|
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS - November
23, 2001.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- TI - China smashes terrorist outfit active in
Myanmar
TI - Myanmar gives asylum to two Pak nuke
scientists
TI - 'Myanmar army attacking resettled
villagers'
Hoovers - Facility Offers Aid to Migrant Workers
Tun Tun
Bkk Post - Pollution chief defends project
Xinhuanet - Myanmar To Hold Annual Gems Emporium
Mizzima - Militants strike in Assam
FEER - No Quick Fix For the Junta
FEER - INTELLIGENCE - UN Dreams For
Burma
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Times of India - November 23,
2001.
China smashes terrorist outfit active in Myanmar BEIJING: China, which is on high alert against terrorist attacks, has
smashed a cross-border terrorist group that operated in the south-west province
of Yunnan and neighbouring Myanmar.
Six members of the group, including Huang Yuequan, who masterminded the
Myanmar Democratic Allied Army, has been sentenced to various jail terms, the
official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday night.
Huang was sentenced to 14 years in jail by the intermediate People's Court
of Dehong prefecture, it said, adding that five other members were sentenced to
between one and seven years in jail.
Huang and Ruan Guoquan, began to plot the establishment of the organisation
in December 2000, and sought the assistance of a Myanmar terrorist group in the
process.
On January one, 2001, the organisation was formed with Huang as the
"commander" and Ruan as the "chief of staff".
They soon began to recruit members from China and Myanmar. Zhai Ruiqiang,
Luo Dong, Han Liangbu and Yang Rongying from China became members.
The Myanmar Democratic Allied Army had weapons, uniforms, credentials,
symbols and rules.
With some 22 members given secret military training, the organisation
engaged in kidnapping, robbery and other crimes, netting them about
$6,000.
In April this year, they demanded protection money from a Myanmar gambling
house and plotted a military raid on the police station in Mujie, a border town
on the Chinese side.
Another member, identified as "Old Meng", is still on the run, police in
Kunming, Yunnan's capital, said.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Times of India - November 23,
2001.
Myanmar gives asylum to two Pak nuke scientists NEW DELHI: Close on the heels of US intelligence officials questioning two
Pakistani scientists on their alleged links with Osama Bin Laden's al Qaeda,
Myanmar authorities have reportedly granted sanctuary to two other Pakistani
nuclear scientists following a request from Islamabad, according to highly
placed intelligence sources.
The two scientists, Dr Suleiman Asad and Dr Mohammad Ali Mukhtar, have been
flown to Sagaing division of Myanmar, after the authorities in Yangon acceded to
Pakistan regime's request, the sources said here.
The request made by Pakistan's foreign office was promptly accepted after
Islamabad gave an assurance that the duo were not involved in any terrorist
activity, the sources said.
They said Asad and Mukhtar were involved in the development of Islamabad's
nuclear programme and the US authorities had been looking for them too.
CIA and FBI officials had on Tuesday interrogated the other two scientists,
Dr Bashiruddin Mehmood, who retired as the chief of Pakistan Atomic Energy
Commission, and Chaudhury Abdul Majid, a former chief engineer, at the American
embassy in Islamabad. The two are now reportedly under house arrest.
Pakistan had earlier denied reports that the US had sought their
extradition.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Times of India - November 23,
2001.
'Myanmar army attacking resettled villagers' BANGKOK: Myanmar's army has been attacking settlements of the Karen ethnic
minority, forcing many to flee toward the border with Thailand, a relief agency
claimed on Friday.
According to the committee for Internally Displaced Karen People, nine
Myanmar army battalions launched attacks on November 11 in three areas of Papun
district in Karen State in northeastern Myanmar
Armed Karen insurgents, seeking more autonomy for their people, have been
fighting the government for more than five decades. The fighting has displaced
many Karens from their villages, who now live in temporary settlements such as
the ones reportedly being attacked by the army.
The committee detailed attacks beginning shortly after midnight on November
11 which have driven at least 800 people north and east out of their homes.
"Most fled with only the clothes on their backs. Those on the run include over 70 children from a primary and middle school that was located on the Bilin River," said the committee. The Myanmar government did not immediately respond to the claim.
The committee said there were no casualty figures, adding that these are
usually low because people generally can flee ahead of the government troops.
But it added there was "an immediate need for relief supplies such as food,
cooking pots, and especially now for blankets and warm clothes."
The committee is a Karen organization that operates on the Myanmar-Thai
border, gathering information on the plight of the internal refugees and
provides limited assistance.
Earlier this month, the committee issued a report saying 37,007 Karen
remained displaced in Papun district where over 50 villages were forcibly
relocated.
It said that people from the nearby districts of Nyaunglebin, Taungoo and
Thaton districts had also resettled also in Papun district since fleeing army
attacks last year.
"This has put a strain on the people of this district as they struggle to help feed these new arrivals from their own stocks," it said, adding that food shortages forced some people to refugee camps in Thailand. The report claimed that Myanmar's army "continues its attacks... destroying
rice supplies, torturing and executing villagers, looting villages, relocating
people by force, conducting forced labor, and terrorizing the population by the
systematic laying of land mines throughout each district."
The army has a history of harshness in dealing with ethnic insurgents in
the country's border regions.
The London-based human rights group Amnesty International said in June that
ethnic minorities continue to be repressed, mostly with forced labor.
Earlier this month, the UN's International Labor Organization said after an
inspection tour that legislation enacted in Myanmar last year had failed to wipe
out forced labor.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hoovers News
Facility Offers Aid to Migrant Workers Tun Tun, who came to South Korea from Myanmar in 1993, didn't want to talk about his missing finger. He had lost it in an accident at a cardboard box- manufacturing factory in Yongin, Kyonggi Province several years a November 22, 2001 12:44pm 11/23/2001 "Now that we all work like brothers, I don't want to bring it up," he said,
refusing to give details about how his finger was cut off. Tun Tun, 42, said the
company provided him money to get medical treatment.
For a migrant worker here, he is lucky.
"I am happy because my son and daughter completed their college educations
with the money I sent to them from here," he told The Korea Times.
Formerly a company worker back home, where his salary was about 10, 000 won
($8) per month, he now earns 80 to 90 times more.
He has been working here to support his wife and three children in Myanmar,
whom he has not met since he left.
"If I go home now, there would be no job, and I would not be able to
support my family."
His first few months in Korea were not easy. But when he had problems, Tun
Tun, like many other migrant workers here, came to the Migrant Workers' House in
Songnam, Kyonggi Province, to consult with Lee Sang-rin, education director of
the house.
Since 1994, Lee, as a volunteer worker, has been assisting migrant workers
in finding jobs, getting back pay, receiving medical treatment and so on.
The facility now is also home for about 80 workers from Bangladesh, Sri
Lanka, Morocco and China.
There are similar houses for migrant workers in Kuri, southwestern Seoul,
and in Ansan, Kyonggi Province.
"Although we have no means to promote our services, we receive about 70
phone calls and 10 to 50 visits by foreign workers who seek help or consultation
each day," Lee said. He is assisting some 300 migrant workers to find new or
better jobs.
Tun Tun is one of about 480,000 migrant workers in South Korea, who are
mostly from developing countries such as China, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines. Around 200,000 of them are overstaying
their visas, according to a government tally.
For such workers coming from different cultures, there are "almost always"
some problems, most of which start with communication barriers.
"Because they cannot communicate effectively with the locals, among other
things, they usually have a hard time finding jobs," Lee said. " Even after they
find places to work, they are often unpaid for months, while unprotected from
industrial accidents," he said.
Lee said he is trying to investigate and help settle problems the immigrant
workers have.
Poor communication sometimes develops into frustration and even violence,
because "migrant workers don't understand what their employers want them to do,
for example, meeting a product deadline or doing some extra work," Lee said.
Tun Tun said when he arrived here, he knew nobody and didn't speak the
language, "so the first few months were really difficult."
But he now speaks Korean fluently enough to give the interview in Korean _
and understands even better how Koreans speak badly to him in their own
language.
"When I didn't understand the language, I was okay with being yelled at,
because I didn't know what it was about," he said. "But now that I know what
they are talking about, it sometimes hurts my feelings," he said.
Shahmaz, 29, who came from Pakistan in 1999, agreed. "Some Korean men
behave very badly towards foreign workers," said Shahmaz, who is doing woodwork.
He came here after studying commerce at a college back home.
"Even though I have a proper working visa and often work overtime, I get
paid half the amount my Korean colleagues receive," he said, admitting the
amount is still about five times larger than the wage that a college graduate
would receive in his country.
Despite all these difficulties, some of them, like Chung Bong-yol from
China, can't simply go back home, as they came here after spending about 5
million to 15 million won for brokerage commissions, a huge sum of money that
they had to borrow from others.
Chung, an ethnic Korean, came here in 1997 and got a ligament sprain in his
right knee while working for a textile factory. From 1998, he spent two years
trying to get medical treatments, after which he was left jobless and his visa
expired.
Although he now wants to return home, Chung said that he isn't able to do
that. "Before I earn enough money to get out of debt and make some more to
support my parents at home, I wouldn't go back."
Chung seemed determined in saying that he would dissuade anyone from home
who wants to come work here.
"People here kind of look down upon us from China, although we share the
same ethnicity," he said. "They often call us names, saying, 'You' re from China
and you're an illegal resident here.' There is no point in incurring a huge debt
to leave home, just to be treated that way."
Because of those few Koreans behaving badly towards foreign workers, the
image of Koreans worsens, Chung said, adding, "I hope people here won't
discriminate against foreign workers any more."
Lee of the Songnam Migrant Workers' House said he hoped the government
would pay more attention to the problems faced by the foreign workers.
"Just as the migrant workers come here to make money, Korea needs them to
work in sectors that Koreans shun," he said.
"That's why we need to treat them with warm heart," Lee added.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - November 23,
2001.
Pollution chief defends project New technology will lessen environmental impact on Thailand A lignite-fired power plant in Burma would not cause serious environmental
impact on the Thai side of the border as new technology would cut dust and
sulphur dioxide emissions, said the Pollution Control Department
yesterday.
Chief Sirithan Pairotboribun said electrostatic precipitators at the
Tachilek plant could eliminate 99% of the dust particles.
New technology would also cut emissions of sulphur dioxide and toxic
substances, Mr Sirithan told a meeting called by the National Security Council
in Chiang Rai.
China wants Thailand to allow power generators to pass through Chiang Rai's
Mae Sai district en route to the plant.
Local people worried about the environmental impact blocked a convoy of 14
trailer trucks carrying the parts on April 20.
Prakit Prachonphatchanuek, NSC deputy chief, said the builders, Golden
Triangle Hydro Power Plant, had assured Thai authorities that the plant met ISO
standards.
Mr Prakit said Burma did not want to change the route as the Mae Sai
checkpoint was close to the plant.
However, local people want the plant to be moved further inside
Burma.
Praphan Srivichai, a member of the Rak Mae Sai group, said the plant should
be moved 50 kilometres inside Burma.
Ronnarong Sukthavorn, a Mae Sai customs official, said the plant was now
80% complete, adding that the shipment delay had cost about 20 million
baht.
The generators were being kept at a warehouse in Samut Prakan pending
approval.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar To Hold Annual Gems
Emporium
Xinhuanet 2001-11-23 11:16:32 YANGON, November 23 (Xinhuanet)
-- Myanmar will hold its 39th annual gems emporium in March 2002 to put on sale
locally-produced quality gems, pearl and jewelry through competitive bidding,
tender and at fixed price, according to the Myanmar Ministry of Mines
Friday.
However, the exact date of holding the emporium has not been fixed
yet.
In addition to annual events taking place every year in March since 1964,
Myanmar also used to hold mid-year ones in October introduced since 1992 to
boost the country's gems sale.
At the 38th and 10th mid-year Myanmar gems emporiums held during this year,
10.12 million and 9.556 million U.S. dollars were respectively earned.
Each emporium attracted hundreds of merchants from over a dozen countries
and regions, mostly from China, China's Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore and
Thailand.
Myanmar, a well-known producer of jade, ruby and sapphire in the world, has
fetched a total of 339.834 million dollars of foreign exchange from its 38
annual and 10 mid-year gems emporiums, according to official statistics.
Myanmar enacted the New Gemstone Law in September 1995, allowing national
entrepreneurs to mine, produce, transport and sell finished gemstone and
manufactured jewelry at home and abroad.
Since April 2000, the government has reportedly started mining of gems and
jade in joint venture with 10 private companies under profit sharing
basis.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Militants strike in
Assam
By Our Correspondent Mizzima News GUWAHATI, November 23: Eleven people were killed in separate
incidents of violence perpetrated by the militants yesterday evening. National
Democratic Front of Bodoland (NDFB) militants are suspected to have shot dead
seven wood cutters of a particular community in three districts of lower Assam.
Official sources said that the wood cutters had gone to collect wood from
different forests when they were fired on by the militants and killed on the
spot. Informed sources further stated that the militant group had put a ban on
wood cutting in the forest area in a bid to save the flora and fauna of the
state. During the last couple of years, over 200 people were killed by the NDFB,
sources said.
Despite the ongoing Unified Command Operations, the militant group
operating from Burma and Bhutan has become active, forcing the security forces
to review their operations. Meanwhile four persons were killed in a powerful
bomb blast suspected to have been planted by Naga rebels in the Sibasagar
district of Upper Assam. The army launched a vigorous operation to nab the
culprits.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Far Eastern Economic Review
No Quick Fix For the Junta By Rodney Tasker and Bertil Lintner/BANGKOK and CHIANG MAI Issue cover-dated November 29, 2001 With the military regime's biggest shake-up since 1997 and a recent
escalation of heroin exports, there's clearly turmoil in the junta
BURMA'S MILITARY REGIME has done its best in recent years to show the world
it is strong and unified. Behind the scenes, however, is an escalating struggle
to take power from two leaders who, due to age and failing health, are expected
to depart from the scene. For evidence, look at two recent changes in Burma: the
recent sacking of seven top officials and the increase in the amount of heroin
flowing across the Burmese border to regional and Western markets.
While the latest bout of political turmoil may not change much about Burma,
the current new wave of drugs has international consequences.
The power struggle in Rangoon pits the deputy chairman of the ruling junta,
army commander Gen. Maung Aye, against Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt, the regime's first
secretary and head of military intelligence. The two men are vying for authority
held by strongman Ne Win and junta leader Than Shwe. The health of Ne Win, now
90, has become particularly fragile. Than Shwe, in his late 60s, is also ailing
and thought to be ready to leave the scene.
Their departure will clear the way for Maung Aye or Khin Nyunt to step in.
Khin Nyunt is an adept politician who is the regime's most familiar face in the
regional arena. But though he heads the military intelligence apparatus and has
close links with the 12,000-15,000-strong United Wa State Army, his support is
considered no match for the overbearing military muscle of Maung Aye, who
controls the Burmese army's 400,000 troops.
Maung Aye is a blunt, insular army chief--on November 15 he turned down an
invitation to visit Thailand because he was too busy with internal affairs,
according to the Thai Defence Ministry. Khin Nyunt, on the other hand, has
cultivated his image as an outgoing politician, has visited Thailand twice this
year and appears conscious of the international concern for a dialogue between
the military regime and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi (see Intelligence on
page 10).
But while Khin Nyunt may be seen as less of an isolationist than Maung Aye,
his pursuit of recognition outside Burma is not a sign of potential
democratization so much as a ploy to guarantee his political survival at home.
Whoever wins out in the current power struggle, one thing seems certain: The
Burmese military's 40-year hold on political power will remain, as will Burma's
repressive system and its worsening economic malaise. As one Rangoon-based
diplomat puts it, nothing is more important to the Burmese generals than their
institution and its grip on power.
The purge in early November of seven of the country's leaders--two powerful
generals and five less influential ministers--was widely seen as an effort to
cleanse the leadership of corruption, for which the two most senior figures to
go, third secretary of the junta Lt.-Gen. Win Myint and Military Affairs
Minister Lt.-Gen. Tin Hla, were known to have been under investigation. Burma's
deputy intelligence chief, Maj.-Gen. Kyaw Win, told a press briefing that the
generals were dismissed for a "violation of state policy," but did not
elaborate.
The purge was seen by some observers as an attempt to find scapegoats for
the country's economic straits. The Burmese currency, the kyat, has dropped to
nearly 800 to the dollar from 400 a year ago. The price of rice in Rangoon has
increased by up to 36% over the past six months.
LARGEST PURGE SINCE 1997
The shake-up was the largest since November 1997, when the entire junta was
replaced by the present State Peace and Development Council. That was widely
seen as a response to concerns about corruption voiced by businessmen from
Singapore, a partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations and a leading
investor in Burma. The latest reshuffle came, according to a Rangoon-based
diplomat, after similar complaints by Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad of
Malaysia.
This analysis suggests that Khin Nyunt, as the leader most likely to
respond to outside pressures, had a hand in the purge. The view is supported by
a senior Thai intelligence official who points out that some of the recently
fired ministers were critical of Khin Nyunt's efforts to keep a line of
communication open to democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi. Maung Aye is thought
to share that critical view.
Although Khin Nyunt may still wield influence within the junta, in this
regime it is Maung Aye's command of the army that dominates. The unceremonious
removal of Win Myint and Tin Hla, and the subsequent replacement of Win Myint by
northeastern military commander Maj.-Gen. Thein Sein, would likely have been
agreed by the top three generals, as would the reported concurrent promotion of
up to 10 out of 12 regional commanders to posts in the Defence Ministry in
Rangoon.
THE HEROIN TRADE
Until the shake-up, divisions between Maung Aye and Khin Nyunt and their
followers had been most evident in eastern frontier areas. The rise in heroin
exports stems largely from fears among the drug-producing Wa ethnic minority in
northeastern Shan state that Khin Nyunt may not be around much longer.
The United Wa State Army--Khin Nyunt's main support base--is regarded by
anti-narcotics officials in Thailand as primarily responsible for the new wave
of heroin production and smuggling through Thailand, China and India.
Intelligence reports suggest the Wa are now trying to make as much money as
possible before an impending power struggle which their protector, Khin Nyunt,
may well lose. The Wa also produce methamphetamines: 600 million tablets of the
stimulant are expected to be smuggled over the border for Thai consumption this
year--a 20% increase over last year.
"The Wa have to step it up now, because the Rangoon situation is so
uncertain," says a senior Thai army intelligence officer.
World heroin supplies originating from opium stockpiles in Afghanistan are
also reported to have increased in recent months. But these can be expected to
drop significantly because of the war there. Some drug officials in Thailand
think that Burmese output might also eventually dwindle as the power struggle
intensifies.
"Khin Nyunt is struggling like mad," says a Western intelligence official.
Whether the general is backing accelerated heroin production by the Wa in order
to build up his war chest for a battle with Maung Aye, or to build up his
retirement fund in case he is ousted, the Wa appear to be trying to make money
while they can.
Maung Aye, making use of the forces of the Burmese army, appears to be
retaliating. While drug exports have increased, the flow of both heroin and
methamphetamines is now being slowed within Burma because of the rivalry,
according to Thai and Western intelligence officials. Khin Nyunt's military
intelligence officers are reported now to be more directly involved in drug
operations across the border, but many are also said to be defecting to army
units loyal to Maung Aye.
Furthermore, in recent weeks Wa traffickers, who in the past have paid off
military intelligence officers loyal to Khin Nyunt for safe passage, are now
reportedly being stopped at Burmese army checkpoints and told to hand over their
loads of narcotics.
Maung Aye is known to have hated the Wa, regarded as tough fighters, since
his days in the 1980s as a field commander battling insurgencies. One Thai
senior military intelligence officer says: "If Maung Aye takes power and tries
to disarm the Wa army there could be one hell of a fight."
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Far Eastern Economic Review
INTELLIGENCE - UN Dreams For Burma Issue cover-dated November 29, 2001 While talks between Burma's ruling generals and pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi seem stalled, the United Nations' proposed solution for national
reconciliation is becoming clearer. The world body is backing a transition to
democracy that would result in UN-monitored elections five years after any
agreement is signed, according to a Rangoon-based source close to the UN special
envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail. The proposed deal has the military receiving an
allotted number of seats in an elected parliament which would also be contested
by a political party formed by the junta, most probably led by the regime's
first secretary, Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt. Whether or not the process ever gets that
far is increasingly uncertain--Khin Nyunt seems to be losing out in a power
struggle with army chief Gen. Maung Aye. (See article on page 29). Under the UN
plan, regime members would also be granted amnesty from lawsuits aimed at past
human rights abuses. Suu Kyi wants a better deal, says the source, adding that
progress on the talks has come to a halt and the two sides have not met formally
since May. Even so, the junta remains upbeat about the process, apparently in an
effort to attract more foreign aid to Burma. The UN is obliging, dangling more
carrots for a deal as donors iron out the details of a $16 million HIV/Aids
prevention programme for Burma.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- |