The BurmaNet News - 23 January, 199

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

-------------------------- BurmaNet -----------------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
-----------------------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: January 23, 1998
Issue #919

Noted in passing:

"It is absolute nonsense for the regime to claim that Myanmar is really 
the more correct term. Germany has never been called Deutschland in English."
- Bertil Lintner (see SCMP: CHANGE TO MYANMAR STILL TONGUE-TWISTER)

HEADLINES:
==========
SCMP: UN ENVOY SEEKS TO END STALEMATE
BKK POST: UN ENVOY BEGINS MEET WITH LEADERS
BKK POST: PARTY RE-EMERGES IN BID TO RESTORE
BKK POST: ARMY TO SHIFT 12,000 REFUGEES
DVB OSLO: OPPOSITION CLAIMS RANGOON TROOPS DEFECT
SCMP: CHANGE TO MYANMAR STILL TONGUE-TWISTER 
BKK POST: BURMA SET TO PULL FORCES OFF ISLET
AFP: THAI TROOPS BRACE FOR CLASHES IN MYANMAR
THE NATION: BURMESE KIDNAPPERS SHOOT, KILL THREE
BKK POST: CONTROLS ON ALIENS TO BE TIGHTENED
SCMP: SECURITY TIGHTENED
THE NATION: PIPELINE WORKERS RUN RISK OF EXPOSURE TO
BKK POST: BULLDOZERS GETTING CLOSER TO BLOCKADE
XINHUA NEWS AGENCY: MYANMAR -THAI WORKSHOP ON
COMPUTER JOURNAL (YANGON)
ANNOUNCEMENTS:
FREE BURMA URGENT ACTION ALERT: THAI-BURMA PIPELINE
ALP BURMA RESOLUTION
BRITIAN BURMA SOCIETY
BURMANET EDITOR: CORRECTION
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

SCMP: UN ENVOY SEEKS TO END STALEMATE
23 January, 1998

AFP [Rangoon]: The United Nations special envoy to troubled Burma was
yesterday due to meet opposition figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi as part of his
mission to help end her political stalemate with the ruling junta.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan's representative, Alvaro de Soto, was to
meet the Nobel Peace laureate and senior colleagues in her National League
for Democracy (NLD).

"The meeting was put back from the early morning, but Mr de Soto will meet
Aung San Suu Kyi and members of the NLD central executive in the early
afternoon," sources from the party and the UN said.

The NLD wants three-way talks with the military Government and armed
resistance movements under the terms of a UN resolution.

Leading party figure Tin Oo said he would be handing over a series of
letters and papers from other political groupings, war veterans and
"members of the general public" urging negotiations.

"They are all advancing the view that the UN resolution should be respected
and are calling for a dialogue as soon as possible," he said.

Sources said opposition figures were hoping Mr de Soto could help break the
deadlock, although the junta - the State Peace and Development Council -
had shown "no signs of softening its stance".

The military Government has been at loggerheads with political opposition
groups since it refused to acknowledge the NLD's landslide win in the
country's most recent general election, in 1990.

The UN envoy, dispatched after Mr Annan met Burma's head of state, General
Than Shwe, at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) summit last
month, hopes to persuade Rangoon during his three-day visit to respect the
UN resolution.

Mr de Soto's meeting with the pro-democracy leader comes a day after he met
Foreign Minister U Ohn Gyaw.

The pair "discussed matters of mutual interest", the New Light of Myanmar
said yesterday without providing any details. It made no mention of a
planned meeting with the junta's strongman, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt.

The UN envoy was scheduled later yesterday to meet ASEAN ambassadors, then
go to a dinner to be attended by several ambassadors of the European Union.

The meetings come amid a dispute between the two groupings over whether
Burma should be allowed to attend ASEAN-EU meetings, with ASEAN pushing for
the presence of its newest members and Europe resisting the move.

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

BKK POST: UN ENVOY BEGINS MEET WITH LEADERS
22 January, 1998

DE SOTO 'HOPES TO EASE POLITICAL TENSIONS'

AFP [Rangoon]: UN special envoy Alvaro de Soto  met Burma's leaders
yesterday on the second day of a visit aimed at brokering peace between the
junta and Aung San Suu Kyi, officials said. 
     
Mr de Soto, who arrived on Tuesday on a three-day trip arranged
by UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan met junta strongman Lieutenant
General Khin Nyunt and Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw.

The envoy hopes to help ease political tensions in the troubled
nation by mediating between opposition leader Suu Kyi and the
Rangoon generals who kept her under house arrest for six years,
sources say.

Mr de Soto met for an hour with Khin Nyunt, first-secretary of
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and with the
foreign minister for about an hour each in talks  described by
sources as "cordial".

Details of their discussions were not immediately available.
Mr de Soto arrived on a deliberate mission to initiate political
dialogue between military and opposition leaders.

Mr de Soto had previously scheduled meetings with Than Shwe, Khin
Nyunt and Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw during his visit.

UN sources in Rangoon said Mr de Soto's mission was to encourage
a political dialogue between the military and opposition and to
urge the junta to speed up its work on drafting a new
constitution.

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

BKK POST: PARTY RE-EMERGES IN BID TO RESTORE DEMOCRATIC RIGHTS 
22 January, 1998
by Ralph Bachoe

PDP TO ACTIVELY RESUME STRUGGLE

Parliamentary Democracy Party, the oldest opposition group to the
military regime in Rangoon, reemerged recently with a promise to
restore democracy in Burma.

The PDP was founded by former premier U Nu in 1970 with Bo Let Ya
as chairman and U Thwin as secretary. Both were former members of
U Nu's government elected in 1958.

For astrological reasons the name was changed to People's
Patriotic Party in 1974, four years after it was established in
the jungles on the Thai-Burmese border.

The Central Committee decided on December 30, 1997 to actively
resume its activities in its struggle for democracy under the old
banner (PDP) after the term of the PPP Central Committee, led by
U Thant Zin expired a month earlier.

Bo Aung Din was elected chairman and Bo Aung Kyaw Thein as
general secretary, with 83 others as members of the new Central
Committee. The meeting, held on the Thai-Burmese border, was
attended by over 30 regional representatives.
     
Named as patrons to the PDP are U Thant Zin, Saw Shwe Saing, vice
president of the Karen. National Union, and U Ye Gaung, a senior
Burmese journalist.

The new chairman, a long-time advocate of democracy and former
member of the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma
(UK branch), pledged to work together with the rest of the
opposition parties and ethnic groups.

The PDP claims to have more than 25,000-active members who are
engaged militarily and politically, and is in the process of
recruiting new members at the frontline.

"Although the PDP is the biggest and oldest party struggling for
the restoration of parliamentary democracy in Burma, without any
tint of leftist ideology, the world was not aware of its
activities because assistance was not available from sympathetic
sources," said Bo Aung Din.

The group says it was contacted three times by the Slorc, now
known as State Peace and Development Council, during 1995-96 and
the two sides were said to have met in September 1996.

Bo- Aung Din said further talks would be needed "for the sake of
restoring true peace, harmony and democracy in Burma."

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

BKK POST: ARMY TO SHIFT 12,000 REFUGEES
23 January, 1998
by Cheewin Sattha in MAE HONG SON

RELOCATION DESIGNED TO HALT LOGGING

Over 12,000 Burmese refugees will be transferred from Salween
National  Park in Mae Sariang district to a refugee camp in Sop
Moei district to prevent further illegal logging.

A source from the Third Army's Salween Special Task Force said
the task force would send 12,551 refugees living in four forested
areas-of the national- park to a camp at Ban Mae Lama Luang in
Sop Moei during January 2-March 15.

The transfer of refugees from Sop Mae Ngae and Mae Yaetha in
Tambon Sao Hin took place from January 12 to January 19 while
that of refugees from Huay Krai Pa in Tambon Mae Khong started on
January 20 and will last until January 24. 

Refugees living in Huay Um Pra and Huay Kati will be sent to the
camp during January 26-March 2 and  those living in Ban Mae
Sakerb from March 5 to March 9 and from March 11 to March 25.

According to the source, the operation is under a resolution of
the National Security Council and has the support of several
foreign non-governmental organisations.

The task force which has the duty to combat illegal logging in
the national park has set up an ad-hoc centre to direct the
refugee transfer operation at Ban Huay Luang in Tambon Ban Kard
of Mae Sariang.

According to Third Army deputy chief-of-staff Col Charnchai
Sunthornkes, the task force confiscated 882 illegal teak logs and
120 pieces- of processed wood from the national park during the
period from January 7-19 .

On Wednesday, the task force found more than 90 large illegal
teak logs in the Moei River at Sop Ngae in the Salween Wildlife
Sanctuary and more than 250 others in the Mae Tae Luang stream,
about 10 kilometres from the sanctuary.

On the same day, a number of police officers from the Crime
Suppression Division were despatched to the national park to
trace those involved in illegal logging.

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

DVB OSLO: OPPOSITION CLAIMS RANGOON TROOPS DEFECT
IN SHAN STATE 
19 January, 1998 [translated from Burmese]
Dispatch from DVB correspondent Maung Paing Tun

Following heavy clashes between the SPDC [State Peace and Development
Council] troops and the SSA [Shan State Army] last December in Mong Kai,
Ke-Hsi, Lai-hka, Langhko, Nam-sam, Mong Yu, and Kuanheng Townships in the
Shan State's Loi-lem District, some SPDC trooops and many members of
anti-insurgent militia formed by the SPDC have defected in the southern
region which is under the control of the SSA.

On 3 December, Private Sai Thein Aung, serial no. 824706; Lance
Corporal Chit Ko, serial no. 0823417; and Pvt. Kyi San, serial no. 824708
from the SPDC's 4th Light Infantry Regiment defected to the SSA with four
9-mm rifles, 500 rounds of ammunition, and four hand grenades.  

According to reports from the Shan State, about 100 members led by Ganna
and Sai La of anti-insurgent militia formed by the SPDC defected in
December along with 35 assorted weapons and over 1,000 rounds of ammunition.

(Kaesama), (Kengseing), and (Khun San Tong Hun) Columns from the
southern command of the SSA have been engaged in heavy clashes with the
SPDC troops in Loi-lem District.  It is learned that the SPDC troops
suffered heavy casualties from guerrilla warfare tactics employed by the
SSA.  As a result, the SPDC  has sent 20 regiments to the region. The
fighting is continuing.

[Democratic Voice of Burma--anti-government
radio run by the National Coalition Government of theUnion of Burma]

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

SCMP: CHANGE TO MYANMAR STILL TONGUE-TWISTER 
21 January, 1998
by William Barnes in Bangkok 
 
The country's ruling junta appears to be making progress in its campaign to 
have the country called  Myanmar.  
 
Eight years after the dictatorship decreed the name was more suitable 
because it encompassed the whole country, not just the ethnic Burmese,
Western news agencies chose this month to start switching over. 

"We want to be neutral. The UN recognises  Myanmar,  all the embassies
there do. The term has gained widespread acceptance," said a Reuters manager. 
 
One Asian diplomat wondered why they ever delayed so long. 
 
"A country can call itself anything it wants. When heavyweight boxer
Cassius Clay decided to call himself Muhammad Ali that was his business
alone," he said.
 
"Okay,  Myanmar  is ruled by a dictatorship - but so are many countries." 
 
Yet critics point out that if  Burma  gets even half-way to being a 
democracy the name change may get reversed. 
 
This is what happened in Cambodia when the Khmer Rouge switched to
Kampuchea in 1975, only for the easier-to-pronounce Cambodia to spring back
into life in English texts in 1992. The Burmese generals have insisted -
using almost identical arguments as the Khmer Rouge 15 years earlier - that
 Myanmar was the correct indigenous term and that the old word was a
colonial imposition. 
 
Yet Bertil Lintner, a writer for the Far Eastern Economic Review, said the 
word  Burma was merely a mildly Anglicised version of one of two terms,
Bama and  Myanmar,  that are used almost interchangeably within the country. 

"It is absolute nonsense for the regime to claim that Myanmar is really 
the more correct term," said Lintner. 
 
"Germany has never been called Deutschland in English." 

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

BKK POST: BURMA SET TO PULL FORCES OFF ISLET
23 January, 1998

SUPAMART KASEM
TAK

Burma yesterday agreed to withdraw its troops from an islet in
Mae Sot district following talks between Thai and Burmese
officials over a border dispute caused by Thailand's construction
of an embankment on the Moei River.

Members of the local Thai-Burmese Border Committee led by TBC
chairman Col Chatchapat Yamngarmriab and his Burmese counterpart
Lt-Col Saing Phone agreed at yesterday's meeting in Myawaddy that
Thailand and Burma should not allow their armed- troops to enter
the disputed islet in Ban Mae Konekane until an agreement on
border demarcation is reached.

Col Chatchapat said Thai officials submitted an aide-memoire to
Burmese representatives at the meeting to urge Rangoon to
withdraw soldiers from the islet while Burmese officials
requested Thailand not to send troops to the islet.

Burmese representatives accepted that the islet belongs to
Thailand and agreed with the Thai officials' proposal to 
withdraw Burmese forces from the islet to prevent a standoff, he
added.

The meeting participants also agreed to push the Thai-Burmese 
Border Technical Committee to survey a disputed area in Ban Mae
Konekane and another one near Wat Prathat Khok Chang Phuek and
seek border - demarcation speedily.

Earlier, over 200 Thai soldiers armed with 106mm recoilless guns
and 81mm and 60mm mortars, as well as V150 armoured tanks and
vessels, were sent to an area near the disputed islet under the
order of Fourth Infantry Division commander Maj-Gen Chalor
Thongsla.

According to a border official, the military forces reached the
Moei River bank in Ban Mae Konekane in Tambon Mahawan early
yesterday morning and planned to enter the islet unless the TBC
could find a resolution to the problem.

Maj-Gen Chalor reportedly issued the order after  Lt-Col Sein Tun
of Burma's 33rd Infantry Division, who led Burmese soldiers from
the 12th Infantry Regiment to seize the islet on Sunday, refused
to allow Thai troops to enter the islet on Wednesday.
     
All workers and construction equipment under Thailand's
embankment construction project were moved from the site
yesterday afternoon to facilitate the operation of the Thai
troops.

Maj-Gen Chalor, commander of the Naresuan Task Force, said Thai
soldiers intended to safeguard Thailand's sovereignty over the
land which has been cut off from the main land. He said it was
not an intention to fight the Burmese forces.

Deputy Third Army chief-of-staff Col Charnchai Sunthornkes said
the construction of an embankment in Ban Mae Konekane has been
suspended pending talks between Thailand and Burma regarding the
border dispute.

A 340-rai plot in Ban Mae Konekane was cut off from the mainland
in 1993 following severe flooding. Thailand had a
two-million-baht embankment built in the area in May 1994 to
prevent further soil erosion but the embankment was later
destroyed by another flood.

Last year, the Public Works Department hired Jenjira Architect
for 14.9 million baht to build a 1.5km concrete embankment in the
area.

The project began on December 12 last year and is scheduled for
completion on January 22 this year.

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

AFP: THAI TROOPS BRACE FOR CLASHES IN MYANMAR  
19 January, 1998

CHIANG MAI, Thailand, Jan 19 (AFP) - The Thai military has deployed extra 
troops along its border with  Myanmar  in preparation for expected fighting 
between Yangon troops and the United Wa State Army (UWSA), sources said
Monday. 
 
A Thai security source in this northern province said the Thai army had 
deployed more troops and weapons at Mae Aye district to prevent the
anticipated 
fighting from spilling into Thai territory. 
 
Thai forces at the border told AFP they were preparing for a flood of 
refugees who are expected to cross to Thailand to flee clashes between the 
ethnic rebel army and the government troops. 
 
A source from the Shan State Army said UWSA commanders had ignored a 
government order for them to withdraw their 5,000 soldiers to northern Shan 
State from their current positions opposite Thailand's Mae Aye district. 
 
The source said the deadline for the withdrawal had expired but the UWSA had 
dug in and reinforced its positions. 
 
The UWSA appeared to be preparing for a fight because it had evacuated its 
people from the area, the source said. 
 
The news is further confirmation that ethnic tensions in  Myanmar's  
fractious eastern provinces are escalating despite the  Myanmar  government's 
claims to have brokered ceasefires with several rebel armies. 
 
Last week, former troops of opium warlord Khun Sa announced they had mustered
a new army of about 15,000 men to resume their struggle against the ruling 
military junta. 
 
The Shan United Revolutionary Army (SURA) said it had formed a new military 
alliance with two guerrilla groups which had been loyal to Khun Sa: the Shan 

State Army (SSA) and the Shan State National Army (SSNA). 
 
The SSA claims 3,000 soldiers and has control of guerrilla drives in the 
north of the drug-producing state which forms part of the Golden Triangle
-- the
world's biggest opium producing area, they said. 
 
Sources said SURA boasted about 5,000 troops and had operated in southern 
Shan state, while the SSNA had between 6,000 to 8,000 soldiers and operated
in 
the centre of Shan. 
 
Khun Sa surrendered to the Yangon government in January 1996, shattering his 
private army which had dominated the narcotics trade in Shan State. 
 
The UWSA, formed in 1989 as an amalgam of several failed Wa insurgent armies,
is the latest manifestation of a Wa nationalist rebellion which has been 
continuing since 1959. 
 
There are an estimated two million Was living in remote mountain communities 
in Thailand, China and eastern Shan State. 
 
Wa leaders have previously claimed that as many as one in four of all ethnic 
Was in  Myanmar  have died in the past 40 years. 

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

THE NATION: BURMESE KIDNAPPERS SHOOT, KILL THREE THAIS
23 January, 1998 

REUTERS: Armed bandits in eastern Burma shot dead three Thai 
poachers they had been holding for ransom after a relative failed to
come up with all the money, Thai police said yesterday.

The three were among 12 Thais who had crossed into the dense
jungles of Mon state to hunt for wild animals, a police  officer
in Prachuap Khiri Khan, 300 kilometres south of Bangkok, said by
telephone.

The bandits, believed to be remnants of the defunct New Mon State
Army (NMSA), captured the Thais on Tuesday and demanded Btl
million for their release, he quoted survivors as saying.

Early yesterday morning, a relative of the hostages brought the
bandits only Bt 100,000 and the angry captors opened fire on the
victims,  killing three Thais and wounding two. The other Thais
escaped, the officer said. The two wounded Thais were still
listed as missing, he said.

"The bodies of the dead have been retrieved. We believe that two
others are still alive but hiding in the jungles and we S are
searching for them," he said.

About 300 rebels still operate in Mon state even though the NMSA
reached a peace agreement with the Burmese government in 1995.  

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

BKK POST: CONTROLS ON ALIENS TO BE TIGHTENED
23 January, 1998 [abridged]

Proposal to set up committee approved

The Government has approved a proposal to set up a committee and four other
sub-committees to control the employment of registered foreign workers and
to crack down on illegal foreign workers.

The proposal from the Labour and Social Welfare Ministry is aimed at
tackling the illegal employment problem more effectively, said a ministry
source, adding that each panel would be chaired by related agencies.

The ministry has proposed the setting up of a committee to regulate
mechanisms to control alien workers and to liaise with four sub-committees
to look into problems relating to illegal workers.


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

SCMP: SECURITY TIGHTENED
23 January, 1998

Security was stepped up yesterday around a camp in southeastern Bangladesh
held by armed refugees from neighbouring Burma who are refusing to be sent
home, officials in Chittagong said.

Forces from the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles and police were outside the
camp near Cox's Bazar tourist resort town awaiting orders, officials said.
They accused the refugees of using women and children as a "human shield".

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

THE NATION: PIPELINE WORKERS RUN RISK OF EXPOSURE TO HIV
22 January, 1998 [abridged]
by Mukdawan Sakboon

PROTESTERS camping near the controversial Yadana gas pipeline in
Kanchanaburi province have a new cause for concern - the project
has the potential to further the spread of HIV/Aids, senior
health officials warned yesterday.

Quite apart from the environmental impact, the mobilisation of
huge numbers of workers and the widening of the road for the
movement of materials could facilitate the spread of Aids along
the construction route, Aids Division Director Wiput Poolcharoen,
said.

However, protesters and conservationists' main concerns are
environmental issues. They have yet to realise the health
implications of the project, Wiput said.

The government should require developers of any large project to
include a social feasibility study in their contract.

World Bank senior economist Mead Over said many workers employed
to work on large developmept projects had to travel away from
home. It was likely many would engage in risky behaviour and
therefore be in danger of HIV infection.


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

BKK POST: BULLDOZERS GETTING CLOSER TO BLOCKADE
22 January, 1998
by Chakrit Ridmontri

The confrontation between conservationists and gas pipeline
construction  workers remained tense yesterday as bulldozers were
about to reach the groups' blockade set up to obstruct the
pipeline laying.

Bandit Kraiwichit, a member of the conservation group, said the
construction workers have begun clearing bamboo clumps and shrubs
at the pipeline's kilometre 28 section which is only a kilometre
from the group's camp.

The protesters laid across the ditch prepared for laying the
pipeline and blocked the bulldozers which were uprooting trees,
said MF Bandit.

"We have to stop the workers and bulldozers because there are
plenty of bamboo and bananas which are food sources for
elephants," he said, adding the action was taken in a peaceful
manner.

In Bangkok, a coalition of the conservation groups announced they
would approach Prime Minister Chuan  Leekpai tomorrow to ask him
to look into the case immediately.

They said they would also ask Interior Minister Sanan
Kachornprasart to calm down pipeline supporters who have
threatened to counter-protest against the groups in Kanchanaburi
tomorrow.

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

XINHUA NEWS AGENCY: MYANMAR -THAI WORKSHOP ON COOPERATION HELD IN YANGON 
20 January, 1998
 
A three-day Myanmar -Thai workshop on cooperation in technology is being
held here to promote technological cooperation between the two countries.

The workshop, which commenced Monday, is sponsored by the Department of
Technological and Economic Cooperation of the Office of the Prime Minister
of Thailand under the Myanmar -Thai technological cooperation program, the
official newspaper The Mirror reported Tuesday.

Experts from the Thai side are scheduled to lecture at the workshop,
attended by Myanmar departmental officials. Myanmar and Thailand agreed to
enhance their bilateral cooperation in various fields at the two countries'
joint commission for bilateral cooperation meeting held in Bangkok last
December.  

Bilateral cooperation covers culture, health, education, agriculture,
tourism, trade, investment, communications, energy, fishery and drug control. 
 
*************************************************************

COMPUTER JOURNAL (YANGON)
January issue
Translated by Moe Kyaw Thu <moe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

After installation of X.25 Packet Switching Systems in Yangon and Mandalay
and X. 75 International PSPDN with Singapore, Hong Kong, Thailand, Ministry
of Communications, Post and Telegraphs will soon start Data Communication
and E-mail services to government organizations, embassies & international
organizations, foreign investors, oil exploration & mining companies,
airlines, hotel and travel services, banking services and private
enterprises.

The available lines for the moment are 400 for Yangon and 80 for Mandalay.
Direct Lines (not home telephone lines) would be in three speed options,
9.6 kbps, 19.2 kbps, 64 kbps. The International connections from Myanmar
Telecom are three direct lines with Singapore (Telepac, Singapore Telecom),
HongKong (Intelpak, HongKong Telecom) and Thailand (Thaipak, Communication
Authority of Thailand) and transit lines are with Sweden, Netherland,
Switzerland, Korea, Indonesia, Philippines, France, Vietnam, Japan, U.K.,
U.S.A. Both the direct and transit lines are using 64 kbps line connections.

Installation and annual service charges

Home Telephone Lines (2.4 or 4.8 kbps)
 Installation: 300 US$
  Annual Fee: 500 US$

Direct Lines
9.6 kbps                300 US$; 1000 US$
19.2 kbps       300 US$; 3000 US$
64 kbps         600 US$; 10,000 US$

E-mail Service
Installation: 150 US$; Annual Fee: 150 US$

Charges

Data Transfer
0.07 US$/ 3min (Domestic)       0.04 US$/ kseg of data
0.12 US$/ 1min (Int'l)          0.13 US$/ 10 seg of data

E-mail
0.1 US$/ 1000 characters (Domestic)
1.0 US$/ 1000 characters (Int'l)

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

ANNOUNCEMENTS:

FREE BURMA URGENT ACTION ALERT: THAI-BURMA PIPELINE
22 January, 1998

Environmentalists camping out in the Huay Kae Yong area where the
Thai-Burmese gas pipeline is being built are under threat from the
Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT). A warning has been received by
activists in Thailand that the PTT may use violence to force the closure of
the protest camp on January 21 or 22.  The environmentalists are determined
to  stay where they are and to continue to use non-violence.  Their camp is
situated at KM27 and in the warning received  the use of violence and the
force of villagers are being used to threaten those in the
camp.  Dialogue is currrently underway between representatives of
the Prime Miisters office and conservationists regarding the
threats against those in the camps.

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Immediately fax PTT and make it clear that the international
community is watching what happens to those in the camps.  This is
an international issue in that PTT  and Unocal are involved in
this project together. Any violence used against them will be
strongly  condemned by the international community. That this is
not Burma but Thailand and any kind of violence used on innocent
people will hurt the image of Thailand and is not acceptable.

Fax the Prime Ministers Office and state your concerns of the
safety to those in the camps and that should any violence occur to
those in the camps all companies will be held responsible and will
be severely condemned by the international community which
includes the international campaigns focussed on the oil and gas
industry in Burma.  Under the new Thai constitution the people of
Thailand have the  right to voice opposition and to use violence
against them will not only damage Thailands image abroad but hurt
the Amazing Thailand campaign.

Fax Unocal both in the states and here in Thailand and let them
know that if anything happens to those in the camps they will be
held just as responsible as PTT.  Urge restraint in all faxes and
push for dialogue.

CONTACTS:

PTT:  MR. PALA SOOKAWESS (GOVERNOR)
          MR. PITI YAMPRASERT. (He is responsible for this project)
          Fax # +66 2 5374389

PRIME MINISTER OF THAILAND'S OFFICE:
+66 2 2801443

Unocal Thailand
Unocal Headquarters, El Segundo, California
VP of Planning, Patrick Murphy, CEO Roger Beach
fax: +66-2-545-5554
fax: 310-726-7802
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
----

ALP BURMA RESOLUTION
22 January, 1998

Free Burma Coalition, Australia

On the 22nd January 1998 the Australian Labor Party condemned the SPDC of
Burma in a strong resolution.  The ALP is the largest of Australia's
political parties in opposition and formed the government of Australia for
thirteen years prior to the 1996 elections when the Liberal National
Coalition took power.

Moved by Janelle Saffin and Seconded by Sue West

The ALP adopted the following resolution which will form the basis of their
Foreign Policy on Burma:

Burma/Myanmar

Labor condemns continuing gross violation of human rights in Burma,
including the draconian suppression of political freedoms, arbitrary
detention, torture, rape, disappearance, extradition killings, oppression of
ethnic and religious minorities and the use of forced labor.

Labor further condemns the continued refusal of the SPDC - formally the
SLORC - to accept the political verdict of the people of Burma freely
expressed at the democratic elections of 1990.

Labor deplores Burma's status as the world leading producer of opium and
heroin and expresses grave concern at reports of complicity in this trade of
Burma's military ruler.

Labor commends Nobel Laureate and Leader of the NLD, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi,
for 
her courage and determination to bring freedom and democracy to Burma.

Labor calls on SPCD to cease it's repressive attempts to suppress political
freedom in Burma, and to release all political prisoners immediately and
unconditionally.

Labor considers the only long term solution to the situation in Burma is a
negotiated settlement firmly based on full respect for human rights, and
calls on the SPDC to open a genuine political dialogue with Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, representatives of the NLD and ethnic minorities.

Labor further calls on the SPDC to fully and unconditionally co-operate
with the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Special Rapporteur on
Burma and to cooperate unreservedly with the international community in
efforts to suppress trafficking in narcotics.

Labor calls on the Australian Government to do all that it can including
through the UN, to maximise international pressure on the Burmese military
regime and, in the absence of any sufficient improvement in human rights
conditions and real progress toward the establishment of democratic
freedoms to: 

*Actively discourage Australian trade with Burma including the closure of
the Austrade Office in Rangoon, discourage Australian companies from doing
business in Burma and ban new Australian investment in Burma; 

*actively discourage Australian citizens from visiting Burma for business
and tourism;  

*Suspend the issue of visas for visits to Australia by Burmese officials and
other persons associated with the military regime;

*And put the SPDC on notice that diplomatic relations will be downgraded in
the event of further deterioration of the human rights situation in Burma.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-----

BRITIAN BURMA SOCIETY
22 January, 1998 

Last summer there were some passionate and extremely well-briefed reactions
to a BBC TV film that looked for secret "backers" behind U Saw's
assassination of General Aung San in 1947.  Now the producer of that TV
film has confronted his critics, and offered to join in open debate.
Perhaps there are still enough knowledgeable people around to get to the
bottom of this affair at last.

The scene is set in a new "Research" area of the Britain-Burma Society web
site <http://www.britainburma.demon.co.uk> - and further contributions are
sought.

Derek Brooke-Wavell - hon sec, Britain Burma Society

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

BURMANET EDITOR: CORRECTION
 
In the 20 January issue of The BurmaNet News, the headline FREE BURMA
FORUM: RESPONSE TO FREE BURMA DIGEST ARTICLE implied that the headline
"Opium Groups unites Against Burma" was a creation of the Free Burma
Digest.  In fact, this headline appeared as part of an AP wire story to
which Chao-Tzang Yawnghwe was commenting on in the Free Burma Coalition
Forum. 

The Editor apologises for any confusion created by this error.

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