Daily News-January 07-2001 - Sunday

  • UN-Burma envoy meets Suu Kyi, hopes for progress
  • Burma Would Never Yield to Pressuring Tactics
  • Bangladesh condemns building of dam by Burma
  • Christian refugees tell of killings by junta allies
  • Burma denies hand in raid
  • Karen denounce Ratchaburi attack
  • Burma denial puts people at risk

    • UN-Burma envoy meets Suu Kyi, hopes for progress

    source : Reuters

    YANGON, Jan. 6 — The U.N.'s special envoy to Myanmar held talks on Saturday with pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been held under de facto house arrest and cut off from contact for more than three months.

    Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat appointed as the special representative of U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, spent two hours in Suu Kyi's Yangon residence, and left without comment.

    He is the only foreign diplomat to be allowed access to Suu Kyi since she was confined to her home in late September. Razali also met Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, during his last visit to Myanmar in October.

    Before Saturday's meeting, Razali told reporters he was confident that his five-day visit, which began on Friday, would help broker dialogue between the military government and Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).The NLD won elections by a landslide in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern.

    ''My mission here is to work for national reconciliation in Myanmar and I'm now more optimistic about the success of my mission since both parties have shown more flexibility,'' he said.

    Razali held talks on Friday with Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung as well as Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, Secretary One of the ruling State Peace and Development Council.

    His stay coincides with a working visit by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who arrived on Wednesday and held talks with senior leaders before setting off to tour the country. Razali and Mahathir leave on Tuesday.

    There has been speculation in Yangon that some restrictions on Suu Kyi may be lifted as a concession during the visits by the two men.

    RAZALI SAYS MYANMAR NEEDS FOREIGN ASSISTANCE

    Razali said Myanmar needed foreign assistance and democracy to support its development.

    ''They have to work to get as much foreign aid as they can and to build democracy,'' he said.

    Asked which obstacles were hindering national development, Razali replied: ''Serious mistrust between each other. Both sides need to build mutual trust and confidence.''

    Myanmar's government has faced international condemnation for its treatment of Suu Kyi and the NLD. But Malaysia has been one of its strongest allies, insisting that the government should be left to resolve the political deadlock without external intervention.

    Myanmar was controversially admitted to the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1997. Some ASEAN countries, in particular Thailand, are increasingly frustrated with the political isolation that Myanmar's membership has imposed on the bloc, and are pressing for external mediation. But Malaysia has been a staunch defender of ASEAN's code of non-interference in the internal affairs of other members.

    Razali is also expected to meet representatives of major ethnic groups who oppose the Yangon government.
    Burma Would Never Yield to Pressuring Tactics

    YANGON, December 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Myanmar Foreign Minister U Win Aung has stressed that the country would never yield to pressuring tactics with overbearing tones and imposing one's views and values on others arbitrarily.

    U Win Aung made the remarks on Friday at a reception he hosted for diplomatic corps of foreign embassies in Yangon for the New Year 2001, official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Saturday.

    He emphasized that Myanmar will continue to practice its foreign policy based on the Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.

    Taking advantage of the globalization process, there were attempts by some quarters to discard these cardinal principles of foreign relations, especially those relating to sovereignty, territorial integrity and non-interference in internal affairs, he charged, saying that "we believe dangerous precedent will be set if we allowed this to take place."

    As in the past, Myanmar continues to practice its independent and active foreign policy based on sincerity and genuine friendship towards all nations, irrespective of size and proximity, he stressed, saying that the country always try to build stronger good-neighbouring ties with all its immediate neighbors as well as with the countries in the region.

    He cited that Myanmar's participation in regional cooperation has been gaining impetus since it became a member of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations in 1997.

    The International Labor Organization Governing Body approved last year the decision of the 88th International Labor Conference to impose sanctions on Myanmar for allegedly using forced labor, he disclosed, saying that the country was disappointed not because of the threat of impending sanctions but because of its one-sided action.

    Regarding the promotion of human rights, he said nations should cooperate with each other through dialogue, persuasion and mutual understanding on the basis of equality and sincerity.

    With the advancement of globalization, developing countries are encountered with the threat of being marginalized, while developed countries are enjoying the benefits of this process, he pointed out.

    Myanmar, with limited technology and available resources, is trying its utmost not to be left far behind in the economic and technological progress, he stated.

    Some achievements in construction of bridges, rail tracks, motor roads and dams are made with the country's own resources, human, technology and financial, while it is being imposed with sanctions by some western countries and in the absence of external assistance for development, he added.

    The United States-led western nations have not yet lifted their sanctions and embargo against Myanmar since the outbreak of political crisis in the country in 1988.
    Bangladesh condemns building of dam by Burma

    source : Reuters

    COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh, Jan. 6 — Bangladesh has protested against the building of a dam by Myanmar on a river dividing the two countries, security officials said on Saturday.

    ''We have protested against Myanmar for building a crossdam in the upstream of river Naf at Totardia 100 km (62 miles) southeast of resort town Cox's Bazar,'' Lieutenant Colonel Rafiqur Rahman of Bangladesh Rifles border guard told Reuters.

    He said Bangladesh lodged a formal protest on Thursday after Myanmar started construction of the dam on Tuesday.

    ''The dam, if built, might flood or cause erosion in our territory and damage valuable shrimp cultivation projects,'' he said.

    Rahman said Myanmar mobilised its border force Nasaka along the border following Bangladesh protest.

    ''We are also taking precautionary and defensive measures,'' he said.

    The two border forces fought a brief war in 1967 over a similar attempt at building a dam in Naf by Myanmar.
    Christian refugees tell of killings by junta allies

    source : South China Morning Post
    DANIEL PEDERSEN in Bangkok

    Burmese villagers who recently sought refuge in Thailand have claimed soldiers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) persecuted them for their religious beliefs.

    The DKBA is working with Burma's ruling military junta, the State Peace and Development Council, under a peace deal signed in the mid-1990s.

    Two villagers who fled Karen state's Aong Daw village on December 12 said that since August, Christian villagers had been rounded up by DKBA soldiers and marched out of town at gunpoint, never to be seen again.

    Ye Ye Aye, 25, fled Aong Daw village last month with her husband and three young children.

    For more than four months she said she had lied about her Christianity, claiming to be Buddhist. While the DKBA soldiers never discovered her religion, eventually she fled her home with her family.

    She began walking towards the Thai border with her husband, 32-year-old Saw Lah Ka Paw, on December 12. After three days they made contact with the Karen National Liberation Army - a guerilla army fighting the junta - and were delivered to Mae La refugee camp, Thailand's largest and home to more than 36,000 people.

    They had carried their three children through mountainous terrain in the hope of a new life, free of fear and oppression.

    Their eldest child, five, was admitted to hospital on arrival at Mae La, suffering severe dehydration and diarrhoea. They had been unable to stop to boil water for three days, for fear of being discovered by roaming Burmese troops.

    Mr Saw Lah Ka Paw said that since September he had been used by the military as a porter six times. When he returned from his last stint, on December 7, the couple decided to make for the border. They said they were no longer able to feed themselves, because each day they were summoned to help construct a pagoda for the DKBA soldiers.

    The soldiers that controlled Aong Daw village were also strict vegetarians - limiting themselves to a diet of chillies, salt and rice. They outlawed meat and each night searched from house-to-house looking for eggs, chickens or fish paste, a dietary staple. Any villagers found hiding meat products were jailed in a compound they had been forced to build, the couple claimed.

    Htun Htun, 19, a former Burmese soldier who also recently fled, said his battalion - Light Infantry 459 - had been involved in the burning of a mosque at a Muslim village. He said religious persecution by the military occurred regularly in Burma.
    Burma denies hand in raid

    source : Bangkokpost

    Burma yesterday categorically denied that its troops had any part in the cross-border raid in Suan Phung district of Ratchaburi province on December 31 in which six Thais were killed.

    A statement from the Burmese embassy in Bangkok stressed Rangoon's policy "not to harbour negative elements of neighbouring countries, not to provide sanctuary to armed groups, not to provide logistics and supplies including arms and ammunition".

    Rangoon therefore sought "such good-neighbourly policies from its neighbours also", it said.

    "It is most regrettable to see reports appearing in various Thai newspapers implying that Myanmar armed forces personnel might somehow be involved in the killing of six Thai nationals in Ratchaburi on Dec 31," the statement said.

    "These reports are completely groundless and the embassy wishes to state categorically that no Myanmar troops were involved in the incident," it added.

    "Myanmar and Thailand are neighbouring countries not only sharing the common border but also having a similar culture, tradition and religion," it said.

    "As fellow members of Asean it is in the interest of both countries and peoples as well as the region as a whole to develop cordial and friendly ties, " it said.

    "It is therefore hoped that the Thai media and officials would avoid unsubstantiated allegations which can have a detrimental effect on the relations between the two nations."
    Karen denounce Ratchaburi attack

    source : Bangkokpost

    Spent rifle casings planted at the scene

    The Karen National Union yesterday denounced the Dec 30 incursion in which six villagers were killed in Ratchaburi.

    In a statement, the KNU central executive committee condemned the night attack in Suan Phung district by foreign troops.

    Copies of the statement were distributed to communities along the Thai-Burmese border in Mae Sot district, Tak.

    "What happened was an invasion and a terrorist attack by armed troops from a border area under the control of Burmese soldiers," said the anti-Rangoon KNU. "We condemn the action and want the culprits to be tried and punished urgently."According to the KNU, border areas opposite Ratchaburi which are former God's Army strongholds are now under the control of forces of the ruling State Peace and Development Council.

    The Karen said the Rangoon junta had been trying to find allies in border areas to open new drug-smuggling routes in the face of anti-drug operations by the Karen National Liberation Army.

    "The SPDC still backs some Karen-speaking troops operating along the border for use in case of emergency," it said. "Reports by reliable sources show that a group of armed Karen-speaking guerrillas from a Rangoon-held area entered Thailand in the morning of that day. "Therefore, this clearly indicates that the sabotage attack was aimed to frame Karen or the KNU. We insist the KNU had nothing to do with this," read the statement. The border in Suan Phung district has been sealed as the hunt for the attackers continues.

    A source from the Surasi Task Force said the 29th Infantry Regiment's special task force had asked Burma's 280th battalion to help seal the border with the district while 200 troops and border patrol police scoured the area. Spent casings from G3 assault rifles, which are standard issue in the Burmese military, had been planted at the scene by Karen, he said.

    Lt-Col Saneh Bamrungkij of the Surasi task force said the attack might have been the work of God's Army guerrillas who had business conflicts with the victims and wanted to set up the Burmese troops.
    Burma denial puts people at risk

    source : Bangkokpost

    An American medical study has dramatically demonstrated the dangers of denial of the Aids epidemic. Data revealed important differences in knowledge about Aids between Burmese living in border refugee camps and Burmese workers-most of them illegal immigrants. Briefly put, people in the refugee camps had better education, more knowledge and were less at risk to HIV and Aids infections. The illegal immigrants were a vector for the spread of the virus and subsequent diseases.

    The dangers of denial have long been discussed and generally accepted by medical authorities. Indeed, Thailand has often been praised for the quality of its anti-Aids programmes through education. But the field study by Johns Hopkins University is one of the first, and extremely compelling pieces of evidence of just how important it is to let people know the truth about Aids.

    Thailand went through a period of denial after the first outbreak of the epidemic. Before authorities recognised the dangers of Aids, tens of thousands of citizens were already infected. Since then, a coalition of government and private groups has fought HIV/Aids in a responsible way. Thailand has not defeated this epidemic, but the growth of Aids in our country has stopped.

    That modest achievement is at risk. The influx of refugees and illegal workers is not directly to blame. Rather, it is the inability of the Burmese regime to accept the fact of a major epidemic. In recent weeks, members of the Rangoon dictatorship have again announced that Burma cannot have an Aids problem, because their people do not practice illicit sex. The Johns Hopkins study fills in the missing pieces. It proves that Burmese are uninformed or misinformed about Aids by their leaders.

    Such blindness would be sad if it were not so dangerous. Diseases know no borders, and neither HIV nor Aids recognises races or nationality. Yet, Burma allows no school classes on Aids, prohibits the promotion of condoms and bars all health studies by international experts. The United Nations has estimated Burma has a minimum of 700,000 Aids cases and 50,000 deaths. There is no way to verify these figures, but no one any longer believes the Burmese regime's denials.

    Many believe that Burma is a victim of its own policies. Denial is deeply steeped in the political system. The military junta must deny its close associations with the drug trade-and therefore is forced to deny that there is a serious drug addiction problem among Burmese. Therefore, as the denial-lie becomes larger, there are no needle-sharing drug addicts of Rangoon, Mandalay and other cities. And they cannot spread Aids through their needles or their after-drugs sex.

    The Johns Hopkins study among Burmese workers in Thailand showed that 85% of married women had never seen a condom. A shocking 13% of all the men had never used a condom, even once. More than half believed that birth control pills would prevent Aids.

    This is the attitude that Burmese bring to Thailand. More importantly, this is the knowledge that all Burmese have in their own country. It may be worse than that. There is no way to tell how many of the Burmese picked up even their tiny amount of education about Aids in Thailand.

    The Burmese regime will pay dearly for suppressing information and education about Aids. But there will not just be Burmese victims. The neighbours of Burma, including Thailand, are at risk. Even a fast change on Aids, along with an educational programme, will solve little.

    The Burmese dictators must stop promoting and profitting from the drug trafficking. This is the root of the country's political, social and health problems. So long as the regime is locked into a dependency on drug-dealing political allies, it is not free to work on the nation's most serious difficulties.