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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- January 31, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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Dow Jones - Southeast Asia Liberalizes
Investment Between 7 Nations
AP - Amnesty officials meet with Suu Kyi in
breakthrough visit to Myanmar
AP - Myanmar's foreign trade dropped in 2002
AFP - Thai army commander departs for Myanmar
visit
Asian Tribune - Inside Burma: Two NLD members
imprisoned after exparte hearing.
Asian Tribune - U.N. Spotlights Child Soldiers
in Burma, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Colombia and other countries.
Asian Tribune - Burmese Army: SHRF Report -
cataloguing acts of Violence ? an Elegy
Asian Tribune - Karen President Saw Ba Thin Sein
appeal to all Karens peoples to build unity.
BBC - Burma's Suu Kyi meets rights
group
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Friday January 31, 1:13 PM Southeast Asia Liberalizes Investment Between 7 Nations By Tom Wright, Dow Jones Newswires JAKARTA -(Dow Jones)- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, said Friday it has accelerated plans to reduce barriers to investment in manufacturing between seven of its members. The 10-member Asean had planned to phase out all restrictions on manufacturing investment by 2010, but said in a statement it had decided at a meeting in Jakarta this week to bring the date forward to Jan. 1 this year. Seven of the group's members - Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore and Thailand - have agreed to the new timetable. Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam - Asean's poorest members - still have until 2010 to join the scheme. Asean manufacturing companies will now be treated as national investors when investing in the seven countries. Foreign investors, however, will still face restrictions. The agreement doesn't cover financial and other service industry investments. "The establishment of the Asean investment area is expected to encourage investors to think increasingly in regional terms and adopt a regional investment strategy," the statement said. Asean's economic prospects are increasingly challenged by the rise of China as a major destination for investment. Global capital is now pouring into China, which has a market of 1.2 billion people, depriving Asean of the kind of investment that funded its runaway growth in the 1990s. Southeast Asian countries are hoping to challenge China by creating a combined market of its 500 million people. Still, attempts to create an Asean Free Trade Area, or Afta, have fallen short of expectations due to national pressures to protect jobs. Afta officially began this year, but countries have chosen to exclude a number of major products from the list of goods that can pass freely through the region. Plans to liberalize investment in the region are also likely to come up against local protests, analysts say. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Amnesty officials meet with Suu Kyi in
breakthrough visit to Myanmar
Fri Jan 31, 4:08 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Two representatives of Amnesty International met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Friday in the first-ever official visit to Myanmar by the London-based human rights organization, diplomats said. Amnesty International has been a leading critic of Myanmar's military government on a range of issues, including suppression of democracy, political imprisonment, prison conditions, forced labor and extrajudicial executions. The group said last November that at least 1,200 political prisoners are in detention in Myanmar, formerly called Burma. The two Amnesty delegates, who arrived in Yangon earlier Friday, were seen driving into the lakeside residence of Suu Kyi, the first time the junta has allowed her to meet with such prominent human rights officials. Details of the talks were not immediately available. The Amnesty officials' visit has not been officially announced by either the government or the human rights group. A spokesman for the group in London would only confirm that visas had been issued for two of its delegates. A Myanmar government spokesman earlier this week declined any comment "at this stage." The two visiting representatives are Demelza Stubbings, Amnesty International's director for the Asia and Pacific Region, and Donna Guest, a researcher on Southeast Asia, said diplomats in Yangon, speaking on condition of anonymity. They said the two will meet representatives of both the government and the opposition, as well as other relevant people. Members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party have been frequent targets of government harassment and detention. Suu Kyi herself has often been under house arrest. She was released from 19 months of house arrest in May last year. Suu Kyi and the junta have been holding reconciliation talks since October 2000 but no tangible progress has been made. While Myanmar's junta has rejected most criticism of its human rights record, it has allowed visits in recent years by investigators from groups such as the International Red Cross, the International Labor Organization and the U.N. Human Rights Commission. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's foreign trade dropped in 2002
Fri Jan 31, 1:24 AM ET YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _
Myanmar's foreign trade dropped by nearly 16 percent in the first nine months of
2002 compared to the same period during the previous year, according to official
figures published Friday.
The statistics were calculated using the official exchange rate of approximately 6 kyat to the U.S. dollar. On the black market _ where most currency is changed _ the rate is about 1,100 kyat per dollar. Imports during the January-September 2002 period totaled 10.4 billion kyat, a 37 percent decline from the same period during the previous year. Exports totaled 15.3 billion kyat, up 10.35 percent from 2001. The total trade of 25.7 billion kyat represented a decline of 15.7 percent from 30.5 billion kyat during the same period in 2001. The figures only take into account legal trade, not the vast amount of illegal smuggling along the border with Thailand. Myanmar's economy was seriously mismanaged by the former dictator Ne Win, and continues to falter as the country, also known as Burma, struggles to attract foreign investment and trade because of its poor human rights record. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Friday January 31, 4:30 PM
Thai army commander departs for Myanmar visit
BANGKOK, Jan 31 (AFP) - Thailand's recently-appointed army commander General Somdhat Attanand departed for Myanmar Friday for a two-day familiarisation visit, the Thai army spokesman said. Army spokesman Colonel Somkuan Sangpattaranetr told AFP that Somdhat's schedule in Yangon would not be announced. "The main purpose of his visit is to introduce himself to his Myanmar counterpart (Maung Aye)," he said, adding that Somdhat had expressed a wish to meet all of his counterparts in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Myanmar and Thailand havee an occasionally rocky relationship, due both to a flourishing drugs trade on the Myanmar side of their border and regular dry-season border clashes between armed ethnic minority groups, and Myanmar's ruling military forces and allied ethnic groups. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra is scheduled to make his second visit to Myanmar as premier on February 9 and 10 and has said the drugs issue would be at the top of his agenda. Somdhat, who was promoted to army chief last August, was accompanied by top aides including army chief-of-staff General Veerachai Iamsa-ad, assistant chief-of-staff Lieutenant General Lertrat Ratanavanich and director-general of intelligence Major General Vaipot Srinual. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-01-31 Inside Burma: Two NLD members imprisoned after exparte hearing. The Rangoon North District Court sentenced Ma San San Maw and Ma Aye Ye Htay, Youth Wing members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) of Hlaingthaya Township for two years imprisonment. According to available report, about five months ago, Ma San San Maw and Ma Aye Ye Htay were standing in the queue to purchase their quota of 20 ticals of palm oil at the No 11 Ward, Hlaingthaya township distribution center. When their turn came, they were turned away despite there was oil in the drum, from which the distribution was being made. They requested the chairman of the township administration council to provide them their quota but were told that the remaining oil was ?reserved for the relatives who could not stand in the queue?. Some words were exchanged. The District PDC filed a complaint against the two NLD youth wingers in the District Court, alleging interference in the discharge of official duties. According to information, the case was heard exparte on the 23 January, and was sentences to two years of imprisonment. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-01-31
U.N. Spotlights Child Soldiers in Burma, Sri Lanka, Uganda, Colombia and other countries. New York, January 30: Governments and armed groups using child soldiers are under new scrutiny by the U.N. Security Council and must take immediate action to end child recruitment, Human Rights Watch said today. Following a full-day debate on children and armed conflict on January 14, the Security Council today adopted a range of measures demanding accountability from parties to armed conflict that recruit or use children as soldiers. ?Governments and armed groups using child soldiers have been put on notice,? said Jo Becker, Children?s Rights advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. ?The Security Council is demanding concrete progress in ending the use of children in war.? At the Security Council?s request, a report submitted at the end of 2002 by the Secretary General for the first time included an explicit list of parties to armed conflict that recruit or use children in violation of their international obligations. This list, limited to situations on the Security Council?s agenda, included parties to conflict in Afghanistan, Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Liberia and Somalia. The report also mentioned the use of child soldiers in several countries not on the Security Council?s agenda, including Burma, Colombia, Sri Lanka and Uganda. Today, the Security Council took several additional steps. It: # Stated that the Security Council and/or the Secretary General will enter into dialogue with parties to armed conflict that are recruiting or using child soldiers in order to develop ?clear and time bound action plans? to end the practice; # Called on parties to armed conflict named in a special annex to the Secretary General?s report (which includes 23 parties to armed conflict in Afghanistan, Burundi, the DRC, Liberia and Somalia) to provide information on steps they have taken to end the recruitment or use of child soldiers; # Requested the Secretary General to report by October 31 on progress made by parties to armed conflict that recruit or use child soldiers in violation of their international obligations. This progress report applies to both the five countries on the Secretary General?s annex and the other parties named in the Secretary General?s report, including Burma, Colombia, Sri Lanka and others. # Said it would consider additional measures, which it did not specify, in cases where insufficient progress is made. ?Governments and groups that fail to end the use of child soldiers should face clear consequences,? said Becker. ?The Security Council should use its authority to impose arms embargoes and other targeted sanctions against continuing offenders.? Human Rights Watch noted that while large-scale demobilizations of child soldiers have taken place in Sierra Leone and Sudan, children continue to be recruited and used in armed conflict in at least twenty countries around the world. Situations of particular concern include: # Burma, which is believed to have the largest number of child soldiers in the world. An investigation by Human Rights Watch last year found widespread forced recruitment of boys as young as 11 by Burma?s national army, as well as recruitment by armed opposition groups; # Northern Uganda, where over the past 15 years, the rebel Lord?s Resistance Army has abducted between 10,000 and 16,000 children from northern Uganda to serve as soldiers. Abductions have sharply increased in recent months as a result of a Ugandan military offensive against the LRA; # Colombia, where guerrilla and government-linked paramilitaries have engaged thousands of children in the country?s long-running civil war; and - # Sri Lanka, where the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam continue to recruit both boys and girls, despite numerous agreements to end the use of child soldiers. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-01-31 Burmese Army: SHRF Report - cataloguing acts of Violence ? an Elegy Shan Human Rights Foundation (SHRF?s) in its January 2003 monthly report conscientiously catalogued the acts of violence unleashed by the armed forces, as well as the sufferings undergone by the people in the Shan ethnic state in Burma. It is a can of woe, a sort of an elegy over the catastrophes and a documentation of atrocities faced by innocent people in the area. According to the comment: In Shan State, the rural populations, which are almost all farming communities, are the most vulnerable victims who have to suffer most under the oppressive rule of the successive Burmese military juntas. Since the military takeover of state power four decades ago, farmers are being forced to serve the military in many ways while their family members are being killed, raped and otherwise abused. In addition to having to sell their rice on a quota basis at a very low rate, they have to serve as unpaid porters during military operations; provide forced labour in virtually all other activities ranging from catering to the Burmese soldiers? personal needs, fetching water and firewood for military camps etc., to building and maintaining infrastructure such as roads, bridges and military camps etc.. Farmers, however, had managed to more or less fulfill these unfair duties up until during the 1990s when the military junta started forcing them to grow crops for the military. In doing so, the military not only demand more forced labour from the farmers but also lands on which to grow the crops. A lot of land has also been confiscated from farmers for various other reasons, including for building military infrastructure. As the military are expanding in Shan State, more and more land is being confiscated. There are several instances of land confiscation in this month?s newsletter. In some cases the land was then just leased or sold back to the original owners. Farmers Forced To Grow Winter Crops For The Military In Sen ?Wi Starting from 1 January 2003, SPDC troops went to the farmers and forced them to start cultivating the winter crops even though many farmers had not yet finished harvesting their rain crops. In some places farmers were forced to divert water into the fields where rice had not been harvested, destroying their crops, and in some places the military simply confiscated those crops. According to information, it became apparent that since November 2002, farmers in Sen-Wi Township are forced to grow rice by the SPDC authorities during the cold season, even before farmers could harvest their rainy season crops thus causing losses to many of them. Farmers are normally threatened with land confiscation if they refused, and some who tried to delay until they finished harvesting their rain crops were harassed, their crops confiscated, and even beaten. In November 2002, the SPDC military authorities in Sen-Wi announced that there are 13,000 acres of rice fields in the township, and at least 1,700 acres are to be used in growing winter rice for the military. Only a certain kind of rice called ?Shin Shweli No. 527? was to be grown and the seeds to be bought only from the military, at the rate of 1,500 kyat per kilogram. In Zae Oo village tract, when SPDC troops from LIB346 forced the farmers to divert water into their rice fields, some farmers who begged for a few more days to complete harvesting their crops were severely beaten up by the troops. Displaced Mother and Child Killed. On 11 December 2002, in the outskirts of Lai-Kha town, Lai-Kha Township, a woman was raped and killed together with her 3-year-old son by an SPDC soldier from IB64 at the edge of a rice field. Naang Htun Nae, aged 20, was originally from Wan Pang village in Wan Heng village tract, Lai-Kha township, which had been forcibly relocated to the outskirts of Lai-Kha town in 1997 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops. Naang Htun Nae, a widow, in October 2000, when in October 2000, her husband was shot dead by SPDC troops, leaving her and her 1-year-old son to fend for themselves. On the day of the incident, Naang Htum Nae took her son with her when she went to gather wild vegetables near a rice field outside Lai-Kha town relocation site. There she was forced by an SPDC soldier and was raped by him. It was reported that she shouted at the top of her voice whilst being mercilessly raped by the said SPDC soldier. It is said that villagers, a few of them who happened to be in the area looking for their cattle heard her voice. One villager, who got close enough to the scene of the violence, recognized the SPDC soldier who was raping Naang Htun Nae, as Than Kyaw from Co.4 of IB64. As the soldier had a rifle with him, the villager dared not intervene and went back quietly to the relocation site and reported it to a community leader. Subsequently, when the community leader and some villagers went to the site of the incident, there was no sign of the soldier, but they found only the dead bodies of Naang Htun Nae and her son in a bush on the outskirt of the rice field, with clear signs that she had been raped. Although village and community leaders in the area reported it immediately to the SPDC military authorities at LIB515, they were only given money, 500 kyat and told to conduct a proper funeral for the dead. They were told that it was not possible to file a complaint, as no one really knew either who was the rapist or killer. Land Confiscation In Murng-Ton On 29 November 2002, the SPDC battalion commander of IB65 told the headman of Me Ken village tract, that some land would be confiscated from the people after the rice harvest and given to the Lahu people?s militia in the area to build their base. The land indicated was south of Me Ken village, along the main road and Nam Ken river, and comprised about 40 acres of rice fields, a betel nut farm and a vegetable garden close to a house, all belonging to the local villagers. When the villagers heard about it, they all went to the commander of IB65 and pleaded with him not to appropriate their lands, because they were their only means of livelihood, but he said that it was an order from higher-up and he could not do anything about it. The commander added that he was sympathetic with the villagers and that was why he had relayed the news in advance so that they would have time to prepare, and urged them to find new places because it was no use trying to cling on with their land. Displaced Villagers Beaten To Death At Forced Labor Site In Murng-Nai On 26 November 2002, at a railway forced labour site in Murng-Nai township, 2 displaced villagers who had been forcibly conscripted to work as laborers were beaten to death by SPDC troops from LIB518. In early October 2002, SPDC military authorities of LIB518 issued an order requiring villagers in Murng-Nai Township to provide forced labour in building a section of railroad, which was started the year before and yet not completed. About 20 villagers from each village at a time had to go and work in a shift for a stretch of 15-day. On the said day, Lung Zaw-Ti-Ka, male, aged 47, a sick man but he was forced to work by the SPDC troops. Lung Zaw-Ti-Ka became very tired after a few hours of hard work, he had to take frequently brief rest. At one point, while Lung Zaw-Ti-Ka was resting, an SPDC soldier, Cpl. Myint Hpe from Co.2 of LIB518, accused him and alleged that, as he was not willing to work for the army, he is feigning as a sick man. After the outburst he came and dragged him away. When they were gone a few yards, away from the other villagers, the soldier kicked him in the stomach and Lung Zaw-Ti-Ka dropped to the ground, kneeling. The soldier then picked up a stick and beat him on the back of his neck, killing him instantly. One of the villagers who were working nearby, Pa Nyo, female, aged 43, was so frightened by the gruesome sight that she fainted, and the soldier came over to her and beat her with the stick, accusing her too of trying to evade work. She received a blow in her neck. Pa Nyo too instantly died of the beating. Lung Zaw-Ti-Ka was originally from Ton Keng village in Mai Hai village tract, Murng-Nai Township. Pa Nyo was originally from Naa Maak Zang village in the same village tract. Both of them were among those who had been forced to move to the outskirts of Murng-Nai town in 1997 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops. Though many people witnessed the incident, It was reported that they were afraid to report or file a complaint with the SPDC authorities. Forced Labor And Extortion In Murng-Pan On 16 November 2002, Capt. Myint Zaw of LIB332 again ordered the people of Murng-Pan town to gather with traditional musical instruments to welcome the Secretary-1 of the SPDC, Gen. Khin Nyunt, who would come to preside over the (enshrining) ceremony of the pagoda, newly built after the model of the famous Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon and named after it as ?Shwedagon Pagoda-2?, at Loi Noi temple in Murng-Pan township. On the same day, people in Murng-Pan were also forced to cook and provide food for those who had been forced to gather at the said ceremony to welcome Khin Nyunt. Each town quarter was said to have been required to cook not less than 1 basket (bushel) of sticky rice grain. Meanwhile, earlier on 20 October 2002, Capt. Myint Zaw of the SPDC troops of LIB332 in Murng-Pan township forced the villagers of Ho Phaai Long and Huay Maak Phurng villages to cut bamboo and build fences around the military base. The fences were to be completed in 3 days, said the order. On the same day, SPDC troops of LIB520 acquired mini-tractors from Waeng Mai, Nyawng Kham, Nawng Long and Nawng Mai villages and forced them to transport rice from their base to the outpost camp at Nawng Lur village, Murng-Pan Township. A Food Peddler Raped In Kaeng ?Tung. On 9 November 2002, a petty food peddler, who was returning from a neighboring village after peddling food was raped on the way by 2 SPDC troops from IB226 between Wan Urm and Wan Lawn villages in Murng Khawn village tract, Kaeng-Tung township. The victim, Naang Kham Long (not her real name), aged 35, wife of Zaai Naam Dip (not his real name), was from Wan Urm village in Murng Khawn village tract and on the day of the incident had gone to sell her goods, a kind of Shan snack called ?khao saen?, at a neighboring village Wan Lawn in the same village tract. On her way back from Wan Lawn, carrying her goods on a shoulder pole, Naang Kham Long met the said 2 SPDC soldiers at a remote spot. The soldiers stopped her and dragged her into a bamboo grove on the side of the road and raped her, taking turns, until both of them were satisfied, and quickly left the place. When she got back home, Naang Kham Long related her plight to her husband and they reported it to their village community leader, who in turn reported it to the village headman. Finally they all went to file a complaint with the SPDC military authorities in the area. Although the authorities have listened to the case, no action was taken up to the time of this report. A Grass Gatherer Shot Dead In Lai-Kha On 1 November 2002, a villager who had gathered grass to feed his cattle was shot dead by a patrol of SPDC troops from LIB515 near Nam Tawng village in Wan Lur village tract, Lai-Kha township. Lung Paan, male, aged 55, from Nam Tawng village was sitting and resting near his village on his way back after gathering grass in a meadow, when a patrol of 6 SPDC troops from LIB515, led by Cpl. Than Lwin of Co.2, came and shot him dead. No one among the local villagers seemed to know why Lung Paan was shot dead by the SPDC troops. According to them, Lung Paan was just a simple farmer and on the day of the incident had gone out to gather grass to feed his cattle at home. Land Confiscation In Kae-See In November 2002, SPDC troops confiscated about 160 acres of cultivated land at Naa Kaang village (relocated) from the local farmers who had been forcibly relocated to Murng Nawng village relocation site in Kae-See Township 5-6 years ago. In mid 2001, SPDC troops that were stationed at Murng Nawng village told the villagers of Naa Kaang village, which had been forcibly relocated to Murng-Nawng relocation site since 1997 by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops, that they could go and cultivate their rice fields at their old village if they wanted. Since then, the displaced farmers had been cultivating their original paddy fields at their old village until November 2002 when they were told that from then on they would have to stop growing crops after their last harvest because the lands would be taken by the SPDC troops to grow their own crops. Vested Land Sold back To The People In Murng-Pan. On 17 April 2002, the SPDC battalion commander of LIB520 issued an order summoning all farmers from Nam Tern and Ho Lin villages, including 4-5 other villages in the surrounding area, to assemble at the LIB332 base, on 21 April 2002. On 21 April 2002, when the farmers assembled at the base, they were told by the military authorities that all their paddy fields would be bought over by the government therefore they should stop growing anything from then on. On 25 April 2002, after the concerned authorities had taken the measurements of the paddy fields, the farmers were told to sign a kind of an agreement, after which they had to give up their land. The land was on the western side of Murng-Pan town, spanning about 2-1/2 miles along both sides of the Larng-Khur -- Murng-Pan road and was about 264 acres in area. However, in November 2002, SPDC troops started to block the land into small plots and put them up for sale back to the locals. Each plot was about 20-yards square and was sold ranging from 20,000 kyat to 40,000 kyat per plot, depending on the location of the plot. The plot the closer to the main road fetched the higher price. Villagers Forced Provide Chicken Regularly In Larng-Khur Since May 2002, SPDC troops at Nawng Long village in Nawng Long village tract, Larng-Khur township have been forcing villagers in the area to provide information and chicken on a regular basis. A company of SPDC troops from IB99, stationed at the military camp at Nawng Long village used to force the people from the surrounding villages to report the situation in the area, including the movements of Shan resistance troops on a daily basis. Furthermore, villagers in the area have also been forced to provide chickens for that camp on a regular basis. Each village has to provide chicken every 5 days. Confiscated Land Leased Back To Former Owners In Larng-Khur Since May 2002, SPDC troops of LIB578 have been leasing lands they had confiscated more than 2 years ago, to their former owners to cultivate crops at the rate of 500 kyat per 1/4-acre per year, in Larng-Khur township. More than 2 years ago, SPDC troops of LIB578 had confiscated about 20-30 acres of cultivated lands near Nam Oon village in Nawng Long village tract, Larng-Khur township, to build their military base. After the military base had been built, however, there were still several acres of confiscated lands left unoccupied. The SPDC troops then told the former owners of the lands, that they could hire those lands at the said rate on a yearly basis if they wanted to grow crops such as rice, sesame and beans etc. as they used to do before. Since it was difficult to find new places to grow crops and they had no other means to make a living, the farmers had no choice but to lease their own lands to grow subsistence crops. Displaced Villagers Forced To Grow Crops Whole Year For The Military In Kun-Hing Since May 2002, SPDC troops of IB246 have been forcing people in quarter-3 of Kun-Hing town to grow one crop after another for them, the whole year round, leaving virtually no time for them to work for themselves, and causing many to flee to other places, including Thailand. There are about 300 households in quarter-3, most of which are displaced villagers from surrounding villages that have been forcibly relocated by the Burmese troops some years ago. These people were first required to cultivate maize for the military, from beginning to end. After that they were required to cultivate sesame for the military, and now they are being forced to grow a certain kind of bean. Each crop has to be taken care of from beginning to end solely by the villagers. Those who are not able to go for the forced labor are required to pay 500 kyat per day to the chairman of the quarter to hire someone else to go for them. 3 Displaced Villagers Killed In April 2002, 3 displaced villagers were arrested and taken away from Wan Phui village relocation site in Kun-Hing township by the SPDC troops and later found dead with their throats slit in a ravine near Ho Nam Pa Kaang village (relocated) in Kun-Hing township. The 3 villagers, Suay Pee (m), aged 46, Zaai Lam (m), aged 42 and Kum-Ma (m), aged 41 were originally from Haai Laai village in Haai Laai village tract, Nam-Zarng township, which had been forcibly relocated to Wan Phui village relocation site in Kho Lam village tract, Kun-Hing township, several years ago by the then SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) troops. It is said that, on the evening of the day of the incident, a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops, stationed at Kho Lam village, came and arrested the 3 men at their houses at Wan Phui village relocation site and took them away with them. They had since then disappeared until their relatives and fellow villagers found their bodies 3 days later. They seemed to have been pushed down into the ravine at the deserted village of Ho Nam Pa Kaang after their throats were slit. Forced Labor In Kyawk-Me In the year 2002, villagers of Pung Wo village in Pung Wo village tract, Kyawk-Me township, have been forced by SPDC troops from IB22 to collect firewood and fetch water for them on a daily basis. Each day, 4 villagers from Pung Wo village are required to go to the military camp near their village to serve the soldiers. In addition to other menial works, the villagers have to collect firewood and fetch water for the soldiers every day. During the year 2002, SPDC military authorities in Kyawk-Me forced the farmers in the township to sell their maize crop at the rate of 1,000 kyat per sack, said to be much lower than the market price. Quotas were set for the villages according to their sizes. Big villages were required to sell more and smaller villages sell less. Some farmers who could not meet the quotas found their livestock and property confiscated. Arrest And Detention Of Villagers In Phai-Khun In 2001, a 60-year-old woman was arrested and sentenced to 15 years in prison in lieu of her son who the SPDC authorities suspected of dealing in methamphetamines in Phai-Khun Township. According to the local people, the SPDC authorities in Phai-Khun accused Maung Nyo, male, aged 40, of dealing in illicit drugs and issued a warrant for his arrest. Maung Nyo was a villager of Khawng Ee village in Gyi Noi village tract, Phai-Khun Township. When the police went to arrest him at his house, Maung Nyo was not there, having fled before they arrived. The police, however, arrested Maung Nyo?s mother, Pi Sao, aged 60 instead of him. Later, it was known that an SPDC law court sentenced Maung Nyo?s mother for 15 years imprisonment. Sh was not defended by a lawyer when they case was heard. In the same year, a man named Kaw Lo, aged 46, was also accused by the SPDC authorities in Phai-Khun of using methamphetamines, and an order for his arrest was issued. Kaw Lo was a villager of Pi Kin village in Gyi Noi village tract, Phai-Khun Township, and he had already fled when the police came for him at his house. The police then arrested his 70-year-old father, U Yi, instead of him. It was later learnt that, U Yi was also sentenced to 15-year imprisonment by the same law court without any lawyer to defend him. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-01-31 Karen President Saw Ba Thin Sein appeal to all Karens peoples to build unity. Jan. 31: ?The Karen people have all the characteristics of a nation, but today they have been reduced to the status of a minority or an ethnic group. This is because the Karen people are not fully united.? Saw Ba Thin Sein President of the Karen National Union (KNU) said Saw Ba Thin Sein further emphasized: ?For the Karen people to regain the status of a dignified people, they must have unity. Only then, we will be able to struggle effectively for liberation from oppression. If there is no unity, there will be no strength. If there is no strength, we will not be able to achieve a State of the Karen People with self-determination. For that reason, all the Karen people must together build up unity? In his address on the 54th Anniversary of Karen National Revolutionary Resistance Day, which is celebrated today, KNU President Saw Ba Thin Sein, spoke as follows: Dear Karen Nationals, Officers and Men of the KNLA, Today is the 54th Anniversary of Karen National Revolutionary Resistance Day. The Karen people had struggled peacefully for liberation from all kinds of persecution and for recovering the State of the Karen people with self-determination. However, as the military forces under the Anti-Fascist People's Freedom League (AFPFL) encircled Insein Town, where the Karen National Union (KNU) leaders were based, and started attack on January 31, 1949, armed conflict between the AFPFL and the KNU started. The armed conflict was not started by the KNU. As the Karen question is a political one, the KNU has had dialogue on several occasions to resolve the problem politically, but there was no success, because successive regimes have invariably followed the policy of total annihilation by military means, without any consideration for a political solution. On several occasions, the KNU has repeatedly affirmed its policy of finding a solution through political negotiation, peacefully, for the institution of a State of the Karen People with equality, democracy and self-determination. As the position of resolving political problem politically is correct, we must continue to maintain it. For the Karen people to develop freely, they must have educational, health, economic and cultural freedoms, and the full rights of self-determination and democracy. If they do not have those freedoms and rights, the Karen people will become a dead people, even when they are physically surviving. For that reason, a State of the Karen People with self-determination is a necessary entity for the Karen people. The Karen people have all the characteristics of a nation, but today they have been reduced to the status of a minority or an ethnic group. This is because the Karen people are not fully united. For the Karen people to regain the status of a dignified people, they must have unity. Only then, we will be able to struggle effectively for liberation from oppression. If there is no unity, there will be no strength. If there is no strength, we will not be able to achieve a State of the Karen People with self-determination. For that reason, all the Karen people must together build up unity. For the establishment of our State with self-determination, we particularly need sympathy and support of the entire people, all the ethnic peoples and the democratic forces in the country, just as we need sympathy and support of the peaceful and democratic forces of the World. Our commanders and forces who have to fight on in the battlefield in self-defense, need to totally avoid anti-mass activities, because the SPDC generals, who are committing all kinds of human rights abuses and terrors, are falsely accusing the KNU and the KNLA as terrorist bandits and wreckers. One other thing I have to say is the narcotic drug problem. Just as the narcotic drug is endangering the World, we see that it is endangering the Karen people directly. We must resolutely fight against it, regarding it as the enemy that destroys the Karen people and blocking the Karen people's development. We must regard the fight against drug as our national task of today and act accordingly. In conclusion, on this day of the 54th Anniversary of Karen National Revolutionary Resistance, I would like to say "Let us pledge loyalty to those patriotic men and women, who have sacrificed their lives in the 54 years of struggle for freedom of the Karen people. Let us pledge to strive on, with unity, until freedom for the Karen people is achieved." --------------------------------------------------------------------
BBC - Friday, 31 January, 2003, 11:15
GMT
Burma's Suu Kyi meets rights group Two representatives from the human rights group Amnesty International have begun a landmark visit to Burma and met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. It is the first official visit by the group, which has consistently criticised Burma's military government for its human rights record. Burma invited Amnesty to visit as part of the government's efforts to convince the international community it is serious about improving its human rights record. But Mike Jendrzejczyck, of the campaign group Human Rights Watch, warned that the invitation could be a cosmetic gesture. "Clearly the Burmese government will use this for maximum publicity benefit, to try to demonstrate that it is co-operating on human rights when its' human rights record remains dismal," he said. There are also concerns that the two Amnesty representatives will not have enough time to make a thorough assessment, as they have only been granted visas for ten days. Little progress Hopes were raised of meaningful progress in Burma last year when the government released Aung San Suu Kyi from house arrest, but there has been little progress since. Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won 1990 elections by a landslide, but the military government ignored the result. The United States and European Union have imposed sanctions on Burma, which is isolated politically and economically. Amnesty International's representatives are hoping to speak to a range of people from the government and the opposition. But fears have been expressed for the safety of any Burmese people they interview, who could become targets for state harassment after the international observers leave. -------------------------------------------------------------------- |