EBO Burma News, 21 May 2003
News Summary:
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1.
2. Stockholders Press Unocal on
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Myanmar government, Aung San Suu
Kyi may hold talks within weeks: Thai FM
Aung San Suu Kyi may hold a long-awaited
political dialogue within "the next
few weeks",
Tuesday.
Surakiart met with Secretary One of the ruling
State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) General Khin Nyunt, the
military regime's number three, earlier
this week following a ground-laying ceremony
for the construction of a second
bridge linking the two countries.
The two discussed the issue of national
reconciliation talks in
Surakiart told reporters at the Foreign
Correspondents' Club of Thailand.
"I guess I can inform you also that I
was very encouraged by the talks
because I have been informed that within only the
next few weeks, there will
be another political dialogue between the
leadership of the SPDC and Aung San
Suu Kyi," he said.
The talks were widely expected to progress
to a political dialogue
following Aung San Suu Kyi's
release from 19 months of house arrest in May
2002, but last month the leader complained
publicly about their lack of
movement.
"We have been forced to question the
integrity of the SPDC and their
sincerity in achieving national
reconciliation," she said.
U Lwin,
spokesman of Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy
(NLD), told AFP
Wednesday that he had not heard of any new developments.
"There has been no discussion of
meeting since October 2002, that I can say
definitely," he said.
An ambassador based in the region said Surakiart's comments were a
departure from other signs of how the talks were
progressing.
"If this is true, it's very good news
because recently there have been many
indications that the SPDC was not ready to initiate
substantive discussions
with Aung San Suu Kyi," he said.
The UN secretary general's special envoy Razali Ismail, who is credited
with brokering the talks, is due to make his
10th visit to
to 10 to resume his task of helping to
revive the dialogue.
After Razali's
last visit in November 2002, he expressed frustration with
the absence of progress in
Analysts believe his next visit will be a
make-or-break attempt to move the
process along, with some optimistic of positive
developments.
"Apart from the release of already-listed
political prisoners, Razali will
likely go back home with something more
significant this time," a government
official told AFP.
Several hundred political prisoners have
been released by the junta as part
of the reconciliation process, but human
rights groups say around 1,200 remain
in jail.
Razali himself reportedly said he believed
national reconciliation was
possible.
"I think the job can still be done
and it is possible to bring about
national reconciliation in
saying by
He said the UN and he had been discussing
ways to deal with the deadlock.
"We've come up with something by
formulating new ideas and new approaches,"
he said, adding that he would also seek help
from regional players, especially
the original ASEAN member countries, and
and Japan in his reconciliation efforts.
"In the context of ASEAN, we must
begin to impose the norms and principles
that govern ASEAN countries. Otherwise, we
will not be reflecting regionally
what are the principles that govern us as a
region," he said.
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Stockholders Press Unocal on
By Elizabeth Douglass
A group of major pension funds Monday
called on Unocal Corp. to reconsider
its role in a controversial pipeline project
in
concerned that the El Segundo-based company's
involvement there was a
financial liability and a drag on the stock price.
The group, led by New York State
Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi and joined by
a letter to Unocal management about the
company's annual shareholders meeting Monday in
In all, representatives from 10 investment
funds owning more than 4.5
million Unocal shares, or 1.6% of the stock,
signed the letter and
requested a meeting on the matter with Charles
Williamson, Unocal's
chairman and chief executive. The 10 funds include
the California Public
Employees' Retirement System and the
System.
Unocal's role in
controversy for years. But until recently, the most
vocal objections have
come from a determined band of human rights
groups and
who have held protests outside the company's
shareholders meeting for
several years running.
A wide range of organizations, from the
International Labor Organization
to the
rights abuses and using slave labor. Through it all, Unocal has maintained
that its investment in local schools and
hospitals has benefited villagers
— and its
commitment to the pipeline project has not wavered.
"We have no intention of leaving
doing there," Williamson told shareholders
Monday.
In its letter to Williamson, parts of
which were read at the meeting
Monday, the investor group said: "We
fear that Unocal's involvement in
regime, has contributed to the stock's decline
in value and could further
depress the stock price due to the political and
legal risks associated
with the joint venture."
In particular, the group cited Unocal's
possible financial liability in
several pending cases accusing the company of
looking the other way as
soldiers protecting a gas pipeline project
allegedly dragooned residents
into forced labor
and committed other human rights violations, including
murder and rape.
Much of the discussion Monday centered on the
shareholders also voted down shareholder proposals
that would have split
the chairman and CEO posts and would have
supported hiring an investment
banking firm to consider putting the company up
for sale.
Unocal's stock price fell 29 cents to
$28.81 Monday in New York Stock
Exchange trading.
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