The BurmaNet News: May 6-7, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: May 6-7, 1999
Issue #1266

Noted in Passing: "This is a pretty strange government, but is it any worse
than in North Korea?" - European Diplomat in Rangoon (see THE BANGKOK POST:
FEUD EXPOSES "WAR OF ATTRITION")

HEADLINES:
==========
REUTERS: ICRC BEGINS FIRST EVER PRISON VISITS 
BKK POST: FEUD EXPOSES "WAR OF ATTRITION" 
BKK POST (LETTER): A FURTHER ABUSE OF VILLAGERS 
BKK POST: US COURT TO RULE ON TRADE BAN 
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REUTERS: ICRC BEGINS FIRST EVER PRISON VISITS IN MYANMAR 
6 May, 1999 

GENEVA, May 6 (Reuters) - The International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) said it began visits on Thursday to detainees held at a huge prison
near Yangon, its first ever such visits in Myanmar. 

In a statement, the Swiss-run humanitarian agency said that under the terms
of a verbal agreement with Myanmar's ruling military government, the State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC), it would have access "to all places
of detention in the country.'' 

Four ICRC delegates began visits at Insein Prison near Yangon, believed to
be the country's largest, according to Jean-Michel Monod, ICRC
director-general for Asia. 

Monod, asked whether ICRC would have access to political prisoners, told
Reuters in Geneva, "We will have access to all places of detention and to
the entire incarcerated population.'' 

The ICRC said visits would take place "in accordance with the ICRC's
standard procedures.'' Under these, officials interview prisoners without
witnesses and may make follow-up visits. 

The ICRC closed its Yangon office in July 1995 after failing to persuade
the military junta to sign a memorandum of understanding which would have
allowed Red Cross access to political prisoners. 

Human rights organisations and the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD) party led by Aung San Suu Kyi have accused the Myanmar government of
detaining hundreds of NLD members without trial and of curbing political
activity in the country. 

Monod said ICRC was returning to Myanmar with just a verbal accord and no
formal memorandum of understanding, as was the case for years after it
first returned to Cambodia in 1992. 

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THE BANGKOK POST: FEUD EXPOSES "WAR OF ATTRITION"
7 May, 1999 

Editorial

A feud between Burma's opposition and a handful of dissidents has rekindled
debate about how best to push the ruling generals towards democracy.

But diplomats say it is unlikely to diminish international support for
Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy or
cause the party itself to alter course.

The NLD has accused three politicians who won seats in its landslide
election win in 1990 of colluding with the military, which annulled the
poll result, to try to split the party.

Than Tun, Tin Tun Maung and Kyi Win broke ranks with the NLD over its move
to set up a committee to represent the parliament elected in 1990. A plan
to assemble the parliament itself has been thwarted by the detention of
many elected NLD candidates.

The three stated their opposition in a signed paper.

Than Tun and Kyi Win say they acted of their own free will, but a diplomat
in Rangoon quoted NLD vice-chairman Tin Oo as saying that many of the
paper's 25 signatories had said they were duped into signing and had
withdrawn their support.

It is not the first time Than Tun has opposed the NLD leadership on a
sensitive issue. In 1996 he became one of only two representatives ever
expelled by the party after criticising its decision to quit a
constitutional convention.

Diplomats characterised the spat as the latest act in a long war of
attrition between the military and the opposition and said it was likely
signatories had acted under duress.

"Whether it represents a split within the NLD, I don't know," said one.
"But it's clear all MPs are under pressure to disengage from the NLD. The
party's been under incredible pressure since setting up the committee."

Official media say 26,000 NLD members have quit since the committee was set
up last year and more than 1 million people have signed anti-NLD petitions.
The NLD says the government used coercion to secure resignations and
signatures.

"The government's been quite clever in the way it's done all this," said a
European diplomat. "Basically it's been saying to people, if you don't
bother us and stay quiet we'll let you stay free, but if you do we'll put
you in jail."

Despite the obvious repression, the question now being asked among
diplomats is whether the NLD is right to stick to its insistence for
implementation of the 1990 election result.

"Time is passing and nothing is happening," said the first diplomat. "There
are those who argue that there has been very little concrete achievement."

Last year the government detained hundreds of NLD members after the party
vowed to call a "people's parliament". Around 100 NLD elected
representatives remain in detention.

Some believe change could be more effectively brought about though economic
and political engagement rather than the sanctions imposed by Washington
and Europe.

"There's dialogue going on with the very strange government in North
Korea," said the European diplomat. "This is a pretty strange government,
but is it any worse than in North Korea?"

Doubters argue Ms Suu Kyi's status as an international human rights icon
may be part of the problem.

"She is definitely in a very difficult position," said the European
diplomat. "She may be worried that diminishing her demands might diminish
her international status and Gandhi-esque aura and the whole impetus of her
movement might be damaged.

"And the NLD won the election, and if they do agree to be more flexible
that would mean giving up that legally won election."

Despite the growing frustration at a lack of progress, there is little sign
international pressure on the government is likely to ease or that support
for Ms Suu Kyi will diminish.

"I think it's very unlikely there will be any dilution of international
feeling," said the diplomat.

"She has some very powerful and influential supporters overseas, in the US
congress and elsewhere, and that's not going to suddenly evaporate." 

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THE BANGKOK POST: A FURTHER ABUSE OF VILLAGERS 
7 May, 1999 

POSTBAG

A story in the Bangkok Post's April 26 t issue was headlined "Surayud Will
Lead 800km Rally."  It is truly amazing that the Thai army and the TAT
organised a four-wheel-drive, off-road trip from Ban I Tong in Kanchanaburi
province to Martaban town in Burma from May 8-10 to promote Thai-Burma
tourism and to help boost relations.

If the Thai people are concerned about human rights violations and the
restoration of democracy in their neighbour, this trip should be cancelled.

Since late 1992, seven villages between Ban I Tong and Kaleinaung have been
cleared by the Burmese army. Construction of the Ye-Tavoy railroad has
started using forced labour from nearby villages. Expansion of a road
started in 1998.

Both the railroad works and road expansion have caused the indigenous
peoples' displacement and loss of property and money. There also have been
lives lost through forcible labour on the railroad.

The planned rally from Ban I Tong to Kaleinaung to Martaban town on the
other side of Moulmein will be a further slap in the face of the Burmese
people.

People inside Burma long for peace and justice, and do not want to see Thai
honeymooners benefiting from the pain caused them by the military junta.

Saw Displaced 
Mergui-Tavoy District 

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THE BANGKOK POST: US COURT TO RULE ON TRADE BAN 
6 May, 1999 

BOSTON, AFP

SUPPORTERS SAY TRADE INVOKED SANCTIONS PLAY IMPORTANT ROLE

A federal appeals court is considering whether United States cities and
states have the right to boycott foreign regimes.

The case, heard on Tuesday, involves the Massachusetts Burma Law, which
sanctions companies that trade with Burma. Massachusetts enacted the law in
1996 because of human rights violations by that country's military dictators.

The National Foreign Trade Council, (NFTC) representing major corporations,
challenged the law. Their purpose: to set a precedent that bars local
governments from imposing sanctions like those that human rights groups say
helped end apartheid in South Africa.

The NFTC's initial challenge succeeded in November, when a US District
Court judge ruled the Massachusetts law interferes with the federal
government's power to set foreign policy.

In a case that is expected to go to the US Supreme Court, Massachusetts
appealed that decision.

In the federal courtroom overlooking Boston Harbour, where the-country's
boycott of English tea began 226 years ago, each side made starkly
different arguments over who has the right to set foreign policy.

State and local governments clearly don't have foreign policy powers, but
Massachusetts is trying to exercise them, said Timothy Dyk, the NFTC's lawyer.

"Massachusetts is trying to regulate conduct on the other side of the
world," Mr Dyk said.

Arguing for the state, Assistant Attorney General Thomas Barnico said it is
Congress that must decide whether a state or local government may enact
legislation that affects foreign affairs.

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