Wednesday July 2, 4:19 PM
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi
transferred from Insein prison
BANGKOK (AFP) - Myanmar's opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi has been transferred from the notorious Insein prison following UN criticism
that she was being held under "absolutely deplorable" conditions, an informed
source said.
The gesture was too minor to calm the international
community's outrage over her detention and could signify that the ruling
military government intended to keep the leader detained for a long period,
diplomats said.
Aung San Suu Kyi "has been transferred, probably at the
end of last week, and is now being held at an undisclosed location," the source
told AFP Wednesday.
He said the junta had "many military camps and
guesthouses where it can detain its opponents incommunicado.
"One
possible option is that Suu Kyi could have been brought to the military camp of
Yemon, some 40 kilometres (25 miles) outside Yangon, where political prisoners
have been held in the past," the source said.
The transfer "to a more
adequate location follows remarks made by UN special envoy Razali Ismail about
the deplorable conditions" under which Aung San Suu Kyi was being held, he
added.
Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into "protective custody" after riots
broke out on May 30 when her convoy and supporters were attacked by a
junta-backed mob during a political tour of northern Myanmar.
The
government says four people were killed in the clashes but dissident groups say
dozens died.
Despite an international furore over her detention,
Myanmar's ruling junta has given no sign of when it will release the 1991 Nobel
Peace prize winner.
The government has not revealed where she is being
held but the British government said last month that the National League for
Democracy (NLD) leader was being held in a two-room hut at Insein jail without
even a change of clothes.
Razali met with her on June 10 and is the only
independent person to have seen her since her isolation.
After his visit,
Razali declined to confirm the reports that Aung San Suu Kyi was being held at
Insein, but acknowledged her detention conditions were appalling.
"What I
can say is that where I met her was absolutely deplorable. It was not in keeping
with the stature and the status of Aung San Suu Kyi as a political leader or as
a national leader," he said.
The notorious Insein prison, built on the
outskirts of Yangon, has the most sinister reputation of Myanmar's notorious
jails and features torture chambers used by the regime against political
dissidents.
"If this means that she will get better detention conditions,
good. But the rest of her situation hasn't changed," the informed source said by
telephone from Yangon.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said
Wednesday that Myanmar's Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win made a one-day
visit to Bangkok Tuesday and also told him that Aung San Suu Kyi was well and
not in prison.
"They showed me a picture of Aung San Suu Kyi, the place
she currently staying, and a photo of her talking to other people. She is not in
prison but in a safe house," Thaksin told reporters, declining to
elaborate.
Yangon-based diplomats warned the transfer could mean the
military government was settling in for the "long term."
"It could be (in
response to UN criticism)... but then again it could also indicate things are
happening for the long term rather than short term. With Myanmar there's many
ways you can read things," one western diplomat told AFP.
Another said:
"I have difficulties rejoicing. It seems to be postponing a possible
hypothetical liberation."
The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC), which has been denied access to Aung San Suu Kyi, was expected to visit
Insein as part of its regular prisons-visit programme next week, the informed
source said.
"The ICRC makes prisons open all their doors. It would be
impossible to hide anyone in Insein to them," he said.
An ICRC official
declined comment on whether they would be able to confirm that Aung San Suu Kyi
was not at Insein after visiting.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 2, 2:36 PM
ASEAN urged to review Myanmar membership over Suu Kyi
detention
MANILA, July 2 (AFP) - Myanmar's membership in the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) should be reviewed because of its detention of
Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a human rights monitor said Wednesday.
The Altsean-Burma, a regional network of rights organizations and
activists, said the 10-member ASEAN should "develop a time-frame" within which
the ruling junta should release Aung San Suu Kyi, detained for more than a month
following deadly clashes involving her supporters.
The grouping should
"review the status of Burma's (Myanmar's) membership," as well as "redeem
itself" by actively demanding Aung San Suu Kyi's release, it said.
ASEAN
should also immediately dispatch a high-level delegation to check on the
democracy leader's situation in Myanmar and "include Burma as a priority agenda
item at the ASEAN summit in October," Altsean-Burma said.
ASEAN members
demanded the Nobel laureate's release during its annual ministerial meeting in
Cambodia last month. The group also announced plans to send a delegation to
Yangon.
The rights monitor meanwhile urged the ruling junta to declare a
nationwide ceasefire and stop its crackdown against democracy activists.
ASEAN has been criticized in the past for its policy of not interfering
with each member state's internal problems.
Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy won 1990 elections by a landslide, but has never been
permitted to rule by the junta.
She was detained after riots broke out
on May 30 when her convoy and supporters were attacked by a junta-backed mob
while she was on a political tour of northern Myanmar.
ASEAN groups
Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,
Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 2, 6:36 PM
Thai border camps to take in 1,500 Myanmar
refugees
BANGKOK, July 2 (AFP) - Some 1,500 refugees from military-ruled
Myanmar are to be transferred to refugee camps along the Thai-Myanmar border,
the Thai government and UN refugee agency said Wednesday after joint talks.
The meeting followed claims by the Thai government last week that the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) had violated the kingdom's
sovereignty by granting refugee status to Myanmar exiles.
"All people of
Myanmar nationality who have been granted 'person of concern' (POC) status, some
1,500, will be transferred to camps along the border," Thai foreign ministry
spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said, using Thailand's preferred term for those
granted refugee status.
"If they refuse to move to the camps, they will be
stripped of their POC status," Sihasak said, adding that the UNHCR would finance
the transfer.
The Thai government has said it wants to be involved in
the process of granting POC status to exiles because it currently had no details
of the identities and whereabouts of POCs. The UNHCR has said, however, that it
regularly shared details of applications with the government.
Thai Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said last week he was also particularly irked by
refugees being permitted to travel at will.
UNHCR regional
representative Jahanshah Assadi said the agency supported the government's
policy.
"The government's policy is to move them to camps unless there
are some exceptional cases. We support that and we will cooperate with the
government in the transfer of the 1,500 to the camps," he told reporters.
"We feel that the policy is one that can be implemented because the
camps are also beneficiaries of the international community itself and
international community support, and the camps are still in the sovereign
territory of Thailand."
The refugees, who currently reside in urban
areas, will join the 125,000 other refugees from Myanmar currently living in
border camps administered by the Thai government, Assadi said.
The UNHCR
is empowered to grant refugee status in Thailand because the nation is not a
signatory to the UN treaty on refugees and does not have its own legislation
governing the determination of refugee status.
The initial accusations
were levelled against the UNHCR when 11 Myanmar activists were arrested for
illegal entry after they were found organising a demonstration calling for the
release of Myanmar's detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Thailand is on high alert over Myanmar dissidents after the ruling junta
said it had learned of a possible plan to take its diplomats hostage to protest
Suu Kyi's detention.
Thailand's deputy prime minister responsible for
security said the National Security Council would meet on Monday to further
assess the situation.
Debbie Stothard, coordinator of regional rights
network ALTSEAN-Burma, said the government and UNHCR action would not address
the reason why Myanmar refugees have long flooded into Thailand.
"It's
not addressing the root cause about why they are here in the first place, which
is instability in Burma," she said, using Myanmar's former name.
"Every
time the Thai government empowers the Burmese junta there are going to be more
refugees coming to Thailand. Rounding up 1,500 is really not going to solve the
problem," she told AFP.
Although Thailand has called for the release of
Aung San Suu Kyi, some of its top leaders are known to have close personal
relations with the junta and business thrives between the two countries.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Top Myanmar Junta Aide to Visit Japan for
Talks
Wed Jul 2, 3:55 AM ET
By George
Nishiyama
TOKYO (Reuters) - A top Myanmar official will visit Japan
soon with a message from the head of the nation's ruling junta as Tokyo keeps up
pressure for the release of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, a Japanese
Foreign Ministry official said on Wednesday.
Japan, one of impoverished
Myanmar's key aid donors, has frozen fresh assistance to the country to protest
the military government's detainment of Suu Kyi, and is considering further
punitive measures unless she is freed.
Japanese media said Khin Maung
Win, a top aide to junta leader Than Shwe, could arrive in Japan as early as
Friday, but the official said the schedule was not yet finalized.
"We
are seeking a swift settlement of the situation and we will demand that when he
comes here," the official said, referring to the detention of Suu Kyi since May
30.
Khin Maung Win will be carrying a letter from Than Shwe, and Tokyo
will look at what the junta leader has to say before deciding on its future
relations with Yangon, the official said.
The message is believed to be
a reply to Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi who sent a letter to
Myanmar's leaders through Tokyo's deputy foreign minister last month.
Japanese media said Khin Maung Win may arrive in Japan as early as
Friday.
The minister's trip to Tokyo -- following a visit to Thailand on
Tuesday and ahead of planned trips to Singapore, Indonesia and India -- is seen
as part of a diplomatic drive by Yangon to counter international criticism of
its detention of Suu Kyi.
KEEPING UP PRESSURE
Japan wants Suu Kyi, 58, and other members of her National
League for Democracy (NLD) to be freed and is calling for her opposition group
to be allowed to engage freely in political activities.
"We are telling
them they have to release Miss Aung San Suu Kyi and the others immediately. If
the situation gets worse then we could consider further measures," Foreign
Ministry spokesman Hatsuhisa Takashima told Reuters on Tuesday.
Japan
stopped large-scale loans and economic assistance to Myanmar after the present
military government took power in 1988.
But Tokyo is still one of its
biggest donors through small-scale humanitarian and other economic assistance
and has provided debt relief worth 11.3 billion yen ($94.7 million) in the past
five years.
Tokyo has long taken a policy of "engagement" toward
Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, which analysts have said stems from feelings
among older Japanese that Japan helped the country win independence from Britain
after World War II.
Some politicians and business leaders who
experienced the war insist that Tokyo support the country, an analyst at a
government-sponsored think tank said.
Diplomatic pressure on Myanmar's
military government to free Suu Kyi has intensified, with the European Union and
the United States considering harsher sanctions.
Britain says Suu Kyi is
being held in the Insein jail on the northern outskirts of Yangon, but the junta
denies this, saying the Nobel peace prize laureate is in "protective custody"
and will be freed soon.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
said on Wednesday that Khin Maung Win had shown him photographs of Suu Kyi
talking to officials in a "safehouse somewhere in Myanmar."
"They
brought the pictures to confirm Suu Kyi was not jailed in Insein," Thaksin told
reporters. "Looking at the pictures, she looks fine. Not sick as reported."
Thaksin said Khin Maung Win told him that Myanmar would try to address
international concerns "as fast as possible," but declined to disclose any
further details of the conversation.
Myanmar's military, which refused
to recognize a landslide 1990 election victory by the NLD, has ruled the country
under various guises since a 1962 coup.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 2, 6:00 PM
UK's Premier Oil clears
obstacle for restructuring
LONDON, July 2 (Reuters) - Britain's Premier Oil Plc said on
Wednesday it had won approval from Myanmar to transfer its interest in the
country's Yetagun gas project to a major shareholder, clearing the way for a
restructuring of the firm.
Under the restructuring, U.S. firm Amerada
Hess and Malaysia's Petronas will give up their 25 percent stakes in Premier in
exchange for some of the UK company's key assets, including its 26.7 percent
stake in the Yetagun project.
Analysts think the two big stakes have
held back Premier's share price, not least because they could deter potential
bids for the British exploration and production company.
Premier had
said in January the restructuring would be done some time in the first quarter,
and then said in March it would be completed early in the second quarter.
The firm said it now expected a UK court hearing to sanction the scheme
to take place on July 9.
"Premier will shortly be fully independent for
the first time in eight years, free to pursue its stated strategy of adding
value to its core areas in West Africa, South and South East Asia and the UK,"
the firm said in a statement.
At 0945 GMT, Premier shares were 1.6
percent higher at 31-1/4 pence.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Wednesday July 2, 6:17 PM
ICA officers foil attempt to
smuggle 4 illegal immigrants out of Singapore
Channel NewsAsia - Four illegal immigrants
- three Thais and one from Myanmar - were hiding in the boot of a car when
Immigration and Checkpoints Authority officers arrested them on Monday.
The three men and one woman were in a Malaysian-registered Proton Waja,
when it was intercepted at Woodlands Checkpoint at about 10.30 pm.
Aged
between 18 and 37, two of the Thais are believed to have entered Singapore
illegally.
The other Thai and Myanmar national are overstayers.
ICA said the four claimed they paid between $500 and $900 to be smuggled
out of Singapore.
Further investigations revealed that the 23-year old
Malaysian driver was promised 100 Malaysian Ringgit for each immigration
offender he drove out of Singapore.
If convicted, the human trafficker
faces a mandatory jail term of up to five years plus three strokes of the cane.
Penalties for overstaying and illegal entry are a jail term of up to six
months plus three strokes of the cane.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Report: Myanmar junta blames Karen rebels for explosions
01:14
Wed
Jul 2, 1:14 PM ET
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - Myanmar's military government has
blamed two explosions in a town last week on ethnic Karen rebels, an official
newspaper said Wednesday.
Authorities said the Karen National Union was
responsible for last Friday's blasts, which damaged a signboard but caused no
injuries, a report in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.
The rebel
group, which has been fighting for autonomy for more than 50 years, could not
immediately be contacted for comment on the allegation.
The first blast
occurred in the afternoon near the entrance to a hall where religious ceremonies
are held. A second blast went off about 10 minutes later a short distance from
the hall, the newspaper said.
``With the intention of disturbing peace
and tranquility of the state and community, KNU insurgents are committing such
terrorist acts as killing innocent people, looting public properties and
planting mines,'' the report said.
The blasts occurred in Toungoo, 280
kilometers (175 miles) north of the capital, Yangon. The town is a busy trading
center along rail and road routes between Yangon and the northern city of
Mandalay.
In May, the junta blamed the KNU for a time bomb that exploded
at a cinema in the town of Pyu, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) south of Toungoo,
killing a school teacher and wounding 47 moviegoers.
The KNU is one of
the few remaining rebel groups in Myanmar, also known as Burma, which has not
signed a cease-fire agreement with the ruling military since it took power in
1988.
The KNU has claimed responsibility for blowing up sections of a
natural gas pipeline in Myanmar on March 29 and April 15 to urge the government
to hold a ``meaningful dialogue.''
--------------------------------------------------------------
ASEAN ministers likely to ditch talks on sharing oil
stockpiles
Wed
Jul 2, 7:10 PM ET
LANGKAWI, Malaysia (AP) - With worries about the Iraq war easing,
Southeast Asian energy ministers are likely to skip planned discussions on
sharing emergency oil stockpiles when they meet this week, an official said
Wednesday.
``The war in Iraq is over,'' said Ong Keng Yong, secretary
general of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations. ``There may not
be a need to discuss this topic anymore.''
Ong was speaking ahead of a
meeting Thursday of energy ministers from the 10 members of the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations in Langkawi, a resort island 450 kilometers (270 miles)
northwest of Kuala Lumpur.
Among other topics, the ministers had been
expected to discuss the possibility of sharing emergency oil stocks, since some
countries were holding low stocks before U.S.-led forces invaded Iraq in March.
The prospect of fighting in Iraq raised fears that supplies from the
Middle East might be curtailed, causing a global oil shortage.
``Singapore has a 90-day stockpile for emergency, but at one time, the
Philippines had only two weeks supply of oil,'' Ong said.
ASEAN also
includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand and Vietnam.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar special envoy to visit Japan, meet Kawaguchi on
Fri.
TOKYO, July 2, Kyodo - A special envoy of the Myanmar junta's top
leader will visit Japan to meet Foreign Minister Yoriko Kawaguchi on Friday and
discuss pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's detention, government sources
said Wednesday.
Khin Maung Win, Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, will
visit as a special envoy of Senior Gen. Than Shwe, who is chairman of Myanmar's
junta, called the State Peace and Development Council.
Japanese Senior
Vice Foreign Minister Tetsuro Yano has personally delivered a letter to the
junta in Yangon from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi addressed to Than Shwe
calling for Suu Kyi's early release.
The envoy is expected to bring a
reply and to ask the Japanese government to continue its official development
assistance to Myanmar, which Japan has decided to suspend if the junta does not
release Suu Kyi, the sources said.
Japan provided Myanmar with about 2
billion yen in grants in fiscal 2002, which ended March 31, but has provided no
assistance to the country so far this fiscal year.
Suu Kyi and some
members of the National League for Democracy (NLD) have been detained since what
the junta says were violent clashes between NLD supporters and pro-junta
demonstrators May 30 in northern Myanmar.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Myanmar envoy shows Thaksin photographs of Suu
Kyi
BANGKOK, July 2, Kyodo - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said
Wednesday a Myanmar envoy showed him photographs of detained pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi who appeared to be in good health.
Khin Maung
Win, Myanmar's deputy foreign minister, made a one-day visit to Thailand on
Tuesday as a special envoy of junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe and met with
Thaksin, the Thai premier said.
''The photographs showed that opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been held in a house provided by the Myanmar
authorities. They reaffirm that she has not been detained in a jail, but in a
safe house,'' Thaksin told reporters.
The photos also showed the
interior of the house and the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize laureate with a healthy
appearance, he added.
''As far as I have seen her (in the photos), she
looked normal, no problem at all. But I cannot say further in detail,'' Thaksin
said.
Asked if the envoy informed him of how soon the junta would
release Suu Kyi, Thaksin said, ''The Myanmar government said they would do their
best because they are aware of concerns expressed by Thailand and ASEAN (the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations).'' Thailand and Myanmar belong to ASEAN.
Suu Kyi and some leading members of the National League for Democracy
(NLD) were detained following what the junta says were violent clashes between
NLD supporters and pro-junta demonstrators in northern Myanmar on May 30.
Khin Maung Win will visit Japan to meet Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko
Kawaguchi on Friday and discuss Suu Kyi's detention, Japanese government sources
said Wednesday. He will visit as a special envoy of Than Shwe, chairman of the
junta, they said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Thailand, UNHCR agree to relocate Myanmar refugees
By
Varunee Torsricharoen
BANGKOK, July 2, Kyodo - The U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) agreed with the Thai government Wednesday to relocate all Myanmar
refugees recognized as ''persons of concern'' to border camps as part of
Thailand's efforts to curb illegal activities allegedly by some of those
refugees and to heighten a security alert in Bangkok.
Jahanshah Assadi,
UNHCR regional representative for Thailand, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, told a
news conference that about 1,500 such persons from Myanmar now living in Bangkok
would have to be transferred to border camps, except for special cases.
Assadi did not elaborate on the definition of such exceptional cases.
Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Sihasak Phuangketkeow said such people
would have their status revoked if they refused to be relocated.
''If
they are to stay in Thailand, they must abide by our law. They should avoid any
activities related to politics or any activities that might affect relations
(between Thailand) and other third countries,'' Sihasak said.
The
tougher policy against the refugees came after police arrested last week 11
exiles from Myanmar who allegedly planned demonstrations in front of the Myanmar
Embassy in Bangkok to demand the release of detained pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi.
A Myanmarese couple were also arrested in Bangkok last week
for alleged drug trafficking. They were found possessing about 35,000
methamphetamine pills.
Thai authorities said that some of those arrested
were persons of concern to the UNHCR.
''Some were and some were not. One
or two (of those arrested) were even rejected by us. So it is a mixed group,''
Assadi said. However, he added that he did not discuss with Thai officials any
individual case of such persons of concern.
UNHCR officers will consult
with Thai authorities at a technical level on the details of the relocation.
About 125,000 displaced Myanmarese now live in camps in Thailand's Mae
Hong Son, Tak, Ratchaburi and Kanchanaburi provinces on the borders between the
two countries.
Assadi said he is pleased with the Thai government's
assurance of adhering to its longstanding policy of treating refugees from
Myanmar on a ''humanitarian'' basis.
''So there is no question of returning
people recognized as refugees or persons of concern to the country of origin,''
Assadi said.
Thailand has had past security problems with Myanmar
refugees living in the kingdom.
At the Myanmar Embassy in October 1999,
Myanmar dissidents took embassy staff and foreigners hostage. The overnight
siege ended with no casualties as Thai authorities agreed to release them at the
border.
Three months after that, nine armed students from Myanmar held
about 900 people hostage at a public hospital in Ratchaburi Province for almost
24 hours. Thai commandos stormed the hospital and killed all nine
hostage-takers.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Washington File
01 July 2003
Senator McConnell Hails Japan's Suspension of Aid to Burma
(McConnell also urges House to pass Burma sanctions bill)
(600)
By Stephen La Rocque
Washington File Staff
Writer
Washington -- The second most powerful Republican in the Senate
hailed a recent decision by the Government of Japan to suspend new development
aid to Burma until the ruling military junta releases democracy activist Aung
San Suu Kyi.
"This is a positive first step, but this is not enough,"
Senate Deputy Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Republican of Kentucky) said in
remarks to the Senate June 27.
"There is much more that needs to be done
here in Congress, and at the White House, by Japan, ASEAN, the European Union,
and by Secretary General Kofi Annan and the United Nations Security Council to
ensure that the thugs now ruling Burma are one day soon consigned to the ash
heap of history," he said.
The senator called on the House of
Representatives to pass the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 as soon as
possible. The Senate approved its version of the bill June 11.
According
to McConnell, the legislation "prohibits the importation of all products from
Burma, freezes the assets of Burma's ruling thugs and their political arm, bans
travel to the United States for the junta's political and military leadership,
and provides assistance for democracy activists inside the
country."
McConnell stressed that the situation in Burma must
change.
Misrule by the military junta in Rangoon has negatively affected
diplomatic efforts in the region, the senator said. He cited the recent visit to
the United States by the Thai Prime Minister, during which the issue of Burmese
atrocities displaced discussions about Thai national security issues. McConnell
also noted that at the June meeting of the ASEAN Regional Forum in Phnom Penh,
"the discussions centered not on fighting HIV/AIDS or improving regional
economic development but on the arrest of Suu Kyi and the murder of National
League for Democracy political activists."
Misrule in Rangoon "distracts
ASEAN from other important issues," he said. The junta in Rangoon "is pulling
down the region, and it is time that its neighbors owned up to their
responsibility in fixing this problem once and for all."
McConnell said
that constructive engagement for Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN) has "done nothing to improve the political, economic, or social
situation" in Burma, where the military junta hold sway.
"The ASEAN
policy of noninterference will not stand," he said.
The senator cautioned
that until countries in the region confront the military junta and demonstrate
"backbone in the face of corrupt despotism, they will find the United States a
less willing negotiating partner."
McConnell said the transfer of power
in Burma from the junta to the democratically elected government that won the
elections in 1990 would "provide peace, stability, and the opportunity for
enhanced regional economic growth."
Burma's transition to a
democratically elected government should be the goal of its neighbors, not
merely the release of and an end to the continued harassment of Nobel Peace
Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters, he said.
The
Kentucky Republican said the junta had put "the final nail into the coffin of
constructive engagement when it signaled its hostility to political dialogue and
national reconciliation on May 30 by arresting Suu Kyi and murdering Burmese
democrats."
"We must encourage Burma's neighbors to use their
considerable influence to make clear to the military regime that they, too, find
the political situation intolerable," McConnell said.
"The path now is
clear: isolate the vile thugs who rule this country," McConnell said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Wednesday 02 July 2003
EDITORIAL - UN agency is pawn in Thaksin's game
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
released a statement yesterday clarifying its role and activities in Thailand
after coming under persistent and growing attack from the prime minister since
the weekend. The first salvo came on Friday when Thaksin Shinawatra accused the
UNHCR of violating Thailand's sovereignty by granting refugee status to foreign
exiles without the government's permission.
A second salvo followed on
Saturday after the agency's local representative came up with a response that
not surprisingly raised eyebrows. The UNHCR, the representative reportedly said,
was empowered by the international community to determine an applicant's refugee
status in countries like Thailand which had not signed the main UN refugee
treaty. It was probably as a result of this that temperatures rose on Monday and
the prime minister threatened to deport Burmese dissidents if they continue to
misbehave. And yesterday Mr Thaksin declared that Thailand's sovereignty was at
stake.
The UNHCR described the recent statements as ``regrettable''. It
said the agency had been identifying refugees with the full consent and
cooperation of the Thai government since 1975. It also welcomed a recent offer
from the government to work more closely, including the issuing of joint
documentation to refugees. The agency, a Nobel Peace Prize winner in 1954 and
again in 1981, emphasised that it only recognises as refugees those with a
well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of race, religion, nationality or
political opinion. It does not, it said, categorise economic migrants as
refugees. The agency also took the occasion to suggest that Thailand accede to
the 1951 UN convention on refugees signed by 144 states.
The Foreign
Ministry says the UNHCR has issued some 1,400 documents to Burmese it regards as
``persons of concern'' _ refugees, in other words. This figure could not be
confirmed but at least some papers are likely to have been forged in this
capital infamous for counterfeits.
The hullabaloo in Bangkok cannot be
seen in isolation from the Burmese state media's attacks in recent days on
alleged interference by Rangoon-based western diplomats in Burma's internal
affairs. Western countries have led the call for the release of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi from detention. Prime Minister Thaksin, in a dramatic
departure from his normal pro-junta stand, joined this chorus before he left for
a working visit to Washington two weeks ago. He subsequently came under
criticism from Thai academics for urging her release as part of a joint
statement with US President George Bush. And back in Bangkok, he is sending
confusing signals, on the one hand insisting on the release of Ms Suu Kyi, on
the other heaping pressure on exiled Burmese dissidents.
His objective is
clear: to encourage national reconciliation in Burma so that Thailand will be
relieved of the practical problems of looking after refugees and dealing with
their health problems. If this is hardly humane, the thinking among a large
number of Thai officials contends that the same is true of the international
community, which is less and less attentive to the 120,000-plus displaced
Burmese in border camps.
As for the prime minister's offensive on the UN
refugee agency, it has helped to take the Thai-Malaysian gas pipeline off the
newspaper front pages. It is also another foray in his war of words with the UN
this year. In February, the UN was not ``my father'' for daring to show concern
over the extra-judicial killings committed as part of the war on drugs. In late
May, the UN envoy for human rights defenders, who had spoken of a ``climate of
fear'' here, was reminded that Thailand, unlike her native Pakistan, did not
depend on the UN for food aid.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post - Wednesday 02 July 2003
Junta defies world opinion
Aung San Suu Kyi has spent a
month in `protective custody', a euphemism in Burma for political detention _ in
Suu Kyi's case in the infamous Insein prison. The civilised world is outraged,
Burma recalcitrant.
LARRY JAGAN
Burma's
military rulers have not budged despite the rising international outcry over
Aung San Suu Kyi's continued detention. The opposition leader remains in what
the government prefers to call ``protective custody'' with little chance of
being released in the near future.
Ms Suu Kyi is being held under the
1975 anti-subversion law (10a), which allows the junta to hold the opposition
leader incommunicado for a minimum of 60 days without charging her. She can be
held in this way for up to five years.
Since his visit to Rangoon three
weeks ago, Razali Ismail, United Nations special envoy on Burma, has told the
generals repeatedly that the conditions of Ms Suu Kyi's detention are
inconsistent with their claim that it is protective custody.
``The
government should clarify the situation by releasing Aung San Suu Kyi who, in
the view of the UN, does not pose a threat to the stability and security of the
country, but rather can contribute significantly to it,'' Mr Razali told the
Bangkok Post, recently. The UN envoy has continued to urge the junta to release
Ms Suu Kyi immediately.
International outrage has been fueled by
revelations that the opposition leader is being held in the country's notorious
Insein prison on the outskirts of Rangoon. The government has insisted in recent
days that Ms Suu Kyi is not being held in Insein _ that is what the Home
Minister Tin Hlaing told the British ambassador last week, days after the
military intelligence chief General Khin Nyunt told the same to visiting
Japanese deputy foreign minister, Tetsuro Yano.
This has angered Mr
Razali, who had promised the generals not to reveal where he had met Ms Suu Kyi
on June 10. So incensed was he that he told Japanese Foreign Minister Yoriko
Kawaguchi privately in Tokyo that he had visited the opposition leader in a
small hut in Insein.
``What I can say is that where I met her was
absolutely deplorable,'' he told journalists later. ``It was not in keeping with
the stature or status of Aung San Suu Kyi as a political leader or as a national
leader.''
Ms Suu Kyi has since been moved. ``The authorities have told us
that she has been moved to more suitable accommodation,'' said a UN official in
New York. Diplomats in Rangoon believe this may only mean she has been
transferred to a guesthouse in the Insein compound.
But the issue really
is not where she is being held but the conditions of her detention, which is,
for all intents and purposes, solitary confinement. She is being refused access
to all reading matter and writing materials, and she has been denied access to
her lawyer and visits by family or friends.
The UN envoy is the only
visitor she has had in the past month. This contravenes all basic standards of
international human rights and even runs counter to Burmese law.
On the
face of it, the junta has stiffened its resolve to hold Ms Suu Kyi irrespective
of the enormous international rage it has provoked. In the last few days, the
state-run newspapers have been running articles and editorials condemning
western diplomats' interference in the internal politics of Burma.
The
junta also ignored the informal Japanese demand that the opposition leader be
released by the end of June.
But the the generals will find it harder to
reject the Asean foreign ministers' request that Ms Suu Kyi be released within a
month of their summit in Phnom Penh in mid-June. That would mean she may be free
in the next two weeks.
The UN envoy told his Burmese hosts three weeks
ago _ after seeing Ms Suu Kyi in Insein _ that she must be freed, and that the
longer they keep her in detention the greater the problems the generals will
create for themselves.
Now Asean has joined the envoy in telling the
military junta that releasing Ms Suu Kyi will not be enough. They must restart
talks with the opposition.
There are clear signs that Burma's top
military leaders are aware that they can no longer ignore the opposition leader
and must resume the national reconciliation process.
``There seems to be
an intense struggle at the very top of the SPDC [State Peace and Development
Council] over what to do about Aung San Suu Kyi _ between the hard-liners who
want to ignore her completely and the softer-liners who are prepared to
accommodate her,'' a senior western diplomat in Rangoon said. ``But the result
is unlikely to be the victory of one side over the other. They are much more
likely to settle on a compromise solution.''
The current crisis in the
dialogue process as a result of Ms Suu Kyi's detention may in fact force the
junta to take crucial steps that it was previously reluctant to make. Government
officials have been hinting for some time that the National Convention, the body
of hand-picked representatives that have been trying to draw up a new
constitution for more than 10 years, will resume its constitutional
deliberations.
Last November, during his trip to Burma, Mr Razali urged
all sides _ Ms Suu Kyi, the military and the ethnic minorities _ to consider
reconvening a restructured National Convention as a means of getting the parties
in the national reconciliation process to start talking to each
other.
That would necessitate major reform as Ms Suu Kyi's party, the
National League for Democracy, walked out of the Convention more than six years
ago because it was unrepresentative and the government refused to accept
critical or alternative views. It has not really functioned since then. But if
the junta does reconvene the National Convention, it will signal the generals'
preparedness to restart a political process of sorts.
The senior generals
are currently discussing taking off their uniforms and becoming a civilian
administration, according to military sources in Rangoon. ``Senior General Than
Shwe could easily be U Than Shwe by the end of the year,'' one source in Rangoon
said.
This is exactly what General Ne Win did nearly 30 years ago, when
he introduced the 1974 constitution. Ne Win was Gen Than Shwe's political and
military mentor, so it would make sense for the extremely conservative and
xenophobic senior general to borrow from the old man's strategy.
It is
also the approach adopted by General Suharto in Indonesia and currently by
Pakistan's leader General Pervez Musharraf. Burma's generals know that Indonesia
and, to a lesser lesser degree, Pakistan were accepted internationally as a
result.
But in Burma's case, the international community will not accept
any political solution that does not include Ms Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy
parties and the ethnic minorities.
--------------------------------------------------------------
The Nation
BURMA REFUGEES: UNHCR says
it discloses all exiles
Published on Jul 2, 2003
The
UN High Commission for Refugees yesterday denied government claims that it has
granted refugee status to Burmese exiles on Thai territory without informing the
authorities.
The UN refugee agency has shared lists of names and other
relevant information on the refugees with all authorities concerned - the
National Security Council, the Interior Ministry and the Immigration Department
- every month, it said in a statement.
"The latest list was shared with
the government on June 13, 2003. Statements to the contrary are therefore not
accurate," it said.
Thai authorities have criticised the UNHCR for
issuing "person of concern" status to displaced foreigners in Thailand, citing
security concerns. They claim they have never been informed of their exact
number and whereabouts.
The Foreign Ministry said it would seek
"restructuring" on the issue when its officials meet with UN representatives
today.
The UNHCR statement also explained that recognition of refugee
status by the agency is implemented in countries that are not signatories to the
1951 UN Convention on Refugees or do not have related domestic legislation.
"Such activities can only be carried out with the consent and
cooperation of the host state. UNHCR has carried out its work in Thailand with
the full consent and cooperation of the government since 1975," the statement
said.
It insisted that Commission decisions to recognise someone as a
refugee were not legally binding upon states and the agency was not a
supranational organisation. The granting of asylum remained the authority of
sovereignty of a nation.
Only a small number of Burmese nationals in
Bangkok had applied for UN protection and assistance and an even smaller number
of them were granted this status and issued with certificates.
The
number of Burmese in Thailand is still unknown. Many escaped to Thailand during
the Burmese government's brutal suppression of demonstrators in 1988.
UNHCR cardholders were involved in the hostage-taking at the Burmese
Embassy in Bangkok in 1999 and at Ratchaburi hospital in early 2000.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said Thai authorities had not paid
enough attention to the UN's granting of refugee status, and this had allowed
disorder to arise.
Some people whom the UN granted refugee status to
were on the Thai authorities' watchlist, he said, without elaboration.
"This is not acceptable and needs restructuring to guarantee security
and the sovereignty of the country. Holders of the status should be limited in
their travel and residence, otherwise Thai authorities do not have control," he
said.
Thaksin said Thailand should have the last word in any dispute
with the UNHCR over the granting of refugee status to displaced Burmese persons.
"In cases when Thailand and the UNHCR cannot agree, the UN agency should
abide by Thailand's demands as Thailand is a sovereign state and we do not have
to comply with whatever they want," he told reporters.
"All the generous
western countries can accept these people instead. It's not fair that Thailand,
which is not a rich country, should have to shoulder the burden," he said.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Toronto Star
Jul. 2, 2003. 01:00
AM
The Lady is still in jail in
Burma
GWYNNE DYER
"The military
regime is very worried that they are facing a Cory Aquino-type of people-power
movement, and basically, they've panicked," explained a foreign diplomat in
Rangoon shortly after a mob of government-sponsored thugs attacked Aung San Suu
Kyi's motorcade at Dipeyin, northeast of Mandalay, on May 30.
Around 70
of her supporters were killed, she was beaten up ? and she and 19 members of the
National League for Democracy who were travelling with her were taken into
temporary "protective custody."
A month later, the "Lady" ? as everyone
in Burma calls her ? is still in Insein prison in Rangoon.
She has been
under some form of restraint, mostly house arrest, for almost all of the past 13
years, as her children grew up without her and her husband died without even
being allowed a farewell visit to Burma. But it has never been as bad as this.
The military regime has realized that all its wealth and power are on
the line right now, and the gloves have come off.
But alone in her cell,
still wearing the same blouse and skirt she was arrested in a month ago, she
remains the most influential person in Burma. The generals have the guns and the
money, but she has the legitimacy.
She has earned it by her patience and
self-sacrifice ? but also through the regime's blunder 13 years ago in allowing
free elections in Burma. The generals calculated that they could bribe or bully
a majority of Burma's 45 million people into voting for their candidates.
But when the counting was over in 1990, Suu Kyi and the NLD had won by a
landslide: 82 per cent of the votes.
The army immediately "cancelled"
the results and arrested all of the NLD's leaders; it never got over the effects
of that mistake. And now it has made the same mistake again.
The
confrontation between Suu Kyi and the generals began 15 years ago, when the
original tyrant, the half-crazed Ne Win, precipitated a crisis by resigning
after more than two decades in power.
His bizarre and isolationist
version of socialism had reduced the once-prosperous country to penury, and his
aim was to transfer formal power to a more respectable elected government while
retaining real control. But Aung San Suu Kyi happened to be in Burma in 1988,
home from her quiet life as an academic and mother in England to nurse her dying
mother.
She had lived most of her life abroad, the inevitable
consequence of being the only daughter of Burma's great independence hero Aung
San, who was assassinated when she was only 2.
But in 1988 South-East
Asia was in political ferment. The example of the non-violent democratic
revolution led by Aquino in the Philippines in 1986 had already spread to
Thailand and Bangladesh, toppling long-ruling military regimes, and now
threatened the control of the Burmese military as well.
Suu Kyi's name
made her invaluable to the pro-democracy campaigners and she quickly became the
symbol of the whole movement.
After three months the generals, realizing
that events were spinning out of control, took back power and authorized the
massacre of thousands of students and other citizens in the streets of Rangoon.
Then in 1990 the regime held a carefully stage-managed "election" to gain some
international respectability ? but the NLD won by a landslide, the regime
refused to recognize its victory, and Burma has been in deadlock ever since.
Last year a new generation of generals tried to square the circle again:
They released Suu Kyi from house arrest in the hope that they could end all the
foreign boycotts and rejoin the world without actually giving up power.
The NLD tiptoed through the first months after her release, anxious not
to derail the process of democratization by too much open campaigning, but as it
became clear that the generals were just looking for political cover it changed
its style.
In the last six months Suu Kyi had been making open
anti-regime speeches up and down the country, and every month the crowds have
grown bigger. The regime had to stop her or it was toast, so a month ago the
thugs were unleashed to stage a massacre that would provide a pretext for the
Lady's arrest.
That has stopped the protests for the moment, but the
regime is back where it was, loathed by foreigners and Burmese alike.
How long can it hold out against the united disapproval of practically
everyone? Quite a long time, if the past is any guide ? and one should not
expect a split between the top generals over this bungle.
They know that
they must hang together or else they will hang separately (probably literally,
in some cases, for some of them have much Burmese blood on their hands).
Aung San Suu Kyi will need all of her patience.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Taipei Times
Businessman admonishes
MOFA
A PLEA: A DPP legislator and a Taiwanese entrepreneur who lives
in Myanmar called on the government to use its ties with the business community
to improve diplomatic ties
By Fiona Lu, STAFF
REPORTER
Wednesday, Jul 02, 2003,Page 3
A
lawmaker yesterday said that the government should employ the power of overseas
Taiwanese business people to break through diplomatic difficulties.
"The
government should realize that overseas Taiwanese businessmen could be a great
force in helping Taiwan advance diplomatically," said DPP Legislator Chang
Ching-fang.
Chang said that the civilians could work in support of
foreign missions to increase non-governmental exchanges.
"Using ties
with the business community to enhance the government's diplomatic plans should
be an immediate priority," Chang said.
Chang made his remark in a press
conference when he accompanied a Taiwanese businessman stationed in Myanmar who
pointed out that Taiwan-Myanmar exchanges need to be improved.
Lin
Chuan-lian, a Taiwanese businessman based in Yangon, said that 500 Taiwanese
nationals running businesses there had been unable to get protection from
Taiwan's de facto diplomatic office in Myanmar.
When Taiwanese nationals
face problems in the Southeast Asian country, they are often forced, because of
a lack of diplomatic relations between Taiwan and Myanmar, to seek help from the
Chinese embassy, Lin said.
He also complained that the government had
missed a chance to improve bilateral ties with Yangon.
"The Ministry of
Foreign Affairs failed to catch the opportunity last December when I conveyed a
message from authorities of Myanmar that the two countries should work to
further advance diplomatic exchanges," Lin said.
The ministry however
has ignored this opportunity for the past seven months, and bilateral ties have
suffered as a result, Lin said.
Lin said he would strive to improve
Taiwan-Myanmar relations and urged the government to work toward the same goal.
"The diplomatic standstill has forced many Taiwanese businessmen to
succumb to protection offered by Chinese authorities when the businessmen get
into trouble there. This is a tragedy for overseas Taiwanese," Lin said.
Lin said he hoped the government will intensify official contact with
Yangon and improve safeguards for Taiwanese nationals in Myanmar.
The
lawmaker also said that the government should reconsider whether Taiwan's de
facto office in Bangkok will be allowed to process visa applications filed from
Myanmar.
"The policy, which came into effect at the beginning of this
year, has increased the financial burden on most of the 3 million overseas
Chinese and Taiwanese business people in Myanmar because of their travel
expenses to Thailand when submitting a visa application," Chang said.
Travel expenses are burdensome to many overseas Chinese in Myanmar.
These people are confronting poverty and a number of them want to send their
offspring to Taiwan for an education but they have to spend more money to apply
for a visa, he said.
Chang urged the government to map out a plan for
solidifying ties with Myanmar while Lin said the Myanmar government was still
open to improving relations with Taiwan.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Spokesman Richard Shih said the ministry appreciated the "passion" of Taiwanese
individuals intending to boost ties between Taiwan and countries that do not
recognize Taiwan diplomatically.
But he declined to comment on bilateral
ties between Taiwan and Myanmar, saying it's the ministry's duty to expand
relations with countries that do not recognize Taiwan.
"Before these
ties improve, we are unable to reveal any details," Shih said.
According
to Shih, some 3 million ethnic Chinese and Taiwanese business representatives
live in Myanmar. He said the government would try to provide them with fast and
convenient consular services in the future.
--------------------------------------------------------------
Bombs blast in central Myanmar
Xinhuanet
2003-07-02 11:29
YANGON, July 2 (Xinhuanet) -- Two bombs went off in Toungoo,
Myanmar's Bago division, about 200 kilometers north of Yangon, last Friday, a
state-run newspaper reported Wednesday.
The first bomb exploded at a
block of concrete stone across thedrain to the entrance to a religious
institution building on June 27 at about 3 p.m. (local time), while the second
blasted 10 minutes later at a signboard, about 45 meters from the building, the
New Light of Myanmar said.
There were no casualties in the blasts except
some damages to the stone block and the signboard, it added.
The
government held the Kayin National Union (KNU), the largestanti-government
ethnic armed organization in the country, responsible for the bomb attacks which
followed the blast of a time-bomb, allegedly planted by the KNU, at a
private-owned cinemahall in Phyu, a town in the same division, in May with one
woman being killed and 47 others injured.
The government said during the
April-May period this year, the KNU committed destructive acts in the
southeastern Kayin state andsouthern Tanintharyi division for eight times
including mines planting, shooting, looting and arson, killing eight people and
injuring 25.
Since 1989, 17 anti-government armed groups have made peace
with the government. It is reported that there are over 10 such groups still in
operation in the country including the Chin National Army, the Arakan Liberation
Front, the Shan United Revolutionary Army and the Lahu Democratic Front in
addition to the KNU.