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BURMA RELATED NEWS - December 20,
2001.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------------- AP - Myanmar Is World's Top Opium
Producer
AP - American Spreads Word to
al-Qaida
AFP - First Asian HIV-AIDS care conference ends
with call for wider effort
Bkk Post - Government to face EU protest
Bkk Post - Free-trade
pacts could double exports
The Nation - Scepticism over work halt
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Launches Iodine Deficiency
Elimination Week
Xinhuanet - Four More Political Prisoners
Released in Myanmar
Xinhuanet - Myanmar Hosts BIMST-EC Senior
Officials' Meeting
FEER - Friends of Necessity
FEER - BURMA
JOINS THE NUCLEAR CLUB
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Is World's Top Opium
Producer
The Associated Press, Thu 20 Dec 2001 BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) ?
Myanmar is once again the world's top opium producer because of a sharp drop in
production of the drug in Afghanistan, according to the latest U.S. government
survey.
Myanmar overtook Afghanistan, which had been the No. 1 opium producer for
the past three years, despite having its smallest opium harvest since the
mid-1980s this year, the survey showed. Opium is used to make heroin.
Myanmar produced an estimated 865 metric tons of opium in 2001, down from
1,085 tons in 2000, a U.N. official said Thursday, citing the State Department's
Annual Survey of Opium Cultivation and Production.
The U.S. survey attributed Myanmar's drop in production to poor weather and
drug eradication efforts.
But Myanmar's drop in production was dwarfed by Afghanistan's. The
war-ravaged nation produced just 185 tons of opium in 2001, compared with 3,276
tons in 2000, according to the U.N. International Drug Control Program, or
UNDCP.
Afghanistan's opium yield dropped this year because of a successful ban on
poppy growing by its former Taliban rulers, who have been ousted by U.S.-led
forces in the war against terror.
According to U.S. figures, Afghanistan overtook Myanmar, also known as
Burma, as the No. 1 producer in 1998 and last year was responsible for 72
percent of the global supply.
The U.S. figures are set for publication in an annual report early next
year. The survey uses satellite imagery and opium yield sampling on the ground.
The figures were given to The Associated Press on Thursday by Yngve Danling, law
enforcement adviser at UNDCP's Asia office in Bangkok.
Danling said world prices of opium and heroin should rise as a result of
the fall in supply. Prices have already increased sharply in Afghanistan and
central Asia, but the impact would take longer to be felt farther afield,
Danling said.
``It's too early to see any reaction globally (to the drop in opium
production). We'll probably only see that by the end of next year when the
heroin reaches the market,'' he said.
The Myanmar government, which has been accused of turning a blind eye to
drug trafficking in its border regions, says it is doing all it can with minimal
foreign aid to end opium growing by poor hilltribe farmers.
Opium production nearly doubled soon after the current military regime took
power in 1988 and reached cease-fires with ethnic armies heavily involved in the
trade. But it has declined steadily since 1996.
As opium production has fallen, Myanmar's drug producers have diversified
into cheap and popular stimulant pills, which have become a social menace in
several Asian countries. These synthetic drugs, known as methamphetamines, are
easier to produce than heroin and offer greater profits.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- American Spreads Word to
al-Qaida
The Associated Press, Wed 19 Dec 2001 TERMEZ, Uzbekistan (AP) ? It's
unclear where he comes from or what he does for a living. But his mission, he
says, is very clear: He wants to help capture Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida
leaders.
Since October, Greg Shade has been traveling the back roads of Tajikistan
and Uzbekistan distributing wanted posters to local authorities. Written in
Russian, they carry photographs of eight leaders including bin Laden, and
details of the $25 million in reward money for their capture.
A massive man with an overgrown beard and a huge furry hat, Shade says he's
a 49-year-old real-estate developer in New Mexico, though he resists questions
about his past or his vague business card listing a Thailand address.
Shade, who says he's operating on his own initiative, has the financial
backing of several New Mexico businessmen and the support of at least one
American congressman.
``This is a very good idea,'' Rep. Dana Rohrabacher, a California
Republican, said in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. ``Greg
Shade is not doing anything that is inconsistent with United States policy.''
Shade proudly carries a sheaf of old newspaper clippings of previous
missions uncovering mass graves in Nicaragua and exposing oppression of Myanmar
dissidents, as well as letters of praise, most years old, from several
congressmen, including Rohrabacher.
Shade says he believes the only way to catch those behind the Sept. 11
terror attacks was through a ``mass hunt'' with the cooperation of millions of
people living near the Afghan border.
So he decided to travel to Uzbekistan and Tajikistan and recruited business
leaders in New Mexico to fund his mission.
``I felt like it was my duty to help support this,'' said one backer, Jim
Wall, chairman and CEO of Amrep Southwest, a development company based in Rio
Rancho, N.M.
Shade says he has generally been well received even in remote towns,
although he has been interrogated by local authorities a few times.
He did hit a few snags in the Uzbek border city of Termez, where his
attempts to meet with the police chief at one police station were rebuffed.
``I'm just trying to help out here. I have some information that may be
valuable,'' he told the station guard.
Undaunted, he jumped into his car with his ``wanted'' fliers and drove to
another Termez police station, where he was greeted with back slaps and good
cheer by jovial officers.
They promised to distribute the posters and Shade gave them a quick pep
talk, which they almost certainly did not understand.
``Let's get these guys dead or alive. You'll be rich. You'll be heroes in
America and respected in your own country,'' he said.
Then he drove back to the hotel to grab 50 more fliers for the friendly
cops ? just in case.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday December 20, 9:55 PM
First Asian HIV-AIDS care conference ends with call for wider effort BANGKOK, Dec 20 (AFP) - The
fight against HIV-AIDS must be waged by a wider array of organisations,
including those outside the field of healthcare, if the epidemic is to be
contained globally, the Red Cross said Thursday.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said
at the conclusion of the first meeting on HIV-AIDS patient care in Asia that the
virus would spread unless organisations such as itself got involved.
"The national health services are not enough to contain the epidemic
globally," Dr. Alvaro Bermejo, the federation's head of health and community
care, told AFP.
"Organisations like the Red Cross and other organisations that are not
necessarily AIDS organisations need to cooperate more," he said. "Unless we at
the Red Cross and others get involved, we will never contain it."
He added that partnerships among humanitarian groups and HIV-AIDS patients
across the globe had improved understanding about the deadly virus, but that
more needed to be done to ease the stigma surrounding the disease.
The Red Cross, for example, had made strides by working closely with UNAIDS
which has provided "training tools" such as patient care manuals for
distribution through the vast Red Cross international network, he said.
Bermejo lauded the heroes who have set up HIV-AIDS prevention programs in a
closing speech at the conference in the northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, but
added "there will never be enough heroes".
He also warned that even countries with a low prevalence of the virus
needed to shift resources to patient care while maintaining prevention
efforts.
Peter Walker, head of the federation's regional delegation for Southeast
Asia, told AFP that "there is no country that can feel complacent and say it's
not my problem".
"We were looking at statistics for Indonesia and saw an exponential
increase in the last 2-3 years," he said. "Now the virus is out in the
population. They're where Thailand was 10-15 years ago.
"There is nowhere to hide from this," Walker said, adding that some 3,500
people -- hundreds more than expected -- attended this week's Fifth
International Conference on Home and Community Care for Persons Living with
HIV/AIDS.
Activists, researchers and public health officials convened in Chiang Mai
Monday for the global forum on treatment and support for sufferers
worldwide.
In a series of workshops and lectures, participants who included members of
the business community whose workforce was affected by HIV-AIDS, mulled a range
of issues including discrimination against people with the deadly virus.
The event, which takes place every two years, will next be held in July
2003 in Dakar, Senegal.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 20,
2001.
REFUGEE TREATMENT Government to face EU protest Concern grows over forced repatriation Larry Jagan The European Union is to formally protest to the Thai government about the
treatment of Burmese refugees.
The EU commissioner and the Belgium and Spanish ambassadors representing
the European Troika will today deliver a demarche to senior members of the
Foreign Affairs and the Interior ministries.
``The demarche will cover a variety of refugee-related matters including
the fate of 181 Karen refugees who are seeking safety in Thailand and the
definition of safe areas,'' said a diplomatic source. The demarche follows an
earlier letter to the Foreign Affairs Minister Surakiart Sathirathai expressing
concern at the forced repatriation of 63 Karen villagers at the Burmese border
on Nov 6.
The ministry has not responded, but a senior ministry official said an
internal inquiry was initiated immediately after the letter was received.
``The army know the position along the border best and we accept their
assessment of the situation,'' said Laxanachantorn Laohapan, director-general of
the Department of International Organisations.
Before entering Thailand, the Karens had been on the run for more than four
months with aid workers saying they were fleeing human rights abuses committed
when the Burmese army forcibly relocated several villages.
The UNHCR told Thai authorities an assessment had found the asylum seekers
were legitimate refugees.
The 9th Army repatriated the refugees against the UNHCR's advice early last
month, with the group joining more than 700 other Karen villagers in a camp run
by another ethnic group, the Mon.
Within days, the Burmese army attacked the area and several of the group
were detained and questioned by the Burmese army. One man was shot and left to
die. He was later found by Mon villagers, but he had to have his right leg
amputated.
The more than 700 Karen are now in hiding in the Mon camp, fearing for
their lives.
The international community is urging Thai authorities to allow them to
cross into Thailand and is one of major areas that will be discussed during the
EU demarche.
The international community believes Thailand too narrowly defines the
basis for accepting asylum seekers as ``fleeing from firing.'' The general
convention is fleeing from fighting and its consequences.
Thai authorities have pointed out that they have not signed the 1951
Refugee Convention and therefore are not obliged to accept the broader
definition.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 20,
2001.
Free-trade pacts could double exports
Thailand wants to establish free-trade agreements with Bangladesh, India,
Burma and Sri Lanka within the next three years, says Deputy Commerce Minister
Suvarn Valaisathien.
The aim was to double the amount of Thai exports to the four countries, he
said.
Cabinet this week resolved to sign the agreements within five years, half
the initial 10-year target, but the Commerce Ministry would aim for 2004, he
said.
Tariffs would be cut to between zero and 5%, matching the Asean Free Trade
Area rates. Non-tariff trade barriers would also be reduced.
India is hosting a meeting on Dec 27 and 28 to draft a framework for the
agreements. Mr Suvarn said the South Asian countries represented a market of
1.26 billion people, of whom 200 million were well-off.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
TACHILEK POWER PLANT: Scepticism over work halt Published on Dec 20, 2001 Environmentalists surprised by Burma's sudden
'backdown' in border-pollution row
CHIANG RAI - Mae Sai conservationists expressed surprise yesterday at
reports that the Burmese military junta had ordered a halt to the construction
of a lignite power plant in the Burmese border province of Tachilek.
Colonel Than Shwe, Tachilek commander, said the State Peace and Development
Council, gave no clear reason for the order, but construction of the
almost-completed plant had stopped.
It is unclear whether the order would close the power plant permanently, he
said. He added that construction was nearly completed.
The controversial lignite power electrical plant is at the core of a
conflict between local residents in the Thai border district of Mae Sai and
Burmese authorities in the neighbouring town of Tachilek over pollution fears
from the plant. Environmentalist group Rak Mae Sai in April organised a series
of protests to oppose the construction.
Transportation of equipment from China via Thai soil has been halted since
then. The conflict then moved to the construction site - about five kilometres
from the Thai border - last month.
But Pang Polchai, an adviser to the Rak Mae Sai environmentalists, doubted
the authenticity of the junta's reported move, as the group had obtained no
official notification from Burmese or Thai authorities.
The group is insisting the power plant be moved at least 50 kilometres from
the Thai border, and compensation be paid if the plant pollutes Mae Sai. Pang
said he would urge Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh to raise their
concerns with Burmese officials next month when he visited Tachilek. A Thai
official said the latest move signalled the junta wanted good relations with
Thailand.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Launches Iodine Deficiency
Elimination Week
Xinhuanet 2001-12-20 18:49:20 YANGON, December 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar has begun launching an iodine deficiency elimination week (IDEW) campaign as a public movement, aiming at disseminating health education to the people to consume iodized salt as a measure to control diseases resultingfrom malnutrition. The campaign, which began on Wednesday, includes educative talks, essay
competitions, debates and inspection of salt quality at shops.
According to the Myanmar Ministry of Health, the country's iodized salt
distribution project has been extended annually since1989 to cover the whole
nation in the wake of spread of goitre to the plains at present from the hilly
regions where goitre cases were first detected over 100 years ago.
In 1997, Myanmar started to iodize all the salt produced in thecountry to
eliminate iodine deficiency and the iodized salt produced was said to have met
the local consumption in 1999.
According to the ministry, the goitre cases in Myanmar dropped to 12
percent in the fiscal year 2000-01 from 33 percent in 1994 with only one state
and one division where occurrence of goitre reaching over 30 percent in the
fiscal year, down from 9 states in1994.
The figures also show that 18 percent of households consumed iodized salt
in Myanmar in 1994 and in 2000, the percentage increased up to 79.
Myanmar takes consumption of iodized salt as the most effectiveand
long-term strategy in eliminating the iodine deficiency syndrome and is
systematically applying the Universal Salt Iodization system.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Four More Political Prisoners
Released in Myanmar
Xinhuanet 2001-12-20 18:49:20 YANGON, December 20 (Xinhuanet) -- Four more political prisoners, who are members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), were freed by the Myanmar government on Thursday afternoon, said an official statement. The document said the four NLD members were released from the "various
correctional facilities," identifying their names as U Thaung Aye, U Soe Myint,
U Kyaw Thaung and U Tin Win.
The release has brought the total number of the NLD's politicalprisoners
freed in the country to 198 since January of this year, it added.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar Hosts BIMST-EC Senior
Officials' Meeting
Xinhuanet 2001-12-20 13:49:16 YANGON, December 20 (Xinhuanet) -- The Fourth Meeting of Senior Officials of the BIMST-EC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand-Economic Cooperation) has begun here to discuss ways of shaping the organization into a fully functional, effective and successful regional forum. Speaking at Wednesday's opening of the senior officials' meeting (SOM),
Myanmar Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs U Khin Maung Win said the world is
characterized by the twin processes of globalization and liberalization which
offer not only opportunities but also challenges.
He added that the current complex international situation and the downturn
in the global economy have further complicated the situation.
"Unless the developing nations come together and cooperate with each other,
they face the danger of being marginalized and of being left behind in the march
towards progress and development," he warned.
The two-day SOM meeting has discussed a report of the working group of the
organization, adopted the BIMST-EC logo to be submitted to the ministerial
meeting and reviewed the Third BIMST-EC Trade and Economic Ministers' Meeting
held in Yangon last February.
The BIMST-EC, a crucial link between the nations of South Asia and
Southeast Asia, was originally formed in Thailand in June 1997 by four Asian
countries of Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka and Thailand bordering the Bay of
Bengal with a view to bolstering economic cooperation among its member countries
and its membership was extended to Myanmar in August that year.
The BIMST-EC was reported to have been able to identify six main areas for
cooperation which cover trade and investment, technology, transport and
communications, energy, tourism and fisheries, and two new areas in agriculture
and disaster management have been added for future cooperation.
The five countries have also agreed to work towards establishing a free
trade area.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Far Eastern Economic
Review
BURMA - Friends of
Necessity
By Bertil Lintner/BANGKOK
Issue cover-dated December 27, 2001 - January 3, 2002 China needs Burma as an export outlet for its impoverished and landlocked
southwest. But its rivals are suspicous of the warm ties with Rangoon
CHINESE PRESIDENT JIANG ZEMIN may have spent much of the time sightseeing
during his recent visit to Burma, but economics was at the heart of his trip.
Beijing long ago identified Burma as vital to the well-being of its
impoverished, provinces in the southwest--Yunnan, Sichuan and Guizhou.
But its regional rivals, above all India and Vietnam, believe China's
motives for courting Burma's military government are more sinister--they believe
Beijing wants to use its neighbour to expand its strategic influence into
Southeast Asia and the Indian Ocean.
Burma's repressive generals, for their part, see China's economic, military
and political support as vital in a world where they have few influential
friends. The two need each other, the junta for its survival and the Chinese for
the sake of economic development and political stability in their landlocked
southwest.
Jiang's landmark December 12-15 visit, the first to Burma by a Chinese
president since the present junta seized power in 1988, served to reinforce
these close ties. But there was a deeper purpose behind their talks and a clue
was given by Foreign Minister Tang Jiaxuan, who told China's official Xinhua
news agency that the two sides had agreed to expand their cooperation in
"infrastructural constructions" and other areas.
Asian intelligence officials say he was referring to China's desire to link
its southwestern provinces and their 160-million-strong population to vital
export markets, via Burma's river and road networks. They say the Chinese
proposals were encapsulated in a "Draft Agreement on Highway-Waterway Combined
Transport" presented to the Burmese in March.
The proposed 30-year accord, which would allow Chinese traders much easier
and more regular access to and through Burma, seems to have been accepted in
principle by the Burmese government, the sources say.
It is the natural culmination of a joint study carried out in 1997 on the
possibility of forging land and water transport routes from Yunnan to Burma's
mighty Irrawaddy River.
Since then the Chinese have built a new road linking the border town of
Ruili in Yunnan to the Burmese port of Bhamo on the Irrawaddy, 1,300 kilometres
north of Rangoon. And in June, China handed over three dredgers to the Burmese
to clear the Irrawaddy for bigger barges that could carry Chinese goods
downriver.
Meanwhile, a new port and shipyard is being built with Chinese funding and
technicians near Rangoon. According to intelligence sources, the facility is
primarily designed to cater for Chinese exports on Chinese vessels as it will be
able to handle vessels of up to 10,000 deadweight tonnes--much bigger than most
Burmese-owned vessels.
China's vision of opening a route through Burma is nothing new. Former
Vice-Minister of Communications Pan Qi first proposed forging such an export
route back in 1985, when Rangoon had little control over its border
regions.
"Only by doing this can we speed the economic development of the
southwest," wrote Pan, who argued that the southwest could not rely on ports in
Guangdong and Fujian provinces because of the distance, poor roads and limited
capacity of these ports.
Two key factors have helped China come within a whisper of achieving his
dream. They include the Burmese junta's forging of peace pacts with most of its
border-based ethnic-minority insurgent groups and, say Rangoon-based diplomats,
the appointment of Lt.-Gen. Khin Nyunt in February as chairman of the Central
Supervisory Committee for Ensuring Secure and Smooth Transport, which plans
infrastructure projects.
Khin Nyunt, who heads the junta's intelligence service and is seen as very
pro-China, appears to be winning the upper hand in a perceived power struggle
with army chief, Gen. Maung Aye, they note, which is good news for
Beijing.
Not everyone's happy with the Burmese government's increasing dependence on
China. India is convinced that China is on an expansionist path, rather than
looking after the interests of its southwest. It has been courting Maung Aye and
was furious when Khin Nyunt visited Pakistan last year when India's army chief
was visiting Burma, say Asian envoys.
But the Indians are unlikely to be able to dislodge the Chinese, who have
thrown their weight firmly behind the reviled military junta. The visit of
Jiang, who stressed that Burma "must be allowed to choose its own development
path suited to its own conditions," reinforced this message.
That's also bad news for much of the international community and the United
Nations, which has been trying to broker a deal between the junta and the
country's democracy movement, led by Aung San Suu Kyi.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Far Eastern Economic Review
BURMA JOINS THE NUCLEAR CLUB RUSSIA MUSCLES IN ON CHINA'S TURF WITH A REACTOR FOR BURMA By Bertil Lintner Issue cover-dated December 27, 2001 - January 3, 2002 Burma is one of the world's poorest and least developed countries, yet it
is apparently embarking on a nuclear-power project with the help of Russian and,
possibly, Pakistani scientists. And Beijing is none too happy at seeing Moscow
muscling in on its turf, according to diplomats.
The project was initiated by Russia's Atomic Energy Ministry, which in
February announced plans to build a 10-megawatt research reactor in central
Burma.
In July, Burma's Foreign Minister Win Aung, accompanied by the
military-ruled country's ministers of defence, energy, industry and railways,
travelled to Moscow to finalize the deal. At the time, Russian news agencies
quoted Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov as saying that Russia considers Burma a
"promising partner in Asia and the Pacific region."
He had reason to be pleased as Russia also managed to sell 10 MiG-29
fighter aircraft for $130 million to Burma. Rival China is Burma's main military
supplier, while the West shuns the country.
The ground-breaking ceremony for the nuclear facility is scheduled to take
place at a secret location near the town of Magwe in January. The equipment and
reactor will be delivered in 2003, while more than 300 Burmese nationals have
received nuclear technical training in Russia over the past year, according to
Russian diplomats.
Tight secrecy surrounds the fledgling nuclear programme and there is little
noticeable activity around the recently established Department of Atomic Energy
in Rangoon, residents say. The project is believed to be the brainchild of
Burmese Minister of Science and Technology U Thaung, who is reported to believe
that nuclear research is necessary for "a modern nation."
But while Burma suffers from a chronic power shortage, it's not clear why
it would need a research reactor, which is used mainly for medical
purposes.
The programme came under the spotlight recently after two Pakistani nuclear
scientists, with long experience at two of their country's most secret nuclear
installations, showed up in Burma after the September 11 terrorist attacks in
the United States.
According to Asian and European intelligence sources, Suleiman Asad and
Muhammed Ali Mukhtar left Pakistan for Burma when it became clear that American
officials were interested in interrogating them about their links with suspected
terrorist mastermind Osama bin Laden. The U.S. believes bin Laden wants to
develop a nuclear weapon.
A Pakistani news agency reported that the duo went to Burma to assist local
scientists in "some kind of research work," leading many observers to believe
they had joined the nuclear project.
There is no clear evidence linking them to the Russian-supported nuclear
programme. But one Asian diplomat speculates that if the Pakistanis are indeed
assisting Burmese scientists it could be in the field of taking care of nuclear
waste.
This is a highly lucrative business, and Burma desperately needs foreign
exchange to help to prop up its moribund economy.
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