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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- November 23, 2002.
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HEADLINES
------------------------------------------------------------------------ AFP - No decisions on Myanmar's drug
status : US officials
AP - Amnesty International urges
Myanmar to release prisoners of conscience
AP - U.S.: Myanmar Failed to Probe
Rapes
Bkk Post - New patrol to focus
on Mae Kok route
UN Wire - MYANMAR:
Government Announces Mass Prisoner Release
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Saturday November 23, 11:13 AM
No decisions on Myanmar's drug status : US officials (AFP) - US officials said no decisions had been made whether to downgrade Myanmar's status as one of the world's top drugs exporters, following a report that the military state could be taken off a US list of major narcotics producers. "It is under review. There has been a certain amount of progress," a senior State Department official said Friday on condition of anonymity. "Nobody has come to any conclusions about Burma and narcotics certification, but it is under review," said the official, using Myanmar's former name. State Department deputy spokesman Philip Reeker said later that President George W. Bush would make a final determination on Myanmar's status in the next few months. "I certainly couldn't speculate, as some have done in the press, on possible outcomes," he said. The Washington Post reported Friday that State Department officials were close to recommending Myanmar's removal from the list of major drugs producers, a move that would need to be reviewed by the White House. Myanmar has made strenuous efforts in recent times to prove that it is serious about eradicating opium production in the country, sending anti-drugs czar Colonel Kyaw Thein to Washington to meet senior US officials earlier this year. The United Nations said in August that opium production in Myanmar, the world's biggest producer of the drug in 2001, had declined to 828 tonnes in 2002 from 1,097 tonnes in 2001. US officials have long admitted privately that certain members of the military regime in Yangon are sincere about the anti-drugs drive, despite their fierce criticism of the government's record on human rights, economic management and political repression. James Kelly, the State Department's top policymaker for East Asia and the Pacific said in a major speech on Myanmar on Thursday that Yangon had continued to cooperate with the international community. "Over the past year, the area under poppy cultivation has declined by 26 per cent and opium production in the country as a whole is now less than one-quarter its level in 1996," he said. But he warned that "unfortunately, methamphetamine production, which strikes worst at Burma's Southeast Asian neighbors, has likely increased." Any decision to remove Myanmar from the major drug producers list would open the way to possibly significant anti-drugs funding. But it would likely be resisted by supporters of the embattled opposition of Aung San Suu Kyi in the US Congress and the non-governmental organisation community. Campaigners fear that the junta would showcase its new status and portray it as international acceptance of its rule. The issue came to the fore as a closed door meeting of analysts and policymakers on Myanmar went ahead in Washington. Panelists included Myanmar's ambassador to the United States, but dissident groups complained that no one from Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD) was invited to take part, though some party members were in the audience. Kelly said at the forum on Thursday night that signs of tentative progress in a UN-brokered government-opposition dialogue over the past six months stood out only because the country's plight was so "bleak." He granted the regime marginal credit for allowing Aung San Suu Kyi to travel, but savaged the Yangon junta's treatment of dissidents and handling of claims that its troops were involved in mass rapes. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Amnesty International urges
Myanmar to release prisoners of conscience
Fri Nov 22,10:39 AM ET LONDON (AP) - As Myanmar released some of its political prisoners, Amnesty International on Friday urged the military government to free an estimated 1,300 prisoners of conscience as well as taking steps to protect the right to freedom of _expression_ and association. In its reconciliation efforts with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's government been releasing political prisoners since last year, including 115 people released this week. It was the largest number of political prisoners to be released since the government began reconciliation talks with Suu Kyi in October 2000 following mediation by United Nations envoy Razali Ismail. Razali ended a five-day visit to Myanmar last week, saying he expects the government to free more than 200 political prisoners by the end of this year. "We welcome these releases but stress that they are long overdue, and must be followed by the unconditional release of other prisoners of conscience who have been suffering in Myanmar's prisons for too long," Amnesty International said in a statement. The London-based human rights group said among those already released "are individuals who have served six or more years for acts which would not be considered crimes under international law, such as talking to foreign journalists about torture of political prisoners." Amnesty International added that reports indicate that many of the prisoners recently released may have to serve the rest of their prison terms if they are arrested again and urged the Myanmar government to offer unconditional release and refrain from harassing prisoners after they are freed. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current group of generals took power in 1988 and called elections in 1990, but refused to hand over power after losing to Suu Kyi's party. Amnesty International estimates that at least 1,200 prisoners still in jail are prisoners of conscience who have been held for all or most of the last 13 years. "These include U Win Tin, a 72-year-old journalist, who has been sentenced, among other things, for allegedly trying to send information to the United Nations about poor prison conditions; Paw U Tun, also known as Min Ko Naing, a student leader whose sentence has expired, and U Win Htein, a senior National League for Democracy advisor, currently serving a sentence for arranging a press interview about torture and collecting information about a poor rice harvest," it said. The group said it is also concerned about the recent sentencing of two students, Khin Maung Win and Thet Naung Soe, to seven and fourteen years' imprisonment respectively, for staging a peaceful demonstration outside Yangon City Hall in August. Amnesty International said it considers the pair to be prisoners of conscience and urged the Myanmar authorities release them without conditions, "and to stop arresting people for peaceful acts of dissent." The United Nations initiated reconciliation talks between the government and its opponents in October 2000, but no progress had been achieved except for the piecemeal release of some 600 other political detainees, about half of them NLD members. The release of prisoners is a key demand of Suu Kyi, who was released from house arrest in May. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ U.S.: Myanmar Failed to Probe
Rapes
Fri Nov 22, 7:34 PM ET WASHINGTON (AP) - The Bush administration says the Myanmar government has failed to investigate charges that the country's soldiers engaged in "extensive, systemic use of rape" in Shan province, where anti-government forces operate. Assistant Secretary of State James Kelly accused the government of denying the allegations without an investigation. "The United States, in cooperation with other concerned nations, continues to press for a credible international investigation of these egregious human rights abuses," Kelly said. Kelly commented Thursday night in a speech in Washington. The State Department released the text Friday. On another subject, Kelly said the record of Myanmar, also known as Burma, against illicit drug trafficking continues to improve. "Over the past year, the area under poppy cultivation has declined by 26 per cent, and opium production in the country as a whole is now less than one-quarter its level in 1996," he said. However, he said, methamphetamine production, which strikes mostly at Myanmar's Southeast Asian neighbors, has likely increased. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Bangkok Post -
Saturday 23 November 2002
New patrol to focus on Mae Kok route Traffickers use river to beat police on land Subin Khuenkaew The 3rd Cavalry Task Force wants to deploy troops along the Mae Kok river following reports the drug trafficking route has shifted to the river. Task Force commander Col Wantip Wongwai said a request for force deployment along the 100km river was being dealt with. There were neither checkpoints nor patrol boats along the river that ran from the border district of Mae Ai to Muang district, he said. ``At least two checkpoints should be set up and two patrol boats deployed.'' According to a border military source, drug traffickers have shifted to the Mae Kok river as the land routes were no longer safe. ``They have always tried to outsmart us. ``They use two groups of villagers to inspect the route back and forth until they are sure it is safe,'' he said. ``But now we believe they are using the river route which is not being watched.'' The Mae Kok river originates in Mong Hsat, Burma, and runs through Mong Yawn, a drug base of the United Wa State Army in Burma, Thailand's Mae Ai and Muang districts in Chiang Mai and Chiang Saen district in Chiang Rai. The source said almost 40 long-tail boats shuttled tourists between Tha Ton pier in Mae Aye to Ban Kok Noi pier, and were believed to have been used to smuggle drugs. The tourists were unaware of the illicit activities, the source said, and no action had yet been taken as it would affect tourism. Millions of methamphetamine pills are expected to be smuggled into Thailand between now and the end of the year. The drugs are part of about 200 million methamphetamine pills which have been left scattered along the Burmese border in the wake of fighting between Burmese troops and rebel groups. About 60 million of them have been trafficked into the country, while less than 10 million were confiscated, the source said. ``Those drugs will flood the border soon. ``They need to release the drugs into the market as soon as possible. ``The quality will deteriorate after three or four months, and the prices will drop in relation to quality.'' ------------------------------------------------------------------------ UN Wire - Nov. 22,
2002
MYANMAR: Government Announces Mass Prisoner Release Myanmar's military government said yesterday that it had begun freeing a group of 115 political prisoners in what would represent the largest such release since the start of reconciliation talks with the opposition National League for Democracy. The mass release, which a government spokesman said had begun yesterday morning "in various parts of the country," was welcomed by NLD Welfare Support Committee official Ohn Myint, who said the opposition members "hope that more such releases will follow soon." The NLD added, however, that most of those set free had probably already completed their prison sentences (Agence France-Presse, Nov. 21). U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan said in a statement yesterday that he hoped "this first large-scale release will provide fresh momentum for the national reconciliation process" (U.N. release, Nov. 21). U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail, during his visit to the country last week, urged the country's ruling junta to free a total of 200 prisoners by the end of the year. AFP reports that the release could boost Razali's standing as he pushes for an end to four decades of military rule. More than 400 prisoners have been set free since Razali began his mediation efforts in October 2000. Diplomats quoted by AFP said that Myanmar's jails still hold an estimated 1,300 political prisoners. "This is welcome, but this is the kind of speed we had been hoping for before," said one diplomat in the capital, Yangon. "The problem is that they keep trying to do these gestures in the hope that they will deflect attention from the fact there's not been any political progress," he said, adding that the current group of freed prisoners did not appear to include high-level opposition members. "I don't think there are any MPs [members of parliament] among the group so it's not that significant," he said. The latest release followed U.S. criticism that the dialogue brokered by Razali had produced few results. "It appears as though not a great deal of progress was made, I have to say," U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs James Kelly said Tuesday. A spokesman for Myanmar's government disputed the statement, saying in a report last weekend that it was "simply not true that the talks have stalled" but that "such movement can only occur at a pace with which we are comfortable" (AFP). Opposition sources said about 50 of those released were NLD members. About 250 of the party's members are still believed to be in prison, while some 400 students are being held at various jails, according to the NLD. Law Students Sentenced For Leaflets Law student Khin Maung Win received a seven-year prison sentence yesterday for distributing anti-government leaflets at a university campus, according to his lawyers. He had reportedly been arrested Aug. 17 and tried in a special court at Insein prison, charged under the Emergency Provisions Act, which can be used against any alleged political or economic crime. Colleague and fellow law student Thet Naung Soe received a 14-year sentence on Nov. 5 (Aye Aye Win, Associated Press/Yahoo! News, Nov. 21). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ |