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BURMA RELATED NEWS - September
18, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - ILO team to meet Myanmar generals before
heading to Shan, Karen states
BBC - Burma "slave" probe opens
FT - ILO to probe forced labour in
Burma
Bkk Post - Huge
caffeine stash found
Xinhuanet - ASEAN Welcomes Deal on China's
Accession to WTO
Xinhuanet - Two Myanmar Men Sentenced to Death
for Exporting Drugs
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Exports Less Teak, Hardwood
in First Half of 2001
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Earns More From Customs
Duties in First Half of 2001
SCMP - Junta vows to support probe into
slavery
DVB - Government team investigates
departmental news leak in Kawthaung
S.H.A.N - One more Shan party official forced to
resign
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday September 18, 6:36 PM
ILO team to meet Myanmar generals before heading to Shan, Karen states YANGON, Sept 17 (AFP) -
International Labour Organisation (ILO) experts investigating forced labor in
Myanmar are expected to meet with top junta officials over the next three days
before setting off to the border regions, sources said Tuesday.
The ILO, which has insisted its four-member team of eminent jurists be
given total freedom in the military-run country, is keeping the schedule
secret.
But government sources said the mission, led by former Australian governor
general Sir Ninian Stephen, met with Foreign Minister Win Aung and top military
intelligence officials after arriving in Yangon Monday.
And over the next few days they were expected to see various government
ministers including from the foreign, home and social welfare ministries.
They are also scheduled to meet with the chief justice and attorney-general
before visiting industrial zones and social welfare establishments around
Yangon.
"Though we are not privy to their exact plans... we think they will then
target the Karen and Shan states, where most of the complaints on forced labor
appear to have come from," a labor department official said.
Emphasizing their independence from the military regime, the team declined
to accept accommodation arrangements made for them at the five-star Traders
hotel in Yangon and instead chose the equally upmarket Pan Sea.
The junta is by all accounts taking the visit extremely seriously, stung by
an unprecedented censure at the ILO last year over its failure to crack down on
forced labor, and under threat of more sanctions if the practice
continued.
"This is the first time that the ILO has had an opportunity to travel
around the country to make its own direct assessment of the forced labor
situation," the organization said in a statement from Bangkok.
In a bid to fend off the ILO censure, the junta in November made forced
labor illegal for the first time and said its directive had been "circulated
right down to the village level and posted in every police station."
But it remains unclear how the ban is being enforced, and how effective it
has been against military personnel fighting border insurgencies, who for
decades have enlisted villagers to work as porters and guides.
Rights groups say nearly a million Myanmar people have been forced into
building roads, ports and tourist resorts as well as assisting in military
maneuvres on the unstable borders.
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BBC - Monday, 17 September, 2001,
13:28 GMT 14:28 UK
Burma "slave" probe opens By the BBC's Larry Jagan from Bangkok A high level delegation from the International Labour Organisation is due
to begin a three-week investigative mission to Burma.
The ILO said the mission has been guaranteed freedom of access and that any
witnesses that gave evidence would be protected.
Analysts said the mission was extremely significant, representing the first
chance the international community has had to examine the situation of forced
labour in Burma first-hand.
Last November, the ILO censured Burma for its continued use of forced
labour and has called on his members to consider implementing an international
economic boycott.
Access all areas
The ILO mission is being led by four eminent international jurists who are
used to dealing with authoritarian regimes.
The mission's chiefs are not going to be hoodwinked, ILO head Juan Somavia
said.
"They know their business, they know what to look at and they know what to
ask," he said.
The team has been guaranteed access to any part of the country they want to
visit, although Rangoon still has not been told most of the areas or projects
the mission wants to visit, ILO sources told the BBC.
The Burmese military government was stung into action last November when
the ILO condemned Burma for its use of what the international community defines
as slavery.
Economic boycott
The organisation called on members to implement what would in effect by an
international economic boycott of Burma.
With Burma's economy plunging deeper into crisis, the government acted to
counter the threat and has, for the first time, officially outlawed forced
labour and circulated the directive throughout the country.
The ILO mission said it hoped to assess to what extent forced labour has
been stopped, but the organisation said it is well aware that what is really
needed is a permanent presence in Rangoon to continually monitor the situation.
Juan Somavia described the mission as an important start in that process.
"The ILO constituency is pretty aware and will not be satisfied with
something that doesn't appear to be real progress," he said.
"It is progress for a mission to be there, but progress has to continue."
This visit has been interpreted as another sign that Burma's ruling
generals want to lessen the country's international isolation.
But for the army, stamping out the use of forced labour is likely to be
more divisive than holding talks with the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
According to Burmese military sources, the army could not function properly
without press-ganging villagers into service as guides and porters.
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The Financial Times
ILO to probe forced labour in Burma By William Barnes in Bangkok Published: September 17 2001 16:58 A high-powered team from the International Labour Organisation on Wednesday
started an unprecedented investigation of what it has described as "rampant"
forced labour in Burma in what some observers see as a critical test of the
military government's reforming intentions.
The ILO has been promised three weeks of freedom to see if the authorities
have cracked down on what a devastating ILO report in 1998 called a "culture of
fear" that permits officials to press gang men, women and children.
Many critics of the regime doubt the ruling generals have the will or the
ability to shun forced labour in a deeply troubled economy and when individual
army units appear to use forced labour partially to compensate for a dearth of
their own supplies.
A bullish report from the ILO's investigators would, however, give heart to
observers who fear that, despite nearly a year of closed door talks with
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the military remains unprepared to ease its
iron grip on the country.
The United Nations' agency made history last November when it urged its 175
member governments to impose sanctions and review their dealings with the
country to help suppress forced labour. Some analysts suspect that this threat
so worried the military that it initiated talks with Ms Suu Kyi to outflank
sanctions.
The ILO team is led by Ninian Stephen, former Australian governor-general,
and includes Nieves Roldan-Confesor, former Philippines labour secretary,
Kulatilaka Ranasinghe, former Sri Lankan chief justice, and Jerzy Makarczyk,
former Polish deputy foreign minister.
"These guys are probably too smart to have the wool pulled over their eyes.
This is a chance for the generals to show they're capable of being reasonable.
It could mark a turning point in their relations with the international
community," said one Rangoon-based diplomat.
The government has said the team will only be barred from places with a
security risk. The investigation will be credible only if it also explores the
ethnic minority areas where the military has been repeatedly accused of forcing
local villagers to be porters, build roads and camps and to supply free food.
The team's findings will be presented to the ILO governing body in
November.
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Bangkok Post - Sep 18,
2001.
Huge caffeine stash found
Chiang Rai _ Authorities seized nearly three tonnes of caffeine from a
10-wheel truck in Muang district yesterday.
The truck was found abandoned on Chiang Rai-Thoeng road at Ban Hua Doi,
Muang district.
A search of the vehicle found 156 sacks of caffeine weighing 2,964
kilogrammes, which could be used to produce up to 60 million speed pills. The
cargo was believed to be destined for Burma. Caffeine is priced at 1,500 baht a
kilogramme in Bangkok and could fetch twice as much on the black market,
officials said. The driver fled. Authorities had received reports about an
attempt to smuggle caffeine from Bangkok to the border in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai
district via Phayao province.
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ASEAN Welcomes Deal on China's
Accession to WTO
Xinhuanet 2001.09.18 20:18:20 JAKARTA, September 18 (Xinhuanet) -- The Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tuesday welcomed a deal signed in Geneva on China's
entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO) after 15 years of
negotiations.
"ASEAN has been supporting China entering the WTO from the beginning,
and it would be good for ASEAN because it would place China in the
international trading system. It would open up the Chinese market which is
good for ASEAN. Probably the ASEAN has more access to the Chinese market,"
ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo C. Severino Jr. said.
In an exclusive interview with Xinhua here, Severino pointed out that
China imported lots of things from the ASEAN.
"And we have to look for an opportunity there," he stressed.
Commenting on the Chinese economic growth, Severino said that it was
good.
"With the market growth, what we want is more access to the Chinese
market," he added.
The accord on China's entry into WTO was approved by the formal meeting of
the 18th WTO Working Party on China's accession in Geneva on Monday,
clearing the way for China to join the world trading body within
months.
ASEAN groups Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei Darussalam,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam.
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Two Myanmar Men Sentenced to Death
for Exporting Drugs
Xinhuanet 2001.09.18 15:37:40 YANGON, September 18 (Xinhuanet) -- A Yangon court has sentenced to
death two men convicted of exporting 357
kilograms (785 pounds) of heroin to Fiji last year, news reports and officials said Tuesday. The heroin was seized at a Fiji port, hidden inside boxes containing shorts
with ``Made in Myanmar'' labels.
Working in cooperation with the Australian police, Myanmar police arrested
Twan Sin Htan alias Maung Win, 30, and Aik Tun alias Aung Kyaw,24, in Yangon on
April 1, according to an official from the narcotic department contacted by
phone.
The state-owned Kyemon newspaper said the Yangon western district court
found the two men guilty and gave them death sentences on Aug. 29. There was no
explanation why the verdict was reported after more than two weeks.
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Myanmar Exports Less Teak,
Hardwood in First Half of 2001
Xinhuanet 2001.09.18 09:53:13 YANGON, September 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar exported 154,942.5
cubic-meters of teak in the first half of this year, 10.97 percent less than the
same period of 2000, according to the latest figures released by the country's
Central Statistical Organization.
Meanwhile, during the period, the country exported 149,141
cubic-meters of hardwood, a 46.4-percent reduction from the corresponding
period of 2000.
Export earning from teak and hardwood totaled 116.16 million U. S. dollars
during the six-month period, seven percent less than that in the same
period of 2000.
In 2000, Myanmar exported a total of 302,810 cubic-meters of teak and
494,259.5 cubic-meters of hardwood with their total earning amounting to
201 million dollars.
Timber has become Myanmar's second largest export goods after
agriculture products and foreign exchange earned through the export of
timber accounted for about 20 percent of Myanmar's total export earning.
Myanmar's forest covers 50 percent of its total land area, a 7- percent
reduction from 1962 reportedly due to indiscriminate felling of
trees.
Of the forest area, 18.6 percent are reserved and protected public
forest, the percentage of which is being targeted to increase to 30.
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Myanmar Earns More From Customs
Duties in First Half of 2001
Xinhuanet 2001.09.18 09:47:00 YANGON, September 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar received 507.8 million U.S.
dollars from customs duties in the first half of this year, 11 percent
more than the same period of 2000 when it registered at 457.31 million dollars
with the income, according to the latest figures released by the country's
Central Statistical Organization.
The main source of Myanmar's customs duties income comes from import
through normal trade and border trade, of which the import customs duties
income earned through normal trade accounted for 99. 5 percent of the total
during the six-month period.
To promote agricultural development, the Myanmar government has exempted
import customs duties levied on agricultural implements including
fertilizer, pesticide and improved variety and machinery.
According to official statistics, in 2000, Myanmar earned 891 million
dollars from customs duties and its foreign trade totaled 4.086 billion
dollars in the year, of which imports amounted to 2. 567 billion dollars, while
exports were valued at 1.519 billion dollars.
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South China Morning Post
Tuesday, September 18, 2001 MYANMAR - Junta vows to support probe into slavery Myanmar yesterday vowed to co-operate fully with an International Labour
Organisation (ILO) team that began an unprecedented three-week visit to assess
the junta's efforts to end forced labour.
A four-member team, headed by former Australian governor-general Sir Ninian
Stephen, flew from Bangkok to Yangon yesterday for five days of meetings.
The multi-national team would travel around the country "to investigate the
situation", the UN agency said. It would be the first time the junta had allowed
the ILO to make its "own direct assessment of the forced labour situation", the
statement said.
The team's mandate is to assess the practical implementation and impact of
various laws and measures announced by the Government to stop forced labour in
response to ILO threats of sanctions.
A Myanmar Foreign Ministry official said the ILO team would be allowed to
move around freely.
Government officials, factory owners and managers were told to co-operate
by providing correct and complete information, the official said.
Factory workers also had been told not to bring their children to work as
"children inside factories could be misconstrued as violation of child labour",
said a member of the Myanmar Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Myanmar's military has been accused of forcibly recruiting civilians to
build roads and railways and to act as porters for the army on campaigns in
border regions against anti-government insurgents.
In an unprecedented move last November, the ILO urged its 175
member-governments to impose sanctions and review their dealings with Myanmar to
ensure they were not abetting forced labour.
The ILO recommended individual governments, organisations and labour unions
should decide for themselves what to do.
Faced with such censure, the junta made it illegal for authorities to force
anyone to work.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962,
employing a pervasive military intelligence apparatus. Human rights groups say
it has more than 1,800 political prisoners.
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Government team investigates
departmental news leak in Kawthaung
Text of report by Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB) on 17 September DVB has learned that a special investigation team from Rangoon has arrived in Kawthaung to investigate the leaking of departmental news of Kawthaung Township, Tenasserim Division, to foreign broadcasting stations. The team comprises eight staff officers with the rank of colonel and it has been learned that they are questioning all departmental staff members in Kawthaung. DVB correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed this report: [Myint Maung Maung] A special investigation team comprising eight staff officers with the rank of colonel arrived in Kawthaung on 10 September. The team is questioning each and every departmental staff member regarding the leaking of departmental news of Kawthaung Township, Tenasserim Division, to foreign broadcasting stations. They are collecting information about their personal history, relationship with the NLD, and participation in the 8 August 1988 nationwide mass demonstrations. The team told those responsible to keep records of the goings and comings of departmental staff members and reminded them of the existence of national traitors. The team questioned Maj Aung Myint, secretary of Kawthaung District Peace and Development Council [PDC], and Capt Kyaw Win, chairman of Kawthaung Township PDC, on 13 September and reprimanded them, saying the news leakage was due to their lack of responsibility. This is the team's first visit to Kawthaung and it is believed that they will be coming again soon. Source: Democratic Voice of Burma, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 17 Sep 01 --------------------------------------------------------------------------
Shan Herald Agency for
News.
NO: 09 - 09
One more Shan party official forced to resign Military authorities had forced yet another Shan political party
functionary to resign, a source from Taunggyi reported this morning.
Sai Panlu, 40, from Banyen, Hsiseng Township, 30 miles south of Taunggyi,
had submitted the letter of resignation to the Hsiseng Electoral Commission on 3
September, citing health and livelihood problems. Until then, he had been
serving as the secretary of the township party branch of the Shan Nationalities
League for Democracy, the largest winning party in Shan State and the second
largest winning party in the whole of Burma.
"I'm not surprised," the source commented. "Prominent party members always
run into junta-made difficulties when trying to make a living."
He was credited as being an active Shan literacy campaign, known popularly
as Five Horses Campaign, until the SNLD was formed in 1988, according to Sai
Aung Mart, former Joint Secretary of the party.
Two party branches so far have been ordered by the authorities to dissolve:
one from Langkher, 114 miles southeast of Taunggyi, on 21 January and the other
from Mongkerng, 108 miles northeast of Taunggyi, on 28 May.
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