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BURMA RELATED NEWS - June 20,
2003.
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HEADLINES
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AFP - Britain says
Aung San Suu Kyi in "notorious" Myanmar jail
AFP - Japan's vice
FM to visit Myanmar to seek release of Aung San Suu Kyi
AFP - Canada may
ban Myanmar's military leaders from its territory
AFP - US senators
send birthday greetings to Myanmar's jailed Aung San Suu
Kyi
AFP - Britain's
claims on Suu Kyi's dire conditions in Myanmar spark outrage
Reuters -
Diplomatic Pressure to Free Myanmar's Suu Kyi
Reuters - Worldwide
pressure to free Myanmar's Suu Kyi
Reuters - UN Sees
Rapid Rise in Amphetamine Use Worldwide
AP - U.N. anti-drug
events postponed for 'security reasons'
AP - Asean To Up
Pressure For Suu Kyi Release, Myanmar Reform
VOA News - ASEAN
Disappointed Burma Will Not Guarantee Release of Aung San Suu
Kyi
BBC News - Do
sanctions against Burma work?
ABC online - US
loses patience with Burma
The Independent(UK)
- US oil giant faces court battle over Burma
violations
CSM - Leaning on
Burma, Asian nations find new voice
CNN - No date for
Suu Kyi release
The Nation -
BURMESE CENSURE: Asean suffers a hangover
The Nation - Time
to ratchet up pressure on Burma
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Britain
says Aung San Suu Kyi in "notorious" Myanmar jail
Thu Jun 19, 2:11
PM ET
LONDON (AFP) -
Myanmar's best known democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi is being held "in a
two-room hut" at a jail near Yangon, Britain's junior foreign minister for Asia
said.
"I am appalled to learn today, on her 58th birthday, Aung San Suu
Kyi is being held in the notorious Insein jail on the outskirts of Rangoon
(Yangon) in a two-room hut," Mike O'Brien said in a statement.
"I
understand that she continues to wear the clothes in which she was arrested," he
said.
Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into "protective custody" after May 30
clashes which broke out during a political tour of northern Myanmar, when her
supporters were attacked by hundreds of members of a pro-junta organisation.
The ruling generals cracked down on her opposition party, the National
League for Democracy (NLD), and put its leadership under house arrest. An
unknown number of NLD supporters have also been thrown in jail.
O'Brien
said: "I have the telephone number of the jail, and am attempting to contact
Aung San Suu Kyi. It is totally unacceptable that she should be detained in this
manner."
He said he was "particularly disturbed" to hear that Aung San
Suu Kyi -- winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for her struggle for a democratic
Myanmar -- was being held under Section 10(a) of the 1975 State Protection Law.
"This is the most draconian of the Burmese (Myanmar) military regime's
laws, which allows for detention without access to family or lawyers for 180
days at a time up to a total of five years, with no prospect of appeal," he
said.
"This completely discredits the regime's claim that she is being
held in 'protective custody'," he said.
In a statement, John Jackson,
director of Burma Campaign UK, a British group that supports democracy in
Myanmar, said Insein was "more than a prison. It represents the full apparatus
of state repression in Burma."
He said that by invoking Article 10a of
the State Protection Law the authorities in Yangon appeared to be planning "the
long-term imprisonment" of Aung San Suu Kyi.
"That the regime would do
this, despite recent criticism, shows that words alone are not enough to
influence this regime," he said, adding that it was time for the UN Security
Council to take up the matter and "get tough."
The United States has
hardened sanctions against Myanmar in the wake of Aung San Suu Kyi's arrest,
while the European Union widened a visa ban Monday to include the extended
families of ministers, deputy ministers and ex-ministers, and senior army staff
officers.
Aung San Suu Kyi's father Aung San negotiated the independence
of Myanmar, then called Burma, from Britain, but he was assassinated before it
took effect in January 1948.
His daughter spent her formative years in
Britain, marrying an English scholar before returning in 1988, and becoming
involved in opposition to Myanmar's military junta soon
afterwards.
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Japan's vice FM to visit Myanmar to seek release of Aung
San Suu Kyi
Fri Jun 20, 8:38 PM ET
TOKYO, June 20
(AFP) - the Japanese government said
Friday it would send senior vice Foreign Minister Tetsuro Yano to Myanmar next
week to seek the immediate release of pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi.
Yano will arrive in Myanmar early Monday on a one-day visit
after attending a meeting of the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) in the
northern Thai city of Chiang Mai, a foreign ministry official said.
"Our
vice minister is to meet high-ranking officials of the Myanmar government and
demand her immediate release," the official said.
"But so far, we don't
have any plan to ask the Myanmar government to have him see Aung San Suu Kyi
during his visit."
Japan is the biggest aid donor to Myanmar. It
suspended all but a small amount of humanitarian aid in the aftermath of a 1988
military coup and crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators, but the flow of
funds resumed in 1994.
In February Japan's overseas aid agency said it
planned to spend about 20 million dollars in Myanmar in the fiscal year
beginning last month despite a reduction in its overall budget.
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Canada may ban Myanmar's military leaders from its
territory
Thu Jun 19, 6:15 PM ET
OTTAWA (AFP) - Canada threatened to ban Myanmar's military
leaders from its territory and adopt other punitive measures unless they steer
their country toward democracy.
There are "serious problems" in Myanmar
and "we will be looking at all the possible alternatives," Foreign Minister Bill
Graham said after a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
(ASEAN) and its main foreign partners, held in the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
First, Graham said in a telephone press conference from Phnom Penh,
Yangon must "immediately release" opposition leader and Nobel peace laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi, detained with many of her followers May 30 after her motorcade
was ambushed in northern Myanmar.
Next, he said, the ruling junta "needs
to restore" the process of democratization and national reconciliation.
That process was begun when Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy won a landslide election victory in 1990 in Myanmar's first
multi-party parliamentary elections in 30 years.
The ruling military
junta has steadfastly refused to yield power or recognize those election
results.
"I'll be writing to the (Canadian) minister of citizenship and
immigration to recommend that we consider putting certain members of (Yangon's)
leadership on an interdict list for visa applications," Graham said.
"This is a clear indication to them that they don't have complete
impunity as to what they do.
He also suggested the United Nations call
for a freeze on Myanmar's assets abroad.
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US senators send birthday greetings to Myanmar's jailed
Aung San Suu Kyi
Thu Jun 19, 5:58 PM ET
WASHINGTON
(AFP) - The US Senate's 14 women
members sent birthday greetings to Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi,
expressing support for the detained activist, as well as the people of Myanmar.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your National League for
Democracy (NLD) colleagues as we commemorate the occasion of your 58th
birthday," read the letter. It also expressed hope that Myanmar's military
rulers would soon free her.
Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into "protective
custody" after clashes that broke out during a political tour of northern
Myanmar on May 30. Her supporters were attacked by hundreds of members of a
pro-junta organization.
Myanmar's ruling generals have cracked down on
the NLD, arresting an unknown number of supporters.
"We would also like
to remember and honor those NLD supporters who were killed, injured and arrested
in the May 30 attack," the senators' letter continued.
"Please know that
while you remain under house arrest, those of us who cherish freedom and
democracy around the world stand by your side."
"We want to convey to
you, and to all the people of Burma (Myanmar), our heartfelt support for Burma's
just cause and a future based on respect for human rights, democracy, the rule
of law and freedom for all," the letter said.
A spokesman for California
Senator Dianne Feinstein said the letter had been delivered to the US State
Department with a request to officials there to deliver it to Aung San Suu Kyi.
Feinstein has been one of the Senate's most vocal critics of the regime
in Myanmar since the crackdown.
"Today is the birthday of the leader of
the democratic opposition in Burma, Aung San Suu Kyi," added State department
spokesman Philip Reeker.
"Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has sent
his personal greetings, but our embassy has been unable to deliver them to her
this year because, sadly, this is the seventh birthday since 1989 that she has
spent under detention by her country's military rulers," Reeker added.
"The continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi, members of her political
party and others who have peacefully expressed their political views, is without
cause and unacceptable," he said.
"They should be released immediately
and the offices of the National League for Democracy should be reopened without
delay."
"We also call on the junta for a full accounting of the dead,
injured and missing from the attack of May 30, now known to Burmese as "Black
Friday."
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Britain's claims on Suu Kyi's dire conditions in Myanmar
spark outrage
Fri Jun 20, 9:56 PM ET
BANGKOK, June 20
(AFP) - Revelations that Myanmar
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is being held at Yangon's notorious Insein
jail without even a change of clothes since she was detained three weeks ago
sparked outrage Friday.
Britain's junior foreign minister for Asia Mike
O'Brien said in London Thursday that he was "appalled" to learn that the Nobel
peace laureate was being held "in a two-room hut" at Insein on the outskirts of
Yangon.
"I understand that she continues to wear the clothes in which
she was arrested," he said in a statement released on her 58th birthday.
Myanmar's ruling generals said Aung San Suu Kyi was put under temporary
"protective custody" at an undisclosed location after May 30 clashes which broke
out during a political tour of northern Myanmar.
But O'Brien said he was
disturbed to learn that she was in fact being held under a draconian internal
security law which allows for her detention without access to family or lawyers
for a year, renewable up to six years.
"This completely discredits the
regime's claim that she is being held in 'protective custody'," he said.
In a statement released Friday, Amnesty International expressed its
concern over the detention conditions surrounding Aung San Suu Kyi, a slightly
built woman who is noted for her impeccable appearance.
"Despite claims
that Aung San Suu Kyi is being held for her protection, she is being held under
provisions that fail to protect her basic human rights and deem her a threat to
state sovereignty and security," it said.
The military government's
decision to put Aung San Suu Kyi in jail for the first time since her
pro-democracy struggle began in 1988 represents a major escalation in Myanmar's
political tensions, analysts said.
Diplomats in Yangon said the generals
were forcing Aung San Suu Kyi to endure extremely harsh conditions, in hot
conditions at the start of the rainy season.
"It's very hard to know
what's going on in their heads. From what we know the conditions of detention
are very harsh. Insein is not a comfortable place anyway," said one diplomat.
Observers of the military-run country said the British allegations
indicated Aung San Suu Kyi was being held at a separate "guesthouse" which was
constructed at Insein several years ago especially to detain her.
Debbie
Stothard from pressure group Altsean-Burma said she and other activists were
shocked to hear that the opposition leader, who has already endured two long
stretches under house arrest, had finally been jailed.
"To put her in
jail, even though it is not a conventional jail cell, would be designed to
increase the anxiety and panic among the pro-democracy movement and also in the
international community," she said.
Stothard said the junta had
orchestrated the latest crisis to deflect foreign governments away from their
efforts to push for democratic reforms in Myanmar, instead forcing them to focus
on her release.
After the clashes, which dissident groups said left
dozens dead after Aung San Suu Kyi's supporters were attacked by hundreds of
members of a pro-junta organisation, rumours circulated that the opposition
leader had been injured.
However, visiting UN envoy Razali Ismail was
permitted to see her and pronounced her uninjured and in good spirits, although
he did not reveal where she was being held.
Myanmar's Foreign Minister
Win Aung was put under intense pressure over the situation at a meeting of
Southeast Asian ministers in Cambodia this week, but could give no timeline for
Aung San Suu Kyi's release.
Observers in Yangon said that widespread
expectations she would be freed in the next few weeks had now been cast into
doubt.
The United States has tightened sanctions against Myanmar in the
wake of the arrest, while the European Union widened a visa ban to include the
extended families of junta and military figures.
The sanctions were
originally put in place after 1990 elections which were won by Aung San Suu
Kyi's National League for Democracy in a result never recognised by the
junta.
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Diplomatic Pressure to Free Myanmar's Suu
Kyi
Thu Jun 19, 5:54 PM ET
By Ian MacKenzie
LONDON (Reuters) -
Myanmar's pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Chi spent her 58th birthday Thursday
in Yangon's forbidding Insein prison, as diplomatic pressure mounted on the
country's military rulers for her release.
Secretary of State Colin
Powell sent her birthday greetings, which the U.S. Embassy in Yangon was unable
to deliver, while British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien failed in an
attempt to phone her.
Closer to home, the Nobel laureate's cause created
rare unity at an Asian-Pacific meeting in Phnom Penh, prompting Myanmar's
beleaguered foreign minister to promise her detention was only temporary.
"We are not a brutal country. If we were brutal, there would be signs of
brutality all across the country," Foreign Minister Win Aung told a news
conference.
He said the ever-present threat of insurrection and violence
against the authorities, or Suu Kyi herself, justified her isolation from public
life.
The previous day, Powell had told "the brutal rulers of Burma" to
release her.
Myanmar's reclusive military junta said the Nobel peace
laureate was taken into "protective custody" on May 30 after violent clashes
between her supporters and pro-government groups in which four people died
during a tour of northern Myanmar by opposition leaders.
Her whereabouts
were not clear until Britain's O'Brien said Thursday she was being held at
Insein -- believed to have been the largest prison in the British Empire before
World War II.
'NOTORIOUS PRISON'
"I am appalled
to learn today, on her 58th birthday, Aung San Suu Kyi is being held in the
notorious Insein Jail on the outskirts of Rangoon (Yangon) in a two-room hut.
"I understand that she continues to wear the clothes in which she was
arrested," O'Brien said in a statement.
In Bangkok, about 100 Myanmar
exiles lit 58 candles to mark her birthday in a demonstration outside the
country's embassy. About 140 people, mainly Burmese, handed a letter seeking
action to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's London residence.
Organizers said demonstrations had also been planned in the United
States, Brazil, Japan, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
U.N. envoy
Razali Ismail, who was instrumental in persuading the junta to free Suu Kyi from
her last period of house arrest in May 2002, is the only outsider to have seen
her since May 30.
He left Yangon last week saying she was in good
spirits and was not injured, as was feared, in the violence during the
opposition tour.
The director of the Burma Campaign UK, John Jackson,
said in London the law under which she was detained "has been used to put people
into prison indefinitely."
In Washington, State Department spokesman
Philip Reeker, noting Powell's birthday greetings, called for the release of Suu
Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy.
A
Washington official said Wednesday the United States was considering tougher
sanctions against Myanmar, including restrictions on travel and remittances and
a ban on imports from the Southeast Asian country.
The European Union
decided last Monday to tighten sanctions following Suu Kyi's detention. Its
sanctions currently include an arms embargo and visa bans and asset freezes on
more than 150 government officials.
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Friday June 20, 6:05 AM
Worldwide pressure to free
Myanmar's Suu Kyi
By Ian MacKenzie
LONDON (Reuters) - Myanmar's
pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Chi has spent her 58th birthday in Yangon's
forbidding Insein prison, as diplomatic pressure mounted on the country's
military rulers for her release.
U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell on
Thursday sent her birthday greetings, which the U.S. embassy in Yangon was
unable to deliver, while British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien failed in
an attempt to phone her.
Closer to home, the Nobel laureate's cause
created rare unity at an Asian-Pacific meeting in Phnom Penh, prompting
Myanmar's beleaguered foreign minister to promise her detention was only
temporary.
"We are not a brutal country. If we were brutal, there would
be signs of brutality all across the country," Foreign Minister Win Aung told a
news conference.
He said the ever-present threat of insurrection and
violence against the authorities, or Suu Kyi herself, justified her isolation
from public life.
The previous day, Powell had told "the brutal rulers
of Burma" to release her.
Myanmar's reclusive military junta said the
Nobel peace laureate was taken into "protective custody" on May 30 after violent
clashes between her supporters and pro-government groups in which four people
died during a tour of northern Myanmar by opposition leaders.
Her
whereabouts were not clear until Britain's O'Brien said on Thursday she was
being held at Insein -- believed to have been the largest prison in the British
Empire before World War Two.
'NOTORIOUS PRISON'
"I am appalled to learn today, on her 58th birthday, Aung San
Suu Kyi is being held in the notorious Insein Jail on the outskirts of Rangoon
(Yangon) in a two-room hut.
"I understand that she continues to wear the
clothes in which she was arrested," O'Brien said in a statement.
In
Bangkok, about 100 Myanmar exiles lit 58 candles to mark her birthday in a
demonstration outside the country's embassy. About 140 people, mainly Burmese,
handed a letter seeking action to British Prime Minister Tony Blair's London
residence.
Organisers said demonstrations had also been planned in the
United States, Brazil, Japan, France, Germany and the Netherlands.
U.N.
envoy Razali Ismail, who was instrumental in persuading the junta to free Suu
Kyi from her last period of house arrest in May 2002, is the only outsider to
have seen her since May 30.
He left Yangon last week saying she was in
good spirits and was not injured, as was feared, in the violence during the
opposition tour.
The director of the Burma Campaign UK, John Jackson,
said in London the law under which she was detained "has been used to put people
into prison indefinitely".
In Washington, State Department spokesman
Philip Reeker, noting Powell's birthday greetings, called for the release of Suu
Kyi and other members of her National League for Democracy.
A Washington
official said on Wednesday the United States was considering tougher sanctions
against Myanmar, including restrictions on travel and remittances and a ban on
imports from the Southeast Asian country.
The European Union decided
last Monday to tighten sanctions following Suu Kyi's detention. Its sanctions
currently include an arms embargo and visa bans and asset freezes on more than
150 government officials.
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UN Sees Rapid Rise in Amphetamine Use
Worldwide
Fri Jun 20, 1:30 AM ET
By Nopporn
Wong-Anan
BANGKOK (Reuters) - Around 1,000 drug barons, mostly in
Southeast Asia, are flooding global markets with synthetic drugs such as ecstasy
and speed as they switch from heroin and cocaine production, a top United
Nations anti-drugs official said.
Sandro Calvani, head of the U.N.
anti-drug office for Asia and the Pacific, told Reuters the world's primary
source of amphetamine-type stimulants -- known by enforcers as ATS -- was
Southeast Asia.
He said Myanmar was the biggest producer of speed, which
was smuggled mainly to China, Thailand, Australia, Japan and Korea. Indonesia
was a haven for ecstasy makers, although not as big a producer as the
Netherlands.
"The market of ATS goes by millions of people, not by a
small percentage, zero point something of the world population, like heroin or
cocaine," Calvani said in an interview.
U.N. officials say amphetamine
factories can be easily hidden, unlike heroin and cocaine production facilities,
and it is easy to recruit legal companies to produce precursor chemicals. But no
reliable data exists on the quantity produced.
A U.N. report published
this week said opium production in the notorious Golden Triangle region where
the borders of Thailand, Myanmar and Laos meet is expected to drop to 183,000
acres this year from 235,900 acres in 1996.
It credited government
clampdowns and international efforts to promote alternative income sources for
thousands of poor farmers.
Calvani said the profits from synthetic drugs
were bulging the pockets of a small number of drugs barons and cracking down on
the trade had none of the social impact of cutting production of opium, the raw
material for heroin.
"There is no poverty-driven amphetamine production.
It is just a criminal behavior, driven by greed only, and benefiting very few
number of people," Calvani said.
"The best way to control it is
international cooperation and understanding that we are all in the same boat and
we should talk to each other instead of finger pointing."
Thailand, a
major conduit for narcotics produced in Myanmar, has in recent years become a
big consumer of methamphetamines made by its northern neighbor, with as many as
1.5 million regular users and one billion pills flowing into the country each
year.
A bloody 90-day Thai government crackdown on methamphetamine
traffickers and dealers launched in February, which cost 1,600 lives, has raised
fears the drug flow into the Thai market would now be diverted to other Asian
countries. Thailand says the campaign cut methamphetamine use in the country by
90 percent.
Calvani said global demand for drugs such ecstasy and speed
was growing because their use did not have the same level of social stigma
attached to heroin and cocaine.
"Taking heroin and cocaine is largely
perceived as deviant behavior so therefore there is significant social control.
People are extremely afraid or ashamed of using those drugs," he said.
"In the case of amphetamines, there is significant tolerance in the
community...users are not deviant people, they are rigorous workers, rigorous
students, who dope to perform better. They look for a quick fix."
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Friday June 20, 1:10 PM
U.N. anti-drug events postponed for 'security reasons'
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A two-day festival of sports and music
organized by the United Nations to promote an anti-drugs message has been
postponed indefinitely after Myanmar's government refused to give permission for
security reasons, a U.N. official said Friday.
The government did not
elaborate on the security risks and it was not clear if the move was related to
a crackdown on the opposition National League for Democracy party whose leader,
Aung San Suu Kyi, has been kept in detention since May 30.
The
``Festival of Amazing Life Without Drugs'' was organized by the United Nations
Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC, and scheduled for Saturday and Sunday. It
was also intended to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS.
The government told
UNODC that it would not allow the music events for security reasons although the
sports segment was permitted, said UNODC program officer Giovanni Gallo.
Since the sports comprised only a small part of the festival, the U.N.
agency and the government together decided to postpone the event indefinitely,
he said.
It had been planned to distribute anti-drug pamphlets and
T-shirts, and have late night music performances by popular singers, actors and
actresses, and a marathon run and soccer matches.
The festival was
supported by the government's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control and
sponsored by some private companies.
The military government has said
that Suu Kyi is being kept in ``protective custody'' in an undisclosed location
to save her from possible assassins, without clarifying who would want to kill
her. The British government said Thursday Suu Kyi is being held at the notorious
Insein prison.
Suu Kyi's party won general elections in 1990 and was
barred from taking power. During the current crackdown, party offices have been
closed across the country and some of its members detained.
Myanmar is
the world's second largest producer of opium after Afghanistan, although opium
production fell for the second straight year in 2003, according to a UNODC
report released Wednesday. It is also a major source of methamphetamines.
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Friday June 20, 2:31 PM
Asean To Up Pressure For Suu
Kyi Release, Myanmar Reform
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
(AP)--After urging Myanmar to free
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi from custody, Southeast Asian nations were
disappointed to get no assurances about the timing, and pressure for her release
will keep building, the Philippine's foreign minister said Friday.
"The
goal is not merely the release of Madame Suu Kyi, but the release of the entire
people of Burma from a regime of oppression and repression," Philippine Foreign
Minister Blas Ople said.
After Suu Kyi is freed, Myanmar, which is also
known as Burma, will be pushed to speed up the pace of political reforms that
will bring it out from under military rule, Ople said, adding that Win Aung
could provide no timetable for this either.
Myanmar Foreign Minister Win
Aung told his counterparts this week that police were still conducting an
investigation after Suu Kyi was taken into custody during a deadly encounter
between her backers and government supporters on May 30, and she likely won't be
freed until that probe is complete.
"That was just half an answer and we
were disappointed he could not be more forthcoming," said Ople, following four
days of talks among the 10 members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
and other dialogue partners, including the U.S., China, Japan and the two
Koreas.
Ople recalled that during the Asean discussions, Win Aung
acknowledged "that one of the great misfortunes is that the government of
Myanmar wears a uniform."
"Well, they can always shed the uniform and that
is precisely what the political reforms mean under a new constitution in Burma,"
Ople said.
Ople and other Asean members plan a high-level visit to
Myanmar so they can meet with Suu Kyi and the ruling junta, but they want to
wait until Suu Kyi is released. Ople believes that will happen before Asean
government leaders hold a summit in October.
"We don't want to visit her
as a prisoner of the Burmese government, but as a free person," Ople said.
Myanmar insists Suu Kyi is in "protective custody" and that it is
working on political reforms, but Ople said others in Asean believe Myanmar's
actions have tainted the whole region in the world's eyes, and they want faster
progress.
Asean groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------
ASEAN Disappointed Burma Will Not Guarantee Release of
Aung San Suu Kyi
VOA News
20 Jun 2003, 09:56
UTC
The Philippine foreign minister says Southeast Asian countries
are disappointed that Burma has not provided any assurances about when it will
release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Foreign Secretary Blas Ople
says the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will keep up pressure on Burma's
ruling military to release the head of the National League for Democracy and
pursue democratic reforms. Mr. Ople said ASEAN will send a ministerial mission
to Burma to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, but did not want to do so, until she is
free.
The Phillipine official spoke in Phnom Penh Cambodia, Friday, at
the end of a week-long meeting of the ASEAN foreign ministers. Earlier, Burmese
Foreign Minister Win Aung told his counterparts that police are still conducting
an investigation after Aung San Suu Kyi was detained May 20 during a deadly
clash between her supporters and pro-government groups. He said the NLD leader
probably will not be released, until the probe is completed.
Mr. Ople
said that during his presentation Win Aung gave what he called "half-answers."
On Thursday, pro-democracy activists rallied across Europe, India, Japan, and
Thailand, to press Burma's military rulers to release Aung San Suu Kyi from
prison, where she spent her 58th birthday. Secretary of State Colin Powell sent
birthday greetings, but the U.S. embassy said it was unable to deliver them. A
State Department spokesman noted that this was the seventh birthday the
opposition leader has spent in prison.
The British Foreign Office in
London said it has learned Aung San Suu Kyi is being held in Burma's notoriously
harsh Insein Prison outside Rangoon. An official said she is confined to a
two-room hut and has not been allowed to change clothes for almost three weeks.
Burma's ruling military says she is being held for her own protection
against unidentified assassins.
--------------------------------------------------------------
BBC News
Do sanctions against Burma
work?
By Larry Jagan
BBC Burma
analyst
There is mounting international outrage at the Burmese
military rulers' detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Sanctions against the junta have already been stepped up by the European
Union, and are in the process of being toughened by the United States.
The international community hopes that sanctions will help to convince
Burma's ruling generals that they should introduce political and economic
reform, and eventually hand over power to a civilian government.
So far,
though, the sanctions do not seem to have worked.
If anything, strong
international measures are likely to strengthen the hand of the hardliners who
are opposed to talking to Aung San Suu Kyi - thereby reducing the likelihood of
political change.
Burma's military rulers have been at the centre of
international condemnation - and sanctions - for nearly 15 years.
Since
the generals seized power in 1988, the United Nations has repeatedly tabled
motions of censure.
Europe and the US have imposed arms embargoes and
suspended most aid programmes to the country.
Since Aung San Suu Kyi's
detention, the EU has stiffened its sanctions still further - a travel ban on
the Burma's top leaders and their families, freezing the assets of more than 150
senior government military leaders, ministers and officials, and an even tougher
arms embargo.
The US Congress is also in the process of adopting
increased sanctions - including freezing the assets of Burma's leaders,
restricting travel, and a ban on imports from Burma.
But all the
international pressure seems to have produced few results.
There is no
doubt that recent US and European threats to increase sanctions have worried
Burma's military leaders.
"Instead of giving us time, instead of giving
us encouragement and a pat on the back, they are always coming with threats,
like sanctions and more sanctions," government spokesman Colonel Hla Min told
the BBC recently.
And the threat of sanctions has even helped produce
some small concessions.
The start of talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and
the government nearly three years ago is a case in point. So too is her release
from house arrest last year.
But these concessions - as shown by Aung San
Suu Kyi's recent arrest and renewed detention - are often quickly reversed.
The problem is that the level of US and EU trade with Burma is so small
that, in practice, Western-led sanctions are unlikely to have much effect.
For its military needs, Rangoon has simply turned to other countries
instead, such as China, South Asia and the former Eastern European bloc.
A threat to freeze the country's assets will not have a widespread
effect either, simply because most of the richest and most influential members
of Burma's military elite have had their assets frozen already.
It is a
ban on trade - which would prohibit the import of Burmese textiles - which is
worrying the Burmese Government most.
Burmese economists believe that
this would effectively put some 100,000 garment factory employees out of work,
with little chance of alternative employment.
Most of these factories are
privately owned, and therefore unlikely to directly affect the country's
military rulers.
But even on the issue of trade, Burma's leaders have
long told diplomats and senior UN officials that they do not fear a Western-led
embargo.
"We are not worried about US and European sanctions, as trade with
India, China and Thailand is already good," the Burmese ambassador to London, Dr
Kyaw Win told the BBC.
So there is no doubt that for any international
embargo to work, Burma's neighbours need to be on board, a prospect that at the
moment, at least, looks unlikely.
Some South East Asian governments are
concerned about what Europe might have in mind if sanctions were increased.
"Asean - and Thailand in particular - is worried about the possibility
of a tourist ban on Burma, either bilaterally or collectively, as this is likely
to severely affect their own industries as well," a senior Asian diplomat said.
Already suffering from the aftermath of the Iraq war, Sars and the
suspicion of potential terrorist attacks in the region, the South East Asian
tourist industry remains in a fragile state. The last thing that these countries
want is a tourist ban of any sort.
The fear is that the adverse
publicity might dissuade potential tourists from coming on holiday to the entire
region.
Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly told the international community
that it is necessary to maintain international pressure on Rangoon if the
military is to be forced to hand over power to a civilian administration.
What is needed is a combination of carrots and sticks that, while
continuing to press the military junta for reform, allows the pragmatists in the
military - who understand the crucial need for change and want to engage the
international community - room to manoeuvre.
--------------------------------------------------------------
ABC online
Posted: Fri, 20 Jun 2003 18:01
AEST
US loses patience with Burma
The United
States says it has lost patience with the Burmese Government after Rangoon's
repeated refusal to release the detained pro-democracy leader, Aung San Suu
Kyi.
The US Assistant Secretary of State, Lorne Craner, says if the
current level of international pressure on Burma does not produce results,
Washington is prepared to impose further economic sanctions.
"We have
lost our patience with Burma, just like Congress has lost its patience with the
Burmese Government and the fact is that Burma has to rely to an extent on the
United States and Europe in its economy," she said.
"But they also have
to rely on their neighbours, and their neighbours are beginning to lose patience
as well.
"Anywhere there's violation then they need to be penalised.
"There are many countries around the world against which we have trade
sanctions because of human rights violations."
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Independent (UK)
US oil giant faces court battle
over Burma violations
By Andrew Gumbel in
Los Angeles
19 June 2003
One of America's most powerful oil
conglomerates looks likely to get its comeuppance in court over its overseas
business practices after spreading a trail of misery through a small rainforest
village in the Tenasserim region of Burma in November 1994.
When the
Union Oil Company of California, or Unocal, started working on a gas pipeline
project there, it con-tracted out security operations to the Burmese military
regime; and that was when the horror began.
According to court documents,
Burmese soldiers entered a house in the village, broke into the rice storeroom
with an axe, kicked the woman of the house and pushed her down some stairs.
After a brief hunt for her husband, the soldiers came back and kicked the woman
again, knocking her unconscious and pushing her into a lighted fireplace. They
kicked her infant daughter into the fire too.
The soldiers wanted the
family to relocate to another village to make way for the pipeline, and they
weren't about to take "no" for an answer. The baby desperately needed medical
care, but the soldiers forced the family to stay in a field without water for
two days as they ransacked their belongings. By the time the family had paid off
the soldiers, by selling a cow, it was too late. The baby died from an infected
head wound.
The human rights organisations that have brought a suit
against Unocal allege that the Yadana pipeline project has led to dozens of
similar incidents, as well as rape and extortion. They say villagers - who are
left unnamed in the suit for their own protection - have been systematically
relocated and pressed into forced labour.
Invoking an old United States
law - the Alien Tort Claims Act of 1789, which was passed to combat piracy on
the high seas but has now been adapted to confront other infractions of the
"laws of nations" - they argue that Unocal and other companies must be held
accountable for violations committed overseas in their name. And they are now
just one step away from forcing the issue into open court. A panel of federal
appeals judges in San Francisco heard final arguments this week on whether
Unocal should be made to stand trial. Although a ruling is not expected for a
few weeks, early indications are that a trial will indeed take place, setting a
new legal precedent for US corporations and heralding the possibility of new
standards of corporate behaviour in some of the most benighted corners of the
world.
There is, of course, nothing new in allegations of gross corporate
misbehaviour overseas and critics of US foreign policy have often accused
Washington of deliberately subverting or overthrowing democratically elected
governments to suit the corporate interests.
What is new is the legal
approach to challenge the corporations. The Alien Tort Act was first revived
about 20 years ago to chase down disgraced generals and deposed despots such as
Ferdinand Marcos but it was adapted in the 1990s to pursue
corporations.
Rick Herz, a lawyer with Earth Rights International, said:
"The principle is the same, since corporations are persons under the
law.
"Aiding and abetting - that's a direct liability. Companies like
Unocal argue that they are not responsible for the actions of their subsidiaries
and contractors, but notions of liability through joint venture or agency are
basic tort theories, common throughout the United States and the rest of the
world." Another suit, against ChevronTexaco over the deaths of villagers in
Nigeria who had opposed its plans for a series of oil platforms, is also close
to coming to trial.
The prospect of an avalanche of suits against big
corporations has so spooked the Bush administration - always a good friend to
the oil industry - that last month the Justice Department filed a brief in the
Unocal case denouncing the Alien Tort Act as "an obscure provision" and arguing
its application posed a direct threat to, among other things, the war on
terrorism.
The San Francisco appeals court has indicated it is less than
impressed with this line of argument. The Justice Department was not allowed to
participate in this week's oral arguments, and large corporations who wanted to
file similar briefs were denied.
Mr Herz said: "Their position is
outrageous and their analysis is silly. They are trying to overturn 23 years of
consistent precedent by arguing that the act was meaningless when it was passed.
They are arguing that upholding human rights fundamentally conflicts with US
foreign policy when one would have thought it was to uphold them."
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Christian Science Monitor
from the June
19, 2003 edition
Leaning on Burma, Asian nations find new
voice
ASEAN urged Burma Tuesday to free pro-democracy activist Aung
San Suu Kyi.
By Simon Montlake |
Special to The Christian Science Monitor
BANGKOK, THAILAND ? As
diplomatic statements go, it was a gentle poke. But for the usually timid
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) the carefully crafted criticism
of a member state may be a bold turning point.
Meeting in Cambodia, the
region's foreign ministers called on Burma's military regime to release jailed
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her colleagues. "We welcome the
assurances given by Burma that the measures taken ... were temporary and look
forward to early lifting of restrictions placed on Aung San Suu Kyi," their
statement read.
Nobel laureate Suu Kyi has been in detention since a pro-
government militia attacked her convoy on May 30, and Foreign Minister Win Aung
has said she would be released but given no time frame.
ASEAN has long
presented Burma's membership as a form of "constructive engagement," in contrast
to Western sanctions and criticism. But critics say there's been little effort
to raise the bar in ASEAN on political and social rights, unlike the European
Union's emphasis on common standards. This week's statement represents a step in
that direction.
"The statement might seem a bit mild, but it's a major
step for ASEAN," says Chayachoke Chulasiriwongse, professor of international
relations at Thailand's Chulalongkorn University. "People are always complaining
about the limitations of noninterference in state affairs."
ASEAN's final
communiqué, however, stopped short of punishing Burma for its actions, despite
calls from Western countries that are extending sanctions on the regime.
Speaking at the Asian Regional Forum that runs concurrently with the ASEAN
meeting, Secretary of State Colin Powell, here on a lightning Asian tour,
repeated calls for Burma to release its most famous dissident.
Powell
also turned his attention to North Korea, which snubbed the forum by sending a
low-ranking diplomat in place of its foreign minister. That dented US hopes that
Pyongyang might be called to task by countries from across the region. "No issue
is of greater urgency to the US than North Korea's nuclear- weapons program," he
told reporters. That urgency only increased Wednesday as North Korea
acknowledged publicly for the first time that it has a nuclear weapons program
and issued threats to strengthen it.
Divisions over
agenda
While Burma represents a lesser threat to regional
security than a nuclear North Korea, the US is keen to see Asian allies engage
both nations, particularly before multilateral forums that can present a united
front to so-called "rogue regimes."
Although ASEAN clearly felt Western
pressure to act on Burma, analysts say the shift in policy also reflects
internal dissent over the grouping's role. Officials in the Philippines and
Thailand who want to see more proactive diplomacy on issues such as labor
migration are often rebuffed by those such as Malaysia who prefer the
traditional agenda of trade talks and keeping up appearances.
Founded in
the 1960s as an anti- communist grouping, ASEAN expanded in the 1990s to
incorporate Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, and Burma. Its member states range from
full-fledged democracies like Thailand to repressive regimes like Burma's, which
enjoys tacit support from other autocracies for a soft approach.
Optimists
point out that ASEAN has forged common ground on regional security since last
October's terrorist bombing in Bali, Indonesia. The next step, they say, is to
extend such cooperation to sensitive issues like human trafficking and illegal
drugs, as well as regional hotspots like Burma, rather than relying on global
bodies to take charge. Efforts by UN envoy Razali Ismail to broker political
talks between the regime and Suu Kyi appear to be in ruins.
"ASEAN could
become strong and more united if it works together on these issues. It could
possibly even become a counter-balance to China and the US," says Panitan
Wattanyagorn, an adviser to former Thai Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai.
An eye to investment
But ASEAN appears
loath to use its economic clout to squeeze the junta. Starved of foreign aid and
investment in recent years, Burma's rulers have turned to China and Southeast
Asia. Malaysia has been among those keener to invest in Burma's oil, mineral,
and timber resources.
"By sitting on its hands for so many years, ASEAN
has actually contributed to the current crisis in Burma," says Debbie Stothard,
coordinator of Alt-SEAN Burma, a regional human rights group.
Ms.
Stothard and other campaigners say ASEAN would become more robust and command
greater international clout if it sets higher standards on political rights and
governance.
Such a move would not only ease tensions with Western allies
frustrated with regimes like that in Burma but also strengthen ASEAN's hand in
dealing with regional conflicts.
"Once there is commitment to greater
openness and some (human rights) benchmark ... you have a greater opportunity
for conflict resolution to take place in the region," says Stothard. "Every
country in every region has their problems.... The question is whether ASEAN is
enough of a community to aspire to something better."
Such sentiments cut
little ice with conservatives within ASEAN, who say the primary focus must
remain keeping the peace, not promoting democracy. "In the ASEAN community we
know that we can't relocate and we can't chose our neighbors," says an adviser
to a member-state government. "So we have to get along well enough that we don't
risk burning down each other's houses."
--------------------------------------------------------------
No date for Suu Kyi release
Thursday, June 19,
2003 Posted: 12:55 PM EDT (1655 GMT)
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia
(CNN) -- Detained Myanmar opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi will be released when instability ends and "normalcy"
returns to the country, the country's foreign minister has said.
Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNN, Foreign Minister Win Aung
said the country's military government did "not have the intention of prolonging
this arrangement" but gave no date for her release.
Win Aung, who is
attending a gathering of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in
Cambodia, has been the focus of growing international criticism over Aung San
Suu Kyi's arrest.
The pro-democracy leader, who won the Nobel Peace
Prize in 1991, has been held in an undisclosed location since her supporters
clashed with a pro-government group at the end of May.
But the British
Foreign Office disclosed on Thursday that Suu Kyi was being held in a two-room
hut at Insein Jail, just outside of Yangon, apparently still wearing the clothes
she wore when she was taken into custody a few weeks ago.
The office
said she is being detained under the "most draconian" of the country's military
laws.
World leaders, including fellow ASEAN members, have been pressing
the Myanmar authorities to release her and other opposition activists
immediately.
Asked for his reaction to the outcry, Win Aung told CNN he
would convey the concerns of the international community back to the government
in Yangon.
"Everything being said is now being noted and of course when
I go back home I will take with me the concerns being expressed by other
ministers during the meetings," he said.
He stressed that Myanmar had
"not abandoned" a renewal of dialogue with the Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD) and its frequently stated commitments to the
"democratization process."
"We are working to get the situation back on
the right track and we would like to see Myanmar moving forward again," he said.
"We don't want to see the country moving backward."
Win Aung was
asked how he can discuss reconciliation when the NLD and its leadership is
locked down.
"We are aware and very much concerned the days of anarachy
of 1988 will be back," he said, questioning the motives of young militants in
the country.
"For the time being," Win Aung said, "we have to swallow
the bitter pills now," referring to the detention.
Aung San Suu Kyi,
daughter of Myanmar's independence hero Aung San, has spent much of the last 15
years under house arrest.
The ruling junta had her confined to her home
from 1989 to 1995 and again from September 2000 until May 2002.
Her
party, the National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in a 1990
general election, but the country's military government refused to let it take
power
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
BURMESE CENSURE: Asean
suffers a hangover
Supalak
Ganjanakhundee
Published on Jun 20, 2003
Global pressure won in Phnom Penh, but nobody is celebrating
Singapore is writhing somewhat uncomfortably as news reports highlight
its pressuring of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to take a firm
stance on Burma.
Its concern stems from the fact a lot of Singaporean
companies and individuals have invested in Burma and the city-state does not
want to appear unfriendly to the ruling military junta.
A Singaporean
official tried to float a message to Thai journalists that it was Foreign
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai who played a significant role in drafting the
Asean joint-communique delivering a strong message to the junta.
Former
university lecturer Surakiart, who usually tirelessly lectures journalists on
any story from around the world, was suddenly reticent to express any
expectations of future relations between Asean and Burma.
"Just reading
the 18th paragraph in the communique, those who are asking questions about Asean
and Burma should be enlightened," he said shortly after the Asean foreign
ministers' meeting closed.
To be fair to Surakiart, Thailand, an
immediate neighbour to Burma and with huge interests in the country, is not in a
position to make or endorse any aggressive statements about the junta.
Asean has now arrived at a crossroads. On the one hand it cannot be seen
to be maintaining a silence on the tensions in Rangoon. On the other hand, many
members feel uneasy about taking action.
Philippines Foreign Minister
Blas Ople devoted a lot of energy to driving Asean members towards the strong
statement calling for restrictions on Aung San Suu Kyi to be lifted.
The
Philippines, which has no clear interest in Burma because it is so far away, has
moved fast - and perhaps too far ahead of other members - in suggesting a review
of Asean policy towards Burma.
Manila now argues that Asean has a
legitimate interest in members' domestic affairs if they threaten the group's
global image. Such an argument sounds similar to an allegation from Washington
that Burma has used sovereignty as a shield to protect itself from international
pressure.
US Secretary of State Colin Powell came to play the role of
champion of democracy, hammering home a call for the group to join Washington in
pressuring the junta. Big name delegates like Powell created strong momentum for
a stronger stance.
But it was a real slap in the face for the junta when
Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi threatened to cut off economic
assistance unless the junta moved fast to improve the domestic political scene.
Japan is a major aid donor and has real influence over the junta, second
only to China in fact. It has rarely threatened such aggressive action unless
the domestic political situation has been appalling.
Asean's actions
this week have been very strong, perhaps too strong in an Asean perspective.
But it was too little when compared with Tokyo, not to mention the US
and EU.
Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung, who was under the media
spotlight from the meeting's beginning to end, tried his best to manage the
situation.
He answered the same questions again and again.
He said
he had listened to all input and taken notes of all concerns from his colleagues
and would report them to the leaders in Rangoon when he returned home.
"I feel like dust has been thrown in my face when faced with criticism
about the situation . . . I am just a foreign minister who came to stand before
the world," he said.
"Let me frankly say I never enjoy being foreign
minister, I never enjoy this sort of power structure," he told a rare press
briefing on the last day of the Asean meeting.
Win Aung has shouldered
many burdens to carry home.
His major worry is whether he and his
messages will be welcomed there.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
Time to ratchet up pressure on Burma
By Jack Straw
Jack Straw is foreign
minister of the United Kingdom.
Published on Jun 20, 2003
The
world must do more to secure the release of Suu Kyi and start a dialogue
Yesterday was Aung San Suu Kyi's 58th birthday. What should have been a
day of quiet celebration with family and friends for the Nobel Peace Prize
winner was instead spent in detention in a military barracks somewhere in Burma.
The Burmese regime claims she is in "protective custody" after her
supporters clashed with opponents on May 30. But we know from eyewitness
accounts that the regime's version of events that day totally lacks any
credibility. Armed thugs attacked Suu Kyi and her supporters in a premeditated
attack planned by elements of the regime itself. Tens of people were killed and
injured, scores arrested and many more are in hiding. The regime has closed the
offices of Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and detained party leaders
and workers in Rangoon and other cities.
Her crime? None that any of us
would recognise as a crime. To the fury of the Burmese military junta, Suu Kyi
commands the support and respect of the Burmese people. Ever since her party won
an election in 1990, the regime has harassed and intimidated Suu Kyi and her
supporters endlessly. She has already suffered long spells of house arrest and
imprisonment, hundreds of her supporters are in prison, many without trial.
Others have been blackmailed or intimidated into giving up politics. The
government controlled media denies her a voice and publishes malicious
propaganda about her. But whenever and wherever she travels, ordinary people
still turn out in their thousands to see and hear her. For them she is a beacon
of hope for a better future.
The military regime, which attempts to run
Burma through fear and intimidation, is not only brutal but also corrupt and
incompetent. A once prosperous country is being run into the ground. Poverty is
rife and diseases such as malaria, TB and HIV/Aids are spreading.
For
the Burmese regime, Suu Kyi's vision of peace, stability and freedom is a
threat. But for the rest of the world, the Burmese junta and its cronies are a
cancer gnawing at the heart of Southeast Asia. There can be no possible excuses
for the continued misrule and intransigence of the regime.
Suu Kyi must
be released immediately. So must all the other leaders of the National League
for Democracy currently detained. The NLD must be allowed to reopen its offices.
And the regime must enter into meaningful dialogue with it and other groups as a
first step towards bringing democracy to Burma.
Burma's neighbours,
especially its fellow members of Asean, have been dismayed by the detention of
Suu Kyi, and have called publicly for her release. We hope that they will
continue, publicly and privately, to make clear to the regime the impact its
behaviour is having on Asean's standing and the need for it to change its ways.
And private individuals, tempted to visit Burma for its undoubted beauty and its
cultural attractions, may wish to delay doing so until the present tension and
uncertainty has been lifted and ordinary Burmese people can welcome them in a
climate free from fear and persecution
The United Kingdom, together with
our partners in the EU, with the US and with other countries stands ready to
help Burma move towards national reconciliation and democracy. We are committed
to supporting the UN Secretary General's Special Representative on Burma, Tan
Sri Razali Ismail, in his efforts to broker a dialogue between the regime and
opposition groups. We hope the secretary-general himself will consider what more
the UN might do.
But the regime there has shown a cynical and blatant
disregard for the views of others and responds only to pressure. That is why the
European Union has decided to increase the pressure. We have already applied an
arms embargo, a ban on the sale of any items that could be used for torture or
repression, a ban on defence links and a ban on non-humanitarian aid. High level
contacts are also banned.
We have now agreed to take these measures
further. Our ban on Burmese ministers visiting the EU will be extended to
include senior managers of state-run enterprises and officials from
organisations linked to the government. We have already introduced an assets
freeze and the European Union has suspended Burma's trading privileges under the
Generalised System of Privileges (GSP). The United States has taken similar
steps. Further pressure will follow unless the regime moves rapidly to restore
civilian rule and democracy.
The United Kingdom and the international
community will not accept that the hopes and aspirations of the Burmese people
should perennially be frustrated. The spirit and justness of the democracy
movement cannot be contained by sticks or prison cells. We call on friends of
Burma in Asia and around the world to redouble their efforts to help Suu Kyi and
the people of Burma rapidly achieve the national reconciliation, respect for
human rights and democracy they so richly deserve. On her birthday we pay
tribute to Suu Kyi, an inspiration to us all.
--------------------------------------------------------------
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