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The BurmaNet News: June 2, 1999



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: June 2, 1999
Issue #1284

HEADLINES:
==========
SHRF: FORCED RELOCATION OF MORE VILLAGES 
FEER: CROSS TO BEAR 
SCMP: UN PLAN 'THE ONLY HOPE FOR REFORM' 
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SHAN HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION: FORCED RELOCATION OF MORE VILLAGES IN MURNG-PAN
May 1999 Monthly Report from: <shrf@xxxxxxxxxxxx> 

During late March and early April 1999, SPDC troops from Murng-Pan-based
LIB520
forcibly relocated 3 villages in Murng-Pan township. The 3 villages relocated
were Pung Kur, Nawng Yaang and Pa Khaa. On 29.4.99, Maj Aye Thaung of LIB520
sent Capt Khin Kyaw Win with 80 troops to Pung Kur village, Nawng Yaang tract,
Murng-Pan township, to move the villagers to the town. When he got to the
village, Capt Khin Kyaw Win called up the village headman and ordered him to
start moving his villagers to Murng-Pan town on 30.4.99 and the movement
had to
be completed on 2.5.99. Starting from 3.5.99, anyone found in the area of the
village would be assumed to be a "destructive element" and would be shot dead.
Pung Kur consists of 186 houses of mostly farming families.

On 1.5.99, Maj Aye Thaung sent about 80 troops led by Capt Than Htoo to Nawng
Yaang village, Nawng Yaang tract, Murng-Pan township, to force the
villagers to
relocate to the town. The villagers were ordered to move within 4 days, from
2.5.99 to 5.5.99, and were warned that from 6.5.99 onwards anyone who
failed to
move would be shot dead and their houses burned. There were 85 houses of
farming families in Nawng Yaang village.

On 2.5.99, Capt Kyaw Myint, with about 80 troops, was sent by Maj Aye
Thaung to
Pa Khaa village, Ho Phaai Long tract, Murng-Pan township, to forcibly evict
the
villagers from their homes. The villagers were ordered to move to Murng-Pan
town and were told not to dismantle their houses but to leave them intact so
that one day when the situation became better they could come back home.
However, only 2-3 days after the villagers had moved away, the troops came
back
to the village and dismantled a big wooden house, owned by a villager named
Loong Zaang Kaeng Tung, and took the lumber to their military base in
Murng-Pan.

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FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: CROSS TO BEAR
3 June, 1999 

The International Committee of the Red Cross has regained permission to visit
political prisoners in Burma. The ICRC pulled out of Burma in early 1995,
accusing the Burmese government of hindering its work.

This time, however, Rangoon authorities say they're going to allow the ICRC to
freely visit 48 prisons throughout the country. But, according to reports from
Rangoon, the Burmese government is already busy moving the most sensitive
political prisoners to other penitentiaries, which the ICRC will not be
allowed
to visit. The 48 prisons also represent a mere 5% of Burma's 900-plus jails.

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SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: UN PLAN 'THE ONLY HOPE FOR REFORM'
2 June, 1999 by William Barnes 

BANGKOK

The chances of success may be slim, but the UN initiative on Burma remains
"the
only game in town", according to Ralph Boyce, the US Deputy Secretary for East
Asian and Pacific Affairs.

Last year's attempt by the United Nations to offer the military regime
technical and perhaps financial assistance in exchange for some political
liberalisation has been roundly condemned by many in the pro-democracy camp.

Some observers have suggested that the endeavour is now dead in the water and
that new ways should be sought to break the political stalemate.

But Mr Boyce, speaking privately to informed sources during last month's swing
through the region, said that in lieu of anything else it was a venture worth
pursing.

He admitted that the scheme looked even less likely to achieve a breakthrough
now than it did eight months ago. It had, he said, a "less than 10 per cent"
chance of success.

The prime minister of the government-in-exile, Sein Win, said in January
the UN
risked giving an obdurate regime something for nothing.

He feared the military "may be able to cede token freedoms to [Aung San Suu
Kyi's] National League for Democracy while using multilateral loans to stay in
power".

Diplomats close to the initiative have vigorously denied initial press reports
that UN Undersecretary-General Alvaro de Soto put the equivalent of US$1
billion (HK$7.8 billion) on the table.

They said that Mr De Soto was merely probing to see if an offer of technical
and financial carrots might tempt the generals to yield a little.

These insiders insist that no firm offer was made, and in any case this would
be a process, not a "one-off bribe".

Whatever the reality, the prickly military predictably rejected the notion
that
their patriotism might be for sale.

"Giving a banana to a monkey and asking it to dance is not the way. We are not
monkeys," Foreign Minister Win Aung said.

Some sort of deal may nevertheless be possible, if couched in a face-saving
formula. General David Able, so often the regime's economic front man,
admitted
a few months ago to meeting two World Bank economists.

But since then the World Bank and the UN have come under pressure from the
Western pro-democracy movement to spell out exactly what they plan to offer
the
regime.

The exploratory nature of the initiative and the regime's reluctance to take
bribes may preclude this.

The net result is that Mr De Soto, who was supposed to return in March, was
cold-shouldered by the regime because he would not be accompanied by a senior
World Bank official.

He may now return in August.

The person with the key veto is the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. One
caustic word from her would sink the venture.
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