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BURMA RELATED NEWS - May 09, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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AP - Myanmar junta
says it is serious about improving human rights
AP - Britain gives
US$281,600 for Myanmar environmental projects
AP - Myanmar
government stops giving extra gasoline rations
AFP - Myanmar irked
by US criticism, urges end to sanctions
AFP - UN body fears
for Myanmar's plans for ancient Pagan
Dow Jones -
Philippines To Join Asean's Early Harvest Prog - Official
Asian Tribune -
Hunger still rampant in Burma - Asian Human Rights Commission
Asian Tribune -
Burmese Dictators Detain Man for Pro-Democracy Demonstration
EU - EU Common
Position on Burma/Myanmar
Bkk Post -
EDITORIAL - Human trafficking takes horrific toll
The Nation - 'WAR
ON DRUGS': Wa redirect ya ba to new markets
Asia Times - Mixed
progress for Yangon's drug war
DVB News - Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi in Mandalay
DVB News -
Restrictions on NLD members in Minhla, Magwe Division
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Myanmar junta says it is serious about improving human
rights
Fri May 9, 7:44 PM ET
BANGKOK, Thailand
(AP) _ Myanmar's military government
Friday insisted that it is serious about improving its human rights record, and
rejected U.S. criticism that it has done little to promote democracy.
A
government statement faxed to The Associated Press in Bangkok said opposition
leader and Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's party and other political
groups ``have unparalleled freedom to conduct their activities and (political)
prisoners are being released at a steady pace.''
The statement was in
response to comments by U.S. State Department spokesman Richard Boucher on
Tuesday that Myanmar's junta has failed to open a dialogue with Suu Kyi despite
releasing her from house arrest a year ago.
Boucher also acused the
regime of oppressing its people, harassing Suu Kyi in her travels and limiting
her party's activities.
In response, the junta statement said it has
been ``reforming its own internal procedures and practices through human rights
programs _ run by outside humanitarian groups _ that have been going on for more
than two years.''
It said ``hundreds of people in all branches of the
government have been trained (in human rights) and the results are widely felt
throughout the country.'' It did not elaborate.
The statement said the
United States should ``help lay the foundation for a smooth transition to
democracy'' in Myanmar by lifting economic sanctions and helping it in its drug
eradication efforts.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been ruled by the
military since 1962. The current group of generals came to power in 1988 after
crushing a pro-democracy movement. It called elections in 1990 but refused to
hand over power to Suu Kyi's party despite its convincing victory.
Suu
Kyi was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991.
A reconciliation process
started in October 2000 between the two sides has yielded no tangible result
except the release of a few hundred political prisoners while about 1,500 more
remain jails.
Meanwhile, the Japanese government on Friday welcomed the
May 4 release of 21 political prisoners including 12 members of Suu Kyi's party,
a Japanese Foreign Ministry statement said.
``The Government of Japan
expects that the government of Myanmar will expand its release of political
prisoners. Japan also has a firm hope that, through the release of political
detainees, basic human rights in Myanmar will be improved, contributing to the
nation's democratization and national reconciliation process,'' it said.
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Britain gives US$281,600 for Myanmar environmental
projects
Fri May 9, 6:20 PM ET
YANGON, Myanmar
(AP) _ Britain will give US$280,000
for two projects to help survey and conserve wildlife in military-run Myanmar,
its embassy in Yangon announced Friday.
A grant of US$192,000 will fund
a field survey of bats in Karen and Mon states in the eastern part of the
country. The project will be implemented by the Harrison Institute, located in
Kent, England, and Yangon University.
According to the Harrison
Institute's Web site, field surveys in western, central and southeastern Myanmar
have already discovered five bat species previously unknown to the country,
including at least one that is globally endangered.
A second grant of
US$89,600 will be used for a wildlife management and conservation project in
three protected areas in Myanmar's northern Kachin state _ one of the country's
most remote regions, which leads into the foothills of the Himalayas.
The project will be implemented by the Wildlife Conservation Society,
which is associated with New York's Bronx Zoo. It has projects in 53 nations
across Africa, Asia, Latin America and North America.
Myanmar, which has
been run by its military for 40 years and is one of Asia's poorest countries,
gets little aid from Western countries critical of its human rights record.
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Myanmar government stops giving extra gasoline
rations
Fri May 9, 2:10 PM ET
YANGON, Myanmar
(AP) _ Myanmar's military government
has canceled a four-month-old program allowing residents to buy additional fuel
_ at higher rates _ beyond the 60 imperial gallons (270 liters) per month they
normally can get.
As usual in this tightly controlled country, the new
policy was not officially announced.
Instead, vehicle owners who went to
gas stations Friday were told by attendants that authorities had scrapped the
new quota, which had allowed 10 extra gallons for private car owners and 20
extra gallons for taxi owners.
The vehicle owners are again limited to
buying 60 gallons at the subsidized rate of 180 kyat (US$ 0.18) per imperial
gallon.
The short-lived, extra quota that started on Jan 6. had come at
a much higher price: 700 kyat (US$0.70) per imperial gallon.
Myanmar,
also known as Burma, suffers from a constant gasoline shortage due to limited
domestic oil production and tight foreign exchange reserves.
Gasoline
has been sold under a rationing system in the capital, Yangon, since 1980. Each
car has a ration book, which is updated by gas station attendants when a
purchase is made.
Vehicle owners who do not use their full quota often
sell the excess fuel to black-market vendors, who in turn sell it to drivers for
about 850 kyat (US$0.85) per imperial gallon.
With the extra allowance
cut, the black market price jumped to 1,000 kyat (US$1) per gallon.
Although Myanmar's gasoline prices are lower than those in many other
countries, fuel is relatively expensive for most people in Myanmar, where a
government school teacher, for example, earns about 7,000 kyat (US$7) a
month.
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Friday May 9, 3:16 PM
Myanmar irked by US criticism, urges end to sanctions
YANGON, May 9 (AFP) - Myanmar on Friday shrugged off the latest
US criticism of its military rule and reiterated its call for Washington to end
crippling sanctions and help in "our political transition to democracy."
The State Department on Tuesday accused Myanmar's military rulers of a
catalogue of repression and reinforced its firm support for democracy leader
Aung San Suu Kyi, as it marked the anniversary of her release from house arrest.
Clearly irked by the accusations, Myamnar's junta Friday questioned the
US government's judgment in a statement sent to AFP.
"(Washington) noted
positive developments in Myanmar -- including Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's complete
freedom to travel, the opening of many new offices of the National League for
Democracy (NLD), and the release of hundreds of political prisoners -- and then
oddly declared that 'little progress' had been made toward democracy," the
statement said.
"The truth is that the government of Myanmar is taking
its steady and tangible steps toward democracy."
The junta highlighted
what it described as its "deepening" involvement with the international
humanitarian community, noting a recent mission to Myanmar by rights monitor
Amnesty International and increased activity by the Red Cross and International
Labour Organization.
"We urge the United States to join the people of
Myanmar in our political transition to democracy," it said.
"Rather than
hurting the poor through economic sanctions, we urge the US to provide economic
opportunities for the people of Myanmar."
Washington is a staunch critic
of Myanmar, and a strong supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi, whose NLD party won a
landslide election victory in 1990 which has never been recognised by the
military.
She and the junta quietly began national reconciliation talks
in October 2000 but they never moved beyond the confidence-building stage and
are now stalled.
Last month Suu Kyi, who was awarded the 1991 Nobel
Peace Prize, complained for the first time publicly about the lack of progress
in the talks, a major turnaround on her usually conciliatory stance.
Yet
the junta stressed its "official government representative is at the NLD's
disposal to manage any comments and suggestions they would like to share."
The United States currently maintains an investment ban, travel
restrictions for Myanmar officials and an arms embargo on Yangon among other
sanctions.
In February when Yangon called for a constructive dialogue
with the US, the human rights group Alternative Network on Burma labelled the
call "outrageous" in light of Myanmar's lack of progress in discussing political
transition with the opposition.
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Friday May 9, 0:22 PM
UN body fears for Myanmar's plans for ancient Pagan
BANGKOK, May 9 (AFP) - The United Nations cultural body voiced
alarm Friday over military-ruled Myanmar's reported plans to build a 60-metre
viewing tower in the ancient city of Pagan.
The first public mention of
the proposed construction of the Nanmyint Tower came last month in the state-run
New Light of Myanmar, which said junta leader Senior General Than Shwe had
inspected the site.
He was told "that the 198-feet high Nanmyint Tower
will be built near Bagan Golf Course in Bagan ancient cultural region," the
report said, adding the project would take a year to complete.
Richard
Engelhardt, UNESCO's Bangkok-based advisor for culture in Asia and the Pacific,
told AFP he had only just heard of the report and expressed worry over the
plans.
"We are definitely concerned about any plans to develop any kinds
of new infrastrucure within a protected area, or impacting on the protected
area's buffer zone," he said. "For example, a big tower, even if not inside the
site, would impact on the site visually."
Pagan, hosting thousands of
11th century stupas and temples spread over 40 square kilometres in central
Myanmar, is its most important archaeological heritage site and is a mainstay of
a fledgling tourism industry.
It has not formally been inscribed as a
World Heritage site. According to Engelhardt, UNESCO is awaiting information
from Yangon before it can be so labelled.
"What we're awaiting is not
particularly controversial but we are waiting to receive these from the Myanmar
government and when they are received, the nomination process will be picked up
again and will continue on," he said.
The process, he said, had already
been ongoing for "a couple of years".
There is no statutory obligation
for Yangon to consult UNESCO on the project.
"But one would imagine
there should be some good faith, some information sharing, and that UNESCO's
advice should be solicited in anticipation of the inscription of the site on the
World Heritage list," he said.
"Normally the construction of a large new
structure inside an archaeological site is something that we would not endorse."
From the photographs of the plans accompanying the report, Engelhardt
said "this tower would certainly be out of scale with the rest of the site, and
it would therefore detract visually from the importance of the historical
monuments."
A Western diplomat described the plans to erect the tourist
tower as "crazy."
"The beauty of Pagan will be disfigured," said the
diplomat who asked not to be identified. "It is a crime. It is reminiscent of
what happened to the Buddhas in Bamiyan (in Afghanistan, which were destroyed by
the Taliban regime) and the looting in Baghdad."
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Thursday May 8,
7:16 PM
Philippines To Join Asean's Early
Harvest Prog - Official
MANILA (Dow Jones)--The Philippines has reversed an
earlier decision not to participate in the "early harvest" program between China
and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations that calls for the complete
removal of tariffs on select farm products, a senior government official said
Thursday.
The official said the country will participate in the program
now that President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has endorsed a proposal to liberalize
trade of several unprocessed agricultural products with China.
Arroyo
agreed to include 82 raw agricultural products in the program to prevent Manila
from being the only nation within Asean to shun what is a precursor to an
Asean-China Free-Trade Area.
The government was earlier reluctant to
participate in the early harvest program because of China's refusal to include
industrial goods in the pact, a move that would have enabled the Philippines to
offset any potential losses.
The "early harvest" program aims to reduce
tariffs to zero in three years on select farm products for the six original
Asean members, namely Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Brunei and the
Philippines. The newer Asean members - Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Vietnam -
will be given the flexibility of longer time frames.
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Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-05-09
Hunger still rampant in Burma - Asian Human Rights
Commission
Hong Kong, May 09: The People of Burma need to
eat today, but everyday millions of people in Burma go starving and Asian Human
Rights Commission alleges that its attention has been brought to the role of the
military government in Burma in denying the people the right to food.
The
full text of the statement issued by the Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights
Commission (AHRC) is given below:
Burma is a fertile country with
abundant resources. In years gone by it was said that nobody ever starves in
Burma. This has long ceased to be the case. Empirical evidence suggests that
every day millions of people there go hungry, hundreds of thousands are
seriously malnourished, and that some are indeed starving.
< br> This
May, with the launch of the Permanent People?s Tribunal on the Right to Food and
the Rule of Law in Asia, attention has again been brought to the role of the
military government in Burma in denying people the right to food. Extensive
research by the secretariat of the new Tribunal suggests that conditions there
have not improved since the report of the earlier People?s Tribunal on Food
Scarcity and Militarization in Burma ( Voice of the Hungry Nation,October 1999).
In 2003, a villager in the east of Burma displaced by army operations
feels both hunger and the absurdity of going hungry in this land of plenty.
Speaking with embarrassment, he tells a researcher, ?We can?t even feed our own
children. I don?t like to say such things... I?m a man, but I can?t even feed my
children.? An historian in the capital suggests that religious ritual won?t
bring economic and social prosperity, and is promptly blacklisted by the
authorities. A farmer in another region failing to supply sufficient rice to the
authorities is hospitalized after being tortured by the police.
That
police can torture a farmer as punishment for a poor crop speaks to how utterly
perverted ?law enforcement? becomes in the hands of an authoritarian government.
It also points to the universality of rights. In Burma, where every state
directive is aimed ultimately at ensuring the supremacy of the armed forces,
food is denied through state-managed violence. Torture is used to obtain rice.
Fear is instilled to deprive people of basic economic rights and retard their
capacity to react. Denial of the right to food is the corollary of the non-rule
of law. The fight against the torture of a farmer, the silencing of an historian
and the dislocation of a villager is concomitant with the fight to create and
maintain the space necessary to struggle for adequate food.
In October
2000, the government of Burma established a human rights committee chaired by
the Minister for Home Affairs, Colonel Tin Hlaing. The committee hasn?t been
heard of much since, despite its ample sub-committees, training programmes
conducted by foreign ?experts?, and occasional workshops. The Asian Human Rights
Commission would be interested to know the position of the committee on the
massive violations of economic and social rights in Burma. It would like to ask
its chairman what he is doing. Two and a half years of silence are long enough:
the credibility of any human rights committee, and its partners, rests on
practical monitoring, reporting and preventing of human rights abuse, not least
of all, violations of the right to food. So again, what is the committee doing?
The people of Burma need to eat today.
Web site: Permanent People?s
Tribunal on the right to food and the rule of law in Asia? www.foodjustice.net
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Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-05-09
Burmese Dictators Detain Man for Pro-Democracy
Demonstration
Washington and Rangoon Just days after
powerful U.S. Senate Majority Whip Mitch McConnell announced his intention to
introduce legislation sanctioning Than Shwe's military regime for its
"outrageous and repressive" rule, the Free Burma Coalition obtained rare photos
of a recent peaceful protest in Rangoon, one of several to have taken place in
recent months.
The slightly blurry photos show an Army veteran who locked
himself to a lamppost while waving a replica of a flag that was used during the
struggle for Burma's independence from Britain in the 1940s that signals the
desire for freedom. The flag was inscribed with the words and image of Burma's
independence hero General Aung San, and read, "The military is for the country;
the country is not for the military."
According to reliable sources
inside Burma, during the Army veteran's protest two other men handed out
pro-democracy leaflets to on-lookers, but fled before authorities arrived on the
scene. The leaflets echoed successive resolutions passed by the United Nations
General Assembly, calling on the regime to enter into talks with the leader of
Burma's struggle for freedom, 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi,
release all political prisoners immediately and unconditionally, and work to
solve the current social, economic, and political crisis.
"Students,
professionals, and even veterans are increasingly standing up to this regime.
They are not waiting for an international savior that will never come," said
Aung Din, Director of Policy for the Free Burma Coalition.
The most
recent protest follows increasing nonviolent resistance to the regime during
recent months. On April 4th, two Buddhist monks and a student protested for
democracy near the British embassy in Rangoon, waving the flag of the Burmese
students' union. The regime subsequently arrested eight students, according to
Burmese student exiles based in Thailand. In early April, nearly 35,000 people
in the country's Chin State defied harassment and intimidation by local
authorities to view a rally held by the leader of Burma's struggle for freedom,
1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi. On February 7th, as
pro-democracy activists engaged in legitimate activities, military intelligence
rounded up and arrested twelve, including a prominent ethnic leader, the
Secretary of the Shan National League for Democracy. On January 16th, two
Buddhist nuns were arrested after protesting in Rangoon, calling for an end to
military rule.
It has been one year since the regime released Aung San
Suu Kyi from house arrest and promised it would allow the people of Burma to
freely engage in political activities and would move towards a democratic form
of government. Approximately 1,400 political prisoners remain behind bars,
according to the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (Burma).
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EU Common Position on Burma/Myanmar
Press
Release: Brussels (8/5/2003) - Press:128 Nr: 9145/03
Brussels, 8 May
2003
9145/03 (Presse 128)
P 53/03
Declaration by the
Presidency on behalf of the European Union on regarding a declaration by the
Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia,
Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia, and the associated
countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey and the EFTA countries, members of the
European Economic Area, concerning the EU Common Position on
Burma/Myanmar
The Acceding Countries Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic, and Slovenia,
and the associated countries Bulgaria, Romania and the EFTA countries, members
of the European Economic Area, declare that they share the objectives of Common
Position 2003/297/CFSP concerning Burma/Myanmar defined by the Council of the
European Union on 28 April 2003 on the basis of Article 15 of the Treaty on
European Union.
They will ensure that their national policies conform to
that common position.
The European Union takes note of this commitment
and welcomes it.
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Bangkok Post - Friday 09 May 2003
EDITORIAL - Human trafficking takes horrific toll
Twenty-five countries took part in the Sixth East Asia
and Pacific Ministerial Consultation on Children in Bali this week, and they
came out with shocking statistics. One million young children aged 12-17 are
engaged in the sex trade. Eleven million are expected to be Aids orphans in
2010. Over 80% of children in Indonesia aged 14-17 have little or no knowledge
of HIV/Aids. Seventy percent don't know what a condom is. In Cambodia, half of
new infections are husband and wife transmissions, and a third are mother to
child. Two million people in the region are HIV-positive and infections continue
to rise rapidly. The United Nations believes that 30 million people have been
victimised by trafficking over the past 30 years.
Fortunately for the
government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Thailand did not receive any
particular attention, or we might have heard unrepeatable gems from a man quick
on the defensive. But with some 30,000-60,000 people under 18 unofficially
estimated to be in the sex trade, Thailand is a nation of concern. To press the
point, the United States has threatened to downgrade Thailand's human rights
ranking for not doing enough to reverse the situation.
On remedies, the
conference heard a UN specialist call for territorial and extra-territorial
jurisdiction to prosecute and punish perpetrators. Carol Bellamy, executive
director of Unicef, the United Nations Children's Fund, hailed the fact that
nine countries in the region had signed or ratified the optional protocol on the
sale and trafficking of children.
Fortunately for the victims,
governments and private organisations in the developed world are well known to
be generous with donations for activities targeting people trafficking. While
this is a great help, it is hard to resist the temptation to see it as sweet
meats to keep potential immigrants or the sources of criminal behaviour from
their door.
As globalisation shrinks the world and knocks down the
defences against transnational crime, governments everywhere, especially those
squeezed by economic and social pressures, are tightening the screws along their
frontiers. As the traffic in drugs, arms and other contraband continues,
merchants in human beings grow increasingly devious in their means.
Time
and again, human cargoes are seen to be far more vulnerable than inanimate
objects. In Thailand, there was the dumping at the Cambodian border of people
who had been carried from the Burmese border. In Dover, in southern England, a
truckload of Chinese men were found to have suffocated under a consignment of
tomatoes.
But still people pay vast sums to find a new home in America,
Europe or Asia, only to find themselves exploited in sweatshops, brothels or in
everlasting debt. Many are victims of poverty. Others are looking to make their
earnings stretch further. Those lured into prostitution largely come from
hapless beginnings. Many are also propelled by the challenge and need to provide
for extended families. As long as success stories persist, procurers here in
Thailand will feed the lust of a market pinched more or less by the economic
slump.
To protect the youngest and sweetest members of society, the
government must eradicate poverty, and inform the most vulnerable of the
dangers. These efforts will require far more time than the usual three months
this government devotes to problem-fighting. It also will require considerable
resources, as one way of keeping our youth out of harm's way is to keep them in
school. This will not only require more classrooms and teachers but a system for
helping parents who work the land deal with the odd jobs they usually pass on to
their children.
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The Nation
'WAR ON DRUGS': Wa redirect ya ba to new
markets
Mary Longmore
Published on
May 9, 2003
Thai crackdown sees pills flowing into Laos, India
Laos, Cambodia and India are finding more methamphetamine pills turning
up on their streets as traffickers spooked by Thailand's war on drugs turn to
new, safer markets.
Sandro Calvani, head of the United Nations' drugs
and crime regional centre for East Asia and the Pacific, said on Wednesday that
he feared it was "just the beginning" for Thailand's neighbours, which until now
had no serious problems with amphetamines.
Speed pills bearing the stamp
of the Wa, an ethnic force in Burma that produces many of the illicit drugs in
Southeast Asia, have been seized in Laos, Cambodia and India. They have been
particularly popping up in towns in western India, where the pills had not been
previously available, he said.
"It is the so-called balloon effect - you
squeeze in one part and it bulges out somewhere else."
He was unable to
say what amounts had been seized, and said it was too early to estimate the
extent of the problem.
In California, authorities were still testing the
tablets to verify whether they had in fact originated in Burma. "Obviously
dealers are looking for new markets," Calvani said.
As the street price
of ya ba soars in Thailand, the price in Phnom Penh has plummeted from Bt100 to
Bt30 per tablet as the pills flood the market in Cambodia's capital.
Thailand's three-month crackdown has been linked to more than 2,000 deaths,
and led to allegations of extra-judicial killings by police.
Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has blamed the murders on inter-gang warfare, but
acknowledged some police may have silenced players to cover up their own
involvement in the drug trade.
Calvani said it was logical for Thailand
to be the first country in Southeast Asia affected by recreational drugs, as it
closely mirrored Western trends, and was about five years ahead of some of its
neighbours.
Another official at the UN International Drug Control
Programme, speaking on condition of anonymity, said it was worrying if
Thailand's hard-line crusade against traffickers pushed supplies into nearby
countries, where ya ba problems had been minimal and no infrastructure existed
to deal with them.
The official, whose agency coordinates anti-drug
projects throughout Asia, said addicts in Thailand were reportedly switching to
other drugs - such as heroin or solvents - to get their fix.
The
crackdown had been confined to locals, rather than foreigners, to avoid further
weakening a tourist industry already suffering from the Sars epidemic, he
said.
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Asia Times - May 9, 2003
Mixed
progress for Yangon's drug war
By Larry Jagan
MUSE, Myanmar - Myanmar's leaders are angry at
the international community, especially the United States, for failing to
acknowledge the government's efforts to stamp out illicit drug production.
But Washington says Myanmar is not doing enough to end the trafficking
of drugs from its Golden Triangle, which borders China, Laos and Thailand. Thai
anti-narcotics agents say more than a billion yaba - amphetamines - will be
produced in Myanmar in the coming months and flood across the border.
Myanmar's government says it has halved opium production throughout the
country in the last poppy-growing season, which ended earlier this year. "Poppy
production is down by more than 50 percent across the whole of Shan state, while
in some areas, poppy cultivation has been reduced by nearly two-thirds," said
Colonel San Pwint, one of the Myanmese intelligence officers in charge of
ensuring an end to the country's drug production.
Traveling throughout
Shan state along the country's border with China - Muse is a Myanmese town on
the border - and Myanmar's section of the Golden Triangle, there is little
evidence of poppy production.
The major poppy plantations here have been
replaced by endless fields of alternative cash crops - mainly oranges, mangoes,
lychees, longans, coffee and tea. Former poppy farmers have also been encouraged
to concentrate on ensuring food security by growing rice and corn (maize).
There have even been attempts to introduce integrated farming, where
orchards are broken up with vegetable plots and fish ponds, and chickens are
allowed to roam freely around the fruit plantations.
Some are also
experimenting with intensive livestock projects, predominantly chicken and pig
farms, but crocodile farms as well. The military authorities insist these
crop-substitution projects have enabled the local ethnic groups to stop growing
poppy and improve their standard of living at the same time.
"The whole
region will certainly be drug-free by the year 2005," said Colonel San Pwint.
In the past two years, while the main rebel group in the region, the Wa,
have been steadily reducing their opium production, another rebel group in this
region adjacent to China, the Kokang, have largely ignored the government's
drive against drugs.
"The Kokang have completely stopped poppy
production this year and had started crop substitution projects through their
region," said the Kokang leader, Phon Kya Shin.
Increased pressure from
China was the decisive factor in convincing the Kokang leaders that there was no
option but to end opium production, according to diplomatic sources in Yangon.
The United Nations' anti-drugs organization in Yangon, which conducts extensive
surveys throughout Myanmar's drug-production areas, says initial impressions
from this year's research support the Kokang's claim.
It is all part of
the government's strategy to transform Shan state from a major world producer of
opium into a prosperous agricultural and industrial center. These industries are
meant to supplement the extensive cash-crop substitution projects that are meant
to help the poor farmers find alternative sources of income to poppy.
"Everybody in Shan state is aware that the government plans to eliminate
opium-poppy production within the next two years," said Jean-Luc Lemahieu, the
head the UN Drug Control Program (UNDCP) office in Yangon. "Poor farmers and
local officials alike are in no doubt that poppy production will no longer be
tolerated. Even the remotest villages, where poverty drove the farmers to grow
poppy as a cash crop, know the deadline."
But there are concerns about
the long-term viability of the government's plans.
The top Wa and Kokang
leaders who have forced the farmers to stop poppy production are hoping that
China will buy most of the produce that is now being grown.
Some of the
alternative crops being grown are clearly meant to capitalize on the Chinese
market. Longans are being grown throughout Shan state as dried longans are
highly sought after across the border for medicinal purposes. The Wa have been
growing prime-quality Chinese green tea for several years and the Kokang have
started to grow Sichuan pepper.
Most of these deals are being done on a
local bilateral basis and rely heavily on Chinese goodwill. But there are fears
that this will not be sustainable in the long run. "Our new crops are already
inferior to the same products that are grown in China," said the Kokang leader,
Phon Kya Shin. "And I fear we'll not be able to sell them there."
He
wants international aid and government support to improve the viability of the
new agricultural ventures in his region. He complained that government
interference had stopped an earlier substitution project - producing cigarettes
exported to Bangladesh.
The UNDCP office in Yangon says the Myanmar
government is being over-ambitious in its plans to stop poppy production within
the next two years. "If it is to be successful in the long run, [Yangon] needs
substantial international financial support, especially for these
alternative-cash-crop projects," said Lemahieu.
But this is unlikely to
be forthcoming while Myanmar remains one of the world's largest producers of
methamphetamines.
While Myanmar's military rulers are taking concerted
steps to eradicate poppy cultivation, they appear to be far less rigorous in
stamping out the production of methamphetamines in the Golden Triangle.
In the past three years, the production of yaba has remained at the same
relatively high level. Privately, UN and US anti-narcotics agents agree with
Thai military estimates that some 1 billion tablets are manufactured in Myanmar
every year.
Until recently, most of this was produced in mobile
laboratories along Myanmar's border with Thailand. Since the summit between
Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe and Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in
February, some of these have moved inland.
Over the past two years,
there has also been a migration of mobile factories up to the border with Laos.
US intelligence sources believe this is where majority of methamphetamine
production is now taking place, and some laboratories have been established
across the border.
The explosion of methamphetamine production in
Myanmar six years ago was largely fueled by the demand for yaba in Thailand. In
the past two years, demand for the synthetic drugs has also risen in China.
There is no doubt that most amphetamine production takes place in areas
under Wa control, but Wa leader Bao Yuxiang said: "We do not tolerate the
production of synthetic drugs in areas under our control.
"Anyone caught
in Wa territory using narcotics or involved in the illicit drugs trade will be
executed," he said. So far no one has been executed, but there are more than 50
people in prison for drug-related offenses.
One thing that the Wa
leaders, Myanmar's military chiefs and the Thai government seem to agree on now
is that it is criminal gangs that are behind the production and trafficking of
yaba and not the Wa. UN officials agree and say they are mainly Chinese
criminals, some with connections to Hong Kong and Macau.
But Thailand,
which no longer officially blames the Wa but criminal gangs for the flood of
yaba into the country, are anxious that Yangon takes more rigorous action
against the production of the synthetic drugs in Myanmar.
"The next few
months will be a real test" for Yangon, said a Thai government official.
"The flood of drugs into Thailand has been stemmed in the last few
months during the prime minister's war against drugs - so any major increase in
the coming months will reflect badly on Burma's commitment to the battle against
drugs," he said.
The message is clear: Myanmar must take more effective
action against the production of methamphetamines if the international community
is to take Myanmar's efforts to make the country drug free by 2005 seriously.
"At present yaba seems to be the most effective crop substitution
program in the Golden Triangle," remarked a senior Western diplomat in
Yangon.
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DVB News (7 May 2003)
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Mandalay
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team have arrived at Mandalay after midnight
yesterday and today, they have been meting Mandalay NLD members and Sagaing
Division welcoming committee and discussed future plans for the trip for the
whole day. They cancelled the plans to worship at Maha Myat Muni Pagoda and to
meet the famous abbot of Masoeyein Monastery, U Yaza Dhama and went to pay
respect to the wife of U Nyi-Pu, the founder of Mandalay Division NLD. They are
expecting to leave for Sagaing Division at 7am tomorrow and they are hoping to
raise signboards (officially open) the township offices at Shwebo and Kanbalu
said U Lwin as follows:
U Lwin : They arrived at Mandalay at 12.15pm
yesterday. The Mandalay Organising Committee came to welcome them at Le-way,
just ordinary welcome. The road was so bad that they could drive only 20 mph. As
it was very hot, they had to stop every three hours. Because of these, they
arrived only after midnight. Today, they are resting leisurely. But tomorrow,
they are starting to rally people at Sagaing, Shwebo and Kantbalu townships.
They will also include Khin Oo which is on the way.
DVB : Among these,
in which towns are they officially opening new offices?
U Lwin : I don't
know exactly where but they were planning to do that at Shwebo and Kantbalu. I
don't know in details how successful their plans are.
DVB : What we have
heard is they have been forcing passenger cars in Myitkyina to go to Phakant and
the like.
U Lwin : That is true. I heard the news too and I am waiting
for their letters of instruction. Roughly, they told people not to welcome them.
They will confiscate Chinese motorbikes and licenses and the like. There are
some threatening words like these.
In this trip, there are no
harassments from members of the USDA by means of blaring out songs about the
threats of fire or prayer chants like the ones they did in Magwe Division and
Chin State. Some NLD members told DVB that there are no travel restrictions in
Mandalay either. But at Myikyina, Kachin State, the authorities there are
forcibly detaining passenger buses so that people won't be able to hire cars to
see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Moreover, members of Monyin NLD were summoned and
warned by local authorities to welcome Daw Aung San Suu Kyi only with a single
car and five passengers said a man close to the NLD members as follows:
A man close to the NLD members : 'Monyin local authorities summoned our
members today. They only allowed us to meet them [Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team]
with one car. Only five passengers are allowed in that car. The authorities
pressurised them like that. So, if we could not welcome them by cars, we have to
do it by bikes. We are hearing that they are telling people in some wards not to
welcome the organisation [NLD].'
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team will rest
in Mandalay tonight and tomorrow, she will be leaving for Kantbalu, Sagaing
Division to rally people.
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DVB News (7 May 2003)
Restrictions on NLD
members in Minhla, Magwe Division
It is reported that the
local authorities in Minhla Township, Magwe Division are refusing the NLD
members the permission to hold regular meetings. Whenever U Kyaw Thaung, the
Chairman of Minhla Township NLD proposed to the local authorities for a regular
meeting, his proposal was rejected by the authority chairman, U Kyaw Win and the
secretary, U Hlaing Myint Than. Normally, NLD members in other townships do not
need to ask permission to hold regular meetings, and they are allowed to hold
meetings after informing their respective local authorities in advance.
When the NLD Chairman, U Kyaw Thaung reported it to the chairman and
secretary told him that they won't be allowed to hold meetings in Minhla
whatever is happening in other townships. They also told him that if he is not
satisfied with it, he could report it to anyone he likes.
Because of the
restriction, the works of Minhla Township NLD are being suspended and the
condition of the party is gradually becoming weaker and weaker.
At the
same time, a teacher was fired from his job for welcoming Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
during her trip to Chin State. A primary schoolteacher of Kama Township, Magwe
Division, Daw Khin Moe Win was told by the township chief education officer that
she would be fired from her job and she is presently being barred from going to
the school for welcoming Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. A notice letter informing her of
the loss of her job will be sent to her by the local education department in the
coming days, according to a staff from the department.
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