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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 23,
2002.
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HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Twelve Myanmar soliders, eight villagers
killed in border fighting
Reuters - Myanmar vows to help track down
druglords - paper
Reuters - Thai army says 30 dead in rebel raid
on Myanmar camp
Reuters - Thailand kills 13 drug traffickers in
ambush
BBC - Burma's hollow gains
ASIL - U.S. Supreme Court Knocks Down State
Burma Law
Bkk Post - Timber firms look to
Burma
Bkk Post - Official vows to help track down
bandits
Bkk Post - 57 state officials face narcotics
charges
The Nation - 3
soldiers sought for double rape
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Saturday March 23, 12:43 PM Twelve Myanmar soliders, eight villagers killed in border fighting MAE SOT, Thailand, March 23 (AFP) - Twelve Myanmar soldiers and eight Karen
villagers were killed in a predawn attack by the rebel Karen National Union
(KNU) on the rival Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), the Thai military said
Saturday.
Colonel Wannavisit Wongthai, chief of staff of the border task force here,
said some 120 KNU fighters attacked a DKBA stronghold in Valey village, across
the Moei river from Phop Pra district in Thailand's Tak province.
Wannavisit, speaking in this border town 426 kilometres (264 miles)
northwest of Bangkok, said the KNU sustained minor losses, with one solider
killed and another fighter wounded.
The fighting spilled over into Thai soil, and one Thai villager was
seriously injured after being hit by a stray shell. Three houses and one school
were also partially destroyed by stray DKBA shells, he said.
The DKBA, which broke away in 1994 from the mostly Christian KNU, is allied
with Myanmar's military junta.
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Saturday March 23, 12:34 PM
Myanmar vows to help track down druglords - paper BANGKOK, March 23 (Reuters) -
Myanmar has pledged to help Thailand apprehend most-wanted fugitive druglords
Wei Xuekang and Surachai Ngernthongfu, the Bangkok Post newspaper reported on
Saturday.
"If the Thai government calls on us to hunt down Wei Xuekang and
Mr.Surachai, we will ask our superiors to authorise their arrests," Tin Maung
Htay, who oversees drug suppression at the Central Committee for Drug Abuse
Control, was quoted as saying.
Thai cabinet minister Thammarak Issarangura, who supervises drug
suppression and national security, told Reuters he had yet to discuss the issue
with Yangon. "We have to look at the details first," he said.
Without elaborating, Thammarak said Thailand and Myanmar generally
cooperate in fighting the illicit drug trade.
U.S. President George W. Bush in mid-February denounced Myanmar -- together
with Haiti and Afghanistan -- for their failure to cooperate against the drugs
trade last year.
The United States is offering a $2 million reward for the capture of Wei,
49, who Washington has indicted on drug trafficking charges. He has been living
in Myanmar since jumping bail following his November 1988 arrest in the northern
Thai province of Chiang Mai.
Wei is widely known as commander of the United Wa State Army's (UWSA)
southern military command based in Myanmar near the Thai border. Bangkok blames
the UWSA for producing much of the illicit drugs flooding the country,
particularly methamphetamines.
Wei is Chinese by birth but he was granted Thai citizenship in 1985. This
was revoked last year.
The other fugitive, Surachai Ngernthongfu who is Thai, has been sought by
Thailand since 1998 when he evaded arrest. He is also believed to have fled to
Myanmar.
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Saturday March 23, 4:49 PM
Thai army says 30 dead in rebel raid on Myanmar camp By Somchit Rungchamrasmi Tak, Thailand (Reuters) -
Separatist ethnic Karen fighters launched one of their biggest attacks on the
Myanmar army since the mid-1990s on Saturday, leaving about 30 dead, the Thai
army said.
A Thai military source told Reuters about 100 fighters from the Karen
National Union (KNU) raided the large military camp, opposite Thailand's Phop
Phra district of Tak province, 420 km (260 miles) northwest of Bangkok.
A Karen villager who fled over the border to Thailand told Reuters that
four civilians living in the camp were killed and several wounded.
The KNU is one of several ethnic armies fighting for independence from the
Yangon military government.
The Thai army source said around 30 people were killed in the attack, but
did not say how many were Myanmar troops or soldiers of the Democratic Karen
Buddhist Army (DKBA), which split from the KNU in the mid-1990s to become allies
of the Myanmar army.
The fighting, which began shortly before dawn and lasted over three hours,
spilled into Thai territory when mortar shells fired at fleeing KNU soldiers
landed over the border, damaging several houses and wounding a Thai man.
The Thai army said it had detained more than 30 KNU soldiers who had
crossed into Thailand after the raid and would disarm them before sending them
back into Myanmar.
Thai soldiers were also preparing to move about 1,000 villagers on the
Thai-Myanmar border in Tak province further into Thailand.
The KNU, accused by Yangon of being heavily involved in the production of
opium and metamphetamines, has carried out sporadic hit-and-run raids on Myanmar
army units since its main mountain-top base was overrun by troops in late 1994.
Over a week ago, the KNU attacked a Myanmar army outpost near the Thai
border, killing six soldiers. Thai army sources said some 80 KNU fighters
launched the night attack on Myanmar troops near the border town of
Myawaddy.
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Saturday March 23, 3:47 PM
Thailand kills 13 drug traffickers in ambush BANGKOK (Reuters) - The Thai army said on Saturday it had killed 13 drug traffickers and seized a large haul of metamphetamine pills during a shootout in northern Thailand. An army source told reporters Thai soldiers ambushed around 30 hilltribe
people late on Friday night in a small town near the Myanmar border in Chiang
Mai province, 700 km north of Bangkok.
He said the army had received a tip-off that 20 million metamphetamine
pills were due in Chiang Mai province this weekend. The army seized 1.6 million
of the pills in the raid.
One Thai soldier was also killed during the attack. Several people in the
ambushed group fled towards the Myanmar border pursued by Thai soldiers, the
army source said.
In recent years, production of metamphetamines has surged in the Golden
Triangle area where the Myanmar, Laos and Thai borders meet. The Thai army
estimates that more 700 million pills pass into Thailand through its porous
border with Myanmar each year.
Myanmar is also the world's biggest producer of opium, the raw material for
heroin.
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Friday, 22 March, 2002, 14:00 GMT
Burma's hollow gains By Larry Jagan in Rangoon
BBC regional analyst Burma has changed dramatically in the eight years since its military rulers
last allowed me to visit - at least on the surface.
There has been an immense building boom in most major cities, particularly
in the capital Rangoon. Massive hotels have shot up all over the city; new
apartment blocks and houses are springing up in major towns.
There are far more cars, taxis and trucks on the roads than ever before.
And despite the fact that many of the capital's roads are wide, the English
term traffic jam has entered the local language since there is no Burmese
equivalent.
Advertising billboards are everywhere. There is an abundance of food-stuffs
and consumer goods in the shops, markets and street stalls. And Chinese goods
are flooding in, especially toys and electrical goods.
You can find the old Hollywood classics, Japanese films and all the latest
block-busters - available on digital DVDs, all produced in China.
Harsh reality
But these outward trappings of affluence mask the reality for ordinary
Burmese still struggling to survive.
Begging is rare, but the signs of growing poverty are evident, especially
in outlying suburbs or townships in Rangoon.
Every Burmese you speak to in the street has a similar story to tell.
They are unemployed or work only part-time and cannot afford to send their
children to school because, although it is nominally free, they have to pay for
textbooks and give the teachers gifts.
And if anyone falls sick they dare not go to a doctor because they cannot
afford the medicines they will be prescribed.
Along the roads, there are clusters of policemen: not controlling the
traffic, but stopping motorists to collect what is called "tea money" or bribes
- otherwise they write out a ticket for some imaginary offence.
"It's more than doubled in the last 12 months" several taxi drivers told
me.
Even at the airport, when changing currency, the tellers unashamedly offer
to help the incoming tourist beat the legal exchange requirements in return for
some 'help' in return - it cost me $10.
Gambling has exploded throughout the country over the past six months.
Millions of kyat a month are being spent on the official lottery, according
to analysts in Rangoon.
But even more is being spent in Rangoon's illegal gambling dens. The latest
craze is to bet on the last three numbers of the Thai lottery draw.
"This shows the depths of desperation people have fallen to," a Burmese
economist working for a foreign company told me.
Gambling's popularity can be clearly charted against the economic collapse.
"When the kyat plummets against the dollar." he said, "the more people turn
to gambling to try and make their fortune."
New rich
Some people in Rangoon are doing well.
Many are driving brand new, imported cars. Discos, bars and karaoke clubs
have mushroomed, frequented by children of the elite.
These are rowdy places, with brawls often breaking out between inebriated
youths in the early hours.
Nevertheless, Rangoon residents say the city is still probably one of the
safest cities in the world.
A well known Burmese businessman, Michael Pun, says he has moved his whole
family to Burma because he wants his children to grow up in safety rather than
leave them in Hong Kong or the US.
But petty crime and prostitution is on the rise.
Hooliganism and vandalism is also increasing.
A recent concert by one of the new, local rock bands, the Iron Cross, ended
in chaos when people at the back threw chairs at those standing in front
blocking their view.
Authorities thought of banning their performances, but instead made sure
there was no loose furniture in concert venues.
The impact of so-called 'MTV culture' is evident in other ways.
Young people now sport jeans and women are in skimpy Western tops. No
longer are traditional longhis to be seen everywhere.
Western pop music blares from car radios and stereos on street corners. And
local musicians and singers have been quick to produce Burmese versions of many
of the most popular Western songs.
The young are no longer interested in politics.
Everyone hates the military government - that is taken as read by anyone
you speak to, from taxi drivers and bell boys to stall holders and school
children in the streets.
But the constant refrain is: "We're not interested in politics, it's too
dangerous."
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The American Society of International Law
Insights
Sat Mar 23 19:38:00 UTC+0900 2002 U.S. Supreme Court Knocks Down State Burma Law By Peter J. Spiro June 2000 In a long-awaited decision confronting the intersection of federalism and
foreign relations, the Supreme Court has struck down a Massachusetts law
restricting state purchases from companies doing business in Burma. The Court's
June 19 ruling in Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council was on narrow,
non-constitutional grounds. Although the decision puts similar state and local
anti-Burma measures at least temporarily on ice, it is unlikely to emerge as the
final word on foreign policymaking by state and local actors.
Crosby considered a 1996 Massachusetts law that in most instances barred
state entities from purchasing goods or services from companies (foreign and
domestic) broadly defined as doing business in Burma. The law provoked protests
from Japan and the European Union, who subsequently challenged the measure in
the World Trade Organization as inconsistent with U.S. obligations under the WTO
Agreement on Government Procurement. Congress soon after adopted federal
sanctions against Burma.(1) Among other elements the 1996 federal measure
authorized the President to ban all new investment by U.S. companies in Burma
(an authority later invoked),(2) and directed him to develop a comprehensive,
multilateral strategy to restore democracy in Burma.
An industry association of companies engaged in foreign trade challenged
the Massachusetts law as unconstitutional and preempted by the federal statute.
Lower federal courts considering the case ruled against the measure on broad
constitutional grounds.(3) In addition to accepting the preemption challenge,
the First Circuit also found the Massachusetts law to violate both the dormant
Foreign Commerce Clause and the more general dormant foreign affairs power, in
line with the Supreme Court's 1968 decision in Zschernig v. Miller.(4)Zschernig
had deemed unconstitutional state probate statutes restricting inheritance
rights of persons residing in Communist countries insofar as the laws posed more
than an "incidental or indirect" effect on foreign relations, even in the
absence of any federal law or policy on the issue.
In his opinion for a unanimous court, Justice Souter found the state
measure preempted by the federal sanctions regime, but abstained from addressing
constitutional arguments against the law.(5) Setting the standard for preemption
as any state law "stand[ing] as an obstacle to the accomplishment and execution
of the full purposes and objectives of Congress,"(6) the Court held the state
law to undermine three elements of the federal Burma sanctions regime. First,
the Court found the state law to undermine discretion expressly afforded the
President by Congress in the devising of a Burma policy. Second, Souter detailed
substantive differences between the state and federal approaches: the federal
provided for a ban only on new investment while the state penalized pre-existing
operations in Burma; the federal targeted only U.S. companies, while the state
law extended to foreign concerns as well.
Finally, the opinion found the state law to undermine Congress's
instruction that the President undertake multilateral efforts to bring democracy
to Burma. On this score, Justice Souter highlighted evidence that state measures
such as the Massachusetts law had in fact proved a distraction to international
efforts on the Burma front.(7)
The Crosby decision represents the Supreme Court's first consideration of
state and local sanctions mechanisms developed during the anti-apartheid
campaign of the 1980's. The Court's ruling represents a significant setback for
human rights activism on that model, at least to the extent that other federal
sanctions regimes include provisions similar to those highlighted in the federal
Burma measure. But because the decision hinges on congressional intent, Crosby
does not dictate the limits of state and local action in other foreign policy
contexts. The Court carefully refused to speculate on how it would have ruled on
the South Africa laws.(8) Even with respect to the nonfederal Burma measures,
Congress could in effect overrule the result in Crosby by expressly approving
state and local measures such as the Massachusetts law (including those adopted
by New York, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Vermont). Supporters of the
Massachusetts law have vowed to seek such legislation in Crosby's wake.
The broader question of constitutional constraints on state and local
foreign policymaking comes away from Crosby largely untouched. Justice Souter's
preemption analysis does provide some ammunition for those seeking to entrench a
dormant foreign affairs power. Most notably, the opinion invokes a primary
rationale for unified federal policymaking that has also supported
constitutional limitations on non-federal activity: "[i]t is not merely that the
differences between the state and federal Acts in scope and type of sanctions
threaten to complicate discussions," Souter observed, "they compromise the very
capacity of the President to speak for the Nation with one voice in dealing with
other governments."(9) In the face of the Court's failure directly to confront
the constitutional issues, however, the debate over how federalism principles
should apply in the realm of foreign relations is unlikely to subside.
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Bangkok Post - Saturday 23 March 2002
Timber firms look to
Burma
New forestry chief hints at easing of ban on log
imports
Cheewin Sattha
Two timber companies could be gearing up for a trip to Burma to renew
logging concessions after the new forestry chief hinted that he might ease
restrictions on log imports.
A logging industry source said at least two loggers out of four who sought
permission to import logs since 1996 were preparing for talks with Myanmar
Timber Enterprise, which oversees logging concessions in Burma.
Dhammarong Prakorbboon, the newly-appointed Forestry Department chief,
hinted that he might relax control on log imports after assuming the post on
April 1.
Polpana had sought to import 2,393 cubic metres of timber, B and F Goodrich
6,847 cubic metres, FA Pharmaceutical 22,903 cubic metres, and Thai-Korean
Veterans' Welfare 19,822 cubic metres.
But the timber was left near the border passes while the firms sought
import permission.
Mr Dhammaong's predecessor, Plodprasop Suraswadi, set many conditions for
them to meet before issuing import permits.
Among others, log piling sites in Burma were inspected to make sure the
logs were not laundered.
Restrictions were introduced after the Salween logging scandal following
the discovery that trees were felled in Thailand, smuggled into Burma and
imported back into the kingdom.
The companies said they paid more than 20 million baht over the years in
concession renewal fees and other expenses.
They said the imported logs were seized from ethnic minority groups along
the Thai-Burmese border by Burmese authorities.
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Bangkok Post - Saturday 23 March 2002
Official vows to help track down
bandits
Two drug lords hiding across border
Supamart Kasem
A senior Burmese anti-narcotics official pledged his full support to the
government's attempts to track down fugitive drug barons Wei Hsueh-kang and
Surachai ``Bangron'' Ngernthongfu.
An army report suggested the two were hiding out in Ban Hong, about 30
kilometres from the Burmese town of Yawn.
``If the Thai government calls on us to hunt down Wei Hsueh-kang and Mr
Surachai, we will ask our superiors to authorise their arrests,'' said Tin Maung
Htay, who oversees drug suppression at the Central Committee for Drug Abuse
Control.
He was speaking after leading a 20-member delegation to meet Thai officials
in Mae Sot district, where they discussed co-operation in suppressing
drug-related activities along the border.
The talks, which were also attended by UN representative Samarn Polnok,
followed a two-day meeting in Myawaddy, opposite Tak province, where
co-operation under the UN International Drug Control Programme was
discussed.
Representatives from both sides agreed to the establishment of border
liaison offices in Mae Sot and Myawaddy to consolidate bilateral co-operation.
The Thai office would be headed by Mae Sot district chief Samart Loyfah.
Pol Lt-Col Tin Maung Htay expressed confidence the liaison offices would
help suppress drug activities, citing the success of a similar joint move by
Rangoon and Beijing two years ago.
The anti-drug official denied Rangoon supported illegal drug production in
Burma, but admitted it would be difficult to eradicate as most plants were under
the control of influential figures and hidden at unknown locations.
He said Rangoon was committed to wiping out drug production along the
border by 2005.
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Bangkok Post - Saturday 23 March 2002
57 state officials face narcotics charges Sub-panel examines assets of 196 suspects Wassana Nanuam Police have charged more than 50 of 600 government officials included in a
blacklist of suspected drug dealers in the South, according to Surapol
Pattarapakorn of the Southern Narcotics Control Centre.
Of 621 government employees suspected of involvement in the drugs trade
since 1999, police had investigated 188, of whom 57 had been charged, he
said.
Those under suspicion included 389 police officers, 133 local
administration officials and 24 soldiers. The remainder were state enterprise
employees and teachers.
Mr Surapol said charges had been filed against only 130 of a total of 4,055
blacklisted suspected drug dealers based in the South.
A subcommittee formed by the Southern Narcotics Control Centre had examined
the assets of 196 of the suspects, of whom only 86 had been charged.
Mr Surapol said the US Drug Enforcement Agency had requested information
about suspected drug traffickers in the South amid concerns over the spread of
Swedish-made ``Butterfly'' ecstasy tablets from Malaysia.
The network of drug warlord Wei Hseuh-kang had extended to the South, he
confirmed, adding speed pills seized in the region had been produced by the Wa
in the North.
There are 578,000 registered drug addicts across the 14 southern provinces,
which have a combined population of only 4.4 million.
Some 90 villages in Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat, Songkhla and Satun provinces
have been identified as the hardest-hit areas.
More than 1,200 complaints filed with the anti-drug agency, some
implicating politicians in the smuggling of methamphetamines, originated from
Surat Thani province, Mr Surapol said.
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The Nation
MAE HONG SON
3 soldiers sought for double rape
Published on Mar 23, 2002
Provincial police are hunting for three Thai soldiers accused of raping two
Burmese women from a camp for displaced Burmese, police said yesterday.
The women, aged 15 and 20 years old, told police that they were on their
way back to the camp from work in a field when they encountered the soldiers
near a bridge. Using knives, the soldiers, who were not in uniform, dragged them
to the roadside and raped them.
Police said one of the women identified the three soldiers as security
guards at the camp. The women were taken to hospital for medical tests.
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