EBO Burma News, 14 March 2003
News Summary:
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1. Euro MPs demand revival of peace
talks in
2. Deputy PM says Wa drug lord put bounty on Thaksin's
head
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Euro MPs demand revival of peace talks in Myanmar
military
government of
San Suu Kyi.
"MEPs urge the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) to revive the
process of dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi in order to resolve the severe
problems
joint resolution.
Peace negotiations between the SPDC, the military junta's formal name, and
the Nobel Peace Prize-winning opposition leader have long been stalled.
The European Parliament's resolution took note of
hampered by both international sanctions and gross mismanagement. There has
seen a rush on the country's private banks in recent weeks.
The resolution also called for the immediate release of all political
prisoners, including Shan Nationalities' League for Democracy
Secretary-General Sai Nyunt Lwin.
The MEPs further demanded an end to forced labour, with unrestricted access
to
all parts of
"The House strongly urges the SPDC to stop the systematic use of rape
against ethnic women as a weapon of repression...," the resolution added.
It pressed the European Commission, the EU's executive arm, "to ensure that
support for humanitarian aid is done without political interference by the
military, and that international NGOs (non-governmental organisations) are
involved".
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Deputy PM says Wa drug lord put bounty on Thaksin's
head
ponied up nearly two million dollars to have
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin
Shinawatra killed, one of Thaksin's
deputies said Friday.
Deputy Prime Minister Chavalit
Yongchaiyudh said there was "reliable"
intelligence that Bao Youxiang, commander of the United Wa
State Army (UWSA)
aligned with
recently.
"I have obtained a report which is
likely reliable and confirmed," Chavalit
told reporters at Government House.
"Everybody knows these (drug) gangs
have influence and money and are ready
to spend that money to get rid of anyone who
hampers their ways," he said.
Chavalit was responding to queries about a report
in Thai-language
newspaper Matichon, which
cited a police report as saying the UWSA's Bao
Youxiang and Wei Hsueh-kang, a Chinese Wa with
Thai citizenship who fled to
war on drugs.
The billionaire premier himself has said
drug gang members put the price on
his head at 80 million baht (1.87 million
dollars) after his administration
declared a brutal war on drugs that has seen
trafficking slow to a trickle
since the campaign was launched February 1.
The government has dismissed opposition
claims that the bounty was
fabricated or a diversionary tactic to draw
attention away from the alarming
toll of nearly 1,500 drug-related deaths since
the crackdown began.
Chavalit, the deputy premier responsible for
security, said drug kingpins
posted the brazen bounty out of frustration that
the drugs war was leading to
severe losses in their trade.
The UWSA, reportedly described by
narcotics producer, is believed to be the region's
largest producer and
supplier of methamphetamines.
The UWSA was particularly suspect because
of its wide network of operation
along the Myanmar-Thailand border. Thai
narcotics officials blame the outfit
for producing hundreds of millions of
methamphetamine tablets sold in
last year.
Thaksin's security detail has been beefed up
considerably, with the leader
traveling in a bullet-proof van and sniffer dogs searching Government House
for explosives.
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