BurmaNet News: March 1, 1996 #354

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The BurmaNet News:March 1, 1996
Issue #354

HEADLINES:
==========
THE NATION; BURMA, OIL AND ARMS: THE FRENCH CONNECTION
THE NATION: BURMA FACING UP TO RAMPANT PRICE INCREASE
THE NATION: BURMA, OIL AND ARMS: THE FRENCH CONNECTION
BKK POST: BANHARN'S VISIT SEEN AS KEY TO OPENING BURMA 
BORDER POINTS
BKK POST: BETTER HIGHWAY SECURITY URGED
------------------------------------------------------------
THE NATION; BURMA, OIL AND ARMS: THE FRENCH CONNECTION

March 1, 1996

Activists claim that French firm Total?s hands have 
becomedirtied by its support for the Rangoon government, Aung 
Zaw writes.


AS President Jacques Chirac heads for the Asia-Europe summit 
this week, Burmese activists are watching for clues of a shift 
in the foreign policy of France, a country some have called 
the most Rangoon-friendly in Europe.
French ambassador to Thailand Buernard pottier said recently 
that paris had adopted a more ?coherent? foreign policy since 
Chirac came to power. What this means for issues like human 
rights in countries like Burma, however remains to be seen.
Burmese activist in Parais says that the earliest signs are 
not reassuring. They point to what they charge is a press 
campaign in the pro-Chirac daily Figaro give the junta in 
Burma a more respectable ?face.? 
If it is true, it will be good news for the State Law and 
Order Restoration Council (Slorc) which has ruled Burma in the 
absence of an electoral mandate or constitution for almost 
seven years.
The Figaro articles in question were written by Thierry 
Desjardins, a friend and long-time supporter of Chirac In one 
he states: ?Burma is now on the right track economically. 
Experts foresee this country will become one of the most 
powerful of  Asia?s dragon in 21st century.? 
A member of Info BIRMANIE, a Paris-based group, said Thierry 
Desjardins?s articles paid little attention to human rights or 
environmental issues and did not reflect the reality in Burma.
?Burma?s prisons are filled with political prisoners. More 
recently, the military regime cut a deal with notorious drug 
dealer Khun Sa. These are important things the Chirac 
adminstration should focus on.? 
?Like it or not, France?s position on human rights issue is 
whisy-washy,? he said.
Unlike in the US where Burmese and Americans activists are 
campaigning against Slorc and urging Washington to impose 
trade sanctions on Burma the French public has little interest 
and information about Burma. ?They are not well-informed what 
is happening in Burma, they don?t even know where Burma is 
located,? said the Info BIRMANIE worker.
The French public may not know where Burma is. But French 
businessmen are there. France is the leader among Western 
countries doing business in Burma, Ambassador Pottier said 
last year.
?French businessmen normally prefer to follow the leader when 
it comes to business, but this time they are in the 
forefront,? the ambassador was quoted saying by the Agence 
France Press news service. More and more French businessmen 
were contacting the embassy each month he said. Pottier said 
much of the interest was coming from French businessmen who 
had rushed to invest in Vietnam and then became discouraged at 
the red tape and corruption involved in doing business there. 
Key French exports to Burma were gas turbines, French railway 
equipment and ATR passenger planes.
French tourists also lead the pack in visits to Burma among 
Westerners, in visits to Burma. Burma activists in Paris point 
to this as evidence of  the leading role French travel 
agencies are taking in promoting Burma?s official tourism 
campaign ?Visit Myanmar Year? campaign. A French airline may 
be the first European carrier to offer direct flights between 
Rangoon and Europe, they said. 
As of September 1995, French investment in Burma totalled 
US$455 million, according to Burmese statistics. A large 
portion was money invested by French firm Total in oil and gas 
exploration projects. 
The Gulf of Martaban offshore oil contract signed in 1991 
between Burma?s Myanmar Oil & Gas Enterprise (MOGE) and the 
Total.
The links between the French government and Total are string. 
Total?s top echolons are dominated by former government 
officilas and diplomats. The French government owns 5% of 
Total and 14,46% of its subsidiary companies.
When Gen Maung Aye, vice-chairman of Slorc, visited France as 
a special guest of Total he was given a red-carpet treatment 
and he met business leaders in France and some government 
officials. 
While Total claims that its interests in Burma are purely 
commercial, some observers say the oil company has already 
found itself an unwitting partner in the darker side of doing 
business in Rangoon.
The French narcotics watch group, Observatoire Geopolitical 
Des Drogues (OGD) charged in a 1993 publication: ?Payments by 
oil companies (mainly Total, the only one ready to drill) have 
already been used by Burma?s military dictatorship to disguise 
that fact that the sale of heroin finances weapons purchases. 
Such purchases have amounted to US $2 billion in the past 
three years, according to SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace 
Research Institute).? 
The narcotics trade monitor went on to say that: ?....smaller 
weapons contracts have been concluded between Slorc and Poland 
(purchase of 24 used helicopters, plus pilot training) and 
Portugal (three cargoes of motars and ammunition).?
The OGD questioned: ?How could Poland, headed by Nobel Peace 
Prize winner Lech Walesa, accept narco-dollars for the sale of 
military equipment to a regime that is repressing a fellow 
Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi?? 
But it said: ?Warsaw?s embarrassed answer was that ?Poland was 
paid with income from Total.? But Total denied any implication 
in weapons and drug trafficking saying ?...in 1992, only $15 
million was paid to MOGE, in exchange for data on the oil 
field.? The OGD said: ?Oil-field development should make it 
all the easier for 
Burma?s narco-dictatorship to disguise its narco-dollars as 
petro-dollars. Heroin income would therefore allow Slorc to 
remain solvent until the real oil money begins to flow 
sometime in 1995-96.? 
Burma activists in Bangkok concede there is concrete proof 
that Rangoon?s arms purchases were funded with drug money. 
They charge there is evidence, however, to suggest that Total 
did help fund the helicopter purchase.
A Bangkok-based NGO, The Southeast Asia Information Network 
(SAIN) has pointed to the involment of Jean Pichon, a former 
military attache in Bangkok 
now an arms dealer, to back up their charges. Sain claims that 
Pichon brokered the deal. Pichon,however, could not be reached 
for comment.

Drug allegation

In January, notorious drug kingpin Khun Sa surrendered to 
Slorc. But analysts believe his departure from scence will 
have little impact on the flow of drugs from Burma because 
there are many more drug dealers along the China-Burma border 
aredy to step in and take over his business. 
In fact many narcotics officers believe the Wa and Kokang 
minorities have been given a free hand carry out their dirty 
business follwing the signing of cease-fire agreement with 
Slorc in 1989. 
?Burma is heading to a narco-state because of  the way it 
treats drug leaders leniently and turns a blind eye to drug 
trafficking,? A Rangoon-based diplomat recently remarked.
Indeed, Chirac?s visit comes ast a time when allegations are 
being made that France has gone soft on its pledges to fight 
the international drug trade.
Barry James of the International Herald Tribune wrote in 
November: ?Although it [France] has some of the toughest drug 
laws in Europe, France has apparently turned a blind eye to 
the huge amount of narcotics being smuggled in from Morocco.?
Burma was the only Southeast Asian country late president 
Francois Mitterand declined to visit. A French citizen who 
watched Paris-Rangoon move said he won?t be surprised to see 
Chirac in Rangoon shaking hands with military leaders. ?Money 
talks,? he uttered.


****************
THE NATION: BURMA FACING UP TO RAMPANT PRICE INCREASE

March 1, 1996

AUNG HLA TUN

Reuter

RANGOON - Rocketing prices of essentials such as rice and 
cooking oil have sent inflation soaring in recent months, 
ringing alarm bells in impoverished Burma.

So severe is the problem that the Slorc has taken action to 
curb runaway prices, heading off the type of crisis that 
brought down the previous socialist government in 1988, 
private analysts and government sources said.

"The uprising and demonstrations that took place in 1988 
were mainly because of the economic difficulties," Minister 
of Trade Lieutenant General Tun Kyi said at a recent 
symposium.

For the first time, after 26 years of isolation and self-
imposed exile from the rest of the world, Burma is enjoying 
a heavy flow of foreign investment, mainly in the services 
sector, under the leadership of the Slorc.

The growing foreign investment in the country, and strong 
economic growth and certain economic reforms fathered by the 
Slorc have all fuelled inflation, analysts and government 
sources said.

The Minister for National Planning and Economic Development, 
Brigadier General David Abel, detailed Burma's hefty 
economic growth rates at a recent top-level coordination 
committee meeting.

He said Burma's economy as measured by gross domestic 
product is set to grow a provisional 9.8 per cent in fiscal 
1994-95 (April-March) compared with 7.5 per cent in 1994-95 
and 6 per cent in 1993-94.

Lieutenant General Tun Kyi put foreign investment in Burma, 
mainly from Singapore, Thailand, Japan and the US, at end-
December 1995 at a total of over US$3 billion.

"The issue of inflation is inevitable since more and more 
has to be invested for national reconstruction, but the rate 
of inflation must not be out of control," General Than Shwe.

He called for all-out efforts to bring down production costs 
by stressing frugality in spending funds. Commodity prices 
would stabilise and fall only when production and 
distribution costs fell, the general said.

Most of the side-effects of inflation are felt in major 
cities, the border region and the capital city of Rangoon 
where the official food price index has jumped.

Official data show the Rangoon index rose to 853.61 (base 
100 in 1986) up to October 1995 from 691.90 in fiscal 1994-
95 and 418.65 in 1992-93.

Some residents attribute the jump in inflation to increased 
government taxes and utility rates. Others said domestic 
shortages of essentials may be due to excessive exports of 
some items to earn much-needed foreign exchange.

Asked what he exported, a local exporter who declined to be 
identified said "sesamum, pulses, onions, furniture, leather 
and marine products - you name it". These are consumer items 
much sought after by local residents.

Electricity and water charges have gone up and parking 
charges, previously unheard of in downtown Rangoon, were 
imposed a few months ago at a rate of 10 kyats per hour.

At the official rate, one US dollar is worth 5.75 kyats 
while the black-market rate is about 125 kyats to the 
dollar. Government-licensed exchanges convert one US dollar 
into foreign exchange certificates at the rate of 123 kyats.

The price of a pyi (two kilogrammes) of the most popular 
Emahta rice has now risen to 60 kyats at retail stores from 
the officially-announced cost of 41.11 kyats in 1993-94 and 
11.72 kyats in 1991.

A viss (1.63 kilos) of cooking oil (ground nut oil) costs 
200 kyats in shops now compared with official figures of 
129.85 in 1993/94 and 66.51 kyats in 1991.

Two rounds of salary increases for civil servants in 1989 
and 1993, the sale of subsidised commodities and free 
transport to work have all failed to cushion the effect of 
inflation, some government employees said. (TN)

****************

THE NATION: BURMA, OIL AND ARMS: THE FRENCH CONNECTION

March 1, 1996

Activists claim that French firm total?s hands have become 
directed by its support for the Rangoon government, Aunt Zaw 
writes.

As President Jacques Chirac heads to Thailand for the Asia-
Europe summit this week, Burmese activists are watching for 
clues of a shift in the foreign policy of France, a country 
some have called the most Rangoon friendly in Europe.

French ambassador to Thailand Buernard Pottier said recently 
that Paris had adopted a more "coherent" foreign policy 
since Chirac came to power. What this means cor issue like 
human rights in countries like Burma, however, remains to be 
seen.

Burmese activists living in Paris say that the earliest 
signs are not reassuring. They point to what they charge is 
a press campaign in the pro-Chirac daily Figaro to give the 
junta in Burma a more respectable "face". If it is true, it 
will be good news for the Slorc which has ruled Burma in the 
absence of an electoral mandate or constitution for almost 
seven years.

The Figaro article in question were written by Thierry 
Desjardins, a long time supporter and friend of Chirac.

In one he states: "Burma is now on the right track 
economically. Experts foresee this country will become one 
of of the most powerful of Asia's dragon in 21st century."

A member of Info BIRMANIE, a Paris-based Burmese opposition 
group, said Thierry Desjardins's articles paid little 
attention to human rights 9or environmental issues and did 
not reflect the reality in Burma.

"Burma's prisons are filled with political prisoners. More 
recently, the military regime cut a deal with notorious drug 
deal Khun Sa. These are important things the Chirac 
administration should focus on.

"Like it ornot, France's position on human rights issues is 
whishy-washy," he said.

Unlike in the US where Burmese and Americans activists are 
campaigning against Slorc and urging Washington to impose 
trade sanctions on Burma the French public has little 
interest or information about Burma. "They are not well-
informed about what is happening in Burma. They don't even 
know where Burma is located," said the Info BIRMANIE worker.

The French public may not know where Burma is. But French 
businessmen are there. France is the leader among Western 
countries doing business in Burma, Ambassador Pottier said 
last year.

"French businessmen normally prefer to follow the leader 
when it comes to business, but this time they are in the 
forefront," the ambassador was quoted as saying by the 
official Agence France Presse news service. More and more 
French businessmen were contacting the embassy each month he 
said. Pottier said much of the interest was coming from 
French businessmen who had rushed to invest in Vietnam but 
had become discouraged by the red tape and corruption 
involved in doing business there. Key French exports to 
Burma include gas turbines, French railway equipement and 
ATR passenger planes.

French tourists also lead the pack among Westerners in 
visits to Burma, ahead of Americans. Burma activists in 
French point to this as evidence of the leading role French 
travel agencies are taking in promoting Burma's official 
tourism campaign, "Visit Myanmar Year". A French airline may 
also be the first European carrier to offer direct flights 
between Rangoon and Europe, they said.

As of September 1995, French investment in Burma totalled 
$455 million, according to Burmese government statistics. A 
large porting was money invested by French firm Total in oil 
and gas explo


BKK POST: BANHARN'S VISIT SEEN AS KEY TO OPENING BURMA 
BORDER POINTS

March 1, 1996

BORDER checkpoints will be reopened after Prime Minister 
Banharn Silpa-archa officially visits Burma, according to 
Supreme Commander Viroj Saengsnit.

Gen Viroj, 59, said Banharn agreed to make an official visit 
to Burma on March 17, adding that during the visit a joint 
communique would be signed by both countries' leaders.

"The Burmese ambassador has informed me that the border 
would be reopened only after our prime minister makes his 
official trip to Burma where both leaders would sign the 
joint communique," he said.

Gen Viroj said there still were many things to be settled by 
Thailand before the prime minister could launch his official 
trip.

He said the prime minister was still to make a final 
decision on several key border issues. He did not elaborate.

He said Burma still insisted Thailand must dredge a channel 
on the Moei River before the Mae Sot-Myawaddy border 
checkpoint could be reopened.

Burma suspended the go ahead of a Thai-Burmese Friendship 
Bridge in June last year to protest a move by Thailand to 
fortify the river bank with rocks and boulders.

Army Deputy Commander in-Chief Chetha Thanajaro said 
yesterday a border checkpoint in Ranong opposite Kawthaung 
could be reopened soon.

"It is only a matter of time before the border is reopened," 
he said after meeting Burmese Southeast Command commander 
Maj-Gen Khet Sein at the Andaman Club Hotel in Kawthaung.

"We have reached an understanding from this trip which 
helped strengthen bilateral relations between our two 
countries," said Gen Chetha.

Deputy Agriculture minister Monthol Kraiwatnussorn who is 
responsible for the Fishery Department accompanied the 
deputy army commander on the trip.

Gen Chetha said Maj Gen Khet Sein voiced concern during the 
meeting over fishery problems caused by Thai fishermen.

The Burmese commander said when the border is reopened, 
Thailand must help tackle problems caused by encroaching 
fishermen before the situation deteriorates further.

"Something has to be done to tackle this problem or there 
will be further misunderstandings between the two sides," he 
said.

The deputy army commander said local governors from both 
sides would meet again to settle a 15-million-baht 
compensation claim made by Burma over the killing of three 
Burmese and six others who were either wounded or had 
disappeared from a Thai trawler after last year. (BP)

****************

BKK POST: BETTER HIGHWAY SECURITY URGED

March 1, 1996

THERE is an urgent need for security to be beefed up on 
highway 1095 at Pang Ma Pha, according to the president of 
Mae Hong Son tourism industry association.
  Last Sunday a Burmese gang held up vehicles between 
Kilometres 48 and 49 and got away with personal belongings 
worth over 200,000 baths.
  Tourists have been canceling their holiday plans for the 
province as a result, Thawatchai Nathiphakorn said.
  On Wednesday the Thai authorities asked leaders of the 
Mong Tai Army to help track down the six gang members. Three 
are suspected of being Burmese government soldiers and the 
rest Shans. (BP)

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