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The BurmaNet News, October 17, 1997



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------          
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"          
----------------------------------------------------------          
      
The BurmaNet News: October 17, 1997             
Issue #847

HEADLINES:             
==========      
ABSDF: PRISONERS RECOUNT HORRORS IN LOIKAW PRISON
THE NATION: BURMA OPENS HI-TECH WARFARE, SPYING CENTRE
BKK POST: RAMOS URGES SLORC TO BE 'TOLERANT'
ABSDF: IMPRISONED NLD REPRESENTATIVE: HEALTH DECLINING 
REUTERS: PRIVATE U.S. MISSION MEETS BURMA MILITARY
FEER: PASSPORT RACKET
BKK POST: SOME PROGRESS ACHIEVED
THE STAR: 68 % OF BURMA'S PRODUCTS WITHIN 0-5% TARIFF RATE 
ORCHESTRA BURMA REPORT: TEACHERS FORCED TO RESIGN
BKK POST: SERIOUS OVERCROWDING AT DETENTION CENTRE
BKK POST: COURT RULES DEPUTY CHIEF JUDGE GUILTY
BKK POST: PTT FAILS TO WOO KORN TO JOIN TALKS
ANNOUNCEMENT: FBC-LA MEETING
REQUEST FOR INPUT: BURMA ACTION CALENDAR (BAC) 1997-98
--------------------------------------------------------------------------   

ABSDF PRESS RELEASE: PRISONERS RECOUNT HORRORS IN LOIKAW PRISON
October 16, 1997

Burmese Military Intelligence officers in Loikaw Prison, Karenni State, beat
prisoners, use various forms of torture, sexually abuse female prisoners and
force women to give birth in their cells, according to a female prisoner
recently released from the prison.

Ma Hnin Nu (not her real name), 32, spent a year in Loikaw Prison with 70
other female  prisoners, most of whom were incarcerated for their
involvement with opposition political organisations. She told the ABSDF that
prisoners are beaten with batons, forced to kneel on broken glass and to
look at glaring high-voltage bulbs for long periods as part of punishment or
during interrogations.

Sources estimate there are about 800 prisoners including a considerable
number of political prisoners in Loikaw Prison. Most of them are in prison
for political offences such as associating with an illegal political
organization and breaching internal security laws. Ma Hnin Nu says those who
conduct the torture against the prisoners are military intelligence officers
from Burmese Intelligence Unit 27, led  by Lieutenants Kyaw Kyaw Thu and
Kyaw Win.

She says that women in Loikaw Prison are not given proper care during
pregnancy or during their menstrual periods. Some women who go into labour
are not sent to the hospital but instead are forced to give birth in their
cells. Others are subject to sexual abuse by one particular warden, but also
by other prison officials. 

Ma Hnin Nu believes that HIV/Aids is spreading in the prison due to the
repeated use of dirty needles at the hospital. Those who can afford to bribe
the prison officials are the only prisoners exempt from abuse and are
allowed clean needles. 

Ko Thaung Tin, 37, is another former prisoner of Loikaw. He was sentenced to
7 years with hard labour after a fight with the chairman of the Village Law
and Order Restoration Council. He recently fled to the Thai-Burma border and
said that he was recruited as a porter for the Burmese Army at Loikaw
Prison, which is not an unusual practice. 

Ko Thaung Tin says that with the shortage of under-5 year prisoners who are
usually used as porters, the SLORC has now begun to use prisoners sentenced
between 5 and 10 years. Porters are forced to carry heavy loads, brutally
beaten, underfed and not given medical care. Those who cannot walk or carry
the supplies are often killed or left to die in the jungle.      

For more information please call: 01-923 1687.

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

THE NATION: BURMA OPENS HI-TECH WARFARE, SPYING CENTRE
October 17, 1997
AP 

BURMA'S military government recently opened a hi-tech warfare and spying
centre built and supplied by a Singaporean company, a defence journal has
reported.

The new Cyber Warfare centre is located inside the Ministry of Defence
compound in Rangoon, reported the Asian Defence compound in its September
issue, distributed yesterday at a defence show in Bangkok.

The centre "has been optimised for tapping domestic phone, fax and e-mail
lines on a countrywide basis," the journal said.

"It was built and supplied under a turnkey project by an unnamed Singaporean
company, whose representatives are currently training their [Burmese]
counterparts in how to use advanced electronic intelligence hardware
installed in the centre," the Malaysian-based publication said.

Despite severe economic problems and plummeting foreign reserves, Burma's
military government spends more than half its yearly budget on arms and
defence, according to World Bank figures.

Burma has no external enemies, but its government is considered an
international pariah because of rampant human rights violations, failure to
stem the massive flow of drugs from the country and its suppression of the
democracy movement led by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.

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

BKK POST: RAMOS URGES SLORC TO BE 'TOLERANT'
October 17, 1997

Attendance limited for NLD party today

Rangoon, Agencies --Philippine President Fidel Ramos has offered Burma's top
generals advice on how to deal with internal opposition, advocating patience
and maximum tolerance.

Mr Ramos is on a three-day visit to Burma, the first by a head of state from
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations since the regional group admitted
Burma as a member in July.

In a speech to Burma's generals, the text of which was released yesterday,
he made the first public comments by an Asean head of state urging the
regime to moderate its repressive behaviour.

"We both have experienced the need for reconciliation with opposition
groups," Mr Ramos said.

"One lesson is that as a government, we have had to exercise creative
patience and maximum tolerance in order to attain the objectives of peace
and national reconciliation."

Denied permission to visit opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his
visit, Mr Ramos had to settle for an announcement by the government that it
would allow a gathering today of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy,
although it limited attendance to 100.

The non-political NLD gathering at Ms Suu Kyi's Rangoon residence is to mark
the "Thadingyut" Buddhist festival.

[excerpts from related article]
------------------------------------
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: RAMOS VISIT CEMENTS NEW ASEAN TIES
October 16, 1997

AGENCIES in Rangoon --Mr Ramos was welcomed at the airport by General Than
Shwe - Prime Minister and chairman of the ruling State Law and Order
Restoration Council, which seized power in 1988 - and the Rangoon-based
diplomatic corps.
He received a 21-gun salute and was cheered by hundreds of uniformed school 
children waving flags along the road to a state guesthouse, a kilometre from 
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's residence.
Mr Ramos was accompanied on his trip by foreign and health ministry officials.
Two bilateral agreements and two memorandums of understanding, covering
drugs control and economic and trade co-operation, were signed.
Philippine businesses have invested US$6.67 million (HK$51.56 million) in 
Burma since it opened up its economy at the end of 1988, making the 
Philippines the 18th-largest source of foreign investment in the military 
state.
Burmese official media hailed the visit as "auspicious". It is the first by an 
Association of Southeast Asian Nations head of state since Burma's admission 
in July.
"It is our understanding that President Ramos desires broader and deeper 
co-operation among the Asean countries, which naturally means further 
bilateral and multilateral accomplishments," an editorial in the official 
daily New Light of Myanmar said.
"The warmth of Asean brotherhood will play an increasingly crucial role and 
pave the way for greater co-prosperity."

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

ABSDF PRESS RELEASE: IMPRISONED NLD REPRESENTATIVE: HEALTH DECLINING 
October 16, 1997

The health of 70-year-old U Saw U Rel, an elected NLD representative
imprisoned in Loikaw in Kayah (Karenni) State, is worsening according to his
son-in-law who recently fled to the Thai-Burma border.

U Saw U Rel was hospitalized in the first week of July after suffering from
serious diabetes and kidney problems. Although already in shackles, he was
tied to his hospital bed. His son-in-law Aung Myint says although he has
been put back in Loikaw Prison, his health has not improved. 

U Saw U Rel was arrested and sentenced to 17 years imprisonment on December
18, 1996, for violating Article 17 (1) of the Association With Illegal
Organisations Act and violating the 1962 Printing and Publishing Act. The
SLORC claimed that he was contributing financially to the outlawed Karenni
National Progressive Party (KNPP) and found a book he had written entitled
'The crisis of Kayah State and causes of civil war in Burma' when they
searched his home. 

U Saw U Rel is a Second World War veteran who fought against the Japanese in
a parachutist unit known as 'The Spiders'. He joined the NLD after the 1988
pro-democracy uprising and became a member of Kayah (Karenni) State NLD
Organising Committee. 

He was one of the NLD delegates to the National Convention until the NLD
boycott the Convention in December 1995. U Saw U Rel was forced by the SLORC
to resign from the NLD on November 28, 1996, and was arrested soon after his
resignation.

Aung Myint, 39, and his wife (U Saw U Rel's daughter) were arrested for
alleged possession of raw opium following a search of their home by Burmese
military intelligence. They were forced to confess to the charge after
repeated torture by military intelligence officers, and were subsequently
sentenced to 9 and 12 years respectively with hard labour. Aung Myint was
recruited as a porter and sent to the frontline where he then fled to the
Thai-Burma border.

For more information please call: 01-923 1687 

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

REUTERS: PRIVATE U.S. MISSION MEETS BURMA MILITARY LEADERS
October 16, 1997

RANGOON, Oct 16 (Reuters) - A private U.S. delegation met senior officials
of Burma's military government on Thursday in what analysts said was a bid to
persuade them to open a dialogue with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. 

The four-member delegation, headed by former U.S. ambassador to Japan and
the Philippines Michael Armacost, met with Secretary General One of the
State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) Khin Nyunt for two hours,
government officials said. 

No official comment on the progress or content of the talks was available but
local political analysts said the delegation was seeking to persuade the
SLORC and Aung San Suu Kyi to enter into talks. 

The delegation met Suu Kyi at her Rangoon residence on Wednesday, members of
her National League for Democracy (NLD) party said. 

Kent Wiedemann, charge d'affairs of the U.S. embassy in Rangoon, also
attended that meeting, they said. 

The NLD won a landslide election victory in 1990, which was never recognised
by the SLORC. 

The SLORC has repeatedly ignored Suu Kyi's requests for talks but has
recently met with some other senior NLD members. 

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

FEER: PASSPORT RACKET
October 23, 1997

For many a Hong Kong resident, visas linked to investment in Western
countries have proved to be quick tickets out. But for would-be immigrants
who can't afford that approach, a new route has emerged. First, they buy
Japanese passports which local gangs have stolen from male Japanese tourists
in the bars of Tsim Sha Tsui. 

Then to cover their tracks, they get Burmese visas in Along Kong and hop on
a direct flight to Rangoon, where they arrange to get Indian visas. In New
Delhi, they apply for Canadian tourist visas, only to disappear once they
arrive in Vancouver or Toronto. 

Since Japanese tourists usually travel in groups and apply for visas
together, certifying the identity of each applicant is difficult. But only
male Hong Kong Chinese in their late 20s or early 30s are likely to afford
this way out: Japanese passports are too expensive for people in Fujian,
where most ethnic-Chinese illegal aliens in North America come from.

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

BKK POST: SOME PROGRESS ACHIEVED
October 17, 1997
Achara Ashayagachat

Fiscal worries stymy bloc's attempts to get initiatives off ground

Kuala Lumpur --Asean economic ministers wrapped up their meeting yesterday
with an attempt to map out fiscal strategies for new members Laos and Burma
- and Cambodia, on hand as an observer - and a commitment to initiatives
aimed at greater integration in the next century.

But the initiatives, including liberalising the services sector and
concluding the controversial Asean Industrial Cooperation scheme, may not be
ready for implementation as planned by December, when Asean's leaders gather
for a summit.

The only headway made in the ongoing process is the implementation of tariff
reductions under the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (CEPT), which is
on schedule.

More than 93 percent of the total Asean product tariffs are already on the
inclusion list, with an average regional tariff rate of 6.95 percent in
1997, compared to over 12 percent when the programme started in 1993.

Laos has submitted 533 inclusive tariff lines, accounting for 15 percent of
the total, while Burma has 2,355 lines, or 43 percent of the total. Both
will begin reducing tariffs on January 1 and complete the programme 10 years
later.

Endorsement of the first package of service liberalisation, covering tourism,	
telecommunications, air and maritime transport and business services, and
coming at the end of 18 months' work, was hailed as a highlight of this
week's meeting.

The initial package will be implemented by next March following a protocol
signing at December's Asean informal summit.

The ministers agreed that any sub-sectors ready could be opened by 2010. The
scheme must be completed by 2020.

The Asean Industrial Cooperation plan would offer firms the benefits of
economies of scale through resource sharing and an industrial complement.
The light is at the end of the tunnel, with the ministers showing
determination this week to launch the project within 60 days.

But any agreement on establishing an Asean Investment Area and a means of
defining Asean investors according to a 30 percent equity will have to wait
for the next economic ministerial meeting in September 1998: Vietnam wants
time to think things over.

Preliminary discussions took place this week on the need to formulate a
framework for electronic commerce spearheaded by the Philippines.

The ministers deliberated strategies and initiatives with a view to
realising the "Asean Vision 2020", plans for which are to be unveiled by the
heads of state in December.

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has already roiled the water by asking if
Asean in the next two decades will be a common market or even the kind of
single market for which the European Union is striving.

Besides encouraging more efficiency in the utilities industry and a review
of regulatory and administrative procedures at the national and regional
levels, Mr Mahathir called for a crackdown on corruption to reduce the cost
of doing business in the region.

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

KUALA LUMPUR THE STAR (INTERNET VERSION): SIXTY EIGHT % OF BURMA'S PRODUCTS
WITHIN 0-5% TARIFF RATE 
October 14, 1997

ABOUT 68% of products in Myanmar are already within the zero to 5%
tariff rate now, Yangon's National Planning and Economic Development
Ministry adviser Dr Khin Ohn Thant said.
She said only 10% of products and services had a tariff rate of between 30%
and 40% as the government was trying to discourage certain activities.
They included gambling businesses, liquor, antiques, imported cars and
others, she said.
"Of the 5,400 tariff lines (in Myanmar's product list for the Asean Free
Trade Area), about 2,400 products are in the inclusion list.  Over 2,900 are
in the temporary exclusion list, 108 in the general exception list and 21 in
the sensitive list."
Myanmar and Laos have 10 years from Jan 1 next year to meet the Afta
deadline.
The two countries, which joined Asean in July, have submitted their
products lists for Afta tariff rates and are attending the Asean economic
ministerial conference here as members for the first time.

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

ORCHESTRA BURMA REPORT: TEACHERS FORCED TO RESIGN
October 16, 1997

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: This version has been corrected]
Teachers faced with being forced to resign

According reports from a middle school teacher who fled to  Mae Sod,
Thailand in  March 1997 from Pha Pon town,  Karen State, each and  every
teacher from all schools was offered 10,000 Kyats by the government.
They asked whether they would have to pay the money back or not, but the
government  did not respond  to their questions. After one year,  the
government  declared that the teachers must reimburse  it  completely. Many 
teachers unable to reimburse the money were dismissed. The middle school
teacher himself came to (xxxxxx) to work at a workshop with the aim of
paying back the debt. 
He had to move to Mae Sod after getting into trouble by asking his employer
for wages.  Due to the fact that he would like to go back  to Myanmar to
work as 
a teacher after returning the money he owed, some of the information he gave
must remain confidential.         

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

BKK POST: SERIOUS OVERCROWDING AT DETENTION CENTRE
October 16, 1997
Suthep Chaviwan

Police ponder how to handle illegal aliens

The Immigration Bureau's detention centre at Soi Suan Plu, where illegal
aliens are detained, has a serious overcrowding problem.
Designed for a maximum of 1,200 people, it now houses 1,758, according to 
deputy commissioner Pol Maj-Gen Chalermdej Jombunud.
The detainees - Burmese, Khmers and 58 other nationalities - scarcely have 
enough room to sleep or even sit, he said.
The bureau must provide food to the value of 30 baht per head per day, a total 
of 50,000 baht a day, and this is a big problem, said Pol Maj-Gen Chalermdej.
To tackle the overcrowding, the bureau aims to discharge aliens as soon as 
investigative and legal procedures are completed.
A batch of Khmers detained here will soon be bussed to the border where they 
will be repatriated. But a new batch takes their place "and it's an endless 
problem," he said.
There are thousands of illegal aliens in Thailand, arriving here mostly by 
land. Our 2,200 immigration officers cannot cope with this, he said.
Pol Maj-Gen Chalermdej, whose commission supervises some 800 immigration 
officers at Don Muang Airport, said the bureau will concentrate more on 
upgrading the standard of immigration officials.
This is necessary during the Amazing Thailand Years, because immigration 
officials are the first officials that visitors meet on arrival, he said.
With the recession and the baht depreciation, more tourists will come to
Thailand as it will be cheaper for them, but we must be ready to welcome them, 
he said.
Tourist agencies registered under the Tourism Authority of Thailand do their 
best, he said.
But there are about 70-80 illegal agencies, which he said are mostly run by 
foreigners, "that have destroyed our tourism".
Our country must crack down on these illegal foreign-run tour agencies 
because they cheat tourists, he said.

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

BKK POST: COURT RULES DEPUTY CHIEF JUDGE GUILTY
October 16, 1997

The deputy chief justice of a regional court has been found guilty of
involvement in the release on bail of drug suspect Li Yun Chung.

He will be sacked, while another senior judge will be put on probation,
according to the Chief Justice of Thon Buri Criminal Court, Pramote Bunnag.

Mr Pramote, who chairs an investigative panel, said the committee had
completed a disciplinary probe after questioning more than 20 witnesses.

The two people concerned are the deputy chief justice of Region 1, Apichit
Sombatsiri, and the acting chief judge of the Min Buri provincial court,
Sitthichoke Indaraviset.

The panel has submitted its conclusions to justice permanent secretary
Kukiat Sunthornbura.

The newly-appointed justice permanent secretary, Supradit Hutasingh, has
been studying the report and will pass it to the chief justice of Region 1,
Pramarn Tiyapaiboon, and to the justice minister.

In the report, the panel proposed that Mr Apichit be sacked. He was found
guilty of collaborating with former deputy criminal court chief justice
Somchai Udomwong to Pocket bribes so that Li could be released on bail.

Mr Somchai had told the panel that Mr Apichit helped Phuek, who allegedly
brokered the bail deal, and Li's lawyer Sukij Srimuang approached him for
the release of Li on bail, Mr Pramote said.

Mr Sitthichote was found not guilty, but the committee proposed that the
ministry put him on probation because he was found to have ties with Phuek
and his team, he added.

Li, wanted in America for smuggling 486 kg of heroin into that country in
1991, jumped bail and fled to Burma in February.

He was rearrested in May and later extradited to the United States to stand
trial.

Mr Somchai was dismissed without pension in June after an investigative
panel found him guilty of corruption.

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

BKK POST: PTT FAILS TO WOO KORN TO JOIN TALKS
October 17, 1997
Chakrit Ridmontri

Work on pipeline to remain suspended

The Petroleum Authority of Thailand may have to continue the suspension of
its gas pipeline construction after it failed to convince Industry Minister
Korn Dabbarangsi to join talks it has been holding with opposition groups.

An urgent meeting between the two sides was held yesterday to further
discuss the opponents' demand to see the contracts the PTT had made with the
consortium which is drilling for natural gas at Burma's Yadana and Yetagun
fields.

But the opposition, which includes the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group,
Wildlife Fund Thailand, Friends of the Asian Elephant Foundation and a
student conservation club, was reluctant to listen to the PTT's explanations
about its inability to make public the original contracts.

Phinan Chotirosseranee, leader of the Kanchanaburi Conservation Group, said
the opponents wanted Mr Korn to formally appoint their representatives as
members of a working committee to jointly study the contracts the PTT. This
is to enable the opponents to examine the original version of the gas deal
contracts.

The PTT pledged to the group last week that it would halt all activities at
the first 50-kilometre section of the gas pipeline from I-tong village in
Kanchanaburi's Thong Pha Phum district and four other residential areas
where residents were badly affected by the pipeline-laying work.

The halt will be reviewed again at a meeting scheduled for today in which
the PTT vowed to invite Mr Korn to meet the opponents.

But at press time, the PTT remained unable to convince Mr Korn to join the
talks. As a result, it may have to continue a suspension of the work.

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

ANNOUNCEMENT: FBC-LA MEETING
October 16, 1997

Dear Free Burma activists and supporters,

We will be meeting every other Tuesday in order to mobilize Free Burma
campaign in LA area. Since selective purchasing ordinance has been
introduced to LA City Council, we will be focusing on it for a few months.
Also, we will be hosting a fund raising dinner as a part of FBC - Refugees
Relief Program. The proposed dinner will be sometime in spring; exact date,
time and location will be announced. We invite everyone to join us and work
for a free Burma. Any form of your input is welcome.

The first meeting will be on Oct 21st, which is next Tuesday, at 7 p.m. The
location is:
	3612 Mentone Avenue #8
	Los Angeles, CA 90034
	(310) 838-8721
	(310) 399-0703
	(310) 841-7782
	bfla@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
	asmin@xxxxxxxxxxx
	justfree@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

We look forward to see you.

peace, love, and hope

The Free Burma Coalition - Los Angeles
P.O. Box 341196
Los Angeles, CA 90034

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

REQUEST FOR INPUT:BURMA ACTION CALENDAR (BAC) 1997-98
October 14, 1997
darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx

(Variable or one-off events are in lower case)

PLEASE CORRECT, ADD AND SEND UPDATES TO darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx

PLEASE ADD MEETINGS OF ADB, IMF, WORLD BANK, ARF, ANNUAL
GENERAL MEETINGS OF DELINQUENT CORPORATIONS, INCLUDING
JAPANESE, ANY MISSING NATIONAL DAYS ETC.ETC.


DATE                                                 EVENT
1997

SEPTEMBER 97

3 -5      Davao, Philippines
            Mtg of Asean Senior Officials on Environment,.(tentative)
8          KARENNI MARTYRS DAY
9-12     New York
            UNICEF Executive Board
11-13   Bangkok
            19th ASEAN Ministers for Agriculture and Forestry Meeting
15-17   Ottawa
             2nd Meeting of APEC Women  Senior Leaders' Network 
15-19   Geneva
            Meeting of Chairpersons of Treaty Bodies 
16        New York
            General Assembly begins -- to mid December (NY)
17-18   Manado, Indonesia
            7th ASEAN Ministers Meeting on Environment (AMME)
18        ANNIVERSARY OF SLORC COUP, 1988
18-19   (Location to be confirmed)
            ASEAN Senior Finance Officials Meeting (ASFOM)/ASEM Finance
	Ministers Meeting 
21-24   Kuala Lumpur
            ASEAN Mekong Basin Development Cooperation, Steering Committee
	Meeting 
23-25   Hong Kong
            IMF Joint annual meetings of Boards of Governers 
23-27   Bandar Seri Begawan (Indonesia?)
            20th Meeting of the ASEAN Commitee on Social Development 	(COSD)
24        NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY FORMED 1988
29-30   Bangkok
           5th Meeting of the ASEAN Sub-Committee on Education 
29 Sept-10 Oct  
            Geneva
            Working Group on the Right to Development 

Sept     (Date and location to be confirmed)
            ASEAN-UNDP ASP-5 Workshop on the Preparation of Guidelines for 
            Government/NGO/Community Collaboration in AIDS Education,
Prevention
            and Treatment

OCTOBER 97

 3         Singapore
            First Technical Expert Group Meeting on Edible Nest 
4-6      Los Angeles
            Free Burma Conference '97 at UCLA
            For more information contact: The Free Burma Coalition - Los
	Angeles
            P.O. Box 341196 Los Angeles, CA 90034
            Tel (+1-310) 838-8721,  450-5375; Fax (+1-310) 399-0703  *pls.
call ahead to fax 
       Email bfla@xxxxxxxxxxxxx    asmin@xxxxxxxxxxx aliburma@xxxxxxxxxxxxx 
9-10     Canberra
            4th Meeting of the ASEAN-Australia Joint Planning Committee Sub
	Committee (JPC-SC) 
13-17   Geneva
            UNHCR Executive Committee 48th Session 
16        Kuala Lumpur
            29th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) Meeting AEM-ASEAN-CCI    
17-18   Kuala Lumpur
            AEM Consultations with: 
            CER (Australia and New Zealand)
            MITI Japan
            South African Development Community
            Mercosur
19        Kuala Lumpur
            JCM of ASEAN Mekong Basin Development Cooperation
22        SHAN NEW YEAR
24        Luxembourg
            2nd ASEF Board of Governors Meeting
25        Luxembourg
            Meeting of Leading News Editors (orgaised by ASEF) 
28-30   Rome
            World Food Programme 3rd regular session

NOVEMBER 97

4-6       Rome
            FAO Council, 113th Session
6-20     Geneva
            ILO Governing Body 
7-20     Rome
            FAO Conference, 29 Session
3-20     Vienna
            International Narcotics Control Board 63rd session 
13-14   Rangoon
            Training on ASEAN Project Development Manual
13-14   Bangkok. 
            Asia-Europe Business Forum II
Mid Nov.  INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN    
17-26   Geneva
            ILO Commission of Inqury on forced Labour in Burma 
18-19   Bangkok
           13th ASEAN-EC (JCC) Meeting 
19-24   Vancouver
            1997 People's Summit on APEC. Note: Full conference
announcement available. 
            Contact: Secretariat, 910-207 West Hastings Street, 
            Vancouver, BC, v6B 1H7, Canada. 
            Tel: (604) 682-1952. Fax:  (604) 682-1931. 
            Email popsum97@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx 
23-25   Vancouver. 
            Senior Officers' Meeting (SOM) IV / APEC Ministerial Meeting /
	APEC Economic Leaders Meeting              
27-28   Tilburg University, The Netherlands.
            Conference on United Nations Sanctions: Effectiveness and
	Effects, Especially in the Field of Human Rights. 
            Note: Full conference announcement, including a call for
	papers, is available. 
            Agenda: To concentrate on the effectiveness of U.N. sanctions	
	in general and on the effects they have on the realization of human 
	rights such as the right to food and the right to adequate health care.

24-27   Singapore
            6th ASEAN Food Conference (SINGAPORE)
27-28   Singapore
            15th Meeting of the ASEAN Sub-committee on Food  Science and
	Technology      
           Thailand
           5th Meeting of the ASEAN Task Force on AIDS (ATFOA) 	(THAILAND)
          Singapore. 
            ASEAN-EU Partenariat 
                   
DECEMBER 97

1          WORLD AIDS DAY. 
3-4       Vienna
            Commission on Narcotic Drugs, resumed 40th session
8          ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL         
            COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA, IN 1990  
            IN MANERPLAW
10        WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
 10.       New York
            Beginning of Human Rights Year - Commemorative activities in
	New York and in theGeneral Assembly for the 50th Anniversary of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
14-16   Kuala Lumpur
            Informal ASEAN summit celebration of  Asean's 30th Anniversary  
31        KAREN REVOLUTION DAY

1998

JANUARY 98

4          INDEPENDENCE DAY IN BURMA (OFFICIAL).
12        KAREN NEW YEAR
19-30   Geneva
            Working Group on a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on
	the Rights of the Child on the Involvement of Children in Armed 
	Conflicts

FEBRUARY 98

2-13 .   Geneva
            Working Group on a Draft Optional Protocol to the Convention on
	the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution
	and Child Pornography, as well as Basic Measures Needed for Their
	Eradication
            (CHR Res. 1997/78, para. 9) 
5          KAREN NATIONAL UNION DAY
7          SHAN NATIONAL DAY
11        KAREN NATIONAL DAY
12        NATIONAL UNION DAY IN BURMA (OFFICIAL) FOCUS ON      
            INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF BURMA
15        MON NATIONAL DAY
20-21   Singapore. 
            Europe-Asia Forum, (co-organised by Herbert Quandt Stifftung,
	Institute of Policy Studies and ASEF)

MARCH 98

2          ANNIVERSARY OF 1962 COUP AND FARMERS DAY
8          INTERNATIONAL WOMEN'S DAY
13        BURMA HUMAN RIGHTS DAY (UNOFFICIAL)
16 March.-24 April. 
            Geneva
            Commission on Human Rights 54th Session, Geneva 
18        "BLOODY FRIDAY" (1988)
27        RESISTANCE DAY IN BURMA
            London
            ASEM Senior Officers' Meeting (date unconfirmed)
            Geneva
            NGO Gathering - Civil Society and Human Rights Geneva (date
	unconfirmed)
	Austria
            ASEM 2nd Symposium of Young Leaders (date uncomfirmed)
                           
APRIL 98

2-4       London
            ASEM Summit II
5          KAREN WOMEN'S ORGANISATION DAY
17        UNITED WA STATE PARTY REVOLUTION DAY

MAY 98

23        KAREN YOUTH ORGANISATION DAY
24        NE WIN'S BIRTHDAY(1911)
25-29 May
            Geneva
            UN Sub-Commission, Inter-sessional Working Group on Minorities
	(subject to renewal of mandate by CHR 54th session) 4th Session, 	Geneva 
27        ANNIVERSARY OF 1990 ELECTIONS
May/June 
            Geneva
            UN  Sub-Commission, Working Group on Contemporary Forms of
	Slavery              
                                                      
JUNE 98

14        KAW THOO LEI  DAY
19        AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S BIRTHDAY. BURMA WOMEN'S DAY
21        KARENNI NATIONAL DAY

JULY 98

5          KAREN NATIONAL LIBERATION ARMY DAY
7          COMMEMORATION OF THE BOMBING OF THE STUDENT 	UNION AND SHOOTING
OF STUDENTS IN 1962 BY SECURITY 
	FORCES IN RANGOON
19        MARTYRS DAY (official)
 27-31 Geneva
            UN  Sub-Commission, Working Group on Indigenous Populations,
	16th Session          
              Panel on Children's Rights as Human Rights (ASIA) 
            (exact location and date to be determined
                                                
AUGUST 98

3-28     Geneva
            UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and
	Protection of Minorities, 50th Session
8          ANNIVERSARY OF 8.8.88 AND ASEAN BANGKOK 	DECLARATION (1967).
9          KARENNI RESISTANCE DAY
10        KAREN MARTYRS DAY
17        KARENNI ARMY DAY

SEPTEMBER 98

8          KARENNI MARTYRS DAY
18        ANNIVERSARY OF SLORC COUP, 1988
24        NATIONAL LEAGUE FOR DEMOCRACY FORMED 1988

OCTOBER 98

22        SHAN NEW YEAR

NOVEMBER 98

Mid Nov.  
            (ANTI) VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN, INTERNATIONAL DAY     

DECEMBER 98

1          WORLD AIDS DAY. 
8          ANNIVERSARY OF THE FORMATION OF THE NATIONAL         
           COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA, IN 1990  
            IN MANERPLAW
10        WORLD HUMAN RIGHTS DAY
31        KAREN REVOLUTION DAY

Any updates, please, to 

Burma Peace Foundation, 
85, Rue de Montbrillant, 
1202, Geneva, Switzerland.  
Tel/Fax (+1-41-22) 733 2040; 
Email darnott@xxxxxxxxxxx

Internet ProLink PC User

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