Burma News Update No. 81

[HMarciniec@xxxxxxxxxxx]

Burma Project
Open Society Institute

Burma News Update No. 81
06 April 1999



Michael Aris's Death

The 53-year old husband of democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Dr.
Michael Aris, died of prostate cancer in England on 27 March. Dr. Aris was
denied a visa to visit his wife in Burma during the last stages of his
illness, and Daw Suu Kyi chose not to leave Burma for fear that the military
regime would bar her from returning to her homeland. The Sydney Morning
Herald
reported on 30 March that the junta continually cut phone calls between Suu
Kyi and her dying husband during his last days, allowing the couple only a
minute or two to speak. The junta's behavior during Dr. Aris's illness has
evoked international rebuke, including an expression of "dismay" by UN
Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Washington Post wrote in a 29 March
editorial that the Burmese junta's behavior spotlighted the "heartlessness,
the sheer brutal stupidity, of that nation's military rulers. ... Through
their corruption and repressiveness, Burma's rulers have isolated themselves
from the world. Only a few profit-seekers -- Unocal of the United States,
Total of France, arms merchants of China and Singapore, drug dealers
throughout the world -- engage in commerce with them. This latest act of
inhumanity will reinforce the dictators' pariah status and, one can hope,
hasten their demise." Daw Suu Kyi, in an interview with the BBC on 03 April,

accused the junta of "political blackmail." She refused further public
comment 
on her husband's death, saying many people in Burma face similarly cruel 
situations imposed by the country's army rulers. "In many cases it is far
worse," 
Daw Suu Kyi stated. "This is daily fare in Burma."  [Analysts say it is
unclear whether
the junta will now allow the two sons of Dr. Aris and Daw Suu Kyi to visit
Burma - Ed.]

Compiled from Internet news services



Ceasefire Fragile

The fragile ceasefire between Burma's army junta and a major drug-producing
militia appears on the verge of breakdown. A 1989 agreement between the
military regime and the United Wa State Army (UWSA), which the US government
describes as the world's largest armed narcotics' trafficking group, has
allowed the UWSA to prosper by manufacturing heroin, and lately,
methamphetamines. The group has spread its influence along the Thai
frontier,
especially since fugitive drug lord Khun Sa negotiated an amnesty with the

junta over three years ago, and the Rangoon regime is concerned at its
continued growth. The UWSA reportedly has 20,000 men under arms.

Doi Sam Sao, Burma, "The Nation" (Bangkok) 24 March



UN: Junta Ignores AIDS Crisis

A senior UN official accused Burma's army junta of threatening its own
people and neighboring countries by ignoring the scale of the AIDS epidemic
in
their country. Peter Piot, executive director of the United Nations' AIDS
program, said Burma's generals are now the top regional target after new
anti-AIDS efforts were agreed by Cambodian authorities. Piot said Burma's
ruling junta must be convinced that "this is a matter not only involving
the people but of national security." Burma today has an estimated 440,000
HIV/AIDS sufferers. There is "no way you can tackle the problem if you don't
fully recognize it," Piot said, but added that effective grassroots action
in
Burma will be difficult because of the breakdown between the military regime
and civil society. [The Burmese service of Radio Free Asia, the
US-Government
funded independent broadcaster, announced on 01 April that it is launching a
30-part series aimed at overcoming "the silence, denial, and
misunderstandings
that have contributed to the spread of AIDS among the Burmese people." -
Ed.]

Bangkok, Agence France-Presse, 02 April



Investors Hit Hard

Singaporean businessmen in Burma took the opportunity of a Rangoon visit by
Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong to complain of
increasingly 
severe restrictions imposed by the country's army junta. The measures are 
intended to preserve scarce foreign currency but have penalized foreign
investors,
particularly hoteliers, who are hit by prohibitions on "luxury imports." New
regulations require traders to export Burmese products before they may
import
any goods, but Singaporeans traders have suffered severe losses from a
sudden
ban on the export of rice, groundnut, oil, sesame and sesame oil. An eight
percent tax on private traders' foreign currency receipts levied in January
has also cut exporter's profits. [On 26 March, the "Economist Intelligence
Unit"
estimated that Burma's real GDP growth would be only 0.6% in the 1998/99
financial year - Ed.].

Rangoon, "The Straits Times" (Singapore), 02 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: http:www.soros.org/burma.html