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BURMA RELATED NEWS - June 10,
2003.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - UN envoy says
Myanmar's democracy leader Suu Kyi well and uninjured
AFP - After crucial
Suu Kyi meeting, UN envoy must press for her release
AFP - UN envoy says
will see detained Myanmar democracy leader Suu Kyi
AFP - UN envoy
gives no details on Myanmar casualties, will report to Annan
AFP - ICFTU
criticises Asian countries for repressing workers' rights
Reuters - Myanmar
says will free Suu Kyi soon
AP - Malaysia
demands immediate release of Suu Kyi
Kyodo News - U.N.
envoy says detained Suu Kyi in 'good health'
The Nation - UN
envoy may not meet with junta's top man
BBC News - Suu Kyi
'in good health'
BBC News - Burma
visit's crumb of comfort
BG - Burmese
recount gruesome attack on activists
NST - Asean to
discuss situation in Myanmar, North Korea, Acheh
HRW - Thailand:
Bush Should Press Thaksin on Extrajudicial Executions,
Burma
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Tuesday June 10,
4:35 PM
UN envoy says Myanmar's democracy leader Suu Kyi well and
uninjured
YANGON (AFP) - Myanmar's democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi
is well and uninjured, UN envoy Razali Ismail said after meeting with her in the
wake of violent protests in which she was feared to have been
wounded.
The ruling junta waited until the final hours of Razali's
five-day mission before giving him permission to see the Nobel peace laureate
who has been under "protective custody" since May 30 clashes in Myanmar's
north.
"I have met Aung San Suu Kyi. I can assure you she is well and in
good spirits," the Malaysian diplomat told reporters Tuesday at Yangon's
airport. "No, no injuries," he said when asked if she had been hurt.
"We
had a good discussion," he said, adding that she told him her version of events
surrounding the violence which pitted supporters of her National League for
Democracy (NLD) against members of a junta-linked organisation.
A source
close to the military government said the pair talked for half an hour at an
official "guesthouse" in Yangon.
After arriving in Yangon Friday on his
tenth and most critical mission to Myanmar, Razali doggedly pushed the ruling
generals for access to the opposition leader, and to secure her
release.
"I am happy that part of my task on this visit has been
accomplished," he said Tuesday. "Now we have to work for her release from
protective custody."
Razali, who brokered landmark contacts between the
military regime and the opposition leader in October 2000, said he would also
attempt to revive the peace process which stalled last year.
"We have to
work for national reconciliation to be back on track," he said.
The
junta's last-minute decision came after a storm of international criticism and
the threat of increased sanctions over the arrest of Suu Kyi who was brought
back to Yangon and held at a military camp outside the capital.
Up to 100
people are feared to have been killed in the confrontation in northern Myanmar,
where Aung San Suu Kyi had been making a political tour to promote her National
League for Democracy (NLD).
Diplomats in Yangon welcomed news of the
meeting but said it was only a limited first step towards improving the
political situation in Myanmar, which has been under military rule for four
decades.
"I suppose to some extent it dispels the atmosphere of gloom
which prevailed until yesterday. But what happens after this very much remains
to be seen," said one diplomat.
"Hopefully we can confirm she's in good
health. But what actions have they taken towards national reconciliation, aside
from arresting her and beating her supporters and throwing them in prison?" said
another.
The United States has led global outrage over the detentions and
a wider crackdown on the NLD that has seen its offices closed down nationwide
and its leadership put under house arrest.
After claiming Aung San Suu
Kyi was the victim of a "premeditated ambush" carried out by
"government-affiliated thugs" it threatened more sanctions against the regime
which never recognised the results of 1990 elections won by the
NLD.
Washington stepped up its criticism overnight, demanding the junta
release the Nobel peace laureate, and again raising the issue of tighter
sanctions.
The State Department has already said it had expanded its visa
blacklist for the country's leaders and their families and announced a review of
its Myanmar policy in light of the developments.
Apart from a ban on
Myanmar imports now under consideration, it said other possible sanctions could
include asset freezes, a ban on remittances sent by Myanmar families in the US
and restrictions on travel-related transactions by US citizens visiting
Myanmar.
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Tuesday June 10, 6:56 PM
After crucial Suu Kyi
meeting, UN envoy must press for her release
YANGON
(AFP) - UN envoy Razali Ismail has
scored a small victory in gaining access to detained democracy leader Aung San
Suu Kyi, but now faces the much bigger task of securing her release and reviving
Myanmar's peace process.
Razali's meeting with the Nobel prize winner
Tuesday, after which he declared she was fit and well, was greeted with relief
by observers in Yangon who had feared she was injured in May 30 clashes that
sparked her detention.
But the international community's chorus of
condemnation over her arrest and a wider crackdown on her National League for
Democracy (NLD) is unlikely to ease until the government frees the charismatic
57-year-old.
"It's good they allowed access," a Western diplomat in
Yangon said.
"But what actions have they taken towards national
reconciliation, aside from arresting (Aung San Suu Kyi) and beating her
supporters and throwing them in prison?"
"Obviously this is a huge
setback for national reconciliation."
Razali made it clear he had
achieved just one of his goals by being granted the half-hour meeting,
grudgingly arranged in the closing hours of his five-day mission after days of
stalling.
"I am happy that part of my task on this visit has been
accomplished," he told reporters. "Now we have to work for her release from
protective custody."
The Malaysian diplomat won plaudits by brokering
secret talks between the generals and Aung San Suu Kyi beginning in 2000 which
were aimed at eventually mapping out a political transition. However, they
ground to a halt last year.
"We have to work for national reconciliation
to be back on track," he said Tuesday.
The arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi,
who was freed from house arrest only a year ago, sparked international outrage
and fears that the recalcitrant junta was again clamping down on democracy
activists.
The United States has led calls for her release and the
lifting of house arrest restrictions on the NLD leadership, with President
George W. Bush issuing a blunt personal demand ordering the junta to back
off.
Washington also reiterated its intention to impose stiff new
sanctions on Myanmar should its junta not comply.
"We condemn the
continued detention and isolation of Aung San Suu Kyi and that of other members
of the National League for Democracy," said State Department spokeswoman Lynn
Cassel Monday.
Yangon's diplomatic community also indicated it would be
lending its weight to efforts to secure freedom for Aung San Suu Kyi, who has
endured two long stints under house arrest during her 15-year campaign for
democratic change.
"The next step should be her release," said an Asian
diplomat in Yangon. "We are working very hard to convey our concerns to the
Myanmar government."
Razali, a seasoned Malaysian diplomat who has won
the respect of both sides on Myanmar's frosty political divide, was under
intense pressure to prevail in the standoff with the junta.
Critics of
the regime said the latest crisis exposes the lengths the junta will go to
muzzle Aung San Suu Kyi, whose recent political trips outside the capital had
been drawing thousands of supporters despite threats against them.
"The
events of the past week clearly indicated that (Myanmar leader) Than Shwe views
the UN and the international community with nothing but contempt," said Debbie
Stothard of regional human rights network Altsean-Burma.
"The evidence is
clear it's part of the whole premeditated plan to shut down the NLD," she
added.
While Razali departs Myanmar having failed to secure the release
of "The Lady", as she is known throughout the country, diplomats say they
continue to back his mission to thaw out the frozen political
landscape.
"It has been slow, it's a valid criticism," the Western
diplomat said. "But these (generals) don't do anything fast, and if you push too
hard, they crack down."
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Tuesday June 10, 12:48 PM
UN envoy says will see
detained Myanmar democracy leader Suu Kyi
YANGON
(AFP) - UN envoy Razali Ismail said
Myanmar's ruling junta would allow him to see detained opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi before he left the country after a five-day mission during which he
pushed for her release.
"I am happy to announce that I shall be going to
see Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in half an hour from now (at 10:00am or 0330 GMT)," the
Malaysian diplomat told reporters, ending days of speculation.
"I will be
conducted to the place where she is. When I see her I will tell her about
international worries and how the UN will start to take steps to ask for her
immediate release," Razali said.
"Of course I will also be seeing if she
is well and ask her views," he said, referring to reports she was injured in May
30 clashes between her supporters and a pro-junta gang that led to her
detention.
"I am happy that part of my task on this visit has been
accomplished," he said. "Now we have to work for her release from protective
custody."
Razali, who brokered landmark contacts between the military
regime and the opposition leader in October 2000, said he would also attempt to
review the peace process which stalled last year.
"We have to work for
national reconciliation to be back on track," he said.
The junta's
last-minute decision comes after a storm of international criticism and the
threat of increased sanctions over the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi who was
brought back to Yangon and held at a military camp outside the
capital.
The government's reluctance to allow Razali to see Aung San Suu
Kyi caused great concern because of eyewitness reports denied by the junta that
she was injured in the head and shoulder in the May 30 violence.
Up to
100 people are feared to have been killed in the brutal confrontation in
northern Myanmar, where Aung San Suu Kyi had been making a political tour to
promote her National League for Democracy (NLD).
Diplomats in Yangon
welcomed news of the meeting which Razali had told them would last about 20
minutes and be held at a location which had not been disclosed to the
envoy.
But they said this was only a limited first step towards improving
the political situation in Myanmar, which has been under military rule for four
decades.
"I suppose to some extent it dispels the atmosphere of gloom
which prevailed until yesterday. But what happens after this very much remains
to be seen," said one diplomat.
"Hopefully we can confirm she's in good
health. But what actions have they taken towards national reconciliation, aside
from arresting her and beating her supporters and throwing them in prison?" said
another.
The United States has led global outrage over the detentions and
a wider crackdown on the NLD that has seen its offices closed down nationwide
and its leadership put under house arrest.
After claiming Aung San Suu
Kyi was the victim of a "premeditated ambush" carried out by
"government-affiliated thugs" it threatened more sanctions against the regime
which never recognised the results of 1990 elections won by the
NLD.
Washington stepped up its criticism overnight, demanding the junta
release the Nobel peace laureate and allow Razali to visit her, and again
raising the issue of tighter sanctions.
The State Department has already
said it had expanded its visa blacklist for the country's leaders and their
families and announced a review of its Myanmar policy in light of the
developments.
It is also working with US lawmakers who have proposed a
ban on Myanmar imports into the United States.
Department spokeswoman
Lynn Cassel said Monday the review was still ongoing and that other possible
sanctions could include asset freezes, a ban on remittances sent by Myanmar
families in the US and restrictions on travel-related transactions by US
citizens visiting Myanmar.
The International Labour Organization (ILO),
which has been a vocal critic of the Yangon regime and a proponent of tough
economic sanctions, on Monday joined the calls for Aung San Suu Kyi to be
freed.
"The detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has created a climate of
uncertainty and intimidation," said ILO director general Juan Somavia at the
ILO's annual general assembly being held in Geneva.
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Tuesday June 10, 6:01 PM
UN envoy gives no details on Myanmar casualties, will
report to Annan
SINGAPORE, June 10 (AFP) - UN envoy Razali Ismail declined Tuesday to
give any details on the casualties in the recent political violence in Myanmar
after a meeting with the country's detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Stopping over in Singapore after seeing Aung San Suu Kyi at a government
guest house in Yangon where she was being held, Razali declined to answer when
asked what the detained Nobel laureate told him about the casualties.
Up
to 100 people are feared to have been killed in the May 30 confrontation in
northern Myanmar, where Aung San Suu Kyi had been making a political tour to
promote her National League for Democracy (NLD).
Razali, who was en
route to Kuala Lumpur, told reporters at Singapore's Changi airport that Aung
San Suu Kyi was in "absolutely fine spirits" and that he would make a report
soon to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan on his mission.
"I have been
keeping him in the picture all this while," he said.
He said the NLD and
the government have to "get back to discussing things with each other" and move
as "expeditiously as possible."
He said "we have to get the trust of all
parties."
Earlier in Yangon airport, Razali said Aung San Suu Kyi was
well and uninjured. The ruling junta waited until the final hours of Razali's
five-day mission before giving him permission to see Aung San Suu Kyi.
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Tuesday June 10, 11:16 AM
ICFTU criticises Asian
countries for repressing workers' rights
SINGAPORE, June
10 (AFP) - - Many Asian workers
continue to be repressed, with trade unions hampered by laws restricting their
ability to fight for labour rights, the International Confederation of Free
Trade Unions (ICFTU) said.
In an annual survey of 30 countries in the
region released Tuesday, the Brussels-based organisation said it "deplores the
depressing continuation and even partial worsening of trade union rights
violations" in Asia.
It said four trade unionists were killed and more
than 1,250 in the region were either arrested or imprisoned in 2002 while
championing workers' rights.
"In many Asian countries forming a union is
a real obstacle course, given the sheer number of legislative and practical
barriers, and it can actually be a dangerous business for trade unionists," said
the ICFTU, which represents 158 million workers through 231 affilated bodies in
150 countries.
"Both in legislation and practice, the right to strike is
generally not respected in the region," it said, noting that workers are barred
by the law from going on strikes in Pakistan and in some regions of neighbouring
India.
In some countries, employers even have the "tacit or direct
complicity" of authorities to exploit workers and this is especially evident in
Asia's export processing zones, which played a pivotal role as the growth engine
of the region during the 1980s and 1990s, the ICFTU said.
It cited the
example of a textile firm in Thailand which allegedly used brutal tactics
including beatings and intimidation to control its workers.
"They have
even been forced by management to sign blank documents on which the manager has
subsequently written that the workers in question have agreed to changes
weakening their rights!" the ICFTU said.
"This is just one example of the
fact that the working conditions in most Asian countries are still very insecure
and the right of workers to organise is constantly breached by employers, often
with the tacit or direct complicity of the authorities," it said.
"This
is particularly common in the export processing zones, which are all too often
synonymous with union-free zones," the ICFTU said.
Very often, the vast
majority at the mercy of employers and anti-worker legislation are the millions
of women workers who "are doing backbreaking jobs on poverty wages with
disgraceful health and safety conditions," it said.
Some even lose their
lives, the report said, adding that Bangladesh holds the "depressing" world
record for workers' death due to fires at workplaces.
China, the region's
rising economic powerhouse, also came under strong criticism in the
report.
"Long-term imprisonment, beatings, internment in psychiatric
hospitals or labour camps, and harassment of families are systematically used in
China to stamp out any free trade unions," the ICFTU said.
It said the
established trade unions in China were simply "political instruments for
controlling workers and have negotiating rights, whilst free trade unions are
strictly forbidden and any hint of free union activity is very harshly
repressed."
This also applied to Myanmar, North Korea, Laos and Vietnam,
the ICFTU said.
According to the report, Beijing rounded up dozens of
independent union activists last year who are still languishing in jails in
degrading conditions.
In the Philippines, 15,000 workers from electronics
firm Cebu Mitsumi struggled for eight years just to get their trade union
recognised by authorities, reflecting the red tape and bureaucratic hurdles
faced by the labour force, the ICFTU said.
In Malaysia, the ICFTU said
"extremely long delays in examination of applications are the rule" in getting
trade unions recgonised.
The report denounced Indonesia for using force
to clamp down on workers rights, saying there were growing number of attacks on
trade unionists by paramilitary groups backed by the army and the police.
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Tuesday June 10, 7:46 PM
Myanmar says will free Suu
Kyi soon
By Aung Hla Tun
YANGON
(Reuters) - Detained opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in good spirits and top military leaders have given
assurances she will be freed as soon as possible, a United Nations envoy says.
International concern has intensified over the health and whereabouts of
the Nobel peace prize winner since violence erupted on May 30 as she was touring
a provincial town in the north. She has been in detention since then.
Envoy Razali Ismail met Suu Kyi for an hour at the junta's headquarters
in Yangon at the end of a four-day mission to persuade the military to free her.
"I have been given clear assurances by both Secretary One (the junta's
leader, Khin Nyun) and Maung Aye that they will lift the protective custody on
her as soon as possible," Razali Ismail said in Singapore hours later.
Speaking earlier to reporters at Yangon airport, Razali said Suu Kyi had
no injuries.
"She's well. She's in very strong spirits. It's the person
that I've always known," the Malaysian diplomat said.
Suu Kyi gave
Razali no details on casualties from clashes late last month in which her
supporters said up to 75 people died. The military says four were killed in the
violence between her supporters and pro-government groups.
"She did not
see it all. She was in the front car," he said.
Suu Kyi has spent much
of the past 14 years under house arrest and her latest detention has brought
widespread international condemnation of Myanmar's military rulers.
"The
government will have to get her out of protective custody. That also applies to
the others," Razali said, referring to leaders of Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy who were also detained.
He also said the stalled dialogue
between the government and opposition, which he brokered three years ago, needed
to get back on track.
"I believe this incident has woken up a lot of
people in Myanmar itself as to the necessity of moving this process very
quickly," he said, adding he would return to Myanmar at any time if invited by
the government.
INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE
Diplomatic pressure has mounted on the Myanmar government in recent
days, with the United States, Britain and the European Union saying they were
considering more trade and investment sanctions because of Suu Kyi's treatment.
Since May 30, the junta has kept Suu Kyi at undisclosed locations.
The United Nations Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, called for Suu Kyi's
immediate release and urged the government to resume dialogue on national
reconciliation, a statement from Annan's spokesman said.
Veteran
Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad also called for Suu Kyi's immediate
release and said her detention might affect the 10-member Association of South
East Asian Nations, to which Myanmar belongs.
After her release from a
spell of house arrest in May last year, Suu Kyi made a series of trips to the
provinces to meet party workers and supporters.
Drawing big,
enthusiastic crowds and turning up the pressure on the military to begin talks
on a transition to democracy, her trips attracted an increasingly hostile
response from backers of the military government.
Dissidents in exile
had said members of a pro-government group, which had been following Suu Kyi's
convoy in four trucks, beat to death as many as 75 members of her entourage and
villagers with bamboo and iron bars in the May 30 violence.
They said
Suu Kyi received head and shoulder injuries although her car sped off soon after
the violence erupted.
The NLD swept to a landslide election victory in
1990 but was never allowed into office by the military, which has ruled Myanmar
in various guises since a coup in 1962.
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Malaysia demands immediate release of Suu Kyi
Tue Jun 10,9:05 PM ET
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia
(AP) _ Malaysia Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad, who helped broker Myanmar's early steps toward political
reconciliation, on Tuesday urged the country's ruling generals to immediately
release pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
``We have made our stand
known that Aung San Suu Kyi is to be released immediately,'' Mahathir was quoted
as saying by the national news agency, Bernama.
Nobel Peace laureate Suu
Kyi was detained on May 30 after clashes between her supporters and government
backers. The clashes have been widely condemned as government-orchestrated and
her detention a blow to U.N.-sponsored efforts to end a political stand-off.
U.N. special envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail, a former Malaysian
diplomat, on Tuesday became the first person outside the government to see Suu
Kyi since she was detained. Razali said top Myanmar officials assured him she
would be released quickly.
Mahathir, an elder statesman in Southeast
Asia who has ruled Malaysia for almost 22 years, led Malaysia's push to become a
broker to end the stand-off, which dates from 1990 when Suu Kyi's party
overwhelmingly won national elections but the military refused to hand over
power.
Mahathir was instrumental in getting Myanmar into the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations, held talks with top generals during an official
visit in early 2001 and has said often the junta should not be rushed into
implementing democratic reforms.
Asked if Malaysia would pressure the
junta to secure Suu Kyi's release, Mahathir told reporters: ``I do not know ...
as to whether we can apply sanctions. We do not indulge in that kind of
pressure,'' Bernama reported.
Earlier, Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed
Hamid Albar said ASEAN countries should stick to a policy of staying out of
other members' domestic affairs.
``Whatever developments that can derail
or delay the reconciliation process are of concern to us as ASEAN members,''
Bernama quoted Syed Hamid as saying on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting in
Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
``Our stand is, whatever issues that have a
bearing on ASEAN need to be discussed without touching on the internal matters
of Myanmar,'' Bernama quoted him as saying.
ASEAN is primarily a trade
grouping that in recent years has widened its role to include security,
environmental and other issues affecting the region. Other members are Cambodia,
Brunei, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
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U.N. envoy says detained Suu Kyi in 'good health'
By Sein Win
YANGON, June 10,
Kyodo - U.N. special envoy Razali
Ismail said Tuesday he has been allowed by Myanmar's ruling junta to meet with
detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
''Aung San Suu Kyi is in
good health, good spirits, and she was not injured,'' Razali told reporters at
Yangon's airport on his meeting with the National League for Democracy (NLD) in
the morning.
Razali is the first outsider to meet Suu Kyi, who was
placed in ''protective custody'' following violent clashes on May 30 between NLD
supporters and pro-junta demonstrators in northern Myanmar.
He said he
met her at a building where she is being held.
''She told me her version
of the (May 30) incident. I have taken that into account. We had a good
discussion,'' Razali said.
Asked by reporters if Suu Kyi showed any
signs of injury, he said, ''No injury on the face. No scratch, nothing.''
Razali's remarks are expected to ease the anxiety of people concerned
about her health condition amid widespread speculation.
Earlier Tuesday
in a brief meeting with diplomats at his hotel, Razali expressed gratitude to
senior junta leaders Gen. Khin Nyunt and Deputy Sr. Gen. Maung Aye for allowing
him to meet with Suu Kyi.
''We have to work for her release from
protective custody and to put the national reconciliation back on track,'' he
said.
The veteran Malaysian diplomat had pressed junta leader for access
to Suu Kyi since arriving here Friday on his 10th mediation visit to push the
stalled dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi's NLD.
Razali's request
was initially denied during his meeting Saturday with intelligence chief Khin
Nyunt, secretary of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and
third in the junta's hierarchy.
He was granted permission only on Monday
after talks with SPDC Deputy Chairman of the Deputy Sr. Gen. Maung Aye, the
junta's second highest ranking leader, after which he had told reporters he felt
''encouraged'' and hoped ''to be able to fulfill one or two of my objectives.''
He had earlier told reporters on arrival in Myanmar that the foremost
purpose of his current visit is to meet Suu Kyi. Another key objective was to
secure her release.
During his five-day visit, he also held talks with
Foreign Minister Win Aung and Home Minister Col. Tin Hlaing, and met with
representatives of ethnic minorities and foreign diplomats.
He left
Myanmar around noon on Tuesday.
In May last year, the junta released Suu
Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, from 19 months of confinement at her
home in Yangon.
Suu Kyi has led the fight for democracy in Myanmar
through the NLD, which won the country's 1990 elections by a landslide but was
never allowed to take up seats in parliament.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
BURMESE STAND-OFF: UN envoy
may not meet with junta's top man
Published on Jun 10, 2003
Than Shwe cancels meeting and offers no explanation
A UN
envoy in Burma to secure the release of Aung San Suu Kyi will not meet the top
leader of the military junta as scheduled, but there is a chance he may be able
to see the detained Nobel laureate, aides said yesterday.
Veteran
Malaysian diplomat Razali Ismail was to meet General Than Shwe, the head of the
military regime, today, but the meeting has been called off, sources close to
the envoy said. No reason was immediately known.
But Razali said he was
encouraged by a meeting with two of the country's most powerful generals
yesterday, during which he tried to persuade the junta to let him see Suu Kyi.
Razali was upbeat after meeting Army chief Maung Aye and military intelligence
chief Khin Nyunt, ranked second and third in the junta's hierarchy.
"I'm
encouraged by the meeting today with Vice Senior General Maung Aye in the
presence of Secretary One," Razali said yesterday. "I'm hopeful of fulfilling
one or two of the objectives of my visit."
His aides had said Razali was
considering leaving the country yesterday, a day earlier than scheduled, if he
was not allowed to see Suu Kyi. He is now scheduled to leave on Tuesday after
briefing Rangoon-based diplomats about his visit.
As Razali headed for
an afternoon meeting with Burma's foreign minister, one of his aides said there
was "still a possibility" of a meeting with Suu Kyi.
Diplomats say Than
Shwe, who was away from Rangoon at the weekend, is likely to have sole authority
to give Razali access to Suu Kyi. State media, which usually announces Than
Shwe's return to Rangoon, had not done so by yesterday afternoon.
Razali
had failed to get permission to see Suu Kyi during meetings at the weekend with
Khin Nyunt and foreign ministry officials.
International pressure has
mounted on the Burmese junta in recent days, with the United States, Britain and
the European Union saying they are considering more trade and investment
sanctions because of Suu Kyi's treatment.
Meanwhile Mary Robinson, a
former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, said she would raise the Burma
issue with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and other heads of state when she
meets them in Washington this week.
Robinson told representatives of
Thai and Burmese NGOs in Chiang Mai that she would campaign for the immediate
release of Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and immediate intervention
in Burma.
Robinson currently heads the Ethical Globalisation Initiative,
an organisation that aims to make globalisation work for all peoples.
A
National Council of the Union of Burma representative urged Robinson to ask UN
Secretary-General Kofi Annan to visit Burma after the UN special rapporteur on
Burma visits the country.
--------------------------------------------------------------
BBC News - Tuesday, 10 June, 2003
Suu
Kyi 'in good health'
The United Nations special envoy to
Burma says detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is "well and in good
spirits".
Speaking to reporters in Singapore on Tuesday, Razali Ismail
said he had been assured by the reclusive country's top military leaders that
she would be released as soon as possible.
Mr Razali has just completed
a five-day mission to Burma, in the wake of Aung San Suu Kyi's detention in what
the military describe as "protective custody", after an attack on her and her
supporters in northern Burma.
The UN envoy was finally allowed to see
Aung San Suu Kyi on the last day of his visit.
There had been mounting
international concern over the health and well-being of the opposition leader,
who has been held at a secret location for more than a week.
Mr Razali
told reporters he "did not see any signs of injury" to the pro-democracy leader.
"There were no scratches on her face... no broken arm," he said.
He also said she talked briefly of the clashes, but said she did not see
everything that happened, as she was in the front car.
There is still no
sign of the vice-chairman of her National League of Democracy, U Tin Oo, who was
rumoured to have died in the clashes. The ruling junta vehemently denies this.
Mr Razali came to Burma with two objectives - to see Aung San Suu Kyi,
and to push for her release.
Previously, she had not been seen since 30
May, when clashes broke out between her supporters and what the US has termed
"government-affiliated thugs" as the opposition leader toured the north of the
country.
Talks
The government said four people
were killed and 50 were injured in the clashes, but exiled dissidents of the
Burmese regime said as many as 75 members of the opposition group died, beaten
to death by pro-government supporters wielding bamboo canes and iron bars.
Our correspondent says the military now appears to be too frightened of
Aung San Suu Kyi's popularity to allow her to move around freely and is clearly
ready to use violence to intimidate her supporters.
Mr Razali helped
broker peace talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the military more than two years
ago.
They led to Aung San Suu Kyi's release last May after nearly 20
months under house arrest, but any hope of a negotiated end to the long-running
political crisis has now all but vanished.
Under her leadership, the
National League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a landslide but the military
junta refused to hand over power.
--------------------------------------------------------------
BBC News - Tuesday, 10 June,
2003
Burma visit's crumb of comfort
By Larry Jagan
BBC Burma analyst
After five days of protracted negotiations with Burma's military
rulers, United Nations envoy Razali Ismail has finally been allowed to see
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
"She's in good spirits and uninjured
- not even a scratch on her face," he reportedly told journalists in Rangoon
before he left.
Mr Razali was taken to a secret location - believed to
be a government guesthouse - although even his close aides were not privy to the
meeting place.
The UN envoy met the opposition leader for exactly 30
minutes, in the presence of military intelligence officer Brigadier General Than
Tun.
For Mr Razali, getting access to Aung San Suu Kyi was the primary
aim of his mission.
At least now the international community knows that
she is safe and unharmed, after what diplomats have called a premeditated
assault on her and her supporters by "government-sponsored thugs" on Friday 30
May, which has become known in Burma as Black Friday.
Lack of
information
Apart from gaining access to the opposition leader,
though, Mr Razali has come away with little else.
He has not managed to
find out the conditions under which the opposition leader is being held, nor
when she might be released.
And he has no information about other
pro-democracy leaders who have been detained or are under house arrest.
"As usual the junta has given the minimum at the very last minute," said
a Western diplomat who declined to be identified.
"But what we need,
above all else, is Aung San Suu Kyi's account of what happened - a definitive
account of the violent events on Black Friday," he said.
The government
insists that Aung San Suu Kyi and her party were responsible for the violence in
which they claim only four people died.
This runs in the face of
eyewitness accounts and a US embassy investigation at the site of the incident.
"There is no doubt that Aung San Suu Kyi was ambushed," said a senior US
official.
"It was a well planned and co-ordinated attack on unarmed
opposition supporters, by some 600 thugs wielding clubs and sharpened bamboo
stakes - usually used to kill pigs - intended to cause real harm," he said.
"The evidence from the site investigation is extremely disturbing," said
a senior US diplomat.
So while Aung San Suu Kyi may be uninjured after
all - as the government claimed all along - its version of the incident is still
unlikely to convince many people.
Radical reform
The dialogue process which Mr Razali helped broker between the
Burmese generals and Aung San Suu Kyi is obviously in real trouble.
When
she was released from house arrest last year on 6 May, the military authorities
assured her that she was free to travel wherever she wanted in the country, and
that her National League for Democracy could resume normal political activities.
The situation in Burma has now deteriorated so much that demanding the
release of Aung San Suu Kyi is no longer sufficient - nothing short of real
political change will satisfy the international community.
The US and
Europe will now be more rigorous in their efforts to get Asian governments to
pressure Rangoon to introduce economic and political reform.
The US has
already lodged strong protests to Beijing and Bangkok over their support for the
military junta.
The Japanese Government has already warned Burma that
unless Aung San Suu Kyi is released, and her freedom guaranteed, Tokyo may be
forced to suspend all its development aid to Burma.
There is no doubt
that Burma is now going to be at the top of the agenda at next week's
Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers' summit and
regional forum in Phnom Penh.
"Asean is obliged to discuss Burma at
these meetings, as we welcomed Aung San Suu Kyi's release last time," said
Cambodia's foreign minister Hor Nam Hong, who is co-ordinating the agenda for
both the summit and the forum.
Most Asean countries now accept that they
cannot avoid talking about the problems of Burma collectively, despite the Asean
principle of non-intervention.
"The events in Burma are now an
international matter," Thai Foreign Minister Dr Surakiart Sathirathai reportedly
told his Japanese counterpart Yoriko Kawaguchi.
Burma may yet find
itself increasingly isolated unless it starts serious political talks with Aung
San Suu Kyi soon.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Boston Globe
Burmese recount
gruesome attack on activists
By Indira A.R. Lakshmanan, Globe
Staff, 6/10/2003
Days after the most violent crackdown on Burmese
democracy activists in 15 years, bloodstained clothing, weapons, and automobile
debris littered a back-country road north of Mandalay, gruesome testament to
what survivors and diplomats said was a premeditated attack on Nobel peace
laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters.
Soaked with mud and blood,
two shirts retrieved by US Embassy officials from the scene bear the party
badges of members of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy, or NLD. A
sharpened, bloody bamboo stake and two blood-streaked wooden clubs with plastic
and cloth tethers lay amid underwear, flip-flops, shattered glass, broken
headlights, and small car parts, a US diplomat in Rangoon, the country's
capital, said yesterday.
According to US officials' conversations with
residents of Depayin Township, as well as accounts from survivors and exiled
activists, the attack seemed to be a well-planned ambush carried out by
government supporters. Townspeople say the attack was assisted by prisoners who
had trained with weapons for weeks and were given $32 each and the promise of
early release.
''This is the worst violence we have seen since 1988,''
said a US diplomat who spoke on condition of anonymity, referring to a
student-led democratic uprising that was crushed by the military. ''We are sure
the government's version is false.''
These new accounts contrast markedly
with the military junta's insistence that Suu Kyi's party instigated the
violence on the evening of May 30, north of the religious and cultural center of
Mandalay. Some analysts said the apparently premeditated nature of the violence
suggests hard-liners, angered by Suu Kyi's popularity despite years of house
arrest, resolved to terrorize her loyalists. Sporadic dialogue between the junta
and Suu Kyi that was brokered three years ago by a United Nations envoy had
ground to a halt in recent months.
The UN envoy, Razali Ismail, returned
to Rangoon last Friday. Ismail said today that he will be allowed by military
authorities to meet with Suu Kyi this morning.
''When I see her I will
tell her of the international worries and concern about her and how the UN [has
started] to take steps for her immediate release. I will see if she is . . . in
good spirits,'' he said.
Some witnesses say she suffered injuries to her
face and shoulder. Suu Kyi, recipient of 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, is reportedly
being held in Yemon military camp 25 miles outside Rangoon.
Razali's
initial meetings yielded no results, but he said he was encouraged by his talk
yesterday with the junta's second- and third-ranking generals, Maung Aye and
Khin Nyunt. Aides said Razali's meeting with Burma's top general, Than Shwe, was
called off without explanation but that he still hoped to see Suu Kyi
soon.
The
57-year-old Suu Kyi, daughter of independence hero General Aung San, has been
under house arrest for more than half of the past 14 years. Her party won a
landslide victory in 1990 elections that were not recognized by the
junta.
Her latest 19-month stretch of house arrest ended in May 2002, and
she has since made several road trips to speak to supporters. In a speech in
Mandalay before the attack, she complained about harassment at rallies by
members of the government-backed Union Solidarity Development Association, the
junta's de facto party of which Than Shwe is chairman.
In yesterday's
state-run Myanmar Times, Labor Minister Tin Winn accused Suu Kyi of calling for
civil disobedience in recent months and contended that an NLD convoy of nine
cars and 40 motorcycles ''confronted'' 5,000 people protesting her visit,
resulting in a clash that left four dead and 50 injured. Survivors and diplomats
say that scores of Suu Kyi supporters are dead or missing and that dozens of NLD
members were detained -- at least eight in Rangoon in the last week, according
to one Western diplomat.
Suu Kyi and 18 other party officials were
detained after the clash, and an estimated 200 NLD offices nationwide were
closed.
Depayin residents told visiting US Embassy officials last week
that Suu Kyi's convoy was trailed by four truckloads of armed members of the
government-affiliated union, accompanied by prisoners whom residents had seen
training with weapons for weeks. When residents chased after the trucks to stop
them, they said, the military fired, killing a student and a monk and injuring
two other people.
According to a letter purportedly written by a witness
and obtained by The Irrawaddy, a Thailand-based publication written by Burmese
exiles, Suu Kyi's group was halted near Depayin in the village of Kyi around
8:30 p.m. by a man dressed in the orange robes of a monk. He asked her to speak
to a group of people who had gathered. Her bodyguards told the man it was too
late in the evening for the convoy to stop. At the same time, members of the
union who had been following the motorcade starting attacking local villagers
and NLD members.
The letter says the man dressed as a monk and his
followers watched the beating and declined to help when NLD members begged for
aid. The witness said the attack lasted 30 minutes.
''Those sitting
inside vehicles were attacked. Others were told to get out of their cars and had
their clothes stripped. Some people, including female NLD members were left
naked,'' The Irrawaddy quoted the letter as saying.
''People linked arms
around [Suu Kyi's] car and were beaten till they fell to the ground,'' a US
official quoted residents as saying.
Many witnesses said Suu Kyi's car
windows were broken. Some victims ran into rice paddies and hid, and said they
heard people screaming for hours. About 60 people who hid were arrested the next
morning, according to The Irrawaddy.
--------------------------------------------------------------
New Straits Times
Asean to discuss situation in
Myanmar, North Korea, Acheh
Elizabeth
John
KUALA LUMPUR, June 10: The situation in
Myanmar, North Korea and Aceh will be discussed at the 36th Asean Ministerial
Meeting but these issues are not expected to dominate the conference in Phnom
Penh, Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar said today.
He said
there was no specific agenda to discuss the situation in these three countries
at the meeting on June 16 and 17 in Cambodia but he expected them to be brought
up since they are topical and current.
Syed Hamid said it was more likely
that the issues would be discussed during the Ministerial retreat or the 10th
Asean Regional Forum as issues involving the three countries may be raised by
those outside Asean.
However, he stressed that any issue effecting Asean
would have to be discussed without meddling in the internal affairs of the
countries in question.
?We were extremely pleased when Myanmar began the
reconciliation process and so far they have taken steps in line with Asean
recommendations.
?It is only normal for us to be concerned when there are
obstacles because this gives other countries a reason to intervene, and there
are countries outside Asean who are interested to do so. We will be following
the issue closely,? he told a Press conference.
The AMM will be followed
by the Asean + 3 Foreign Ministers Meeting, the 10th ARF and Asean Post
Ministerial Conference on the June 17, 18 and 19.
The Malaysian
delegation will be led by Syed Hamid who will be accompanied by officials from
the Foreign, Defence and International Trade Ministries as well as the Economic
Planning Unit.
The AMM is expected to focus discussions on integration
and competitiveness in Asean.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Human Rights Watch
Thailand: Bush Should Press Thaksin
on Extrajudicial Executions, Burma
(New York, June 9,
2003) -- President George W. Bush should use his June 10 meeting with Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to raise concerns about the recent wave of
extrajudicial killings in Thailand and the need for pressure on the Burmese
military government to release Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Human Rights Watch said in
a letter today to the U.S. president.
Human Rights Watch said that the
United States should also focus on encouraging ASEAN (Association of Southeast
Asian Nations) to press for an end to political attacks on Suu Kyi and her
supporters.
"President Bush should make clear that the United States
expects Thailand to observe due process in its war on drugs and to allow
independent and credible investigations into the more than 2,000 killings in
recent months, " said Brad Adams, Asia Division Director of Human Rights Watch.
"Thailand must also assume its responsibility within ASEAN to address the
attacks on Suu Kyi and her supporters and insist on genuine political
reform."
Thailand's status as one of the leading rights-respecting
democracies in Southeast Asia has been called into question by its violent "war
on drugs." In response to a spiraling problem of drug use and drug trafficking,
Thai police have conducted an anti-drug campaign in recent months in which more
than 2,000 persons have died in apparent extrajudicial killings and more than
50,000 have been arrested, many arbitrarily.
The Thai government claims
that 51 persons were killed by police in self-defense and the rest in
internecine battles among drug dealers. Few in Thailand find this explanation
credible. Somchai Homlaor, secretary-general of Forum Asia, the highly respected
Bangkok-based human rights group, says, "In many provinces, there are death
squads roaming around killing drug dealers. The rule of law and democracy could
disappear overnight." Prime Minister Thaksin seemed to give his blessing to the
killings when he said, "In this war, drug dealers must die."
"While
there is no doubt that there is a serious drug use problem in Thailand, it is
the responsibility of Thai authorities to tackle the problem in ways that
respect basic rights," said Adams. "This widespread use of violence represents a
major step backwards to the dark days of military rule in Thailand."
Human Rights Watch wrote President Bush that "[s]hould the human rights
violations continue and no independent and credible investigations are conducted
into these killings, the United States should make it clear that it will have a
significant impact on U.S.-Thai relations, including in the area of
counter-narcotics, and call into question the leadership role Thailand has
assumed in the region."
Human Rights Watch also called on President Bush
to ask Prime Minister Thaksin to take strong steps in public and private to
insist to the military government in Burma that it end the persecution of its
political opponents and take concrete and good-faith steps towards political
reforms. The recent violence against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters,
and the refusal of the Burmese government to allow a U.N. envoy to meet Suu Kyi,
are unacceptable.
Human Rights Watch said it welcomed the
administration's strong statement condemning the violence and the investigation
of the State Department into the events of May 30--and its candid conclusions of
state responsibility.
"A cornerstone of ASEAN is its policy of
non-interference in the internal affairs of member states," Adams said in the
letter. "The governments in Burma, Thailand and other ASEAN states have insisted
that private diplomacy would nurture a process of political reform. Both
non-interference and private diplomacy have failed, and in the process
embarrassed ASEAN and threatened regional stability."
Human Rights Watch
urged President Bush to tell Prime Minister Thaksin that the United States
expects Thailand to take a leadership role in insisting to the military
government in Rangoon that it make good on its promises of political reform.
These reforms must include a genuine dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and the
National League for Democracy, the release of political prisoners and detainees,
an end to forced labor and the use of child soldiers, and a halt to offensive
military activities against ethnic minority groups that have resulted in
large-scale death, injury and displacement for the civilian
population.
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