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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 30,
2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Mynamar Says Talks with Suu Kyi Still
on Track
AFP - Myanmar junta
says Suu Kyi talks still on track
Reuters - Myanmar accuses
Thailand of colluding in drugs traffic
AFP - Myanmar lashes out at
Thailand over border shelling
Reuters - Thai-Myanmar
tensions cast shadow on ASEAN meeting
AFP - ASEAN foreign
ministers meet against backdrop of regional tension
AFP - Thailand torches
biggest drug stockpile in a decade
AFP - Southeast Asian
ministers to debate ways to create new jobs
AP - Myanmar Exiles Calls
Japan Aid "More Harm Than Good"
AP - Myanmar Says It Is Serious About Talks With
Opposition
AFP - More enemies to press
freedom emerging, RSF reports
AFP - ASEAN foreign
ministers kick off informal retreat
Reuters - Thai army says ready for more
Myanmar shelling
Reuters - Thai natural gas usage hits 20-yr high - PTT IT - Jagmohan, Yangon mayor discuss city
development
Kyodo News - ASEAN
foreign ministers gather in Yangon for casual talks
Bkk Post - Thai Army to buy Black Hawk
helicopters for drug unit
Bkk Post - Postbag -
Our best hopes rest with Surakiart
Xinhuanet - Thai FM to Visit
Myanmar
SCMP - Tensions
cast shadow on Asean meeting
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30 9:15 AM ETMynamar Says Talks with Suu Kyi Still on Track By Andrew Marshall
YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government said Monday historic closed-door talks with opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi had not hit an impasse and insisted the dialogue was
``not a public relations stunt.''
The announcement earlier this year that senior ruling generals had been
holding regular secret meetings with Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi since
October was hailed as a landmark step toward breaking the political stalemate
that has gripped the country for more than a decade.
No details on the progress of the talks have emerged, however, and some
foreign diplomats in Yangon say the dialogue may have stalled.
But speaking to reporters after an informal meeting of Southeast Asian
ministers in Yangon, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung, said the process was
still on track although it had to remain confidential.
``It has not stalled,'' Win Aung said, in the first public comments by a
senior government minister on the dialogue.
``But we hope that this process, which is very much complex and delicate,
should be left confidential. The freedom of the country very much depends on
this.''
Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won Myanmar's last general election
in 1990 by a landslide but has never been allowed to govern. The country has
been shunned by many foreign governments who accuse Myanmar of systematic human
rights abuses.
Minister Says Talks No Ruse
But Japan recently said it was giving Myanmar an aid package of around $29
million to reward the government for starting dialogue with the opposition.
Win Aung insisted the dialogue was not merely a public relations ruse.
``This is not a public relations stunt,'' he said. ``This is for the sake
of the people of Myanmar -- 52 million people. We don't play games. If we played
games, we might have played a long time ago. We are simple, honest people.''
The start of talks was marked by an end to hostilities between the
government and opposition. Myanmar's state-run newspapers ended their regular
attacks on the NLD, which in turn has stopped public criticism of the
government.
But Suu Kyi remains silent. She has been held in de facto house arrest
since September, after two high-profile attempts to travel outside Yangon were
blocked by the government. Only a handful of foreign diplomats, including United
Nations special envoy Razali Ismail, have been allowed to visit her.
No Time Limit
Win Aung said the lack of hostilities between the government and opposition
was a clear sign the talks were on track.
``Confrontation on both sides has stopped,'' he said. ``People should
notice that. Is it good for the country? Yes, of course. It is good for our
people.''
Myanmar says it is committed to building democracy, but that the
multi-ethnic country could disintegrate into anarchy if the process moves too
quickly. It says any parliament should have a quarter of its seats reserved for
the military, with the country's ethnic minorities also represented.
Win Aung said there was no time limit on the talks with Suu Kyi.
``There is no set time for the dialogue or peace process in Northern
Ireland or Sri Lanka or in the Middle East,'' he said. ''This is not a process
where you can start a countdown. It is a process that is timeless.''
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 8:07 PM
Myanmar junta says Suu Kyi talks still
on track
YANGON, April 30 (AFP) - The
Myanmar junta denied Monday that historic talks with democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi had stalled, saying they continued to make progress and were not merely
a publicity stunt.
"We are not playing games for the sake of the media ... this is not a
public relations stunt," said Foreign Minister Win Aung.
"This is for the sake of the people of Myanmar. We don't play games. If we
played games we might have done so a long time ago," he told reporters after an
Association of Southeast Asian Nations meeting here.
Diplomats in Yangon say the secret talks appear to have been stalled since
February, when the junta's fourth-ranking leader Lieutenant-General Tin Oo was
killed in a helicopter crash.
UN envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail, who helped kick-start the reconciliation
process, has been denied permission to visit since then, and a widely expected
mass release of political prisoners has failed to materialise.
Win Aung said that while he could not release details of the dialogue,
which has been held under conditions of strict secrecy, it was certainly "not
stalled."
"Confrontation on both sides has stopped -- you notice that in the papers,"
he said, referring to the government's order for the official press to halt its
routine personal attacks on Aung San Suu Kyi.
"So you can deduct from what you see, the indicators are that this is
good."
"But we hope that this process, which is very complex and delicate, should
be left at a distance right now because the freedom of the country depends on
this."
The minister said he could not say when the dialogue process would produce
more concrete results, but indicated that more prisoner releases were in the
offing.
"There is no set time for the dialogue or peace process in Northern
Ireland, or in Sri Lanka or the Middle East," he said. "This is also not a
process where you can start a countdown."
"We are reviewing (prisoners) every month and we will consider it and do
whatever we can."
Win Aung said that the talks with the Nobel peace laureate began after the
opposition decided to accept a peace overture made by the junta.
"People's perceptions and ideas can change from time to time. You cannot
grasp one thing in hand for a long, long time -- you need to adjust to the
situation," he said.
"(The junta) offered olive branches for a long, long time. They they were
brushed off before. Now there is no brushing."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 7:38 PM
Myanmar accuses Thailand of
colluding in drugs traffic
By Dominic Whiting BANGKOK (Reuters) - Myanmar's
military government launched a stinging attack on neighbouring Thailand on
Monday, accusing it of colluding in drugs trafficking with a rebel ethnic army.
A statement released by the Myanmar government and received by Reuters in
Bangkok said Thai army shelling of Myanmar troop positions across the common
border on Sunday were an "unnecessary aggravation" designed to give artillery
support to the rebels.
It accused Thailand of not taking any serious steps to clamp down on the
Shan rebels' drugs activities and of allowing "individual big dealers" to thrive
under their protection.
The Myanmar statement coincided with an informal gathering of Southeast
Asian foreign ministers in Yangon, at which Thailand's new foreign minister,
Surakiart Sathirathai, was due to meet his Myanmar counterpart Win Aung for the
first time.
Diplomats say the meeting will be an important test of the will of the two
governments to engage on the issue of drugs, which has bitterly divided the two
neighbours for years.
A senior Thai army source told Reuters "a lot of rounds" had been fired as
"warning shots" over the Myanmar border on Sunday after stray mortar fire from
Yangon troops had landed in Thai territory.
The source, who asked not to be identified, said Myanmar government troops
were intensifying efforts to retake three bases, just 100 metres from the Thai
border, that were overrun by Shan rebels earlier this month.
"EXCUSE FOR ARTILLERY FIRE"
But the Myanmar government statement said the Thai action was excessive,
and was in fact helping soldiers of the Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA),
whom it called "drug bandits".
"...genuine warning need not come in hundreds of artillery rounds daily
including air-burst shells over the Myanmar troop positions," it said.
"Most observers...tend to believe that the Thai Army is again coming up
with an excuse to be able to give SURA an artillery fire support from across the
border creating military escalation and causing unnecessary aggravation."
The statement said Thai authorities were colluding with the Shan rebels in
their lucrative drugs trade.
"Various drug bandits...are being heralded as drug-busters cum freedom
fighters by the Thai authorities," it said.
"Thailand has not yet been taking any serious steps in preventing essential
chemicals for the production of heroin and methamphetamines to fall into the
hands of crime syndicates while enabling these crime syndicates and individual
big dealers not only to survive but thrive under protection and the internal
drug distribution system still being untouched," the statement said.
Thailand has said the main producers of the estimated 700 million
methamphetamine tablets flooding into Thailand from Myanmar each year are the
Yangon-backed Wa ethnic group.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who recently called a
highly-publicised meeting of security officials to discuss the fight against
drugs, has called for Myanmar to help fight drug production.
But the Myanmar statement dismissed the Thai government's recent
announcements on fighting the drugs trade as posturing.
"Regretfully, observers view Thailand's anti-narcotic policy to be going
off the mark while the Thai public and the media are being taken for a ride with
its anti-Wa rhetoric and its scapegoating thy neighbour policy while harbouring
its drug criminals and armed outlaws."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 10:02 PM
Myanmar lashes out at Thailand over
border shelling
BANGKOK, April 30 (AFP) -
Myanmar's ruling junta accused Thailand of using its firepower to defend a rebel
ethnic army along the Myanmar-Thailand border in an offical statement released
Monday.
Myanmar said, after reports that Thai army forces had fired some 30
artillery warning shots "towards Myanmar" Sunday, that hundreds of shots had
been fired over Myanmar troop positions and were intended to shield ethnic Shan
State Army (SSA) "drug bandits."
"The Thai army is again coming up with an excuse to be able to give (the an
artillery fire support from across the border creating military escalation and
causing unnecessary aggravation and tension," the statement said.
Myanmar also accused Thai troops of participating in an attack last week by
SSA troops that left seven government soldiers dead.
In helping the SSA, Thailand was effectively harbouring drug criminals as
the ethnic militia had been shown to be involved in the heroin and amphetamine
trade, the statement said.
Relations between Thailand and Myanmar reached a low point earlier this
year when fighting between two ethnic militias reputedly involved in the drug
trade set off a rare clash between the two national armies.
High-level talks helped relieve the tension, but last weekend's raid by SSA
rebels on a Myanmar border outpost has reignited tensions.
"Various drug bandits with no intention and programs for narcotic drug
elimination are being heralded as drug-busters cum freedom fighters by the Thai
authorities," it said, referring to the SSA.
"Thailand has not yet been taking any serious steps in preventing essential
chemicals for the production of heroin and methamphetamines to fall into the
hands of crime syndicates."
In what the Thai military has described as the nation's top security
threat, some 700 million methamphetamines pills are estimated to make their way
into Thailand each year, feeding a massive addiction problem.
Thailand's new Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra fired the opening shot in
the war of words earlier this year by declaring a "war on drugs" and ordering
officials to find ways to close down the narcotics trade.
Meanwhile Yangon has accused the Thai army of using the SSA to fight a
proxy war, while at the same time justifying its crackdown on the rebels to
curtail their role in the production and trafficking of drugs.
The SSA is one of the only major armed factions in Myanmar yet to agree to
a ceasefire with Yangon. It has been fighting for an independent state for
decades.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 10:00 PM
Thai-Myanmar tensions cast shadow on
ASEAN meeting
By Andrew Marshall YANGON, April 30 (Reuters) -
Southeast Asian foreign ministers held informal talks in Yangon on Monday on
strengthening regional unity in a meeting overshadowed by smouldering tension
between Myanmar and Thailand over drugs and a series of clashes on their shared
border.
Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, who chaired the meeting as
Vietnam holds the rotating chairmanship of the Association of South East Asian
Nations (ASEAN), said the key focus of the talks was "how to strengthen ASEAN
both within and without".
Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung told a closing news conference the talks
had been very fruitful, but stressed that no formal decisions had been taken.
"This informal meeting was not to make specific decisions. There are no
declarations, no resolutions," he said. "It's about the exchange of views and
the free flow of ideas and points of view."
He said the regional bloc had been strengthened by the meeting. "We feel
that we are all friends," he added.
But as ministers discussed regional unity in the closed-door meeting,
accusations were flying between Yangon and Bangkok over the latest hostilities
on the border.
A senior Thai army source confirmed to Reuters the army had fired "a lot of
rounds" as "warning shots" over the Myanmar border on Sunday after stray mortar
fire from Yangon troops had landed in Thai territory.
The Myanmar troops are fighting to retake three bases, just 100 metres
(yards) from the Thai border, that were overrun by ethnic minority Shan rebels
earlier this month.
Relations between the countries soured in February after another exchange
of fire between Thai and Myanmar troops which left several dead.
Bangkok says the United Wa State Army, a militia group allied to the Yangon
government, is the source of most of the drugs flooding Thailand.
But Myanmar says the Shan State Army is the region's main drugs producer,
and has repeatedly accused the Thai army of supporting the drugs trade and
aiding the rebels.
ANGRY STATEMENT
In an angry statement on Monday, the Myanmar government branded the Shan
rebels as "drug bandits" and said its campaign against them was part of its
efforts to crack down on illegal narcotics.
It said the Thai army was "creating military escalation and causing
unnecessary aggravation", and attacked Thai anti-drugs efforts.
"Regretfully, observers view Thailand's anti-narcotic policy to be going
off the mark while the Thai public and the media are being taken for a ride with
its anti-Wa rhetoric and its scapegoating-thy-neighbour policy while harbouring
its drug criminals and armed outlaws," the statement said.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, making his first official
visit to Myanmar, is scheduled to stay on in Yangon until Wednesday for
bilateral talks with Win Aung.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has pledged to wage war on drugs, in
particular the hundreds of millions of methamphetamine tablets flooding Thailand
from Myanmar.
The Thai government says it is trying to promote trilateral cooperation
between Thailand, Myanmar and China to crack down on drugs.
Win Aung said the issue of drugs had been discussed at the ASEAN meeting,
with the bloc still committed to a goal of eradicating illegal drugs by 2015. He
said disagreements between Myanmar and Thailand had not been discussed, but
would be addressed in bilateral talks with Surakiart.
Suriakiart said ahead of the talks that relations between the two countries
remained good despite the border clashes.
"I reiterate that the relationship between the two countries is still very
good," he said.
"We still have a certain level of good understanding and with this visit I
hope to look forward to have a deeper understanding and to lay down all issues
of concern to both sides and find common ground to resolve them."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 9:21 PM
ASEAN foreign ministers meet against
backdrop of regional tension
YANGON, April 30 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian foreign ministers Monday pledged to tighten the bonds between
their nations as they met in the Myanmar capital against a backdrop of rising
tension in the region.
The informal retreat, held separately from the formal Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting for the first time, was
aimed at fostering closer relationships within the bloc.
"This meeting was not to make any specific decisions ... no declarations,
no resolutions -- it is about the exchange of views and the free flow of ideas
between the ministers," said Myanmar's Foreign Minister Win Aung.
"For ASEAN member countries, the most important aspect right now is ASEAN's
integration," he said. "We would like to strengthen our bonds, and that is what
we did."
But as they flew into Yangon over the weekend, the ministers left behind
them a host of political and economic woes that analysts said would prove to be
a distraction from the pressing issues facing the regional grouping.
While the talks went on, the Philippines grappled with an attempted power
grab and Indonesia braced for violence as President Abdurrahman Wahid faced a
second censure motion that would pave the way for his impeachment.
Win Aung admitted that the troubles had threatened to derail the meeting,
held at a ritzy Yangon golf course, by keeping several ministers away.
But he said the talks had been "fruitful", and that a number of
controversial issues including the region's narcotics trade and Myanmar's
political reconciliation process had been tabled.
The minister said he had briefed the delegates on the military regime's
historic talks with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, which he insisted were
still on track despite reports they have been derailed.
"We are not playing games for the sake of the media ... this is not a
public relations stunt," he said. "This is for the sake of the people of Myanmar
... if we played games we might have done so a long time ago."
The ministers said after the one-day retreat that they supported the
fledgling reconciliation process.
"I think in this case on Myanmar we are very happy with the process and I
think it's good that they have begun it," said Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar.
However, he said the bloc would maintain its "hands-off" policy of
non-interference in member nations' affairs.
"Once they have decided to come together among themselves and have a
dialogue, we have to leave it to them, because this must not be done in the
limelight of publicity," he said.
On the eve of the retreat, ministers said they hoped the informal
get-together would enable them to catch up on each other's domestic problems and
review the troubling developments in the region.
"It is an experiment we are trying and I welcome it," said Singapore's S.
Jayakumar.
"We wanted to have a comfort level among foreign ministers to be able to
talk freely ... about subjects that will contribute towards furthering the
cohesiveness and solidarity of ASEAN as a group," said Syed Hamid.
"There are many things that have happened as a result of the financial
crisis, and as a result of changes in government, changes in systems, and with
globalisation and the WTO."
Syed Hamid said that although ASEAN's spotlight will be on the bloc's
economic ministers when they meet in Cambodia this week, the foreign ministers
must help create the environment for better economic cooperation.
"It will not be wrong for us to focus on some of the economic issues
because nowadays politics is driven by the economy," he said.
"We must have the political will to be able to positively see how we move
on from now."
The formal ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting will be held in Vietnam in
July.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 6:36 PM
Thailand torches biggest drug stockpile
in a decade
BANGKOK, April 30 (AFP) - Thai
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Monday presided over the nation's biggest
bonfire of confiscated drugs in a decade.
About 2,266 kilograms (4,985 pounds) of narcotics, from heroin to
increasingly common "yaa-baa" amphetamines, were set ablaze in a furnace before
an audience of officials and reporters in Ayutthaya province 100 kilometers (63
miles) north of Bangkok.
The stockpile represented contraband amassed from 443 drug busts, and
included 1,087.8 kilogrammes of heroin, 962.3 kilogrammes, or 11.3 million
tablets, of amphetamines and 7.9 kilgrammes of ecstasy.
Thaksin said the street value of the drugs was as high as 2.0 billion baht
(43 million dollars).
Health Minister Sudarat Keyuraphan said the annual burning, which this year
marks its 25th anniversary, is usually held on Thailand's national anti-drugs
day in June.
But this year the government said it was particularly concerned about the
growing problem of drug trafficking in Thailand and decided to torch the drugs
earlier, Sudarat said.
"The government is concerned over the dangers of drugs, which leads to
problems at every level of society," she told reporters, adding that a second
burning would be held in June.
Last year Thailand burned some 1,557.39 kilogrammes of drugs while the
largest drug bonfire was in 1982, when Thai authorities incinerated 2,888.13
kilogrammes.
The Thaksin administration, which took office in January after a landslide
election victory, has taken a hard line against drug trafficking.
The amount of drugs flowing into Thailand has skyrocketed over the past
three years despite efforts to curb trafficking, government officials have
said.
As a result authorities have seized record drug hauls in recent
months.
Earlier this month the government invoked the death penalty and executed by
firing squad five convicts, four of whom had been sentenced for drug-related
offenses.
An estimated six percent of Thailand's population of 62 million is believed
to be addicted to narcotics, with cheap methamphetamine pills having replaced
heroin and opium as the addicts' drug of choice.
The pills are churned out in jungle refineries along the northern border
with Myanmar, run by ethnic armies who have signed peace treaties with Yangon,
and have been shuttled across the border in record numbers this year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 6:29 PM
Southeast Asian ministers to
debate ways to create new jobs
KUALA LUMPUR, April 30 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian labour ministers will meet here next week to map out new
projects to create more jobs in the region amid the US slowdown, a Malaysian
minister said Monday.
But a planned protest by the country's trade union movement on May 12
against alleged misuse of the state retirement fund could mar the event.
Human Resources Minister Fong Chan Onn said he was hopeful of persuading
the Malaysian Trades Union Congress (MTUC) to drop the action. He told a press
conference that he had "fruitful" talks earlier Monday separately with
representatives from MTUC and the Employees Provident Fund (EPF).
"We are now in the process of intense negotiation and arbitration. I am
confident that at the end of the day, we can come out with some deal that will
appeal to the MTUC not to picket on May 12," he said.
Fong said some of the MTUC complaints could be resolved immediately. Others
were longer-term and "larger issues which need a much longer framework."
Fong will meet again Thursday with the MTUC, which represents some 550,000
workers.
Unions are angry at the EPF's action in allegedly bailing out politically
connected companies, and at the six percent dividend paid to 9.7 million
contributors last year -- the lowest in 26 years.
Fong said representatives from Japan, South Korea and China would join in
the May 10-11 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial
talks.
"They want to know more about our labour conditions and Japan is very
interested in having projects on human resource development with ASEAN
countries," he said.
China is interested in ASEAN's provision of social security for
workers.
Fong said ministers would initiate projects to upgrade skills and create
job opportunities.
They would seek ways to cooperate to handle anticipated job losses due to
relocation of electronic plants within the region amid the economic downturn,
and problems of workers migrating for better jobs elsewhere.
"We anticipated that there will be a lot more Indonesian workers coming
into Malaysia and a lot of Malaysian workers going over to Singapore and other
countries," he said.
"We will have to adjust ourselves how best we can cope with this kind of
migrational problem."
Allegations of forced labour in Myanmar will also be high on the agenda.
Fong said ministers would "take a common position" on the matter and "find the
best way to deal with it."
The International Labour Organisation has expressed disappointment with
Myanmar's responses to its recommendations to abolish forced labour.
After their meeting ministers are due to join in a Malaysia's Workers Day
celebration on May 12 at a stadium outside Kuala Lumpur, Fong said.
Some 10,000 people are expected to attend the celebration.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Sunday April 29, 2:27 PM
Myanmar Exiles Calls Japan Aid "More
Harm Than Good"
BANGKOK (AP)--Japan's plan to
renovate a hydropower plant in Myanmar to reward the ruling military for opening
talks with Aung San Suu Kyi is premature, exiled representatives of her
democracy party said in a statement received Sunday.
"Any form of aid and relaxation of international pressure at this time can
only do more harm than good to the fragile state of the talks in Burma," Sein
Win, prime minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma,
was quoted as saying.
The organization is a self-declared government-in-exile.
Earlier this month, Japan announced it was considering a $24 million aid
package to renovate the Baluchaung power station, the biggest electricity
generator in Myanmar, also known as Burma, to encourage the regime to continue
talks with Suu Kyi that began in secret in October and remain shrouded in
mystery.
The Japanese aid would represent the most significant foreign grant to
Myanmar since the regime took power in 1988 after a bloody crackdown against a
democracy uprising. Since then, donors have only allowed a trickle of
humanitarian assistance.
A final decision on the aid is expected by the end of the year, after a
team of Japanese experts have evaluated the extent of repairs needed at the
40-year old plant that supplies the capital Yangon and the second-largest city
Mandalay.
The Washington-based coalition - formed in 1990 by exiles of Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy - said in a statement received in Bangkok that the
regime should make an official commitment to the Myanmar people about the
dialogue process before they are rewarded with aid.
"The SPDC has had ample opportunity to inform the people of Burma about the
talks that have been underway since October last year. It has failed to date to
do so," said Thaung Htun, the coalition's representative at the U.N.
"Aid at this time could reinforce the generals' belief that they can ease
international pressure by pretending to talk without making a real commitment."
The talks are seen as the most significant dialogue in a decade of
political deadlock since Suu Kyi's party swept general elections and was barred
from taking power. Since then, many of its elected representatives have been
jailed or gone into exile.
Suu Kyi and her two top lieutenants have been under house detention since
Sept. 23 for defying travel restrictions. A handful of top diplomats who have
seen the democracy leader since then say that, like the government, she has
declined to comment on the talks.
Last week, ethnic Karenni opponents who fight a resistance war against the
regime also urged Japan to withhold the aid.
They said that indigenous Karenni people have never received electricity
from the power plant in northeastern Myanmar and that villagers were forcibly
relocated from its land mine-strewn environs in the early 1990s.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 9:43 PM
Myanmar Says It Is Serious About Talks
With Opposition
YANGON, Myanmar (AP)--Myanmar's
military junta said Monday that its reconciliation efforts with democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi are very much alive, and asserted that the talks weren't a
"public relations stunt" to appease critics.
But there was no time frame for completing the talks because "it is a
timeless business," Foreign Minister Win Aung told reporters.
He said the progress and details of the talks, which began in secret in
October, will remain confidential and mustn't be disclosed.
Win Aung's statement was the most unequivocal sign yet of the junta's
desire to end the political deadlock that has gripped Myanmar since the generals
refused to hand over power to Suu Kyi's party after it won general elections in
1990.
"The internal process is our business, our own process. And we are not
playing games...it is not a public relations stunt. This is for the sake of the
people of Myanmar, 52 million people," Win Aung said.
He said the seriousness of the talks can be judged by the fact that
Myanmar's media, which is controlled by the government, has stopped its attacks
on Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party, while the opposition
also has stopped criticizing the junta.
"Confrontations on both sides have stopped. Is it good for the country? Yes
of course," Win Aung said.
He was speaking to reporters after attending an informal meeting of the
foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
"We hope that this process, which is very much complex and delicate, should
be left (alone) and should not be discussed right now because the future of the
country much depends on this," he said.
Myanmar has faced intense Western criticism over the treatment of its
critics. It held elections in 1990 but refused to honor the results that gave
the NLD a victory.
Since then the junta has harassed NLD members and kept Suu Kyi under house
arrest on different occasions. Even now she has been restricted to her home
since Sept. 22.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 6:59 PM
More enemies to press freedom emerging,
RSF reports
PARIS, April 30 (AFP) - More
than a third of the world's population now lives in countries where there is no
real press freedom, according to the organisers of Thursday's International
Freedom of the Press Day.
For the occasion, the Paris-based organisation Reporters Without Borders
(RSF) has drawn up a list of 30 "predators" who threaten the freedom of
information in the world, mostly heads of state but also including heads of
guerrilla groups in Colombia and the Basque separatist movement, ETA.
"Too many journalists are falling victim to separatist organisations,
fundamentalist religious groups, criminal gangs and drug traffickers," RSF
general secretary Robert Menard writes in the programme for the event.
Among the leading world figures who feature on the list are Presidents
Fidel Castro of Cuba, Jiang Zemin of China, Kim Jong-Il of North Korea, Vladimir
Putin of Russia, Saddam Hussein of Iraq and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia,
along with Libyan revolutionary leader Moammar Kadhafi.
Also mentioned are Afghan Taliban leader Mohamed Omar, Iran's Ali Khamenei,
Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad and King Fahd of Saudi Arabia, as well as the
leaders of several former Soviet republics.
In Africa, the list includes Angolan President Eduardo dos Santos, the
newly-installed Joseph Kabila of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Teodoro
Obiang Nguema of Equatorial Guinea, Rwandan President Paul Kagame, Ethiopian
Prime Minister Meles Zenawi and Francois Compaore, the brother of the Burkina
Faso president.
In addition to Jiang and Kim, Asia is represented by the likes of Myanmar's
General Than Shwe, Laotian President Khamtay Siphandone and the recently-sacked
general secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party, Le Ka Phieu.
Others mentioned include the head of Turkey's aremed forces, Huseyin
Kivrikoglu, and three Colombian guerrilla leaders, Manuel Marulanda, head of the
Marxist Revoilutionary Armed Forces (FARC), Nicolas Rodriguez Bautista of the
National Liberation Army (ELN) and the head of the extreme right-wing
Autodefenses Unies, Carlos Castano.
RSF calculates that 32 journalists were killed last year, four fewer than
in 1999 but more than the 19 who lost their lives in 1998. Four reporters have
died while at work since the start of this year.
At the start of April, 74 journalists were in prison, compared to 85 on
January 1, 2000, while 329 had been interrogated and more than 500
attacked.
But joint organisers, the World Association of Journalists (AMJ), paint an
even grimmer picture: 53 journalists and others working in the media killed in
2000 and 81 imprisoned in 18 different countries when figures were drawn up on
December 31.
"With an increase in investigative journalism, the Mafia, drug traffickers
and other criminals, often encouraged by politicians, police or the judicial
authorities, have taken upon themselves the task of silencing inquisitive
journalists," says AMJ director general Timothy Balding.
AMJ also calculates that more than 200 journalists have been killed in
democratic countries in Latin America since 1990, around 100 of them in
Colombia, Guatemala and Mexico alone.
In most cases, blame is laid at the door of governments and democracy is no
guarantee of press freedom, according to Balding, who cited the situation in the
former Soviet bloc in eastern Europe, where he said "the free press stil has to
fight for survival in the face of attempts, overt or otherwise, to control
it."
According to RSF's annual report, four journalists died in Russia in 2000
and as many again in Ukraine, the two countries in the region considered the
most dangerous for media workers.
However, the AMJ note encouraging signs over the past decade. According ot
an independent American monitoring body, Freedom House, "the number of countries
which can claim a free or partially free press has increased by two-thirds in
the last 10 years," Balding said.
The improvements have been in central and eastern Europe, notably Hungary,
Poland and the Czech Republic, South Africa, Nigeria and Indonesia.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 12:20 PM
ASEAN foreign ministers kick off
informal retreat
YANGON, April 30 (AFP) -
Southeast Asian foreign ministers kicked off an informal retreat in the Myanmar
capital Monday where they are expected to make a discreet vote of support for
the political thaw in the military-run country.
The meeting is being held against a backdrop of tension in the region, with
coup rumours and protests sweeping the Philippines and fears of violence in
Indonesia as President Abdurrahman Wahid faces a second censure motion.
The retreat at a plush Yangon golf course, held separately from the formal
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministerial meeting for the first
time, was aimed at creating an environment for a free exchange of views.
But analysts say the talks will instead be hamstrung by the host of serious
political and economic woes preoccupying the region.
Ministers were tight-lipped as they arrived in Yangon when asked what
topics would be tabled when they sit down together for lunch after first paying
a courtesy call on Myanmar's leader Senior General Than Shwe.
But they did disclose that they would discreetly throw their weight behind
the ongoing political process in Myanmar, where a senior member of the junta has
been meeting in secret with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"We will encourage it," said Philippine Vice-President and Foreign Minister
Teofisto Guingona.
Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar stressed that the fledgling
talks, which may be paving the way for an historic official dialogue between the
two sides, must not be exposed to the glare of public scrutiny.
"We would like to see Myanmar do what it considers appropriate. They have
done it in their own way and at their own pace ... outside the domain of
publicity and interference by anyone else," he told AFP Sunday.
"So it's moving in a positive direction because there is non-interference.
We can encourage, we can persuade, but we cannot do it with publicity."
He said the ministers did not want their hosts to feel that ASEAN was
meddling in its internal affairs, "but they know they have to find a solution
and they have to ultimately follow the democratic process."
Observers in Yangon believe the talks have made little progress since the
junta's fourth-ranking leader Lieutenant-General Tin Oo was killed in a
helicopter accident on February 19.
Some say that the extremely sensitive process of finding a replacement for
Tin Oo, who will enter the core of the ruling junta, has forced a temporary halt
in the talks with the opposition leader.
Others believe the dialogue has hit a more serious roadbump, tied up with
the controversial inclusion of ethnic minorities in the process.
However, diplomats in Yangon stress that as the talks have been held under
conditions of complete secrecy, it is impossible to verify the rumours.
On the eve of the Yangon retreat, ministers said they hoped the informal
get-together would enable them to catch up on each other's domestic problems and
review the troubling developments in the region.
"It is an experiment we are trying and I welcome it," said Singapore's S.
Jayakumar.
"We wanted to have a comfort level among foreign ministers to be able to
talk freely ... about subjects that will contribute towards furthering the
cohesiveness and solidarity of ASEAN as a group," said Malaysia's Syed
Hamid.
"There are many things that have happened as a result of the financial
crisis, and as a result of changes in government, changes in systems, and with
globalisation and the WTO."
Syed Hamid said that although ASEAN's spotlight will be on the bloc's
economic ministers when they meet in Cambodia this week, the foreign ministers
must help create the environment for better economic cooperation.
"It will not be wrong for us to focus on some of the economic issues
because nowadays politics is driven by the economy," he said.
"We must have the political will to be able to positively see how we move
on from now."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 4:01 PM
Thai army says ready for more Myanmar
shelling
By Dominic Whiting BANGKOK, April 30 (Reuters) -
The Thai army said on Monday it expected neighbouring Myanmar to step up
bombarding rebel ethnic army positions this week in an area close to the Thai
border.
A senior Thai army source told Reuters that Myanmar government troops were
intensifying their efforts to retake three bases -- just 100 metres from the
Thai border -- that were captured by the rebel Shan State Army earlier this
month.
The source, who asked not to be identified, confirmed reports in the Thai
media that the Thai army had fired warning mortar shots into Myanmar on Sunday
after stray fire from Myanmar soldiers landed on Thai territory.
He said the Thai army was ready to respond further to any stray fire or
troop incursions from Myanmar, also known as Burma.
"Since the SSA took over the three bases, the Burmese army has sent around
1,000 men from Muang Sap to retake the bases," the source said.
"They are now sending reconnaissance teams to attack the SSA bases. I think
the fighting will continue and the Burmese will try to defeat the SSA soon."
He added that Thai troops were ready for any overspill of heavier fighting,
expected in the coming days when 500 Shan reinforcements move into the
mountainous area.
"If they shoot mortar over the border we will warn them and prevent their
soldiers from entering Thai territory," he said.
He said Thai soldiers had fired "a lot of rounds" over the border on Sunday
after mortar and howitzer fire landed on Thai territory over a one-hour period.
SMOKE BOMBS AND MORTAR
"Thai soldiers tried to warn them by shooting smoke bombs over the border,
but when the Burmese didn't stop, we shot mortar fire and then they stopped," he
said.
No injuries were reported on the Thai side of the border, according to the
source.
More than 600 residents of the area were evacuated when fighting flared in
mid-April.
A Shan State Army spokesman said on Monday that Thai troops had "forced the
Burmese army to retreat" by firing around 100 mortar rounds on Sunday. He added
the Shan had killed more than 100 Myanmar soldiers since April 22.
The Myanmar Embassy was unavailable for comment.
Fighting between the Myanmar army and the Shan State Army has simmered
along the Thai-Myanmar border for weeks, often spilling over to Thai territory.
In mid-February the Thai army fired mortar rounds across the border, after
it said Myanmar soldiers had entered Thai territory and seized an outpost while
attacking Shan positions in Myanmar.
The fighting has been linked to control over drug production in the area.
Thailand has accused the Yangon-backed United Wa State Army
(UWSA) of producing hundreds of millions of methamphetamine tablets that
have flooded Thailand.
Myanmar says the Shan rebels are the main culprits, and has repeatedly
accused the Thai army of supporting the drugs trade.
The border friction and drugs issue is likely to overshadow an informal
meeting of Southeast Asian foreign ministers in Yangon on Monday, where
Thailand's new foreign minister, Surakiart Sathirathai, was due to meet his
Myanmar counterpart Win Aung for the first time.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Monday April 30, 1:11 PM
Thai natural gas usage hits 20-yr high -
PTT
BANGKOK, April 30 (Reuters) -
State-run Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) has said Thai natural gas usage
last week reached its highest level since 1981 at 2,843 million cubic feet per
day (MMCFD).
The president of PTT Gas, Prasert Bunsumpun, said in a statement dated
April 26 and received by Reuters on Monday, that natural gas derivered by PTT on
April 23 nearly met the maximum deliverable capacity through PTT's onshore and
offshore gas transmission system.
Prasert said 1,927 MMCFD of the total supply of natural gas came from the
Gulf of Thailand, 62 MMCFD from the onshore Nam Phong field in northeastern
Thailand and 854 MMCFD from Myanmar.
So far this year, average natural gas consumption was 2,300-2,400 MMCFD, up
28 percent from the first quarter of last year, he said.
Prasert did not explain why gas demand had increased so much.
Thailand has encouraged use of natural gas for power production because it
is cheaper than fuel oil and available locally or from neighbouring Myanmar.
He said PTT was seeking new gas sources and new pipelines to prevent future
shortages.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jagmohan, Yangon mayor discuss
city development
The Times of India News Service April 30, 2001.
NEW DELHI: Union urban development minister Jagmohan and the mayor of the
Myanmarese capital, Yangon, U Ko Lay met Friday to discuss the development plans
they have for their respective cities.
The Yangon mayor called on Jagmohan and both exchanged views on the
patterns of urban development in the two countries, particularly Delhi and
Yangon.
Jagmohan said the mayor's visit would open up new opportunities for
mutually beneficial co-operation between the two countries, particularly in the
areas of urban development and city management.
Welcoming the mayor, Jagmohan said: ``Our relations with Myanmar are rooted
in history, religion and culture and large number of people of Indian origin
live in Myanmar. Buddhism provides a very strong link between the two
countries.''
Jagmohan informed U Ko Lay about how Delhi is being planned and developed
and how it is linked to the National Capital Region. U Ko Lay, in turn, informed
Jagmohan about the efforts being made to make Yangon beautiful and in providing
basic amenities to the urban poor.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN foreign ministers gather in Yangon
for casual talks
YANGON April 29 Kyodo - Foreign
ministers from 10 Southeast Asian nations gathered Sunday in Myanmar's capital
for candid talks on regional and international issues.
The 10 ministers began their meeting with dinner Sunday evening and are to
gather again Monday at a golf course. Singapore Foreign Minister Shanmugam
Jayakumar said upon his arrival earlier in the day that the meeting would be
''sort of a huddle with free exchanges of views.''
''I would assume that we will discuss both regional and international
development,'' said the Singapore foreign minister.
Jayakumar said the ministers would probably also discuss the future
direction of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), including
augmented cooperation with three northeast Asian nations -- China, Japan and
South Korea.
''It's also timely because there have been changes in governments and new
foreign ministers. And this gives an opportunity for some of us to meet with our
new colleagues from Philippines and Thailand,'' he said.
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said he would brief his ASEAN
colleagues on the economic and foreign policies of the new administration led by
populist Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
Surakiart said he would also raise the issue of illicit drug trafficking in
the region but would not discuss it bilaterally with Myanmar, calling instead
for trilateral cooperation among Thailand, Myanmar and China.
Myanmar has repeatedly said precursor chemicals for making illicit drugs
are imported from neighboring countries, particularly Thailand and China.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said Sunday the ASEAN foreign ministers
will also discuss closer integration among member countries.
ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Laos, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April 30,
2001.
Army to buy Black Hawk helicopters for
drug unit
Wassana Nanuam The army will buy two Black Hawk helicopters this year for its new
drug-busting border unit, Task Force 399.
The covert force, part of the Third Army, will operate along the northern
frontier with Burma, targeting drug traffickers.
It will be equipped with the latest in weaponry and gear, including
night-vision equipment.
Task Force 399 was formed in January. The troops are now being trained by
US special forces in Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son provinces.
The army hopes to buy 20 Black Hawks altogether for use by the new force.
The first two would be purchased this year, a source said, with two more every
year until 2009.
The procurement will be made under the US military aid programme. The
helicopters will be sold at a special price of US$10 million each, including
training and accessories.
Until they were available, Task Force 399 would use Bell 212 helicopters.
This year the army sought 900 million baht in the budget to buy two Black
Hawk helicopters and 200 million baht to buy night-vision equipment.
Gen Boonrawd Somtas, army chief-of-staff, said the task force would
continue operating until the drug scourge was rooted out.
Gen Boonrawd denied the task force was aimed at pressuring neighbouring
countries, particularly Burma, to solve drug problems on their territory.
The Thai and US military were co-operating in drug suppression drives. Last
year, Adm Dennis Blair, chief of the US Pacific Command, visited Thailand for a
briefing from the Third Army.
Sources said army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont planned to visit the US in
June to discuss further co-operation.
To support the work of Task Force 399, Gen Surayud has ordered the Lop Buri
Special Warfare Command to set up a rapid deployment force to deal with border
intrusions.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - April 30,
2001.
Postbag - Our best hopes rest with
Surakiart
Sombut Pissa-ard Chiang Rai While he highlighted the international dimension of pollution of the
environment, Khun Wasant Techawongtham (Commentary, April 27) made me anxious
about the resolution of the convoy which was stopped at Mae Sai last
weekend.
There is a possibility that the local environmentalist group's great
concern, the emission of sulphur dioxide from the nearby power plant inside
Burma, may come to nothing despite all of our foreign minister's efforts to
achieve a negotiated settlement with Burma. Ultimately, the issue may have to be
brought to Asean's attention or we will have to sue for compensation in the
international courts of law.
If the Burmese junta, even while acknowledging through foreign ministry
channels that it will be mindful of the lignite-fired power plant's pollution
threat, insists on continuing with the plant's construction, what is going to
happen? Will it move the power plant from the border with Thailand?
Also, the junta, as is its habit, may well reject the Thai government
concerns over the plant's facilitation of the Red Wa's methamphetamine
production. Burma's insistence on its territorial integrity will turn the power
plant into an issue involving a sovereign state's inviolable rights.
At this time, the foreign minister's offer to negotiate with his Burmese
counterpart and other high-ranking officials provides some ray of hope. Let's
just hope his charisma and silver-tongued diplomacy make the callous junta feel
obliged to be kindhearted and move the power plant far away from the
border.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thai FM to Visit
Myanmar
2001.04.30 10:03:27 YANGON, April 30 (Xinhuanet) --
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai is due to begin his two-day
official visit to Myanmar on Tuesday at the invitation of his Myanmar
counterpart U Win Aung after attending a one-day retreat meeting of foreign
ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) here on
Monday.
This will be the first time for the new Thai government to send a cabinet
minister to visit Yangon since taking office and is also the visit of a Thai
government minister to Myanmar in the aftermath of Myanmar-Thai border
clashes over the last two months, in which both sides charged each other with
intruding their respective territories.
Surakiart is expected to hold discussions with U Win Aung on
bilateral issues covering drug trade, border problems, border trade and
economic cooperation.
Meanwhile, not long after the border clashes, the two countries ' regional
border committee met for the first time in two years in Myanmar's border town of
Kengtung earlier this month, reaching some understandings over the need
for them to cooperate in the sectors of drug control, border demarcation
and border trade as well as to reopen their respective border points as
soon as possible which were closed since the outbreak of border
clashes.
Surakiart's visit is believed to help settle bilateral issues
existing between the two countries.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- South China Morning Post
Monday, April 30, 2001
BURMA - Tensions cast shadow on
Asean meeting
REUTERS in Rangoon Southeast Asian foreign ministers held informal talks in Rangoon on Monday in a meeting overshadowed by smouldering tension between Burma and Thailand over drugs and a series of clashes along their shared border. Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai, on his first official visit to
Burma, was due to stay on after the meeting of the Association of South East
Asian Nations (Asean) for bilateral talks with his Burma counterpart Win
Aung.
The Asean meeting comes after another flare-up of tension on the Thai-Burma
border.
The Bangkok Post newspaper reported on Monday that Thailand fired about 30
artillery shells towards Burma on Sunday as Rangoon troops tried to re-take a
border outpost captured earlier this month by the anti-government Shan State
Army.
Relations between the two countries soured in February after another
exchange of fire between Thai and Burma soldiers which left several dead.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has pledged to wage war on drugs -
in particular the hundreds of millions of methamphetamine tablets Thailand says
floods in from Burma.
The government is trying to promote co-operation between Thailand, Burma
and the mainland to crack down on drug trafficking.
Thailand says the United Wa State Army (UWSA), a militia group allied to
the Rangoon government, is the source of most of the drugs.
But Burma says ethnic minority Shan rebels are the main culprits, and has
repeatedly accused the Thai army of supporting the drugs trade.
Win Aung said ahead of the Asean and bilateral meetings he was hopeful
tension between the two countries could be resolved.
''We hope so,'' he said. ''When we meet we'll be discussing the issue of
course. There are a lot of bilateral issues ... which we need to iron
out.''
Mr Suriakiart said on arrival in Rangoon that relations between the two
countries remained good despite the border clashes.
''We still have a certain level of good understanding and with this visit I
hope to look forward to have a deeper understanding and to lay down all issues
of concern to both sides and find common ground to resolve them,'' he
said.
He said his discussions on drugs would focus on promoting Thailand's plan
of co-operation between Thailand, Burma and the mainland to fight drugs. He
would also seek to introduce Thailand's new government to Burma and Asean.
''It is my first official visit, so what I would like to do is inform about
our new government policy ... especially the special importance we attach to
relations with neighbouring countries,'' Mr Surakiart said.
''I would like to have an environment and ambience where we can talk about
any issues with an open heart. I think that's the start of helping each other to
resolve common problems.''
Officials said Monday's informal Asean meeting would discuss ways of
improving co-operation between countries in the bloc, and would prepare for a
formal meeting of foreign ministers in Hanoi later this year.
Monday's meeting is the first since an informal gathering of foreign
ministers in Singapore last November.
''We are going to discuss many, many issues,'' Win Aung said.
''We have not been meeting for some time... Now it is a chance to meet
again and we look forward to having an exchange of views on many issues.''
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