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Burma News Update No. 56
- Subject: Burma News Update No. 56
- From: aung@xxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 16:15:00
Thanks for the info.
David Aung
----------
> From: ccraig@xxxxxxxxxxx
> To: Recipients of burmanet-l <burmanet-l@xxxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: OSI: Burma News Update No. 56
> Date: Wednesday, May 06, 1998 4:08 AM
>
> Burma Project, Open Society Institute
> Burma News Update No. 56
> 5 May 1998
>
> More Arrests, Death Sentences
> Six pro-democracy activists were sentenced to death, and 33 others
to
> long prison sentences in an intensified crackdown on opposition
forces
> in Burma. A junta spokesman claimed that the six men given death
> sentences were caught with explosives and that others were jailed
for
> "activities to cause instigation and agitation in the country."
> Several people have recently been jailed for their writings or for
> disseminating materials to diplomats and international media.
> (Bangkok, Agence France-Presse, 30 April)
>
> Heroin Causes Burma AIDS Crisis
> The New York Times reports that an AIDS crisis spurred by heroin
> addicts sharing contaminated needles is at crisis levels in Burma,
but
> that the country's army junta claims an AIDS/HIV rate less than five
> per cent of the actual figure, in part not to scare away potential
> tourists. Excerpts: "[The junta] has reported registering only
60,000
> addicts, with as few as 17,000 infected with AIDS. Foreign medical
> researchers put the total number of addicts closer to 500,000 and
> estimate that several hundred thousand heroin injectors have become
> HIV-positive. . . . [Burma] offers a harrowing example of
> drug-producing or transit countries that find their own people
growing
> addicted. . . . [The regime's] own AIDS statistics have been suspect
> since 1996, when it wooed foreign tourists with a `Visit Myanmar'
> campaign that portrayed the country as a vacation paradise."
> (New York Times, 3 May)
>
> Japan Urges Talks
> Japan's decision in March to fund repairs to Rangoon's airport was a
> one-time exception to its freeze on aid to Burma's army junta, a
> Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Bangkok on 30 April,
> adding that his government remains concerned over continuing human
> rights abuses in Burma and has again urged the junta to open talks
> with democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
> (Bangkok, Associated Press, 1 May)
>
> EU Extends Ban
> European Union Foreign Ministers extended the ban on senior-level
> official contacts with Burma's army junta for six more months on 27
> April. Officials said restrictions on contacts and visas for junta
> members were extended because of the military regime's ongoing human
> rights violations. (Luxembourg, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 27 April)
>
> Chinese Presence Worries India
> India's defense minister, George Fernandes, said on 3 May that India
> is deeply concerned over a sophisticated electronic surveillance
base
> China has built on Burma's Coco Islands, which he says can monitor
> defense activity along India's east coast. Fernandes said Chinese
> activities in Burma and the growth of Burma's army from 160,000 to
> over 450,000 over the past six years are potential threats to
India's
> security. (New Delhi, Reuters, 3 May)
>
> Oil and Heroin Mix
> A French newsweekly reports that France's soft policy towards Burma
is
> driven by the French TOTAL oil company's investment in a billion
> dollar natural gas pipeline project being built across southern
Burma.
> The article reviews Francis Christophe's new book, Burma, the Poppy
> Dictatorship, which notes that since the current military junta
seized
> power in 1988, Burma's opium production has leapt from 800 to almost
> 3000 tons annually, and describes the army's involvement in every
> stage of the drug trade. France is the only Western country which
does
> not condemn the junta, the article says, adding that this "human
> rights contempt" may be joined by "financial waste" if the current
> Asian financial crisis hurts TOTAL's pipeline investment.
> (Paris, L'?v?nement du Jeudi, 16 April)
>
> UNOCAL Outlook Negative
> Standard & Poor's revised its outlook for the UNOCAL Corp. from
stable
> to negative, noting that two-thirds of UNOCAL's reserves are in
> countries of high political risk, including Southeast Asian nations
> now experiencing economic turmoil. [UNOCAL, a partner with Burma's
> military junta in a one billion dollar natural gas pipeline, also
> faces suit in federal court in California over its alleged
complicity
> in human rights abuses by its military partner in the pipeline
> area_Ed.]
> (New York, Business Wire, 30 April)
>
> BURMA NEWS UPDATE is a publication of the Burma Project of the Open
> Society Institute.
> 400 West 59th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019 tel: (212) 548-0632
> Website:www.soros.org/burma.html