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BURMA RELATED NEWS
- February 02, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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Reuters - Myanmar appoints general to
replace crash victim
AP - Myanmar junta fills major post,
ousts two ministers
AP - Myanmar's foreign investment
declines
The Guardian - Burma nightmare
Bkk Post - Somdhat back from
`overwhelming' trip
The Nation - GAMBLING: Punters switch
to Burmese island
Asian Tribune - Burmese junta keeps
an eye closed, as forceful Wa relocation continues with their
blessings.
Mizzima - Asian Development Bank to
promote agricultural devlepment in Greater Mekong Subregion
-------------------------------------------------------------------- Myanmar appoints general to
replace crash victim
YANGON, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government said on Sunday it had appointed a senior army officer to one of the top positions on its ruling council to replace a general killed in a helicopter crash two years ago. The State Peace and Development Council said in a declaration carried in state newspapers it had appointed Lieutenant-General Soe Win to the post of Secretary Two. The position, the fourth most senior post in the council, was previously held by Lieutenant-General Tin Oo who was killed in a helicopter crash in February 2001. No reason was given as to why it took two year to replace Tin Oo. Diplomats in Yangon said Soe Win's position was chiefly an administrative one and his appointment would have no impact on stalled dialogue between the junta and pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Soe Win, who is belived to be in his mid-50s, became a member of the secretive council in 1997, while serving as commander of the North West Command. He was appointed chief of air defence in a shake-up in 2001. The council is headed by an all-powerful triumvirate of its chairman, Senior General Than Shwe, 70, Vice Chairman, Senior General Maung Aye, 66, and Secretary One, General Khin Nyunt, 64. Than Shwe is armed forces commander, Maung Aye is army commander and Khin Nyunt is the head of military intelligence. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar junta fills major post,
ousts two ministers
Feb 01 9:35 PM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Myanmar's military junta has filled the fourth most powerful position in its ruling council and ``permitted to retire'' two of its ministers, state-run newspapers said Sunday. Maj. Gen. Soe Win, a former field commander and air force chief, took the post of secretary two which has been vacant since the death of Lt. Gen. Tin Oo in a helicopter crash nearly two years ago. The New Light of Myanmar also announced that Khin Maung, minister of finance and revenue, and Health Minister Maj. Gen. Ket Sein were ``permitted to retire,'' a common euphemism for being ousted from their posts in the 13-member State Peace and Development Council. Deputy Health Minister Dr. Kyaw Myint was appointed as the new health minister and Maj. Gen. Hla Tun took the finance portfolio. No explanations for the moves, which went into effect Saturday, were provided in the official press. The Cabinet reshuffle also saw Railways Minister Pan Aung moved to the ceremonial post of minister of the Prime Minister's Office, with his post filled by Maj. Gen. Aung Min. Soe Win, the former commander of Myanmar's northwest region, was appointed air defense chief in November 2001 and has been a member of the council since February 2001. Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962. The current hierarchy came to power following the brutal suppression of a pro-democracy uprising in 1988. The junta has released a number of political prisoners in recent months and is engaged in a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. But there has been little progress in the talks and the military maintains its four-decade-long grip on power. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar's foreign investment
declines
Feb 02 0:38 PM
ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Foreign investment approvals in Myanmar dropped nearly 11 percent in the first nine months of 2002, according to statistics published by the government. The Ministry of National Planning and Development said the investment declined to US$45.5 million during the January-September period from US$51 million in the same period a year earlier. The bulk of the investment _ US$44 million _ was from four contracts from Malaysia for oil and gas exploration. The remaining US$1.5 million investment was made by a Hong Kong company in the manufacturing sector, the ministry said in a report seen Sunday. It gave no details. All four Malaysian contracts were signed in August 2002 during the visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Malaysia is currently the fourth-largest investor in Myanmar after Singapore, Britain and Thailand. Local analysts say the low foreign investment inflows in Myanmar are a result of red tape and slow progress in free market reforms. --------------------------------------------------------------------
The Guardian
Burma nightmare
Sunday February 2, 2003 The Observer It was extremely disappointing to see Burma featured as a 'Dream Destination' (Observer Travel, last week). Burma's embattled democrats, led by Aung San Suu Kyi, have pleaded with foreign tourists not to visit their country. The reasons they give are compelling. You did not mention the people whose homes have been destroyed to build the hotels, whose children break stones by hand to build the roads you'll travel on, or the millions who have been pushed out of cities to beautify them for your pleasure. Dream? Nightmare more like. Glenys Kinnock, MEP
Brussels --------------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Sunday
02 February 2003
Somdhat back from `overwhelming' trip Wassana Nanuam Bangkok and Rangoon have pledged to be good friends and give full cooperation to each other, said Army commander Gen Somdhat Attanand. ``From now on we will cooperate with each other closely and we will not allow anyone to interfere and cause misunderstandings,'' the army chief said after returning from a two-day visit to Burma. He met high-level Burmese officials including Gen Than Shwe, Burmese prime minister and chairman of the State Peace and Development Council. ``I was overwhelmed that Gen Than Shwe agreed to meet us,'' said the army commander, who was accompanied by Gen Vichit Yathip, the army's chief adviser and Gen Veerachai Iamsa-ard, the army's chief-of-staff, and Lt-Gen Lertrat Rattavanich, the army's deputy chief of staff. Gen Than Shwe said Rangoon was prepared for Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn's visit in March. Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, first secretary of the SPDC, was in charge of preparations for the March 10-14 visit. Gen Than Shwe also told troops along the border to provide security when Her Majesty the Queen visits border villages this month and next, he said. Gen Maung Aye, the Burmese army chief, insisted that Burma was serious about its plan to stamp out drugs by 2014. Gen Somdhat said Rangoon also asked Thailand to stop the trafficking of drug precursors into Burma. --------------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
IN BRIEF GAMBLING: Punters switch to Burmese island Published on Feb 2, 2003 Thousands of gamblers have flocked to Burma's Andaman Club on Koh Son for the Chinese New Year, abandoning casinos in Cambodia following the anti-Thai riots in Phnom Penh. More than 1,000 tourists were booked into all 205 of Andaman Club's rooms, and 20 tourist buses arrived at the island off Ranong's coast yesterday morning. - The Nation. A gambler who wished to be identified only as Pornsri said his friend and he usually went to gamble at Sa Kaew near the Cambodian border. But after the riots, they gathered between Bt300,000 and Bt500,000 to gamble for three days and booked a room at a Ranong hotel. The operator of Andaman Club said rooms had been booked for the Chinese New Year since last year. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-02-02 Burmese junta keeps an eye closed, as forceful Wa relocation continues with their blessings. By K.T.Rajasingham The forceful relocation program of the entire Wa population from their hereditary homeland near the China border to the Southern Shan state torturously continues up to date. It is alleged that Burmese military junta authorized this massive relocation program of moving out forcefully 126, 000 men, women and children over a distance of 400 kilometers to Eastern Shan state located south to the Thai ? Burma border. People are herded in trucks, and also forced trek on foot to cover 400 km to Shan state. The pathetic sight according sources coming from the border is both deplorable and condemnable. Almost a year after the Wa relocation program started in 1999, it had been interrupted by border tensions as well as international pressure against Panghsang, the Wa capital, it has recently been resumed by the Wa leadership, said sources coming from the border. The first wave of the year, some 300 people, arrived at Nakawngmu, 26 miles (42 km) from the Chiangmai border, on 14 January. "They were later forwarded to Mongjawd (20 miles in the west), where the headquarters of Special Brigade #171 has been chosen to move," said a source from the area. The 171th HQ is at Hwe Aw, 6 miles south of Nakawngmu. Its nominal commander is Wei Hsuehying, younger brother to Wei Hsuehgang, who is wanted both in Thailand and the United States on drug charges. Its planned relocation to Mongjawd, however, is yet to be confirmed by other sources. "It appears the Rangoon trusts no Wa units other than Wei's 171th to help watch Burma's frontiers," commented a Thai security official. According to ?Time,? magazine, 16 December 2002 issue, quoting Bao Yuqiang, the Wa leader, the resettlement of 100,000 Wa from the Chinese border in the north along the Thai border in the south, is to be completed within 2-3 years. A report by the Lahu National Development Organization, Unsettled Moves, however, says the actual number of people resettled had already exceeded that figure by the end of 2001. Earlier, On 16 January 2000, Khin Maung Myint, Liaison Officer for the United Wa State Army, announced that the Wa leadership had begun a three-year project of relocating ?50,000? of their people from the Chinese border in the north to the Thai border in the south. Some media attention was given to this initial announcement, but there has since been almost no international coverage of the Wa resettlement program, which has been continuing up until today. Eastern Shan State, like most of Burma?s border areas, is largely sealed off to the outside world, and as a result, this massive population transfer and its accompanying abuses have been affected in virtual secrecy. Subsequently, in April 2002, the Lahu National Development Organization published a well-documented report, ?Unsettling Moves? exposing the Wa forced resettlement program in the Eastern Shan State. This report is an attempt to expose the effects of the move on the Wa settlers themselves, as well as on the local populations in southern Shan State into whose areas they were settled. Clearly, the move has fomented ethnic tensions between the Wa and other indigenous peoples in eastern Shan State, such as the Lahu, Akha and Shan. The aim of this report is not to exacerbate these tensions, but rather, by exposing and analyzing the current problems, to emphasise the need for a political solution that will enable the various ethnic peoples to live alongside each other in equality and peace. According to the preface, ?The report has been based on numerous interviews conducted with Wa, Shan, Akha and Lahu villagers along the Thai-Burma border between June and December 2001. Due to lack of official data from the Wa authorities, and due to the ongoing nature of the resettlement, the report is necessarily incomplete. However, the urgent need to expose to the outside world what has been happening has compelled us to publish this report using the data available.? Sao Maha Sang, Chairman, Wa National Organization (based on the Thai-Burma border) in his additional preface recorded, ?This report provides an insight into the sufferings being faced by the peoples of Eastern Shan State: the Shan, Wa, Lahu, Akha, Palaung, Lisu and Kachin. The Burmese military regime has granted no freedom of the press, and no freedom of movement, so it is hard to know what is really happening in this area. Clearly, there can never be real peace while one ethnic group is oppressing another. Only if the real facts are exposed to the people of Burma and the rest of the world, will it be possible to find a cure to the suffering. I believe this report is an important first step in the search for a way to live together in peace. The Executive summary of ?Unsettling Moves? the report on the Wa forced resettlement program in the Eastern Shan State is given below: This report estimates that since the end of 1999, over one quarter of the entire Wa population have been forcibly resettled from their homes near the China border to southern Shan State. Authorized by the Burmese military junta, the United Wa State Party (UWSP) has sent approximately 126,000 men, women and children by truck and on foot over 400 kilometers south to the Thai-Burma border. Both the UWSP and the junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), have officially stated that the mass Wa resettlement program is aimed to eradicate opium production by enabling villagers to grow alternative crops in the more fertile lands of southern Shan State. However, evidence in this report shows that the resettled villagers are planting new opium fields, with the support of SPDC and UWSP officials. While it is clear that this resettlement program has little to do with drug eradication, the real motives have yet to be confirmed. This report speculates that the UWSP has carried out the program to gain territory and economic advantages from border trade into Thailand and Laos. It is speculated that the SPDC are carrying out their usual divide-and-rule strategy: pitting the UWSP against the Shan resistance in southern Shan State, and using the UWSP as a proxy army against neighboring countries; not to mention dividing the Wa themselves. Wa sources also state that financial benefits for individual SPDC leaders have facilitated the move. Whatever the rationale for the resettlement, this report clearly documents the forced nature of the program and the abuses inflicted not only on those resettled but also on the villagers in the south who lost their lands to the new arrivals. The resettled Wa came from six townships in the northern Wa area, as well as inside China?s Yunnan province. Some were given no warning whatsoever before the move, and all were forced to abandon most of their possessions. Most were herded into trucks to travel south, but many were forced to walk through mountains, taking over two months. Some died en route. On arrival in the south, the villagers were settled mainly around existing villages in the townships of Mong Hsat, Mong Ton and Tachilek, lying opposite Thailand?s Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai provinces. Upon arrival, the villagers were given rice by the UWSP but, unused to the new surroundings, many fell ill. It is estimated that over 4,000 people died, of malaria and other diseases, during the year 2000 alone. The lives of the original inhabitants of these areas, mainly Shan, Lahu and Akha, have been gravely disrupted. Their lands and property have been seized by the newcomers, and they have had to face abuses committed by both SPDC and UWSP troops. This report estimates that the number of original inhabitants affected by the resettlement program is approximately 48,000. Of these, it is estimated that at least 4,500 have fled to other areas of Shan State, while another 4,000 have fled to Thailand. These Shan, Lahu and Akha villagers have no access to refugee camps where they can access protection and humanitarian assistance. 1. The SPDC and the Wa authorities must end immediately the forced resettlement of villagers from northern to southern Shan State. Villagers who wish to return to their original homes in the north must be allowed to do so without penalty. 2. Land and property seized by the new settlers from villagers in southern Shan State must immediately be returned to their original owners, and these villagers must be allowed to return to their homes and continue their former livelihoods without further harassment. 3. Foreign governments and UN agencies should stop all support to the regime for drug control programs in Shan State, as their support makes them complicit in the human rights abuses being inflicted on local peoples in the name of drug eradication. Conclusion and recommendations of the report is given below: The LNDO has found that the Wa resettlement program has involved serious infringement of the rights of the estimated 126,000 villagers resettled as well as approximately 48,000 villagers into whose areas they were moved. The villagers resettled were given no choice about the move. Particularly for older people, it was devastating to have to leave their ancestral lands, and their customary livelihoods. Not only was the move forced upon them, but some villagers were even given no warning whatsoever before the move. This led to unnecessary suffering, and to some families being involuntarily separated. All the villagers were forced to abandon most of their belongings. The movement of villagers en masse by truck and on foot caused physical suffering, sickness and even death. On arrival in the south, although the settlers were given basic rations for survival, no proper provision was made to prevent and treat the epidemic of malaria that ended up taking thousands of the newcomers? lives. Medical and educational facilities remain inadequate, and, significantly, villagers are continuing to be allowed, and even encouraged, to grow opium by the Wa authorities. This makes a mockery of the original rationale for the forced resettlement. The villagers into whose areas they were moved have had their land and property unlawfully seized. They have also faced arbitrary taxation and other abuses, which has made it impossible for many of them to carry out their former livelihoods. Over 8,000 people have been therefore been forced to relocate to other areas of Shan State or flee to Thailand as refugees. In Thailand, current government policy has denied them the right to protection or humanitarian assistance. It is clear that the current lack of democracy and rule of law throughout Burma, particularly in the ethnic border areas, is the main factor that has enabled such a resettlement program to take place without respect for the rights of those affected. The LNDO thus calls for international pressure to be maintained on the Burmese military junta to immediately enter into tripartite dialogue with the democratic Burmese and ethnic opposition to bring about a speedy transition to democracy and self-determination for the ethnic peoples of Burma. In the meantime, the LNDO calls for the following: 1. The SPDC and the Wa authorities must end immediately the forced resettlement of villagers from northern to southern Shan State. Any villagers who wish to return to their original homes in the north must be allowed to do so without penalty. 2. Land and property seized by the new settlers from villagers in southern Shan State must immediately be returned to their original owners, and these villagers must be allowed to return to their homes and continue their former livelihoods without further harassment. 3. Foreign governments and UN agencies should stop all support to the regime for drug control programs in Shan State, as their support makes them complicit in the human rights abuses being inflicted on local peoples in the name of drug eradication. ?Unsettled Moves,? - The Wa forced resettlement program in the Eastern Shan State can be visited at http://www.shanland.org/shrf/Wa/contents.htm. --------------------------------------------------------------------
Asian Development Bank to
promote agricultural devlepment in Greater Mekong Subregion
February 1 , 2003, Mizzima News The Working Group on Agriculture(WGA), one of the most prominent bodies working on the development of the agricultural sector in China and the south east Asian countries, has decided to step up its activities. The decision was taken at a meeting held at the Asian Development Bank (ADB) headquarters yesterday, according to a press release of the ADB. The WGA, a forum for identifying and implementing prioriteis for subregional projects, is a part of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) Programme of Economic Cooperation. Cambodia, Yunnan Province of the People's Republic of China, the Lao People's Democratic Republic, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam form the GMS. "Agriculture and agribusiness development are crucial to providing the productive employment needed to reduce poverty," Rajat Nag, Director General of ADB's Mekong Department, told the meeting, which concluded yesterday. Most of the GMS' poor depend on agriculture for their livelihood. Agriculture accounts for 49% of employment in Thailand and 70%-80% of employment in other GMS countries. The meeting was attended by senior officials from the GMS countries and representatives from more than ten international organisations including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Agence Francaise de Developement, the International Rice Research Institute, the World Fish Center, the Asian Vegetable Research and Development Center, the International Livestock Research Institute, and the Mekong River Commission. The main objective of the group is to further poverty reduction in the GMS through partnerships with rural communities to promote agricultural trade, food security and sustainable livelihoods. In the future, it will meet at least once a year to encourage cooperation in addressing common challenges, including weak national policy and regulatory frameworks which distort incentives and increase transaction costs. The Asian Development Bank assisted the GMS programme since 1992. |