Burma Related News - January 18, 2001.

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January - 18, 2001.

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HEADLINE

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SCMP - Myanmar military says democracy will take time

The Boston Globe - Young Burma rebels held in Thailand

AFP - Thai authorities deliberate over fate of God's Army twins

AP - Thailand: God's Army Twins Anxious To See Parents

AP - Rebel Chiefs Want To Meet Parents

AP - Homes Torched, Karen Villagers Flee Myanmar For Thailand

AP - Thai, Myanmar Forces Join Hands,Destroy Shelters On Islet

Xinhua - Myanmar to Introduce Modified Vital Registration System

IHT - Try Compromising With Rangoon

FEER - EDITORIALS - Talking Politics

The Nation - EDITORIAL: More than just a children's problem

Bkk Post - EU to assess NLD's take on talks

South China Morning Post
Thursday, January 18, 2001
3:15 pm (GMT+8)
Myanmar military says democracy will take time

Myanmar's military has dampened hopes of a breakthrough in moving the country towards democracy, with a senior leader quoted on Thursday as saying democracy will take time to build and will never follow the Western model.
News this month that senior members of the ruling military held secret talks with pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi raised hopes that the country's political stalemate could be finally broken.

But the official Kyemon newspaper quoted Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, as saying Myanmar would resist international pressure to adopt Western-style democracy.

"It can be witnessed that some big neo-colonialist countries are interfering and applying pressure on Myanmar on all fronts to force the adoption of a democratic system identical to theirs," Khin Nyunt said.

"In fact, it is impossible to introduce the same democratic system to all countries as they differ in historical backgrounds, geographical conditions, national characters, traditions and culture, and the evolution of their political, economic and social conditions," he said.

"A certain period of time is needed to implement the national policy and create a disciplined and durable democratic system which will be the most compatible with the desires of all nationalities," the powerful intelligence chief said.

CONCILIATORY LINE

Myanmar's military, which has ruled since 1962, insists it is committed to building democracy, but says premature political reform would cause anarchy and national disintegration.

The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) won elections in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to govern.

Suu Kyi, released from six years house arrest in 1995, has been kept confined to her residence since September, after angering the government by twice trying to travel outside Yangon.

But the military now appears to be taking a more conciliatory line. Articles and cartoons attacking the NLD, usually common in the country's official newspapers, have suddenly ceased.

Chances of a quick breakthrough, however, remain remote.

Khin Nyunt said foreign countries should stop meddling in Myanmar's affairs.

"Such undue influence and interference will hinder the democratisation process in Myanmar," he was quoted as saying.

At a meeting in Laos last month between ministers from the European Union and Association of South East Asian Nations, Myanmar offered an olive branch by agreeing to a visit by an EU delegation.

The delegation will visit Myanmar from January 29 to 31, and says there will be no restrictions on who it can meet.

The Boston Globe
Young Burma rebels held in Thailand
By Daniel Lovering, Globe Correspondent, 1/18/2001

UAN PHUNG, Thailand - With a cigarette clutched in his tiny right hand, Luther Htoo walked barefoot out of a police station yesterday, flashing a tired smile at guards towering above him with assault rifles pressed against their chests.

Behind him came Johnny, his twin brother, and a parade of their ragged followers, generally estimated to be from 12 to 15 years old, in grubby T-shirts and shaggy hair. They are members of God's Army, an anti-Burmese militia led by the Htoo brothers, who had surrendered with 15 others to Thai authorities yesterday and Tuesday.

Members of God's Army, an offshoot of an ethnic Karen militia that has fought Burma's military government for years, believe the child leaders wield mystical powers that make them invincible against Burmese troops.

But Thai border troops discovered that they weren't immune to starvation. After their supplies from Thailand were cut off and their weapons were seized in recent weeks, the depleted God's Army recruits simply gave up.

''They all surrendered unarmed,'' said an army commander, Surayud Chulanon.

Fourteen members, including Johnny and Luther, were rounded up early Tuesday. Three others surrendered around noon yesterday.

Thai military officials had been searching for the group since Dec. 31, when God's Army members raided a shop in a nearby village, killing six Thais. In January, they took over a hospital in Ratchaburi with the help of an allied rebel group, taking hostages until a Thai army raid killed 10 of the guerrillas.

Three of the God's Army members in custody confessed yesterday to carrying out the raid on Dec. 31, authorities said. The three have been charged with murder and robbery, said Chalong Sonjai, a senior Thai police official.

The Thai military was able to persuade the God's Army members to surrender by promising that ''they would be treated fairly and that those not involved in the killing would not be punished,'' Surayud said.

The fate of the youthful militia is now in the hands of provincial leaders, who will determine if the children should be treated as criminals or illegal immigrants, or as refugees fleeing fighting in neighboring Burma.

''Our first hope is to send the children back to their parents if possible,'' Surayud said. Thai officials also discussed the possibility of sending the innocent God's Army youth to refugee camps if they are found to have refugee status.

If they are found to be illegal immigrants, they could be extradited to Burma. This month, Burma's military overtook the group's jungle headquarters, forcing its members to live off the land.

Starved out of the jungle along the border between Thailand and Burma, Johnny and Luther seemed relieved to be munching cookies provided by Thai police.

Johnny and Luther, who have been known to shoulder M-16 rifles almost as tall as they are, appear to be very young. Estimates put them at 12 to 15 years old.

Thursday, January 18 1:21 PM SGT
Thai authorities deliberate over fate of God's Army twins

SUAN PHUNG, Thailand, Jan 18 (AFP) - Thai authorities deliberated Thursday over whether to give asylum to the twin boy leaders of the God's Army militia, who may be reunited with their parents at a border refugee camp.

Luther and Johnny Htoo, whom the Thai authorities say are 15 but who appear years younger, surrendered to Thai troops Tuesday after their rag-tag band was hunted down over a bloody New Years Eve raid on a village in western Ratchaburi province.

Three men among the group of 17 who turned themselves in were being questioned over the attack that left six Thais dead, and two have already been charged with murder and robbery.

However, the remainder of the God's Army members now in detention at this border town are mostly women and children and look set to escape punishment over the raid and previous attacks staged by the rebel group's fighters.

Provincial governor Komes Daengthong-dee said a committee made up of police, army and provincial officials would decide their fate.

"The committee has to decide whether they are immigrants or refugees," he told AFP. "I cannot set a date for when the decision will be made but it will be based on two things -- their safety and Thailand's national security.

"We have to check all the details such as whether they were escaping fighting in Myanmar and whether they were involved in the embassy or hospital seizures."

The God's Army rose to infamy a year ago when its fighters, working with an allied rebel group, seized a major Ratchaburi hospital and held hundreds hostage before Thai special forces killed all the guerrillas in a dawn raid.

Several months before it gave refuge to the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors, another anti-Myanmar guerrilla movement, after they briefly took over the Myanmar embassy in Bangkok.

Komes said while the investigations were under way, the twins and their followers would be kept in detention at the border police district headquarters in Suan Phung district.

He said Wednesday it was "possible" the brothers would be reunited with their parents at the nearby Ban Tong-Yang refugee camp.

Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai also said during a visit to meet the group here Wednesday that he would prefer they were sent to their families.

"They are just kids. I would like to see them reunite with their parents and go to school like any other normal kids," he said.

Local police were Thursday holding a re-enactment of the New Years Eve attack on the small village of Ban Wai Noi Nai which lies just a few kilometres from the spot where the God's Army members surrendered.

At least five fighters held up a grocery store at gunpoint, demanding staple foods like noodles and salt, before firing into a crowd as they fled.

The body of one of the rebels was found later by Thai security forces near the Myanmar border. He was believed to have been killed after accidentally detonating a hand grenade.

Lieutenant Colonel Chatchai Saeusaming of Suan Phung police said the re-enactment was being carried out under heavy guard, with 110 police and local militiamen on standby.

"We are concerned people will get angry and try to hurt the suspects," he said.

Chatchai said from initial reports, one of the rebels opened fire on the crowd after they shouted insults at the guerrilla band while the robbery was in progress.

Thursday January 18, 4:59 PM
Thailand: God's Army Twins Anxious To See Parents
By Matthew Pennington

SUAN PHUNG, Thailand (AP)--The teen-age twins who lead the God's Army rebel group are anxious to meet their parents after emerging from the jungles where they lived a fugitive's life for 12 months, a Thai official said.

Johnny and Luther Htoo, believed to be 13 or 14 years old, have also promised to cut down on smoking, said Payakkaphan Phokaew, the chief of the Suan Phung district where the twins surrendered to Thai authorities on Tuesday.

They turned themselves in with 12 followers, most of them youngsters. Three more God's Army members surrendered Wednesday. God's Army members believe the twins have magical powers.

"I told them to quit cigarettes and Johnny and Luther promised to cut down," Payakkaphan told The Associated Press, interrupting the interview to ask an official to buy lice medicine for the twins.

The twins' surrender brought to an end an ineffective hit-and-run campaign that their ragtag guerrilla group waged for the last three years against the Myanmar military. The twins belong to Myanmar's ethnic Karen minority who are fighting for independence. The main insurgency is led by a much larger guerrilla group.

The fighting has forced about 100,000 Karen refugees into Thailand. Among them are the twins' parents.

Payakkaphan, who had a breakfast of rice and chilly squid with the twins Thursday, said the boys want to go to the refugee camp where their parents live.

Refugee Status Yet To Be Determined

Thai "soldiers have informed the parents that they (the boys) are under the protection of the Thai authorities," he said.

"The twins seem happy enough. At least they have more food and are not afraid of their enemy," he said. The twins and their colleagues are being kept out of the public eye at a three-story house at the border patrol police headquarters in Suan Phung.

"This week we want to give them time to recuperate," Payakkaphan said.

He said a committee comprising senior officials and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees would probably meet next week to determine if the twins and their followers qualify for refugee status.

God's Army was formed a few years ago after an assault on the twins' village, when they allegedly inspired a daring and successful counterattack against Myanmar troops. That rare victory gave birth to a local legend about their mystical powers.

The group gained notoriety when it gave refuge to another group of Myanmar dissidents, which had earlier taken hostages at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in October 1999.

A few months later the group seized a Thai hospital, triggering a manhunt and crackdown on God's Army by Thai authorities.

Thursday, January 18 7:24 PM SGT
Rebel Chiefs Want To Meet Parents
By MATTHEW PENNINGTON, Associated Press Writer

SUAN PHUNG, Thailand (AP) - The teen-age twins who lead the God's Army rebels are anxious to meet their parents after emerging from the jungles where they lived a fugitive's life for 12 months, a Thai official said Thursday.

The twins turned themselves in with 12 followers, most of them youngsters. Three more God's Army members surrendered Wednesday. The group's members believe the twins have magical powers.

The twins became icons for youthful rebels around the world after the widespread circulation a year ago of an Associated Press photograph showed the angelic-looking, long-haired Johnny next to his tougher-looking, cigarette-puffing brother, Luther.

``I told them to quit cigarettes and Johnny and Luther promised to cut down,'' Payakkaphan told The Associated Press, interrupting the interview to ask an official to buy lice medicine for the twins.

The twins' surrender brought to an end an ineffective hit-and-run armed campaign that their ragtag guerrilla group had carried out for the last three years against the Myanmar military.

The twins belong to Myanmar's ethnic Karen minority who are fighting for independence. The main insurgency is led by a much larger guerrilla group.

The fighting has forced about 100,000 Karen refugees into Thailand. Among them are the twins' parents.

Payakkaphan, who had a breakfast of rice and chilly squid with the twins Thursday, said the boys want to go to the refugee camp where their parents live.

``Soldiers have informed the parents that they (the boys) are under the protection of the Thai authorities,'' he said.

``The twins seem happy enough. At least they have more food and are not afraid of their enemy,'' he said. The twins and their colleagues are being kept out of the public eye at border patrol headquarters in Suan Phung, about 100 miles west of Bangkok.

``This week we want to give them time to recuperate,'' Payakkaphan said.

He said a committee of Thai and U.N. officials would probably meet next week to determine if the twins and their followers qualify for refugee status.

Among those who surrendered are three teen-agers who are suspected of taking part in a Dec. 30 gunbattle in a Thai village that killed six villagers.

The three youngsters were taken Thursday to the village of Ban Wai Noi Nai where they re-enacted the shooting, a customary practice in Thailand.

Police say the re-enactment helps the investigation, but it is also seen as being done for the benefit of news television channels.

Ban Wai Noi Nai, a village of 10 families, is located 12 miles from Suan Phung and three miles from the Myanmar border.

One of the suspects, 19-year-old Ga Pa, has confessed to taking part in the shooting with four other rebels, police Lt. Col. Chatchai Susamin said.

The group gained notoriety when it gave refuge to another group of Myanmar dissidents, which had earlier taken hostages at the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok in October 1999.

A few months later the group seized a Thai hospital, triggering a manhunt and crackdown on God's Army by the Thai authorities.

Thursday January 18, 5:32 PM
Homes Torched, Karen Villagers Flee Myanmar For Thailand

BOR WI, Thailand (AP)--The latest refugees of a guerrilla war between ethnic Karen rebels and the Myanmar regime said Thursday they were forced to flee to Thailand after Myanmar troops torched their homes.

Sheltering under tarps propped up by bamboo at a temporary camp, some 81 ethnic Karen villagers said they had to leave more than 40 of their old and sick relatives who were unable to make the arduous journey.

One of the villagers, Pert, 24, said the group had walked eight days through jungle after Myanmar troops raided their settlement at Mae Kong Ni in eastern Myanmar, killing one Karen man and taking another 17-year-old woman away. Her fate is not known.

"I can't remember how many times we've moved on. We have to hide in the jungle to save our lives," said Pert, who uses only one name.

"I miss home but I don't dare to go back," he said at the camp, set up 10 kilometers inside Thailand.

A volunteer who works with displaced Myanmar civilians at the border, feared there could be hundreds more trapped inside Myanmar opposite Ratchaburi province.

About 100,000 Karens, Myanmar's largest ethnic minority, have taken refuge in Thailand after being displaced in a campaign by the military regime to flush out rebels fighting a guerrilla war for more autonomy for their people.

The war is led by the Karen National Union, whose influence has waned under withering assaults from government forces. Other rebel groups have also fought ineffectual battles, including the God's Army, a ragtag group whose twin teenage leaders surrendered Tuesday to Thai authorities.

Thursday January 18, 8:09 PM
Thai, Myanmar Forces Join Hands,Destroy Shelters On Islet

MAE SOT, Thailand (AP)--In a rare show of cooperation, Thai and Myanmar security forces Thursday supervised the destruction of shelters and foliage on an islet that they say is being used as a staging ground for smugglers.

The islet forms a no man's-land between the two countries. It is located near the Thai-Myanmar friendship bridge that links the Thai city of Mae Sot, 370 kilometers northwest of Bangkok, with the Myanmar town of Myawaddy.

Thai officials have said that the 7.2-acres islet in the Moei River was being used to hide drugs, smuggled cigarettes and liquor and criminals, and that activities illegal in Thailand such as gambling took place there.

Thai officials said the sweep of the islet was their first joint operation with Myanmar and symbolized their friendly relations. Traditionally, on-the-ground relations between the two nations' forces have been cool.

Historically, the border between Thailand and Myanmar - also known as Burma - has been tense, in large part because ethnic rebel forces opposed to Myanmar's central government operate there.

Depending upon the prevailing political winds, the Thai military has tended to turn a blind eye to the rebels using Thai territory.

Myanmar's government believes camps on Thai soil housing 100,000 refugees are used as support bases for the rebels.

Myanmar to Introduce Modified Vital Registration System
2001.01.18 10:29:23

YANGON, January 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar will introduce modified vital registration system in 45 townships in the country's Yangon division beginning April 1, according to Thursday's official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar.

For the implementation of the modified system, a four-day planning workshop is being held here since Tuesday.

Myanmar made a field-testing in 1999 of the modified vital registration system in four pilot townships in the country's four divisions respectively including Yangon and was said to have obtained improvement through the application of the new system.

The new vital registration system, which covers all the birth and death statistics, is said to become a most comprehensive source of vital information up to the community level.

The system is also said to help realize the Convention of the Right of the Child which stipulates that the child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name and the right to acquire a nationality.

At present, the vital registration system and statistics system cover 261 townships with 91 percent of the urban population, but only 167 townships with 63 percent of the rural population are included.

The system was first introduced in Myanmar in 1904 and covered a sizable portion of the population by 1931. The system was reorganized in 1962 with the Health Department registering all vital events such as birth and death and late fetal death and the CSO processing and compiling vital returns and producing statistics.

Myanmar's population is estimated to have reached 50.12 million in 2000, growing by 2 percent annually. Of the population, that in the capital of Yangon was registered as 3.85 million as of 2000.

NEW YORK POST Online

BURMESE SQUEEZE REBEL TEENS
Thursday,January 18,2001
By BRAD HUNTER

THE violent and bizarre odyssey of the Karen militiamen Johnny and Luther Htoo was steeped in two contradictory elements: the Bible and the gun.
In the sweltering Thai jungle Tuesday, the 13-year-old twins' desperate efforts to protect their Karen homeland - located on the mountainous border of Thailand and Burma - came to an end when they and 14 followers, known as God's Army, laid down their guns.

For three years, the brothers - who were believed to have magical powers - dodged the Thai and Burmese armies, disease and starvation. Hunted like animals by the Burmese, their battle for a Christian homeland limped to a pathetic conclusion.

"We have seized them all, including the twins," said Thai army Maj. Gen. Mana Prajakjitr. "The twins aren't so healthy following our weeks-long encirclement, denying them food.

"They look really terrible after all these months on the run. They are exhausted, and I think they lost their will to fight."

God's Army was given an ultimatum by Thai officials last week to surrender within seven days or be destroyed. Thai army officials encountered the ragtag rebels Tuesday and, after several hours of negotiation, the fighters were persuaded to give themselves up.

"We told them to surrender, and only those who got involved in the killing of our people [not the twins] would face legal punishment," Prajakjitr said.

Thai military officials say the twins will not face a firing squad but will be returned to their parents in a refugee camp on the Thai-Burmese boarder.

"Their mother and father live at Ban Tong-yang, and hopefully their lives will return to normal - if they ever can," Prajakjitr said.

DURING the past three years, the twins offered a desperate hope of survival for the Karen.

But the junta in Burma (now formally known as Myanmar) that hounded the boys and their followers painted them as terrorists bent on embarrassing - and toppling - their 52-year-old dictatorship.

To the world at large, the chain-smoking children looked like lovable lads who needed only a good scrubbing and a stable home. A former Playboy bunny, moved by their cherubic faces, even offered to adopt them.

The brothers first burst into the spotlight four years ago when they were filmed by a television crew in search of Burmese dissidents who had fled into the jungle.

Puffing on cigars, comically out of proportion to their tiny bodies, the myth of the warrior children was born.

"I shoot the Burmese army because of what they do to our people," Luther told a reporter last summer. "They beat and rape Karen women, they steal from us and burn down our houses.

"Some holy thing touched my heart and I became a soldier."

For more than 50 years, the Karen have battled the Burmese army to become independent, and struggle was seared into Luther and Johnny's souls from birth.

In the early 1990s, the Burmese army launched a huge operation to wipe out the Karen once and for all and make way for a multimillion-dollar gas pipeline through their lands. God's Army of the Holy Mountain emerged in 1997 as a Karen defense force.

"Economically, the gas pipeline had to go through at all costs," said Sister Mary Roberts, a Roman Catholic nun who has been in the area for years.

"The oil companies were very clever. They let the Burmese military do the dirty work, and then pretend they didn't know anything about it."

British consortium Premier Oil began pumping gas through Karen land in April.

As the systematic elimination of the Karen escalated in the late '90s, a tidal wave of 100,000 men, women and children fled over the Thai border to safety.

Human-rights activists claim Burmese government storm troopers butchered more than 30,000 tribe members in their clandestine campaign of terror.

FROM their birth into a peasant family in 1987, a deeply messianic fervor has surrounded the twins. Legend has it that when they were born, a multitude of voices and sounds filled the air - as if a great crowd had gathered for their arrival.

When the Burmese began their campaign of rape and torture against the Karen, the boys emerged as leaders.

"One day a boy named Johnny Htoo started telling people he was having visions of how to defeat the army, and they were listening," a Karen priest told Talk magazine last year.

One night in 1997, Johnny and Luther took up arms and attacked a Burmese battalion that had slaughtered nearby villagers. From then on, people believed Johnny and Luther had spellbinding powers, that they could become invisible, deflect bullets and communicate directly with God.

"They cannot be shot. And when they see a land mine, the twins just kick it out of the way," said the priest, who appeared convinced of their divinity.

In an interview earlier this year, Luther said the boys' actions were God's will.

"I say my prayers and the Lord inspires me," Luther explained. "God chooses the weakest to do his best for the people. I am not afraid. I am serving my people."

On Jan. 25 last year, 10 gunmen from God's Army stormed a provincial Thai hospital, laying mines and tying explosives to the gate in an attempt to get medical attention for their wounded fighters.

More than 900 patients and staff were taken hostage. Thai special forces ended the drama with the execution of the 10 triggermen.

But in the wake of the hospital bloodbath, hostages told reporters how polite and well-behaved their captors were.

After the Thai hospital siege, the brothers and their followers were increasingly desperate.

Try Compromising With Rangoon
David I. Steinberg International Herald Tribune Thursday, January 18, 2001

RANGOON Encouraged by mediation from the United Nations and Malaysia, a quiet dialogue between the military junta in Burma, which calls itself the State Peace and Development Council, and the opposition National League for Democracy led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been taking place in a shroud of secrecy since October. Where the talks will go is unclear, but they are potentially important.
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Although many analysts in Burma and abroad remain skeptical that political progress is assured, there is a widespread recognition that the stalemate must be broken. Burma needs an infusion of foreign investment and aid for an economy that has faltered. This is increasingly apparent even to apologists of the military regime.
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The currency system is weak, reflecting a lack of economic faith in the government. One former Burmese official quipped that the government does not have the money to buy the ink to print the money. Politics in Burma leads economics, and thus political progress could be a precursor to economic reforms.
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U.S. Burma policy under the Clinton administration largely focused on human rights concerns. These will be quite low on the list of priorities of a Bush administration. As a result, it is timely to consider what changes might be made and under what conditions.
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A ban on new U.S. investment in Burma is in place; U.S. visas for high-level Burmese officials are denied; there is no American ambassador in Rangoon, although the embassy operates under a chargé. U.S. policy has been personalized. It is the product of a close relationship between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and outgoing Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.
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Now is an opportune time for a set of mutual actions that could lead to better relations between the United States and the European Union on the one hand and Rangoon on the other. It is ironic that as the world welcomes the new dialogue in Burma, talks with ranking Burmese officials cannot take place in the United States because visas are refused. The absence of a U.S. ambassador in Rangoon impedes diplomatic processes.
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Imposing sanctions because of political repression and human rights abuses has increasingly come under question, given the far less rigid U.S. approach to North Korea, China and Vietnam, all of which have major problems with political and civil rights. There are other U.S. interests at stake in Burma relating to its important strategic location between China, India and Southeast Asia, and social concerns such as AIDS and the drugs that emanate from its territory.
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If the Bush administration is to alter its policies on Burma, there needs to be some convincing change within the country, otherwise the Congress in Washington will balk. Still, the new administration should be considering what steps might be taken, when and how, and what quid pro quos would be both feasible and appropriate.
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As the United States calls for flexibility on the part of the junta and the opposition in Burma, it should be ready to respond with compromise of its own.

Far Eastern Economic Review
Issue cover-dated January 25, 2001

EDITORIALS - Talking Politics

Whether anything comes of the Burmese junta's meetings with Aung San Suu Kyi hinges on if the West deigns to engage the generals
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AN OFFICIAL OF BURMA'S junta has met Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy. After United Nations envoy Razali Ismail revealed this at the end of a five-day visit, it emerged that the first round of talks actually took place months back, in October (see article on page 22).

But as we go to press, still no word has emerged of what transpired between Miss Suu Kyi and Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt. Indeed, the junta met twice with Miss Suu Kyi in 1994, only to then call off further talks. Given the opacity surrounding the latest meetings, it is entirely plausible that the parleys were merely a subplot to internal squabbling within the regime itself, as some speculate. All told, it remains too early to suppose that the generals have become kinder and gentler.

The only certainty is that the United States and the European Union had no part in arranging the talks. Belief is that Malaysia's Mahathir Mohamad--who was in Burma for an official visit that ended with a private holiday the same week Mr. Razali arrived in Rangoon--was the one who goaded the junta to meet Miss Suu Kyi. The U.S. and EU, on the other hand, in their zeal to punish the junta for cancelling the 1990 elections that established the NLD as the legitimate choice of Burmese to rule Burma, have squandered all leverage over the military.

In 1996, the EU imposed sanctions to deny visas to senior junta officials. Last year it toughened restrictions by specifically naming all personae non grata, and froze overseas funds held by members of the regime. And in 1997, Washington imposed sanctions against new American investments in Burma. As we noted at the time of the U.S. action, yes, sanction threats can work to eke out concessions. But that is precisely it: They are effective only as a threat. Once actually imposed, all bets are off; everyone loses, not least the ordinary folks for whom choking off investments means lost jobs and income.

The U.S. and EU may tut-tut at some of Asean's member states for seeking to profit from constructive engagement; for unwittingly encouraging the junta. Yet the major powers' sanctions--in effect shunning Burma--have failed as much to diminish brutish behaviour by the military rulers, which the International Labour Organization has cited for the use of forced labour. (The ILO also made a knee-jerk, politically correct call for member countries to impose sanctions.) Now, whether the current talks can lead to anything substantive lies with the same powers. If they continue to treat the Burmese regime only as pariah and turn up their nose at it--erring in thinking that the junta actually gives a hoot when all this time it hasn't--nothing good can emerge. But if they begin to engage it, as the little power Australia began to do in 1999, then there is the possibility of gaining major-power leverage to build on the meetings--whatever the generals' original intentions for holding them--and actually encourage change.

A decade after the end of the Cold War, perhaps Burma can serve as a reminder to many in the West, especially the U.S., that real-world politics requires constant engagement.

The Nation - January 18, 2001.
EDITORIAL: More than just a children's problem

Strip the God's Army twin boy leaders of machineguns and fatigue shirts and they look like any other village urchins. Except, of course, that they are a bit more emaciated and have a tendency to roll cigarettes. Now that they have given themselves up to Thai authorities, it is essential to put things into perspective about the existence of the much-publicised God's Army and the whole rationale behind it.

God's Army's primary aim was to fight against the military regime in Burma with the hope of ending political oppression. Like other fighters in other minority groups, the young guerrillas reflected the internal problems of Burma. Even though God's Army will cease to exist, its spirit of fighting a totalitarian regime will live on. In the future, there could other similar groups that share the same determination.

On a bilateral level, it reflects the urgent need for Thailand to manage its 2,401-kilometre border with Burma. The attacks by God's Army guerrillas at the end of 1999 and the hostage crisis last January showed an appalling lapse in security from the Thai side. It certainly proves that the military has not been as vigilant as it could be in patrolling the border. For years, Thais living along the Thai-Burmese border have complained about minority groups committing crimes against them. With Burmese authorities claiming they have no control over these groups, it has been left to Thai officials to deal with the situation, which they have failed to do. So as long as the junta is unable to provide justice and recognition of the rights of these minorities, the situation will remain unchanged.

The God's Army situation also highlights the broader picture of child soldiers, who have been deprived of their basic rights to an education and a childhood. Many were forced to take up arms, while others were coerced into it by extraordinary circumstances, such as the belief that they could not be killed. The United Nations estimates there are 300,000 child soldiers around the world. Burma has about 50,000, including some forced to work as porters and those in minority groups.

In the case of the God's Army twins, Johnny and Luther Htoo, and their young comrades, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai has said they will receive humanitarian assistance, except for those who have committed grave crimes. However Thailand chooses to respond to the God's Army situation, we have to be mindful of the several hundred thousand Burmese in various capacities currently living in different parts of the country. Special treatment meted out to the young guerrillas might attract a new influx of minorities into Thailand.

Since the seizure of the Burmese Embassy in October 1999 by Burmese students in exile and the subsequent hostage crisis in Ratchaburi last January, the Thai attitude towards minorities has become very negative. The Thai people view them as troublemakers who do not respect the country in which they reside. Burmese students in exile have suffered the most from this sense of alienation. They are being intimidated by security officials, who believe Thai-Burmese problems will be solved if they can drive out all students and minority refugees. Sadly, this is warped thinking. The various groups of Burmese living in Thailand are here for different reasons, some legitimate, some not, and therefore it is dangerous to throw a blanket of accusation over them.

In the final analysis, if the Burmese junta respected the rights of its citizens and allowed minorities to take part in building the nation without any discrimination, then there would be no need for children to be forced into military confrontations, nor would there be refugees.

Bangkok Post - January 18, 2001.
BURMA-EUROPEAN UNION RELATIONS
EU to assess NLD's take on talks
Mission delegates to meet Suu Kyi, junta
Achara Ashayagachat

AEuropean Union delegation heading for Burma on Jan 29 will be able to get a first-hand impression on recent talks in Rangoon, the Swedish ambassador to Thailand said yesterday.

Jan Axel Nordlander, speaking for the Swedish presidency of the EU, said the delegates would be able to gauge directly "what the opposition thinks about the dialogue so far".

The United Nations spokesman and the National League for Democracy (NLD) have confirmed that Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, first secretary of the ruling State Peace and Development Council, and Aung San Suu Kyi of the NLD held initial talks in October. The talks were brokered by Razali Ismail, the UN special envoy to Burma.

The EU delegation will be led by Borje Ljunggren, director-general of the Swedish Foreign Ministry's Asia-Pacific Department, who will be joined by counterparts from Belgium, representing the next EU presidency, the EU Council and the European Commission.

The delegates are due to meet Suu Kyi, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, other members of the SPDC and Foreign Minister Win Aung, during the Jan 29-31 mission, the Swedish envoy said. Meetings with representatives of ethnic minorities, UN agencies and international non-governmental organisations are also scheduled, he added.

Mr Win Aung had invited the EU to send a delegation to Burma during a high-level meeting in Vientiane in December of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and the EU.

The EU had to postpone the trip twice as the junta had to receive Mr Razali.

"The EU attached great importance to the mission Mr Razali has made and is encouraged by the progress that Mr Razali has achieved," the envoy said. "Now that the dialogue has started between the SPDC and the opposition, the EU stance is to give Razali full support," he added.

But despite the positive development, the envoy said it was too early to say whether the EU would lift sanctions against Rangoon.

"The EU prerequisite is for Burma to reinstate democracy and [achieve] national reconciliation ," he said. The EU Council is due to review policy issues in April.

Internal and external pressures had led to the start of the dialogue, he said.

"Great efforts have been made from many quarters including from some Asean members, and these are perhaps decisive factors that made the government in Rangoon realise the difficult situation of their people in terms of health and education and therefore they decided to engage," he added.