[burmanet2-l] Burma Related News - Aug 10, 2002.

["TIN KYI" <tinkyi@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

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BURMA RELATED NEWS - August 10, 2002.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - Indonesian FM to attend IDEA ministerial meeting in Japan
UN Wire - Government Frees 14 Political Prisoners, Hundreds Still Held
LA Times - Judge Lets Unocal Ask State Dept. to Intervene in Myanmar Lawsuit
Bkk Post - Closure sparks increase in cattle smuggling
Bkk Post - Terror came at night
The Nation - EDITORIAL I: Patch up ties but clarify difference
VOA News - Analysts Express Concern Over Thai-Burma Agreements
Mizzima - Burmese Junta provide Arsenal to the militants in North-East India
SHAN - Karenni warns Japan: Abuses go hand in hand with assistance

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Saturday August 10, 12:20 PM
Indonesian FM to attend IDEA ministerial meeting in Japan
(AFP) - Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda will travel to Tokyo to
attend the ministerial-level meeting of the Initiative for Development in
East Asia (IDEA), officials said.
Foreign Affairs Minister Spokesman Marty Natalegawa told AFP the IDEA
meeting was part of a Japanese initiative to help development in East Asia
and would involve ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN), China and South Korea.
Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi proposed the meeting in June
following a visit to ASEAN countries to speed up economic cooperation
between the 10-member bloc and its neighbors.
Japan is the leading source of official development assistance for ASEAN
countries.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the
Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
The members of the meeting are also known as the ASEAN+3 which meets
annually on the margin of Asia's top security group, the ASEAN Regional
Forum (ARF).
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UN Wire - Aug. 9, 2002
MYANMAR: Government Frees 14 Political Prisoners, Hundreds Still Held
Myanmar today released 14 political prisoners, following opposition leader
Aung San Suu Kyi's call Wednesday for the ruling State Peace and Development
Council to free all political prisoners.
Hundreds of political prisoners are estimated to remain imprisoned in
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, including an estimated 250 members of Suu
Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy.  Myanmar said six of the 14
released today are NLD members and that it would "continue to release more
individuals who will cause no harm to the community nor threaten the
existing peace, stability and the unity of the nation".
The NLD members released today were identified as Zaw Win Tint, Win Tun,
Than Swe, Myint Aung, Than Tun and Win Zaw.  A total of 303 NLD prisoners
have now been released in the last two years, 54 of whom were elected to
Parliament in the 1990 elections, which have been ignored by the ruling
junta (Deutsche Presse-Agentur, Aug. 9).
Overall, more than 400 dissidents have been released since talks between the
opposition and the government began.  BBC reports that the rest of the NLD
prisoners should be released in coming months as part of the roughly 500
political prisoners the government has told U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail
it would free.
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Los Angeles Times
August 9, 2002
Judge Lets Unocal Ask State Dept. to Intervene in Myanmar Lawsuit
By SONNI EFRON, TIMES STAFF WRITER


WASHINGTON -- A Los Angeles judge Thursday granted a request by Unocal to
ask the State Department to intervene in a lawsuit by Myanmar villagers who
allege that the Myanmar military protecting a Unocal pipeline project
dragooned villagers into slave labor, attorneys said.

The Unocal request comes on the heels of a State Department letter urging
dismissal of a similar lawsuit involving an Exxon Mobil project in
Indonesia.

The government said letting that case go to trial would harm the national
interest, including the war on terrorism, and efforts to improve the
Indonesian military's record of human rights abuses.

The suit against Exxon Mobil is on behalf of 11 Indonesian villagers who
claim that Indonesian government troops protecting an Exxon plant conducted
torture, rape, kidnappings and murder.

Human rights advocates blasted the State Department's letter as a sellout of
human rights in the name of the global war on terrorism and warned that it
would set a dangerous precedent in other litigation. The California decision
suggests that such a precedent has been set, and opens the possibility that
other companies being sued for alleged overseas abuses also may seek support
from the State Department.

In court papers, Unocal argued that the cases are similar in their efforts
to hold U.S. corporations accountable for misdeeds of foreign militaries in
foreign lands.

"As in Exxon Mobil, the litigation seeks to penalize an American company for
investing in a country with a record of human rights abuses," Unocal said.
"It could have a chilling effect on investment and efforts to induce the
host country to improve human rights."

In 1997, when Unocal was being sued in federal court over the same issues,
the company also requested a State Department opinion. Noting that evidence
was limited because the case had just begun, the government issued a letter,
saying, "The adjudication of the claims based on allegations of torture and
slavery would not prejudice or impede the conduct of U.S. foreign relations
with the current government" of Myanmar.

"I would be very surprised if the State Department would take a position
contrary to what it did" in the 1997 Unocal case, said Paul Hoffman, a Los
Angeles lawyer representing some of the Myanmar plaintiffs in the Unocal
case.

"There's just no basis for the State Department to say that a judgment
against Unocal in this case would undermine U.S. foreign policy in any way,"
Hoffman said.

Unocal succeeded in having that case dismissed in 2000, after Judge Ronald
Lew found no evidence that Unocal sought to employ forced or slave labor and
that it had expressed concern about the practice.

Unocal now is being sued in state court, with the issues revolving around
whether a California corporation can be sued over acts of a foreign
government.

Like Exxon Mobil, Unocal does not confirm or deny that violations took place
at the hands of foreign militaries, but says the company did nothing wrong.
"Unocal was simply an investor along with three others in the project,"
spokesman Barry Lane said.

Once it receives the court's request, the State Department has 30 days to
issue a letter. As in the Exxon case, the court is not bound to follow the
government's position.

Judge Victoria Gerrard Chaney also moved the Unocal trial from Sept. 26 to
Feb. 4.
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Bangkok Post - Saturday 10 August 2002
Closure sparks increase in cattle smuggling
Paiboon Jongcharoen
Up to 9,000 head of cattle per month have been smuggled into the country
through one checkpoint alone since Burma closed the common border in May,
said a source close to customs authorities.

Cattle were also reportedly being smuggled through more than 40 other border
passages.

``Not all the cattle originate from Burma,'' he said. ``Several are from as
far afield as Bangladesh.''

The source said many smugglers possessed official documents, which may have
been issued by either an assistant district chief, or a livestock official.

``If anyone cares to examine this, they'll find the documents issued by
authorities do not tally to the number of registered cattle in the
province,'' he said. ``Thousands of head are moved each month.''

Cattle traders have long resorted to smuggling to avoid import taxes and
quarantine regulations.

The profit margin on smuggled cattle was up to 1,500 baht per head, compared
to 600 baht per head for legitimately imported cattle.

Aside from the losses in tax revenue, cattle smuggling threatened to expose
the country to diseases such as anthrax, or foot and mouth, the source said.

A plant manufacturing meat balls in Pathum Thani was allegedly heavily
involved in the smuggling of cattle.
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Bangkok Post
Terror came at night
PHIL THORNTON
August 9, 2002

One minute they were sleeping peacefully. Moments later, Burmese soldiers
had slaughtered seven of their children.

In its latest efforts to convince the international community that it is
ready to embrace political change, the Burmese military dictatorship has
released democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. United Nations special
envoy, Razali Ismail is due in Rangoon this week to discuss human rights
issues and economic sanctions with Burma's military.

At the Asean meeting in Brunei, member nations included the regime's human
rights record for discussion and the US slammed the Burmese army for the
systematic rape of ethnic women. Evidence of atrocities committed by the
Burmese army against Karen villagers along the Thai- Burma border shows the
killings are still happening. Phil Thornton talked to survivors on the
Thai-Burma border of a recent mass killing that took place on 29 April 2002.

They came creeping through the night spreading terror and death to the
villagers of Htee Law Bler. Their movements, silent and precise as they
worked their way up the jungle slope.

Their target _ two bamboo huts hiding a group of villagers who had disobeyed
relocation orders to move to a piece of barren land at Lay Wah Kha.

Inside the huts women and children lay together, some had babies at breast.
Lack of room had forced the men to sleep outside under the trees. Wisps of
white smoke still curled around a blackened rice pot sitting next to the
remains of a fire.

It was silent except for a child coughing and the rustle of leaves as the
heavily armed soldiers prepared to storm the huts. As they unslung and armed
their automatic weapons, mortars and rocket propelled grenades, the soldiers
got in position and waited for their commanding officer to give the orders
to shoot.

Naw Heh Hser was asleep when the shooting woke her. ``I panicked and ran.
Bullets and splinters [shrapnel] were flying everywhere. I couldn't think. I
was outside and running when I remembered my children,'' she recalls in a
talk with the reporter.

In spite of being eight-months pregnant and getting hit in the face Naw Heh
Hser ran back inside the burning hut to search for her five children.

``I could only find three. I didn't know where the others were,'' she says.
What Naw Heh Hser did not know at the time was that her eldest daughter, 12,
her second youngest, 5, and her mother and father were slaughtered in the
first barrage of bullets and shells.

Naw Heh Hser's children were not the only ones to die that night. When the
soldiers led from 88 Division had left the survivors crept back out of the
jungle to search for their missing grandparents, mothers, fathers, sisters
and brothers.

The soldiers, using mortar, grenades and automatic assault weapons, had
killed seven children and four adults and wounded another nine people.
Farmer Saw Kho Noc had three of his five children killed and his eight-month
pregnant wife, Naw Dalare _ also known as Pele.

Tears spill from his eyes as he recounted how he tried to help his wife:

``Pele could have been saved. She was shot in the chest and thigh. I made a
stretcher for her and with help from my neighbours we set out for the clinic
at Mitan.''

A desperate Kho Noc says that as there was no medicine or medical help in
the village the daylong trip was the only option.

While other villagers looked after his surviving children Kho Noc and
friends carried the badly bleeding Pele in a bamboo and plastic sheeted
stretcher.

To get to the nearest medical help the men had to cross a number of flooded
streams and slippery mud tracks. ``We had been walking for nearly six hours
when an army patrol stopped us and sent us back to our village.

``We wasted a day. Pele was in a lot of pain. We had no drugs, nothing we
could give her.''

On hearing that a local medic was going to the nearest large town Kho Noc
gave him his life savings (20,000 kyat about 800 baht) to buy medicine. But
the medic did not return for four days and by then it was too late.

``Pele died giving birth to our baby. I don't know what their reasons were
for shooting her. We're just poor people.''

Kho Noc says his surviving children, Kar Kur, 12, and Dih Klee, 8, dream
about their mother. ``They really miss her. I miss her.''

His daughter Kar Kur, 12, was also shot. A bullet smashed her right arm
breaking the bone. She cradles it, protectively in its bamboo shield. As her
mind slips back to the night of screams, bullets, pain and the slow death of
her mother she cries.

``We ran away when the shooting started. All the people were crying and
screaming. I got knocked over by a big bang and my face filled with dust and
stones when I fell.''

The villagers of Htit Law Bler do not understand why the Burmese soldiers
came killing. Genocide is a term that should not be used lightly, but if
applied to these murders it fits the definition laid down by the
International Criminal Court.

The European Union, the US and many international human rights agencies have
slammed Burma's military dictatorship for using forced labour; torturing its
citizens, killings and jailing political opponents.

The regime is at war with its own people. It uses its vast army to force
ethnic people out of their villages and into relocation camps where they can
be used as forced labour to build railways, airports, hotels and factories.
Many die from torture, exhaustion or landmine injuries.

Many villagers escape from relocation camps to avoid being used as forced
labour. Homeless, broke and hungry they make their way, avoiding soldiers
and land mines, to the borders of India and Thailand where they hope to find
safety.

The general secretary of the Karen National Union (KNU), Padu Mahnsha, said
that at the same time as talks between Aung Suu Kyi and the regime are going
on in Rangoon ethnic villagers are being slaughtered and used as slaves by
the military. ``These killings are used by the regime to terrorise our
people and force them off their land,'' he says.

According to Mahnsha, if the ``talks'' were serious and if they are to
achieve peace in Burma they will have to include ethnic groups.

``These talks are nothing more than a sham. We will only take them seriously
when they stop the killings.'' After he buried Pele, Koh Noc took his two
surviving children and joined a large group of internally displaced people
planning to cross the border into Thailand.

>From April to June this year 1,273 Karen refugees have fled from this small
Burmese region to Noe Poh refugee camp in Thailand. To do so they have had
to trek across tough country: crossing flooded rivers, avoiding mine fields
and soldiers.

Kho Noc says even though the trek was hard it has been worth it. ``Back in
the jungle we had a lot of trouble just living _ no medicine, no food and no
shelter. Everybody caught malaria. Children had typhoid.''

Naw Heh Hser has mixed feelings about leaving her jungle hideout.

``I'm happy my children can go to school here, but my memories are back in
the jungle. My children and my parents are buried there.

She adds, ``But I have to be strong for my new baby.''
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The Nation
EDITORIAL I: Patch up ties but clarify difference
Published on Aug 10, 2002

Like it or not, things appear to be moving in the right direction for the
generals in Rangoon. And for better or for worse, it's also music to the
ears of the Thaksin administration which is bent on improving bilateral ties
with the neighbouring country - apparently at all costs.


First, it was the Asean Ministerial Meeting where Burmese Foreign Minister
Win Aung came out nearly scot-free, without undergoing the wrath of
traditional critics like the United States and the European Union over the
regime's treatment of its own citizens. Then there was the meeting between
the Thai and Burmese foreign ministers off to the side of the annual
meeting. It was the highest level meeting between the two nations since the
May 20 border clashes that brought bilateral ties to their lowest ebb in
recent years.

Afterwards, there was the announcement that Army chief General Surayud
Chulanont - a man who has been credited with enhancing the armed forces'
international and domestic standing - would be kicked upstairs to the
ceremonial post of Supreme Commander. This move was deemed by many as a way
to open a path to improve relations with the Burmese junta because of
Surayud's firmness in handling the border troubles.


Incidentally, the announcement of Surayud's removal came just days before
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai's fence-mending trip to Rangoon -
which has supposedly put bilateral relations back on track.

Moreover, news about the upcoming dialogue between Burmese pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the ruling junta, together with the release of
more Burmese political prisoners, was deemed as a positive development.


And last but not least, the Thai and Burmese Cabinets are planning to have
an informal lunch gathering at a border town to show solidarity.

But while the positive developments in Burma should be welcome, Thailand and
the international community cannot afford to be complacent. They need to
understand that this is just the beginning and that real change in Burma is
still nowhere in sight. Ffundamental problems between the two countries -
drugs, insurgencies, refugees and overlapping claims - have yet to
disappear.


Surely Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra understands that it will take much
more than putting on a big luncheon with the Burmese Cabinet to improve the
lives of the Burmese people. Because no matter how one looks at it, the
gathering will come across as an event that will only serve the interests of
a small group of people. And at the end of the day, only the stomachs of
those present at the table will be filled, not those of the Burmese public
who have too long been denied the rights that many of us take for granted.

Sad to say, Thailand is on the verge of losing its moral authority if it
does not change course over its Burmese policy. Thaksin doesn't seem to be
aware that the reputation of the entire Kingdom is at stake with his
determination to help polish the tarnished image of a regime that came to
power by gunning down thousands of students and pro-democracy demonstrators.


About 1,500 political prisoners are still locked up behind bars in Burma and
the junta continues to court some of the world's most notorious drug
dealers, some of whom have been flooding Thailand with illicit drugs for
decades.
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VOA News
Asia Pacific Analysts Express Concern Over Thai-Burma Agreements
Ron Corben
Bangkok
9 Aug 2002 14:19 UTC


Thailand's government says border tensions with Burma have been resolved
after Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai visited Rangoon this week. But
analysts remain concerned the agreement may be short-lived and say few
details have been released to the Thai public. Thai Foreign Minister
Surakiart Sathirathai says the two countries will be working together on
such areas as drug smuggling, illegal immigrants and economic development.

Relations between Burma and Thailand have been tense for more than two
months. The dispute started with a Thai military crackdown on illegal drugs
smuggled into Thailand from Burma.


Bangkok blames the United Wa State Army, an ethnic minority force in Burma,
for the flood of illegal drugs into Thailand. The Wa are linked to the
Burmese government. Rangoon, however, accuses Bangkok of backing ethnic Shan
rebels, who have long fought the Burmese army along the border.

To ease the tensions, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra shifted a top Thai
general to a lesser post.


Thai political analysts and some opposition politicians worry that warmer
relations may have a cost to Thailand.

Aung Zaw is the editor of the Burmese opposition newspaper, Irrawaddy. He
says there are fears that the Thai army will take a tougher stance with the
100,000 refugees from Burma. Aung Zaw fears Thailand has paid a high price
to end to the tensions.


"I think Thailand has been sold out to Burma because whenever there are
conflicts between the two countries Thailand always has to go and bow, has
to give in, has to go to Burma to strike a deal," he said.

He says there also are fears that a special anti-drug task force Thailand,
set up with support from United States, may be downgraded.


Somchai Homlaor is the spokesman for human rights group Forum Asia which is
critical of Prime Minister Thaksin's dealings with Burma's military
government - known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

"We think the government of Thailand should be more transparent in dealing
with the SPDC leaders and we need the participation of the people of
Thailand in that decision-making," he said.


Forum Asia, along with other rights groups, is calling on the Thai
government to release more details about its agreement with Burma.
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Indian DIG :  Burmese Junta provide Arsenal to the militants in North-East
India
By Surajit Kund
August 9, 2002, Mizzima News

Guwahati: Indian high-ranking officers said yesterday that Burmese military
regime is providing arms and ammunitions to the militants in North-East
India.

"We have come to know the fact following the arrest of 20 United National
Liberation Front (UNLF) militants from the Indo-Burma border. They confessed
that The Burmese Junta has been providing arms to the militant groups from
Laos from the international agencies," said the Deputy Inspector General
(DIG), Border Security Force (BSF), Mr. PK Mishra, to the reporters in
Manipur. Mr. Mishra further alleged that the three neighboring countries -
Burma, Bangladesh and China - have been providing arsenal to the militant
groups through some agencies. All the three countries have consistently
denied the allegation.

Burmese military regime is using a double-standard policy with the militants
and Indian government. Burmese Junta joined India in 1998 at the "Golden
Bird Operation" in which many North East militants were killed or arrested
by Indian security forces.

Mr. Mrshra also said that Burmese Junta has signed agreement with the
militant outfits with the North-East India to provide arms and ammunitions.

However, in recent visit to India in July this year, Burma's deputy Home
Minister Thura Myint Maung had assured India of extending Burma's full help
in containing the militancy problem in the region.
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Shan Herald Agency for News
No: 08 - 04:
10 August 2002
Karenni warns Japan: Abuses go hand in hand with assistance

The Karenni National Progress Party, one of the three main groups fighting
against Rangoon, has today cautioned Japan to consider human rights issues
before granting "humanitarian assistance" to Rangoon.

"Before any assistance is given, we trust that the Japanese government will
look closely at all aspects of the forced labor and human rights issues,"
counsels the letter written to Mr. Suto Nobuhiko, Director, Committee on
Foreign Affairs, House of Representatives.

It recalls that during the construction the Lawpita power plant in the
Karenni State, also known as Kayah, by Japan, some 36 villagers were forced
to move with no compensation and farmlands were confiscated by the
authorities. "Whenever the Burmese authorities implement a project like
these, locals will be forced to move or forced to work on them," says the
message, pointing out that when the Mawchi mines, also in Karenni, were
opened, some 80 villagers were forcibly relocated.

In the case of the Lawpita power plant, it argues that all villagers living
close to the power lines supplying electricity to Rangoon and Mandalay will
be forced to act as guards. "This will be an extremely dangerous job, as
over 10,000 land-mines are laid within 20 miles of the power plant," it
says.

Since last year, reports have been circulating that Japan is considering a
grant of 3.5 billion Yen for the repair of the Baluchaung Hydroelectric
Power Station # 2 in Lawpita that was built 4 decades ago.

With regards to the NLD spokesman U Lwin's three conditions for extending
aid to Burma: Transparency, Accountability and Monitoring, a senior member
of the border-based Shan Women's Action Network has commented that the
stated terms fell short of the mark. "He must have forgotten the main
prerequisite: the consent of the local populace", she says.
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