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BURMA RELATED NEWS - December 26,
2001.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Villagers killed, hundreds flee as Myanmar
attacks rebel base
AFP - Thailand to shut dissident camp within a
day: governor
Reuters - Thailand
seizes assets of wanted Myanmar drug lord
Bkk Post - Furniture import ban likely to stay
The Nation - Big
seizure in Chiang Rai
Xinhuanet - Myanmar's Irrigated Area Increases
by 722,426 Hectares
Xinhuanet - Chinese Contracted Pulp Factory
Starts Building in Myanmar
NMG - Maneeloi camp to be closed
tomorrow
SHAN - Development for Wa
SHAN - Fire in northern Shan State
KWNG - ETHNIC
NATIONALITIES STUDY FEDERALISM IN GERMANY
KWNG - PROTEST AT
RANGOON UNIVERSITY
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday December 26, 7:45 PM
Villagers killed, hundreds flee as Myanmar attacks rebel base MAE SOT, Thailand, Dec 26 (AFP)
- Two Myanmar villagers were killed and another two injured Wednesday when
Myanmar troops and allied soldiers attacked a rebel base near the Thai border, a
Thai military source said.
Some 400 Myanmar villagers fled the early morning clash and crossed the
border into Thailand, the source added.
About 100 Myanmar troops and members of the Yangon-allied Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army (DKBA) opened fire with mortars and machine guns on a base
belonging to the rebel Karen National Union (KNU).
The seige on the base, located in Myanmar some 500 meters from the Thai
border opposite western Ta Song Yang district, lasted about an hour.
The KNU has fought a 51-year battle for greater autonomy against the
central government in Yangon and is one of the last major insurgent groups
fighting the junta.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday December 26, 7:48 PM
Thailand to shut dissident camp within a day: governor BANGKOK, Dec 26 (AFP) -
Thailand will evacuate and close a controversial border camp housing Myanmar
dissidents on Thursday, an official said.
Ratchaburi provincial governor Komet Daengthongdi told AFP Wednesday that
some student dissidents living at the Maneeloy Holding Center would be moved to
the Tham Hin refugee camp in western Paktau district.
Another group of more than 100 dissidents not considered refugees would be
handed to immigration officials at the border, he added.
Komet said it would take only one day, Thursday, to evacuate the Myanmar
dissidents who fled the Myanmar junta's 1988 crackdown on pro-democracy
activists.
He added that he believed there would be no violent resistance during the
evacuation because the students knew of the longstanding government plan to
close the center.
"I believe there will be no violence because they understand our
intention," he said in a telephone interview.
Hundreds of Thai villagers staged a protest Monday to demand provincial
authorities quickly expel Myanmar dissidents who they said had hurt the local
economy and were a source of crime.
Since 1993, the Maneeloy camp has held thousands of Myanmar student
dissidents, many of whom have been resettled in third countries with the help of
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said in June that Maneeloy and refugee
camps along the Myanmar border would be gradually closed, and that he would
tackle the problem of illegal immigrants, who number about a million.
Thailand is home to more than 120,000 refugees who fled fighting between
Myanmar troops and rebel ethnic armies. Many of them are from the Karen minority
and live in camps on the Thai side of the border.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday December 26, 7:04 PM
Thailand seizes assets of wanted Myanmar
drug lord
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thai police
said on Wednesday they had seized more than 20 million baht ($454,700) worth of
cash and other assets belonging to drugs baron Wei Xuekang, who has a $2-million
price on his head in the United States.
Wei, 49, also known as Prasit or Chanchai Chevinnitipanya, was arrested in
November 1988 in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai, but jumped bail and
has been living in Myanmar.
Wei, widely known as the commander of the United Wa State Army's (UWSA)
southern military command based in Myanmar near the Thai border, has been
indicted by the United States on drug trafficking charges.
The Thai Supreme Court sentenced him to life imprisonment in absentia in
1994 on charges of collaborating with others to smuggle 615 kg (1,356 lb) of
heroin out of Thailand.
Thailand blames the UWSA for producing much of the drugs flooding the
country, particularly methamphetamines.
Thai officials said in a statement on Wednesday they found 90 bank accounts
worth 14 million baht as well as jewellery, vehicles and other assets belonging
to Wei and his associates after simultaneous searches of nine premises in
Bangkok, Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai.
Wei, Chinese by birth, was granted a Thai citizenship in 1985 but this was
revoked in July this year.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Dec 26,
2001.
Furniture import ban likely to stay Products believed made of Thai wood Supamart Kasem A ban in place on imports of wooden furniture from Burma is likely to stay
as authorities are convinced that most of the finished products originate from
within.
The prospect of the Nov 7 ban being lifted has become duller after a Dec 20
meeting between the Third Army, the Forestry Department and governors of 17
northern provinces in Phitsanulok.
Burma insists no logging concession has been granted, which has led to
suspicions that furniture crossing the border from Burma comes from forests in
Thailand.
Imports of wood furniture were allowed in four border districts of Phop
Phra, Tha Song Yang, Mae Ramat and Mae Sot in 1996.
Millions of baht have been raised in customs taxes yearly and last year's
figures soared to about 160 million baht.
Even though Burma granted some concessions to Thai operators, illegal
logging carried on.
Thai investors had joined hands with ethnic minority groups such as the
Karen National Union or the pro-Rangoon Democratic Karen Buddhist Army opposite
Tak and Mae Hong Son.
Logging activities were monopolised by a few groups backed by people in
uniform.
Decades of Illegal logging, however, were set back when Rangoon launched a
heavy crackdown on KNU troops.
The revocation of concessions to Thai operators made it hard for them to
continue with illegal activities without arousing suspicion.
The Salween log laundering scandal erupted in 1997, triggering a new form
of illegal logging.
Felled trees were processed in the forests or on the other side of the
border. Processed wood was then made into furniture and imported into the
country as finished products.
It carried on until May this year when DKBA troops crossed the border and
attacked Thai soldiers.
Three villagers were killed by stray mortar shells, prompting the Third
Army to close the border in Phop Phra. Furniture imports passing through that
area were held up.
In October authorities confiscated about 800 logs and a large amount of
processed wood in Mae Ramat forest reserves. They also found signs of
encroachment and illegal logging in several areas in Mae Ramat and Mae Sot
forests.
Plodprasop Surasawadi, the Forestry Department chief, asked the Third Army
for help in stopping log poaching and laundering.
In November the Third Army suspended furniture imports in the four
districts, and products worth hundreds of millions of baht were left
stranded.
On Saturday Mr Plodprasop declared that illegal logging activities were
rife in Tak and blamed it on hilltribe villagers and illegal Burmese
migrants.
The furniture importers' association says it is frustrated about the import
ban.
``I have been fully co-operative with customs officials in paying taxes.
The ban is hurting honest business operators,'' said Sujin sae Li, the
association's adviser.
Col Witchu Saengduan, of the Thai-Burmese border co-ordinating committee,
said border security and relations with Burma could be threatened by conflicts
of interest on the border.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Big seizure in Chiang Rai
Published on Dec 26, 2001
Police yesterday arrested suspected drug peddlers in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai
district while they were allegedly on the way to deliver more than one million
methamphetamine tablets to clients in Bangkok.
It was the second biggest methamphetamine seizure since May this year, when
police seized about 1.3 million tablets of the drug.
Having been tipped off that a group of peddlers would use the Chiang Rai -
Mae Sai road to deliver the pills, a checkpoint was set up on Phaholyothin Road
in Chiang Rai's Mae Chan district, police said.
Officers decided yesterday that passengers of a minivan heading to Bangkok
were acting suspiciously. After a thorough search, they found about 1.1 million
tablets hidden in a secret compartment covered with a wooden board and plastic
mat inside the van.
The minivan driver was identified as Sanom Chueamit, 37. There were five
other passengers in the vehicle, identified as Pranom Jaimano, 40; Assadawut
Jaimano, 17; Narongsak Rodmee, 17; Ong-art Thammasen, 17; and Bunrat Jaipinta,
17. Sanom and Pranom admitted that they were paid Bt200,000 to deliver the pills
to an influential drug dealer in Bangkok. They identified their employer as
Saman Phromna, 35.
Police rushed to Saman's residence in Mae Sai District, but the man had
reportedly fled in a car. Police found the car in front of a temple in a
Thai-Burmese border area. They assume the suspect had already crossed into
Burma.
Pol Gen Amnuay Phetsiri, deputy police commissioner general, said Saman's
group was a crime syndicate with a nationwide network. Sanom and Pranom, who
were husband and wife, were known to be methamphetamine distributors for a Red
Wa gang in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai district.
Meanwhile, Kyodo quoted state-run newspapers as reporting yesterday that
Burmese (Myanmar) officials had seized 1.2 tonnes of ephedrine powder, the main
precursor chemical for making stimulant drugs, along with several other
precursor chemicals and drug-making equipment in the Lokkai area, some 780
kilometres northeast of Rangoon near the border with China.
Burma's anti-drug squad, in cooperation with the authorities in Kokang
state and from China, raided a house near the Kokang capital on December 13, the
papers said.
Equipment for making tablets, 1.2 tonnes of ephedrine powder and 24 other
chemicals, including 675 litres of acetic anhydride and 225 litres chloroform,
were seized and four suspects arrested. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- December 26 , 2001 13:26PM
Myanmar's Irrigated Area Increases by 722,426 Hectares YANGON, Dec 26 (Oana-Xinhua) --
The irrigated area of Myanmar has increased by 722,426.4 hectares to 1.92
million hectares after 128 dams were built in the country since 1988 when the
present government took office, the Myanmar Ministry of Agriculture and
Irrigation disclosed Wednesday.
The addition of the 128 dams in 13 years, which cost a total of 49,706.41
million kyats (about 142 million U.S. dollars), has brought the total number of
dams in the country to 266.
Myanmar's cultivable land stretches 18.225 million hectares, of which
10.125 million hectares, or 55.5 percent, have been cultivated while 8.1 million
hectares, or 44.5 percent, remain to be utilised.
Of the 10.125-million-hectare cultivated land, 1.92 million hectares, or 19
percent, are cultivated through irrigation.
As agriculture is the mainstay of Myanmar's economy, the government is
giving priority to the development of the sector in order to produce enough food
to feed the nation's present 52- million population.
Agriculture accounts for 42 percent of the country's gross domestic product
and 25 percent of its export value.
Meanwhile, Myanmar has targeted to cultivate 6.8 million hectares of paddy
to produce 28.21 million tons of the crop this year and rice export for the year
is expected to reach 1 million tons.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Chinese Contracted Pulp Factory
Starts Building in Myanmar
Xinhuanet 2001-12-26 14:17:01 YANGON, December 26 (Xinhuanet)
-- A major bleached pulp factory project in Thabaung, Myanmar's southwestern
Ayeyawaddy division, contracted by the China Metallurgical Construction (Group)
Corporation, has started and a ground-breaking ceremony was held Monday at the
project site.
The cost of the factory is 90 million U.S. dollars provided by the Chinese
seller's credit.
The Thabaung pulp factory using bamboo as raw material will be built on a
land plot of 448.48 hectares under a contract signed on August 31 last year
between the Chinese company and the Myanmar Paper and Chemical Industries of the
Ministry of Industry No.1.
According to the contract, the Chinese side is to undertake the design,
supply of equipment and technical supervision, while the Myanmar side is
responsible for the building.
The building of the factory is scheduled to complete in 2004 and will
produce 200 tons of pulp per day on completion.
It is expected to meet the paper demand of Myanmar with the addition of the
major factory.
Myanmar plans to add 14 more paper and pulp mills of 50 to 500 ton daily
capacity in the country during the five-year plan periodfrom 2001-02 to 2005-06.
Myanmar's per capita consumption of paper is 2.6 kilograms and its total
domestic paper demand in the present fiscal year of 2001-02 is 117,600 tons.
The country produced 16,894 tons of paper in 2000, accounting for only
14.36 percent of the total demand, and it has still to import over 100,000 tons
of the paper or 85.64 percent of the total demand.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Network Media Group
Maneeloi camp to be closed tomorrow Students' strike concluded Chiang Mai, December 26, 2001 Maneeloi refugee camp, which was opened for the Burmese students since 1991
by United Nations High Commissioner for Refugee (UNHCR), would be closed down
tomorrow, December 27, and students in the camp would be moved to Than Hin
refugee camp near Thai-Burma border in Southern Thailand, students in the camp
were informed by Thai authorities.
Thai authorities who are responsible for the camp released a statement
concerning with the closure of the camp yesterday, December 25.
According to a female students in the camp, the statement notified students
in the camp to pack their belongings and put their identity numbers on their
baggage. The students, Burmese students and those who were identified as "border
case", will be moved to border refugee camp on December 27, mentioned in the
statement released by Thai camp authorities, she continued.
Burmese students in the camp protested and demonstrated not to move
the camp and seven students were sent to hospital in early this month.
Thai authorities postponed the closure date of the camp from December 15 to end
of the year.
The students in the cam launched another hunger strike started from
December 23 to postpone the date of closure again. But, more than two hundred
residents in Rachaburi demonstrated and asked the camp to move on December 24.
After the demonstration of Thai residents, the camp closure was confirmed by
Thai authorities.
"We concluded the hunger strike at 2:00 pm today. We accept to move from
the camp", said a female student from the camp.
According to the students in the camp, camp authorities are giving bags to
the students to pack their properties today and some students accepted the bags
while some refused.
Whether the plan of Thai authorities to move out the students from the camp
would be smooth or not is unclear as there are some students who want to resist
the closure of the camp tomorrow.
The students, in the camp since it was established, got political rights
such as to demonstrate and freedom to speech in Bangkok. But their rights were
ignored after some Burmese students called "Vigorous Burmese Students Worriers"
raided the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok in 1999. Thai authorities including the
Mayor of Rachaburi confirmed last November of the closure of the camp before end
of the year 2001.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Shan Herald Agency for News
25 December 2001 No: 12 - 18: Development for Wa Shan commanders lament A commander from the embattled Shan State Army has expressed concern over
the possible removal of its forces from the border area that has been marked for
a B. 20 million crop substitution program due to be launched by Thailand next
year.
The officer, who wished to be anonymous, said, "Moving out from the area
does not pose a military problem. We've been trained to fight in any kind of
situation. But how do we reply to questions from our rank and file like 'why are
troublemakers being rewarded and partners against their trouble making being
thrown out like dirt?'".
He was referring to the present Thai administration's offer to develop the
areas recently resettled by Wa people from the Chinese border, a program that
had displaced thousands of local people. Wa are reputed as the biggest producer
of heroin and methamphetamine.
According to the latest report, Wa representatives met by Thai officials on
Friday (21 December) had proposed a further change of the project site from
Mongtoom to Nayao further south and nearer to Pangnoon, the scene of fierce
fighting in February in Mae Fa Luang District, Chiangrai province. During the
landmark visit made by Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the ruling military
council, in September, Thailand had proffered to help develop Mongyawn, the Wa
stronghold across Mae Ai District, Chiangmai province. At a later meeting,
Rangoon had proposed changing it to Mongtoom.
Mongyawn, Mongtoom and Nayao are all in Monghsat township.
The SSA enclave, Loi Kawwan, is located near Pangnoon. So far Burmese
attempts to occupy it have ended in failure.
"Development in the area means killing two birds with one stone," commented
a Thai officer. "The SSA may have to move out of the area."
A Shan ceasefire group commander also echoed the SSA's remark. "We don't
need to tell anyone how Kokang and Wa have enriched themselves," he told
S.H.A.N. "But while Kokang are being assisted by the Japanese, Wa have been
getting support from the UN Drug Control Program. Now come the Thais with
another aid package. In the meanwhile, nobody knows or cares we exist."
A Thai border watcher, however, said it would take some time before the
Thai proposal was translated into a project approved by all concerned. "The SSA
has the right to demand a participatory role in the process."
He however did not think the project would amount to anything more than a
political ploy. "The Burmese will become a laughing stock in the eyes of its own
people, if the Thai project turns out to be a success. Moreover, Burma's
historic enemy will become Burma's benefactor," he said. "I'm not sure the
present regime with its known mind-set will like it."
Related report:
300 Burmese prisoners have, since last month, been building a road from
Mongtoom through Htalang, Monghawm and Nayao to Pangnoon.
----------------------------------------------------------------------- Shan Herald Agency for News
26 December 2001 No: 12 - 19: - Fire in northern Shan State Sources from the Chinese border confirmed that the market in Lashio,
northern Shan State's capital, was consumed by fire on Christmas day.
It began at 20:00 last night until this morning. Losses were not known
but estimated to be billions of kyat.
Monastery in Mongyawn burned down
The Buddhist temple in Mongyawn, Monghast township, was reduced to ashes on
12 December when some Wa soldier put a torch to it. It was not known whether the cause was the dispute between Buddhist Wa and Christian Wa or that between the Wa newcomers and the Shan locals. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- KAO WAO NEWS GROUP
ETHNIC NATIONALITIES STUDY FEDERALISM IN
GERMANY
(Berlin, December 16, 2001)
Representatives of the State Constitution Drafting Committees from ethnic
nationalities' states in Burma namely Arakan, Chin, Kachin, Karen, Karenni Shan,
Mon State and the Drafting Committee of Federal Constitution gathered in Germany
for two weeks to study the Federal and State Constitutions of the Federal
Republic of Germany. The studying tour was sponsored by Friedrich Ebert Stiftung
(FES) and Nai Sunthorn Sripanngern, General Secretary of the Mon Unity League,
participated with other national leaders on behalf of the Mon State Constitution
Drafting Committee.
Dr. Holger Borner of the President of FES, Burma Project Berlin and Burma
Bureau presented welcoming remarks at the opening in Berlin on December 7,
2001. The participants joined the "Federalism: A Germany-Burmese Dialogue"
Conference for two days in Berlin, and toured around Germany and Belgium. Other
key leaders of the Burmese government in exile including Prime Minister, Dr.
Sein Win, gave presentations on current human rights, political situation and
the role of the UN and EU dealing with the ruling State Peace and Development
Council of Burma respectively.
During the conference, Prof. Werner pfennig, Prof. Christian Wagner, and
Dr.Roland Feicht shared their experiences in founding the Federal Republic of
Germany. Comments on the Burma draft federal constitution proposed by the
Burma Lawyer Council were made during the seminar. The scholars pointed
out the advantage and drawbacks of minority federalism, the BLC draft
constitution as mostly agreeable and positive but need to discuss on the
problematical aspects on some articles which needed to describe more
details. Some items needed to be covered in regulating the rights of
minorities in individual member states, provision for national election
commission, procedure describing how tax revenues are distributed between the
Federal and State governments are discussed. Burmese delegation is
suggested to take some advantages from the neighbouring country such as India,
the most successful one in terms of political and Federal background.
All representatives from ethnic nationalities of Burma briefed their
country reports and process of drafting state constitutions.
On Saturday 8 December, the delegation participated in the Honorary
Celebration for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the winner of the Nobel Peace Laureate
co-organized by Asienhaus Essen and Burmese communities in Germany. The
delegation traveled to Lower Saxony, Rhineland Palatinate, Landtag, Landrat and
visited the Institute for Research on Federal Constitution at Hannover
University as a study tour. The group met with well known Professor Dr.
Hans Peter Schneider and Dr. Jutta Kramer who explained about the institute and
how the German Federalism proceeded in comparison with US, Russia and
Swiss Federal Constitutions. The team visited the head office of Friedrich Ebert Foundation in Bonn and the Parliament of Rhineland Palatinate State in Mainz. The delegation was able to meet with members of Burma Bureau in Kolon and discussed on the issue of the national reconciliation for peaceful federal union Burma. On Friday 14 December, the delegates went to Brussels and toured around EU Parliament and Belgium Parliament. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Kao Wao News Group
PROTEST AT RANGOON
UNIVERSITY
(Rangoon, December 14, 2001)
According to Mon community sources in Rangoon, on December 7, 2001, five
medical students in Rangoon held a demonstration insisting on residence in the
boarding house. The students demanded they be allowed to stay inside the campus
of the Yangon Medical University No. (1) as it is a more suitable place.
They set a week deadline giving the authorities time to respond and to
make a decision. If the authorities fail to arrange accommodation for them, they
will continue to demonstrate, said a Mon student in Rangoon. There have been no
arrests as of yet since the protest began.
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