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The BurmaNet News: February 26, 199



Subject: The BurmaNet News: February 26, 1999

------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: February 26, 1999
Issue #1216

Noted in Passing: "Sometimes you have to make a pact with the devil." -
Paul Higdon, director of Interpol's criminal intelligence unit, on SPDC's
dealings with drug lords (see THE BANGKOK POST: DRUG LORDS' PRESENCE A
NECESSARY EVIL - EXPERT) 

HEADLINES:
==========
UPI: BURMA JUNTA ACCUSED OF MASS POISONING 
BKK POST: DRUG LORDS' PRESENCE A NECESSARY EVIL 
REUTERS: MYANMAR MUST SPEED UP DRUGS ACTION - UN 
THE NATION: WHERE DOES EU REALLY STAND ON BURMA? 
BRUSSELS LE SOIR: PARLIAMENT URGES DEHAENE ON BURMA
THE NATION: SCHOOL CLOSED FOR ANTI-BURMA CONTENT 
BKK POST: NEW TRAVEL ROUTE TO LURE THAI VISITORS 
AFP: JAPAN GIVES FINANCIAL AID TO MYANMAR 
ANNC: LEICHHARDT PASSES SELECTIVE PURCHASING
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UPI: BURMA JUNTA ACCUSED OF MASS POISONING 
23 February, 1999 

BANGKOK, Feb. 23 (UPI) -- Activists monitoring human rights abuses in Burma
say (Tuesday) soldiers used dead rats to poison the water supply of some
10,000 ethnic Shan villagers, killing at least 400 of them since May.

The Shan Human Rights Foundation says the villagers began falling ill in
large numbers in May of 1998 after the soldiers dumped thousands of
poisoned rats into the Pawn River, which is the only source of water for
more than 10,000 Shan villagers in the central Shan state district of Parng
Long.

A representative of the privately funded foundation told United Press
International the poisoning reports were based on Shan refugees crossing
the border from Burma into Thailand.

Says the foundation representative, "I was skeptical, but after we talked
to people coming out we were convinced the reports were absolutely genuine."

The villagers were quoted as saying military authorities in the area
ordered residents to bring rats, most of them poisoned with cheap,
Chinese-manufactured poison, to the soldiers, who then dumped the dead
rodents into the river.

The poisoning symptoms reportedly included severe headache, followed by
fever, vomiting, severe dehydration and blurred vision, followed by death.

Children who swam in the river were among the first to die, and the deaths
have continued until as recently as last month, according to the refugee
accounts.

The Shan Human Rights Foundation has issued an urgent appeal for
independent medical experts to visit the area, which is largely closed off
from the outside world by Burma's xenophobic military rulers.
 
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THE BANGKOK POST: DRUG LORDS' PRESENCE A NECESSARY EVIL - EXPERT
25 September, 1999 

RANGOON, AFP

'DEALING WITH REBELS COMES BEFORE DRUGS'

Interpol yesterday expressed regret at the Western boycott of its
international heroin conference as delegates exchanged intelligence on drug
trafficking in private meetings.

Paul Higdon, director of Interpol's criminal intelligence unit, said the
conference was going well despite a boycott by nations including the United
States, Britain and France.


Boycotting nations said their presence would have implied endorsement of
the anti-drugs policy of the military government in Burma, one of the
world's largest sources of opium.

"You get a look of solidarity when people are there," said Mr Higdon, who
added that the fight against drugs was best tackled with international
cooperation.

But Mr Higdon and diplomats expressed some discomfort that the meeting's
host Burma is home to some of the world's most notorious drug lords who
have made immunity deals with the military government.

Khun Sa, the king of the Golden Triangle drug lords, and former ringleader
Lo Hsing-han are believed to be living under the protection of military
intelligence in Rangoon, diplomats said.

Khun Sa reached a ceasefire deal with the junta in 1996 to end the 20-year
struggle for independence of his Mong Tai Army and is now thought to head
legitimate businesses in mining, transport and agriculture.

Lo Hsing-han is now one of Burma's most influential businessmen after his
arrest in 1973, and amnesty seven years later.

"You can say we have two bad characters who are on the loose," Mr Higdon said.

"But before the government could do anything with heroin, they had to do
something with insurgencies. "Sometimes you have to make a pact with the
devil," he added.

Mr Higdon cautioned against expecting immediate results from a very
"technical" conference of law enforcement officers. "It is a continual
process rather than an event which happens," he said.

The three-day conference, which opened on Tuesday, has drawn around 70
delegates from foreign police forces and non-governmental organisations.

Mr Higdon said Australia, which refused to join the Western boycott of the
conference, had already picked up useful information. "It is certainly
putting Australia on guard. They have to know who the enemy is," he said.

Australian ambassador to Burma Lyndall McLean said on Tuesday that her
country had attended as it was important to work towards united efforts.
Delegates at the conference yesterday held talks on trafficking routes in
America and Europe. 

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REUTERS: MYANMAR MUST SPEED UP DRUGS ACTION - UN 
23 February, 1999 by David Brunnstrom 

BANGKOK, Feb 23 (Reuters) - Military ruled Myanmar is not doing enough to
combat narcotics production and trafficking and should speed up its opium
eradication programme, a senior U.N. narcotics official said on Tuesday.

Myanmar, the world's biggest single source of heroin, recently announced a
target date of 2014 for total eradication of opium production within it
borders.

Christian Kornevall, East Asia and Pacific representative of the U.N.
International Drug Control Programme (UNDCP), told Reuters there had been
evidence of increased narcotics seizures and drugs enforcement in Myanmar,
but added:

"They are not doing enough, of course not, and the timetable which they
have set out, it's a pity that it doesn't follow the U.N. ... They have put
out their own line."

He said the United Nations wanted a "substantial reduction" in production
by 2008 and for Myanmar to accelerate alternative development programmes in
opium-producing areas.


Asked whether Yangon was making enough use of its substantial military
resources to suppress opium and heroin production and bring traffickers to
justice, he replied:

"We would, of course, like to see more resources in Myanmar devoted to this
and that they have the possibility to curb more effectively the whole
production and manufacturing of drugs."

Kornevall said latest U.S. estimates showed Myanmar's opium output fell
below 2,000 tonnes in 1998, a "significant" reduction. U.S. estimates for
1997 were 2,365 tonnes.

However, Kornevall said that while Myanmar attributed the fall to its
alternative development programmes and there had been some progress in
reducing production in some areas, both the United Nations and the United
States said poor growing weather was largely responsible.

While there were indications of some decrease in heroin production,
amphetamine output had "skyrocketed," he said.

Producers were diversifying production to include amphetamines. "This we
are seeing as very, very severe and we are very, very worried about this,"
he said.

Kornevall said the UNDCP was not involved in police work and so had no
evidence to back claims by anti-Yangon groups of involvement in the drugs
trade of high-level Myanmar officials.

But the UNDCP would like Myanmar to be "more forthcoming" about its
relations with ethnic drug-producing groups: "We would like them to find
ways of curbing this production," he said.

While praising the work at an operating level of some Myanmar enforcement
officials working in cooperation with UNDCP programmes, he said political
progress was necessary in Myanmar to allow real progress on drug eradication.

"A political solution of course is very much needed...to enhance better
cooperation between Myanmar and other governments. The overall political
situation in the country makes it difficult," he said.

He said this had been shown by the boycott by the United States and
European nations of a narcotics conference organised by Interpol which
started in Yangon on Tuesday. Western states have been sharply critical of
Myanmar's failure to democratise and of its human rights and drug
eradication efforts.

Kornevall told a seminar on Tuesday the UNDCP was taking part in the
conference despite the boycott because it was important to promote greater
cooperation in drug suppression.

"It's a very complex situation and it might be easier to have an opinion
from very far away than actually be up in those areas...(but) I think it
would be very detrimental for the drugs case if countries individually were
to take a very negative attitude towards drug cooperation." 

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THE NATION: WHERE DOES EU REALLY STAND ON BURMA ISSUES? 
25 February, 1999 

Letters to the Editor

During his recent visit to Thailand, Singaporean Foreign Minister Shunmugan
Jayakumar criticised the European Union (EU) for inconsistencies in its
Burma policy. Well, he may be right, although for other reasons than its
refusal to sit alongside Burmese delegations at international meetings.


Perhaps Minister Jayakumar and his peers should be reminded of when Burma
joined Asean in 1997. At that time Asean defended Burma's admission into
the regional grouping, putting forward Asian values to justify the move.

The saying goes: "In Asia when a bride marries one expects her to behave".
But it is now nearly two years on and the bride still refuses to behave,
which has tainted Asean with stench. Asean nations knew of this risk when
they welcomed the unappealing member. They knew that accepting Burma's
military regime into their ranks would at least complicate if not sour,
their relations with other international bodies, particularly since the
heady days of the Asian economic tigers.

And also because the Burmese junta has not introduced reforms such as
initiating dialogue with the opposition, preventing human-rights abuses, or
stemming the production and outflow of illicit drugs, which has made a
mockery of the Asean policy of "constructive engagement".

However, as the next Asean-EU ministerial meeting nears, it seems that the
time has come for the EU to really show where it stands. Its current policy
on Burma is fraught with flagrant contradictions that need to be addressed.

On the one hand, the EU has since the bloody suppression of the 1988
pro-democracy uprising condemned the Burmese junta and initiated the
following measures, among others, against them:

* Denied GSP trade benefits;

* Barred the granting of visas to members of the regime and their families:

* Suspended high-level EU visits to Burma;

* Called for a comprehensive European embargo; and

* Banned arms shipments.

On the other hand, the EU (with Japan and major corporations via
organisations like USA-Engage and National Foreign Trade Council) has filed
a suit at the World Trade Organisation against the state of Massachusetts,
which has barred companies from doing business in Burma.

This local law, known as "selective purchasing", enacted by Massachusetts,
is in the same spirit as those the EU passed against Burma's dictatorship.
A tool in helping to restore democracy. Taking these conflicting policies
into account, it remains to be seen how the EU can force Asean to be firm
with Burma. In the first place, the EU should put its own house in order if
it wants its rhetoric for a better Burma to be taken seriously.

PV, BANGKOK

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BRUSSELS LE SOUR: PARLIAMENT URGES DEHAENE TO INCREASE PRESSURE ON BURMA 
23 February, 1999

[Translated from French, abridged.]

The pressure is increasing on the dictatorship in Rangoon. And Belgium is
doing its share. [passage omitted] Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands,
Ireland, Belgium, the United Kingdom, and Germany -- joined belatedly by
the United States, and even more belatedly by France (which is rather
ambiguous concerning Burma taking account of its economic interests there)
-- announced that due to the political situation in the country they would
not participate this Tuesday in the Interpol global conference on heroin
trafficking which is organized in Rangoon.


The geographical choice of the conference was requested by... Paris, if an
Asian police source quoted by Le Monde du Renseignement [The World of
Intelligence] is to be believed.  [passage omitted]

Belgian Resolution 

Other observers do not hide their doubts: Despite all its promises and
despite the heavily publicized destruction of several hundred kilograms of
drugs from time to time, they believe that the military junta has never
done anything, and does not intend to do anything, to eradicate this heroin
production. This production earns the junta a fortune and is one of the
main sources of financial revenue for the country. This, it seems, is the
opinion which has prevailed in the West.

And particularly so in Belgium which very quickly supported the boycott
option. This is not the only action undertaken by Belgium: Without making
waves, on 4 February this year Parliament's lower house adopted a fairly
firm resolution on Burma, with the unanimity of the 131 parliamentary
deputies present. The resolution condemns all the democratic failures of
Rangoon and calls on Jean-Luc Dehaene's government:

To urge the junta to start a dialog with the NLD [National League for
Democracy] and the ethnic minorities;

To urge Belgian enterprises and travelers to respect the call of the
legally elected NLD to break all links in the field of commerce,
investments, and tourism;

To urge at the European level that all sanctions are maintained and even
strengthened, while continuing to provide humanitarian aid to the
population. [passage omitted]


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THE NATION: SCHOOL CLOSED FOR ANTI-BURMA COURSE CONTENT 
25 February, 1999 by Marisa Chimprabha 

SAMUT Sakhon authorities have closed down a school for Burmese children in
Mahachai area for allegedly providing anti-Burmese government courses which
could jeopardise bilateral relations, a senior government source said
yesterday.

The school, Mahachai Displaced Children School, was set up by a
non-governmental organisation, the Thai Action Committee for Democracy in
Burma (TACDB), which has launched strong and  active campaigns against the
ruling Burmese junta.

The Mahachai school, the only school organised by the TACDB, is believed to
be the first to be shut for national security reasons.

However, TACDB's project manager Puttanee Kangkun yesterday denied that the
school, which was closed on Dec 28, had anything to do with politics.

"It is true the school was organised by the TACDB whose objective is
disseminating information on violence and dictatorship in Burma. But the
school's objective is to educate the Burmese workers' children, and to
prevent them from indulging in any crimes," Puttanee said.

She said it was still unclear on what grounds the school was closed because
the provincial officials only told her that the provincial deputy governor
was very concerned about the school.

It is estimated that there are about 100,000 Burmese working in the fishery
industries in Samut Sakhon province, with most of them living in Mahachai.


The school, which was set up in June last year and had about 70 students,
has four Burmese teachers who taught the Burmese language and used
textbooks from Burma.

The same government source said that the provincial authorities had
monitored the school's operations for a while on suspicion that it was set
up illegally as it has not yet registered with the Education Ministry.

"In addition, the school is operating with four Burmese teachers who taught
in Burmese. The teachers may have tried to instil anti-Burmese sentiments
in the students," he said.

This could jeopardise Thai-Burma relations because Rangoon may think that
Bangkok was providing shelter to Burmese dissidents, he added.

Puttanee told The Nation that her organisation had repeatedly reminded the
teachers not to bring in politics in t he classroom. However, she admitted
that it was difficult to control them.

One of the teachers is a former principal of a Burmese school and the three
others are those who escaped from Burma and are presently under protection
of the UN High Commission for Refugees. When the school was closed down, a
teacher was deported because he had no work permit, while three others were
allowed to stay behind because of the UNHCR protection.

She also argued that her organisation is in the process of seeking
information to register the school as it is well aware that a school with
more than seven students has to register with the Education Ministry.

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THE BANGKOK POST: NEW TRAVEL ROUTE TO LURE THAI VISITORS 
25 September, 1999 by Supamart Kasem 

ADVENTURE TRAIL FROM MAE SOT TO RANGOON

Burma has launched a new tourist route from Mae Sot in a bid to lure Thai
tourists to experience the adventure of life on the Asian Highway to Rangoon.

The trip has been offered by the Burmese government in a package tour to
allow Thai tourists to enter its country by border pass instead of applying
for a visa, said Paniti Tungphati, president of the Tak Chamber of Commerce.

The provincial trade body has facilitated at least three trips since the
debut in November and Mr Paniti showed optimism that more would be arranged
to meet a growing demand.

The programme starts at Mae Sot, crossing the Thai-Burmese Friendship
Bridge reopened last year to Myawaddy to begin the journey on the Asian
Highway in Burma. The road was a strategic route for Japan to mobilise its
soldiers and arms in the Second World War in a bid to control Burma.

Key attractions on the six-day trip include Pegu, the ancient Burmese
capital during the reign of King Bayinnaung in 1010; Moulmein, the capital
of Mon State, and Rangoon.

Shorter programmes are being planned from Mae Sot to Pa-an and Moulmein
with river cruising and rafting the main activities for the two-day trip,
Mr Paniti added.

Burma is renovating the highway and constructing bridges across the Gyaing
River due for completion this year. The improved road will halve the trip
from Mae Sot to the Burmese capital to less than 10 hours.

The newly-promoted programme will directly benefit Mae Sot to be another
starting point for Thai tourists travelling to Burma-in addition to its
role as a key trade outlet between Thailand and Burma.


To fully utilise the strategic location for tourism, he suggested the Thai
government open the border here for Burmese tourists who want to visit
Bangkok and other attractions in the country.

"Many affluent Burmese want to visit temples especially the Grand Palace in
Bangkok and other tourist spots such as Cha-am, Hua Hin and Phuket but they
cannot because the Thai government does not allow them to start the trip
from the border," he said.

"The country is losing an opportunity to attract Burmese tourists in the
Amazing Thailand years," he added.

Opening the border at Mae Sot is part of Rangoon's plan to promote the trip
to Burma by road. It has already opened the road from Mae Sai, Chiang Rai,
to  Tachilek and Keng Tung. The Burmese government plans to open three more
routes from the border opposite Chiang Dao district in Chiang Mai to
Mandalay and from Khun Yuam district in Mae Hong Son to the capital of
Kayah State in Loikaw and the Three Pagodas pass in Kanchanaburi to Moulmein.

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AFP: JAPAN GIVES FINANCIAL AID TO MYANMAR 
23 February, 1999 

TOKYO, Feb 23 (AFP) - Japan on Tuesday extended 382,000 dollars in aid to
improve medical facilities in military-ruled Myanmar, a report said. The
grant will be used for improvement of medical equipment at hospitals, Kyodo
News agency quoted the Japanese embassy in Yangon as saying.

The aid will cover a traditional medicine hospital in Mandalay, a hospital
in Pakokku in central Myanmar, a specialist hospital in Yangon, and a
general hospital in Insein near Yangon, it said.

More than 65,000 dollars of the grant will be used for the improvement of
teaching equipment at the institute in Mandalay, it said.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: LEICHHARDT PASSES SELECTIVE PURCHASING 
24 February, 1999 from sturnell@xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Leichhardt Council has become the latest Australian local government to
impose a selective purchasing ordinance against companies and individuals
doing business with the military regime in Burma.

The resolution of the Council was as follows:

"In line with present and past values held by this Council, it is
considered that a selective purchasing policy be instigated which reflects
Council's intolerance of the oppression carried out by the SPDC which holds
power in Burma by military force.

Recommendation:

That Council adopt a purchasing policy which prevents it entering any
contractual arrangement for the provision of goods and personal services
with any person, business or organisation which is providing or willing to
provide goods or personal services to:

*The military regime in Burma

*Any business or corporation organised under the authority of the military
regime in Burma

*Any person for the expressed purpose of assisting in business operations
or trading with any public or private entity in Burma"

The resolution was passed unanimously.

Sean Turnell
Burma Support Group (Sydney)

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