Daily News-March-02- 2001- Friday

  • US Again Black-Lists Burma for Drugs
  • Japan considers resuming full aid to Burma
  • Memo Feeds Concern That Exports to U.S. Help Burmese Junta
  • Salvation Army seeks food for Burmese refugees in Guam
  • UCLA students demand divestment in campus demonstration
  • Burma welcomes Thai pledge of noninterference to neighbors
  • Rescue Workers Find Body Of Top Burmese General
  • U.S. encouraged by Burma dialogue with Suu Kyi
  • Burma hits back at U.S. over drugs blacklisting
  • US Senator to file legislation banning apparel, textile imports from Burma
  • Bush Doesn't Certify Afghanistan, Burma In Drug Fight
  • Thai Army seized caffeine near Thai-Burma Border

    • US Again Black-Lists Burma for Drugs

    By Elaine Monaghan

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States said on Thursday it was keeping drug-producing countries Afghanistan and Myanmar on a black-list that robs them of virtually all aid for failing to cooperate in counternarcotics efforts.

    Colombia and Mexico were again ``certified'' as helping Washington stem the flow of illegal drugs, meaning no sanctions are imposed on them despite major involvement of elements in those states in producing and trafficking drugs to America.Assistant Secretary of State for International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs Randy Beers made the announcement in testimony before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee as part of an annual process of ``Narcotics Certification''.

    He said Cambodia and Haiti had failed to meet the criteria to be ``certified'' but President George W. Bush had waived their aid ban on grounds of U.S. national interests.He defended the system from critics in Latin America and at home who say the United States should do more to tackle the demand for drugs at home and spend less time punishing the countries which produce them.

    ``Though controversial, throughout its 15-year existence the certification process has proved to be an effective, if blunt, policy instrument for enhancing counternarcotics cooperation,'' Beers said.

    The other countries ``certified'' as cooperating with the United States were: The Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Pakistan, Panama, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.Nigeria and Paraguay, which last year were not certified as cooperating but had sanctions waived on U.S. national interests grounds, were certified, but they remained on a list of 24 major drug-producing or transit countries.Hong Kong and Taiwan were taken off that list after being included last year.

    Beers acknowledged there were problems with the system, introduced by Congress in 1986, which he said he had long supported, while adding that the United States should not hesitate to investigate alternatives.``Many governments resent what they describe as a unilateral, subjective assessment of their performance, with no reciprocal accountability from the United States,'' he said.``I would point out, however, that each determination is the product of a year-long consultative process.''

    He said embassies went back to governments to discuss progress and barriers in meeting benchmarks throughout the year. ``When the President finally makes his decisions on March 1, there should be no government taken by surprise,'' he said.
    Japan considers resuming full aid to Burma

    source : Reuters

    TOKYO, March 1 — Japan is considering resuming full-fledged official aid to Myanmar, which it halted in 1988 after the country's military crushed a pro-democracy uprising, Kyodo news agency cited officials as saying on Thursday.

    Tokyo is considering resuming full official development assistance (ODA) because of what it sees as a softening of the military government's stance, as evidenced by its meeting last October with democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time since 1995, Kyodo said.

    Japan has provided technological aid and grants for humanitarian purposes since 1995 but has held off from resuming full-fledged assistance, which would include new yen loans.

    Kyodo quoted government officials as saying Japan is ''cautiously studying'' resumption of ODA as it would not only signal a major shift in Japanese policy, but could also invite protests from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy and some Western countries, who continue to impose sanctions on Myanmar.

    Japan provided Myanmar with 50 billion yen ($426.1 million) in ODA up to 1988, the officials said, according to Kyodo. In contrast, grants for humanitarian purposes totaled only 880 million yen ($7.50 million) in fiscal 1999 and 1.5 billion yen ($12.78 million) in fiscal 2000, they said.

    Myanmar has been requesting Japanese support for such projects as dam and road construction, Kyodo cited the officials as saying.
    Memo Feeds Concern That Exports to U.S. Help Burmese Junta

    source :Newyork Times
    By STEVEN GREENHOUSE

    Myanmar, which has been governed by a military junta for more than a dozen years, is rapidly increasing apparel exports to the United States despite American economic sanctions against that country.

    A newly declassified State Department cable describes how factories in Myanmar, formerly Burma, have produced garments for leading American designers and retailers, including Kenneth Cole, Nautica, Jordache, Kmart and Wal-Mart.

    The cable, written by the American Embassy in Myanmar's capital, Yangoon, also known as Rangoon, to the Secretary of State voices concern that Myanmar's military leaders are benefiting financially from these shipments because most of the factories are joint ventures partly owned by the military government.

    "The Burmese garment industry is booming -- growing 45 percent in the last year," said the cable dated last July. "Factories on the northern outskirts of Rangoon are operating non-stop, producing winter clothes for the U.S. market."

    In 1999, the cable said, Myanmar exported $168 million worth of garments to the United States, but those shipments more than doubled last year, soaring to $403.7 million. That places Burma's apparel exports to the United States well above France's, at about the same level as Israel's exports to the United States.

    Four years ago, President Clinton banned all new American investments in Myanmar, but the government has not banned trade with that country, although it has encouraged companies not to do business there. Mr. Clinton took those actions because of the military junta's repression of the democratic opposition and its leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, a winner of the Nobel Peace Prize.

    The cable was obtained from Senator Tom Harkin, an Iowa Democrat who along with Senator Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican, and Senator Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, has called for the prohibition of apparel imports from Myanmar.

    "Here we have perhaps the most brutally repressive military regime in the world," Senator Harkin said. "And by importing all this apparel from there, we're putting close to half a billion dollars into their coffers every year.

    That money is going right to this brutally repressive regime and we're not doing anything about it. You talk about holes in our sanctions in Iraq, that's nothing compared to this."

    Most of Myanmar's garment factories, the cable states, have been financed by Korean, Taiwanese and Hong Kong manufacturers that have turned to Myanmar because they are bumping up against quotas imposed by the United States limiting imports from their countries. Myanmar, by contrast, has unfilled import quotas to the United States.

    Low pay is a major attraction for foreign manufacturers, the cable suggests. "Workers reportedly receive salaries ranging between 5,000 and 17,000 kyat (or $14 to $47 dollars) per month for a 48-hour work week," the cable said. "The lowest paid workers are trainees who receive 5,000 kyat per month or about U.S. 8 cents an hour."

    The cable also noted another reason that garment manufacturers are flocking to Myanmar -- labor unions are prohibited there.

    Describing a visit to a factory capable of producing one million shirts per year, the cable states, "The factory owners claimed that the Government of Burma Ministry of Labor adequately protected the workers and that there was no need for unions in Burma."

    Earlier this week, the State Department denounced Myanmar in its annual human rights report, finding that the military government deprived the most basic social and political rights.

    Last November, the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, recommended, in its strongest sanctions ever, that the organization's 175 member states review their business dealings with Myanmar because of the widespread use of forced labor there.

    "It's criminal that at the moment the administration is talking about increased repression in Burma, our government is allowing a huge increase in apparel imports from Burma under a very lax quota," said Charles Kernaghan, executive director of the National Labor Committee, a New York-based group that promotes workers rights.

    Jessica Moser, a Wal-Mart spokeswoman, said the company's American stores stopped importing apparel from Myanmar three years ago, although she added that Wal-Mart stores in other countries only stopped such imports about a year ago.

    Michele Jasukaitis, a Kmart spokeswoman, said, "We do not import directly from Burma, and we double-check our distribution centers for any indirect imports from Burma."

    Kenneth Cole officials acknowledged that one of the designer's subcontractors had been importing sweaters from Burma, but the company said it terminated such imports from Myanmar as soon as it learned about them several months ago.Nautica and Jordache officials did not return telephone calls.
    Salvation Army seeks food for Burmese refugees in Guam

    source : ABC

    The Salvation Army in Guam has begun accepting donations to help feed hundreds of Burmese awaiting asylum hearings in the U.S. Immigration and Naturalisation Service courtroom.

    The Corps Officer of the Guam Salvation Army Corps, Captain Dave Harmon, says many have been sponsored by different church organisations on Guam.

    But he says collecting enough money to feed everyone is proving daunting.

    Captain Harmon says at least one-thousand Burmese refugees are on the island, and by law, can't work, so they have no source of income until they receive asylum status which could take several months.

    The refugees arrived in Guam, saying they were fleeing religious persecution in their homeland.
    UCLA students demand divestment in campus demonstration

    By Hemesh Patel
    Daily Bruin
    U. California-Los Angeles

    (U-WIRE) LOS ANGELES -- A group of 10 students held a protest around the campus Thursday morning to represent the rights of 40 million people in Southeast Asia.

    The representatives from the Environmental Coalition demonstrated against the University of California Regents' investment in stocks with two companies that do business in Burma.

    "The money invested in these companies goes to the military regime that has taken over the country," said Christine Riordan, a third-year Spanish and international developmental studies student.

    The companies in question are Halliburton, a corporation that manufactures hardware for oil and gas pipelines, and Proctor and Gamble.

    According to coalition members, the regents already invest hundreds of millions of dollars elsewhere, and divesting in these companies would not be such a difficult task.Last month, for example, the regents decided to stop investing in tobacco corporations.

    "I would argue they don't benefit from Burma," said Kevin Rudiger, a second-year graduate student in urban planning. "A number of companies, including Levi-Strauss, have pulled out for ethical reasons and also corruption."

    While considering the tobacco divestment, several regents raised concerns over how such financial maneuvers could affect the UC's portfolio.Their investment consultants, Wilshire Associates, warned there could be a "slippery slope" in investment oversight if the regents' divested in too many companies.UC spokesman Trey Davis said the regents routinely receive a wide range of concerns from student groups each year regarding investments."The item hasn't come up on the regents' agenda yet," Davis said.

    Demonstrators were clad in dark clothes, wearing tombstones with statistics about the situation in the country. They played traditional Burmese music as they marched. Students also wore a piece of cloth over their mouths, representing the silencing of the Burmese people by the military regime.Two of the demonstrators were carrying a coffin and some were chained to each other.

    Military rule in Burma began in 1988 and on Aug. 8 of that year, massive protests ensued, involving thousands of demonstrators.

    "The military opened fire on demand and killed over 6,000 people," Rudiger said.

    The democratically elected leader of the country, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been put under house arrest by the government and has remained unrecognized by the regime for 11 years. She received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991 for her humanitarian work in the country.

    Rudiger said journalists, Burmese people and even family members have very limited access to her.

    "Her husband, who was British, was dying of cancer and wanted to see his wife for the last time," Rudiger said. "They would not let her leave and he died without seeing his wife ever again."

    A tombstone sign one student wore read "100,009 refugees along the Thai Burma border," and another said, "One out of 20 Burmese forced to flee their homes."

    In addition to the demonstration, the students promoted the evening's screening of a documentary outlining the condition in Burma. After the screening, Burmese exiles spoke about their experiences.

    EC members said the demonstration was not against the regents.

    "Once they understand what is going on in Burma, we hope they will take some social leadership and stop investing in these companies," Rudiger said.

    Los Angeles has a Burmese population of about 10,000 -- the biggest outside of Southeast Asia.

    Rudiger said the population in the city is active in aiming to stop corporations from investing in their company until democracy is restored.

    "UC students have the opportunity to affect the lives of 40 million people," Rudiger said.
    Burma welcomes Thai pledge of noninterference to neighbors

    YANGON March 1 Kyodo - Myanmar Foreign Minister Win Aung on Thursday welcomed a statement by Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai that the new Thai government would pursue the ''Asian way'' of not interfering in the internal affairs of its neighbors.

    Win Aung told reporters, ''We are not only governed by the 'Asian way' of noninterference, but also by the five principles of peaceful coexistence, mutual respect for territorial integrity, sovereignty, nonaggression and noninterference in each other's affairs.''

    In Bangkok on Thursday, Surakiart said Thailand wants to maintain good ties with its neighbors and would not meddle in their internal affairs or allow rebel groups to use its territory as a base.

    Surakiart added, ''The Asian way does not mean we do not respect human rights and democracy...It does not mean we do not work together for democratization. But we have to take the Asian character into account in the conduct of foreign affairs.''
    Rescue Workers Find Body Of Top Burmese General

    Friday March 2

    YANGON (AP)--Rescue workers in Myanmar have pulled out the body of a top general from a river, 11 days after he was killed in a helicopter crash, officials said Friday.

    The body of Maj. Gen. Sit Maung was found Thursday, 13 kilometers from the site where the M-17 helicopter crashed in Salween river in southeastern Myanmar on Feb. 19, an official said, speaking on customary condition of anonymity.

    With the latest discovery, divers have so far recovered 14 bodies. The search is continuing for two remaining missing passengers, navy Col. Kyaw Tin Hla and Lt. Col. Maung Maung Thet, a general staff officer of the Defense Ministry.

    The helicopter was carrying 28 military officials and one civilian when it went down. Thirteen people swam to safety or were rescued.The death of so many important military officials including two Cabinet ministers was the biggest blow suffered by the ruling State Peace and Development Council, as the junta calls itself.

    The most senior general killed in the crash was Lt. Gen. Tin Oo, the fourth-most powerful official in the ruling council whose members took power in September 1988 after crushing an uprising for democracy.
    U.S. encouraged by Burma dialogue with Suu Kyi

    WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell is encouraged by reports of a dialogue between the government of Myanmar and pro-democracy opposition leader Aung Sang Suu Kyi, a State Department spokesman said on Thursday.

    "The secretary was encouraged" by a report from United Nations special envoy to Myanmar Razali Ismail that indicated the dialogue was "moving forward", spokesman Richard Boucher said at a briefing.

    "We hope that the dialogue will lead to national reconciliation in Burma (the name Washington uses for Myanmar) and democratic transition to a civilian government," he said.

    Myanmar's ruling military junta faces mounting international pressure to negotiate with the beleaguered opposition and to improve its human rights record after the arrest of thousands of pro-democracy dissidents and the closure of hundreds of opposition offices.Washington's annual report on global human rights, released on Monday grouped Myanmar with Cuba and North Korea as the world's three worst nations for human rights abuses.

    "Although we're encouraged by the ongoing dialogue and recent releases of some political prisoners, we're mindful that the Burmese regime continues to systematically violate the fundamental, basic human rights of its citizens," said Boucher. "We urge the Burmese regime to move forward in its dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and Burma's democratically elected representatives."

    U.S. State Department official Ralph Boyce met separately this week with officials of Myanmar's military government and with Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate who leads the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).It was the first meeting between a U.S. official and Suu Kyi since September, when she was placed under de facto house arrest after she tried to visit opposition party members in the northern city of Mandalay.

    The NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990 but has never been allowed to govern.
    Burma hits back at U.S. over drugs blacklisting

    source : Reuters

    YANGON, March 2 — Myanmar's military government hit back at the United States on Friday after Washington announced it was keeping the country on its blacklist of countries accused of failing to cooperate in counter-narcotics efforts.

    The inclusion of Myanmar and Afghanistan in the blacklist bars them from receiving U.S. aid.

    Although Cambodia and Haiti also failed to meet the criteria for being deemed cooperative in narcotics suppression, President George W. Bush waived their aid bans on the grounds of U.S. national interest.

    ''It is disappointing to learn that the U.S. State Department has again put Myanmar under the uncooperative country list, while some countries, even though failing to meet the criteria, have been waived on grounds of U.S. national interest,'' Myanmar's government said in an English-language statement.

    Myanmar is widely regarded as a major producer of opium, its refined form heroin, and methamphetamines, and its military government has been accused of supporting the drugs trade along with allied ethnic minority militias.But Yangon insists it is trying to stamp out drugs.The government said the U.S. should offer assistance in combating drugs, and should do more to tackle its own demand for illegal narcotics.

    ''The efforts to eliminate narcotic drugs cannot and must not be pushed on the shoulders of other nations while the nation itself, with the biggest drug market...is self-exempted from any kind of blame,'' the statement said.

    ''Myanmar believes that the U.S. government should also shoulder its shared responsibility in this fight against narcotic drugs. Giving out some funds to certain countries while scapegoating others will not solve much of the drug problem we are facing today.''
    US Senator to file legislation banning apparel, textile imports from Burma

    WASHINGTON, March 1 (AFP)

    A leading US Senator charged Thursday US lawmakers failed to halt a surge in apparel and textile imports from Burma, where he said workers are being abused by a "brutal military regime."

    Senator Thomas Harkin also vowed to introduce legislation to ban all apparel and textile imports from Burma -- and called for immediate congressional hearings into US-Burma commercial ties.

    The Iowa senator cited a cable sent last July from the US Embassy in Myanmar to the State Department revealing such brand-name US companies as FILA, Jordache and Arrow Gulf are increasingly turning to Burma for manufacturing, where workers typically earn seven cents an hour and factories stay open 24 hours a day.

    "It is outrageous that 403 million dollars from American apparel imports last year alone went straight into the coffers of Burma's brutal military regime," Harkin said.

    "I will introduce legislation soon to ban all apparel and textile imports from Burma."

    Harkin said he had requested a copy of the cable from the State Department in November and then had to wait nearly four months to obtain what his office described as "very damaging information."

    "The cable revealed strong evidence that our sanctions policy in Burma has been far more apparent than real," his office said in a statement, adding Washington had, in effect, allowed the military regime easy access to the US apparel market.

    The United States banned new US investment in Burma in 1997. Since then, according to Harkin, US apparel imports from the country have increased 372 percent.

    "Since our diplomats in Rangoon blew the whistle last July," the statement said, "US policymakers in the State Department and elsewhere in Washington have done nothing to bring our policy in line with our rhetoric."

    The cable said garment manufacturers in Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan subcontract orders that cannot be filled under their own US quota restrictions to factories in Burma.

    "US quotas on Burmese garment imports are high enough that they have never been reached," the cable said.

    Simon Billenness, a Burma analyst with Trillium Asset Management in Boston, asserted foreign firms doing business in the country are directly financing "the military's purchase of weapons used to deny its citizens basic rights."

    "Virtually all foreign companies must enter into joint ventures with the military government's state-owned enterprises."
    Bush Doesn't Certify Afghanistan, Burma In Drug Fight

    Source : Dow Jones

    WASHINGTON--President George W. Bush decided Thursday not to certify that Afghanistan and Burma are cooperating with the U.S. in the fight against narcotics trafficking.

    As a result, the U.S. government will have to place "substantial restrictions on most types of U.S. assistance to these countries," the White House said in a written statement.

    Bush also decided that two countries, Cambodia and Haiti, are also not cooperating in the fight against drug trafficking, but he also ruled that it was in the U.S. interests to continue the flow of aid to these countries.

    Bush did certify that 20 other countries that are watched by the U.S. are cooperating in the fight against drug trafficking.

    These countries are the Bahamas, Bolivia, Brazil, China, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, India, Jamaica, Laos, Mexico, Nigeria, Pakistan, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Thailand, Venezuela and Vietnam.

    The president must review the list of countries that are being watched every year to grant them certification or withhold certification.

    During the Clinton administration, this certification became controversial when the U.S. withheld certification from Colombia for a time and debated whether to certify that Mexico was helping.
    Thai Army seized caffeine near Thai-Burma Border

    Source : Bangkok Post

    A large quantity of caffeine destined for Burma was seized yesterday at a military checkpoint in Sangkhlaburi district.

    Acting on a tip-off, about 40 troops from the 9th Infantry Division and Surasee Task Force manning the checkpoint at Ban Nam Krirk in Tambon Nong Lu stopped a ten-wheel truck.

    Found were 120 sacks of caffeine, a precursor for making methamphetamine, weighing three tonnes. Driver Chern Chancharoen and his wife, Mrs Rampueng, were kept for questioning. Inquiries revealed that the items on the truck belonged to Vithaya Pong-archin, a trader who had been sending goods to Burma.

    Maj-Gen Mana Prachakchit, commander of the Surasee Task Force, said that someone with access to that much caffeine precursor could manufacture up to 80 million methamphetamine pills.

    Traders were re-routing goods through Kanchanaburi after the Third Army closed checkpoints in the North.