|
--------------------------------------------------------------------
BURMA RELATED NEWS
- October 22, 2002.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
HEADLINES
-------------------------------------------------------------------- AFP - Australia upgrades Philippines
travel warning in post-Bali review
AFP - Myanmar junta says ILO mission
visiting the country
AFP - UN rights envoy meets with
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi
AFP - China's Premier Zhu Rongji to
visit Cambodia for ASEAN summit
AFP - ASEAN leaders to ink tourism
pact to revive confidence after Bali
AFP - Myanmar report backs forced
labour charges against TotalFinaElf
AP - ILO mission visits Myanmar to
probe work conditions
AP - Myanmar, accused of forced
labor, welcomes latest ILO mission
Reuters - U.N. rights envoy meets Suu
Kyi in Myanmar
Reuters - TotalFinaElf(TOTF.PA)
denies Myanmar rights abuses
Bkk post - PM urges calm after
warnings of attacks
Bkk Post - EU's stance known soon
Xinhua - ASEAN's demand for energy to
soar in 20 years
CNN - CNN - U.N. rights envoy to meet Suu
Kyi
The Nation
- Burmese gang held for trafficking drugs
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday October 22, 2:38 PM
Australia upgrades Philippines travel warning in post-Bali review (AFP) - The Australian government has warned citizens travelling to the Philippines of an increased terrorist threat as critics questioned the value of its official travel advisories in the wake of the Bali bombing. The upgraded warning, which a foreign ministry official said was based on new information, placed the Philippine capital Manila on Australia's official danger list for the first time. "Threats against Australians and Australian interests in the Philippines are high, given possible terrorist action and civil disorder," it said. "Further bomb explosions are possible across the country, including in Manila." The Philippines has experienced a wave of bombings in recent weeks, the most recent on Monday when a soldier was killed in Zamboanga, the same city where two bombs tore through shopping malls last week and killed seven people. Australian officials have reviewed travel advice across Southeast Asia since the Bali bombing, stung by criticism that they failed to pass on US warnings received by intelligence services that said westerners were likely to be targetted by terrorists in Indonesia. The car bomb in Kuta's nightclub strip killed at least 190 people, including more than 90 Australians. Since the blast, warnings about Indonesia have been revised four times and heightened risk alerts have been issued for Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Laos, Cambodia, East Timor and Myanmar. The latest advisory told Australians travelling to the Philippines they should exercise extreme caution, as well as avoiding tourist attractions and other areas "known to be frequented by foreigners such as clubs, restaurants, bars." It also warned against travelling to parts of Mindanao, in the country's south, "where insurgent groups are active". Muslim extremists accused of links to Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda terrorist movement are believed to operate in both Indonesia and the Philippines. Australian foreign affairs officials initially said the travel advisory for Thailand had also been upgraded, but later admitted the renewed advice was actually issued last week. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar junta says ILO mission
visiting the country
YANGON, Oct 22 (AFP) - An International Labour Organisation (ILO) team, which has condemned Myanmar for failing to eradicate forced labour, has arrived in the country, the military government said Tuesday. The junta said in a statement that the ILO mission which began Monday under the direction of ILO vice director-general Kari Tapiola would "assist and further develop Myanmar's labour practices". "We welcome this mission and pledge to assist and cooperate fully with the efforts of the ILO," said government spokesman Colonel Hla Min. Myanmar is widely condemned by the international community for its use of forced labour. A 1998 ILO inquiry found the practice was "widespread and systematic" and targeted ethnic minorities living in border regions. The ILO's newly appointed liaison officer in Yangon, Hong-Trang Perret-Nguyen, told the Myanmar Times this week that that while the government had taken important steps to eradicate forced labour, more needed to be done. "Some very important steps have been taken by the government, in terms of issuing orders, instructions and circulars, but those circulars and orders have to be complemented and supplemented by more specific instructions and then they have to be implemented," she told the semi-official weekly newspaper. "And there must be evidence that they are being implemented. We need to make some progress, to show some practical measures, before the next governing body meeting in March 2003," she said. Perret-Nguyen was appointed in September after the Geneva-based ILO and the junta agreed in March that the role would cover all activities related to ensuring the "prompt and effective" elimination of forced labour in Myanmar. The latest ILO mission to Myanmar comes as an international trade union organisation accused French energy giant TotalFinaElf of using forced labour in the country on projects linked to its Yadana gas pipeline. Separately, a French state prosecutor opened a landmark investigation last Thursday into claims by two Myanmar citizens that they were forced to work on the Yadana pipeline. -------------------------------------------------------------------- UN rights envoy meets with
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi
YANGON, Oct 22 (AFP) - United Nations human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro met Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday as part of his 11-day mission to the military-run country, witnesses said. Pinheiro, who arrived in Yangon last Thursday, has also held talks with leading members of the ruling junta including military intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Win Aung. Witnesses said he was seen arriving at Aung San Suu Kyi's lakeside residence by car, accompanied by his entourage including United Nations staff based in Yangon. Pinheiro has cancelled a three-day trip to Myanmar's Shan state which was due to begin on Tuesday. The junta had invited him to go there to investigate a report by two Shan women's groups based in Thailand who had alleged that the military used rape as a weapon of war. Myanmar activists welcomed his decision to scrap the plans, saying that the government would have stage-managed his trip and prevented him from speaking to victims. -------------------------------------------------------------------- China's Premier Zhu Rongji to
visit Cambodia for ASEAN summit
BEIJING, Oct 22 (AFP) - China's Premier Zhu Rongji is scheduled to attend a regional summit of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) forum, plus China, Japan and South Korea, Beijing said Tuesday. Zhu will be in Cambodia from November 1-4 for an official visit and will stay on for the summit on November 4-5 in Phnom Penh, foreign ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao said. The summit will bring together leaders from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam as China, Japan and South Korea. China, Japan and South Korea will hold a trilateral meeting on the sidelines of the summit, Liu said, declining to say whether they would discuss the issue of North Korea's nuclear weapons. Washington revealed last week that North Korea had admitted developing enriched uranium. Under growing international pressure, North Korea said Monday it was ready to remove US "security concerns" through dialogue, in its first reaction to Washington's announcement. "I think China, Japan and South Korea are countries with important influence in Asia and a meeting and exchange of views between leaders of the three countries is beneficial for the improvement of understanding," Liu said. "I think this time the leaders of the three countries will exchange views on issues of common interests, such as the development of Asia in order to reach consensus and improve understanding." -------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN leaders to ink tourism
pact to revive confidence after Bali
KUALA LUMPUR, Oct 22 (AFP) - Southeast Asian leaders will seal a tourism pact at their summit in Cambodia next month to revive confidence in the region following the bloody bomb blasts in Bali, a minister said Tuesday. The decision to deepen tourism cooperation among the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) was made two years ago but there was more urgency now following the Bali tragedy, said Malaysian Tourism Minister Abdul Kadir Sheikh Fadzir. "The leaders will sign an ASEAN tourism agreement in Cambodia. It will spell out the decision of all ASEAN countries to work together to promote tourism to the region and also intra-ASEAN travel," he told reporters. "We want to help each other in tourism, to encourage intra-ASEAN travel. Maybe the richer ASEAN countries will invest in hotel resort development in the not-so-rich ones. It's cooperation in the wider sense." The annual ASEAN summit on November 4-5 in Phnom Penh will bring together leaders from Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Singapore, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Heads of state or high-ranking officials are also expected from China, Japan, South Korea and India. The Bali bombing, which killed at least 190 people, was a huge blow to ASEAN's multi-billion-dollar tourism industry, already reeling from terrorism, kidnappings and the aftermath of September 11. The region has been hit by mass cancellations following the October 12 blast but tour operators say it is still premature to conclude that travellers are steering clear of the region. Many countries have however, cautioned their citizens against travelling to Indonesia following warnings by the US, Britain and Australia of possible new attacks, especially at tourism sites in cities and resorts. Australia and Britain have also issued travel advisories warning of heightened risk alerts in most ASEAN countries. Earlier, Abdul Kadir launched two tourism funds totalling 600 million ringgit (158 million dollars) to boost development in the industry in Malaysia, where it is the second top foreign exchange earner. He played down concerns over terrorism threats in Malaysia, which has detained 72 suspected Muslim extremists, some allegedly linked to the al-Qaeda terror network, since late last year. "Our theme to the world is 'Malaysia Truly Asia' -- that this is a moderate, liberal, multiracial, multicultural country where people live happily with one another," he said. "Statistics prove that we are one of the safest countries in the world. We will continue to work very hard but we have to anticipate problems because there wll be all sort of problems all the time. "Bali is just one thing but there will be other things -- the haze, economic recession which is even worse especially in countries which are our leading tourism targets. We must be quick to make changes." Abdul Kadir said the government sponsored some 600 tour operators and journalists on visits to the country each month for familiarisation tours and spent millions of dollars on advertisements overseas. An average one million tourists visit the country monthly, with gross receipts of two billion ringgit, he said. The government has set a target of 15 million tourist arrivals for 2003, he said. Some 10 million tourists visited Malaysia in the nine months to September, compared to 12.77 million in 2001. Abdul Kadir said the two new funds would provide loans to improve tourism products in the country to compete with emerging tourist destinations such as Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar. He said negotiations to set up a theme park with Hollywood giant Universal Studios were ongoing but declined to elaborate. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar report backs forced
labour charges against TotalFinaElf GENEVA, Oct 21 (AFP) - An international trade union organisation has accused French energy giant TotalFinaElf of using forced labour in Myanmar, in a report published on Monday. TotalFinaElf has vigorously denied the allegations by the International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU), which claimed the company paid Myanmar's armed forces to round up civilians and force them to work on projects linked to its Yadana gas pipeline. In a statement, TotalFinaElf said it rejected "all accusations concerning forced labour in Myanmar", and dismissed the report as "wild speculation or even pure lies". The firm said it had never had any "contract with Myanmar's army", adding that it had "complete control of the operations in Myanmar and has always respected the usual requirements with regard to people employed on company projects". The publication of the ICFTU report comes after a French state prosecutor opened an investigation last Thursday into claims by two Myanmar citizens that they were forced to work on the Yadana pipeline. It is the first time the company has faced an official French probe into its activities in Myanmar -- formerly known as Burma -- where it has consistently denied claims it uses forced labour. The prosecutor's office handling the case said on Monday the investigation -- which according to French law was opened against unnamed persons -- was focusing on allegations of kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment against an unnamed person or people. In the 350-page ICFTU report published Monday, witnesses testify that the Myanmar military increasingly forced civilians to work during the period from October 2001 through last month. According to the Union Federation of Burma, quoted in the report, civilians from at least 16 villages were forced this year to participate in building a road serving the pipeline. Beginning in April, families were often forced to work on the project but were told by authorities that they would be paid, the report said. In May, after learning that TotalFinaElf had paid the government for their work, labourers asked for their wages and were told their request would be transferred to "higher authorities", the report says. Months later, they are still waiting to be paid. Constructed in 1994-8 by an international consortium led by TotalFinaElf and US group Unocal, the Yadana pipeline transports liquefied gas from the southeastern Andaman sea to neighbouring Thailand. The French firm insists maps produced by France's National Geographic Institute prove that there has not been any displacement of villages as a result of the project. Numerous companies have left Myanmar or are on the verge of pulling out because of human rights concerns, according to ICFTU Myanmar expert Janek Kuczkiewicz. "Not TotalFinaElf," Kuczkiewizz said. The French oil group "agrees to sub-contract labour and hides behind a contract signed with the army", he added, while "shutting its eyes" to human rights abuses. The ICFTU report's submission to the International Labour Organisation (ILO) in Geneva on Monday coincided with the start of a two-day European Union foreign ministers' meeting that was due to discuss the situation in Myanmar. The organisation is campaigning for a ban on investment in the country, and says its researchers are preparing new evidence "of corporations profiting from one of the world's most oppressive regimes", to be released shortly. Forced army conscription and work in the opium poppy fields are on the rise, it says, along with violent attacks on trade union groups. "Multinationals such as TotalFinaElf have long maintained that there is no link between their investments in Burma and the growing use of forced labour," said Kuczkiewicz. "This new evidence poses real questions about the connections between multinationals, the Burmese military and the use of forced labour. The EU must act now." -------------------------------------------------------------------- Tuesday, October 22,
2002
ILO mission visits Myanmar to probe work conditions BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - The International Labor Organization has launched its latest mission to monitor work conditions in Myanmar, whose military government is frequently accused of using forced labor. A team headed by the organization's Vice Director General Kari Tapiola started work Monday, a statement by the junta's U.S. public relations firm, the DCI Group, said Tuesday. "We welcome this mission and pledge to assist and cooperate fully,'' the DCI Group statement said. It did not give details or say how long the mission will last. The mission "will assist and further develop Myanmar's labor practices,'' the statement said, quoting junta spokesman Col. Hla Min. "The Government of Myanmar is committed to a program of labor practices which comply fully with international norms.'' Myanmar has been under pressure from the International Labor Organization since November 2000 when the agency urged its 175 member governments to impose sanctions on the country and review their dealings with Myanmar to ensure they are not abetting forced labor. The labor organization and other international observers have long accused the Myanmar military of using unpaid labor on public works and forcing civilians to serve as army porters. In March, the junta signed an agreement allowing the organization to put a representative in Myanmar to ensure "the prompt and effective elimination of forced labor.'' Hong-Trang Perret-Nguyen, a Vietnamese citizen, was appointed to the position this month. Meanwhile, U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has been visiting the isolated country since late last week to investigate possible abuses. His 12-day visit was due to end next Monday.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar, accused of forced
labor, welcomes latest ILO mission
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar's military government, frequently accused of using forced labor, said Tuesday it would welcome the International Labor Organization's latest mission to monitor work conditions in the country. The Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence said the government has agreed to receive and cooperate with a team from the international group, but that no date has been fixed for its arrival. Speaking on condition of anonymity, an official said that an earlier government statement had incorrectly stated that the team began its work on Monday. That statement was issued by the junta's U.S. public relations firm, the DCI Group. ``We welcome this mission and pledge to assist and cooperate fully with the efforts of the ILO,'' the earlier statement said, quoting junta spokesman Col. Hla Min. It did not elaborate. Myanmar has been under pressure from the International Labor Organization since November 2000 when the agency urged its 175 member governments to impose sanctions on the country and review their dealings with Myanmar to ensure they are not abetting forced labor. The labor organization and other international observers have long accused the Myanmar military of using unpaid labor on public works and forcing civilians to serve as army porters. In March, the junta signed an agreement allowing the organization to put a representative in Myanmar to ensure ``the prompt and effective elimination of forced labor.'' Hong-Trang Perret-Nguyen, a Vietnamese citizen, was appointed to the position this month. Meanwhile, U.N. human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has been visiting the isolated country since late last week to investigate possible abuses. His 12-day visit was due to end next Monday. -------------------------------------------------------------------- U.N. rights envoy meets Suu
Kyi in Myanmar
By Aung Hla Tun BANGKOK, Oct 22 (Reuters) - A U.N. envoy, in Myanmar to investigate alleged rights abuses and spur political change, met pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Tuesday amid rising scepticism over an army pledge to loosen its grip on power. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, special human rights rapporteur for Myanmar, met Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi for the first time since her release in May from 19 months of house arrest. He said his talks focused on the prospects for dialogue between Suu Kyi and the junta, but made no comment on progress. The two sides have not talked since Suu Kyi's release, which had raised hopes for change. ``The mission is very successful in terms that the authorities are fully cooperative with my mandate,'' he told reporters after his meeting with Suu Kyi at her headquarters in Yangon. ``I think that is something positive.'' After a visit to Yangon earlier this month, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, said Suu Kyi was ``not very confident'' about the junta's promise to move towards democracy. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections but has never been allowed to govern by the military that has been in power for four decades. The military has repeatedly said it was moving towards democracy, but to prevent unrest the process could not be rushed. Pinheiro has already held talks with the junta's powerful intelligence chief, Khin Nyunt, and visited political prisoners in Yangon's notorious colonial-era Insein Prison. He arrived last week for his fourth visit, and has spent much of his time visiting political prisoners. He leaves on October 28 and will pay another visit in February. ``(Pinheiro) feels that the situation of the political prisoners has become better,'' a diplomat told Reuters. The junta invited Pinheiro to visit Myanmar to dispel several allegations of human rights abuses in recent weeks, including systematic rape by the army. Diplomats say Myanmar is desperate to improve its image and attract foreign investment to shore up its listing economy. But the United States and several European countries show no signs of lifting political and economic sanctions on the regime amid mounting allegations of human rights abuses. Washington criticised the ruling generals this month after a report from two minority rights groups said Myanmar troops had raped at least 625 girls and women between 1996 and 2001 in Shan state in the east of the country. On Monday, a body representing trade unions accused oil giant TotalFinaElf of knowingly profiting from forced labour imposed by the Myanmar army, an allegation the French company denied. Last week, pressure group Human Rights Watch accused the Myanmar military of widespread use of force to recruit an estimated 70,000 child soldiers. It said many of them had been forced to commit atrocities against ethnic minority civilians. -------------------------------------------------------------------- TotalFinaElf(TOTF.PA) denies
Myanmar rights abuses
By Tom Miles BRUSSELS, Oct 21 (Reuters) - A body representing trade unions on Monday accused oil giant TotalFinaElf (TOTF.PA)(TOTF.N) of knowingly profiting from human rights abuses in Myanmar, an allegation the French company denied. The 350-page report by the Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions (ICFTU) is not the first time an oil firm has been accused of wrongdoing in the resource-rich country. The report also alleged abuses by Myanmar troops. Many Western firms have stopped sourcing goods from Myanmar following pressure from human rights groups. The southeast Asian nation, formerly known as Burma, has been treated as a pariah by many Western countries for many years. ``The ICFTU has uncovered new proof that the oil giant TotalFinaElf directly and knowingly profits from forced labour imposed by the Burmese army on civilians,'' the ICFTU said in a statement. The military has ruled the country since 1962. TotalFinaElf flatly rejected the criticism. ``TotalFinaElf reaffirms that it has had complete control, from start to finish, of its operations in this country, and that it has taken into account the daily needs of people employed on its projects,'' the company said in a statement. It said it had provided electricity, medicine, schools and sponsored agricultural projects for the local population. TotalFinaElf has been in the spotlight already this year when Myanmar refugees in France and Belgium said they were taking the firm to court, alleging they were forced into hard labour for the company. The company has called it ``unimaginable'' that it could ever make use of forced labour. UNION CRITICAL The ICFTU statement on Monday said the report included allegations that forced labour was being used for road building and other infrastructure work connected to TotalFinaElf's Yadana pipeline operation. ``Multinationals such as TotalFinaElf have long maintained that there is no link between their investments in Burma and the growing use of forced labour,'' ICFTU Myanmar expert Janek Kuczkiewicz said in a statement. ``This new evidence poses real questions about the connections between multinational enterprises, the Burmese military and the use of forced labour,'' he said. The report's other allegations, unconnected with the oil firm, included accounts of the Burmese army attacking trade union facilities, looting migrants' food stocks and razing elementary schools, a hospital and a workshop for the disabled. It said it was common practice for the army to force people to march at the front of columns as ``human shields'' to protect the military against rebel ambushes. An ICFTU spokesman said most of its evidence, collected between October 2001 and last month, came from interviews and activists in Myanmar, notably members of underground trade unions. ICFTU said it had sent the report to the United Nations' International Labour Organisation. It also called on European Union foreign ministers, who are meeting in Luxembourg on Monday and Tuesday, to ban investment in Myanmar by EU firms. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post -
Tuesday 22 October 2002
PM urges calm after warnings of attacks Govt remains vigilant following bomb blasts Yuwadee Tunyasiri Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has called for calm following foreign news reports that Southeast Asia is a probable target for terrorist attacks. Mr Thaksin said he had received no verification of such reports from intelligence sources, but the government would remain particularly vigilant on security. The region has been on high alert since the Oct 12 bombing in Bali which killed almost 200 nightclub patrons, mostly Australians. Mr Thaksin denounced as unhelpful any unsubstantiated media report or wild speculation about sites prone to terrorist attacks. Instead, people should look out for each other and blow the whistle when threats were detected, he said. Particular security measures would be put in motion as soon as any threats were confirmed. ``Talking away amounts to nothing useful. ``It only fuels uncertainty, hurts public morale and dampens the investment and tourism climate,'' he said. Security at tourist attractions throughout Thailand and immigration procedures have been beefed up following the bomb blasts in Bali, Burma and the Philippines. Defence Minister Gen Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya said Thailand was not a target for terrorism, but no one should be careless. Additional security had been ordered for popular spots like Phuket, Samui Island, Songkhla's Hat Yai district, and Bangkok's Patpong and Khao San areas to protect foreign tourists from danger, he said. Supreme Commander Gen Surayud Chulanont said there was no need for fear as Thailand was not deemed a target and security agencies were working hard and constantly exchanging information with other countries. Military intelligence units were closely monitoring the situation and believed terrorist groups in the South had no links to terrorists in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore. Southern terrorists did not have the potential to launch severe sabotage attacks like in Bali, he said. An army source said the new Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo) had sent an open letter to Interior Minister Wan Muhamad Nor Matha via its website saying it would continue their fight against the government. The Internal Security Operations Command had opened the website to hit back at the Pulo, the source said. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Bangkok Post -
Tuesday 22 October 2002
EU's stance known soon Bhanravee Tansubhapol - Brussels The European Union will discuss the situation in Burma
this week before announcing its position by the end of the month.
James Moran, the European Commission's Director-General for External Relations, said the release of the National League for Democracy's leader Aung San Suu Kyi in May was not enough and the EU would announce its position on Oct 29. Winston McColgan, his deputy, added that EU would like to see real progress in Burma especially on the three parties' agreement between the National League for Democracy, ethic minorities and the State Peace and Development Council. ``The EU wants Burma to encourage the resolution,'' said Mr McColgan. Some EU officials want Burma to take some kind of action but if it has no further political change by 2004, the year in which Vietnam will host the Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem), the EU would oppose the entry of Burma to the grouping. Vietnamese ambassador in Brussels, Ton Nu Thi Ninh, said the first priority of the 2004 Asem in Hanoi was taking the remaining three Asean countries, Laos, Cambodia and Burma, into Asem. -------------------------------------------------------------------- ASEAN's demand for energy to
soar in 20 years
BANGKOK, Oct 22, 2002 (Xinhua via COMTEX) -- Over the next two decades, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations' demand for oil is expected to grow by 62.4 percent and that for natural gas by 29.7 percent, a study showed. According to a report released by a regional energy forum here Tuesday, the projection of the surge is based on the region's average economic growth of 4.9 percent a year in the period and the population growth to 592 million in 2020 from 450 million currently. ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippine, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam. As a result, demand for investments in energy industries in the region over next 20 years is estimated at 150 billion US dollars, with 88 billion dollars for power plants, 7 billion dollars for gas pipelines and the rest for renewable energy and other related business. In order to meet the rising demand for energy consumption in the region, the report urged ASEAN governments to attract more investments and push ahead trans-regional projects to enhance energy stability in the region. Currently, ASEAN relies on imports from outside for 60 percent of its oil demand, a level expected to grow sharply over next two decades, which places the region's energy stability at risk, it warned. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CNN - U.N. rights envoy to meet Suu
Kyi
Tuesday, October 22, 2002 Posted: 0757 GMT BANGKOK, Thailand (Reuters) -- A U.N. envoy is due to meet pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi amid rising skepticism over an army pledge to loosen its grip on power. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, special human rights rapporteur for Myanmar, will meet Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi for the first time since her release in May from 19 months of house arrest, an official of Suu Kyi's party told Reuters. Pinheiro is in Myanmar to probe alleged human rights abuses and spur political change. The talks are likely to focus on the prospects for political dialogue between Suu Kyi and the junta. The two sides have not talked since Suu Kyi's release, which had raised hopes of political change. After a visit to Yangon earlier this month, Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer, said Suu Kyi was "not very confident" about the junta's promises to move towards democracy. Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections in Myanmar, but has never been allowed to govern by the military that has been in power for four decades. Pinheiro has already held talks with the junta's powerful intelligence chief, Khin Nyunt, and visited political prisoners in Yangon's notorious colonial-era Insein Prison. The Brazilian academic, who arrived last week for his fourth trip to Myanmar, had met Suu Kyi during his earlier trips. He leaves on October 28. "(Pinheiro) feels that the situation of the political prisoners has become better," a diplomat told Reuters. Human rights abuses The junta invited Pinheiro to visit Myanmar to dispel several allegations of human rights abuses in recent weeks, including systematic rape by the army. Diplomats say Myanmar is desperate to improve its image and attract foreign investment to shore up its listing economy. But the United States and several European countries show no signs of lifting political and economic sanctions on the regime amid mounting allegations of human rights abuses. Washington criticized the ruling generals this month after a report from two minority rights groups said Myanmar troops had raped at least 625 girls and women between 1996 and 2001 in Shan state in the East of the country. On Monday, a body representing trade unions accused oil giant TotalFinaElf of knowingly profiting from forced labor imposed by the Myanmar army, an allegation the French company denied. Last week, pressure group Human Rights Watch accused the Myanmar military of widespread use of force to recruit an estimated 70,000 child soldiers. It said many of them had been forced to commit atrocities against ethnic minority civilians. -------------------------------------------------------------------- The Nation
Burmese gang held for
trafficking drugs
Published on Oct 22, 2002 Police said yesterday they had seized 100,000 methamphetamine tablets and arrested four Burmese nationals on charges of drug smuggling in Chiang Rai. The pills, which were offered to a police informant for
Bt2.2 million, had a street value of Bt10 million, police told a press
conference yesterday.
The suspects- three men and a woman - were arrested in Mae
Chan district after they delivered the drugs to a policeman disguised as a drug
dealer. The speed pills were wrapped in foil to hide the drug's smell.
Meanwhile in Singapore, a 41-year old Thai woman was
arrested at Changi Airport for attempting to smuggle 4,000 "ya-ba" pills in her
running shoes, Agence France-Presse reported yesterday. Police found the tablets
concealed inside the soles of the shoes after putting them through an x-ray
machine.
-------------------------------------------------------------------- |