========================
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* Ethnic meeting urges ceasefire groups to stick to
their guns,
* Military officers take party line on constitution
draft to the
public,
* Alternative charter guidelines proposed
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Ethnic meeting urges ceasefire groups to stick to
their guns
============================================================
Shan Herald Agency for News.
A three-day strategic consultation meeting, held by
ethnic alliance at an unidentified
venue along the Thai-Burma border,
has called on ceasefire groups
participating in the military-organized
National Convention to hold fast to their federal proposals
presented
at its last session.
"We earnestly hope members of the ceasefire groups
that, by force of
circumstance, have been attending
the SPDC (State Peace and
Development Council) National Convention will continue to
stand firmly
by their original position on
Democracy and Genuine Federalism," reads
the statement issued in Burmese by
the Ethnic Nationalities Council
yesterday (Saturday, Oct. 30).
Sixteen armed groups that had concluded truce pacts with
during the May17-July 9 session of
the National Convention, had
demanded a reorganization of
The proposal received an on the sidelines rejection from the
generals
but hearty praise from UN Secretary
General Kofi Annan.
Other resolutions include:
the UN Security Council's agenda.
Opposition-Ethnic Nationalities) dialogue.
attended by 40 representatives from
two umbrella organizations: the
National Democratic Front and United Nationalities League
for
Democracy , and other groups: the
Karenni National Progressive Party,
Restoration Council of
Arakan National Council, Political
Affairs Committee of Chinland and
Shan Women's Action Network , was
the overwhelming need for all armed
organizations, under prevailing
circumstances, to be on full military
alert and readiness.
A state of emergency has reportedly been issued by
arrest and subsequent dismissal of
Gen. Khin Nyunt as prime minister
Oct. 18.
The ENC was formed on March 14 with the establishment of a
Democratic
Federal Union as its ultimate goal. Among its tasks are support for
Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic alliance inside
ethnic nationalities forces and
their democratic alliances and the
creation of an International Forum
on
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Military officers take party line on constitution
draft to the public
=====================================================================
Independent Mon News Agency
Army officers from the Southeast Command Military Training
Battalion
No. 4 have been talking to people regarding the military
government’s
party line on the constitution in
public shops and while meeting
people.
“The military officers in Southern Mon state treated the
people with
good relations as they wanted to
talk to them to explain that their
top leaders are drawing up a
constitution which international people
would accept, in tea shops, on trips
and while meeting people,” Nai
Jorn, an IMNA source, reported.
“There were no such positive actions by the army officers
before, and
many officers said the same things
to people,” he added.
However, every parliamentary representative is not to be
elected by
the people; some representatives
are appointed by the top military
leaders, Southeast Command
commander Major General Thura Myit
Aung
explained to Union of Solidarity
and Development Association (USDA)
members from southern
In the parliament, 25% of the 440 representatives must be
from the
army, and the country is to be
ruled by the president, according to
his explanation.
Fifty-six percent of the the 224
representatives in ethnic state
parliaments are military people and
that was also drafted by the
military government.
“If we use a democratic system, every representative in
parliament
must be elected by the people.
Nobody can appoint or handpick them,”
said Nai Sunthorn, a member of the Mon state drafting committee.
“In my experience, there are very few military
representatives in the
senates of democratic countries,
and some countries haves no military
representatives,” Nai Sunthorn added.
Mon State Township USDA authorities also explain the drafted
constitution to people when they
meet them, the IMNA source reported.
Many USDA members, handpicked as representatives, attended
the
National Convention and supported the draft constitution, an
ethnic
representative handpicked by the
army wrote to IMNA.
According to his letter, about 1% of representatives
attending the NC
understood about the constitution
and most of them were not interested
in politics.
Like USDA members and army officers, the police also take
the party
line while talking to people in
public.
Since the military sacked the Military Intelligence, the
army is more
polite while communicating with
people, Nai Jorn reported.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Alternative charter guidelines proposed
=======================================
October 31
Shan Herald Agency for News
Exiled opposition representatives have reached a preliminary
agreement
on key guidelines for the
constitution of future
report submitted and discussed at
the Ethnic Nationalities Council
Strategic Consultation Meeting held on the Thai-Burma border
Oct. 28-
30.
The six-point "Basic Principles for a Future Federal
Constitution"
agreed by representatives from the
National Council of the
Women's League of Burma (WLB) on Sept. 10-11 and Oct. 22-23 are as
follows:
including gender rights.
politics, administration, economy
and culture.
member state.
"It is the product of painstaking examination of past
and present
legal and authoritative
documents," said Khun Manko
Ban, MP (Member of
Parliament) of
principal authors of the draft.
The said instruments include the Panglong
Agreement, Aung San's 7-
point constitutional directives,
the 1947 union constitution, the 1990
NLD-UNLD joint declaration and the CRPP (Committee
Representing
People's Parliament) stand on the issue of Nationalities and
the
Future of the
The 'Basic Principles' are the result of a brainstorming
seminar in
Chiangmai organized by the Danish
Burma Committee May 23-28, according
to Dr. Lian
Hmung Sakhong, general
secretary of the Ethnic
Nationalities Council and a participant in
the meetings.
Two more enlarged meetings are expected to be held later in
the year
before adoption of the principles,
which the opposition trusts will
serve as a substitute to the
military government's declared Six
Objectives, particularly the sixth, namely:
equality and others.
national politics.
Related Report: Dissidents mull over National Accord rough,
S.H.A.N.,
Editor's note: The term "National Accord",
originally used for an
anticipated agreement among three
principal parties: SPDC, democratic
opposition and ethnic opposition,
was later abandoned to be replaced
by "Basic Principles for a
Future Federal Constitution," a joint
platform of the opposition, both
democratic and ethnic.
.......................................................................
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groups
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Network,
Independent Mon News Agency, Karenni Information
Network Group and Network Media Group.
.........................
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