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BURMA RELATED NEWS - April 18,
2002.
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HEADLINES
----------------------------------------------------------------- FEER - Burma Urged to Lift Trade
Ban
Reuters - Shan rebels "want talks with Myanmar
junta"
IHT - Humanitarian help can't wait for
politics
AP - Relatives of Myanmar's former dictator
moved to prison, awaiting trial
Reuters - Myanmar brushes aside olive branch
from Shan rebels
AP - Drugs trade likely to dominate Myanmar No.
2's visit to Thailand
AP - Myanmar dissident who hijacked jetliner in
1990 gets bail
AP - OECD lists Monaco and six other
jurisdictions as uncooperative tax havens
VOA News - Burma Says Ethnic Rebel Group
Responsible for Recent Blast
Xinhuanet - Myanmar to Join Forces With
Thailand in Narcotic Suppression
----------------------------------------------------------------- Far Eastern Economic
Review
INTELLIGENCE
Burma Urged to Lift Trade
Ban
Issue cover-dated April 25, 2002 Burma's military government is under strong pressure to reverse a decision
to prevent foreign trading companies from importing and exporting. Japan, South
Korea and Singapore have protested against the ban, which has been confirmed by
government officials but not formally announced. One minister tells the REVIEW
that the ruling has driven up the price of imported medicine, milk powder and
other products by as much as 50% in the past month. "Now that they have heard
the criticism and seen the suffering on the ground, I think they'll have to sit
down and rethink the whole thing," the minister says. The only explanation for
the move, which critics call "backdoor nationalization," was given by Commerce
Minister Brig. Gen. Pyi Sone in a March 30 speech not reported by local media.
He said foreign trading companies, as well as joint ventures between Burmese and
foreign partners, are being restricted "to protect the interests of the national
people." Burmese cannot compete with foreign exporters, who are buying up local
products at high prices, he said. Hardest hit are Indian traders, who dominate
the annual export of about $260 million of beans and pulses, mainly to India.
Analysts predict the ban will reduce Burma's already meagre exports and
foreign-exchange earnings, because local companies don't have the overseas
contacts and experience to take over all export trade.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Shan rebels "want talks with
Myanmar junta"
Thu Apr 18,12:09 AM ET By Andrew Marshall BANGKOK (Reuters) - One of the main ethnic militias fighting Myanmar's
military government wants Thailand to mediate truce talks with the Yangon junta,
the Bangkok Post newspaper reported on Thursday.
Colonel Yod Suk, head of the Shan State Army (SSA) that has battled Myanmar
troops for decades in the east of the country, said in an interview that Thai
Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh could help broker the talks.
"I don't like him much, but I like this idea," Yod Suk told the newspaper.
Chavalit says he has close personal relationships with senior Myanmar
leaders and has offered to mediate talks between Rangoon and the militias still
fighting military rule.
Several militias operate in Myanmar, a product of the country's bloody
history and its fractured patchwork of different ethnic groups and religions.
Over the past decade the military government pursued a policy of seeking
deals with the militias, and has reached peace agreements with 17 of them.
But three major groups still stand against Yangon -- the SSA, the Karen
National Union (KNU) and the Karenni National Progressive Party.
Many of the government's deals have involved giving militias considerable
autonomy in return for dropping their struggle against Yangon.
Groups like the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have been allowed to keep
control over their territory and retain their weapons. The UWSA is widely
accused of being the region's main narcotics producer.
But Myanmar's government says the UWSA is committed to eradicating drugs,
and accuses the SSA of being the country's main narcotics producer and
trafficker.
Yod Suk was formerly a lieutenant of opium lord Khun Sa, whose Mong Tai
Army held out for years against the Myanmar military. Khun Sa struck a peace
deal with the government in 1996 and now lives in Yangon.
The Bangkok Post quoted Yod Suk as saying neither side should set
preconditions for talks. It said the SSA commander wanted similar privileges to
those granted to the UWSA.
The newspaper said Chavalit would informally raise the issue of talks with
Myanmar army chief General Maung Aye during his visit to Thailand on April 23 to
26.
Myanmar has in the past accused the Thai army of giving support to the SSA,
and the two countries have fought sporadic skirmishes along their border over
the issue.
----------------------------------------------------------------- The International Herald Tribune
Humanitarian help can't wait for
politics
Robert Templer IHT Wednesday, April 17, 2002
AIDS in Burma
RANGOON Donors to Burma face a dilemma. The country's AIDS and humanitarian
crisis demands immediate attention. One in 50 adults is estimated to be infected
with HIV, poverty is worsening and education standards are falling, reducing
people's economic opportunities and ability to care for themselves.
. But many of those providing aid fear that re-engagement, even in the form of limited humanitarian aid, could boost Burma's military government. . On the other hand, strategies of coercive diplomacy and economic isolation are failing. There are also no indications that existing aid programs have any significant political costs. . The prevailing mood in Burma is one of despair. While the population endures rising poverty and illness, many donors focus on the country's political fate and particularly that of the National League for Democracy and its leader, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. . To put pressure on the military regime after the crackdown in 1988, the West suspended new loans and aid programs and applied restrictions on trade and investments. In principle, these sanctions have excluded humanitarian assistance. In reality, such aid has been cut dramatically as well. . Political talks between the ruling State Peace and Development Council and the league have gone on for more than a year with little visible headway. The human costs of Burma's deprivation cannot wait until some indefinite democratic future. . All parties - the European Union, the United Nations, nongovernmental organizations, donor governments, the Burmese military regime and the league - need to think carefully about current aid restrictions. . The spread of AIDS is deeply worrying. It could cripple economic and political prospects for many years to come. Burma is close to the point where the critical mass of infection gets so great that the epidemic becomes widely prevalent in the general population. This makes it much harder and more expensive to address even if behavior among drug users and sex workers improves. The epidemic is fueled by population mobility, poverty and frustration, all of which breed risky sexual behavior and drug taking. Thailand and Cambodia have shown that concerted, nationwide intervention at this stage can succeed in controlling the epidemic. . Two guiding principles have been established in successful prevention and care campaigns: Be pragmatic, and work on a large scale. To do both in Burma, aid organizations, UN agencies and NGOs will have to make a substantial change in the way they work. . Donors should be less cautious and more innovative in their approach to aid. Many aid organizations on the ground have the knowledge and commitment to pursue a progressive agenda but are constrained by the conservatism of donors. . There are signs that at least some important factions within the Burmese government are willing to take a pragmatic approach to the AIDS epidemic. . Burma needs far more resources if it is to mount an effective response to AIDS. The response must surpass the capacity of existing nongovernmental organizations. This means, in short, working with the government and through government institutions. . The good news is that the most relevant of these institutions, the public health infrastructure, is in the hands of competent professionals who have demonstrated willingness to work hard to deliver services to at-risk groups. They have established good working relations with NGOs and international organizations, although they have often been obliged to fly below the radar of their political bosses to do so. It should be possible to capitalize on these informal relationships and find creative ways to fund AIDS-related programs in Burma. . It is by no means certain that attempts to work with the government to avoid a health disaster will succeed. What is certain is that the country cannot stem the tide without immediate, substantial and sustained financial and technical support. The AIDS crisis cannot be put on a back burner until the political situation improves or a more amenable regime is in power. . The writer is the Asia program director for the International Crisis Group in Brussels. He contributed this comment to the International Herald Tribune. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Relatives of Myanmar's former
dictator moved to prison, awaiting trial
ASSOCIATED PRESS YANGON, Myanmar, April 18 ? Four relatives of Myanmar's former dictator
have been moved to a prison pending their trial for treason, an official with
the country's military government said Thursday.
The four suspects ? a son-in-law and three grandsons of former dictator Ne
Win ? are accused of plotting a coup. They had been held at a military compound,
but now have been moved to Insein prison in Yangon, a senior intelligence
official told The Associated Press.
The official refused to say when the four men were moved or when the trial
would begin.
'The relatives of Ne Win are kept at Insein prison like all other
accused,'' he said. He spoke on condition he was not identified further.
Aye Zaw Win, the husband of Ne Win's daughter, Sandar Win, and their three
sons, were arrested March 7 at a Yangon restaurant on charges of plotting to
overthrow Myanmar's military government.
Since then, authorities have put the 91-year-old Ne Win and Sandar Win
under de facto house arrest, placing barbed wire barricades around their
residential compound in Yangon.
The deputy chief of military intelligence, Brig. Gen. Kyaw Win, said
earlier this month that all four would be tried for high treason and that
thorough investigations were under way to build up the case.
High treason carries a maximum penalty of death.
The government has said the accused were trying to recruit military units
to kidnap the junta leaders and force them to swear allegiance to Ne Win.
Ne Win came to power in a 1962 coup and stepped down in 1988 in the face of
pro-democracy demonstrations quashed by the military.
Ne Win was once a hero of the independence movement in Myanmar, formerly
known as Burma, but he became an authoritarian ruler who led his once-prosperous
nation to economic ruin with policies that mixed socialist and Buddhist
doctrines.
Ne Win was rumored to retain behind-the-scenes influence after being
replaced by the current group of generals who have also been criticized for
failing to respect human rights and democracy. The junta refuses to recognize
the results of the 1990 general elections won by pro-democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi's party.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar brushes aside olive branch from
Shan rebels
BANGKOK, April 17 (Reuters) -
Myanmar's military government brushed aside an olive branch on Thursday from the
largest rebel force still fighting its grip on the country, saying the Shan
State Army (SSA) would have to surrender if it wanted peace.
Thailand's Bangkok Post newspaper quoted SSA commander Yod Suk as saying he
wanted Thailand to mediate truce talks with the Yangon junta. But he said the
SSA, which has battled Myanmar troops in the volatile Golden Triangle region for
years, would not agree to lay down its weapons before starting peace talks.
A senior Myanmar military intelligence officer said the junta regarded the
SSA as nothing more than a splinter group of the Mong Tai Army (MTA) of former
opium warlord Khun Sa, who surrendered in 1996 with many of his troops.
''There is no way we will have peace negotiations with the (SSA) because
they are a splinter group of the MTA that has already surrendered
unconditionally to the government,'' Lieutenant-Colonel San Pwint told Reuters.
''But if they want to exchange their weapons for peace, they are welcome.''
Several guerrilla groups operate in Myanmar, a product of the country's
bloody history and its fractured patchwork of different ethnic groups and
religions.
The military, which has ruled Myanmar since 1962, has often cited the
danger to national unity posed by rebellious ethnic minorities as a
justification for its grip on power.
PEACE AGREEMENTS
Over the past decade the military government has pursued a policy of
seeking deals with the ethnic minority rebel groups, and has reached peace
agreements with 17 of them.
But three major groups still stand against Yangon -- the SSA, the Karenni
National Progressive Party and the Karen National Union (KNU). The first two are
separatist groups while the KNU is fighting for greater autonomy in a federal,
democratic Myanmar.
Many of the government's deals have involved giving the former rebel groups
considerable autonomy in return for dropping their fight against Yangon.
Ceasefire groups such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA) have been allowed
to keep control over their territory and retain their weapons. The UWSA is
widely accused of being the region's main narcotics producer.
But Myanmar's government says the UWSA is committed to eradicating drugs,
and accuses the SSA of being the country's main narcotics producer and
trafficker.
Yod Suk was formerly a lieutenant of Khun Sa, who now lives in Yangon after
surrendering to the Myanmar military. Khun Sa was a major opium producer, but
claimed he was forced to grow the crop to finance his struggle against the
Myanmar government.
The Bangkok Post quoted Yod Suk as saying neither side should set
preconditions for talks. It said the SSA commander wanted similar privileges to
those granted to the UWSA -- which runs its part of Myanmar in northeastern Shan
State as an autonomous fiefdom.
The newspaper said Yod Suk suggested that Thai Defence Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh help broker peace talks.
It said Chavalit would informally raise the issue of talks with Myanmar
army chief General Maung Aye during his visit to Thailand on April 23 to 26.
Myanmar has in the past accused the Thai army of giving support to the SSA,
and the two countries have fought sporadic skirmishes along their border over
the issue.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Drugs trade likely to dominate Myanmar No. 2's
visit to Thailand
Thu Apr 18, 2:15 AM ET By SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer BANGKOK, Thailand - The illicit drug trade will likely dominate bilateral
talks when the No. 2 leader of Myanmar's junta visits next week, Thai officials
said Thursday.
Thailand often complains that Myanmar's military rulers are not doing enough to stop the production of heroin and amphetamines by drug lords operating near the two countries' border. Thai Defense Minister Gen. Chavalit Yongchaiyudh will lead the talks during
Myanmar army chief Maung Aye's stay from Tuesday to Friday.
Chavalit will focus on drugs and border security, the two biggest irritants
in relations, Chavalit aide Gen. Sanan Kajonkram told The Associated
Press.
According to Thai figures, authorities seized 44 million methamphetamine
tablets in border provinces last year, more than 97 percent of which came from
Myanmar, also known as Burma. Myanmar insists it is doing everything it can to
curb the drug trade.
However, the Thai government says lack of security at the border makes it
hard to stop traffickers.
The border has long been the scene of fighting between Myanmar government
troops and ethnic insurgent groups, whose activities often spill over into
Thailand.
Thailand's concerns also include Myanmar criminals' kidnapping of Thai
villagers for ransom, as well as cross-border trade in stolen vehicles, arms
smuggling and currency counterfeiting.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar dissident who hijacked
jetliner in 1990 gets bail
Wed Apr 17, 2:09 PM ET By CHANDRA BANERJEE, Associated Press Writer CALCUTTA, India - A court in eastern India on Wednesday granted bail to a
Myanmar pro-democracy dissident accused of hijacking a jetliner nearly 12 years
ago, court officials said.
Judge Chandan Lahiry of the Barasat court, 35 kilometers (22 miles) north
of Calcutta, directed the accused Soe Myint to deposit two sureties of 10,000
rupees (dlrs 210) and to appear in court whenever required. He cannot leave
Calcutta without the court's permission.
Soe Myint and another Myanmar dissident, Htin Kyaw, are accused of
diverting a Thai Airways Bangkok-Yangon flight to Calcutta by threatening the
crew with a bar of soap disguised as a bomb on Nov. 10, 1990.
At the time, the two said they hijacked the aircraft to draw world
attention to the pro-democracy movement of Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi
in military-ruled Myanmar, which is also known as Burma. Suu Kyi's party won
general elections in May that year but was barred by the military from taking
power.
Soe Myint and Htin Kyaw initially received widespread sympathy in India,
whose government supported Suu Kyi. They were given bail.
Their case was stuck in court for the past 12 years and Soe Myint went to
live in the Indian capital, New Delhi, where he opened an information service on
Myanmar.
The charges against him were never dropped and he was arrested last week in
New Delhi and brought to Calcutta.
Soe Myint's lawyer, Nandita Haksar, told The Associated Press that the
police arrested her client claiming that he had jumped bail granted 12 years ago
and ignored a summons. But Soe Myint has never received any summons, she
said.
It was not clear why Soe Myint's case has been revived.
Soe Myint's wife, Thin Thin, said her husband's arrest is the result of the
renewed friendship between the Indian government and the Myanmar military junta.
The two governments have exchanged high-level official visits in the past
year.
The junta, which has been in power since a bloody crackdown on nationwide
protests for democracy 1988, is widely accused of human rights abuses and has
jailed hundreds of Suu Kyi's supporters. Suu Kyi herself is under virtual house
arrest.
No information was immediately available on the whereabouts of Htin
Kyaw.
----------------------------------------------------------------- OECD lists Monaco and six other
jurisdictions as uncooperative tax havens
Thu Apr 18, 4:43 AM ET PARIS (AP) - Monaco and six
other jurisdictions remain on a list of countries considered uncooperative tax
havens by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the
Paris-based agency announced Thursday.
Monaco, Andorra, Liberia, Liechtenstein, the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Vanuatu are "jurisdictions which have not yet made commitments to transparency and effective exchange of information," the OECD said in a statement. In 2000, the OECD released a list of 35 nations and territories with
uncooperative tax practices.
Appearing on the OECD's so-called blacklist prompted some countries to
tighten their tax laws and crack down on money laundering. Many governments have
pledged to comply with OECD standards, including St. Lucia, Dominica, Anguilla,
Grenada, Montserrat, Guernsey and the Channel Islands.
Countries that remain on the black list could eventually face sanctions,
including coordinated tax measures to penalize companies trying to evade
taxes.
Nations that have appeared on the blacklist since it was created in June
2000 include Russia, Egypt, Israel, Guatemala, Hungary, Indonesia, Lebanon,
Myanmar and the Philippines.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Asia Pacific Burma Says Ethnic
Rebel Group Responsible for Recent Blast
VOA News 17 Apr 2002 17:42 UTC Burmese military officials have blamed an ethnic rebel group for a recent
bomb blast that killed five people and wounded more than 20 others earlier this
week along the border with Thailand.
A military spokesman Wednesday blamed the explosion on the country's
largest rebel group - the Karen National Union.
In a statement to the French News Agency, the spokesman said the rebel
group has carried out terrorist attacks on civilians, especially on religious
occasions. The blast occurred Monday, during celebrations in Burma and Thailand
of the traditional Buddhist new year.
The Karen National Union, whose membership is mostly Christian, said it was
not involved in the explosion. The Karen are Burma's largest ethnic
minority.
----------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar to Join Forces With Thailand in
Narcotic Suppression
Xinhuanet 2002-04-18 16:03:36 BANGKOK, April 18 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar and Thailand will cooperate in narcotic prevention and suppression, according to a report of the Thai News Agency Thursday. The issue would be discussed when Myanmar Army Chief Muang Aye visits
Thailand next week.
"Cooperation in addressing the problem of drugs trade and trafficking will
be included in the agenda when I hold talks with Muang Aye," Thai Army Chief
Surayud Chulanont was quoted as saying.
Muang Aye is scheduled to visit Thailand between April 23 and 26.
He earlier planned to visit Thailand between April 23 and 25, but later
extended to another day so that he would be granted an audience with His Majesty
the King, a source in the Royal Thai Army was quoted as saying.
The visit was aimed to strengthen ties and cooperation between the military
of the two close neighboring countries, said the source.
The Supreme Command Headquarters has instructed the Royal Thai Army to step
up security measures along the Thai-Myanmar border in the North during the
upcoming visit to Thailand by the Myanmar Army Chief.
The Royal Thai Army had been instructed to ensure that there would be no
problems along the border during Gen. Muang Aye's four-day visit to the country,
stated the source.
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