EBO Burma News, 13 June 2003

News Summary:

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1. Powell to press reluctant ASEAN to confront Myanmar, backs new sanctions

2. CLC and ICEM Call on Ivanhoe Mines to Withdraw from Burma

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Powell to press reluctant ASEAN to confront Myanmar, backs new sanctions

by Matthew Lee

WASHINGTON, June 12 (AFP) - US Secretary of State Colin Powell said

Thursday he would push reluctant Southeast Asian nations to confront Myanmar's

military rulers and demand democratic reforms when he attends a regional

security meeting next week in Cambodia.

In the latest of a series of stinging, invective-filled US condemnations of

the junta over the continued detention of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi,

Powell also backed a congressional move to impose trade and other sanctions

against Yangon.

"By attacking Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters, the Burmese junta has

finally and definitively rejected the efforts of the outside world to bring

Burma back into the international community," he said.

Powell's comments, published as a commentary in the Wall Street Journal,

come as he prepares to attend the Association of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN) Regional Forum on June 18 in Phnom Penh.

ASEAN, primarily an economic grouping to which Myanmar belongs, has

traditionally shied away from what it believes are the internal affairs of its

members but Powell said he would push the association for action in this case.

"I will press the case in Cambodia next week when I meet with the leaders

of Southeast Asia, despite their traditional reticence to confront a member

and neighbor of their association," he said.

Washington has already scored some success in that regard by convincing

visiting Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra -- whose country is also an

ASEAN member -- to join President George W. Bush on Tuesday in calling for

Aung San Suu Kyi's release.

Yangon responded on Thursday by insisting in statement that it was

committed to democracy and would "work together with all the political forces

in its effort for national reconciliation and democratization."

Powell was unmoved and said the junta -- known as the State Peace and

Development Council (SPCD) -- was backtracking on vows made to UN special

envoy Razali Ismail to engage in dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and the

opposition.

"The larger process that Ambassador Razali and Aung San Suu Kyi have been

pursuing -- to restore democracy in Burma -- is failing despite their good

will and sincere efforts," he wrote.

"Despite initial statements last year, the junta ... has now refused his

(Razali's) efforts and betrayed its own promises," Powell said.

Although he did not elaborate on what, if any, specific steps he would ask

ASEAN members to take against Myanmar, but said the United States had already

decided on further punishing Yangon for its latest crackdown on the opposition.

The (SPDC) -- is already subject to myriad US sanctions, but Powell said

President George W. Bush now thought it time to expand them to reflect the

deterioration in the situation.

"The Bush administration agrees with members of Congress ... that the time

has come to turn up the pressure on the SPDC," he wrote in a commentary

published in the Wall Street Journal.

On Wednesday, the US Senate overwhelmingly passed legislation to ban the

import of goods made in Myanmar and freeze the SPCD's assets in the US in

protest to a recent crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for

Democracy.

In addition, the law, which now must be passed by the House of

Representatives and then signed by Bush would also ban remittances being sent

back to Myanmar and limit the amount of money US citizens may spend there.

Since May 30, when Aung San Suu Kyi was taken into "protective custody" by

the junta following a melee around her convoy in the north of the country, the

United States has steadily and deliberately ramped up its rhetoric against the

SPCD.

Powell repeated the State Department's June 5 assessment of the incident in

which it was described as a "premeditated ambush by government-affiliated

thugs" and renewed the US charge that Yangon's explanation lacked credibility.

He said the junta's position was plain and appealed to the international

community to join together to send a convincing message to Myanmar.

"Our response must be equally clear if the thugs who now rule Burma are to

understand that their failure to restore democracy will only bring more and

more pressure against them and their supporters," Powell said.

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CLC and ICEM Call on Ivanhoe Mines to Withdraw from Burma

OTTAWA and WASHINGTON, D.C., June 12 /CNW/ - As the Canadian-based

Ivanhoe Mines Ltd. (TSE:IVN) holds its annual shareholders meeting today in

Vancouver, the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC) and the International Federation

of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers Union (ICEM) have urged the

company to end its joint venture with the brutal Burmese military

dictatorship.

The Burmese military regime is responsible for very serious human rights

violations, including massacres, torture, use of rape as a weapon of war, and

ethnic cleansing. Millions have been forced into modern day slavery through

the military's widespread and systemic use of forced labour. Responding to

appeals by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Aung San Suu Kyi and pro-democracy and

human rights advocates worldwide, many multinational companies have

disinvested from Burma, including Premier Oil, Triumph International, Texaco,

Arco, PepsiCo, Eastman Kodak, Motorola, and Best Western.

Going against this international business trend, Ivanhoe plans to

increase its involvement with this brutal regime-- in addition to its joint

venture copper mine at Monywa, the company is planning the Letpadaung

extension project and a new gold mine at Moditaung. The Monywa Copper mine

represents the largest ongoing Burmese investment of a Canadian-based

corporation.

Ken Georgetti, President of the Canadian Labour Congress, says Canadians

care deeply about human rights and will not tolerate having their county's

reputation soiled by the greed of a few corporations.

"Events in Burma in recent weeks are impossible to ignore. They cannot be

glossed over by the public relations spin of companies like Ivanhoe or

additional noises of concern from the Canadian government. To do so requires a

moral blind spot to large to live with," he said.

According to Georgetti, the shameful reality that Canada now stands as

one of Burma's largest investors -- and as a result one of that brutal

dictatorship's largest sponsors -- is unacceptable to Canadians and he

predicts strong public support if the government were to react with full and

effective economic sanctions.

The joint call of the two labour federations is part of a global

initiative of trade unions to restore democracy and respect for human rights

in Burma. Union members are joining together with Burmese refugees, religious

and human rights activists in a demonstration today outside of Ivanhoe's

shareholders meeting in Vancouver.

"Ivanhoe management should recognize that its continued investment in

Burma is propping up a heinous military dictatorship," said Kenneth Zinn, ICEM

North American Regional Coordinator.

"The recent abduction on May 30 of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San

Suu Kyi not far from the Monywa mine and the nationwide crackdown on the pro-

democracy movement provides ample evidence that this dictatorship is not

serious about reform," said Zinn.

"It is well past time for Ivanhoe to disinvest from Burma."

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