Daily News-April 29, 2000, Saturday
  • Reporters Sans Frontiers urged to free jailed 12 journalists
  • Thai-Burma Trade Fair and Expo 2000
  • Thai Army will use Black Hawk copters to prowl Thai-Burma border
  • Mekong Basin Navigation pact benefit only traders of Thailand and southern China
  • Burma and Unocal in dock in US
  • NSC to get tough on Burma border smuggling
  • Asean, EU agree to compromise over Burma Officials to meet in Lisbon
  • Curfew ordered at refugee camps

    • Reporters Sans Frontiers urged to free jailed journalists
    source : The Nation

    TWELVE journalists locked up in Burma must be freed, the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers (Reporters Without Borders) said yesterday. The human rights organisation's call comes on the eve of next week's Asean finance ministers meeting in Rangoon.

    In a statement released yesterday the group asked Asean secretary-general Rodolfo Severino "to intervene, in his talks with the Burmese authorities, on behalf of the 12 journalists still in prison".

    The group expressed indignation at the fact that the inter-ministerial meeting was being held in the country with the highest number of jailed journalists in the world.

    The meeting takes place just days after the United Nations Human Rights Commission condemned Burma for massive violations of fundamental rights.

    Reporters Without Borders general secretary Robert Menard said he was concerned about "the conditions of detention of Burmese journalists and, in some cases, the state of their health, especially U Win Tin and Daw San San Nweh, detained at Insein prison".

    The Burmese junta bans all criticism of itself. The country's laws set a 20-year jail sentence for publishing articles that "disrupt and sabotage the stability of the state".

    Foreign journalists are not permitted to work freely in the country. It is illegal to read publications of the exiled opposition or to listen to international radio stations.On January 19 this year, 70-year-old U Than Chaum was sentenced to two years' imprisonment by virtue of article 505(b) of the penal code, for listening to the international radio station Voice of America in the tea-room he owns.
    Thai-Burma Trade Fair and Expo 2000
    Tak province is hosting the Thai-Burma Trade Fair and Expo 2000 to promote trade and tourism with Burma, and also hopes to attract foreign businessmen and visitors to explore new tourist destinations in the province.

    The Expo will be held at the Mae Meuy City Shopping Centre in Mae Sot district from May 1-7. Among the highlights will be a seminar aiming to reduce trade restrictions, which will be attended by trade officials and representatives from the private sectors in Burma and Tak.

    In addition, there will be a visit to a potential area for agricultural produce, industrial development and tourism at Bhumipol dam.
    Thai Army will use Black Hawk copters to prowl Thai-Burma border
    Source : Bangkok Post

    The army has decided to purchase two high-tech US helicopters for 1.37 billion baht for drug suppression operations along the border, an army source said yesterday.

    The decision was made by a procurement committee chaired by Lt-Gen Sinat Rattanapruek, the army's deputy chief of staff, the source said.

    A total of 750 million baht will be allocated from the army's 2001 fiscal budget and the rest will come from its weapon procurement bank account in the US.

    Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, who is also defence minister, has given the green light to use the money under the foreign-military-sales scheme.

    However, the procurement of Black Hawk helicopters had been opposed to by Lop Buri's Aviation Centre, which is responsible for all army Bell helicopters.

    The centre feared the change from Bell to Black Hawk, which is manufactured by Sikorsky, would increase maintenance and spare parts costs, the source said.

    The army opted for Black Hawk because it is well suited for operations along the rugged Thai-Burmese border, the source said. According to the maker's specifications, it can carry a crew of three and 11 passengers.

    Police Lt-Gen Noppadol Sombooonsap, assistant police commissioner, yesterday stressed the need for telephone tapping to better ensure national security and continue the war against drugs.

    He said it would effectively combat drug trafficking by the Red Wa, who make drug deals over the telephone.

    Anti-drug authorities reportedly once tapped Surachai "Bang Ron" Ngernthongfu's phone calls with the Red Wa.

    Thai and Burmese authorities have met in a remote border town on ways of tackling drug trafficking, Burmese state television said yesterday, Agence-France Presse reported.

    High-ranking narcotics control officials met in Kengtung and discussed sharing intelligence about drug producers and initiating joint anti-drug patrols in border areas, the report said.

    Officials have become increasingly concerned about the massive rise in methamphetamine trafficking into Thailand from Burma, and its abuse by school children.

    The military expects more than 600 million methamphetamine tablets to be produced in Burma this year, much of it intended for the Thai market. Police seized 44 million pills last year.

    Burmese authorities have frequently been accused of ignoring the drug trade.

    "These drugs are produced inside a neighbouring country and there is no sign our neighbour will do anything to resolve the problem," army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont said last month.

    Under a memorandum of understanding, Thailand and Burma meet every six months to discuss the fight against drugs.
    Mekong Basin Navigation pact benefit only traders of Thailand and southern China
    Source : Bangkok Post

    A new pact providing for the free flow of ships on the upper Mekong River opens great opportunities for traders and traffickers.

    Affirming their seriousness about promoting linkages, the transport ministers of Burma, China, Laos and Thailand signed in Tachilek on April 20 the navigation agreement that sceptics once branded a long shot success.

    A year from now, ships under the four national flags will be able to roam freely up and down the river from Simao port in the southern Chinese province of Yunnan, to the Laotian port at its old capital, Luang Prabang. Twelve more stops along the way will handle cargo and passengers, including Jinghong, Menghan and Guanlei in China; Ban Sai, Xiengkok, Mouangmom, Ban Khouane and Huay Sai in northern Laos; Wan Seng and Wan Pong in Burma; and Chiang Saen and Chiang Khong of Chiang Rai in Thailand.

    Within the next six months, officials from the four countries hopefully will complete the drafting of common rules to bring down existing barriers and ease shipping along the river.

    The long-awaited agreement would have been a pipe dream without consent from the leadership in China, which lies upstream and virtually controls the water.

    The desire to maximise the potential of the mighty river surfaced in 1994, and plans to boost co-operation among the four states were priorities of the Greater Mekong Sub-region scheme, which also covers Cambodia and Vietnam downstream.

    But foot-dragging prevailed, mainly due to reluctance from Chinese policy-makers who feared that a commitment to keeping the water level safe for ships all the year round would hamper their plans to set up electricity-generating dams on the river, known in China as the Lancang.

    The success of the deal reflects China's readiness to place long-term strategic interests above its own immediate benefits. Beijing is looking for channels to build closer contacts with its southern neighbours in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, as well as ways of promoting development in inland provinces which have been left behind by coastal counterparts. Letting the gap of wealth to widen will threaten the unity of the vast country.

    That was why China dispatched 23 delegates to the meeting at the Burmese border town adjacent to Mae Sai district in Chiang Rai. "The number of delegates showed China's enthusiasm on the issue," a Thai Foreign Ministry official observed.

    Loyalists of the Asian Development Bank's brainchild, the GMS, should be happy too, to show investors that there is progress in the scheme-which was held hostage by Asia's financial crisis and attracted disappointing attention, despite being promoted as the last business frontier in the region.

    But the real winners will be the traders of Thailand and southern China, who have the two biggest markets and most proficient producers in the Upper Mekong Basin behind them. Thailand has over 60 million consumers, while Yunnan's population is around 42 million.

    Chiang Saen port is 380km away from upstream Jinghong, a main market in southern China, and 470km from Simao, which will have a highway connected to other Yunnanese cities including Kunming.

    But the absence of rules, prevalence of complicated procedures and low water level in dry seasons blocking big ships turned traders away from the river to more expensive but convenient air freight and shipping centres in Hong Kong and Guangdong.

    Minimum charges, relaxed rules and all-year-round navigation as a result of the deal could lure traders back to the river because the lower transportation costs could boost their bilateral trade, which amounted to US$25 million (950 million baht) last year. That could lift Thailand's trade status with Yunnan, which ranked 19th in exports and 15th in imports last year.

    Over 1,000 ships offering services along the river will reap benefits from the expectation of higher traffic after the agreement becomes effective.

    According to China's record, 510 ships are registered there, including 452 from Burma and 130 using the Laotian flag. No ships are registered as Thai because the country has no bilateral agreements with these three countries. "This excludes numerous small boats which will also see their operations grow in future," an official said.

    Smugglers also stand to benefit from the navigation agreement. Unlimited navigation will give them another channel for importing and exporting illicit products by taking advantage of undermanned border checkpoints, even in northern Thailand. Trafficking in drugs, human beings and contraband have been identified as unwanted consequences coming with the open river policy. For years, northern Thai borders have been a favourite destination for human traffickers and smuggled goods from China, and narcotics from Burma and, to a lesser extent, from Laos.

    Officials acknowledged that the agreement would lead to good and bad consequences but add that the four countries have been aware of them from the beginning.

    What they are trying to do is not only to unify navigation rules, but also to consolidate measures against smuggling.

    But Kobsak Chutikul, director-general of the Economic Affairs Department, believes that the positive outcome will offset negative results in the long term, noting that people in the area will have more job opportunities, and that more wealth would lead to better stability in the area.

    Witoon Permpongsachareon, director of Towards Ecological Recovery and Regional Alliance, an environmental monitoring network in the region, showed concern that increasing traffic would encourage illegal rapid clearance to facilitate ship cruising.

    "If that is the case," he said, "the free flow of navigation is not worth it."
     Burma and Unocal in dock in US
    Two historic lawsuits – grassroots activists versus transnational corporations – are taking place in the United States.

    The Supreme Court in Washington DC is hearing arguments and will decide if the Massachusetts Burma Law is constitutional. In California, a Federal Court in Los Angeles will soon decide if it will proceed with or dismiss a lawsuit against oil giant Unocal brought by Burmese victims of alleged human rights abuses.

    On March 22, the Supreme Court, which takes up only one per cent of the 10,000 cases referred to it annually, began hearing a suit filed by the National Foreign Trade Council (NFTC) – an association of nearly 600 US companies involved in foreign trade – that the Burma selective purchasing law passed by the State of Massachusetts in June 1996 is unconstitutional.



    The District Court of Massachusetts and the Appeals Court had earlier ruled in favour of NFTC, which initiated the lawsuit in 1998 arguing that the statute, restricting state purchases from companies that do business in Burma, violates US constitutional provisions which give the federal government exclusive power to set foreign policy and regulate foreign commerce.

    Joining in the debate are Japan and the European Union, which in 1998 had filed a suit against the Massachusetts law at the World Trade Organisation, arguing that the state’s legislation infringes global freetrade policy that advocates procurement based solely on price and performance, not political criteria. Pressured by its trading partners, the US Administration filed a brief in support of the NFTC.

    In their petition to the Supreme Court, Massachusetts lawyers argued that a ruling against the Burma Law would go against the decisions made by the people through legislatures about how their tax money should be spent and therefore constitutes an infringement of local democracy. The Massachusetts Burma Law, which is identical to the one that helped bring down the apartheid regime in South Africa, stipulates that companies that do business in Burma must add a 10 per cent penalty to their bid against competing firms – a precondition which virtually bars such companies from winning any state procurement contracts (amounting to about US$2 billion annually).

    According to William Bole, an American News Service journalist, the heart of the debate is not Burma, but whether the state and local governments can exercise their purchasing power against human rights abusers around the globe. It is also a showdown between transnational corporations and grassroots activists, between global trade and local sovereignty.

    If the Supreme Court strikes down the Massachusetts law, similar Burma statures passed by nearly two dozen cities and counties across the US could be wiped from the books. Such a ruling will also have farreaching consequences on identical selective purchasing laws passed by municipalities, cities and the State of Vermont, targeting China, Cuba, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Sudan, Tibet and Switzerland (for the Swiss bank accounts once held by Holocaust survivors).

    In a written reply to The Nation, Simon Billenness, a leading Burma campaigner in the US, said if the Supreme Court upholds the lower courts’ decision, the Free Burma movement will push for other different types of legislation including divestment laws that require city and state pension funds to divest themselves of stock in companies that do business in Burma. It will also continue with other campaigns of consumer boycotts, shareholder resolutions, demonstrations, lawsuits, federal sanctions, etc, added Billenness, a social activist and a senior analyst of Trillium Asset Management – a social investment firm in Boston.



    For Billenness, Burma campaigners “have already won one powerful victory” in the lawsuit. “No US companies are talking about going back to Burma even if the Supreme Court rules that the state and local Burma laws are unconstitutional,” he said. “Burma will remain a country where almost all corporations will refuse to do business.”

    A final judgement by the ninemember Supreme Court is expected in June.

    On the Pacific coast, the Federal Court in Los Angeles has rescheduled to May 22 a hearing on whether to proceed with or dismiss a lawsuit filed by 15 Burmese plaintiffs against Unocal and its two top executives. Unocal is a key contractor for the controversial Yadana natural gas pipeline. It’s unclear why the court decided to postpone the oral argument sessions which were initially scheduled to begin yesterday (April 4).

    American lawyers working on behalf of the Burmese victims said they do not know how long the pretrial process, known as “summary judgement”, will last. But if the court rules in favour of the plaintiffs, “there is nothing to stop us from going to the trial”, said Tyler Giannini, a lawyer with EarthRights International, which helped bring the lawsuit against the American oil corporation.

    Unocal has submitted a motion for the summary judgement to dismiss the action, but the plaintiffs and their lawyers have responded that transnational corporations can be held legally responsible for violation of international human rights law in foreign countries and that the US courts have the authority to adjudicate such claims.

    According to Giannini, “the oral arguments before the judge” by both sides which is like “a little trial” can take as long as the judge wants. The summary judgement hearing is the second of a threephase civil trial in the US and tests whether there is enough of a factual dispute between the litigants that reasonable people could find disagreement. If they could, the case would be slated for a jury trial which is the third and final phase.

    On October 3, 1996, a group of 15 Burmese villagers, who were subjected to human rights abuses associated with the construction of the US$1.2billion (Bt31.2billion) Yadana pipeline project, filed suit in the Federal Court in Los Angeles against Unocal. The suit sought to hold Unocal and its two executives liable for international human rights violations, including forced labour, crimes against humanity, torture, violence against women, arbitrary arrest and detention, and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.

    The plaintiffs have sought a court injunction ordering Unocal to stop its activities and to pay compensation for the alleged abuses that occurred as a result of the construction project. Unocal and its Yadana partners, including the French oil firm Total, have rejected all charges against them, including complicity with the Burmese junta in its human rights abuses. On March 25, 1997, US Federal Court Judge Richard A Paez signed a 38page order accepting the plaintiffs’ complaint – the first phase of the litigation. The court rejected a motion by Unocal to dismiss the case based on the argument that the matter was outside the jurisdiction of the US court. The court’s decision to grant jurisdiction over Unocal set a “groundbreaking” precedent as it allowed victims, for the first time, the right to sue multinational companies for violations of international humanrights law, said plaintiff lawyers Katherine Redford of EarthRights International and Jennie Green, a staff attorney with the Centre for Constitutional Rights.

    Jurisdiction over the plaintiffs’ claims against the defendants was granted under the 1792 Alien Tort Claims Act. The 200yearold law allows lawsuits in US courts against multinational companies for activities outside the US which violate international law. The tort act was previously applied only to environmental matters.

    The March 25 decision allowed the plaintiffs to move into the second phase of litigation, the civil discovery – a process in which the two parties take testimonies from witnesses and exchange copies of documents related to the Yadana project. In an interview last week, Giannini said the discovery was completed last December and that plaintiff lawyers had acquired “some 40,000 plus documents”, a number of which provided strong support to their case.

    By Yindee Lertcharoenchok
    The Nation
    NSC to get tough on Burma border smuggling
    source : The Nation

    CHIANG MAI – The National Security Council has announced it will adopt an “offensive” approach to deal with increasing criminal activity near the ThaiBurmese border. It also called on the UNHCR for more help to deal with the growing number of refugees in the area.

    “We will change our approach and handling of the illegal activities operating across the ThaiBurma border to offensive means. We will no longer use our present style of being defensive,” NSC secretarygeneral Kajadpai Burutpat said yesterday.

    “We will take drastic action and measures to deal with the problems which have been on the rise and are using more sophisticated equipment and methods,” he said. An NSC study indicated the major causes of trouble in the area were rising levels of drug smuggling, the growing numbers of Burmese refugees residing in border camps and Burmese refugees who escaped the camps to seek work illegally in Thailand, he said. Kajadpai was speaking at a seminar on the promotion of good relations between Thailand and Burma.



    He said at present Thailand had to support thousands of displaced Burmese who had lived in the Thai border camps for years. Their presence had caused many social, health and environmentrelated problems, he said. Kajadpai repeated his earlier call for the UN High Commission for Refugees to give more aid to Thailand to handle the influx of displaced Burmese.

    “The commission has to understand the facts we are facing. It should go to Burma and hold talks with Burma’s military junta, so that Burma can take responsibility for the presence of the Burmese on our territory,” he said.

    The UNHCR should go to Burma and set up resettlement areas for Burmese returnees there, instead of waiting for them to flood into Thailand, he said. The NSC chief also called for more cooperation between Thai authorities to strengthen efforts against the smuggling of drugs and people across the border.
    Asean, EU agree to compromise over Burma Officials to meet in Lisbon
    source : The Nation

    ASEANEU bickering over Burma has died down as the European Union agreed to have a proposed senior official meeting in Lisbon that includes Burmese participation. The EU nevertheless preferred a stepbystep approach before agreeing to resume the ministerial meeting, longstalled due to the EU’s reservations over Burma’s participation.

    Portugal, which currently holds the EU presidency, has offered to host the meeting but cannot promise that it would be followed by the foreign ministers gathering.

    Portuguese Ambassador to Thailand Jose Tadeu da Costa Soares said while the European side did not oppose the resumption of the AseanEU ministerial meeting, which has been postponed since March last year, his country cannot guarantee that all 14 other EU members would agree to having the meetings immediately following each other.



    “What the European Union does not want to say at this stage is that one meeting will automatically be followed by the other,” he said. Speaking in an interview, Soares said all doors were open and the EU was waiting for Asean’s response to Lisbon’s proposal sent in February to Thailand, which acts as the coordinator of the grouping.

    “Portugal thinks that we [EU] should have dialogue with Burma first, even if it is critical dialogue, Asean should not allow the difficulties that we (EU) still have with Burma stop the two groups from meeting,” he said.

    A Thai official said Asean was in consultation over the proposal sent by Portugal. A foreign ministers meeting of the EU and Asean scheduled for March 30 last year in Berlin was cancelled because the two groups refused to budge over their conflicting positions on Burma’s participation. The EU bars high level contacts with Burma, which joined Asean in July 1997, because of its human rights record. Asean refused to attend the meeting unless Burma was allowed to participate at an equal level.

    The EU wanted relative improvements in human rights before it would allow Burma to attend the AseanEU meeting. Germany, which held the EU presidency at the time, also has pushed for a compromise. But despite all efforts, including Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung signalling that he was ready to discuss any issue that Europe may want to raise about developments in Burma, the meeting was cancelled.

    Soares said that some European members have reservations over Burma attending the meeting at the ministerial level, but Lisbon was able to get them all to agree that dialogue between the two groups should continue.

    “Now we leave it [the topic] open, I think this is a substantial thing. If you want to be constructive, you look at the positive side,” he said. Stressing that what was required was a stepbystep approach, Soares said the two groups can first meet at the senior officials level and then decide about a higher level meeting. “We will judge what results come out of the first meeting, and if we agree that it was a positive exercise we will move on to the next step,” he said.

    Soares praised Thailand for its attempt to overcome the visas problem, by offering to have the ministerial meeting in Bangkok. The EU imposed a sixmonth delay on the issuing visas for members of Burma’s military dictatorship, which has since been extended. Soares said he hoped both meetings can take place during the Portuguese presidency, as one of its tasks was to strengthen EUAsean dialogue.
    Curfew ordered at refugee camps
    source : The Nation

    MAE Hong Son's governor yesterday ordered a curfew at four camps holding more than 30,000 Burmese refugees following intelligence reports of possible cross-border attacks during the dry season.

    Governor Poj Utana said the curfew was necessary because the camps were vulnerable to cross-border raids by foreign armed groups. The shelters were located only five to eight kilometres from the border, which made them easy targets for night raids.



    The four camps were Ban Nai Soi-Bang Tractor in Muang district, Ban Mae Surin in Khunyuom district, Ban Tasala-Mae Kong Ka in Mae Sariang district, and Ban Mae Lamaluang in Sop Moei district.

    Poj said the refugees would not be allowed to leave the camps between dusk and dawn. The majority of the 32,000 people in the camps were mostly ethnic Karenni and Karen who have fled fighting between the Burmese military and dissident minority groups.

    Thailand, which shares thousands of kilometres of common border with Burma, has had to bear the brunt of the latter's civil war by sheltering more than 100,000 refugees. Poj said there had been cases when foreign militants secretly slipped into Thailand and attempted to burn down camps along the border, especially in April.

    A string of camps close to the porous border have been prime targets for the military regime in Rangoon, which claims they have provided sanctuary for Karen and Karenni guerrillas. As part of its strategy to end ethnic resistance to its rule, Rangoon has been using the breakaway Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) to carry out harassment and intimidation campaigns against refugees living on Thai soil.



    A few years ago DKBA insurgents razed Ban Huay Kalok in Tak province and forced Thai authorities to relocate the refugees to Ban Umpium, which is further from the border. Other camps have been under constant threat of surprise attacks, especially the largest, Ban Mae La in Tak.

    There had also been a report that the Burmese military has stationed 30 speedboats along its side of the Salween River and that these could be used for sabotage operations on Thai soil. However, the commander of Border Patrol Police Unit 33, Pol Col Prasartporn Bundet, said the curfew was imposed to try to curb foreign groups, both armed and unarmed, from conducting political activities in Thailand during the dry season.

    There was the possibility, he said, that these groups might smuggle arms into the camps to be used later when fighting erupts. The authorities recently confiscated a large cache of explosives hidden inside a camp in Mae Hong Son.

    The curfew was also aimed at preventing drug dealers from using the camps as transit points for amphetamine trafficking. The money earned from selling the pills could be used to buy weapons, he said.