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Myanmar's
ruling junta attacks opposition
Feb 14
6:41 AM ET
YANGON,
Myanmar
(AP) - A high-ranking official of
Myanmar's
military government attacked members of the country's pro-democracy opposition,
alluding to them as "destructive elements," a state-controlled newspaper
reported Friday.
The speech published in the
Myanma Ahlin daily was the first serious attack against the opposition in more
than two years ? a sign of increasing tension between the two sides.
"Internal and external
destructive elements are impeding development work in the country," Information
Minister Brig. Gen. Kyaw Hsan was quoted as saying. "They are discouraging
foreign investment, foreign assistance and tourists to the country and encourage
economic sanctions."
"Destructive elements must be
annihilated and people should cooperate with constructive people working for the
development of the people and the country," he said.
Kyaw Hsan did not identify the
"destructive elements," but he was apparently referring to Nobel Peace Prize
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, which has asked
the international community to maintain political and economic sanctions against
the military regime, and avoid investment and tourism until there are signs of
reform.
Relations between the
government and the opposition have recently become strained after Suu Kyi
reiterated this position. Authorities harassed Suu Kyi and her supporters during
a trip to
Myanmar's
northwestern Rakhine state in December.
Attacks against Suu Kyi and
her party had ceased in late 2000 after Suu Kyi and the junta began closed-door
talks to break the country's political deadlock.
Although Suu Kyi was released
from house arrest last May and some 500 political prisoners were freed, there
have been few signs of reform.
The junta came to power in
1988 after crushing pro-democracy protests. It called elections in 1990 but
refused to give up power when the NLD won.
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Thai police to tap telephone lines of drug suspects
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) _ Thai police will tap the telephone lines of
suspected drug traffickers as part of an ongoing campaign to wipe out the
illicit trade, officials said Thursday.
The measure, aimed at
helping officials track down the suspects and confiscate their assets, comes
after the government launched a three-month crackdown on drug trafficking
starting Feb. 1.
At least 150 suspects have reportedly been killed
in drug-related cases since the campaign began, raising concerns among human
rights advocates that police are following a ``shoot-to-kill'' policy.
Amnesty International's Thailand branch on Thursday expressed
concern that extrajudicial executions were being carried out.
``The responsibility of police officials is to arrest suspects and
take them to the justice system, not to shoot them,'' said a statement from the
human rights group. ``Courts of justice, not the police, have the right to
determine if suspects are guilty.''
Thai law allows authorities to
eavesdrop on the telephone conversations of suspected criminals, and drug police
are now drafting a regulation allowing the taping of such conversations, police
Maj. Gen. Watcharaphol Prasarnrajkit told reporters.
``We mean to
make it legal so we can use the conversations as evidence in court,'' he added.
Police have confiscated assets worth more than 170 million baht
(US$4 million) and more than five million methamphetamine tablets in the past
two weeks, Watcharaphol said.
He said drug traffickers feared the
seizure of their assets more than the threat of imprisonment and were managing
their ill-gotten gains by telephone and over the Internet.
Local
reports say at least 150 drug suspects have been killed in the crackdown. The
government has blamed most of the deaths on infighting among drug gangsters.
``The official record shows that some 90 people were killed during
the past few weeks, but I think only a dozen were killed by police during
shootouts,'' said Veera Musikaphong, an Interior Ministry adviser.
Since taking office nearly two years ago, Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra has waged a war against drug trafficking. The current campaign is a
tougher all-out drug offensive focusing on the stimulant methamphetamine.
Drug agencies estimate that more than 1 billion methamphetamine
pills and large amounts of heroin are smuggled into Thailand each year, and that
more than 3 million Thais are addicted to the speed pills.
Thailand accuses neighboring Myanmar's Wa ethnic minority of
trafficking in the so-called Golden Triangle, where the borders of Myanmar, Laos
and Thailand meet.
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Myanmar Promises Fair Trial for Arrested
Activists
Fri Feb 14, 1:06 AM ET
YANGON
(Reuters) - Myanmar's military
government on Friday promised a fair trial for opposition activists arrested on
charges of plotting to blow up a prison and a railway station.
The
12 arrests announced this week have been seen as a sign of growing tension
between the ruling generals and the pro-democracy opposition, which is led by
Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
"The government regrets
that a small group of political figures were recently arrested for violating
national laws," a statement from the government spokesman's office said.
"They will, of course, be tried fairly in a court of law and are
considered innocent until proven guilty."
Military intelligence
said Monday seven of those arrested were low-level members of Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD) who were trying to spark civil unrest.
The NLD won the country's last elections in 1990 by a landslide
but has never been allowed to govern.
Also among those arrested
was Sai Nyunt Lwin, secretary-general of the Shan National League for Democracy,
which was the second most successful party in the 1990 elections.
The United States Thursday criticized Myanmar authorities for the
arrest of opposition activists and called for the release of all political
prisoners.
"While the world community looks forward to
reconciliation and democracy for the people of Burma, the regime there seems to
be looking backward," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said.
Burma is the former name of Myanmar.
Human rights
watchdog Amnesty International estimates Myanmar still has 1,200-1,300 political
prisoners, despite a series of releases over the last two years.
In an apparent conciliatory gesture, Friday's statement from the
junta said it believed those arrested were acting on their own outside their own
party structures.
"The government would also like to extend its
thanks to the vast majority of political figures in Myanmar who are acting
responsibly," it said.
The arrest of the 12 activists came as
Amnesty International urged Myanmar this week to scrap a raft of colonial-era
laws used to lock up political prisoners.
They also come at a time
of worsening relations between the military, in power for most of the past 40
years, and opposition.
Diplomats predicted a new era of
reconciliation last May when Suu Kyi was released from 19 months of house
arrest. Her release followed a period of intense international pressure and
secretive U.N.-brokered talks between the opposition and the junta.
But there have been few signs of progress since then and the
government and opposition have begun to criticize each other in public again
after a pause of more than a year.
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US
accuses Myanmar
of backing away from reform
WASHINGTON, Feb 13
(AFP) - The United States on
Thursday accused Myanmar of backing away from national reconciliation and
reform, calling on the military junta to release all political prisoners.
The State Department expressed
strong support for democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and reaffirmed
US support for
the efforts of United Nations envoy Razali Ismail to broker a political dialogue
in the country.
It recalled that Aung San Suu
Kyi was last week awarded the US-based Freedom Forum's one million dollar Spirit
of the Year Award.
"At the same time, in
Burma, local
members of a government-affiliated organization have been handing out pamphlets
defaming her, her family, and her struggle," said State Department spokesman
Richard Boucher, using
Myanmar's former
name.
"In addition, the ruling
military regime, the State Peace and Development Council, has arrested
democratic activists, denying them the peaceful _expression_ of their political
views.
"While the world community
looks forward to reconciliation and democracy for the people of
Burma, the
regime there seems to be looking backward.
"The
United States
once again calls on the military regime to release all political prisoners
immediately and unconditionally and to engage in a real dialogue regarding
constitutional issues."
Washington
is a frequently fierce critic of
Myanmar, and a
strong supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, who won an overwhelming election victory
in 1990 which was never recognised by the ruling military.
On Wednesday she called for
dialogue with the military government to start a process of national
reconciliation but questioned the junta's desire for talks.
The dialogue, which her
National League for Democracy hopes would end four decades of military rule, was
expected to start last May after the junta released her from house arrest.
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Armenian-born photographer wins World Press Photo 2002
THE HAGUE, Feb 14 (AFP) - Armenian-born photographer Eric Grigorian
Friday won the 2002 World Press Photo award for a picture of an Iranian boy
squatting at his father's graveside, the World Press Photo organisation said.
The photo was taken on June 23, 2002 at the funeral of the man who
was among 500 people killed in an earthquake that devastated the Iran's Qazvin
province.
In the black and white image the boy is clinging to a
pair of his father's pants next to an open grave surrounded by villagers and
soldiers digging resting places for the dead.
Grigorian lives and
works from Los Angeles and is a member of the US photo agency Polaris Images. He
will receive his price of 10,000 euros in a special ceremony on April 27 in
Amsterdam.
Winners were chosen in nine categories from among 55
photographers from 18 countries. The jury of 13 photographers and picture
editors was chaired by Bangladeshi photographer Shahidul Alam.
Japanese Tomohisa Kato of Kyodo News won first prize in the
category Spot News Singles with a picture of a North Korean asylum seeker at the
gate of the Japanese consulate in China.
French photographer
Georges Gobet of Agence France Presse (AFP) won in the Spot News Stories
category with his series on Ivory Coast.
In the General News
Singles, Czech Antonin Kratochvil won with a picture of a Myanmar prison he shot
for the New York Times Magazine.
The jury awarded the prize for
best sports picture to Polish photographers Tomasz Gudzowaty and Robert
Boguslawski of the TPG/Focus agency for a picture of a monk from the Shaolin
temple walking up a wall.
All the awarding-winning pictures
together with a special selection of the work by Grigorian will be exhibited in
Amsterdam from April 28 till June 23. After that the exhibition will travel the
world.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-02-14
Lawmaker Says Burma Must Stop Brutality Against
Minorities
Joseph Pitts, Republican Congressman
from Pennsylvania decried Burma's campaign of genocide in the floor of House of
Representative on 12 February.
He pointed out in the American
Parliament that the the international community has failed to recognize that
there is, under international legal definitions, a campaign of genocide against
the ethnic minorities by the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC)
dictatorship in Burma.
The full text of Pitts speach made in the
American parliament is given below:
Mr. Pits: Mr. Speaker, I rise
today on behalf of the ethnic minorities of Burma, otherwise known as Myanmar.
In January, I visited the Thai-Burma border and met with refugees, democracy
activists, prisoner-of-conscience groups and others working to help the people
of Burma.
Sadly, the international community has failed to
recognize that there is, under international legal definitions, a campaign of
genocide against the ethnic minorities by the ruling SPDC dictatorship in
Burma.
We met with victims' groups, land mine victims, orphans,
rape victims and others. One little boy I met was an 8-year-old orphan. He had
seen both of his parents killed, then he was trafficked over the border into
Thailand and there he escaped to the refugee camps. This little boy was so
traumatized that he could not even smile. I saw many children like
him.
Mr. Speaker, the U.S. Government and the international
community must do something to assist the people of Burma and stop the
brutality. Otherwise, we will all be responsible for the successful genocide
campaign ethnic cleansing going on by the vicious military of the
SPDC.
- Washington File -
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-02-14
Burmese General is given a discourse on Democracy by Dr Sein Win,
Prime Minister of NCGUB.
Washington, Feb. 13: Prime
Minister Dr Sein Win of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma
(NCGUB) flays the Burmese junta for its covert attempt to link them with
weapons, violence and terrorist camps.
The popular Prime Minister
of the exile Burmese Government, has categorically reiterated the NCGUB?s goal
of bringing change through peace and non-violence.
In a Press
statement released to the media to refute the allegation leveled by Brig. Gen
Than Tun of the State Peace and Development Council, (SPDC), she reminded the
Burmese army general, ?National reconciliation must come first so that there
will be peace in the country. Trampling on human rights and quelling of dissent
through brute force with the hope of subduing the population into silence will
only create a groundswell of dissent not peace and stability.?
The
Full text of the Press release issued by NCGUB is given below:
Since its inception, the National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma (NCGUB) has strictly adhered to its policy of peace and
non-violence. Like the National League for Democracy (NLD) and Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi, the NCGUB's goal is to bring about political change in Burma through
peaceful means. Therefore, the recent attempt by the Burmese military junta to
link the NCGUB with "weapons" and "terrorist camps" came as a
surprise.
At a press conference held on 10 February, the junta's
spokesperson Brigadier General Than Tun, while explaining the recent arrests of
several people, blatantly accused the "NCGUB group" of supplying "weapons" to
"an armed NLD terrorist camp".
The NCGUB strongly condemns the
junta for its shameful attempt to discredit the NCGUB. In addition and for the
record, U Aung Saw Oo named by Brig Gen Than Tun as "belonging to the expatriate
NCGUB" is not a member nor has he ever been a member of the NCGUB.
SPDC should therefore stop its ploy to divert the attention away
from the root cause of the recent surge in activities against the SPDC. Mass
activities that recently took place against military rule arise from the desire
to be free from oppression and political restrictions. SPDC needs to face the
facts, stop shifting blame to others, and resolve problems by initiating the
national reconciliation process immediately.
NCGUB Prime Minister
Dr Sein Win said, "Brig Gen Than Tun asserted SPDC's mistaken belief that peace
and stability must come first so that national reconciliation can begin. That is
like putting the cart before the horse. National reconciliation must come first
so that there will be peace in the country. Trampling on human rights and
quelling of dissent through brute force with the hope of subduing the population
into silence will only create a groundswell of dissent not peace and
stability."
Hence, for the sake of the country and the people,
NCGUB calls on the SPDC to first work toward national reconciliation with the
NLD and the ethnic nationalities in order to create an atmosphere of peace and
stability so that the whole country can advance toward democracy
peacefully.
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The Nation
Shan leader pours cold
water on Thaksin offer
Published on Feb 14, 2003
Shan State Army leader Colonel Yawd Serk yesterday
dismissed recent reports that the Burmese military government had given a green
light to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to push for a dialogue between the
junta and rebel armies, saying the generals in Rangoon were not
sincere.
"Although it was a genuine offer from the Thai prime
minister, the result wholly depends on the sincerity of the Burmese generals,
which only time will tell," Yawd Serk said in a statement.
Yawd
Serk's statement was seen as an attempt to put brakes on the idea, indirectly
sending a message to the Thai premier to give up the idea of becoming a
mediator.The Burmese government has in the past accused the SSA of being a Thai
proxy, while the Thai Army has said the same about the pro-Rangoon United Wa
State Army.
The veteran combat leader, whose resistance movement
controls pockets of territory in Burma, said "surrendering weapons alone is not
the way to restore peace and tranquillity for the Shan
State."
"Without fulfilling the strong desire of the Shan State
people, which they have been longing for decades, peace cannot be restored in
the Shan State or in the Union of Burma," he said.Yawd Serk added that Thailand
needs to rethink its move to give financial rewards to Burmese troops for making
drug busts, as that would amount to encouraging the Burmese soldiers to get
directly involved in the drug trade.
The Shan commander said the
Burmese generals are more interested in "annihilat[ing] their oppositions and
subdu[ing] all non-Burmese ethnic nationalities."The SSA have long accused the
Burmese army of receiving kickbacks from drug lords, some of whom operate
independently with their own armies.
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Malaysian National News Agency
(Bernama)
February 14 , 2003 16:52PM
Myanmar To Hold Annual Gems
Emporium
YANGON, Feb 14 (Oana-Xinhua) -- Myanmar
will hold its 40th annual gems emporium from March 15 to 23 to put on sale its
domestically produced quality gems, jade, pearl and jewelry through competitive
bidding and at fixed prices, according to the state-run Myanma Gems Enterprise
(MGE) Friday.
This will be another gems emporium, sponsored by the
MGE, four months after the end of its 11th mid-year event early last November
which set a new record high of the proceeds with 30.7 million US dollars against
the past highest sale in March 2000 when 24.17 million were earned.
The last mid-year gems display attracted a total of 969 merchants
from 10 countries and regions, mostly from China and Thailand, the highest
number ever before.
Myanmar started holding annual gems emporiums
in 1964, introducing mid-year ones in addition since 1992 to boost the country's
dollar earning.
Since 1964, Myanmar has earned a total of 390.62
million dollars from its gem emporiums, according to the MGE statistics.
Myanmar, a well-known producer of gems in the world, is in
possession of nine gems -- ruby, diamond, cat's eye, emerald, topaz, pearl,
sapphire, coral and a variety of garnet tinged with yellow.
There
are three famous gem lands in Myanmar -- Mogok in Mandalay division, Mongshu in
Shan state and Phakant in Kachin state.
Myanmar claimed that it
has found in the country the world's biggest ruby weighing 21,450 carats,
largest star sapphire weighing 63,000 carats, biggest peridot weighing 329
carats, largest pearl weighing 845 carats and largest jade stone weighing about
3,000 tons.
Of them, the biggest ruby and the star sapphire were
discovered in Mogok, while the largest jade stone were found in Phakant.
To develop gem mining industry, Myanmar enacted the New Gemstone
Law in September 1995, allowing national entrepreneurs to mine, produce,
transport and sell finished gemstone and manufactured jewellery at home and
abroad.
In April 2000, the government started mining of gems and
jade in joint venture with 10 private companies under profit sharing
basis.
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Shan Herald Agency for News
No: 02 -
11/2003
14 February 2003
Environment: The Salween Dam
Project
Residents advised to move
As
excavations by foreign firms on both sides of the projected dam site continued,
some Burmese officers were counselling a preemptive departure of local residents
in the vicinity, said sources coming to the border.
One militia
leader, named withheld for his security, told villagers of Wan Sala in Mongton
Township, 12 km south of Tanghseng, the Tasarng dam site, recently that he was
deeply moved by the death of at least ten villagers who were killed in a series
of discharges that had been going on since last month. "If you continue to stay,
you will be forced to work for them with little or no pay," he said. "And in the
end, after the dam is finished, you will still be thrown out of your homes
anyway. You should therefore move while you still have time."
Sources said villagers nearby were sent for by the Burmese
security forces in the area to haul out the earth from the holes. According to a
Shan environmentalist, who visited to the site in 2000, there were 2 holes being
dug out of the cliff on each side of the river, each at least 8ft in
circumference and about 40ft deep. Sources who were there lately say the
foreigners - Thai and Chinese - were digging further into the upper holes. It
was during the diggings and blasting the death of the forced laborers occurred,
they say.
Among the dead, 1 was from Palao, and 2 from Hsophsim,
both villages further upstream, and the rest from Sala downstream.
Rangoon had already forcibly relocated 1,500 villages in the area,
but some twenty villages still remain and the largest one appear to be Wan Sala
with 57 households. In three other villages in the immediate neighborhood of the
dam site: Tanghseng, Palao and Hsophsim, there are only about ten households
each.
The Thais are also repairing the logging road leading from
Sala to Palao, they said. Thai Sawad, a Burma-based Thai company that had been
contracted to build the road confirmed the report.
Bangkok-based
MDX and Burma's Ministry of Energy signed an agreement on 20 December to build
the Tasarng Dam, located between Mongton and Mongpan townships of Shan State.
The project is being opposed by Shan organizations.
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