Daily News-December-10-Sunday-2000

  • Burma agrees to allow EU fact-finding mission
  • ASEAN agrees to welcome EU Troika to Burma
  • Row over Burma set to sour Europe-ASEAN meeting
  • ILO takes first step in implementing Burma sanctions
  • Prison governor dies from gunshot wounds
  • Holding out hope for Burma freedom
  • Refugees Repatriation from Bangladesh
  • Burma a persistent irritant in ASEAN-EU relations

    • Burma agrees to allow EU fact-finding mission

    source : The Nation

    VIENTIANE - Burma yesterday agreed to allow top officials from the European Union to visit the country on a fact-finding mission. The agreement is seen as a major compromise between the military regime and one of its most vocal critics.

    Nyunt Maung Shein, director-general of the Burmese Foreign Ministry's Political Department, said Rangoon would expect the EU delegation in January.

    "Last time it was a fact-finding mission. This time we expect some success," he said.

    Nyunt Maung Shein spoke to reporters on the sidelines of a meeting in preparation for the 13th Asean-EU Ministerial Meeting, which begins tomorrow.

    However, a senior EU official warned that expectations of the visit should not be too high. The EU sent a similar mission to Rangoon in July last year.

    "We have a serious problem with [Burma]. It's not that the group will be going there and then everything will be settled," said Dominique Girard, head of the French Foreign Ministry's East Asian Affairs Department.

    "We have a very bad situation there, and we want to help solve it. We want in particular everything done to help encourage dialogue between the government and the opposition. The [EU] group can contribute to that, but it is not a miracle solution."

    The decision by Rangoon to allow the visit is deemed a major breakthrough between the two regional groupings. Dialogue between Asean and the EU has been stalled for the past three years because of the EU's objection to Burma's participation.

    The EU, like many Western countries, has consistently condemned Burma's human-rights record and practice of forced labour. It has also accused it of not doing enough to curb the flow of drugs coming out of the country.

    Burma remains the only Asean country that has yet to sign the Asean-EU Cooperation Agreement, a framework that would allow the junta to participate in various cooperative schemes, which include funding and technical support.

    Laos and Cambodia became signatories to the agreement at the Asean Ministerial Meeting in Bangkok in July.

    When asked if Rangoon saw the upcoming EU fact-finding mission as paving the way for Burma to become a signatory to the agreement, Nyunt Maung Shein said: "We have to see. This is still early. This is only the second time [an EU delegation has visited]".

    Girard said the EU delegation would speak to as many people in Burma as possible during its mission.

    "The idea is to go there and talk to everybody, the government people, the opposition, Aung San Suu Kyi, the other parties, the NGOs working locally, the ethnic groups and everyone participating in the situation there."
    ASEAN agrees to welcome EU Troika to Burma

    VIENTIANE Dec. 9 Kyodo - The European Union (EU) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) agreed Saturday on an EU proposal to dispatch the ''EU Troika'' on a fact-finding mission to Myanmar next month, bidding to end political stagnation and enhance democracy in the country.

    The idea accepted by the 10 member countries of ASEAN, including Myanmar itself, agreed to welcome the mission from Europe, said Dominique Girard, a director for Asia and Oceania at the French Foreign Ministry.

    The mission is willing to meet all relevant parties, including the opposition National League for Democracy led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, and ethnic minorities, he said.

    ''We have a very bad situation there and we want to help its resolution...encourage dialogue between the government and the opposition,'' Girard told reporters.

    The proposal would be discussed again and officially adopted when ministers of the ASEAN and EU meet Monday, he said.

    Nyunt Maung Shein, director general of the Myanmar Foreign Ministry's Political Department, said Myanmar will receive the troika in Yangon next month, but declined to commit that the EU mission would be allowed to meet all parties as proposed.

    The EU troika, composed of three top members from the EU, visited Myanmar in July last year on a fact-finding mission and met with the ruling junta and the opposition parties, including with Suu Kyi herself.

    But the coming visit will not immediately spring-broad Myanmar into full cooperation with the EU. Myanmar is only ASEAN country left out of the ASEAN-EU Cooperation Agreement since Laos and Cambodia were signed into the pact in July.

    ''(The troika's visit) is not a miracle solution. It does not mean the troika goes there and settles everything,'' Girard said.

    The 15-member EU, which had refused to sit at the negotiating table with Myanmar in the two regional groups' talks three years ago, wants to see improvements in the democratic and human rights records in all 10 ASEAN countries.

    ''Despite ASEAN's taboo on discussing members' internal affairs, it is important to review the development of these issues when we resume dialogue after three years,'' said one EU official on condition of anonymity.

    Many ASEAN members, such as Cambodia and Laos, have improved their democratic and human rights records, but concern remains about Myanmar and Indonesia, he added.

    ASEAN made a simple response to the EU during their meeting Saturday, praising the role of the U.N. Secretary General's special envoy to Myanmar, Razali Ismail, in helping improve the situation in Myanmar, according to an ASEAN official.

    The official said ASEAN considers political instability in Indonesia an internal affair Jakarta should try its best to handle.

    ''We understand the EU position. In fact, ASEAN realizes all countries should recognize human rights and democratic development and use our own methods to improve the situation,'' he said.

    In the meeting, the EU also wanted to address Myanmar's use of forced labor, which has already been condemned by the international community, in a joint declaration to be issued after a ministerial dialogue next week, the ASEAN official said.

    ASEAN groups Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Brunei, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar.

    The vast majority of countries in Western Europe are in the EU.
    Row over Burma set to sour Europe-ASEAN meeting

    VIENTIANE, Dec 9 (Reuters) - ASEAN and the European Union hold their first ministerial-level meeting for more than three years in the coming week, but the event is more likely to underscore their differences than bring them closer together. The main reason for the cool relations between the two blocs is human rights in military-ruled Myanmar -- an issue set to dominate the Laos meeting.

    Europe has condemned Myanmar for its human rights record and its treatment of the pro-democracy opposition led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under de facto house arrest with her telephone cut and diplomatic access barred.

    Only Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Finland are sending their foreign ministers to the meeting on Monday and Tuesday, with most other European Union nations likely to be represented by junior ministers. The official excuse is that many ministers are too busy due to the European Union summit in Nice which ends this weekend.

    The EU has boycotted ministerial-level meetings with ASEAN since Myanmar joined. And while the coming meeting in Laos represents a partial thawing of this position, arguments over Myanmar and human rights are sure to sour the atmosphere. Europe is pressing for a pledge by both sides to respect human rights to be included in the post-meeting declaration.

    It also wants a pledge to work for political progress in Myanmar, something several ASEAN states bitterly oppose.

    ASEAN DIVIDED

    But ASEAN itself is divided. Countries like Malaysia, Vietnam and Myanmar are against any mention of human rights, and insist that the ASEAN code of non-interference in the internal affairs of other member states should be inviolate. Thailand, on the other hand, is increasingly frustrated about the political isolation which Myanmar"s inclusion has imposed on ASEAN, and is pushing for a more flexible approach.

    British Foreign Office Minister John Battle said this week that Myanmar would be at the top of the agenda. Battle, who will represent Britain at the meeting, said he would be looking for understanding among the 10 ASEAN members that Myanmar had become a regional problem they could no longer brush off as Yangon"s "internal affair."

    Battle said both the European Union and ASEAN were looking for a new approach, and Europe"s intention in Vientiane would not be "to simply turn up and blame Burma and say we think you are a form of moral evil." "What we need to see is an opening of Burma," he said. "So we"re trying to find ways to actually prise the situation open by using the political power that"s in the region -- they are a member of ASEAN."

    Concerns have also been raised about security, after a wave of mysterious bomb attacks in Vientiane this year shook the enigmatic country out of its torpor. Laos mounted a major security campaign during celebrations earlier this month for the 25th anniversary of its Communist revolution. Security will again be extremely tight for the ministerial meeting.
    ILO takes first step in implementing Burma sanctions

    GENEVA Dec. 9 Kyodo - The International Labor Organization (ILO) on Friday took its first step in implementing sanctions against Myanmar over its forced labor practices, with ILO Director General Juan Somavia sending letters to member governments and various U.N. and international organizations, diplomatic sources said.

    The letter requests the ''cooperation'' of governments and international organizations in implementing the measures, the sources said, adding that a total of 236 letters were sent out.

    The step was expected to further frustrate Myanmar's military leadership, which has already announced its decision to cease all cooperation with the world labor body regarding forced labor.

    Such sanctions are the first to be taken by the ILO in its 81-year history.

    The letters asked governments and international organizations to ''take account of'' recommendations finalized at the meeting in November of the ILO's governing body, where the final go-ahead was given to start implementing economic sanctions, the sources said.

    The decision asks ILO members and international organizations to review their relationship with Myanmar, and, if necessary, sever ties with the junta if they are directly or indirectly supporting Myanmar's forced labor practices.

    The sanctions, in theory, took effect Nov. 30, but no specific measures were taken until Friday.

    According to the sources, the letter also asks governments and international organizations to report to the ILO their ''relevant measures'' taken. Specific measures to be taken are to be decided by each organization that receives the letter.

    Some diplomats speculated that the effect of the sanctions will be ''close to nothing.'' However, others voiced concern that the sanctions could ''get out of hand'' when more than 200 governments and international organizations start to make their own decisions based on the mandate given by the ILO.

    The letter also asks the ILO's 175 member governments to inform representatives of each country's employers and workers to take similar actions. This would open the way for private companies or labor unions to implement sanctions against the country.

    In 1998, the ILO adopted recommendations requesting Myanmar to abolish the Town Act and Village Act, which allowed local military commanders and local authorities to mobilize citizens in public works.

    Last June, the International Labor Conference, the ILO's highest decision-making body, adopted a resolution saying the organization would impose sanctions on Myanmar under Article 33 of the ILO charter if the country did not make tangible progress in annulling the two laws and ending all forms of forced labor.

    The final decision on whether to take concrete measures was left to the governing body, which concluded in mid-November after a heated debate that various steps taken by the junta were unsatisfactory and decided to go ahead with the sanctions.

    Prior to the debate, the Myanmar government issued an ordinance rendering void laws related to forced labor, and invited the ILO to monitor the implementation of the measures.

    While Asian countries including Japan and Malaysia asked for a delay in implementing the sanctions since the junta was making some progress in complying with the ILO demand, Western countries led by the United States and Britain pushed for sanctions.
    Prison governor dies from gunshot wounds

    source : The Nation

    SAMUT Sakhon prison governor Somwong Sirivej yesterday died of heart and kidney failure resulting from gunshot wounds suffered 16 days earlier in a hostage rescue operation.

    Somwong never regained consciousness after being shot while being rescued from nine Burmese captors in Kanchanaburi. All nine escapees from his prison were killed in the gun battle.

    Somwong sustained four gunshot wounds, including one to his head, and his condition started to deteriorate on Friday, a chief pathologist said. Maj-Gen Withaya Puengpapong, commander of the Police Forensic Institute, said Somwong had been in stable condition following surgery but suffered complications in the heart and kidney. He died at 5.45am yesterday, Withaya said.

    Corrections Department director-general Siva Saengmanee described Somwong's death as a "great loss to the department". "I can confirm that the Samut Sakhon prison governor was an exemplary officer. He sacrificed his life in the line of duty in a way that we the surviving warders can be proud of," Siva said.

    Siva noted that his department had lost a number of warders in recent years during attempted jailbreaks. A Prachin Buri prison governor was stabbed to death during an attempted jailbreak in 1998. Somwong's wife Yanee said her husband had died honourably in the line of duty.

    "I told my three sons that their father had served his country well and that they should live up to his expectations by concentrating on their studies," Yanee said. Somwong's mother Liam said she would not blame police for staging the hostage rescue that led to her son's death.

    "The incident could not have been foreseen, and I don't blame anyone," Liam said. Not everyone has shown such understanding, however.

    Somchai Homla-or, secretary-general of Forum Asia, said a hostage rescue operation should be meant to save the lives of hostages. The police should find the best way to do their jobs without having people die, he said. Following the incident at the Samut Sakhon prison, many people wondered whether the police department's priority was to save lives or conduct extra-judicial killings of the escapees, Somchai said.

    "Violence cannot solve any problem. The violent lesson of the hostage incident at the Ratchaburi Hospital did not deter what happened at Samut Sakhon," he said. Somchai said several human-rights organisations deplored the fatal end to the Samut Sakhon crisis but had not filed any official complaints or protests.

    Police Maj-Gen Yuthana Thaipakdee defended the rescue operation, saying no one could ensure the safety of every hostage. Yuthana, who was in charge of the hostage rescue operation, insisted that he had taken every precaution to save the hostages when planning and executing the operation. He defended his decision to mount the operation as appropriate under the circumstances.

    "The escapees had already killed one hostage before fleeing the prison, and if they had been allowed to continue their journey closer to the border they might have done even more harm as they appeared to be very stressed," he said. "I didn't want even one hostage to be hurt or killed. I regret the death of Somwong and would like to express my deepest condolences to his family," he added.

    Somwong started his career as a warder in 1976 and assumed the post of Samut Sakhon prison governor in October. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai presided over yesterday's bathing rite for Somwong. Nightly funeral prayers will be conducted at Wat Makutkasattriyaram until Friday.
    Holding out hope for Burma freedom

    The Honolulu Advertiser
    Posted on: Friday, December 8, 2000

    It's purely a symbolic gesture, but it's entirely worthwhile. President Clinton has bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom upon Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

    It's not quite up to the Nobel Peace Prize Suu Kyi won in 1991, but it's the highest American civilian honor, and it serves to keep the light of world attention focused on this tragic country.

    As Clinton pointed out in awarding the medal, Suu Kyi probably was unaware of the ceremony, where those present reflected on her struggle.

    She is Burma's rightful leader. The thugs who are running her country instead are keeping her under house arrest, refusing to recognize the results of the election she won a decade ago.

    "She has seen her supporters beaten, tortured and killed," said Clinton, "yet she has never responded to hatred and violence in kind." Suu Kyi is deserving of the medal, and of continuing world concern.
    Refugees Repatriation from Bangladesh

    Dhaka, December 9, 2000
    Mizzima News Group (www.mizzima.com)

    According to officials from Refugee Repatriation Section in Cox's Bazar, total 20,866 Rohingya refugees are still camping in Norya Para and Kutu Plong camps in Bangladesh. The refugees are being repatriated on every Wednesday to Burma. Minimum 20 to maximum 100 refugees are being repatriated weekly.

    Out of 8,000 refugees that Burmese government agreed to accept, nearly 4,500 refugees were already repatriated to Burma between the period of July 1999 and first week of December 2000.
    Burma a persistent irritant in ASEAN-EU relations

    BANGKOK, Dec 10 (AFP)

    The human rights record of military-ruled Burma is set once again to become a major irritant when European and Southeast Asian ministers hold a landmark meeting in Laos this week.

    The European Union and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are gathering at the ministerial level for the first time since Burma joined ASEAN in 1997 and the EU cut off dialogue.

    Amid deepening concern over the economic and political damage caused by the three-year diplomatic freeze, the two sides agree they cannot allow the Burma issue to continue to hold their relationship "hostage."

    This week's gathering in Vientiane to be held Monday and Tuesday -- billed as a breakthrough meeting aimed at reviving the frosty relationship -- is seen as the first test of that resolve.

    However a crucial EU summit in the French city of Nice over reforms and admitting new members has taken the full attention of many European delegates and prevented many of the 15 EU foreign ministers from making the trip to the Laotian capital.

    Only four are expected to send full ministers, drawing ire from regional firebrand Malaysia which threatened to downgrade its involvement.

    And by Sunday, the perennially contentious topic of Burma had again reared its head even before the ministers sat down together, with wrangling over the meeting's agenda and draft declaration.

    Senior Thai officials said last week discussions would cover a wide range of subjects, including Burma where the junta has held opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest since September 22.

    However Vietnam, current holder of ASEAN's rotating presidency, insisted Burma's political situation was its "internal affair" and was not up for discussion, adding the EU should respect this.

    For their part, EU delegates said they would continue to insist on the inclusion of a clause on Burma in the final declaration.

    Senior officials labouring on the draft communique in Vientiane over the weekend told AFP that as well as Burma, they had failed to agree on the broad issue of human rights, as well as instability in Indonesia.

    After a full day of talks Saturday, the negotiations were extended into Sunday to try to achieve maximum consensus ahead of the ministerial meet.

    Both European and Thai diplomatic sources are insisting Burma will be mentioned in some form.

    "But I don't know to what extent they will address this topic as they will be aiming to preserve a cordial atmosphere," a Thai foreign ministry spokesman said.

    Burma, which has pariah status in the West over its human rights record, has lately enjoyed some support from ASEAN, which staunchly defends a policy of non-interference in member nations' affairs.

    At a summit in Singapore last month, regional leaders firmly rejected the prospect of any dialogue with the EU if it excluded Burma.

    "Myanmar is a member of ASEAN and we would meet the EU together as an ASEAN group," said Singapore Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong.

    "If the EU wants to exclude Myanmar and the dialogue is going to be called off, then let it be called off because we can't allow an external organisation to dictate who should be in ASEAN when we have such a dialogue."

    But behind a facade of unity, there are divisions within ASEAN, which includes democracies, autocratic regimes and communist governments, over the best approach towards Burma.

    And among the Europeans there are disagreements over how far to isolate a country whose economy is creaking under the weight of sanctions and gross mismanagement by the generals in Rangoon.

    Burma's former colonial ruler Britain and the Scandinavian nations remain the most vocal critics of the regime.

    The EU has called for the "immediate lifting" of the restrictions on Aung Sau Suu Kyi, whose election in 1990 was ignored by the military and who has been prevented from making contact with her party or the concerned diplomatic community in Burma.

    The EU has also frequently called on the government to begin a dialogue with the opposition and the country's ethnic minorities.