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Tuesday April 29, 3:29 PM
Southeast Asian leaders,
China's premier hold emergency SARS summit
BANGKOK, April
29 (AFP) - ASEAN's 10 leaders plus
Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao expect to approve Asia's firmest commitment towards
containing the SARS epidemic when they gather here for an emergency
summit.
The first gathering of top leaders on the crisis aims to lay down
a regional framework for cooperation against Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
(SARS), Asia's worst crisis since the financial meltdown of
1997-1998.
The leaders, most of whom arrive in the Thai capital Tuesday,
hope to convince a spooked world that they are taking efficient and drastic
measures to contain the spread of the epidemic.
They are expected to
announce new measures to coordinate their fight against the disease.
"I
know they have many concerns, and we have concerns as well," said David Heymann,
executive director of communicable diseases cluster for the World Health
Organisation (WHO), who will present the latest WHO findings on the disease at
the summit.
"I think we will be able to tell them that we're very happy
with the way that Asian countries have responded to the outbreak, and we're very
hopeful this continued response and continued hard work and some sacrifices by
these countries will prevent this disease from becoming a disease which is
endemic throughout the world," he told reporters Monday.
The summit
follows the WHO's announcement that the SARS epidemic appeared to have peaked in
countries outside of China, where substantial numbers of new cases are still
being reported.
"It appears from reports we have from Hong Kong,
Singapore, Toronto and Vietnam that the epidemic has peaked in those countries
and now they're having fewer cases every day, and in some countries, no new
cases, such as Vietnam," he said.
China, which initially attempted to
cover up the outbreak last November in southern Guangdong province, has reported
139 deaths and more than 3,100 cases.
Globally, more than 320 people have
been killed by the atypical pneumonia, for which there is no cure or vaccine,
while more than 5,200 people have been infected, mostly in Asia.
The
summit follows a weekend meeting of regional health ministers in Malaysia, with
key partners China, Japan and South Korea aimed at laying the groundwork for the
summit.
In a communique released at the conclusion, the ministers called
on their leaders to enforce strict screening at all airports and other exit
points to prevent suspected SARS cases from travelling.
"Practically, it
will be a very important meeting. It will be a forum for endorsement for what
was discussed in Malaysia," Supamit Chunsuttiwat of Thailand's Department of
Disease Control told AFP.
The three-hour summit among ASEAN leaders is
due to begin at 0615 GMT, followed by a 75-minute ASEAN-plus-China
session.
It will be the first meeting between Wen, who took office in
March, and the leaders of ASEAN members Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
Tung
Chee-hwa, the chief executive of Hong Kong -- one of the worst affected regions
-- will also take part in the Bangkok summit as part of China's delegation, it
was announced Monday.
A bilateral meeting will take place Tuesday prior
to the summit between Wen and Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
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Tuesday April 29, 1:09 PM
Chinese premier meets Thai
PM for economic, drugs talks
BANGKOK, April 29
(AFP) - Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao
held talks with Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, ahead of an
emergency summit of ASEAN leaders and China on SARS.
The Tuesday session
marks Wen's first official meeting outside China since taking office in
March.
"The meeting started as scheduled at 10:15 am (315 GMT)," Thai
government spokesman Sita Divari told AFP.
"They will talk about economic
ties, the Asia bond, which is nearly finished, anti-drugs cooperation and
bilateral investment," ministry of foreign affairs spokesman Sihasak
Phuangketkeow told reporters.
Thaksin last year proposed the setting up
of an Asian bond market to protect the region against unscrupulous financial
speculators and to promote stable economic growth.
Major General Sornchai
Montriwat, the secretary of deputy prime minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh, told
AFP that a planned meeting between Thaksin and Myanmar's Prime Minister Senior
General Than Shwe was cancelled.
Instead, Than Shwe has held informal
talks with Chavalit, the minister assigned to escort him during his
visit.
The ten leaders of ASEAN countries are due to meet here later
Tuesday before also meeting Wen in the first gathering of Asian leaders on the
crisis, which aims to lay down a regional framework to combat the spread of
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS).
Attention is focused on China
at the summit. A World Health Organisation said Monday that the SARS epidemic
appeared to have peaked in countries outside of China, where substantial numbers
of new cases are still being reported.
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Tuesday April 29, 6:09 PM
Singapore Suggests Setting
Up Regional SARS Info Network
BANGKOK
(AP)--Singapore, the country worst
hit by SARS in Southeast Asia, recommended Tuesday setting up a regional
information network on the virus, but cautioned against closing borders to
contain its spread.
In a paper distributed at a SARS summit in Bangkok
among leaders of the 10-country Association of Southeast Asian Nations,
Singapore said it would be useful to form an Asean SARS Containment Information
Network because much is still unknown about the disease.
"Through this
network, Asean member countries could share essential information as well as
best practices distilled from their experience in dealing with SARS," said the
paper, which was expected to form the basis of a joint summit statement.
It said Asean must also work to let the world's tourists, investors and
business executives know about measures the group is taking to combat severe
acute respiratory syndrome.
"We must, in particular, be totally
transparent about (the) SARS situation in our countries. If we are seen to be
hiding our problems, this will inspire less, not more, confidence in us," the
paper said.
SARS, a flu-like illness, has killed more than 350 people
worldwide and infected more than 5,300. Most deaths and cases have been in
mainland China and Hong Kong.
In Singapore, 23 people have died of SARS,
the highest toll among Asean members.
The discussion paper also
suggested that Asean member countries keep their borders open and not unduly
restrict travel into, out of and within the regional grouping.
"Rather
than adopt a blanket ban on travel, which will adversely affect the flow of
businessmen, tourists, workers, students, etc., a calibrated set of measures
ranging from health screening and temperature checks to quarantine should be
adopted," it said.
Asean comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,
Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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The Indianapolis Star
Foreign-born
soldiers value liberty
Reservists reflect on opportunities of
democracy
By John
Fritze
john.fritze@xxxxxxxxxxxx
April 29,
2003
CAMP ATTERBURY, Ind. -- Pfc. Aung kneels on the concrete
floor in his barracks, his fingers locked behind his neck, his head bent down,
his eyes closed.
He is remembering what it felt like to be
tortured.
For a month in 1988, Burmese prison guards put him in this
position, rolled wooden clubs over his shins, pushed his knees into the rocky
ground and threatened to kill his family.
His crime: Protesting in favor
of democracy.
"They beat us on the floor and asked us, 'Who is your
leader?' " said Aung, who asked that his first and last name not appear together
in print because, he said, his parents still live in the country, now known as
Myanmar.
Aung is among a small group of immigrants in the 384th Military
Police Battalion -- one was imprisoned for expressing an opinion, another was
persecuted for his religion -- who carry personal insight into the meaning of
liberation and the war in Iraq.
"I understand how the Iraqi people feel,"
said Aung, 34, who endured a harrowing escape from Myanmar before coming to Fort
Wayne in 1994.
"If the U.S. government didn't do this mission, they would
have kept suffering."
The 384th, a Reserve unit based in Fort Wayne, was
supposed to be part of that mission. But commanders received word last week that
the assignment was off, and now the unit, with about 150 service members, is
waiting at Camp Atterbury for a new assignment.
For some, just being in
the military fulfills a desire to give something back to a country that gave
them freedom.
"I owed this country something, and I thought, 'Let me go
pay that debt,' " said 1st Lt. Arkadiy Baumval, 34, a physician's assistant here
and also in his civilian life back home in Brooklyn, N.Y. "So I
joined."
The soldiers often affectionately call Baumval "the crazy
Russian," because he is one of the most animated members of the 384th --
performing traditional Russian dances and breaking into falsetto without
compunction is a tough act to pull off on a military base.
But earlier,
when he lived in Belarus under Soviet rule, he and his family faced
discrimination because they are Jewish.
He was ambushed by angry mobs and
drawn into fights during school, and his parents, though successful, were passed
over for promotions at work because they would not join with the
communists.
"They called it nationality. They didn't call it religious
preference because we didn't have any religion in Russia," Baumval said. "But
they kept track of it -- who is what. They made a line called nationality in
your passport, and they labeled you as a Jew."
Baumval, who came to the
United States when he was 22, has put himself through school and now works at a
hospital in Midtown Manhattan.
"We have a different perspective on life," he
said.
The U.S. Department of Defense does not keep complete statistics on
the number of foreign-born service members, but there are about 36,000 who hold
green cards or are otherwise legal residents -- about 3 percent of active-duty
personnel.
The 384th, which is made up largely of white Americans, could
be deployed almost anywhere. But it's likely to be immersed in a new culture
wherever it goes.
For some of the younger men and women, the trip would be
their first abroad.
But they are receiving an unofficial primer on
different cultures in their own barracks.
Spc. Joseph Ademuwagun, 30, was
born in Nigeria. He said his companions have shown sensitivity to his culture
and have gone far to make him feel welcome, even though most have difficulty
pronouncing his last name and just call him "A-D."
Ademuwagun worked for
a cable television company in Nigeria -- which last week elected a new president
amid claims of fraud and ballot box stuffing -- but came to the United States
seven years ago because he wanted more opportunity than his homeland could
offer.
He already has earned a business management degree from Washtenaw
Community College in Michigan and is working toward a bachelor's degree in
engineering.
"I don't want to just come here and take all the
opportunities," said Ademuwagun, when asked why he joined the
Reserve.
"With this great country comes a great responsibility," he said,
"and since freedom doesn't come free, I guess I can do a little."
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Bangkok Post - Tuesday 29 April 2003
Kraisak warns dams may blur borderline
Rights
violations were also likely
Wasant Techawongtham - Mae Hong
Son
The planned construction of Salween dams would change the
Thai-Burmese borderline and therefore require deliberation by parliament, the
chairman of the Senate committee on foreign affairs said yesterday.
``The
boundaries would definitely change,'' said Kraisak Choonhavan. ``The dams would
create large reservoirs. How could we then tell where the Thai-Burmese border
is?
``It is a matter that parliament will have to consider.''
Mr
Kraisak said he would discuss the matter with the National Security Council,
which he believed would be concerned.
The NSC had expressed similar
concern over the planned blasting of rapids, reefs and shoals in the Mekong
river to widen and deepen the navigation channel for use by large cargo barges
from China.
Blasting was scheduled to begin on the Mekong on the Thai
side on April 15 but was suspended after the Defence Ministry expressed concern
over the potential boundary change.
Thailand and Burma have achieved less
than 1% in talks on setting the boundaries, Mr Kraisak said. The current border
settlement was largely an unofficial agreement between the military authorities
of the two countries.
If the dams issue was referred to parliament it
would likely complicate the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand's plan
to build two dams on the 130km section of the Salween river that marks the
Thai-Burmese border.
The first dam, called the upper dam, would be on the
border of the Salween wildlife sanctuary and able to generate 4,540 megawatts of
power. The lower dam on the Salween national park would generate 792 megawatts.
Together, they would flood about 20,000 rai of prime forest land on the Thai
side and about 35,000 rai on the Burmese side. They would cost an estimated 277
billion baht (US$6.15 billion).
Witoon Permpongsacharoen, a member of the
National Advisory Council on Economic and Social Development, said the upper dam
would create a reservoir 380km long.
Mr Witoon questioned the amount of
land which would be flooded by the proposed dams. The Bhumibol dam inundated
over 100,000 rai of land but the Salween dam would be six times larger in terms
of capacity.
The two men were speaking while on a three-day inspection
trip of the planned dam construction area in Mae Sariang district. They were
accompanied by Senator Imron Maluleem, Pho Luang Joni Odorshao, a national
advisory council member, and Sunee Chairot, a national human rights
commissioner, among others.
Mr Kraisak said since the project would
require consent and participation by the Burmese government, human rights
violations relating to the project were likely and would affect Thai-Burmese
relations.
He said his trip was also aimed at ensuring that local people
were aware of their constitutional right to participate in the decision-making
process of any project that affected their lives.
``It is every senator's
duty to monitor all matters that affect the country. What's important is not
simply public relations but public participation,'' he said.
``There has
yet to be a single project that respects the public's right to participation as
stated in section 56 of the constitution. I hope this project will be the first
to allow the public full participation.''
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Bangkok Post - Tuesday 29 April 2003
Help needed in social area, says Surakiart
Bhanravee Tansubhapol Achara
Ashayagachat
The European Union, the United States and
international organisations should help Burma on humanitarian grounds, says
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.
Speaking after meeting Razali
Ismail, UN special envoy on Burma, Mr Surakiart said he also urged Mr Razali to
work with the Asian Development Bank, International Monetary Fund, World Bank
and other western countries to help Burma with its economy and social
issues.
``The Burmese government is heading towards national
reconciliation, so we must help it develop on political front. However, we
cannot neglect humanitarian issues such as HIV-Aids,'' he said.
Mr
Surakiart said Thailand was ready to act as coordinator to persuade countries in
the region such as India, Laos and Cambodia to help Burma respond to Aids and
Sars.
Bangkok was also ready to push Burma's armed ethnic minorities to
the negotiating table.
Meanwhile, activists are urging Burmese and Thai
leaders to stop building the Salween dam, and have proposed three-way peace
talks including ethnic groups in Burma.
The Thai Action Committee for
Democracy in Burma and Federation of Thai Students said they would hand an open
letter to Prime Minister Gen Tan Shwe at the Foreign Ministry today. The Burmese
leader is here for the Bangkok Sars summit.
The letter calls on the Thai
and Burmese governments to cancel the Salween dam project, which would force
ethnic people living in the area to relocate.
Ethnic groups should be
included in the ongoing reconciliation talks between the leader of National
League for Democracy Aung San Suu Kyi and the State Peace and Development
Council, the groups said.
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The Nation
Police nab four, seize
700,000 speed pills
Published on Apr 29, 2003
Four
drug suspects were arrested and 700,000 methamphetamine pills worth Bt5 million
confiscated in a sting operation in Chiang Rai province on Saturday,
anti-narcotics police said yesterday.
An anti-drugs police team said
they contacted a suspected drug agent in Burma's Chiang Tung province, Jai Kaeo,
42, and set up a deal for the pills.
Jai Kaeo's brother, Bangkok
resident Jing, and Jing's wife, Sawai Kaeobuadi, represented him in negotiations
with the undercover police team, they said. Jai Kaeo reportedly told police he
would deliver the pills to them at a petrol station in Chiang Rai's Mae Sai
district on Saturday night.
At the petrol station, police arrested Jai
Kaeo and his companion, Pol Sergeant Pimol Kaeosiri of Mae Sai police station,
and seized the pills. At the same time in Bangkok, another team captured Jing
and Sawai in Bangkok's Bangkok Yai district.
Jai Kaeo said he was a
trader of motorcycle spare parts in Burma, and was hired by a man called Tia to
act as his drug agent. Tia had already paid him Bt200,000, and promised to pay
another Bt300,000 after he successfully delivered the pills, Jai Kaeo said.
Meanwhile, in Songkhla's Sadao district on Sunday, anti-narcotics police
and officials of the US Drug Enforcement Administration arrested four Malaysian
nationals on charges of ecstasy trafficking.Police said they found 645 ecstasy
pills in their possession.
The four suspects were identified as Tan
Khangmeng, 51; Kuai Tian Kheng, 41; Boo Ui, 24; and Lim Pinwan, 25. They were
arrested in front of the PP Hotel, about 200 metres from the Thai-Malaysian
border checkpoint.
Colonel Phongthep Praphatanan of the anti-narcotics
police said ecstasy pills sell for Bt800 apiece in Hat Yai City.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Oil & Gas Journal
TotalFinaElf group to develop Sein,
Badamyar fields off Myanmar
By an OGJ correspondent
BANGKOK, Apr. 28 -- A TotalFinaElf-led consortium is again
considering the development of Sein and Badamyar fields in the Gulf of Martaban
to augment natural gas deliveries from adjacent Yadana field, all on Blocks M-5
and M-6 about 320 km south of Rangoon, Myanmar (OGJ Online, June 14, 2002).
Yadana has certified reserves of 5.7 tcf of gas, and the initial estimate of
gas reserves at Sein is 200 bcf and at Badamyar, 500 bcf.
The consortium
expects to drill two wells at Sein and four at Badamyar over the next 4-5 years.
The $40 million cost of developing Sein field also includes a platform and an
interfield pipeline.
In addition, the consortium has moved up
installation of a medium compression platform at Yadana to this year from 2005,
ramping up its maximum gas delivery to 850 MMcfd from 650 MMcfd to Myanmar and
Thailand, especially for new electric power generation.
Most production
is delivered via a pipeline extending 346-km offshore and 65-km onshore.
Political extremists have bombed the gas line three times this year, charging
Myanmar's military government with using proceeds from gas sales to purchase
weapons for oppressing the country's people and charging the oil companies with
complicity and supporting the military government in that pursuit (OGJ Online,
Apr. 28, 2008).
Yadama deliveries
Myanmar began taking 45 MMcfd
of Yadana gas following the recent completion of a 20 km pipeline from the
Daminseik coast in Mon state to a state-owned cement plant.
Myanmar wants
to increase Yadana gas deliveries to 75 MMcfd from 25 MMcfd, and there already
is an agreement in place calling for as much as 125 MMcfd of gas to be supplied
to Myanmar for domestic use.
The consortium also has a 30 year gas
delivery contract with Thailand's national oil and gas concern PTT PLC for 525
MMcfd, which can be boosted to 604 MMcfd, if PTT opts for an increase.
Operator TotalFinaElf holds a 31.24% interest in Blocks M-5 and M-6, in
which Yadana, Sein, and Badamyar are located. Other stakeholders are Unocal
Corp. unit Unocal Myanmar Offshore Co. Ltd. 28.26%, Thailand's upstream state
firm PTT Exploration & Production PLC subsidiary PTTEP International Ltd.
25.5%, and Myanmar's state oil company Myanma Oil & Gas Enterprise 15%.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Times - Apr 30, 2003
Dialogue in
doubt as Yangon bars envoy
By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - United Nations envoy Razali Ismail is increasingly
frustrated by the Myanmar government's failure to allow him to return to Yangon
to try to kickstart the country's fragile dialogue process.
"I am
perplexed and disappointed," he said during a visit to Bangkok this week. "I
thought I was a good friend to all parties, so I really cannot understand why
I'm being denied access."
Over the past three months, Razali has been
trying repeatedly to visit Yangon, but all his requests have been rebuffed by
the military junta. UN officials say the military authorities simply say it is
not convenient to receive the envoy and have continuously invented a stream of
excuses to delay the visit.
Razali is clearly getting impatient, since
it has been six months since his last trip. He has visited Myanmar every three
months or so since he was appointed UN envoy to facilitate discussions between
the junta and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Publicly, Razali
continues to put on an optimistic face. "I hope to visit as soon as possible,"
he told reporters in Bangkok. But it now seems certain that he will not be able
to visit Yangon before the beginning of June at the earliest.
UN
officials insist that Razali only needs two days' notice to travel to Yangon,
and that all it takes is a call from the military authorities.
In the
past few weeks, many political leaders and senior diplomats have urged Myanmar's
top leader Senior General Than Shwe to allow Razali to visit Yangon as soon as
possible. UN human-rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro has told Yangon that it
must allow Razali to visit immediately if it is serious about national
reconciliation.
The European Union has also stressed the need for Razali
to be given access to Myanmar. The Japanese prime minister's envoy - former
prime minister Yomuri Mori - delivered a personal letter from Junichiro Koizumi
to Than Shwe this week, urging the Myanmese leader to implement economic reform
and to allow Razali in as soon as possible.
But none of these
interventions seems to have had much impact. UN officials say Secretary General
Kofi Annan may have to intervene now.
"The failure to allow Ambassador
Razali to visit Burma clearly reflects the fact that the dialogue process has
stalled," Pinheiro said in Bangkok.
Now the stalled dialogue process may
even be about to unravel. Suu Kyi has gone on the offensive, accusing the
Myanmese generals of insincerity and lack of commitment to political reform.
"I have come to the conclusion that the SPDC [State Peace and
Development Council, as the junta is formally called] is not interested in
national reconciliation," she told reporters in Yangon last week. "National
reconciliation is change. They don't want change, but change is inevitable."
It was the opposition leader's harshest public criticism of the military
regime since her release from house arrest a year ago on May 6. Since then,
there has been little progress in the dialogue process. There has been no real
meeting or contact between the two sides for nearly six months.
The
opposition leader blames the military for the failure. In fact, she told
journalists that the situation has actually deteriorated in the past few months.
During her last three trips out of Yangon - to Shan, Rakhine and Chin states -
her entourage and the party supporters who came to greet her were harassed and
intimidated.
Myanmar's military spokesman reacted strongly to the
opposition leader's accusations and blamed Suu Kyi and her party for the
problems. Colonel Hla Min said it is her National League for Democracy that is
uncooperative, "by focusing on the negative aspects of the trips and holding
press conferences attacking the government for these shortcomings".
"On
her first trips outside of Yangon last year, the authorities helped facilitate
visits to government projects and appreciated the constructive comments and
suggestions they received from Daw Aung San Suu Kyi afterwards," said Hla Min.
The opposition leader met with her assigned military intelligence
liaison officer, Brigadier-General Than Thun, and passed on her impressions of
the projects, according to government sources. "This has ceased to happen," said
the spokesman, "and the government would welcome the NLD's constructive comments
and suggestions."
Both the opposition leader and senior military
officials say the two sides should cooperate on humanitarian and development
issues such as AIDS, health and education.
The generals "have shown that
they are willing to cooperate with us in matters of humanitarian aid", Suu Kyi
told a news conference in Yangon last week. "The government actively welcomes
meaningful and constructive help in all areas of national development -
particularly in education, health care and economic development," said Hla Min
in a recent statement to the international press.
Myanmar's fragile
political-dialogue process is slowly slipping into a confrontation that is being
waged in the media. "It's becoming a war of words," said a senior Western
diplomat in Yangon who did not want to be identified.
The fear is that
this could quickly destroy any trust that has been built up between the two
sides over the past two years during of the dialogue process.
"The
dialogue now seems to be with the media, and not the diplomats," said Razali.
"This exchange should not be in the public domain but behind closed doors."
The only way that can happen is for Razali to be allowed back into
Myanmar, according to UN officials. "The political deadlock can only be resolved
if the two parties sit down together and talk and that is exactly the role Mr
Razali is meant to play," said one.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Mori heads to Myanmar
Tuesday, April 29, 2003
at 10:00 JST
YANGON, April 29, Kyodo ? Former Japanese Prime Minister Yoshiro
Mori will arrive Tuesday evening in Yangon, leading an 11-member goodwill
delegation, official sources said.
Mori will meet government leaders,
including Sr Gen Than Shwe, the head of Myanmar's military government, during
his three-day visit. Another Japanese ex-prime minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto, also
visited Yangon in December 1999, leading a 20-member goodwill delegation.
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