Delhi that Myanmar was now a attractive place for foreign investment. "We have
changed our economic system to make it market-oriented and have allowed
privatisation of the state sector," Aye said. "Our efforts since 1988 have
resulted in 17 out of 18 armed groups coming into the legal fold. We are a
peaceful country and welcome foreign investment."
Aye, the most senior Myanmar government member to visit India since the
SPDC took power in 1998, earlier met India"s interior minister and discussed the
question of separatist insurgents in states along the two countries" 1,600-km
(1,000-mile) border. Relations cooled when India gave sanctuary to
anti-government Myanmar exiles after the military bloodily suppressed a 1988
uprising in Yangon.
But over the past decade New Delhi, driven by trade, investment, security
and geostrategic considerations -- including checking China"s influence on
Myanmar"s military regime -- has sought to put the bilateral relationship on a
firm footing.
STUDENTS PROTEST
Some 100 Myanmar dissident students protested against Aye"s visit in the
Indian capital on Thursday, and some were briefly detained by police. They plan
further protests before the end of the week-long visit by Aye and his
high-powered government delegation. "The keeness of the Indian government to
become hand-in-glove with the oppressive military junta in Burma (Myanmar) is
damaging India"s democratic credentials," Kyaw Than, president of Delhi-based
All Burma Students League (ABSL), told Reuters.
Than and about 20 other Myanmar dissidents live on the premises of Defence
Minister George Fernandes" residence. Indian government officials said the
socialist minister, who has been a supporter of Myanmar dissidents, was not
scheduled to meet the visiting general. Aye, speaking at a meeting organised by
the Confederation of Indian Industry, told his audience that Myanmar had
received $7.3 billion in foreign investment and its economy was growing at 7.5
percent.
Myanmar Commerce Minister Brigadier General Pyi Sone said India and his
country would open a second border trading point, in the northeastern state of
Mizoram. Bilateral trade between India and Myanmar was around $216 million in
1999/2000 (April-March).
Most trade goes via Singapore because there are almost no shipping links
between the countries. The neighbours are also building a 165-km (100-mile) road
connecting India"s national highway with Myanmar, opening the way for a boost to
trade and linking the subcontinent to Southeast Asia.
Press Trust of India reported that in a morning meeting with Home Minister
Lal Krishna Advani, Aye said Myanmar would destroy camps on its side of the
border of separatist insurgents from India"s troubled north-eastern
states.
Friday, November 17 5:58 PM SGT
New Delhi defends visit by Myanmar general NEW DELHI, Nov 17 (AFP) - India
defended Friday its decision to roll out the red carpet for General Maung Aye,
number two in neighbouring Myanmar's military regime.
"In international relations, we have to take into account our national
interests," Home Minister L.K. Advani told reporters after a welcome ceremony
for Maung Aye at the presidential palace.
"We have weighed all the pros and cons," Advani said, in answer to question
regarding New Delhi's policy vis-a-vis military dictatorships.
India has been vigorously campaigning for international sanctions on
Pakistan since the military coup in October 1999.
New Delhi's engagement of the Myanmar junta has resulted in controversy as
India is also sympathetic to the pro-democracy movement led by Aung San Suu
Kyi.
"The Myanmarese soldiers have shed blood for India -- that is the key point
for consideration," said Commodore C. Uday Bhaskar, a senior analyst with the
Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses.
Indian and Myanmar troops have cooperated in fighting insurgency in the
northeastern states of India.
Earlier this year, they carried out a combined operation in which five
militant camps in Myanmar belonging to the Nationalist Socialist Council of
Nagaland were destroyed.
Other Myanmar-based rebel camps will be targetted soon, Advani said.
India is also keen to engage Myanmar to counter the growing Chinese
influence in the country.
Addressing a group of Indian industrialists Friday, Maung Aye invited
entreprenuers to invest in Myanmar, in areas including agriculture, fisheries,
pearl cultivation, infrastructure, oil and gas, mining and tourism.
"Fifty percent of the foreign direct investment into Myanmar comes from
ASEAN countries ... and only 1.1 percent from India," the general said, adding
that there was "immense potential" for increasing bilateral trade.
The president of the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), Arun Bharat
Ram, said the two countries should increase foreign trade from the current 215
million dollars to two billion dollars by 2003.
Ram also suggested an initiative to increase cooperation between India's
northeastern states, Bangladesh and Myanmar.
Friday, November 17 6:13 PM SGT
Vietnam leaves reporters stewing in search for illegals HANOI, Nov 17 (AFP) - US
officials said Friday they had lodged a protest with authorities in Vietnam
after two reporters for Radio Free Asia were refused permission to cover
President Bill Clinton's historic visit.
As Clinton savoured his rapturous welcome in Hanoi in the early hours of
Friday, the White House press corps was left stewing with their plane marooned
on a taxiway at the city's airport.
A senior US official confirmed later Friday that the 90-minute delay in
disembarking from the charter plane was caused by Vietnamese police scouring
passenger manifests for the names of the two reporters.
White House spokesman P.J. Crowley said that the United States had tried
without success to persuade the Vietnamese authorities to change their
minds.
US Ambassador to Vietnam Douglas 'Pete' Peterson had lodged an official
protest over the affair, he said.
Crowley said that if Vietnam wanted to better integrate with the world it
needed to become a more "open society" which better respected human
rights.
Radio Free Asia, which is funded by Congress and beams two hours of news a
day into Vietnam by shortwave, has carried several recent in depth reports on
the country's government and armed forces.
It also highlights Vietnam's human rights record and seeks interviews with
prominent opponents of the Communist government.
The Washington-based station said Saturday that diplomatic correspondent
Arin Basu and Vietnamese service deputy director Nguyen van Khanh had been
refused visas to visit the country.
The situation mirrors an episode in 1998 in which journalists from the
station were barred from visiting China with the president.
On that occasion, Clinton condemned the decision and gave an exclusive
interview to the station before his departure.
China and several other Asian countries have repeatedly protested at the
service's broadcasts over their borders as a violation of national
sovereignty.
Clinton is the first US president to visit unified Vietnam, 25 years after
the world watched as American troops retreated from Saigon.
He has come under stiff pressure from rights activists and Congress to
raise the human rights record of the Vietnam's communist rulers.
Radio Free Asia is a private corporation funded by Congress which provides
news to listeners in China, Tibet, Vietnam, Myanmar, North Korea, Laos and
Cambodia.
Its mission is to offer information to people who are denied freedom of
_expression_, but often has to contend with jamming from hostile
governments.
Friday, November 17 5:50 PM SGT
Burmese Leader Says Ties With India to Improve NEW DELHI, Nov 17 Asia Pulse -
Gen Maung Aye, the second-most powerful man in the military regime in Myanmar,
was given a warm welcome at Rasthrapati Bhavan here today.
"The two countries have traditionally had good relations and this visit
would further strengthen them. We have had exchange of visits of leaders of two
countries," he said after the ceremonial welcome at the start of his week-long
visit.
Maung, who is here at the invitation of Vice President Krishan Kant, was
received by Kant and his wife Suman, Home Minister LK Advani, Minister of State
for External Affairs Ajit Kumar Panja, Lt Governor of Delhi Vijai Kapoor and
senior officials and diplomats.
Maung, who is Vice Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) arrived in India on November 14 starting his visit from Bodh Gaya and
Bangalore.
He will hold extensive parleys with Advani and call on President KR
Narayanan and Kant.
He will call on the Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and meet the
Indian External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh on Monday.
Friday, November 17 8:46 PM SGT
Bangladesh Alerts Border Guards Along Myanmar Frontier COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AP)--Bangladesh has put its border guards on alert
Friday and warned villagers to keep away from frontier areas after officials
said Myanmar began deploying soldiers along their common border.
Myanmar began amassing troops and laying land mines on its side of the
border after Rohingya insurgents attacked a border outpost on Nov. 10, according
to Bangladesh border officials.
Myanmarese officials have said they reinforced their border guards - but
did not deploy the army - to prevent further rebel attacks. They denied they
laid mines.
The Rohingya insurgents, who are mostly Muslims, are fighting for
independence in Myanmar's Arakan state, bordering Bangladesh.
After a 1991 crackdown, at least 250,000 Rohingyas crossed over to
Bangladesh, where nearly 180,000 still remain in refugee camps.
At a meeting of border officials Tuesday in the frontier town of Teknaf,
Myanmar officials said that the Rohingya rebels fled inside Bangladesh after the
Nov. 10 attack.
Bangladesh denied that.
A Bangladeshi border official on condition of anonymity told The Associated
Press that intelligence reports showed Myanmar was moving up regular soldiers.
He said international law prohibits moving regular soldiers within 8 kilometers
of a border.
Myanmar Rejects ILO Resolution on
"Forced Labor"
2000.11.17 20:57:16 YANGON, November 17 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar rejected Friday a resolution against it on the issue of "forced
labor" adopted by the International Labor Organization (ILO)
Thursday and announced dissociation of itself from the organization and any
activities connected with it, according to a press release of the
Myanmar Foreign Ministry.
The governing body of the ILO, at its 279th session held in Geneva,
decided to activate measures against Myanmar by the pretest of "forced
labor."
"Myanmar will cease to cooperate with the ILO in relation to the ILO Convention 29 and any activity connected with it," the press release said. It charged that the present situation arose out of the attempts of some
western nations to impose their will on Myanmar, warning that Myanmar will
never be shaken by such pressure tactics.
It pointed out that although Myanmar has dissociated itself from the
relevant ILO resolution, it has tried to cooperate with ILO in finding
resolution to the problem and even invited ILO technical cooperation
mission to Myanmar twice.
The press release vowed that Myanmar has been committed to taking
such necessary steps to prohibit the use of forced labor despite ILO's
negative decision.
Pakistan Observer - Nov 17,
2000.
Almost one million forced labourers in Myanmar: ICFTU GENEVA—Nearly one million people are currently subjected to forced labour in Myanmar, the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) said on Wednesday, a day before the International Labour Organisation (ILO) was due to decide on whether to impose sanctions on the country. The ICFTU, made up of 216 trade unions in 145 countries, said it had based
its estimate on 580 cases of forced labour in Myanmar and more than 2,000 cases
of repression.
The Brussels-based organisation said it had also examined more than 400
labour requisition orders issued by members of the army and several dozen
witness statements since June.
The governing body of th ILO was due to decide on Thursday on possible
sanctions against Myanmar over the use of forced labour. The sanctions were
agreed in principle in June but put on hold until November to allow Myanmar to
take action.
The ICFTU highlights a case of a forced labourer who managed to flee on
November 10 and described the killing by a corporal of one of his co workers who
had fallen to the ground, exhausted and ill with malaria after three months of
forced work in a combat area along the frontier with Thailand.
The organisation also claims that figures show 80 percent of the 1.5
million Burmese refugees in Thailand have been forced to work before
fleeing.
People in Myanmar are forced to work on building sites, on roads, railways
and military installations, it said.—AFP
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