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-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- BURMA RELATED NEWS - DEC - 01, 2000. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- HEADLINE
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar Lifts
Curbs on Some Pro-Democracy Leaders
Reuters - China on 'Fast Track' to AIDS
Epidemic - U.N.
AP - Myanmar free some leaders
of pro-democracy party but not Suu Kyi
AP - Congressional Agency Calls
For Asia Human Rights Reforms
Dow Jones - BIMST-EC To Plan
Tourism Strategy In Colombo Meeting
The People's Daily - Major
Chinese Company to Help Myanmar Expand Telecom Network
Bkk Post - Army on alert ahead
of Rangoon offensive
Times of India - Myanmar Army launches offensive against Naga rebels
The Times - Burma and the Karens
The Daily Star - Myanmar
to remove mines planted on border
Bkk Post - Writer-critic
flees and seeks asylum in west
Friday December 1 8:35 AM
ET
Myanmar Lifts Curbs on Some Pro-Democracy Leaders By Aung Hla Tun YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government said on
Friday it had lifted restrictions on six opposition members, but pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi remained confined to her residence after more than two
months of de facto house arrest.
Suu Kyi has been kept locked in her home with her
telephone cut and diplomatic access barred since a stand-off at Yangon's railway
station in late September when the authorities prevented her from traveling to
the northern town of Mandalay.
Tin Oo, vice chairman of Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD), was placed in detention after the stand-off, and NLD Chairman
Aung Shwe was also placed under de facto house arrest along with six members of
the NLD executive committee.
Although restrictions on the executive committee members
were lifted, the curbs on the NLD's three senior leaders remain.
``The temporary restrictions on the six NLD central
executive committee members has been lifted since 5:30 p.m. today and (they) are
resuming their normal activities since then,'' government spokesman
Lieutenant-Colonel Hla Min said in a statement.
``U Aung Shwe, U Tin Oo and Daw Suu Kyi are requested to
continue their stay in the present position for the time being.''
International Anger
The lifting of restrictions on the six NLD members comes
shortly before a planned meeting of foreign ministers from the Association of
South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European Union (news - web sites) in
Laos on December 11-12.
Myanmar's treatment of the NLD, which won elections by a
landslide in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern, has threatened to derail
the meeting.
The EU has boycotted ministerial-level meetings with ASEAN
since Myanmar was controversially admitted in 1997, and this year's crackdown on
Suu Kyi has done nothing to ease hostility.
Most EU states have said they will only send junior
ministers or diplomats to the Vientiane meeting, and some frustrated ASEAN
members have been pressing Myanmar to make concessions.
Diplomats in Yangon said the easing of restrictions on the
six NLD committee members, while welcome, was unlikely to impress EU countries
if Suu Kyi and her senior colleagues stayed locked up.
Only one foreign diplomat has been given access to Suu Kyi
since she was confined to her house. United Nations (news - web sites) special
envoy Razali Ismail held talks with her in October.
The 55-year-old Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in
1991, is facing a concerted crackdown against the NLD.
The party has been threatened with eviction from its
Yangon headquarters, and Suu Kyi's estranged U.S.-based brother has filed a
lawsuit with a Myanmar court demanding the right to half of her Yangon
residence.
Thursday November 30 11:09 PM
ET
China on 'Fast Track' to AIDS Epidemic - U.N. By Sarah Cheung BEIJING (Reuters) - China is on a ``fast track'' to an AIDS
(news - web sites) epidemic and will have 10 million or more HIV/AIDS sufferers
by 2010 unless its acts decisively and soon, the United Nations (news - web
sites) says.
``There is no more time to wait. China does not have time
to wait,'' Edwin Judd, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF (news - web
sites)) representative in China, said just ahead of Friday's World AIDS
day.
``China is on a fast track to having a big epidemic. The
truth of the matter is that the 600,000 cases that exist now are just the
beginning.''
Officially reported cases are growing at more than 30
percent a year and hit 20,711 in September. Some 70 percent of these are
intravenous drug users and the majority are males aged 20-29.
But experts reckon there are up to 600,000 cases of
HIV/AIDS unreported because sufferers in the world's most populous nation carry
the virus unknowingly or, fearing ostracism, don't dare to report it, Judd
said.
The Health Ministry has begged the media to emphasize the
urgency of the problem.
But many Chinese have very conservative attitudes toward
sex and get squeamish talking about condoms, sexually transmitted diseases, or
even the existence of China's estimated four million prostitutes.
Others think the problem is far away, in border regions
such Yunnan next door to Myanmar, a major source of the opium from which heroin
is derived.
``In Beijing, it's not a big problem,'' a taxi driver
said.
In October, the official Beijing toll was
556.
But the real number was likely to be higher due to the
city's large floating population, said Liu Ying of the Beijing Association of
STD and AIDS Prevention and Control.
China's creaking bureaucracy and decentralized health
service also made enforcement difficult, Judd said.
Guidelines on how to perform blood tests correctly are not
followed, there is no national screening program and most hospitals simply lack
the resources to deal with HIV/AIDS.
Ignorance compounds the problem. Many Chinese have no idea
how AIDS is transmitted. A recent survey showed only 3.8 percent out of 3,824
people understood. More than half thought using the same chopsticks and bowls as
a sufferer would infect them.
Bad Blood
Some discover they have HIV/AIDS in a routine visit to the
hospital. For others, their trouble starts at the hospital.
A woman from the southwest province of Sichuan said her
daughter had become infected through a blood transfusion after giving
birth.
``China needs to test its blood! It can't just give people
anybody's blood. My daughter's only in her thirties. She's too young to die,''
the mother told Reuters at the Beijing hospital to which she brought her
daughter in a desperate bid to save her.
The Health Ministry has ordered each pint of blood to be
tested for AIDS twice.
``Blood used in hospitals and clinics should be provided
by a central blood station. The hospital should not provide blood it has bought
from individuals,'' said Shao Yiming, vice-director of the ministry's AIDS
prevention and control center.
But in China's poor, central regions, transfusions with
infected blood is the main reason for the spread of HIV.
``Blood heads'' collect blood illegally from farmers eager
for the cash, the Nanfang Daily said on Thursday. Not only do the collectors
take too much blood, they use unsterilized equipment, pool the donated blood,
extract the plasma then return red blood cells to the donors, it
said.
Silent Killer
As China has reformed its once rigidly Communist economy,
more and more people have left their rural homes illegally for the booming
cities.
Now there are an estimated 100 million of them and there
is a danger homosexual sex could move HIV into their midst.
A recent Health News report said male laborers were
beginning to sell sexual services. Ignorant of AIDS and keen to keep a low
profile to prevent being sent home, many may unknowingly be HIV-positive, the
newspaper said.
``This is a major population group at risk,'' said Judd.
``We need to know about how we can reach these groups for education and
surveillance.''
WIRE:12/01/2000 08:45:00
ET
Myanmar free some leaders of pro-democracy party but not Suu Kyi YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar"s military government freed six top
members of the opposition National League for Democracy from house arrest on
Friday. But the government said party leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her two top
lieutenants would remain in confinement.
Party Chairman Aung Shwe and Vice Chairman Tin Oo are,
along with Suu Kyi, the most outspoken and most senior party executives. The
opposition members have been held virtually incommunicado and allowed visits
only by close relatives since Sept. 21, after a dispute with the government in
Myanmar, also known as Burma.
The dispute began Aug. 24, when Suu Kyi tried to drive out
of Yangon. Stopped by authorities, she spent nine days camping on the roadside,
then was forcibly brought back to the capital.
Her ordeal brought worldwide sympathy and harsh Western
criticism of the military junta. Suu Kyi, the 1991 winner of the Nobel Peace
Prize, has been stopped several times in the past as well. Myanmar"s ruling
military, which kept Suu Kyi under formal house arrest from 1989 to 1995,
refused to hand over power after her party overwhelmingly won a general election
in 1990.
It has harassed and arrested hundreds of NLD members since
the vote. U.N. envoy Razali Ismail was able to meet with Suu Kyi twice at her
house during his visit to Myanmar in October. The United Nations is trying to
start a dialogue between the government and the opposition.
Friday, December 1 6:31 PM SGT
Congressional Agency Calls For Asia Human Rights Reforms SINGAPORE (AP)--Senior U.S. legislators visiting Singapore on
Friday made an impassioned call for human rights reforms in Asia, arguing that
economic progress must not come at the cost of social freedoms.
Many Asian governments contend that freedoms such as
speech, religion and organized labor should be curtailed to create a more stable
environment for economic development.
"I reject the view that it (development) can best be
achieved by suppressing human rights. I think that's a phony dichotomy," said
delegation leader Rep. Tom Lantos of Calif.
Lantos noted China's economic progress, but blasted the
country's human rights record and the idea, often touted by Asian leaders, that
more freedom will inevitably follow more prosperity.
"It's absurd to expect that their country (China) will
develop to its potential purely along the economic axis, while politically it
will live in a different age, a different era," he said at a news conference.
Lantos also criticized Myanmar's military government for
refusing to yield power to the pro-democracy party that won a landslide election
a decade ago.
Despite earlier U.S. criticisms of Singapore's tight
social and political controls, Lantos praised the country's economic
achievements and social stability, and said it was making progress on human
rights.
Labor, civil and human rights in Singapore "could and I'm
sure will improve," he said.
Asian leaders have often attacked the U.S. as hypocritical
for pushing modern Western freedoms on Asia despite U.S. human rights abuses in
its own past.
Lantos acknowledged a "hypocrisy gap" in U.S. human rights
history, but urged Asian governments to learn from U.S. mistakes.
"When our founding fathers said 'all men are created
equal,' they said not a word about women, and they said it at a time when we had
slavery," he said.
"But our friends in Asia have the marvelous advantage of
having our case before them," he said. "It has the opportunity of closing the
ethnic, the racial, the religious, the sex gap much faster than we did."
Lantos also defended the legal wrangling in this year's
U.S. presidential election due to a close count, which has been mocked by
several Asian leaders.
"While other countries would call out the army, we called
out the lawyers," he said. "And we'll accept the verdict of the court, and move
on from there."
Lantos is the head of the Asia and Pacific Subcommittee of
the House International Relations Committee.
He was accompanied in Singapore by Rep. Lynn Woolsey, also
a Calif. Democrat, and former representative Don Bonker, president of the
International Management and Development Institute think tank.
The delegation is in Singapore from Wednesday to Sunday to
hold discussions on political and economic change in Asia, and met with
officials including Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong and Senior Minister Lee Kuan
Yew.
Friday, December 1 1:20 PM SGT
BIMST-EC To Plan Tourism Strategy In Colombo Meeting COLOMBO (Dow
Jones)--Officials from a five-nation group, BIMST-EC -
Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand Economic Cooperation - will
meet in Colombo on Dec. 4-5 to discuss a strategy to promote tourism, a report
said Friday.
In the meeting the group is expected to focus on boosting
tourism through aggressive promotion outside the region, the Daily Mirror
reported.
The group, which represents countries on the Bay of
Bengal, was set up in 1997 to discuss common issues relating to trade and
investment, technology, tourism and fishing.
The group's main aim is to build a trans-regional
organization on the lines of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
BIMST-EC held its inaugural meeting in Sri Lanka in August 1999.
Tourism in Sri Lanka this year has been particularly hurt
by an escalation in fighting between Tamil Tiger Rebels and government troops.
In September the number of tourists visiting Sri Lanka
dipped 8.5% on the month to 31,035.
The Japan Times: Dec.
1, 2000
Tokyo slates meeting with Myanmar By HISANE MASAKI Staff writer In defiance of mounting international pressure, Japan
appears firmly determined to go ahead with technical assistance for
Myanmar.
A fledgling joint panel of Japanese and Myanmar government
officials and private-sector experts will meet in Tokyo as early as next week to
discuss ways to resolve structural problems that have hobbled the impoverished
Southeast Asian country's economic development, informed sources said
Thursday.
It will be the second time for the joint economic panel to
meet; the panel was inaugurated earlier this year and held its first meeting in
Yangon in June.
Japan's decision to host a second meeting is expected to
draw flak from the United States and other industrialized countries in Europe as
well as from human-rights activists both at home and abroad.
The meeting comes amid escalating international criticism
of Myanmar's military regime for its violations of human rights and democratic
principles.
At its board meeting in Geneva on Nov. 16, the
International Labor Organization, a key body of the United Nations, decided to
impose sanctions on Myanmar over its widespread use of forced labor. The
sanctions, applied under an article of the ILO constitution that had never been
used, took effect Thursday.
Myanmar's military regime has long denied the existence of
forced labor, insisting that civilians work voluntarily to promote the
development of the country, especially its poorer rural areas.
Unlike U.N. Security Council sanctions, which spell out
limits on trade and other punishments, the ILO is leaving it to the some 170
individual member governments to determine specific measures to take against
Myanmar.
A senior government official said there is no conflict
between the ILO action and Japan's going forward with its policy of
"constructive engagement."
"Japan's technical assistance for Myanmar's economic
reforms does not run counter to the ILO decision, because the ILO sanctions call
on its member governments to stop any economic aid that may encourage the use of
forced labor in Myanmar," the official said, requesting anonymity.
The meeting also comes amid a continuing tug-of-war in
Myanmar. The military regime has recently entered into a showdown with
prodemocracy leader and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy.
The junta -- which now refers to itself as the State Peace
and Development Council -- and Suu Kyi's NLD began knocking heads in early
September. That's when the SPDC forced Suu Kyi to end a nine-day roadside
protest just outside the Myanmar capital of Yangon, forcibly returned her to her
Yangon home and confined her there.
Although she was released from effective house arrest 13
days later, she was again placed under effective incarceration after she made
another failed attempt to travel outside Yangon.
Foreign diplomats stationed in the Myanmar capital have
not been allowed to visit Suu Kyi.
The military has been in power since 1988, when it staged
a coup. Two years later, it nullified the results of an election that handed Suu
Kyi's NLD a landslide victory. The NLD leader was then placed under house arrest
until the summer of 1995.
The U.S. and other industrialized countries in Europe have
toughened economic and other sanctions against Myanmar during the past decade,
and since the coup Japan has frozen large-scale economic aid for new
projects.
But while joining the U.S. and Europe in calling for
improvements in human rights and democratic principles, Japan has taken a much
softer approach toward Myanmar's military regime.
Tokyo has argued for "constructive engagement" with the
junta instead of ostracizing it from the international community.
But the U.S. is becoming increasingly critical of this
policy. At a meeting with her Japanese counterpart, Yohei Kono, in New York in
mid-September, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright implicitly urged Japan to
abandon its policy toward Myanmar and fall into line with the U.S. and
Europe.
The U.S. has also objected to the joint economic panel,
claiming that it will only spoil the SPDC by signaling that Japan condones its
lack of progress on democratization and human-rights.
People's Daily
Friday, December 01, 2000, updated at 16:53(GMT+8) Major Chinese Company to Help Myanmar Expand Telecom Network A leading Chinese modernized telecommunication and
information enterprise, the Shanghai Bell Co. Ltd., reached the largest
whole-set high-technology export contract with the Myanmar Posts and
Telecommunications authorities Friday in Yangon for improving and expanding the
telecommunication network in four major cities in Myanmar.
On behalf of respective parties, President of the Shanghai
Bell Co. Ltd. Gunther Strobel and Director-General of the Myanma Posts and
Telecommunications U Maung Maung Tin signed the contract.
Attending the contract signing ceremony were Chinese
Ambassador to Myanmar Liang Dong and Myanmar Minister of Communications, Posts
and Telegraphs Brigadier-General Win Tin.
The contracted project, worth nearly US$20 million, will
cover expansion of the telecommunication network in Yangon, Mandalay, Pyay and
Toungoo.
Under the contract, the products supplied by the Chinese
company cover a 55,000-line digital switching system, transmission equipment,
outside plant cable and integrated services digital network.
The project is scheduled to complete in two years and the
telecommunication infrastructure of Myanmar is expected to take on a new look
after implementation.
Bangkok Post - Dec
01, 2000.
BORDER - Army on alert ahead of Rangoon offensive Wassana Nanuam The defence minister has told the army to be on the alert
near the Thai-Burmese frontier as the anticipated relocation of Red Wa from
northern Burma is likely to spark fierce fighting in border areas.
Defence spokesman Lt-Gen Banchorn Chavalsilp said Chuan
Leekpai had given the order because Rangoon forces are expected to launch a
dry-season offensive against minority rebels in border areas opposite Tak, Mae
Hong Son and Chiang Mai.
Military intelligence suggested the Red Wa would move down
to these areas resulting in increasing drugs production and arms trade, he
said.
Army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont, meanwhile, said border
forces would retaliate against any stray shells from Burma landing on Thai
soil.
The army chief also confirmed he would not join the
supreme commander's Dec 12-13 trip to Burma. The visit is to introduce the new
navy and air force chiefs to Burmese military leaders, but Gen Surayud said he
is no longer a newcomer.
The Times of India -
Dec 01, 2000.
Myanmar Army launches offensive against Naga rebels NEW DELHI: A rebel newsletter has confirmed government
claims that the Myanmar Army has launched a major offensive against anti-India
Naga insurgents in northwest Myanmar, as part of growing cooperation between the
two countries in tackling cross-border terrorism.
According to 'Freedom,' a newsletter circulated by the
outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) on the Internet, the Myanmar
Army is preparing for an offensive against the headquarters of the Khaplang
faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland (NSCN-K), located in a
"remote zone of northwest Myanmar."
The newsletter, dated November 15 and issued by the ULFA's
"publicity department," claimed the Myanmar Army had attacked two NSCN-K
strongholds since late October. Cadres of the ULFA and United National
Liberation Front, a rebel group from the northeastern state of Manipur, were
also injured in these attacks, the newsletter claimed.
The ULFA's claim confirms statements by Union Home
Minister Lal Krishna Advani on November 17 that the Myanmar Army destroyed five
NSCN-K camps this year and even suffered casualties in these
operations.
Advani, who was defending the government's decision to
upgrade ties with Yangon's military junta, had said that cooperation between the
armies of the two countries to curb the activities of insurgent groups along the
1,643-km India-Myanmar border had increased in recent years.
"We have information that there are some more camps
(operated by anti-India rebels in Myanmar) and we will be pursuing this matter,"
Advani had said shortly after a ceremonial welcome was accorded to General Maung
Aye, the second highest leader of Myanmar's military junta, when he visited here
earlier this month. Aye, who is also chief of the Myanmar Army, was the highest
leader of the military junta to visit India.
The ULFA newsletter said the Myanmar Army offensive
against the NSCN-K was launched following "ministerial-level discussions"
between New Delhi and Yangon. "Earlier the Myanmar Army attacked the 2nd
battalion of NSCN-K on October 23 injuring six guerillas belonging to ULFA and
UNLF," the newsletter said.
"Later, on November 5 the Myanmar Army again tried to
attack the Kannyak region headquarter but this time the guerillas gave a
befitting reply to their enemy, killing three and wounding 5l (Myanmarese
soldiers)," the newsletter said. The NSCN-K, which is one of two powerful rebel
groups that have been waging a violent bush war for two decades to create an
independent homeland for Naga tribals in India's northeastern region, recently
suspended hostilities against the security forces and began talks with the
government on reaching a formal cease-fire agreement. The other Naga rebel
group, the Isak-Muivah faction of the National Socialist Council of Nagaland
(NSCN-IM), had entered a cease-fire agreement with the government in August
1997.
It is believed the operations mounted by the Myanmar Army
against the NSCN-K, which is headed by S.S. Khaplang, a Hemi Naga from Myanmar,
was one of the key factors that forced the rebel group to begin peace talks with
the Indian government. The NSCN-K has several camps in Naga-inhabited areas of
Myanmar's Sagaing division bordering Nagaland.
The Indian armed forces, on their part, have stepped up
operations against Kachin and Karen rebel groups from Myanmar that have links
with guerrilla groups in India's northeastern states.
The Times
FRIDAY DECEMBER 01 2000 Burma and the Karens Letters to the Editor
December 01, 2000 FROM MR CHRISTOPHER J. PUTLAND Sir, It was hardly surprising that the Ambassador of Burma (letter, November 22; see also letter, November 16) should seek to demonstrate that the Burmese regime has a benevolent attitude towards its minorities and dissenters. This situation is far from the truth, which is why James Mawdsley was moved by the plight of refugees he met in New Zealand, and sought to visit Burma and protest against the evil regime, for which he received his 17-year prison sentence. The United Nations International Labour Organisation has
charged the junta with crimes against humanity, for the forced labour on
government projects of around two million men, women and children. The junta has
displaced one and a half million people from their homes, both for government
projects and as part of an ethnic cleansing programme.
Reports by the United Nations, Amnesty International and
Human Rights Watch have repeatedly detailed a litany of abuses including murder,
torture and rape, and massive relocations of ethnic groups, especially near the
country’s borders. Thirty-nine elected candidates from the 1990 elections are in
jail in Burma and many of Burma’s 1,500 political prisoners have been tortured
and murdered by the junta.
It seems hardly surprising that the displaced people
should prefer not to listen to the ambassador’s advice and return to their
benevolent homeland.
Yours sincerely,
CHRISTOPHER J. PUTLAND, 22 Grove Way, Esher, Surrey KT10 8HL. November 27. The Daily Star
Myanmar to remove mines planted on border COX'S BAZAR, Nov 29: Myanmar agreed in principle to remove
landmines planted on the 'no man's land' along the border that killed a number
of people, reports UNB.
The assurance came from the Myanmar border security force
NASAKA at a meeting with Bangladesh Rifles at Ghumdhum BDR Outpost near
Naikhangchhari border on Tuesday.
Officials here said the delegation of NASAKA said they
would apprise their higher authorities of the matter. They, however, accused the
Arakanese rebels of planting mines on 'no man's land.'
"The flag meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere aiming
to defuse tensions heightening in the border areas," said an
official.
In the meeting, both sides admitted that at least seven
people of the two countries were killed in last two weeks in landmine
explosions.
Bangkok Post - Dec 01, 2000.
BURMA - Writer-critic flees and seeks asylum in west Tin Maung Than says he fears arrest Aung Zaw Tin Maung Than, Burma's well-known journalist, writer and
social critic, is seeking political asylum after fleeing to
Bangkok.
The former chief editor of Thintbawa (Your Life) is
seeking asylum in the west for himself and his family, according to Irrawaddy, a
Chiang Mai-based monthly magazine.
In August Rangoon soldiers took the Harvard-educated
writer in for questioning on suspicion he was secretly distributing speeches by
former minister Zaw Htun.
Brig-Gen Zaw Htun, a deputy minister for national planning
and economic development, was forced to step down after accusing the government
of economic mismanagement.
Military intelligence officers suspected Tin Maung Than
and a group of Burmese writers were spreading the word.
Fearing arrest and intimidation, the writer said he and
his family could no longer live in Burma.
Hailed as one of the most influential writers of the last
20 years, Tin Maung Than was no stranger to censorship.
In one notorious incident, a 1996 issue of his magazine,
Thintbawa, lost 58 of its 160 pages after coming under scrutiny of Rangoon's
Press Scrutiny Board.
In the annals of censorship, critics said it was crude
even by Burmese standards. Despite the clampdown, copies of the article,
comparing the colonial and national education system, were widely distributed
among Burmese dissidents. Tin Maung Than, a physician graduate of Mandalay
Medical University, has written several articles on HIV/Aids, education and
social problems facing military-ruled
Burma. |