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BURMA RELATED NEWS - October
07, 2001.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Investigators silent after Burma
visit
The Star - Myanmar forgers nabbed
Bkk Post - Countries with visa waivers to be
reduced
The Nation - MEKONG NAVIGATION PACT: Currents of
suspicion still run
The Nation - THAMMASAT SLAYINGS: Students'
monument wanted
Mizzima - Jute
industry being affected in Assam, NE India
Mizzima - CNF admits it burned trucks and
goods
Mizzima - PERSPECTIVE: War Against
Terrorism
Mizzima - Great Hearts and Minds support
investment pull-out from un-free Burma
Mizzima - Forced relocation in Mon State,
Moulmein
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Saturday, 6 October, 2001, 16:08
GMT 17:08 UK
Investigators silent after Burma visit By Larry Jagan in Bangkok A high-level delegation from the International Labour Organisation has
finished a three-week investigation of the use of forced labour in Burma.
The team, led by former governor general of Australia, Sir Ninian Stephen,
was trying to assess whether a government-ordered ban on forced labour was being
complied with.
The delegation met the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi - currently under
house-arrest - before they left.
Unpaid labour
It has held talks with government officials, opposition leaders and
representatives of ethnic political parties involved in labour matters.
Human rights groups have accused the Burmese Government of forcing citizens
to do unpaid manual labour on public works projects and as porters for the army.
The ILO has been tight-lipped about everything on this trip.
They continued to give no details of the visit, as they left the country.
However western diplomats believe the investigation has been extremely
rigorous.
In the past three weeks the ILO team has also spoken with the country's
military leader and the opposition National League for Democracy.
They have also consulted UN officials and representatives of international
aid agencies based in Rangoon.
Most importantly they have travelled around some of the border areas where
there have been recent reports of forced labour.
They appear to have been given access to all the people and places they
wanted to visit.
But some analysts still fear the military authorities will have ensured
that the delegation did not see the real situation for themselves.
The Burmese military government was stung into action last November when
the ILO condemned Burma for its use of what the international community calls
slavery.
Mission
The ILO called on members to implement what would in effect be an
international economic boycott of Burma.
With its economy plunging deeper into crisis, this is the last thing that
the Burmese generals want to see happen.
The Burmese government officially outlawed forced labour and circulated the
directive throughout the country immediately afterwards.
The mission's main objective is to assess to what extent forced labour has
been stopped.
But the ILO is well aware that what is really needed is a permanent
presence in Rangoon to continually monitor the situation.
Sources in the ILO believe this will be the main recommendation of the ILO
team when it makes its reports to the organisation in November.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Star
Sunday, October 7, 2001
Myanmar forgers nabbed KUALA LUMPUR: Eight Myanmar nationals, who were believed to be running a
syndicate specialising in printing forged travel documents, were arrested by
Immigration authorities during a special operation on Wednesday night.
They were detained during a raid at an apartment in Pandan Indah here. Immigration department director (enforcement division) Zainuddin Ab Hadi
said forged travel documents including work permits were seized from them.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - October 07,
2001.
Countries with visa waivers to be reduced The Foreign Ministry has sent cabinet a proposal to drastically cut back
the number of countries with visa privileges.
Spokesman Rathakit Manathat said the number of countries allowed 30-day
visa waivers would be cut from 57 to 37. Nations allowed 15-day visas on arrival
would be cut from 96 to 13-17. The spokesman refused to give details but other
sources said nationals from Burma, and some South Asian and African countries,
stood to lose visa waivers introduced in 1986 to boost tourism.
The cuts were worked out by the ministry in conjunction with the Tourism
Authority and the National Security Council.
Countries sending less than 10,000 tourists to Thailand a year, and with
nationals engaged in drug trafficking, prostitution and other transnational
crimes, were likely to lose privileges.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION, CHIANG SAEN
MEKONG NAVIGATION PACT: Currents of suspicion still run Published on Oct 7, 2001 Don Pathan Every day a group of 75 to 100 men gather by the loading dock at Chiang
Rai's Chiang Saen district waiting to offload hundreds of boxes of goods sent
down from southern China via the Mekong River.
It's a back-breaking job, and the pay is low - about Bt100 per day on
average- but the men are not complaining. A job is a job, they say.
Ten to 15 cargo ships, ranging from 75 to 100 tons, dock at the Chiang Saen
pier daily, but the workload will get even heavier in coming days as more and
more cargo ships arrive.
In May, Thailand, Laos, Burma and China's Yunnan province took a major step
towards strengthening regional economic cooperation by entering into an
agreement - after five years of negotiation - to allow cargo vessels to navigate
freely on the Mekong.
Local Thai officials said the Chinese merchants and sailors, with their
vast experience from navigating the Mekong and other great rivers were looking
to make the most out of the recently signed agreement aimed at facilitating
commercial navigation along the Mekong.
Unlike in the past when the absence of a standard operating procedure gave
rise to unscrupulous practices by customs and port officials, the agreement that
came into effect in May put in place the necessary rules for safe and free
navigation along an 886-kilometre stretch of the river. This extends from Simao
port in Yunnan to Luang Prabang, a world heritage site and popular tourist
destination in northern Laos.
Considering the political turmoil of the past decades, the agreement is
indeed a major step towards regional cooperation. In the post-World War II
period, the Mekong was divided along geopolitical lines, with Communist China in
the upper reaches being sidelined from development schemes funded by Western
powers. The move was aimed at preventing communism from reaching the river banks
of the non-communist states south of China.
Decades later, following the fall of the Vientiane royalist government in
1975, the upper-lower line became blurred. As a result, the portion of the
Mekong that separated pro-US Thailand from Communist Laos became a bitter
dividing line between the two countries. For the hundreds of thousands of
Indochinese refugees fleeing Communist rule, the river became the last hurdle
before reaching the so-called free world.
Today, the gathering of porters at Chiang Saen's port is indeed a testimony
of how political and economic realities have evolved over the years. Though the
changes are welcomed, not all parties are completely sold on the idea that this
is a "win-win" situation. For some, the heart of the problem is the issue of
sovereignty. For others, the problems lie elsewhere - namely security and
environmental degradation.
Laos and Burma, which stand to gain only a fraction of what Thailand and
China are reaping economically, have consistently pointed out that the great
Mekong is not an "international waterway" and that the agreement does not
constitute forgoing one's sovereignty for the sake of the whole.
Vientiane is also concerned that the dredging of the river to facilitate
the movement of larger ships, as proposed by China, may exact too high a
price.
In a recent interview with The Nation, Phongsavath Boupha, Lao deputy
foreign minister, said dredging the Mekong was likely to have a wide range of
effects, from environmental degradation to the shifting of the current border
demarcation and riverbanks.
"Experts who carry out the study on the impact will have to be well versed
in a wide range of areas as the dredging will affect a wide range of things,"
Phongsavath said.
The Chinese government is reportedly looking to invest US$5.6 million
(Bt250 million) dredging the 331-kilometre section from the No 243 demarcation
point between China and Burma to Houyxay in Laos.
If all goes to plan, the project will start in December. Once completed,
this stretch is expected to allow passage of 100-ton ships all year round, Liu
Daqing, a leading technician in charge of the project, was quoted by China's
state-run People's Daily as saying.
And by 2007, 300-ton ships are expected to be able to navigate this stretch
even in the dry season, the daily said. Currently the annual navigation capacity
of the Mekong is four million ton and is expected to reach 10 million tons by
2007.
As for the generals in Rangoon, high on their agenda is the issue of
security. Not only is the area on the Burmese side of the Mekong River rugged
and not firmly within the grip of authority, the area is slowly being taken over
by units of the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
And although Rangoon and the 20,000-strong UWSA entered a cease-fire
agreement over a decade ago, the arrangement is still a far cry from a
meaningful and lasting peace settlement. Any development that enhances the
standing of the Wa, said Thai army officers, is definitely a point of concern
for both Thailand and Burma.
The UWSA, dubbed the world's largest armed drug-trafficking group, has been
declared "public enemy number one" by the Thai government. Checkpoints leading
to the UWSA settlement and units have been ordered shut, while troop presence
along the border has been beefed up to stop the flow of drugs into the
Kingdom.
One good thing that has come out of the Wa's presence in the area, said a
Thai border official, is the decline in banditry and river piracy.
But with or without the Wa, the face of the so-called economic quadrangular
development zone - its social and economic landscape - is certainly changing.
"A handful of people may be involved in the drug trade and other illicit
activities," said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, "but the
real force that is shaping the area is the cross-border trade among the four
countries."
Besides enhancing trade between northern Thailand and southern China,
strengthening economic cooperation in the region will essentially enhance Laos'
international standing, the official said.
The landlocked country that in the past served as a buffer between Thailand
and suspicious Vietnam and China is today trying desperately to become a
land-link nation. Along the way, it is also looking to become the "battery" for
Southeast Asia through the sale of hydroelectric power.
"A strong Laos would be good for Thailand," said the official. "We wouldn't
want a mass migration from up north [China] pouring down to this area."
As pointed out by Nawin Thepawong, the chief of Chiang Rai's commerce
office, cross-border trade between Thailand and Laos continued at the height of
the regionwide economic crises. He said Thai exports to Laos, especially
electrical appliances, were climbing steadily throughout the turmoil.
Said the Thai official: "Don't underestimate the Laotians. They are good
salesmen. Much of what they have purchased from Thailand is resold to China and
Vietnam."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION
THAMMASAT SLAYINGS: Students' monument wanted Subhatra Bhumiprabhas and Pennapa Hongthong Published on Oct 7, 2001 Leading academics yesterday called on the government to build a monument at
Sanam Luang to honour students brutally slaughtered at Thammasat University a
quarter of a century ago.
The government should admit the mass killing of the students on October 6,
1976 as part of our national history, and they should also bring the ringleaders
behind the killings to justice, academics said yesterday.
Thirayuth Boonme, of the university's Thai Khadi Research Institute, asked
the government to erect a commemorative statue to remind Thai people of what
happened.
During his speech to mark the 25th anniversary of the event, Thirayuth
called on the government to release full details of what he called "the brutal
crushing" of the student revolt.
He said there were many ways for the government to join hands with the
people to reveal full details of what happened, including the consideration of
legal action against the "political criminals" involved in the massacre, and by
setting up a monument to mark the event.
An academic fact-finding committee concluded that the massacre was a "state
crime" committed by politicians, high-ranking military officers and police
commanders, all of whom, said Thirayuth, had helped incite the violence against
the students.
Ji Ungpakorn, secretary of the committee, said he wanted the whole of Thai
society, including the state, to admit the truth.
"Read it [the conclusion of the committee, which came out with two separate
books] and admit it. Then consider together what we should do as a next step,"
he said.
The two books, "State Crime in an Era of Change", and Kreed Plae Klad Nong
Krong Kwam Jing, or "Open the Wound, Seek the Truth", were handed over yesterday
to House Speaker Uthai Pimchaichon.
Thirayuth suggested three possible sites for the monument.
The first would be to share the site of the memorial to the student
uprising of October 14, 1973 at Kok Wua junction.
The second would be in front of the main hall of Thammasat University. To
allow this, Thammasat would have to move its fence to open up a public
area.
The last alternative would be to build a monument at Sanam Luang, where the
uprising was crushed.
"To erect a monument on such an important place would perhaps teach us that
such violence should never be repeated," he said.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Jute industry being affected in Assam,
NE India
By Our Correspondent
Mizzima News Guwahati, Oct. 7: The Government of India has been laying stress on the
border trade with the neighboring countries including Burma by opening of new
roads and rail communication links. However, the recent decision of Railway
authorities to stop the two railway services – Nagaon-Silghat and
Hoiborgaon-Moirabari in Assam State -- is hurting the local economy in this
northeastern state of India where tea and jute industries are major economies.
The North East Frontier Railways authorities recently decided to dismantle
the two railway services which were once used by the British to expand its power
to neighboring Burma, saying that the lines were having “low return and increase
in recurring expenditures”. The authorities’ decision has hurt the sentiment of
the people in the state. Disappointed with the move, the people of the state
have raised a vociferous protest and demanded restoration of the services in the
greater interest of the region.
Mr. Baneswar Saikia, former MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) of the
area said that the decision of the railway authorities has broken the economy of
the state. Mr. Saikia who has been building a public opinion against the move
vows to carry out a vigorous agitation for restoration of the services. “The
train services played a significant role during the Second World War.
Apprehending fierce battle along the Indo-Burma border, the Allied forces used
the rail lines in dumping heavy arsenal in the area to meet the challenges of
the enemy forces”.
The two rail lines were first introduced by the British in 1930 with an eye
to explore the potential of the Northeastern region and in a bid to export jute
and tea to the European countries as there were bumper jute and tea production
during the period. Despite a nagging attitude towards the British government for
its repression and suppression, more and more people were involved in export and
the train services became popular among the local people in a short period.
Inspired by the export policy, several new entrepreneurs had set up tea and jute
industries, which still share a major contribution to the state economy.
Due to the withdrawal of the train services, the people are facing severe
hardships and several jute industries in the state are facing imminent closure.
The Silghat jute mill, which was set up a long time back, is facing shortage of
raw materials due to transportation problem. While Nagaon was once recorded as a
major jute growing area of the state, its production is now gradually declining
as the people have stockpile of cultivation. “We have stopped cultivation due to
lack of markets”, said a group of farmers in Nagaon.
Mr. Robin Bora, who runs a jute industry in Nagaon, demanded for the
reopening of the railway services. “The jute industries are facing severe
problem due to shortage of jute as there is no proper railway services”, he
said.
Notably, the dismantle of these two rail roads is inconsistent with the
growing demand for better communication links between India’s North Eastern
States and neighboring countries such as Bangladesh and Burma. The previous
Assam government in fact demanded the Union Railways for opening of railway
lines with Burma connecting the Tinsukia district of the state with Indo-Burma
border. Moreover, there is existing the famous Stilwell road, which connects
Assam State with Burma.
Mr. Satyan Hazarika, a young entrepreneur in the state said that if road
and rail communications are opened with Burma and Bangladesh, then entire
North-East would get a big market as there are good demands of tea and other
jute products in these neighboring countries. It may be mentioned here that
there are identified 32 border trade points in the North East India, but due to
poor rail and road links, the border trade is yet to gain momentum.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- CNF admits it burned trucks and
goods
Mizzima News Aizawl, Oct. 6: The Chin National Front, an armed ethnic organization
fighting against the Burmese military junta, said that it burned some trucks and
goods on the roads leading to Indian border because the owners of the goods did
not pay "mandatory tax" to the organization.
In a press release made available today, the commander of the Tactical (1)
Area Headquarters' self-styled Lt. Sunny Ngun Awi, said that three trucks and
some goods were burnt on 20th September on the Tiddim-Haimual motor road and one
truck along with goods were destroyed next day on the Falam-Rih road. Both roads
are used by traders who do business between Burma and Mizoram State of India.
The Burma rebel leader further warned that it would continue to take "actions"
against those who refuse to pay tax to the CNF.
According to sources on the border, a driver of the trucks was also
arrested by the CNF soldiers at that time although the CNF's today press release
did not mention anything about the driver.
The Chin National Front imposed a road blockade on two main roads
connecting cities of Chin State and Indian border from August 5 to September 5,
as it claimed that the traders are not giving regular tax to the organization.
Although it varies from time to time and circumstances, the business
persons are being asked to pay Indian rupees 10,000 (about US $ 210) for one
small truck load of goods and rupees 15,000 for bigger load. Truck owners also
reportedly have to pay rupees 5,000 per year to the rebel group. The rebel
commander, in today's release, said the whole people of Burma need to join the
movement against the military regime "from whatever role they are in" for
democracy, human rights and self-determination.
Meanwhile, India and Burma authorities are planning to inaugurate the
newly-built "Indo-Myanmar Friendship Bridge" across the Tio river. Both sides
expect that the volume of bilateral border trade will be increased with the new
bridge, which connects Rih Village in Chin State and Zokhuthar Village in
Mizoram State.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- PERSPECTIVE: War Against
Terrorism
By B K Sen Oct. 6, Mizzima News The clouds of war gathering over the issue of the terrorist attack on the
World TradeCenter in New York are ominous. The attack itself was a dastardly
act. Nearly six thousand innocent lives were lost. It was a challenge to
civilization. Civilized society wonders if it can exist or whether a
handful of bandits will rule humanity. It is not an issue of Islamic religion
versus the rest of the world.
The Islamic façade, which the terrorists have given to the heinously
violent acts, cannot hide their real motives. By and large, the Islamic world
has condemned the attacks and aligned with the rest of the world. The issue that
has emerged is whether a War against Afghanistan, housing the operational
headquarters of the terrorists, will destroy terrorism. US war ships and
troops have moved in around Gulf Seas and taken position to strike. The question
arises: will bombing and other military operations not strengthen the Taliban
forces? Afghanistan, which is divided today, will become unified under rabid
right-wing fanatics. Terrorism will become nationalism.
The Talibans will be masquerading as champions of a defensive just war.
Through the centuries, the Afghans have been intensely nationalistic. Alexander
the Great, Persia, Britain, the Soviet Union and Pakistan tried to control the
country but failed. The US record is equally dismal.It sponsored the
collapse of the Soviet occupation, in the course of which it created the
Taliban. Thereafter, the US allowed Pakistan and Saudi Arabia to interfere in
the internal affairs of Afghanistan.
Only with the rise of Osman bin Laden in late 1996 did the Clinton
administration wake up. With a series of bombings of its Embassies, a slight
shift of US policy was brought about. The US concern was to apprehend bin Laden
and at the same time not to confront the Taliban. The collateral result of this
policy was the emergence of a pervasive network of terrorist groups in more than
34 countries and the generation of an abundance of funds through money
laundering.
Al-Qaida is the hard core-organization of Laden. (GW Bush in a speech to
the US Congress on 21 September 2001: "Its goal is remaking the World and
imposing its radical beliefs on people everywhere"). The situation is
indeed critical. The terrorists have put on the garb of Islamic Revolution. In
the Islamic world, however, a number of countries are moving beyond
fundamentalist belief systems, and the rule of law has become the beacon light
for the oppressed millions. The dictators
who rule a number of Islamic countries are under threat and face a dilemma.
If they ally themselves with the fundamentalist forces, their regimes will be
toppled. If they oppose the fundamentalist forces, pro-democracy forces may well
dissolve their regimes. The Taliban is exploiting this dilemma. This also
explains the ambivalent role that a number of Islamic leaders have chosen.
The aggressive speeches of Bush and his attempt to bypass the UN have sown
deep suspicion in the minds of many Islamic people. The Taliban has been
successful in eroding the initial support that the US had garnered from states
like Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and others. This will be the political context of
the war that the US intends to launch.Furthermore, there are divisions in the
ranks of its allies who are debating for a global coalition to fight terrorism.
The absence of rule of law is at the bottom of Afghan woes. At no time has there
been a government based on and rooted in the rule of law in Afghanistan. The
paramount issue in Afghanistan is political, not military. A government of
nationalities of the Afghan people is the first priority. It is good that swift
US military action has not taken place. It is good that the world community has
asserted itself, cutting across the religious divide.
The terrorists have to be dealt with now or never. The world has to be made
safe and secure. Democratic interaction has to proceed. International
humanitarian assistance to the suffering Afghans must be accelerated. Democratic
transformations and development are pre-requisites for the eradication of
poverty and ignorance. Those who wreck peace deserve to be punished. Peace is a
paramount requirement.
In the context of Burma, this situation is potentially dangerous. The US
oil giant UNOCAL, which has business interests in Burma, proposed setting up a
gas line through Afghanistan. Taliban ranks have swelled by
increasing numbers of foreign volunteers from countries as diverse as Pakistan, Algeria and Burma. (The Nation Sep 22, 2001) Article by Stefan Smith under caption "Taliban, Pakistan's foreign policy failure" also had an exclusive interview with Bin Laden and Laden stated, "there are areas in all parts of the world where strong Jihad forces are present from Indonesia to Algeria, from Kabul to Chechnya, from Bosnia to Sudan, and from Burma (Myanmar) to Kashmir". It is a surprise that Laden has mentioned Burma alone of the countries
where Islamic fundamentalists exit in operation. There is a group, Arakan
Rohingya Islamic Front fighting the Burmese military Junta for decades for an
Independent state on the western borders of Burma. The group also formed
Rohingya Liberation Army. In 1999, the Rohingyas joined the Democratic Alliance
of Burma (DAB) headed by Karen National Union (KNU), an ethnic armed group
operating on southeastern borders of Burma and Thailand.
The Muslim minorities constitute nearly 15% of forty million populations in
Burma. The ruling military junta in Burma, State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC) on this occasion sent a delayed message of condolence to the US State
Department. The delay was said to be a protection against existing tension. The
SPDC has antagonized the Muslim minorities. If the news report quoted above is
true, then the situation in Burma is volatile and needs careful handling.
Long repressive rule by the Junta has generated widespread discontent and
the ethnic minorities and religious groups have been worst victims. They may be
forced to seek assistance outside. The Talibans will be too ready to play the
lead role. Burma will not be able to remain in isolation, which she has
undergone for decades. Burmese people are victim of one form of terrorism,
namely State terrorism. This has to end. Democratic transition and rule of law
can only ensure that fundamentalism of any form, Islamic, ethnic or military or
otherwise does not overtake Burma.
(B.K. Sen, based in Thailand, is a member of Burma Lawyers'
Council.)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Great Hearts and Minds support
investment pull-out from un-free Burma
By Mizzima News Oct. 5: Addressing a letter to the university’s Board of Visitors and
giving support to two resolutions passed by the University of Virginia Student
Council, six Nobel Peace Prize Laureates entreated the university administration
to divest its 50.000 shares of stock in Unocal, a California-based oil company
whose operations in Burma make it implicitly complicit in the junta’s
perpetration of human rights violations.
Betty Williams (Ireland 1976), Oscar Arias (Costa Rica 1986), His Holiness,
The Dalai Llama (Tibet 1989), Rigoberta Menchu Tum (Guatemala 1992), Jose Ramos
Horta (East Timor 1996), and Jody Williams (USA 1997-International Campaign to
Ban Landmines) – the letter’s signatories – had previously (in 1998) attended a
conference at UVA on “Bringing Together Great Hearts and Minds” to which fellow
Laureate Daw Aung San Suu Kyi was invited but prevented from attending due to
house arrest by the junta. The laureates’ letter echoed Burmese democracy
leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s call for companies to quit supporting the military
junta by investing in Burma, that quoted Suu Kyi arguing, “until we have a
system that guarantees the rule of law and basic democratic institutions, no
amount of aid or foreign investment will benefit our people”.
Having been prompted by the Virginia chapter of the Free Burma Coalition,
the letter lamented “while Unocal turns its back on the conditions surrounding
its pipeline, its partners, the illegal military junta, are torturing, killing,
raping, and enslaving thousands of people”. The coalition chapter’s
president, Andrews Prize, appealed to the university’s past history of standing
up for freedom movements, stating that “the University did not tolerate
financial support of South African Apartheid in the 1980s and it should not
tolerate slavery in Burma today”.
According to the Free Burma Coalition, Unocal’s Burmese project of
constructing a pipeline across southern Burma's Tenasserim division “is
currently linked to forced village relocation, the forced labor of tens of
thousands of local inhabitants, and fatalities at the hands of the SLORC troops.
This entire region is a war zone due to the ethnic peoples' need to defend
themselves against SLORC attacks, making the region highly unstable”. The
Coalition furthermore documents incidences of pillage, torture, rape,
infiltration by military battalions, violence and environmental ruin related to
the company’s project in Burma [http://www.irn.org/burma/unocal.html].
On its corporate web page
[http://www.unocal.com/responsibility/princip.htm], Unocal – which calls itself
a “good corporate citizen” – professes allegiance to the following “principles
for doing business” which are the “basis” for the company’s “relationships in
diverse countries and cultures”:
· “we will respect human rights in all our activities” (under “Ethics and Values”) · “we will obey the law and operate in accordance with the highest ethical standards; we will expect the same from our partners, contractors and suppliers” (as above) · “we will encourage advancements in civil society wherever we conduct business” (under “Community Initiatives”) · “we will be sensitive to the culture, context and needs of local communities and strive to make the community a better place to live and conduct business” (as above) The connection between UVA and action against UNOCAL has a past: a
precedent was set by the case of 12 Burmese villagers suing Unocal for its role
in incidences of sexual abuse and murder of a child perpetrated by Burmese
soldiers guarding and building infrastructure for a Unocal pipeline. The
villagers were represented by Earth Rights International, a Washington DC-based
human rights NGO led by UVA law school graduates Katie Redford and Tyler
Gianini.
If the UVA’s Board does indeed decide to meet the students’ and laureates’
call – whether it will is to be decided between 19 and 21 October – it would
join the company of Harvard University, American University, University of
California, University of Minnesota, University of Wisconsin, Bucknell
University, and the London School of Economics, academic institutions in which
students changed the administration’s mind about investment in Burma.
[All information related to the laureates’ letter is taken from a press
release of 3 October 2001 by the Free Burma Coalition (FBC) - the FBC works with
student activists at over 100 colleges, universities and high schools in the
U.S. and Canada, as well as concerned citizens in as many as 26 other
countries]
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Forced relocation in Mon State,
Moulmein
By our correspondent Mizzima News Mae Sot, Thailand, Oct. 5: On 1 October, over one hundred houses were
destroyed and their inhabitants relocated by SPDC authorities in Moulmein, Mon
State, in the course of a road construction project that includes the building
of a guest house and a bridge.
According to a notice issued by Moulmein Township Peace and Development
Council’s on 1 October, nearly 130 houses in Kyet Tan ward, on the bank of
Salween river, were destroyed and the inhabitants were moved immediately,
causing a loss of 650 million Kyats (about 1 million U.S.dollars) worth of
property. About 700 people (inhabitants of 128 houses) were moved to Kywe
Chan Khone, six miles to the west of Moulmein. At their relocation destination,
the displaced people were not provided with houses or clean water. Moreover, the
relocation site consists of a swampy plot of land. SPDC authorities did not
compensate for the loss of incurred by relocation and did not cover the cost of
transportation to the relocation site.
While plans had been aired previously to start construction in Kye Tan
ward, on 2 October Moulmein authorities also gave notice that Hlaing ward and
Shwe Pyi Aye ward (encompassing a total of 300 houses) were to be evacuated so
that construction on these sites could commence in November and December, the
residents of Moulmein reported today.
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