Daily News- March 25 - 2003- Tuesday
  • UN rights envoy: "I am very angry"
  • Myanmarese journo-turned-hijacker says he wants to face trial
  • US rebukes Myanmar over UN bugging storm
  • Burmese Government Denies Role in Bugging Prison Interviews
  • UN envoy's hasty departure confirms Burma's pariah status


    • UN rights envoy: "I am very angry"

    YANGON, March 24 (AFP) - UN human rights envoy to Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro on Monday cut short a mission here after finding bugging equipment in a room he used to interview political prisoners, saying he was "very angry".

    "I have cut short my mission because of the incident relating to the standard operating procedures. I am very angry," Pinheiro told reporters.

    "I informed the authorities that while interviewing prisoners at Insein Prison on Saturday 22nd March I found a functioning listening device in the form of a wireless microphone placed under the table in the room which I was using to conduct my interviews," he said."Under these circumstances I felt obliged to interrupt my mission."

    Pinheiro, who is on his fifth mission here aimed at assessing the human rights situation in the country, has already met Myanmar's number three, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, and Foreign Minister Win Aung.He has also met with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel peace laureate who heads the National League for Democracy (NLD).

    "After presenting my complaint to the authorities concerned I cancelled all my engagements since the evening of Saturday. I have not met anybody. I have not gone to see Aung San Suu Kyi for the second time as I promised because this would not have been consistent with my decision," the Brazilian academic said.

    "I am very angry about this incident and I straight away decided to leave the country," he added.Pinheiro said he was leaving despite authorities pledging to investigate the incident.

    "The authorities expressed regret on learning of the incident from me and they gave assurances that the incident will be investigated in full," he said.

    "Since my first mission to Myanmar I have sought and received from the authorities of the country assurances that there would be no interference with the conduct of my proceedings," he said, adding that these included the respect of confidentiality in prisoner interviews.

    "I also reiterated that all persons who operate with me should be free from any form of intimidation, harassment or punishment before, during and after my missions. In this regard the Myanmar authorities reaffirmed their commitment to this principle."

    Pinheiro has stressed his top priority was the release of some 1,200 to 1, 300 political prisoners in Myanmar's jails.

    He said he had met with Home Minister U Tin Hlaing and Deputy Foreign Minister Khin Maung Win and told them the slow release of political prisoners was "unacceptable".

    As one of few prominent international figures advocating engagement with Myanmar rather than isolation, Pinheiro's departure is likely to disappoint Myanmar's leaders.Western governments have imposed a raft of sanctions on Myanmar in efforts to pressure the military rulers to make concessions to the democratic opposition.

    Another UN envoy, Razali Ismail, has helped broker national reconciliation talks between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, but the talks are widely believed to have stalled.

    "I have not seen substantive steps towards substantive political dialogue," Pinheiro said.

    The envoy arrived in military-ruled Myanmar last Thursday and had been due to leave Wednesday. He said he did not know when or if he would return.

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    Myanmarese journo-turned-hijacker says he wants to face trial

    PTI News, India

    Kolkata,Monday, March 24, 2003: Soe Myint, the Myanmarese jounalist facing trial here for hijacking a Thai aircraft to the metropolis in 1990, today expressed his determination to fight his case, even though his supporters have appealed to the Centre and West Bengal government for its withdrawal.

    "I have made a political decision to face the case even though I know I may be awarded life imprisonment. I will not relent in the fight for our struggle for restoration of democracy in Myanmar," Myint, the founding editor of 'Mizzima' internet news agency, told reporters here.

    The journalist, who had come out in support for pro- democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi back home, said "I was shocked when I was arrested by the West Bengal police. But I understand the compulsions of the government."

    He, however, declined to elaborate on the matter citing legal obligations. Myint would face a fresh trial from April two following reopening of a case filed against him after he allegedly hijacked a Jakarta-bound flight, which was made to land at NSC Bose International Airport here on November 10, 1990.

    He was speaking on the occasion of release of 'Burma File : A Question of Democracy', a compilation of news reports of Mizzima correspondents on the prevailing situation under the junta in Myanmar.

    "I hope we will get a democratic government in our country soon. I am sure the Indians will continue to support our movement," he said.

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    US rebukes Myanmar over UN bugging storm

    WASHINGTON, March 24 (AFP) - The United States rebuked Myanmar on Monday, after a UN envoy cut short a visit to the military-ruled state in outrage after finding a room he was using to interview prisoners was bugged.

    United Nations Human Rights envoy to Myanmar Paulo Sergio Pinheiro cut short his mission to Yangon, saying he was "very angry."

    "We regret that the government of Burma failed to live up to commitments it agreed to," before Pinheiro's visit, said a State Department official, using Myanmar's former name."We understand the Burmese government has promised an investigation into this incident. We encourage them to do so," the official said, on condition of anonymity.

    Pinheiro said he found bugging equipment in a room he was using to interview political prisoners in the notorious Insein prison outside Yangon on Saturday."I found a functioning listening device in the form of a wireless microphone placed under the table in the room which I was using to conduct my interviews," he said."Under these circumstances I felt obliged to interrupt my mission."

    Pinheiro was on his fifth mission to the country and had already met Myanmar's number three leader, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

    The United States is a strong supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi and a frequent critic of Myanmar which it accuses of apalling human rights abuses and suppression of democracy.

    It is among several Western governments which have imposed a raft of sanctions on Myanmar in efforts to pressure the military into concessions to the opposition which won an overwhelming election victory in 1990 never recognised by the authorities.

    Another UN envoy, Razali Ismail, has helped broker national reconciliation talks between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, but the talks are widely believed to have stalled.

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    Burmese Government Denies Role in Bugging Prison Interviews

    VOA News

    Burma's military government says it did not approve the placing of a hidden listening device in a room where a U.N. envoy was interviewing Burmese political prisoners.

    The U.N. envoy, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro of Brazil, left Rangoon Monday. He told reporters he was angry, unhappy and frustrated after finding a wireless microphone under a table in an interview room at Rangoon's Insein prison.

    In a statement released Tuesday, Burma's foreign ministry apologized for what happened, saying Rangoon is investigating the matter.

    Mr. Pinheiro filed an official protest with Burma's military government. He said Rangoon promised him private access to the political prisoners and that it would not interfere with the proceedings.

    Mr. Pinheiro was making his fifth visit to Burma to assess the human rights situation. He was gathering facts to update a report on Burma that he will deliver to the U.N. Human Rights Commission in Geneva next week.

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    UN envoy's hasty departure confirms Burma's pariah status

    BANGKOK, March 25 (AFP) - A microphone found under the table where a UN envoy was "confidentially" interviewing political prisoners: Burma could hardly find a better way of reinforcing its image as a black sheep of the international community.

    A "very angry" Paulo Sergio Pinheiro announced in Rangoon on Monday he was curtailing by two days a visit during which he was updating a report on the human rights situation in the military-ruled country, which he is due to present to the Human Rights Commission in Geneva.

    "I informed the authorities that while interviewing prisoners at Insein Prison on Saturday 22nd March I found a functioning listening device in the form of a wireless microphone placed under the table in the room which I was using to conduct my interviews," a bitter Pinheiro said before his departure.

    "I am very angry about this incident and I straight away decided to leave the country," he said.

    Despite being focused on its military campaign in Iraq, Washington reacted immediately.

    "We regret that the government of Burma failed to live up to commitments it agreed to" before Pinheiro's visit, a State Department official said using the country's former name.

    The incident, which Burma's ministry of foreign affairs said Tuesday was being investigated and was "sincerely regretted", will only further tarnish the image of Burma's military leadership.

    The country, already besieged by international sanctions because of its poor human rights record, had found in Pinheiro an interlocutor who advocated a soft rather than confrontational approach in dealing with the regime.

    Earlier this month he had told the international community that "the policy option now should be engagement, not isolation."

    Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD) chairman Khun Tun Oo told AFP Pinheiro's sudden departure represented a setback for the national reconciliation process.

    "We can say it's a backward step... not only with regard to the human rights issue, but also the national reconciliation process, which are all interrelated."

    A Rangoon-based diplomat said the incident was "very regrettable".

    "It's sad for everybody, for the regime, also for the political prisoners and for Mr. Pinheiro. It cannot push things forward," he said.

    In exchange for Pinheiro's patient and conciliatory approach, he has been granted during his last five missions -- including this week's ill-fated one -- total freedom in his interviews across the country.

    The junta had committed not to penalise or prosecute the potentially sensitive people he spoke to during his interviews, including prisoners or ethnic minorities.

    This was a great change compared to the treatment given to his predecessor, Mauritian Rajsoomer Lallah, who was never even permitted by the regime to set foot in Burma.

    After such a breach in the moral contract between the junta and Pinheiro, the question of whether the envoy may resign has now been raised.

    "He will certainly ask himself the question after such an incident," the diplomat said.

    Pinheiro already had reason to be frustrated with Burma's leaders.

    Before he left Rangoon he told the junta that the very slow release of political prisoners was "unacceptable". There are still 1,200 to 1,300 in Burma's jails, and Pinheiro has made their release his priority.

    The junta has freed a few hundred prisoners in the last two years as goodwill gestures, but has failed to release any recently with the exception of a group of 45 people released a few days before Pinheiro's arrival last week.

    At the same time, dialogue on democratic transition expected to take place between the top generals and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi has stalled.

    Pinheiro's discouragement seems to have already been felt by the other UN envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail.

    The special envoy of UN secretary-general Kofi Annan had played an essential part in brokering landmark talks between the junta and the Nobel Peace Prize winner which began at the end of 2000. But since Aung San Suu Kyi's release from house arrest last May, nothing has moved.

    "The general opinion is that the number one (Senior General Than Shwe) has put on the brakes," the diplomat said.

    On the eve of his ninth mission to Rangoon last November, Razali threatened to resign if "if I think I am not going anywhere with the discussions".

    And as Pinheiro stormily left Burma, it seems Razali is having difficulties getting a new invitation to Rangoon, which he had promised to return to early this year.

    "The horizon is totally dark," the diplomat said.

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