OSI: Burma News Update No. 60

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Burma Project
Open Society Institute
> Burma News Update No. 60
> 30 June 1998
> 
> Junta Threatens Suu Kyi
> Burma's army junta announced on Monday, 29 June that it "can no longer
> 
> tolerate the acts of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi who ignores the interest of
> the nation
> and people," threatening legal action against 
> the Nobel Peace laureate and the opposition National League for
> Democracy (NLD)
> she heads for ignoring the interest of the 
> nation and people. Similar warnings were issued in July 1989 just
> before Daw Suu
> Kyi was placed incommunicado under house arrest for five 
> years. The threat was published in state-run newspapers, citing a 1996
> junta
> decree imposing 5-to-20 year prison terms on anyone opposing junta
> plans for a
> new constitution. On 23 June, the NLD demanded that parliament be
> convened
> within two months based on results of its overwhelming 1990 election 
> victory, which the army junta has refused to honor.
> (Rangoon, Reuters, 29 June)
> 
> China, U.S. Heroin Concerns
> China is creating local militias "to block the channels for drug
> trafficking
> through China as drug growing, processing, and trafficking along
> China's
> southwest border [with Burma] has become increasingly serious," a
> Chinese
> official announced in Beijing. In Washington, U.S. Office of National
> Drug
> Policy 
> Director Barry McCaffrey said at a 25 June news conference: "There is
> so much
> heroin in the world - the supply so clearly exceeds the demand - that
> a lot of
> our 
> children are now seeing high-purity heroin, which does not need to be
> injected.
> . . . The levels of heroin purity are clearly higher than they were
> just a few
> years ago." [Burma now supplies the U.S. with over 60% of its heroin
> imports and
> has recently become a major regional producer of methamphetamines.
> -Ed]
> (Beijing, Agence France Presse, 26 June; Washington Post, 28 June)
> 
> Burma Gets Chinese Jets
> Burma is set to buy seven dual-purpose Chinese military jets that can
> be used as
> ground attack aircraft as well as trainers, according to Jane's
> Defence Weekly.
> The US$20 million Chinese-financed deal will be the first export sales
> of the
> Karakoram-8 aircraft, a joint project of China and Pakistan.
> (South China Morning Post [Hong Kong], 25 June)
> Landmine Toll Rises 
> Bangladesh border guards said a family 
> of five Burmese refugees was killed by a landmine explosion on 24 June
> as they 
> tried to flee into Bangladesh. At least 33 
> people have been killed by landmines 
> apparently placed by Burma's army junta to stop Muslim Rohingya people
> from 
> escaping Burma. 
> (Cox's Bazar; Bangladesh, Reuters, June 25)
> 
> Burmese Economy Grim 
> In its six-month review of conditions in Burma required by the U.S.
> law imposing
> sanctions against the country's military junta, the U.S. State
> Department
> reported: "The Burmese 
> economic situation is grim and appears to be worsening. The government
> is
> reportedly virtually bankrupt with regard to foreign exchange
> reserves. . . . As
> a result of sanctions and the ongoing financial crisis in much of the
> rest of
> Southeast Asia, new investment in Burma has come to a halt,
> contributing to the
> financial mire. . . . [T]he quality of life of the average Burmese
> citizen has
> continued to worsen. . . . [S]evere violations of human rights have
> continued .
> . . including rape, forced porterage, and extrajudicial killing."
> (Bureau of East Asian and Pacific Affairs, U.S. Department of State,
> 24 June)
> 
> Korean President Urges Genuine Dialogue 
> In a letter to members of the U.S. Congress and others marking the
> birthday of
> Daw Aung San Suu Kyi on 19 June, Korean President Kim Dae-jung called
> for all
> Burmese groups and institutions to enter into genuine dialogue,
> commenting:
> "During the dark days of our own dictatorship, some Korean leaders,
> like Burma's
> military junta today, argued that respect for human rights and
> democracy was not
> suitable for an Asian country. The generals and their civilian
> supporters argued
> that only repressive regimes could bring economic growth. Events over
> the past
> year have shown that this argument is wrong in practice and without
> philosophical foundation. The current Asian financial crisis arose
> from a lack
> of transparency and accountability in governance, and will only be
> resolved in
> the long run through greater openness and popular participation within
> our
> societies. . . ."
> (Forum of Democratic Leaders in the Asia Pacific, Seoul, 19 June)
> 
> 
> BURMA NEWS UPDATE is a publication of the Burma Project of the Open
> Society Institute 
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