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American war protester detained outside U.S. Embassy in
Bangkok
Mar 20 4:19 AM ET
BANGKOK,
Thailand (AP) - An American man was
arrested early Thursday after trying to block vehicles entering the U.S. Embassy
in Bangkok to protest attacks against Iraq (news - web sites) by U.S.-led
forces, officials said.
Yeshua Moser, 49, of Athens, Ohio, was
among about five people who staged a demonstration at the front gates of the
embassy, the second-largest U.S. mission in the world, a police officer said on
the condition of anonymity. The largest U.S. embassy is in Cairo, Egypt.
"We just removed him from blocking the embassy entrance, but will
not take legal action against him," the officer said. "It is our duty to do
whatever we can to ensure the security of the embassy."
Moser is
regional coordinator for the Southeast Asian office of the Washington-based
pacifist group Nonviolence International. He has worked in Cambodia and Sri
Lanka and with exiled activists from Myanmar and Tibet.
"The U.S.
is launching a war of aggression, inherently illegal and absolutely immoral,"
said a statement released by Moser.
A U.S. Embassy official said
on the condition of anonymity that "the incident was that he laid down and
attempted to block any traffic. He's in custody now."
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Human rights envoy to meet with opposition party leaders
YANGON,
Myanmar (AP) _ U.N. human rights
envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro will meet Friday with members of
Myanmar's
opposition National League for Democracy amid criticism he has strayed from his
mandate by urging the world to stop isolating the ruling junta.
Pinheiro will also meet
prisoners at Insein prison on the outskirts of the capital
Yangon, said a foreign diplomat who attended a one-hour
meeting between the U.N. envoy and the diplomatic community on Thursday.
During his weeklong mission,
which began Wednesday, Pinheiro is also to meet government officials.
The opposition NLD, which is
led by Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, criticized a recent report by
Pinheiro to the U.N. Human Rights Commission calling for the international
community to engage with
Myanmar's ruling
junta rather than isolating it.
The NLD calls for Western
nations to maintain economic and diplomatic sanctions against the military
government, which they have criticized for its poor human rights record.
Its alleged violations include
the use of forced labor, detention of political prisoners and using rape as a
weapon against women belonging to rebellious ethnic minority groups.
``As a human rights expert, he
should concentrate on the issue of the human rights situation in
Myanmar,'' NLD
spokesman U Lwin said Thursday. ``I think he has gone beyond his mandate.''
U Lwin said that issues such
as political reform and democratization should be left to U.N. special envoy
Razali Ismail, who was appointed by U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to assist
in Myanmar's
political reconciliation process.
Razali initiated talks between
the junta and NLD leader Suu Kyi in October 2000. But aside from the release of
several hundred political prisoners, the talks seem to have accomplished little
and have now stalled.
Myanmar
has been ruled by the military since 1962. The current group of generals took
power in 1988 and called elections in 1990. However, they refused to hand over
power after Suu Kyi's party won.
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Thai camp quarantined as three Myanmar refugees die from
meningitis
BANGKOK, March 20 (AFP) - Thai authorities have quarantined a camp of
thousands of Myanmar refugees after three people there died of meningitis and at
least seven others were stricken with the illness, health officials said
Thursday.
The outbreak was reported in Nu Pho camp, home to some
9,500 displaced persons from Myanmar, in Thailand's Umphang district of Tak, a
border province some 425 kilometres (265 miles) northwest of Bangkok.
"Three refugees died from meningitis between late Febuary and
early March, and seven of them are in a camp hospital right now," Tak public
health chief Chamnan Harnsuthichakul told AFP.
Chamnan said the
outbreak, detected late last year, worsened earlier this week, prompting a
vaccination campaign and a camp-wide quarantine barring anyone from entering of
leaving.
"The outbreak has been brought under control since the
vacination and the control of movement of people," Chamnan said.
One source said five Thai villagers outside the camp had died from
meningitis in recent months but Chamnan could not confirm the information.
Nu Pho is one of several camps along the frontier administered by
the United Nations and non-governmental groups that work with the camps' roughly
110,000 displaced persons, mainly ethnic Karen from Myanmar.
Meningitis is an infection of the brain's meninges tissues and
sometimes the cerebral spinal fluid that surrounds the brain. The illness
produces symptoms such as fever, severe headache, and stiff neck.
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Far Eastern Economic Review
Issue cover-dated
March 27, 2003
INTELLIGENCE - Saks Inc. Joins Burma
Ban
Four United States clothing retailers have
joined a growing number of American firms in boycotting products from Burma
because of continuing human-rights violations in the Southeast Asian nation. In
a letter to the activist Free Burma Coalition, Saks Inc. announced that "the
policy of our company is not to buy merchandise manufactured in Burma." The
company, which in 2002 had $5.9 billion in sales in Saks Fifth Avenue and its
nine other retail-outlet clothing chains, joined the Mothers Work, Morsly and 48
Hours Sportswear chains in suspending contract production in Burma. Morsly
officials told the Free Burma Coalition that it had "no intention of placing
orders for production in Burma in the foreseeable future" because of "the
unrelenting repressive nature of the ruling military junta." Around 40
companies, including Wal-Mart, Federated Department Stores and Jones New York,
have joined the boycott over the past three years. Officials of the Free Burma
Coalition, an umbrella group of organizations around the world, say that May
Department Stores is the only big-name U.S. retailer still buying products from
Burma. A May spokesperson contacted by the REVIEW was unable to comment on its
Burma policy in time for publication.
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19-03-2003 ICRC News 03/29
Myanmar: Promoting hygiene in rural areas
From
21 January to 22 February the ICRC conducted a campaign to promote hygiene in
rural areas in Kayin and Mon states.
Since UNICEF was
already running a hygiene-promotion programme in schools, the campaign focused
mainly on adults.
To begin with, the ICRC trained Myanmar Red Cross
Society volunteers in the techniques required to assess hygiene practices in the
villages concerned. The National Society then trained other volunteers,
including villagers, in these techniques. Three simple messages were
subsequently devised on the basis of the information gathered by the volunteers.
The messages encouraged villagers to wash their hands with soap before meals and
after going to the toilet, safely dispose of faeces, especially those of babies,
young children and people with diarrhoea, and keep drinking water clean by
treating it and storing it in such a way as to protect it from faecal
contamination.
As no material promoting hygiene was available in
the Kayin language, villagers were asked to submit posters, songs, poems,
stories and games based on these three messages. Approximately 450 entries were
received, mostly posters but also some songs, poems and stories. The posters
were subsequently put on display and the songs, poems and stories presented by
their authors. A number of games and competitions were also held in which
villagers received prizes in the form of soap, potties, hand towels and so
forth.
In all, some 250 volunteers took part in the campaign,
which reached an estimated 2,800 villagers. The ICRC is currently monitoring its
results and taking steps to ensure that the promotion of hygiene in these
villages can be sustained.
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The Daily Star
Volume 3 Number 1251, Thu.
March 20, 2003
Dhaka, Yangon to establish road link
UNB,
Yangon
Bangladesh and Myanmar yesterday agreed to establish
road-link between Dhaka and Yangon for easy communication and to strengthen
people-to-people contact in a landmark development in relations between the two
next-door neighbours.
The road will be called "Myanmar-Bangladesh
Friendship Road".
A taskforce will be formed soon to implement the
proposed direct road communications, seen as a milestone in bilateral
relations.
The major decision was reached at the official talks
between Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and Myanmar Prime Minister and State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC) Chairman Than Shwe here yesterday
afternoon.
The two sides also approved the signing of two MOUs on
Account Trade and establishment of Joint Trade Commission aimed at bolstering
bilateral economic cooperation.
The MOUs were signed by Bangladesh
Commerce Minister Amir Khosru Mahmud Chowdhury and Myanmar's Commerce Minister
Brigadier General Pyi Sone in presence of the two premiers at Parliament
Building Pyithu Hiuttaw. Another MOU on Coastal Shipping will be signed
today.
The talks lasting about 90 min- utes discussed "entire
gamut" of bilateral relations, with economic cooperation figuring
high.
The Myanmar prime minister billed the Bangladesh leader's
visit as a "milestone" and said it would open a "new chapter" in bilateral
relations.
"The existing friendly relations between the two
countries will now turn into a brotherly relation with your visit," he was
quoted as saying by Bangladesh's Foreign Minister M Morshed
Khan.
Khan said construction of the proposed Bangladesh-Myanmar
Road and bridge over river Naaf would commence within months and is expected to
finish within this year.
He said communications ministers of the
two countries would meet today to work out a "detailed time-bound action
programme" for construction of the Dhaka-Yangon Road for cross-border
transportation.
Describing the talks as "fruitful", the foreign
minister said the summit-level meeting also decided to have military cooperation
for capacity-building of the armed forces through training and sharing
experiences.
The issue of avoidance of double taxation also came up
in the meeting that decided to sign a MOU on this matter in the near
future.
On the proposed Coastal Shipping arrangement, the Myanmar
side suggested tripartite agreement involving Thailand. But Bangladesh requested
for a bipartite agreement for quick fostering of economic relations, with the
option for including Thailand in future.
About Bangladesh's
proposal for easing visa regime allowing a Bangladeshi citizen to stay in
Myanmar for more than 90 days, the Myanmar side assured of taking immediate
measures in this respect.
About the repatriation of Rohingya
refugees from camps in Bangladesh, the Myanmar premier said necessary
instructions would be given to the authorities and hoped that the problem would
be solved bilaterally.
Bangladesh made a strong plea for quick
repatriation of the remaining 22,000 Rohingya refugees as UNHCR plans to wrap up
its programme in the next few months. The Bangladesh side thanked the Myanmar
government for already taking back about 2 lakh refugees.
The two
sides also decided to hold single-country trade fairs to boost bilateral
economic relations. A Bangladeshi Trade Fair begins in Yangon
today.
As the Myanmar side suggested upgrading the MOU on present
annual consultation between the two foreign ministers to an accord on Joint
Commission on Bilateral Cooperation, the Bangladesh prime minister accepted the
proposition.
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Asian Tribune
Date : 2003-03-20
China eyes up Salawin: A Thailand - Myanmar electricity
scheme
Bangkok, Mar. 19, (TNA): A Chinese company
is interested in investing in a Thai project to build an electricity generating
station on the Salawin dam, the energy minister revealed
yesterday.
Speaking after meeting Mr Ren Hongbin, president of
China National Machinery Equipment, Dr Pornmin Lertsuridej said that the Chinese
company was eying up joint investment in the Bt200 billion project, which
Thailand hoped to enter into with the Myanmar regime.
The company
is currently working on the Three Gorges Dam in China, which is destined to be
the largest in the world, and is also involved in the construction of the Manwan
dam, which will produce 3,000 megawatts of electricity.
Thailand
and China have signed a memorandum of understanding which would see China sell
electricity from the Manwan dam to Thailand, but construction has not yet begun
as no further official agreement has been signed.
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