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BURMA RELATED NEWS - June 06,
2003.
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HEADLINES
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Reuters - UN Envoy
in Myanmar to Try to Free Suu Kyi
Reuters - U.N.
presses for release of Suu Kyi
Reuters -
ANALYSIS-Asia diplomacy call for Myanmar risks falling
flat
AP - Higher Death
Toll Suggested in Myanmar
AFP - UN envoy says
'realistic chance' of seeing Suu Kyi on Yangon visit
AFP - UN envoy
arrives in Myanmar to see Suu Kyi as US criticism grows
AFP - Philippines
invites Myanmar ambassador on Aung Sang Suu Kyi
incident
AFP - Aung San Suu
Kyi "physically well", Myanmar envoy tells Philippines
AFP - 100 missing
in Myanmar after crackdown on Suu Kyi and her party: Amnesty
AFP - European
Parliament orders Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi
Asia Times - Yangon
feels the tightening of the screws
NYT - A Nobel Peace
Laureate Under Attack
Press Release of
Senator Mitch McConnell
Bkk Post - Inside
Burma?
Dow Jones - U.S.
Court To Review Unocal Myanmar Brutality Suit
CNN - Thugs
ambushed Suu Kyi, says U.S.
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UN Envoy in
Myanmar to Try to Free Suu Kyi
Fri Jun 6, 6:06 AM
ET
YANGON (Reuters) -
A U.N. special envoy met Myanmar officials on Friday to press for the release of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, detained last week after a deadly clash
between her followers and government supporters.
The ruling generals
have held the Nobel peace laureate at an undisclosed location since last
Friday's violence as she toured a provincial town.
The United States
said on Thursday it suspected Suu Kyi and her convoy were ambushed and attacked
by "government-affiliated thugs." The military says four people died and 50 were
injured in the clashes but dissidents in exile suspect perhaps as many as 75 of
Suu Kyi's supporters were killed.
Diplomats and dissidents fear Suu Kyi
was injured in the May 30 violence but Myanmar officials have denied that.
"I have heard that she's been injured...but these are all just rumors,"
Razali Ismail, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's envoy to Myanmar, said as he
left the Malaysian capital for Yangon.
"I think the government can be
persuaded to allow me to see her. They should really help themselves by allowing
me to see her," the veteran Malaysian diplomat said.
"We are making a
strong bid to get her released immediately. Virtually all countries are
demanding that she be released."
In Myanmar, Razali left his central
Yangon hotel for an afternoon meeting with Foreign Minister Win Aung, saying he
also wanted to see senior leaders of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD), who have been confined to their houses by the military for the past week.
But he told reporters the military had not yet given any signal they
would allow him access to the NLD leadership.
"It's in the hands of the
government here," he said.
A source close to the government said Razali
would probably meet the country's military intelligence chief and number three
in the junta, Khin Nyunt, on Saturday.
DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE
The United States and Britain have stepped up diplomatic
pressure for Suu Kyi's release and called on the junta to allow Razali to meet
her.
State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement
officials of the U.S. embassy in Yangon had gone to the scene of last week's
clashes to investigate.
"Their findings indicated that there was a
premeditated ambush on Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade. Circumstances and reports
from individuals in the region indicated that the attack was conducted by
government-affiliated thugs," he said, urging the junta to give a full
accounting of the dead, injured and missing.
British Foreign Secretary
Jack Straw said his ministry had phoned and written to Myanmar's ambassador to
Britain to express "grave concern at the disturbing and credible reports we have
received that the attack on Aung San Suu Kyi...was much worse than we were led
to believe."
Suu Kyi's detention was accompanied by a wider crackdown on
dissent. The junta has closed the NLD's offices, detained party leaders and
closed universities and colleges until June 16.
Razali has visited
Myanmar several times in the past two years to try to encourage talks on a
democratic transition in the country that the military has ruled since a 1962
coup.
He was instrumental in persuading the generals to free Suu Kyi
from a spell of house arrest in May 2002 after a series of "confidence-building"
talks between the junta and the NLD.
In the past year the junta allowed
Suu Kyi to travel around the country, reopening NLD offices and meeting
supporters.
But recent statements from the government have indicated
increasing tension between the military and the NLD over Suu Kyi's trips and the
big crowds she attracted.
The NLD swept to a landslide election victory
in 1990, but has never been allowed to rule.
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Friday June 6, 11:28 PM
U.N. presses for release of
Suu Kyi
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON (Reuters) - A U.N. special envoy has met Myanmar
officials to press for the release of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
detained after a deadly clash that Washington says may have been instigated by
the military regime.
Razali Ismail, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's
envoy to Myanmar met with Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung and said he would
meet the military intelligence chief and number three in the junta, Khin Nyunt,
on Saturday morning.
Asked about the chances of meeting Suu Kyi, Razali
told Reuters on Friday evening: "It is too early to say."
The ruling
generals have held the Nobel peace laureate at undisclosed locations since
violence erupted between her supporters and those favouring the junta last
Friday as she toured a provincial town in the North.
Razali said he also
wanted to see senior leaders of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD)
party, who have been confined to their houses for the past week.
AMBUSHED BY THUGS
The United States said on
Thursday it suspected Suu Kyi and her convoy were ambushed by
"government-affiliated thugs".
The military says four people died and 50
were injured in the clashes but dissidents in exile suspect as many as 75 of Suu
Kyi's supporters were killed.
Myanmar has denied access to Suu Kyi.
Office of her National League for Democracy have been shut and 19 of its leaders
also in custody.
Diplomats and dissidents fear Suu Kyi was injured in
the May 30 violence but Myanmar officials have denied that.
"I have
heard that she's been injured...but these are all just rumours," Razali said
before leaving Malaysia for Yangon.
"I think the government can be
persuaded to allow me to see her. They should really help themselves by allowing
me to see her," the veteran Malaysian diplomat said.
"We are making a
strong bid to get her released immediately. Virtually all countries are
demanding that she be released."
DIPLOMATIC PRESSURE
The United States and Britain have stepped up diplomatic
pressure for Suu Kyi's release.
U.S. State Department spokesman Philip
Reeker said in a statement U.S. embassy officials had gone from Yangon to the
scene of last week's clash to investigate.
"Their findings indicated
that there was a premeditated ambush on Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade.
Circumstances and reports from individuals in the region indicated that the
attack was conducted by government-affiliated thugs," he said.
Reeker
urged the junta to fully account for the dead, injured and missing from the
clash.
Foreign Secretary Jack Straw said his ministry had contacted
Myanmar's ambassador to Britain to express "grave concern at the disturbing and
credible reports we have received that the attack on Aung San Suu Kyi...was much
worse than we were led to believe".
Suu Kyi's detention was accompanied
by a wider crackdown on dissent. The junta has closed universities and colleges
until June 16, as well as the NLD offices.
Dissidents say the junta
cracked down after becoming alarmed about the large crowds Suu Kyi had been
attracting in trips around the country to reopen NLD offices and meet supporters
over the past year since her release from house arrest.
The NLD won the
last free elections in 1990 by a landslide, but was never allowed to rule.
Myanmar dissidents in Thailand and South Korea, mostly former students
who fled the country after a bloody crackdown in 1988 on the democracy movement,
protested outside Myanmar's embassies.
In Bangkok two dozen people,
wearing red bandanas marked with NLD symbols, shouted "free Burma, don't forget
Aung San Suu Kyi".
Razali has visited Myanmar, formerly Burma, over the
past two years to encourage talks on a democratic transition in the country,
which the military has ruled since a 1962 coup.
He was instrumental in
persuading the generals to free Suu Kyi from house arrest in May 2002.
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Friday June 6, 7:27 PM
ANALYSIS-Asia diplomacy call
for Myanmar risks falling flat
By Patrick Chalmers
KUALA LUMPUR, June 6 (Reuters) - If the fate of Myanmar's pro-democracy
activists hinges on Asian governments pressuring Yangon generals to change,
their prospects may be bleak.
Yet that was what United Nations envoy
Razali Ismail was seeking this week before going to Myanmar visit on what could
be his toughest visit yet.
The much-delayed trip, Razali's 10th since
taking office more than three years back, came despite a crackdown on opposition
forces and the detention of their leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"I cannot do
the job on my own. I have to have support. Regional players must come into
action," he told Reuters in an interview before he left on Friday.
"I
think the Americans have a big role to play," he added.
China, one of
the countries Razali called on to help, could hold the most sway over its
neighbour and land route to the Indian Ocean.
Whether Beijing would care
to push political issues in a place where its money and businesses loom large is
a big if.
Yet Alan Dupont, senior fellow specialising in Asian security
risks at the Australian National University, said China's recent change in
president could play a part.
"The current Chinese leadership under Hu
Jintao has shown itself much more willing to compromise with the U.S. on these
sorts of issues," he said, pointing to Beijing's engagement in North Korea's
nuclear crisis.
"The Americans are clearly going to react quite strongly
to what's happened in Myanmar and they are going to go to China to see what they
can do," he added.
Razali himself admits nothing else has worked so far,
neither Western governments' direct pressure nor the softly, softly engagement
line pushed by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad.
The envoy's
call for action included the other two regional powers, India and Japan, and
Myanmar's nine partners in the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).
"Japan has a very comprehensive relationship with Myanmar. It claims to
understand the military better than any other country. The onus now is on Japan
to try to help," he said on Thursday.
But one Asian diplomat in Kuala
Lumpur, who asked not to be identified, doubted Tokyo's influence on Yangon,
noting its efforts to contact the generals since Suu Kyi's arrest had proved
fruitless.
Japan did back Razali's efforts in public on Friday, pledging
continued support for his mission.
India's Ministry of External Affairs
was more circumspect.
"India is watching the developments in Myanmar
closely but believes that solution to internal problems must come from within,"
a spokesperson told the Indian Express.
ASEAN diplomats in Kuala Lumpur said
outspoken statements were unthinkable from the bloc, which Myanmar joined in
1997 when Mahathir suggested membership could bring progress via less grating
methods than those used by Western capitals.
"I don't think ASEAN as a
whole will want to go against one of its own," one diplomat said.
"At
most, what you can expect is for the individual ASEAN countries to speak
directly to the Myanmar leadership," he added.
ASEAN Secretary-General
Ong Keng Yong put it clearly during a visit to Kuala Lumpur last Tuesday.
"You cannot go in and tell your family member you cannot do this, you
cannot do that," Bernama news agency quoted him as saying after a meeting with
Malaysian Deputy Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
ASEAN groups
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam.
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Higher Death Toll Suggested in Myanmar
Fri
Jun 6,12:08 AM ET
By DANIEL
LOVERING, Associated Press Writer
BANGKOK,
Thailand - U.S. diplomats who visited the site of political clashes in Myanmar
saw bloody clothes and homemade weapons, suggesting far more people may have
been killed than the four reported by the military junta, a U.S. Embassy
official said Thursday.
The official said evidence gathered at the site
also indicated the fighting in northern Myanmar, which broke out around
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade as she toured the region last
Friday, was orchestrated by the government. The junta detained her after the
clash and has not disclosed her whereabouts.
"What they found
corroborates eyewitness reports circulating of a premeditated ambush on Aung San
Suu Kyi's motorcade," the official said on condition of anonymity.
The
U.S. official said the two diplomats who visited the scene of the attack found
signs of "great violence," including bloody clothing, numerous homemade weapons
and smashed headlights and mirrors. The official would not detail all the
information suggesting a premeditated attack but said it included photographs
and physical evidence.
Myanmar's junta has said the fighting began when
Suu Kyi's motorcade drove through a crowd of townspeople protesting her visit
and that four people were killed. Exile groups allege that government-backed
forces staged an ambush and that 70 or more people may have been killed over two
days.
Exiled opposition figures in Thailand say the Nobel Peace Prize
winner may have received head injuries in the violence. The junta insists that
Suu Kyi and colleagues detained with her are fine ? although it refuses to
divulge where they are held.
The exiled figures say the clash was
planned by the junta to justify a crackdown on Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy.
U.S. officials said Thursday that some of those claims were
corroborated by diplomats who visited the scene.
"Circumstances and
reports from individuals in the region indicate that the attack was conducted by
government-affiliated thugs," U.S. State Department spokesman Philip Reeker said
in Washington. "The debris remaining at the scene suggests a major clash, which
could easily have resulted in serious injuries to large numbers of people."
At least 19 members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party
were also detained. The military, which has put Suu Kyi under house arrest
several times since 1989, has repeatedly sought to quash her movement and said
she was taken into "protective custody."
Tight media controls and the
remote location of the clash made it impossible to confirm what happened. Phone
lines to the area appear to have been cut.
Myanmar's government is under
pressure to produce Suu Kyi by Friday, when U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail
visits.
Razali told The Associated Press in Kuala Lumpur he expected to
meet junta leader Gen. Than Shwe to push for Suu Kyi's release. "Suu Kyi must be
released," he said.
As he prepared to leave for Myanmar, the diplomat
said he would investigate the violence by talking to all sides "to get factual
details of what took place."
In late 2000, Razali brokered
reconciliation talks between the government and Suu Kyi, whose party won 1990
general elections but was blocked by the military from taking power. The talks
had provided hope that the country's political impasse could be bridged, but the
dialogue reached a standstill last year.
Razali said senior U.N.
officials had asked him to proceed with the visit even though the junta has
refused to give assurances that he would be allowed to meet her.
The
International Committee of the Red Cross has also asked to see Suu Kyi and
colleagues believed detained with her ? among them the vice-chairman of her
party, Tin Oo.
Western countries, including the United States, have
demanded the release of Suu Kyi and leaders of her party. Her party's offices
have been closed across the country.
Suu Kyi won the Nobel Peace Prize
in 1991 for her nonviolent struggle to promote democracy.
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Friday June 6, 9:59 AM
UN envoy says 'realistic
chance' of seeing Suu Kyi on Yangon visit
KUALA LUMPUR,
June 6 (AFP) - UN special envoy
Razali Ismail said he believed he had a "realistic chance" of seeing detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi as he prepared to leave for a visit to
Myanmar.
"Everybody is hoping that this visit will result at the very
least in me being allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi and to make a strong bid to
get her released immediately," he told reporters at the airport
here.
"All countries are demanding that she be released and that all
parties and the government should get back on track for national reconciliation.
That is the reason why I think the government should allow me to go and see
her.
"There is a realistic chance (of meeting her). I think the
government can be persuaded to allow me to see her because basically they should
really help themselves by allowing me to see her, given all the misgivings
people have about them."
Asked what action he would take if he was not
allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi, the former Malaysian diplomat replied: "Well
that would be a heavy blow to my visit. There are all kinds of possibilities but
I do not want to anticipate in a negative fashion."
A source close to the
national reconciliation process in Myanmar told AFP that Razali would "demand"
to see Aung San Suu Kyi and hinted he would promptly leave if he was denied
access to her.
Diplomats in Yangon said they would be disappointed if
Razali decided to complete his mission, due to last until June 10, without being
allowed to see the opposition leader and check on her health.
"I can't
see how he can come here and not see both sides, he would lose all credibility,"
one diplomat told AFP.
Razali said he had been told by Myanmar's military
rulers that contrary to some reports, Aung San Suu Kyi had not been injured in
violent clashes a week ago between her supporters and a pro-junta mob while she
was on a political tour of northern Myanmar.
The military reported four
deaths, but sources in the country have said several dozen people may have
died.
After the fracas the Nobel peace laureate was taken to a military
camp outside the capital, and the leadership of her National League for
Democracy (NLD) was put under house arrest.
Her detention has sparked
worldwide outrage, with the United States saying Thursday she appeared to have
been the victim of a "premeditated ambush" by "government-affiliated
thugs".
Officials from the US embassy in Yangon visited the site of the
May 30 "violent attack on Aung San Suu Kyi and her traveling party," State
Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement.
"Their findings
indicate that there was a premeditated ambush on Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade.
Circumstances and reports from individuals in the region indicate that the
attack was conducted by government-affiliated thugs."
Razali, the special
envoy of UN secretary-general Kofi Annan, is credited with brokering landmark
talks beginning in October 2000 aimed at shifting Myanmar towards democracy, but
the reconciliation process is now in crisis.
"At this moment not just me
but everybody is worried about the problems in Myanmar and whether the
government and the others can come back to look at national reconciliation with
a specific time frame," he said at the airport Friday.
"We have to give
the people of Myanmar the assurance that this is going to be done."
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Friday June 6, 8:27 PM
UN envoy arrives in Myanmar to
see Suu Kyi as US criticism grows
YANGON, June 6
(AFP) - UN envoy Razali Ismail
arrived in Myanmar to try to meet detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
hours after Washington said she had been the victim of a "premeditated ambush"
by a mob linked to the ruling military junta.
Razali met with Foreign
Affairs Minister Win Aung and was briefed on deadly May 30 clashes between
supporters of the Nobel peace laureate and a junta-backed mob, a source close to
the national reconciliation talks told AFP.
He received the same
information ambassadors were given by the junta the day after the violence,
including that Aung San Suu Kyi was not hurt.
The source confirmed Razali
had inquired about meeting with the opposition leader, but had yet to receive a
reply.
"He didn't get an answer. He has to see the decision-making
authorities for that, which he'll do tomorrow at 8:30 am (0200 GMT) when he sees
Secretary One" or Khin Nyunt, the chief of intelligence and junta number
three.
"It was basically a meeting to test the waters," the source
said.
Razali said earlier that he believed he had a "realistic chance" of
seeing he democracy leader, who was placed in "protective custody" a week ago
after the clashes, which left dozens dead.
Aung San Suu Kyi was taken to
a military camp 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside the capital and has not been
seen since, prompting international concerns about her health.
Sources in
the country have said she sustained non-life threatening head and shoulder
injuries from glass shards when her car windscreen was shattered during the
melee.
"Everybody is hoping that this visit will result at the very least
in me being allowed to see Aung San Suu Kyi and to make a strong bid to get her
released immediately," Razali told reporters shortly prior to his Myanmar
trip.
"There is a realistic chance. I think the government can be
persuaded to allow me to see her because basically they should really help
themselves by allowing me to see her, given all the misgivings people have about
them."
Razali's 10th visit to Myanmar comes a day after US embassy
officials visited the site of the May 30 violence in northern Myanmar, US State
Department spokesman Philip Reeker said in a statement from
Washington.
"Their findings indicate that there was a premeditated ambush
on Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade. Circumstances and reports from individuals in
the region indicate that the attack was conducted by government-affiliated
thugs."
The US has led an outpouring of global outrage over the famed
democracy icon's detention and accompanying crackdown on her National League for
Democracy (NLD) party.
Diplomats said the mood in Yangon following
Razali's arrival was hopeful.
"There is certainly hope now that he's here
that he will be able to meet with her. Fingers crossed to see how it goes. It's
certainly better to have him here than to not have him here," a Western diplomat
told AFP.
The military government has officially blamed the attacks on
the actions of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, whom they allege violated traffic
regulations and frightened local people.
To coincide with Razali's
arrival the English-language New Light of Myanmar published a detailed account
of its version of events in the lead up to the clashes, in which Aung San Suu
Kyi is left unnamed but referred to as "the pro-democracy female
leader".
"If they really cherished democracy, they should have avoided
and refrained from committing such acts and (anti-government) speeches which
could create unrest and riots," the military government's mouthpiece
said.
Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, is credited with brokering the
secret talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta that began in October 2000
and are aimed at shifting Myanmar towards democracy.
Razali made his last
mission in November 2002. He left admitting he was disappointed over the slow
progress in reviving the dialogue.
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Friday June 6, 12:10 PM
Philippines invites Myanmar
ambassador on Aung Sang Suu Kyi incident
(AFP) - Manila has "invited" Myanmar's amabassador
to the Philippines to the foreign department to clarify reports that opposition
leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi is being detained, Foreign Secretary Blas Ople
said.
"It's a very murky situation there. We have invited the Myanmar
ambassador to the (Department of Foreign Affairs) ... so that we can clarify the
situation including the allegation that (Aung Sang) Suu Kyi has been detained
and that they don't disclose where she is," Ople said in a statement
Friday.
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was recently arrested
by the military junta during a political tour with members of her National
League for Democracy (NLD) party and is being held at a military camp outside
the capital city of Yangon, according to reports.
Her arrest came after
clashes between her supporters and a military-backed group. The military
reported four deaths, but sources have said several dozen people may have died
in what the United States says was an apparent "premeditated
ambush".
Ople did not say if the Philippines would lodge a complaint but
stressed that Manila was waiting for the report of the UN special envoy to
Myanmar to be delivered at the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in Cambodia later this
month.
"You can expect the foreign minister of Myanmar will be subjected
to intense questioning in the ASEAN ministerial meeting," Ople said.
"I
won't be surprised if ASEAN makes a formal statement in the meeting in Phnom
Penh but we wait for the report of the UN special envoy to Myanmar," he
added.
He stressed that "ASEAN's policy towards Myanmar has always been
constructive engagement."
Myanmar and the Philippines, along with Brunei,
Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, are
members of ASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
ASEAN
members have generally avoided criticizing one another despite growing concern
in the West over the regime in Myanmar.
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Aung San Suu Kyi "physically well", Myanmar envoy tells
Philippines
Fri Jun 6, 6:41 AM ET
MANILA
(AFP) - Myanmar's ambassador to
Manila told Philippine Foreign Secretary Blas Ople that democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and her followers are "physically well" after deadly clashes there,
the foreign department said.
Ople summoned Myanmar envoy U Tin Htun to
his office earlier Friday to question him about the Nobel Peace Prize winner,
who was placed in "protective custody" by the ruling military junta following
clashes between her supporters and a pro-government mob that left dozens dead.
Ople told the envoy that Manila hoped "that Aung San Suu Kyi is safe,
healthy and uninjured" following reports that she and a number of her National
League for Democracy (NLD) colleagues were injured and had been detained, the
department said in a statement.
"The Myanmar ambassador told the
Secretary that the NLD members are all physically well and are being kept in
protective custody for their own safety," it added.
"We have the
assurances of the government of Myanmar that Madame Suu Kyi is safe. We have no
reason to doubt what they have said," Ople said in the statement.
"We
are confident that Myanmar will continue to ensure the safety of Madame Suu Kyi
and will also continue to keep those interested updated and informed."
The United Nations dispatched an envoy, Razali Ismail of Malaysia, to
Yangon on Friday to seek a meeting with the detained democracy leader, hours
after Washington said she had been the victim of a "premeditated ambush" by a
mob linked to the ruling military junta.
Razali said he believed he had
a "realistic chance" of seeing the Nobel peace laureate.
Aung San Suu
Kyi is being held in a military camp 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside the
capital. Sources have said she sustained non-life-threatening head injuries when
her car windscreen was shattered during the melee.
Ople said he told the
Myanmar envoy that the Philippines hopes Razali will have the opportunity to
meet with Aung San Suu Kyi.
"I understand that Ambassador Razali will
carry with him a message from UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging both sides
to 'redouble their efforts to start substantive political dialogue'. This is a
message that we support and which we hope will bear fruit," Ople added.
Ople said he hoped to "informally inquire from the Myanmar Foreign
Minister on the latest developments related to Madam Suu Kyi" when both attend
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations annual foreign ministers' meeting in
Cambodia next week.
The United States has led an outpouring of
international outrage over the famed democracy icon's detention and accompanying
crackdown on her NLD party.
The military government has officially
blamed the attacks on the actions of Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD, whom they
allege violated traffic regulations and frightened local people.
--------------------------------------------------------------
100 missing in Myanmar after crackdown on Suu
Kyi and her party: Amnesty
BANGKOK, June 6
(AFP) - Amnesty International Friday
urged Myanmar's military government to account for more than 100 people
including political activists said to be missing after a crackdown on opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her party.
The May 30 incident, in which
dozens of people are now believed to have been killed, represents further
erosion of already tenuous human rights conditions in the country, according to
Amnesty.
"The State Peace and Development Council must release activists
who were detained on account of their peaceful political activities and clarify
the fate and whereabouts of at least 100 people who are missing," the
London-based watchdog said in a statement.
The junta placed Aung San Suu
Kyi "in protective custody" after the incident and reported that four had been
killed and 50 injured during the violence, which occurred while the leader was
on a political tour to northern Myanmar.
Some 18 members of her
entourage were also detained, while the leadership of her opposition National
League for Democracy (NLD) was put under house arrest in Yangon.
Among
the missing are NLD deputy chairman Tin Oo, members of the NLD's youth wing, MPs
elect, NLD members and students, Amnesty said.
Amnesty and other sources
say they believe some 70 people may have died in the fracas.
"These
events represent a significant deterioration in the human rights situation.
Steps towards improvement have been sadly undermined by this latest crackdown,"
it said.
The statement coincides with an official visit to Yangon by
Razali Ismail, the special envoy to Myanmar of UN secretary-general Kofi Anna,
who was due to arrive Friday for his 10th visit to the country.
Prior to departing on his trip he told reporters in Kuala Lumpur there was
a "realistic chance" of meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi and that he would strongly
press for her release.
--------------------------------------------------------------
European Parliament orders Myanmar to release
Aung San Suu Kyi
STRASBOURG, June 5 (AFP) - The European Parliament demanded that
authorities in Myanmar release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, detained last
week as part of a crackdown on her pro-democracy party.
In a resolution
adopted on Thursday, the EU assembly condemned her continued detention along
with fellow members of her National League for Democracy (NLD) and demanded
their immediate release.
The Nobel peace laureate was taken into
"protective custody" a week ago after violent clashes broke out between her
supporters and a pro-junta mob while she was on a political tour of northern
Myanmar.
The parliament, which had called for Suu Kyi's release on
Monday, urged Myanmar's junta to reopen the country's universities and the NLD
offices, closed down following the wave of arrests.
European deputies
called for "credible step towards the restoration of democracy" in Myanmar and
that the junta "immediately cease its practice of extrajudicial killings,
systemic rape and political intimidation against the Burmese people".
The parliament called for the situation in Myanmar to be put on the
agenda of talks in July between foreign ministers from the Asia Europe Meeting
(ASEM), which groups the European Union and 10 Asian nations.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Asia Times - Jun 6, 2003
Yangon feels
the tightening of the screws
By Nelson Rand
BANGKOK - The detention of Myanmese opposition leader Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi and the crackdown against pro-democracy supporters in the country
could be the beginning of the end for the ruling junta, the country's two
largest ethnic rebel groups say.
"The end is coming," said the Karen
National Union's foreign spokesman Saw Ner Dah Mya, referring to the latest
developments in the country, which climaxed last Friday with the detainment of
Suu Kyi after a violent clash between her supporters and a pro-government group.
The latest crackdown is a sign of internal fighting within the ruling
junta - known as the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) - said Ner Dah,
who also commands a battalion of Karen guerrillas who have been fighting for an
independent homeland in eastern Myanmar since 1948.
"People are
confused, the SPDC is splitting," he said in a telephone interview.
Analysts say the military junta has been at odds in recent years over
how to handle Suu Kyi, who won a landslide election in 1990 but has never been
allowed to govern. She has spent much of the last 14 years under house arrest,
but a United Nations-brokered deal in 2000 raised hopes of bringing change and
national reconciliation for the country.
Since being released from her
last stint of house arrest in May 2002, Suu Kyi and her National League for
Democracy (NLD) party had been enjoying a relative newfound freedom in their
political activities. Drawing large crowds to her various speeches and political
trips throughout the country over the past year, the junta naturally became
alarmed and drew the line last Friday.
During a political tour in
northern Myanmar, violence broke out between Suu Kyi's supporters and a
pro-government group that may have killed dozens, although the government has
put the death toll at four. Conflicting reports have emerged about the fate of
Suu Kyi, with some sources saying that she was hurt in the clash. The government
has denied this, saying she is in "protective custody" at an undisclosed
location.
Whether she was hurt or not, last weekend's crackdown has in
effect put an end to the stalled talks between the opposition and the
government.
Sai Wansai, general secretary of the Shan Democratic Union
(SDU), whose military faction has been waging war against the junta for the past
four decades, said: "Most of our senior members view this as an end to the
dialogue process."
Like Ner Dah of the Karen National Union, he too
pointed to a possible split within the military. "The recent crackdown could be
viewed as the junta's hardliners gaining an upper hand in the SPDC," he said.
Chaiyachoke Chulasiriwong, a politics professor at Bangkok's
Chulalongkorn University, told the Associated Press this week that he believed
the junta's second in command, Maung Aye, was responsible for the crackdown to
counter the more liberal factions associated with the junta's No 3, General Khin
Nyunt.
If so, then this latest crackdown on Suu Kyi could be more than a
struggle for the military to hold on to power, but an internal conflict among
the generals who have been ruling the country since 1962. With its economy in
ruins, these developments come at a critical time for the junta.
"All
and all," said the SDU's Sai Wansai, "the junta is scared to death that the
people will revolt and [this] could spell the beginning of the end."
Meanwhile, the country is officially cracked down on, Myanmar style. Top
aides of Suu Kyi are in detention, the NLD offices are shut, and the country's
universities are sealed. State media, as usual, are silent on the latest events,
with a front-page headline in Wednesday's New Light of Myanmar reading, "Central
Committee for Iodine Deficiency meets".
World leaders have condemned the
crackdown and have urged the junta to immediately release Suu Kyi. US President
George W Bush said on Monday that he was "deeply concerned" and that "the
military authorities should release Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters
immediately, and permit her part headquarters to reopen". UN Secretary General
Kofi Annan said Myanmar is at a "critical juncture" in its political transition,
and that Suu Kyi should be released immediately and allowed to cooperate with
the junta to bring national reconciliation.
But if the past 15 years are
any indication of how far the international community will step in to produce
change in Myanmar, it looks as if the country's ruling generals have only
themselves to fear.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The New York Times
A Nobel Peace
Laureate Under Attack
June 6, 2003
A year ago there
was hope that democracy might come to Myanmar. In May 2002, the military junta
released Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the world's most famous political prisoner, after
19 months of house arrest. The government promised to grant its citizens full
freedoms and agreed to hold talks about opening up the political system. These
gestures won Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, a reprieve from international
pressure while the world waited to see whether the promises would be kept. They
were not, and sanctions are once again needed to force the government to keep
its word.
There have been no talks. More than 1,200 political prisoners
remain in jail, many of them elderly and sick. The harassment of Mrs. Aung San
Suu Kyi and her party, the National League for Democracy, has gradually
increased, culminating on Friday in a violent attack on her traveling convoy
that killed 4 and injured 50, according to the government (the opposition says
the figures are much higher). There are reports that Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi
suffered face and shoulder injuries. The junta must allow the outside world to
see her. She and 18 members of the National League, some badly hurt, have been
re-arrested and are being held incommunicado ? "for their own protection," the
government implausibly reports. The junta has closed National League
headquarters all over the country.
Since February, the junta has blocked
entry to the United Nations envoy for Myanmar, Razali Ismail. He has suddenly
received permission for a visit and is due in Myanmar today. But if he cannot
visit Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi, he should leave immediately.
The junta may
have carried out its crackdown because it believes that the world's attention is
focused elsewhere. But officials are also terrified by Mrs. Aung San Suu Kyi's
support. As she travels in Myanmar, she draws crowds in the tens of
thousands.
Her popular support makes her an intolerable threat at a time
when living standards have eroded to their worst levels since the late 1980's,
when a nationwide revolt resulted. Professionals can no longer afford rice. The
widespread collapse of the banking system has shut down many businesses and
infuriated depositors who have lost their savings.
The junta's
spectacular corruption and mismanagement are mainly responsible for its economic
troubles, but they do make the threat of more sanctions unusually potent. This
week Senator Mitch McConnell, a conservative Republican, and Representative Tom
Lantos, a liberal Democrat, introduced bills that would extend a visa ban for
paramilitary officials, freeze the American-held assets of the nation and top
officials, and bar imports from Myanmar. Many of these exports go to America and
Europe. Europe, which already has a visa ban, should now block Myanmar's exports
as well. The junta has had a year to demonstrate that its opening was genuine.
Now all ambiguity is gone, and the world's response must be equally
decisive.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Press Release of Senator Mitch McConnell
Summary of
The Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003
Wednesday, June 4,
2003
· Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) introduced the ?Burmese
Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003? on Wednesday, June 4, 2003. A summary of the
legislation follows:
· McConnell?s bill imposes a U.S. import ban on
goods manufactured in Burma and those made by the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) and companies owned by the SPDC.
· The ban would be in
place until the following conditions are met and certified by the President:
1. Measurable progress to end human rights abuses.
2. Release of all
political prisoners.
3. An agreement is reached between the SPDC and the NLD
(National League for Democracy) and ethnic minorities to transfer power to a
popularly elected civilian government.
McConnell?s legislation also does the
following:
· Freezes assets of the SPDC in the United States.
· Requires
U.S. to oppose and vote against loans or other assistance proposed for Burma by
international financial institutions.
· Expands visa ban to former and
present SPDC leadership and the Union Solidarity Development Association and
requires coordination with the EU?s visa ban list.
· Encourages the
Secretary of State to promote greater awareness of the abuses of the SPDC, and
requires the State Department to more proactively promote awareness of U.S.
policy toward Burma.
· Encourages greater support for Burmese democracy
activists.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Friday 06 June 2003
Inside Burma?
Serious allegations have been
made against certain quarters of the Thai military. Most people who should know
give them no credence whatsoever. But why play the disinformation game? - The
police have been the subject of all sorts of allegations since the dark
influence campaign kicked off, but one officer is attracting the spotlight for
being too close to the PM. - He's back, and Piyanat Watcharaporn is again
causing a stir.
Surayud Chulanont was
rocked back on his heels last week when Pujadkarn (Manager daily) published
claims that a group of Thai military officers might be involved directly in
operations inside Burma.
Sieng Sao Long, a columnist known to have close
ties to leading intelligence officers, claimed in his "Khao Pen Kon, Kon Pen
Khao" column that last month's bomb attacks and ambush of a convoy of fuel
tankers inside Burma were part of a "joint military operation" involving the
Shan State Army, the Karen National Union and a force of Thai troops known to be
close to the supreme commander.
Rangoon has blamed the Shans for the
Kentung ambush of the fuel tankers on May 22 and a number of bomb attacks a day
earlier at Tachilek, the latter a border town adjacent to Chiang Rai's Mae Sai
district. Seven people were killed in the attacks, including two Burmese
officials. The Shan State Army issued a statement denying any involvement in the
attacks.
There have been reports that Rangoon has informally sought a
clarification of Pujadkarn's claims. Here at home, the veracity of the article
has been brought into question by members of the supreme commander's staff.
"This was aimed purely at discrediting the supreme commander," one of his aides
said. "The allegation is totally absurd."
Sieng Sao Long wrote that he
had been convinced that a supreme command officer with the rank of
major-general, and whose name starts with the letter "P", was directly involved
in the cross-border action.
He also claimed the operation had the support
of a superpower which sought to undermine the improved state of relations
between Thailand and Burma.
The columnist did not go into detail but it
is generally understood that the officer referred to was Maj-Gen Puchong
Rattanavan, director of the Supreme Command's office of policy and planning.
Maj-Gen Puchong is very close to Gen Surayud and was a classmate of Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in the Armed Forces Academies Preparatory School's
Class 10.
An officer close to Maj-Gen Puchong said the general was
stunned by the allegation.
"This is an allegation made by someone who
wants to please Rangoon," the officer said. "Why would Thai soldiers get
involved in such an operation?'
The officer then went on to make allegations
of his own, claiming a cavalry officer in charge of operations in the border
area in the upper North might be behind the leaking of disinformation intended
to undermine Gen Surayud in the few months remaining before his
retirement.
When Gen Thammarak Issarangura na Ayudhya was asked for his
views on the allegations, the defence minister merely gave the party line of the
attacks being a matter for Burma alone, although he did deny the Thai military
was involved.
Gen Vichit Yathip, the army's chief adviser, who is just
back from Rangoon, said the junta there was focusing its inquiries on the Shans
and did not suspect any Thai role in the attacks.
"There was no hint
whatsoever that the Thai military was involved in the attacks near the border,"
Gen Vichit said. The general received an intelligence briefing from Maj-Gen Kyaw
Win, deputy chief of military intelligence, during his visit to Rangoon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
U.S. Court To Review Unocal Myanmar Brutality
Suit
Fri Jun 6, 2:30 AM ET
Dow Jones - The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals will rehear arguments June 17 over whether some Myanmar plaintiffs can
sue Unocal Corp. in U.S. federal court for alleged brutality, in a case that
could have repercussions for U.S. companies accused of human-rights abuses
abroad, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported.
In the scheduled "en
banc" review, a panel of 11 randomly selected Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals judges is expected to hear arguments in San Francisco about whether
Unocal "aided and abetted" the military of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in
subjecting villagers to acts of rape and forced labor. The Ninth U.S. Circuit
Court has told attorneys for the two sides that it wants to review which
standard of "aiding and abetting" it should apply, since international law and
U.S. common law have different standards.
But Unocal lawyers say they
plan to argue that no standard of "aiding and abetting" should be used, because
the El Segundo, Calif., oil company had no control over the actions of the
Myanmar military. Instead, Unocal intends to turn the rehearing into a
separation-of-powers debate, arguing that U.S. courts have no business ruling on
the behavior of foreign governments. Unocal's strategy recently was buttressed
by the Bush administration, which filed an advisory brief in the case opposing
the intervention of U.S. courts in cases that could complicate its conduct of
foreign policy and the war on terrorism.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thugs ambushed Suu Kyi, says U.S.
Friday, June
6, 2003 Posted: 7:32 AM EDT (1132 GMT)
(CNN) -- A U.N. special envoy has arrived in
Myanmar to discuss the country's detention of leading dissident Aung San Suu Kyi
as the U.S. accuses "government-affiliated thugs" of attacking her.
Suu
Kyi has been detained since her supporters clashed with a pro-government group
last Friday. Diplomats and members of Myanmar's opposition say they fear the
Nobel Peace Laureate may have been injured.
Special envoy Razali Ismail
says he will make a "strong bid" to get the opposition leader released
immediately from government custody. The government has denied she was hurt.
Its is still not clear, however, if the U.N. envoy will even be allowed
to meet Suu Kyi.
British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw has said that if
Razali is not permitted to see Suu Kyi, then Myanmar's military rulers must
expect there will be consequences.
U.S. diplomats, meanwhile, have concluded
that Suu Kyi's motorcade was deliberately attacked by "government-affiliated
thugs."
The State Department is calling on Burma's ruling State Peace
and Development Council to "provide a full accounting of the dead, injured and
missing."
According to the State Department, diplomats from the U.S.
Embassy in Yangon recently visited the site of the May 30 violent attack on Aung
San Suu Kyi and her traveling party.
"Their findings indicate that there
was a premeditated ambush on Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade," State Department
deputy spokesman Philip T. Reeker said in a written statement issued Thursday.
"Circumstances and reports from individuals in the region indicate that
the attack was conducted by government-affiliated thugs.
"The debris
remaining at the scene suggests a major clash, which could easily have resulted
in serious injuries to large numbers of people," the statement said.
The
State Department said the detention of Suu Kyi and members of her party was
"outrageous and unacceptable."
"If Ambassador Razali is not able to meet
privately with Aung San Suu Kyi, the U.S. will need to evaluate the utility of
this U.N.-sponsored effort to support national reconciliation in Burma
(Myanmar)," Reeker's statement said.
Ismail is expected to stay in
Myanmar until June 10 and will carry with him a message from U.N.
Secretary-General Kofi Annan urging both sides to "redouble their efforts to
start substantive political dialogue".
Annan earlier this week called
for Suu Kyi and her followers to be released immediately, saying Myanmar was at
a "critical juncture" in its ongoing political transition.
Suu Kyi's party
handily won a 1990 general election, but the military refused to let it take
power.
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