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BURMA RELATED NEWS - March 26,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Myanmar denies hand in clashes that
cancelled royal visit
Reuters - Australian could face death in Vietnam
over drugs
VOA News - Burma's Military Government Head
Makes Public Appearance
AP - Myanmar General Appears After
Coup
TI - Myanmar allows UN envoy's visit to country
Bkk Post - Military to
keep eye on Shan State Army
Bkk Post - 200,000 fail to renew their work
permits
Bkk Post - Editorial - Rangoon denial can
get nowhere
----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 26, 3:25 PM
Myanmar denies hand in clashes that cancelled royal visit (AFP) - Thai defence officials
said Myanmar had denied its troops had engaged in a clash with Thai border
forces that forced Queen Sirikit to cancel a scheduled visit to the area.
Deputy defence minister General Yuthasak Sasiprapa said Tuesday he had
ordered the Third Army, which patrols the region, to investigate Monday's
fighting which left one Thai soldier dead and another wounded.
"The Third Army regional commander contacted Myanmar authorities who denied
Myanmar soldiers were involved," he told reporters.
Yuthasak said he believed the estimated 15 to 30 rebel fighters were with
the United Wa State Army (UWSA), a group also known as the Red Wa, which is
widely accused of controlling the drugs trade along the border.
Thailand's Queen Sirikit had been due Monday to fly from the northern city
of Chiang Mai to visit a royal project on the border, but the gunfight flared up
three hours before the scheduled arrival time, forcing a cancellation.
The royal-sponsored demonstration farm was only three kilometres (two
miles) away from the clash site and the Third Army commander recommended palace
authorities cancel the trip on security grounds.
The area, in Chiang Mai's Wieng Haeng district, was also the scene Friday
of a fierce gunbattle with a Thai border patrol that left 12 alleged drug
runners and a Thai soldier dead.
Police there seized a haul of 1.6 million amphetamine tablets from a
caravan which Thai intelligence reports said was making its way across the
border from Myanmar.
Heroin and amphetamine trafficking is rife along the Thai-Myanmar border,
and clashes between narcotics-financed ethnic armies are common during the dry
season.
Myanmar's junta has criticised recent finger-pointing by Thai politicians
who admonished it for its alleged role in drugs trafficking, saying the charges
were fabrications aimed at covering up Thai misdeeds.
The regime has insisted that the UWSA, which has signed a ceasefire with
Yangon, was earnestly trying to stamp out narcotics.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday March 26, 5:48 PM
Australian could face death in Vietnam over drugs HANOI, March 26 (Reuters) -
Vietnam's police have asked prosecutors to bring to trial an Australian woman of
Vietnamese origin accused of trafficking heroin, a charge that can carry the
death sentence, official media reported on Tuesday.
The Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper said police made the request after ending
investigations into the case of Le My Linh, who it said was detained at Ho Chi
Minh City's airport last November with 881.8 grams (about two pounds) of heroin.
Trafficking of as little as 600 grams (1.32 pounds) of heroin is punishable
by death or life imprisonment in Vietnam, where executions are carried out by
firing squad.
Tuoi Tre said police handed over documents to the Supreme People's
Prosecution Institute, which must now decide whether to bring the case to trial.
Police in Ho Chi Minh City declined to comment.
The Australian Consulate in Ho Chi Minh City said it was aware that an
Australian had been arrested last year and that it was following the case
closely, but declined further comment.
According to reports in state media, Linh was detained at Ho Chi Minh's Tan
Son Nhat airport as she was about to board a flight to Sydney.
In April 2000, Vietnam executed a 44-year-old Canadian woman of Vietnamese
origin, Nguyen Thi Hiep, who was convicted in 1997 of trying to smuggle out
about one kg (2.2 pounds) of heroin from Hanoi airport the previous year.
Canada temporarily froze bilateral ties in protest.
Around 100 people face the firing squad in Vietnam every year. Last year 55
people were handed death sentences for drug-related offences.
Police Colonel Vu Hung Vuong, head of the national anti-drugs squad, said
in November that Linh could have been a courier for a trafficking ring with
connections to the Golden Triangle heroin-producing region.
The Golden Triangle is formed by the juncture of Myanmar, Laos and Thailand
and is the world's largest source of opium, from which heroin is made. Most
comes from Myanmar.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific Burma's Military Government Head
Makes Public Appearance
VOA News 26 Mar 2002 10:17 UTC The head of Burma's military government has made his first public
appearance since authorities announced they foiled a coup plot by relatives of
former dictator Ne Win.
Burma's state-run newspapers Tuesday published photographs of Than Shwe
inspecting an exhibition Monday at the Military Museum.
The pictures show Than Shwe accompanied by Burma's number two and three
leaders, Army chief General Maung Aye and military intelligence chief Lieutenant
General Khin Nyunt.
The son-in-law and three grandsons of former dictator Ne Win were arrested
earlier this month for allegedly trying to overthrow the military government.
The 92-year-old Ne Win and his daughter Sandar Win remain under heavy guard at
their Rangoon residence.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar General Appears After
Coup
The Associated Press, Tue 26 Mar 2002 YANGON, Myanmar (AP) ? The head
of Myanmar's military government has made his first public appearance since the
junta said it had foiled a coup plot three weeks ago.
Myanmar's state-owned newspapers on Tuesday published photographs of Gen.
Than Shwe ? the chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, as the
government is known ? inspecting an exhibition at the Military Museum on Monday.
The government has claimed that the alleged coup plotters, led by the
family of former dictator Ne Win, were planning to abduct Than Shwe and other
military officials, and then take power on Wednesday, the 57th anniversary of
the armed forces.
The newspaper pictures showed Than Shwe accompanied by his No. 2, army
chief Gen. Maung Aye; and his No. 3, military intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Khin
Nyunt.
The photographs of the three leaders on the front pages of the newspapers
Tuesday supported an official denial of rumors that there was dissension within
the junta.
Authorities arrested Ne Win's son-in-law, Aye Zaw Win, and his three sons
on March 7 for allegedly trying to overthrow the military government with help
from some military commanders.
Aye Zaw Win and his sons are under arrest while Ne Win and his daughter
Sandar Win are under de facto house arrest.
The government has also dismissed the air force chief, the national police
chief and two regional military commanders for the alleged coup plot.
Ne Win stepped down in 1988 after running the country formerly known as
Burma for a quarter century.
----------------------------------------------------------------- The Times of India
Myanmar allows UN envoy's visit to
country
REUTERS [ TUESDAY, MARCH 26, 2002 3:58:35 PM ] YANGON: Myanmar said on Tuesday UN special envoy Razali Ismail could visit at the end of April, after ruling generals cancelled his visit last week to deal with an attempted coup by relatives of ageing former dictator Ne Win. Stopping Razali's visit had raised fresh fears about the fate of talks
between the military regime and pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won democratic elections in 1990 but
has never been allowed to rule.
But on Tuesday, Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung said the Malaysian
diplomat's visit could go ahead on April 22.
"We have invited him to come here on April 22," Win Aung told Reuters. "As
usual for three or four days."
The visit had been scheduled for March 19 and was aimed at boosting the
bogged-down talks, begun late in 2000, between the military and the Nobel Peace
Prize winner.
Three weeks ago, Myanmar's military intelligence arrested a son-in-law and
three grandsons of Ne Win along with three senior officers in the military,
accusing them of plotting to overthrow the junta's top leaders.
Ne Win, 92, and his daughter Sandar Win have both been confined to their
house, and the military say they have interrogated 100 suspects in the coup
plot.
But many diplomats are sceptical a coup was planned, saying the allegations
and arrests may stem from disagreements in the government over how to deal with
Suu Kyi and the NLD.
They say the crackdown could be part of a power struggle between Army chief
Maung Aye and Military Intelligence chief Khin Nyunt, officially number two and
three in the junta.
However, state run newspapers on Sunday ran photographs of the pair
inspecting troops together in an apparent effort to play down any suggestions of
a rivalry.
Khin Nyunt is seen as Ne Win's hand-picked choice to lead Myanmar but also
as more moderate than Maung Aye, who is seen as a hardliner resistant to a
political settlement with the NLD.
Some observers say the regime wants to sideline Ne Win, who ruled Myanmar
with an iron fist from 1962 to 1988, and his clan, so that it can move ahead
with some kind of power-sharing deal with Suu Kyi.
Since the talks began, the military has freed more than 200 political
prisoners but has shown little sign of loosening its vice-like grip on
power.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Tuesday 26 March
2002
Military to keep eye on Shan State Army
Proof found of links to Wa drugs racket
Cheewin Sattha - Chiang Mai
The Third Army will closely monitor the movements of the Shan State Army as
proof has emerged of its collaboration with the drug-producing United Wa State
Army.
Lt-Gen Udomchai Ongkhasing, the Third Army commander, said yesterday
evidence collected from the 13 drug suspects killed in a clash on Friday night
indicated some of them were SSA soldiers. Thai soldiers seized 1.6 million speed
pills from them.
In the past the SSA, particularly its leader Col Yawd Serk, were in favour
of an anti-drug policy. But there had lately been signs of changes in the SSA
stance, leading to the belief that it might have collaborated with the Red Wa in
the production and delivery of drugs into Thailand.
Suspicions are also growing that the SSA might be planning to set up drug
production plants of its own, Lt-Gen Udomchai said.
Meanwhile, a Thai soldier was killed and another seriously wounded in a
clash with a band of 10-15 armed men in Wiang Haeng district yesterday.
The clash took place about 11.25am when a patrol of the Pha Muang Force ran
into the unidentified armed men near Ban Paek Saem in tambon Wiang Luang.
Mst-Sgt Suban Onla of the 10th Cavalry Battalion died from heavy loss of
blood and Pvt Kittichai Hatsanat of the 12th Cavalry Battalion was in serious
condition at the Wiang Haeng hospital.
The military suspects the armed men were an advance team of the United Wa
State Army looking for a new drug trafficking route.
The clash was a result of the Third Army's expanded drug suppression drive
along the northern border, following an intelligence report that more than 20
million speed pills would be smuggled into Thailand via Wiang Haeng
district.
Also yesterday, a team of soldiers from the Pha Muang Force searched Ban
Lisaw Sam Muen in tambon Piang Luang of Wiang Haeng district and seized 1.8
million baht cash from the house of a suspected drug trafficker who fled before
the team arrived.
A Shan man with a bullet wound in one hand was taken for questioning.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Tuesday 26 March 2002 200,000 fail to renew their work
permits Amendment to law sought for more bite
Penchan Charoensuthiphan
More than 200,000 of the 500,000 registered alien workers failed to have
their six-month work permits renewed.
The one-month registration period ended yesterday.
Supat Kukhun, deputy secretary-general of the alien labour management
office, said the number of alien workers who reported for work permit renewals
between Feb 24-March 25 was only around 350,000 as many had either returned to
their countries, or escaped to find new jobs, according to their
employers.
Most of the escapees were Burmese, Cambodian and Laotian workers in the
fisheries and farming sectors, he said.
However, employers who had given the Labour Ministry prior notice about
delays will have until April 25 to submit their workers' medical checkup results
for their re-registration.
It was reported that the alien labour panel wants the law amended to make
it easier to crack down on illegal alien labour suppliers.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post - Tuesday 26 March 2002
Editorial - Rangoon denial can get
nowhere
This newspaper is pleased to be criticised again for upsetting one of the
world's most restrictive regimes. The dictators of Rangoon singled out the
Bangkok Post for the serious offence of reporting the news. A front page story
last week noted that senior United States officials have listed the Wa State
United Army as a major drug cartel. They also have identified drug trafficking
as a source of funds for terrorists. This did not sit well with the military
rulers.
The Bangkok Post has upset successive military dictators in Burma, as well
as Thailand. Indeed, the reputation of this newspaper in Burma has always been
high among the Burmese for the past 40 years precisely for accurate reporting.
Autocrats in Burma continue to ban this newspaper and others, on the grounds the
truth will cause unrest. This is impossible in Burma, where unrest seethes just
below the repressed surface.
It is obvious why the reports on the new US foreign policy bothered Rangoon
so much. The war on terrorism, launched on September 11, seeks wide justice for
the victims from nearly 100 nations. It seeks security for everyone. The US has
led a fight to destroy the base of the terrorists, and to dislodge the regime
that supported it. Now, the hard part of the fight has begun, and it correctly
embraces a battle to find, fix and destroy all violent, cross-border crime _ and
thus there is a new and more urgent focus on Burma's Wa group.
Most people in Thailand believe it is about time. Patience has worn thin.
Even those who claimed it is better to engage Burma are starting to feel
betrayed. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, due for a visit to Rangoon, flew to
Mexico instead. Even though European diplomats visited Burma, Mr Thaksin didn't
think twice about cancelling his visit, supposedly because of confusion over the
coup in Rangoon. To make matters worse, Burma ordered the UN negotiator to stay
out for at least a month, setting talks with democratic forces even further
back. Neither of these cancellations appeared to upset Burma.
There is no sign, sadly, that any Burmese generals are concerned very much
at all about the outside world. Two weeks after they supposedly crushed a
rebellion by the family of Ne Win, the explanations offered by the generals are
risible. By their own accounts, the regime has captured one firearm, a stock of
berets and a well-known fortune teller. One can accept the arrogant family of
the ex-dictator Ne Win was a troublesome risk to law and order in Burma. The
justification for claiming they were a threat to the military dictatorship has
not yet appeared. Of course, the Rangoon junta will fall, probably violently,
and the abusive family of the former tyrant will pay for their crimes. More
troublesome is that the junta is making up reasons for failing to fight its
home-grown, international criminal gang. The actions of the Wa-directed,
government-supported drug traffickers threaten the Burmese and all their
neighbours. The regime also refuses to deal seriously with the democratic forces
in Burma.
The dictators are deep in denial and searching for scapegoats. They denied
last week the Wa were terrorists. No one said they were, only that major drug
trafficking is a serious, world threat on a par with terrorists. Scapegoats
range from the Ne Win family to the US State Department to the Bangkok Post and
The Nation newspapers.
Burma last week attacked Thailand for supporting drug gangs, including some
it said are run by men in uniform. This is laughable, from a regime that
supports drug trafficker Khun Sa, does business with money launderer Lo
Hsing-han, and sponsors the biggest drug trafficking gang in the history of
Asia. Thailand and the world have the right to demand that Rangoon get
serious.
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