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BURMA RELATED NEWS - May 15, 2003.
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HEADLINES
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AP - ILO, Myanmar
reach agreement on forced labor monitor
AFP - Annan urges
both sides in Myanmar to revive stalled reconciliation talks
AFP - Myanmar
agrees to ILO mediator for forced labour compensation
The Star -
Malaysia's Razali to visit Myanmar in bid to restart peace
talks
ABC online - Annan
urges both sides in Burma to revive stalled talks
Bkk Post - Talks
next week on road transport links, new border bridge
Bkk Post - Asean
under pressure to use its influence
Asian Tribune -
Statement attributable to the Spokesman for the Secretary-General on
Myanmar
NYT - Opinion -
Burmese Rape Horrors
Xinhuanet - Asian
countries push for standard airport rules vs SARS
DVB News - Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi in Phakant
DVB News - Man
beaten to death by soldiers in Pakkoku
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ILO, Myanmar reach agreement on forced labor
monitor
Wed May 14, 12:01 AM ET
GENEVA (AP) _ The United Nations said Wednesday that
Myanmar's military rulers have agreed to let an official travel to the Asian
nation to collect complaints from alleged victims of forced labor.
Myanmar authorities have promised that complainants will be able to meet
confidentially with the official _ who has yet to be appointed _ and will face
no reprisals, the International Labor Organization said. The authorities also
have agreed to investigate the reports and stop abuses.
The official
will launch a pilot program in Myeik, a southern port town. ILO hopes eventually
to extend the program across the country, but has yet to agree this with Myanmar
authorities, said ILO Executive Director Kari Tapiola.
The accord is
separate from a March 2002 agreement between the Myanmar junta and the
Geneva-based ILO, under which the U.N. labor agency stationed a liaison officer
in the capital, Yangon.
Myanmar _ or Burma _ has been under pressure
from the ILO since November 2000 when the agency urged its 175 member
governments to impose sanctions on Myanmar and review their dealings with the
country to ensure they are not abetting forced labor.
The ILO and other
international observers have long accused the military of using unpaid labor on
public works and making civilians serve as army porters.
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Annan urges both sides in Myanmar to revive stalled
reconciliation talks
Wed May 14, 15:08 PM ET
UNITED NATIONS, May 14
(AFP) - UN Secretary General Kofi
Annan on Wednesday urged the ruling junta and the opposition in Myanmar to take
advantage of a visit by his special envoy next month to revive stalled
reconciliation talks.
Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail is due in Yangon
on June 6 for a four-day visit and is expected to meet both government officials
and Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National League for Democracy
(NLD).
Razali has visited Myanmar nine times since he was appointed as
Annan's envoy in April 2000 but his most recent trip was six months ago.
"The secretary general hopes that the special envoy's visit will
reinvigorate the process of national reconciliation in Myanmar, which appears to
have stalled over the past several months," Annan's spokesman said.
Annan called on both the government and Aung San Suu Kyi "to redouble
their efforts to start substantive political dialogue by taking advantage of Mr.
Razali's forthcoming visit," spokesman Fred Eckhard said.
Razali is
credited with brokering landmark secret talks between the military and the NLD
leader which began in October 2000 and were aimed at promoting national
reconciliation and political reform.
The talks led to the release of
Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, and some political prisoners,
but otherwise have ground to a halt.
The democracy campaigner complained
publicly last month of the junta's lack of sincerity in committing to a dialogue
to map out a political transition.
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Myanmar agrees to ILO mediator for forced labour
compensation
Wed May 14, 16:06 PM ET
GENEVA, May 14
(AFP) - Myanmar has agreed to a
request from the UN's International Labour Organisation's and is to appoint a
mediator to help victims of forced labour demand financial compensation, the
Geneva-based ILO said Wednesday.
"I welcome... the reaffirmation of your
government's commitment to eradicating forced labor," ILO Director General Juan
Somavia said in a letter to Myanmar's Labour minister U Tin Winn.
"It is
now of upmost importance that the plan of action, including the selection of the
site for the pilot project, is finalised promptly," he added.
In March,
the ILO's liaison officer in Yangon said that Myanmar was the only country in
the world where forced labour was imposed by authorities and that the military
government's plan to end the practice were neither adequate nor credible.
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The Star - Thursday, May 15,
2003
Malaysia's Razali to visit Myanmar in bid to restart peace
talks
BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - A U.N. envoy who helped
start reconciliation talks between Myanmar's junta and opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi will return to the country next month in a bid to rekindle the
dialogue, which has stalled recently, a newspaper reported Thursday.
United Nations envoy Razali Ismail, former Secretaet General of the
Malaysian Foreign Ministry, is expected to make his 10th trip to the isolated
Southeast Asian country starting June 6, the Bangkok Post reported, quoting a
spokesman for Myanmar's military government.
An independent confirmation
of the report could not be immediately obtained.
Razali, a veteran
Malaysian diplomat appointed as U.N. special envoy in April 2000, visited
Myanmar last November, but is reported to have been denied a visa since then.
He initiated talks between the junta and Suu Kyi in October 2000, ending
a decades-old political deadlock.
But analysts and the democracy leader,
who was released last May after 19 months of house arrest, say the talks have
foundered.
Myanmar has been ruled by the military since 1962. The
current junta came to power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising.
The military government held elections in 1990, but refused to hand over
power when Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won overwhelmingly.
The regime has released a few hundred political prisoners since Suu
Kyi's release more than a year ago, but more than 1,200 others are believed to
remain behind bars, according to human rights groups. - AP
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Annan urges both sides in Burma to revive stalled talks
15/05/2003 08:03:22 | ABC Radio Australia
News
United Nations Secretary General, Kofi Annan, has
urged Burma's ruling military and opposition leaders to take advantage of a
visit by his special envoy next month to revive stalled reconciliation
talks.
Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail is due in the capital, Rangoon,
on June 6 for a four-day visit and is expected to meet both government officials
and Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the opposition National League for
Democracy.
The UN envoy has visited Burma nine times since he was
appointed in April 2000. His most recent trip was six months ago.
The
envoy is credited with brokering landmark secret talks between the military and
the NLD leader.
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 15 May 2003
Talks next week on road transport links, new border bridge
Surakiart to meet with Khin Nyunt
Achara Ashayagachat
Thailand and Burma will hold talks on road transport links and
cooperation against drugs during next week's launch of a project to build a
second Thai-Burmese friendship bridge.
The new bridge _ 90m long and 14m
wide _ will link Mae Sai in Chiang Rai with Burma's Tachilek border town.
Thailand would pay 38 million baht to fund its construction due to be completed
in one year.
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai and Lt-Gen Khin
Nyunt, secretary one of Burma's ruling State Peace and Development Council, will
on Monday discuss the bridge construction and decide on routing of road
transport links from Mae Sot in Tak province to Myawaddy's Kawkareik and Pa-an
in Burma.
Thailand favoured that route because it could be linked with
the East-West Corridor in Laos and Vietnam.
Bangkok has pledged 300
million baht to help fund the repair and construction of only a 65km stretch
from Myawaddy to Kawkareik, not the entire 160km route to Pa-an.
Rangoon
preferred another route linking Kanchanaburi with Tavoy in Burma where a
deep-sea port was being developed.
Mr Surakiart would also discuss a crop
substitution programme for Burma, to which Bangkok has provided 20 million baht
in aid, as well as other cooperation schemes to rid the Thai-Burmese border of
illicit drugs.
Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt would take Mr Surakiart on a helicopter
tour to see progress in the development of Muang Yong Kha town in Shan state,
located some 50km from Tachilek.
Mr Surakiart would also meet his Burmese
counterpart, Win Aung, to discuss ways to hold a summit between Burma, Cambodia,
Laos and Thailand to boost economic development in the region.
The idea
was raised by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during an informal Asean summit
on Sars in Bangkok.
Mr Surakiart would also sign an agreement on the
construction of the second friendship bridge at Ban Sanphak-hi in Mae
Sai.
The new bridge is expected to help ease traffic on the existing
friendship bridge, situated about two kilometres away, which is too narrow to be
expanded.
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Bangkok Post - Thursday 15 May
2003
Asean under pressure to use its influence
The EU is
worried its efforts to bring democracy to Burma are being frustrated by the
support given to Rangoon by its neighbours.
LARRY
JAGAN
Asean leaders are increasingly coming under fire from
European governments and the United States for their support of Burma's
repressive military regime. Many Western countries are keen for Asean and its
member states to impress upon Rangoon the international community's concerns
over Burma's human rights record and its failure to introduce political
reform.
French President Jacques Chirac raised both these issues with
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during his official visit to Paris this
week.
``The situation in Burma is a permanent concern in the region and
it was quite natural for President Chirac to raise this during his discussions
with Prime Minister Thaksin on regional cooperation in Southeast Asia,'' a
French official said in Paris.
The French leader touched on several key
issues in relation to Burma during their talks, according to government
officials. Although Mr Chirac welcomed the recent release of political
prisoners, he urged the Thai prime minister to try to convince Rangoon that
political and economic reform was in its interest and that of the region as a
whole.
``This is a foretaste of things to come,'' a European diplomat
said. ``There is going to be increased pressure on Asean and the countries of
Southeast Asia from their European partners to help convince Burma's generals to
change.''
This stems from the European foreign ministers' decision at
their summit in April to strengthen what is called the European Union's common
position on Burma. At that meeting in Brussels, European foreign ministers
agreed to toughen the sanctions against Rangoon. This would involve extending
the visa ban on Burmese military officers and government ministers, and
broadening the scope of those members of the regime whose assets could be
frozen.
Senior EU officials said privately this could include key members
of the pro-government Union Solidarity Development Association, which has been
in the forefront of the harassment campaign against Aung San Suu Kyi, the
democratic opposition leader, when she has travels outside Rangoon, and the
government's economic bodies.
``General Than Shwe now has a clear choice
_ either to be remembered for his role in ensuring Burma has a prosperous and
peaceful future or collapse into ruin,'' Britain's foreign office minister, Mike
O'Brien, said. The EU is now committed to automatically increasing economic
sanctions against Rangoon if there is no substantial progress in the dialogue
process by the end of October.
An EU ministerial delegation visit to
Rangoon in coming months will have the task of assessing whether there has been
any progress. According to senior European diplomats, this is likely to be at
the deputy foreign minister level.
EU ministers also agreed at Brussels
to step up pressure on Burma's neighbours to support the international
community's campaign to get the generals to the negotiating table and agreed to
raise it during bilateral meetings with the countries of Southeast Asia, Japan,
China and India.
While sending a tough message to Rangoon, the EU members
also wanted to use incentives to encourage the generals to start substantive
talks on reform with Ms Suu Kyi. The EU foreign ministers in their resolution
said they would consider favourably substantial increases in financial aid to
Burma _ multilaterally and bilaterally _ for key areas like Aids, general health
and education if there was political progress.
But not all European
countries supported the strengthening of sanctions against Burma. Some,
particularly Germany, Italy and Austria, were less than enthusiastic. In fact,
Germany threatened to veto the proposals to increase the EU's punitive measures
against Rangoon, according to senior diplomatic sources in Brussels.
This
would have been the first time an EU member had used a veto _ so strongly did
Berlin object to further isolating Rangoon. Analysts believe Germany and Italy
were stung by Ms Suu Kyi's criticisms of the two countries earlier this year,
when she accused them of not doing enough to dissuade their nationals from
holidaying in Burma. Consensus eventually prevailed.
This split over
policy towards Burma within the European community reflects a broader difference
of opinion within the international community over how to bring democratic
change to Burma: pressure, punishment and isolation on the one hand, or support,
assistance and acceptance on the other.
Asean and the rest of Asia _
notably China, Japan and India _ have all endorsed a policy of engagement. Over
the 12 months since Ms Suu Kyi was freed from house arrest, Japan's aid
programme has steadily grown, although there has been no substantive change on
the part of the generals.
The EU, the United States and the United
Nations all favour a more punitive approach, though they all see the need for a
policy in which any significant changes in Burma are rewarded with humanitarian
aid and financial assistance. Shortly after the EU announced its tougher
sanctions against Rangoon, Britain and several other European countries
finalised a substantial financial package for a new programme to help Burma
combat Aids.
The issue for Washington is much simpler _ only substantial
pressure can reverse the military regime's intransigence. US policy will
continue to use the stick to try to beat the Burmese generals into submission.
Increased trade sanctions against Burma are expected to be adopted by the
congress in the near future. But any economic sanctions will only be effective
if Burma cannot turn to it neighbours for support.
Burma's leaders have
told Western government ministers and diplomats for some time now that they do
not fear a Western-led economic embargo as they expect to get all the trade,
investment and aid they need from their Asian neighbours. This has only
strengthened the EU's commitment to put pressure on Asean leaders to change
their attitude towards Rangoon.
``Just demanding that the Asean countries
put pressure on Rangoon is not enough,'' a European diplomat in Bangkok said.
``Europe and the international community need to have a clear idea of what it is
they want the Southeast Asian governments to do in relation to Burma,'' she
said.
What is clear is that the issue of Burma _ and how to get the
generals to change _ will feature more and more during regional meetings and
bilateral visits between Europe and Asean. Mike O'Brien, the British foreign
office minister, will certainly raise it when he visits Malaysia next month, but
it seems German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder may have ignored the Burma issue
during his visit this week to Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and Vietnam,
according to diplomatic sources in Brussels.
Burma is expected to be
prominent on the agenda at the Asean foreign ministers summit and the associated
regional forum in Phnom Penh next month. Apart from two-way meetings, especially
with EU and the US, the Southeast Asian governments have to confront the
prospect of Burma taking over the presidency of Asean _ and the annual summit
being held in Rangoon. ``It will be highly embarrassing for Asean to be led by
one of the world's remaining military dictatorships,'' a senior UN official said
recently in New York.
The EU and the US are hoping this may finally
convince Asean leaders that the onus is also on them to help convince the
Burmese generals to introduce economic and political reform. But if the past few
years are any indication, the military regime is in no hurry to loosen its grip
on power, and the people of Burma will probably still be waiting for political
change when Rangoon takes its turn as the Asean president.
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Asian Tribune
Date :
2003-05-15
Statement attributable to the
Spokesman for the Secretary-General on Myanmar
New York,
May 14: Mr. Razali Ismail, the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for
Myanmar, will visit Yangon from 6 to 10 June 2003. It will be his tenth mission
as Special Envoy.
The Secretary-General hopes that the Special Envoy's
visit will reinvigorate the process of national reconciliation in Myanmar, which
appears to have stalled over the past several months. He reiterates his call on
both the Government and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, General Secretary of the National
League for Democracy (NLD), to redouble their efforts to start substantive
political dialogue by taking advantage of Mr. Razali's forthcoming visit.
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The New York Times - May 15, 2003
Opinion - Burmese Rape Horrors
To the
Editor:
I read with great interest your article about the Burmese military's
systematic use of rape against women in Myanmar, formerly Burma (news article,
May 12). The rapes have been investigated and corroborated by local human rights
groups, the United States State Department and now Refugees
International.
Hundreds of women have been raped. Many of them have
retold their painful stories time and again, putting themselves at risk to tell
the truth. They deserve justice, and the international community should provide
it.
The Burmese military junta should be held accountable for its crimes.
These brave women of Burma stood up to a dictatorship. We should not let them
down.
KATHLEEN DiDOMENICO
New York, May 12, 2003
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Asian countries push for standard airport rules vs SARS
Xinhuanet 2003-05-15 17:23:50
MANILA, May 15
(Xinhuanet) -- Officials from 12
Asian countries met at the Clark special economic zone in the northern
PhilippinesThursday to agree on tough new regulations for screening air
passengers as the region battles Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome(SARS).
Aviation, health, quarantine and immigration officials aim to draw up a
protocol for testing air passengers as part of efforts to contain the disease,
the first major epidemic to be spread around the world by jet travel, the
Philippine Daily Inquirer reported.
"Everybody has a stake in making our
own countries and the world free of SARS," Philippine President Gloria
Macapagal-Arroyo said in a message read by an aide at the forum.
"The
need to come up with standard airport protocols to combat this dreaded virus is
a major step towards that goal and in rebuilding the level of business
confidence that it has dampened,"Arroyo added in the address.
Experts
said that SARS is one of the most serious threats to the Asian economies since
the Asian financial crisis in 1997, having battered Asia's aviation and tourism
industry. Some countries have imposed outright travel bans on passengers coming
from SARS-hit areas.
"The cost to the airline industry is in the order
of 10 billionUS dollars: that's as we stand today," Andrew Drysdale, regional
vice-president for the International Air Transport Association (IATA), said on
the sidelines of the two-day meeting.
SARS has caused more damage to the
global airline industry thanthe Sept. 11 attacks and the war in Iraq combined,
he said. "If this problem continues to stretch forward over the next month,
thelosses could be well in excess of that."
Drysdale said that
perception, more than the actual threat of contagion, was driving certain
governments to adopt excessive measures against SARS. "We must have
standardization. There are far too many different rules being applied by
different authorities around the globe. We are seeing blanket bans being imposed
which are not supported by any medical facts."
"That has got to stop.
The WHO (World Health Organization) is the recognized body to be able to
establish base standards," he said.
Manila airport general manager
Edgardo Manda told the meeting: "While some countries might have plenty of space
for fiscal policyto use against the disease, some economies have much less
corridorfor strategic maneuvers."
Delegates from WHO, IATA and
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) members Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam plus
China,Japan and South Korea attended the meeting. Laos, another ASEAN member,
was absent.
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DVB News (14 May 2003)
Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi in Phakant
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team who
arrived in Phakant, Kachin State yesterday evening raised the signboard of the
NLD Phakant Township office at 9 o'clock this morning.
A local resident
told the DVB that she then gave a speech to the supporters and continued to
Tanaing at about 11am.
As the local authorities are limiting the use of
telephone during this trip, the correspondences between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and
the NLD office in Rangoon tend to be always late, according to the NLD's
spokesman, U Lwin. Therefore, we contacted Phakant directly to find out the
latest situation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's trip and local resident told the DVB
as follows:
DVB : Has she left Phakant?
A Phakant resident :
Yes, at 11am.
DVB : She was allowed to raise the signboard of the local
NLD office?
A Phakant resident : Yes.
DVB : Did you hear what
she said to the people?
A Phakant resident : Yes, I did. She gave a
speech as soon as she arrived in the evening. This morning, she gave another
around 9am.
DVB : How many people went to see her?
A Phakant
resident : There were many people. I don't know about Lone Khing area.
DVB : She addressed to the people at two places?
A Phakant
resident : Yes. In this area, the streets were full of people. There were many
people.
U Lwin said that he only heard that she had arrived at Lone
Khing area yesterday and he hasn't heard the latest situation of today.
Yesterday, at Lone Khing, about 10,000 people welcomed and greeted her and U
Lwin summarised her speech at Lone Khing as follows:
U Lwin : Lone Khing
is quite a big village. Villagers from the neighbouring areas also came to
welcome her in numbers. There were more than 10,000 people, I was told. Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi talked there for awhile. She gave some short comments in accordance
with the needs of the location. The place was full of people who came to work
there. She said that on the way people greeted her 'may our mother be healthy'.
As a mother, I want to greet you also that may
you all be healthy, she said.
Take care of your health. As Phakant is full of people from all over the
country, I have heard that HVI/AIDS disease is rampant. Please take care of
yourself. Medicine San Frontier [MSF] from France and ACD from Holland were
there and the people have the chance for medical treatments. She told them to
learn the precautions against the disease and the like. She said these at Lone
Khing.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team will be arriving at Tanaing after
9pm and if the condition of the road is bad they could be as late as midnight,
said a local resident. Tomorrow, they are expected to raise the signboard of NLD
Tanaing Township office and they will continue to Myikyina from Tanaing.
In order to harass and hamper the progress of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and
team at Tanaing, Myitkyina and Momeik, members of the Intelligence Service and
the USDA are systematically preparing their plans. The Tanaing NLD's chairman, U
Kason Sinwa Naw was summoned and warned today by the local authority chairman
not to welcome her with brass bands and not to use amplifiers and sound boxes at
the stage when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi arrives. The commander and members of No. 8
Intelligence Base are arriving in advance at Tanaing and they are discussing how
to harass Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team. At Momeik, Members of the USDA are
taking field trips to every village and rallying the villagers not to welcome
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team and they are preparing for the harassments at
potential places where she might deliver her speeches. Last Friday, the local
authority chairman summoned and warned the Momeik NLD's chairman, U Myint Swe
and in the evening, members of the USDA smashed and destroyed wooden sticks
intended for holding NLD office signboard.
At Myikyina, four truckloads
of USDA members are being organised and they are discussing to disrupt and
harass Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team when they arrive tomorrow, on the 15th of
May. These plans are not only being prepared in Kachin State, but also the team
was being harassed and hampered in various ways when they visited Indaw and
Katha in Sagaing Division last week. Then, on the evening of 13th of May, U Htay
Aung, the secretary of Katha District USDA gave the people who took part in the
harassments a grand dinner party as celebration.
On the 5th of May, the
chairman of Myaing Township authority, Magwe Division summoned and instructed
civil servants in the morning, and members of local authorities [Ya-Ya-Kas] in
the evening - not to welcome Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and not to go outside their
homes when she comes. Members of Ya-Ya-Kas were told to prepare so that local
people could not come out of their homes for the welcome. Although, the chairman
of Myaing Township local authority is preparing and working hard to stop people
from welcoming the team, it is still not known if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will
visit Myaing during this trip, a local resident told the DVB.
Meanwhile,
it is reported that members of Pakkoku's government sponsored People's Power
Holders are giving trainings in handling catapults, ropes, bamboo spikes and
assault techniques with the excuse of maintaining local security. The trainings
have been given at No.9. State Primary School, Pakkoku since the previous two
weeks. The local USDA members, 20 members from each ward were forced to attend
as trainees and each trainee is given 300 kyats per day.
Although the
trainings are claimed to be for the security and defence of the local
communities, its real aims are to put down riots and to intimidate local people
with force. A local resident said that the trainings are the preparations by the
SPDC for the purpose of harassing and taunting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team who
are coming to the town soon because there was no training like this and these
trainings are given just before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team are coming to the
town.
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DVB News (14 May 2003)
Man beaten to
death by soldiers in Pakkoku
It is reported that a worker
of a cigarette factory, U Kauk Yat was beaten to death by soldiers in Pakkoku,
Magwe Division.
On the 2nd of May at about 10pm, three soldiers from
Light Infantry 259 situated opposite the factory beat up U Kaukyat to death. On
the night of the incident, after their shifts and homeward bound, U Kaukyat and
three fellow female workers were surprised by the soldiers in front of the
factory and U Kaukyat was assaulted.
The three women pleaded with the
soldiers not to beat him up but they did so until one of his eyes popped out and
he died on the spot. During last water festival soldiers and the factory workers
had an argument and the soldiers could have beaten him to death thus with the
grudge, said a local resident. Whatever the reason, the armed people who should
be guarding the laws should not be able to beat a civilian to death like this.
Is the country already out of control and lawless, asked the same person. The
three soldiers who committed the crimes are being detained inside their base but
it is not known how they are to be dealt
with.