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BURMA RELATED NEWS - January
10, 2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Reuters - Myanmar Frees Five More Opposition
Members
ABC online - Burmese Govt says frees five
opposition members
AFP - Koizumi assures UN envoy of Tokyo's
support for Myanmar
AFP - UN envoy to urge Japan to aid Myanmar
development
AFP - Japan, Malaysia seek common Asian
voice
AP - World's Top Heroin Maker Myanmar Opens
Anti-Drugs Museum
Dow Jones - Thailand/Oil,Gas Demand Up 3.7% -4:
Consumption Table
AP - Thailand Wants Student Drug
Tests
AP - Myanmar Junta Frees Opposition
BBC - Burma FM calls for opposition
patience
Bkk Post - Complicated
refugee issue finally raised
The Nation - Burma rules out force against Wa
The Nation - Differences linger over refugees
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 9 7:29 AM ET
Myanmar Frees Five More Opposition Members YANGON, Myanmar (Reuters) -
Myanmar's military government said Wednesday it freed five more opposition
members, including a first cousin of National League for Democracy (NLD) Party
leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The releases, the first of 2002, come amid ongoing secretive reconciliation
talks between the opposition and the military. The talks began in October
2000.
``They are all in good health and back together with their respective
families,'' the spokesman said in a statement sent to Reuters.
He said the prisoners were all men and included Suu Kyi's cousin, Cho Aung
Than.
Last year, the government freed around 200 NLD members.
The NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a landslide but was never
allowed to govern. Nobel Peace Prize winner Suu Kyi has been held under de facto
house arrest for more than a year.
NLD Secretary U Lwin has said the slow release of prisoners is hampering
the reconciliation talks.
Amnesty International says there are more than 1,500 political prisoners in
Myanmar's jails. But the government disputes this, saying most of the prisoners
cited are in jail for criminal offences rather than political acts.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Thursday, January 10, 2002 . Posted: 06:33:36
(AEDT)
Burmese Govt says frees five opposition
members
Burma's military government says it has freed five more opposition members,
including a first cousin of democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The releases, the first of 2002, come amid ongoing secretive reconciliation
talks between the opposition and the military.
Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy Party won Burma's last election
in 1990 in a landslide but was never allowed to govern.
Ms Suu Kyi has been held under de facto house arrest for more than a
year.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 10, 9:37 PM
Koizumi assures UN envoy of Tokyo's support for Myanmar KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (AFP) -
Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi on Thursday assured UN envoy Razali Ismail that
Japan's support for troubled Myanmar remained unchanged, an official said.
"Japan considers it important to promote democratisation efforts," Koizumi
told the UN envoy for Myanmar during a visit to Kuala Lumpur, according to a
Japanese foreign ministry official.
"At the same time, it is important to provide the support necessary for
stable procedures in Myanmar's nation-building," Koizumi said. "We want to
proceed with the two ideas together."
Razali, a Malaysian acting as the UN mediator between Myanmar's military
junta and the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) headed by Aung San
Suu Kyi, welcomed Koizumi's remarks.
"We praise Japan's humanitarian assistance and hope Japan will continue
(its support) in the future," Razali told Koizumi, according to the Japanese
official.
"I hope other countries will provide further support once the political
process moves forward," the UN envoy said.
Japan had suspended all but a small amount of humanitarian aid following
the junta's 1988 seizure of power, but the flow of funds resumed in 1994.
Its aid-for-reform strategy has been criticised in the West, notably by the
United States which says that despite signs of a political thaw, it remains
inappropriate to deal with Myanmar's military rulers.
Japan is Myanmar's biggest donor, providing 1.9 billion yen (14.3 million
dollars) in grant aid as well as 1.6 billion yen in technical assistance to the
country in the year to March 2001.
Razali, during his sixth visit to the military-ruled state, last month
spent an unprecedented two-and-a-half hours at Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside
residence in Yangon.
The talks were believed to have focused on expediting the release of
political prisoners and the eventual inclusion of ethnic minorities in
tripartite talks after issues between the NLD and the junta are resolved.
Historic talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling State Peace and
Development Council began in October 2000 but progress seems to have stalled in
recent months, diplomats say.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 10, 2:10 PM
UN envoy to urge Japan to aid Myanmar development KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (AFP) - UN
envoy Razali Ismail is expected to urge Japan to play a larger role in
developing Myanmar's education, health and energy sector, a Malaysian official
said Thursday.
"Razali will seek Japan's participation to develop critical areas like
healthcare, education and energy," the official told AFP on condition of
anonymity.
Razali is expected to brief Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who
arrives later in the day on the situation in Myanmar.
"Razali will try to impress Koizumi to give more aid to Myanmar."
The official said Japan in the past had provided assistance for the
construction of a hydro-electric dam in Myanmar.
The official said Japan was supportive of ASEAN's constructive engagement
policy, adding that Koizumi would be seeking first-hand information on Razali's
on-going national reconciliation efforts in Myanmar.
Razali would brief Koizumi and voice his confidence that Myanmar was
heading towards democracy but "it needs time and at the same time other nations
must address its (Myanmar's) economic concerns."
Malaysia, a close ally of Myanmar within the 10-nation Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) had in past pressed for a two-pronged approach
-- diplomatic and economic reconstruction to bring Myanmar into the
international arena.
Last month, Razali, who was on his sixth visit to the military-ruled state,
spent an unprecedented two-and-a-half hours at opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) leader Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside compound.
The talks are believed to have focussed on quickening the pace of political
prisoner releases and the eventual inclusion of ethnic minorities in tripartite
talks after issues between the NLD and the junta are resolved.
Historic talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling State Peace and
Development Council began in October 2000, but progress seems to have stalled in
the past few months, diplomats say.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 10, 8:49 PM
Japan, Malaysia seek common Asian voice KUALA LUMPUR, Jan 10 (AFP) -
Asia needs to find a voice on the world stage that is powerful enough to compete
with the North American and European blocs, the Japanese and Malaysian leaders
said Thursday.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi and Malaysian counterpart
Mahathir Mohamad agreed on the need to forge closer ties between the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and its three regional partners -- Japan,
China and South Korea.
Koizumi, in talks here as part of the second leg of a week-long tour of
ASEAN members, also detailed a plan to form a comprehensive economic alliance
between Japan and the 10-nation ASEAN.
"Europe is one bloc, while the United States has NAFTA (North American Free
Trade Agreement), but Southeast Asia does not have an organisation representing
us," Mahathir told Koizumi, according to a Japanese government official.
"Therefore, we need to strengthen ASEAN Plus Three as a necessary balance,"
the Malaysian leader said.
Koizumi agreed but also expressed his desire for a wider regional framework
encompassing Australia and New Zealand.
"After strengthening ASEAN Plus Three, we would like to expand it to
Australia and New Zealand. I hope it will not be a closed but open one," Koizumi
was quoted by the official as telling Mahathir.
The Japanese leader first unveiled his Japan-ASEAN economic initiative,
which may include free trade accords between Japan and the bloc, when he met
Philippine President Gloria Arroyo on Wednesday.
Koizumi told Mahathir that he would seek ASEAN's "agreement on the plan
when Japan and ASEAN hold a leaders' meeting" in the future.
Analysts have said Koizumi is using this trip to boost Japan's profile in
the region in a bid to counter China's growing clout with ASEAN members.
Japan was left out in the cold in November when China and ASEAN agreed to
create the world's most populous free trade bloc within 10 years, covering two
billion consumers.
Koizumi told the Malaysian leader that Japan would play a bigger regional
role by achieving recovery from the decade-long recession that has dogged Asia's
biggest economy.
"I believe the Japanese economy will pick up for sure by us pushing reforms
so that we can be a locomotive engine again for the regional economy," Koizumi
said.
"We also hope to play an active political role."
But away from the talks, Malaysian ethnic-Chinese groups dogged the visit
with a demand for Tokyo to repay money seized from their community by the
occupying Imperial Japanese Army during World War II.
The Malaysian Federation of Chinese Association (FCA) handed the demand in
a memorandum to Keiji Ide, a delegation member from the Japanese foreign
ministry, claiming up to 500 million ringgit (132 million dollars).
"We are just seeking repayment of what rightfully belongs to us," FCA chief
executive secretary Lai Kuan Fook said Wednesday.
Koizumi held an audience with Malaysia's new king Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin
and was briefed by UN envoy Razali Ismail on Myanmar's national reconciliation
process, before attending a dinner hosted by Mahathir.
He is to fly to Bangkok on Friday to meet Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra.
Koizumi will then move on to Jakarta for talks with Indonesian President
Megawati Sukarnoputri on Saturday and meet Singaporean Prime Minister Goh Chok
Tong on Sunday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 10, 10:19 AM
World's Top Heroin Maker Myanmar Opens Anti-Drugs Museum YANGON (AP)--In a moment frozen
for posterity, a life-size dummy of Myanmar's military intelligence chief,
wielding a metal stick, chops down plastic opium poppies against a painted
backdrop of mist-shrouded mountains.
On another floor, syringes, confiscated amphetamine pills and antique opium
pipes are displayed in glass cases. Grisly photos of dying junkies adorn the
walls to warn visitors of the dangers of drugs.
Not shy about claiming its place in history, Myanmar's military government
has opened a grandiose Drug Elimination Museum to advertise - in the hyperbole
typical of authoritarian regimes - that its counter-narcotics efforts are making
great progress in curbing the illicit trade.
The result is that the sprawling three-story museum, built on the site of a
former cemetery in central Yangon, is short on education and high on propaganda
- it even fails to note that the impoverished country is now the world's number
one heroin producer.
The museum cost 1.05 billion kyat ($1=MMK725) to build, including funds
from private donors - one of whom is leading Myanmar businessman Lo Hsing-han,
widely known as a former drugs kingpin.
It opened in June and gets about 2,500 visitors every month, most of them
from schools, said police Maj. Myo Thu Soe, a curator. Children pay a five kyat
entrance fee and adults 10 kyats.
At the palatial entrance, a brass plaque quotes junta leader Gen. Than Shwe
vowing to fight the drugs menace "threatening all the people of the world," even
if it gets no foreign help.
Little aid has been forthcoming, largely because of the current regime's
human rights record and refusal to hand power to the winner of the 1990 general
election, democracy advocate Aung San Suu Kyi.
The government's performance fighting drugs is better than in politics, but
the results still have been mixed.
Production of opium, the raw material of heroin, doubled after the regime
took power in 1988, as it reached cease-fires with a number of ethnic insurgents
involved in drug trafficking.
But according to the latest U.S. estimates, opium harvests have declined
steadily in the past five years to below their pre-1988 level, due to poor
weather and the government's eradication efforts.
Still, Myanmar, also known as Burma, was estimated to grow enough opium in
2001 to make more than 80 tons of heroin.
It became the top producer in 2001, overtaking Afghanistan, where the
former Taliban rulers successfully banned opium growing a year ago.
Also, Myanmar is increasingly a source of methamphetamines. This cheap and
popular stimulant is wreaking havoc in several Asian nations.
To mitigate the responsibility of the military - which has led the country
from prosperity to poverty in the past 40 years - the museum initially focuses
on the origins of the drug trade in centuries past.
Foreign traders are blamed for introducing opium in the 16th century, and
Britain is accused of using it to "destroy" Myanmar's social fabric during
colonial rule in the 19th and early 20th centuries.
One display shows 18th century Myanmar King Bodaw reading an edict against
sales of opium and other intoxicants while top-hatted white men in the
background strike drug deals.
Military campaigns against ethnic drug armies are documented with detailed
inventories of narcotics confiscated and government soldiers "who have
sacrificed their lives and limbs for mankind."
Oil paintings depict generals making peace deals with ethnic insurgents and
promoting development to end the dependence of hill tribes on opium as a crop.
One gruesome photo shows surgeons extracting bags of heroin from the
stomach of a human drug mule, and another presents a wasted addict described as
"on his death bed."
At the center of the museum is a life-size representation of a hillside the
size of two tennis courts. A mannequin of a farmer guides a plow pulled by a
stuffed buffalo. The farmer cultivates tea and buckwheat instead of the opium
poppy.
Min Kyaw Thya, 11, among a couple of dozen scurrying students who were the
only visitors one recent morning, was more interested in the displays of
stimulant pills.
"I haven't seen the tablets before," the youth said as he bounced a tennis
ball. "Now I'll know what they look like so I won't eat them."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 10, 5:55 PM
Thailand/Oil,Gas Demand Up 3.7% -4: Consumption Table SINGAPORE (Dow
Jones)--Thailand's oil and natural gas consumption averaged
932,500 barrels of oil equivalent a day during the period from January to
November 2001, an increase of 3.7% over the same period in 2000, PTT Plc
(H.PTX), formerly the Petroleum Authority of Thailand, said Thursday.
Imported oil and gas totals rose 9.4% on year to 800,200 boe/d, PTT said.
Crude imports were up 3.3% on year at 705,500 barrels a day.
Demand for natural gas grew 17.5% to 346,800 boe/d, while consumption of
refined products fell by 3.1% to 585,700 b/d, PTT said.
Increased use of natural gas by power producers and private industry has
reduced demand for fuel oil and diesel, or gasoil, eliminating the need to
import fuel oil.
Total refined products consumption declined on year, led by fuel oil
consumption, which was down 30.4% on year at 78,600 b/d.
Consumption of other refined products rose. Consumption of liquefied
petroleum gas was up 11.6% at 64,300 boe/d, and aviation fuel consumption rose
6.8% to 63,900 b/d, PTT said. Kerosene demand increased 17.8% to 1,000 b/d, and
overall diesel consumption rose 1.3% to 260,300 b/d, while gasoline consumption
rose 1.5% to 117,800 b/d.
Total refined products imports were down 66.2% from January-November 2000,
when imports included fuel oil. Thailand's refined products import bill was
3.720 billion baht (US$1=THB44.04), down from THB5.396 billion a year earlier.
Imports of gasoline quadrupled, to an average 2,300 b/d. Diesel imports
fell 50.8%, to an average 5,900 b/d in the first 11 months of the year.
Natural gas consumption by the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand
for power generation rose 11.4% to 226,500 boe/d.
Gas demand from independent and small power producers increased 36.8% on
year to 89,500 boe/d. Industry accounted for 30,700 boe/d of gas, a 15.8%
increase over the same period last year.
Thailand imported 86,500 boe/d of natural gas from Myanmar in the
January-November period, at a cost of THB28.481 billion, PTT said. Natural gas
imports from Myanmar cost THB6.412 billion in the first 11 months of 2000.
Imported crude from the Middle East rose 8.2% to 549,600 b/d, while imports
from Asia fell 7% to 123,700 b/d. The cost of crude imports was THB264.106
billion.
Domestic crude output rose 5.6% to 61,100 b/d in the first 11 months of
2001. Domestic natural gas production fell 1.4% to 321,300 boe/d, due to
increased use of Myanmar gas. Condensate was down 1.2% on year at 52,000
b/d.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thursday January 10 5:01 AM ET
Thailand Wants Student Drug Tests By BUSABA SIVASOMBOON, Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The
Thai government plans to make students nationwide undergo urine tests to check
for drug use as part of an ongoing campaign to enforce social order, officials
said.
Schools and colleges will seek parental consent for the tests, Education
Ministry spokesman Worawut Pummakarnchana told The Associated Press on Thursday.
He said students found to be abusing drugs would be treated and their
records kept confidential.
Thailand's top social problem is the trafficking and consumption of
methamphetamine, a cheap and plentiful illegal stimulant. Authorities say the
drug is mostly smuggled from neighboring Myanmar.
The drug-testing plan was announced Wednesday by Interior Minister Purachai
Piemsomboon, who has taken a series of steps to enforce ``social order'' and
morality since taking office almost a year ago - including cracking down on
night life.
Purachai said the details of the drug testing, to cover students through
the university level, would be decided later this month.
Last year Purachai won widespread public support for enforcing laws to
close bars and other entertainment venues early and to keep out minors.
Purachai has expressed particular concern for youth after frequent media
reports that nightspots have drawn young people into a depraved lifestyle of
illegal drugs and promiscuous sex.
The Nation newspaper quoted Purachai as saying that data based on the
number of drug seizures made by the authorities indicated that 700 million
methamphetamine tablets are smuggled into Thailand each year. The Southeast
Asian nation has a population of about 62 million.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wednesday January 9 9:52 AM ET
Myanmar Junta Frees Opposition By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military junta said Wednesday it freed
five opposition members, including a cousin of opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, in an apparent conciliatory gesture as the two sides continued talks to end
12 years of political deadlock.
The releases bring to 207 the number of political prisoners freed since
reconciliation talks began in October 2000 between the junta and Suu Kyi's
National League for Democracy.
Neither side has divulged details of their talks, but the NLD is reportedly
frustrated by a lack of progress. It recently demanded that the junta start a
``meaningful political dialogue.''
The NLD won general elections in 1990 but has never been allowed to take
power.
Suu Kyi, who won the 1991 Nobel Peace prize for her nonviolent struggle to
bring democracy to her country, has been under house arrest since September
2000, when she attempted to travel outside the capital of Yangon in defiance of
official restrictions.
Foreign Minister Win Aung denied that the talks between the two sides were
stuck.
``We cannot expect everything to be resolved very quickly,'' Win Aung told
reporters from a meeting in Thailand. ``I don't think we are running (away). But
creating a quality atmosphere is very important.''
He said the cases of all political prisoners were being reviewed regularly.
Asked when Suu Kyi would be released, he said: ``The time will come one day.''
The five released Wednesday from various prisons are ``in good health and
back together with their respective families,'' a government statement said.
Among those freed was Suu Kyi's cousin and former liaison officer, Cho Aung
Than. He was arrested in 1997 and accused of helping send money from a U.S.
labor rights group to Suu Kyi. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison under an
emergency law and another law banning unlawful association.
The current group of ruling generals came to power in 1988 after crushing a
pro-democracy uprising. The military has been in power in Myanmar since
1962.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- BBC - Wednesday, 9 January, 2002,
18:52 GMT
Burma FM calls for opposition patience Burma's Foreign Minister has said the called for patience in the
reconciliation process, as the military government freed five opposition
members, including a cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi.
The minister, Win Aung, told the BBC the prisoner releases were proof that
the process was continuing.
He said the military government would like to free all political prisoners,
and the time would come for Aung San Suu Kyi to be released from house arrest.
Win Aung also called for understanding, saying that the military government
did not want to be pushed from behind.
The release of Cho Aung Than, the cousin and liaison officer of Aung San
Suu Kyi, is seen as a significant conciliatory gesture by the military
authorities.
He was arrested in June 1997 and given a seven-year sentence under an
emergency law, and a three-year sentence under a law banning unlawful
association.
Secret talks
The government says 207 political prisoners have been released since Aung
San Suu Kyi began secret reconciliation talks with the military government in
October 2000.
The NLD says more than 800 of its members remain in custody although the
government disputes the figure.
Neither side has made public the content of the talks. But on Independence
Day last week, the NLD demanded the start of a meaningful political dialogue,
signalling increasing frustration with the slow pace of progress.
Win Aung said on Wednesday the opposition had their view but said the
government was neither backtracking nor sidetracking.
But he said it was difficult to demonstrate results.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been held under house arrest since September 2000
after confronting the authorities over restrictions on her movements.
The NLD won a general election in 1990 that the military refused to
recognise.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Jan 10,
2002.
Complicated refugee issue finally raised
Further discussions on the displaced would also be
needed
Achara Ashayagachat
Thailand yesterday gave Burma a concept paper on the more than 100,000
displaced Burmese ethnic minority people living in Thai border camps in what was
seen as a bid towards their repatriation.
Foreign Affairs Minister Surakiart Sathirathai gave the document to his
Burmese counterpart Win Aung at the end of the sixth meeting of the Joint
Commission for Bilateral Co-operation.
It was the first time the sensitive issue of what to do with the 108,000
displaced people, mostly ethnic Karens opposed to Burma's military regime, was
discussed at the forum.
Mr Win Aung said further talks were needed, saying the issue was
complicated.
Mr Surakiart said the issue was sensitive because ``other factors'' were
involved. Further talks would take place in light of the increasing political
co-operation between the two countries.
The Burmese foreign minister emphasised the displaced people were not the
same as illegal migrants, whom he described as ``our people''.
He said Burma would accept the displaced people as ``our people'' if they
stopped fighting the Rangoon government.
``We have to clarify if those who take refuge along the border are still
determined to fight again,'' he said.
The two sides also agreed that an inter-agency task force would meet in
early March to discuss the repatriation of more than 100,000 of the more than
half a million illegal Burmese workers in Thailand.
Tej Bunnag, Thailand's permanent secretary for Foreign Affairs, and Khin
Maung Win, Burma's deputy foreign minister, would head the talks.
``It is the first time that Burma is designating a certain part of Myawaddy
as a holding centre to receive returning illegal workers,'' Mr Surakiart
said.
``The centre will be jointly managed by the two governments to show the
world the transparent process in the repatriation of these people.''
He said the two countries would later sign a memorandum of understanding on
regulating Burmese workers coming to Thailand.
Talks were also held on the issue of illegal drugs with both sides agreeing
that the royal-sponsored Mae Fahluang Foundation would play an important role in
sharing its experience in rehabilitating drug addicts and in crop
substitution.
Mr Surakiart said a drug-free village would be set up as a pilot project
with a 20-million-baht government budget.
Mr Surakiart will visit Rangoon within the next four weeks for further
talks.
He would also extend Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's formal invitation
for the vice-chairman of Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council, Gen
Maung Aye, to visit Thailand.
Mr Surakiart would also discuss preparations for the historic visit to
Burma later this year of Her Royal Highness Princess Sirindhorn on behalf of His
Majesty the King.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
FIGHTING DRUGS: Burma rules out
force against Wa
Don Pathan
Published on Jan 10, 2002
Foreign minister says illicit trade in autonomous region will end by
2005
PHUKET - Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung yesterday ruled out the use of
military force to crack down on the Wa drug army operating along the country's
border, saying a number of other options existed, such as economic measures and
infrastructure development.
Speaking to The Nation on the sidelines of the sixth Thai-Burma Joint
Commission, Win Aung said the Wa leadership was committed to its stated aim of
eradicating all forms of narcotics activity in its autonomous area by the year
2005.
"The Wa leadership is becoming more and more aware of its responsibility to
stop [drug trafficking]. They have assured us - and we believe them - that they
will stop,'' Win Aung said. "We are here to show them the road to take, so they
can have a better understanding of their own position."
Win Aung agreed that it was the Chinese drug lords and businessmen
financing the production and trafficking of narcotics, rather than the Wa
themselves, who were the problem.
While the bulk of the foot-soldiers in the 20,000-strong outfit are ethnic
Wa, a number of the top members of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) are ethnic
Chinese, including fugitive Wei Xhieu-kang, whom Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra has vowed to take dead or alive.
Thailand has proposed a Bt20-million project to the help the Burmese
government establish a "model village" in the UWSA-controlled area. It is based
on a Royal project in Chiang Rai's Mae Fah Luang district, where opium
cultivation, which flourished over two decades ago, has been eradicated.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said that while the amount of money
may be small, it was a "gesture of goodwill" towards the Burmese government and
a "tremendous step forward" in the two countries' joint anti-narcotics
efforts.
The move marks a turning point in Thailand's approach to dealing with the
UWSA, which the Army and government accuse of smuggling millions of
methamphetamine pills into Thailand.
The previous government imposed economic sanctions on the UWSA, closing
border checkpoints leading to areas it controlled and ordering some 1,000 Thai
construction workers there to return to Thailand.
Thaung Tun, director-general of the Burmese Foreign Ministry's Political
Affairs Department, said economic sanctions and isolating the Wa would not
improve the situation. But he stopped short of calling on the Thai government to
re-open the checkpoints, which long served as vital economic links to the
Wa-controlled areas.
Regarding talks between opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling
junta, Win Aung dismissed reports that the dialogue had come to a
standstill.
"This process has not been side-tracked . . . We can not expect everything
to be resolved quickly," he said.
The opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) has accused Burmese
leaders of not moving fast enough and called for a "meaningful political
dialogue".
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Differences linger over refugees
Don Pathan
Published on Jan 10, 2002
PHUKET - The sixth meeting of the Thai-Burmese Joint Commission came to a
close yesterday with the two sides making progress on such issues as fisheries,
tourism, illegal workers and anti-narcotics cooperation.
But they failed to resolve differences on the sticky issue of repatriating
more than 100,000 displaced Burmese in the border camps.
Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung said Rangoon had agreed in principle to
take back all Burmese working illegally in Thailand. But he stopped short of
committing to the joint repatriation of the 100,000-plus refugees, mostly ethnic
Karen, displaced by decades of fighting between Burma's military government and
rebel armies.
"They are our people, but they are fighting against the government,'' said
Win Aung, in reference to the border refugees.
While Thailand wants the so-called "displaced people" to be repatriated
with a third party monitoring the process to ensure they are not sent to danger
zones, Burmese officials said the two countries must first define who could be
considered "displaced".
A white paper on how to handle the sensitive issue was given to the Burmese
government yesterday and the matter is expected to be further discussed when
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai visits Rangoon at the invitation of
Burma's intelligence chief, Lt-General Khin Nyunt, in the coming months.The two
ministers described the overall mood of the JC meeting as ''warm and friendly''
and attributed the positive development to the June visit to Rangoon by Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and the return visit to Bangkok by Khin Nyunt in
September.
Bilateral ties between the two countries had experienced one of its lowest
points following cross-border shelling that resulted in the death of scores of
people and kick-off a diplomatic tailspin followed by war of words between the
two militaries.
On economic cooperation, Surakiart said Thailand would work with the
Burmese to jointly promote tourism. Win Aung said Burma has lots to offer in
this area and added that he was impressed what he has witnessed here with regard
to what Thailand has done to Phuket.
The two ministers, who had a one-on-one meeting yesterday for two hours, as
well as another two hours on Tuesday, said the issue of road construction
linking Thailand to India through Burma was also discussed and is expected to be
brought up at the upcoming visit by Indian foreign Minister Jaswant Singh to
Mandalay in April.
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