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Burma News Update, No. 88
Open Society Institute
The Burma Project
Burma News Update No. 88
14 July 1999
EU in Quiet Mission
A European Union delegation left Burma quietly after two days of closed-door
talks with the country's army junta aimed at reviving political discussions
within
the country and dialogue on human rights between the regime and European
countries. The four-person EU team met with military intelligence chief and
senior
junta leader Lt. General Khin Nyunt and with National League for Democracy
leader
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, among other people, in talks a Rangoon-based diplomat
described as "exhausting." Neither the EU nor the military regime offered any
comment on the content of the discussions, and the visit received no
coverage in
Burma's state-owned and closely-controlled newspapers, radio and
television. The
meetings were the first direct contact between the EU and senior junta figures
since
the EU imposed sanctions against Burma in 1996 to protest the regime's
political
repression and gross human rights abuses.
London, "
Bangkok, "Agence France Presse," 08 July
Junta: Mediation Unwanted
Burma's military regime has declared that outside mediation to resolve the
country's political impasse is unnecessary. Junta Foreign Minister Win Aung
said in Rangoon that a European Union delegation that just visited Burma was
on a purely fact-finding mission. "It would not be reasonable," for the EU
to serve
as mediator, Win Aung said, "because it is our domestic affair." No offer to
mediate
has been received from South Africa's recently-retired President Nelson
Mandela,
despite reports that the he would be willing to take on such a role, Win
Aung said.
He dismissed the notion of President Mandela's involvement, saying, "I
think Mr.
Mandela can't understand our politics . . . . Our problems are very complex."
Rangoon, "Reuters," 09 July
"A Failure of Engagement"
In an editorial titled "A Failure of Engagement," the Washington Post
assessed
the effects of Burma's admission to the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations
(ASEAN) two years ago. Accepting Burma as a member, ASEAN argued, could
ameliorate the repressive excesses of Burma's army junta. "The verdict on
this test
case of the engagement theory thus far is clear: The behavior of the thugs
who run
Burma has worsened, and so has life for most Burmese," the editorial
argues, citing
recent reports by Amnesty International and the International Labor
Organization
(ILO) that detail egregious and systematic official human rights abuses.
"Aung San
Suu Kyi, leader of the political party that swept the 1990 elections . . .
says
repression of her party and arrests of its members have intensified this
year [and]
argues
that any aid to Burma's generals only strengthens their corrupt rule to the
detriment of
the population. ASEAN, many of whose members are themselves struggling toward
increased democracy, soon may have to confront the failure of its engagement
strategy
in Burma."
"Washington Post," 05 July
Border Fighting Flares
Thai border police said that seven Burmese army soldiers were killed
and another dozen wounded in a failed assault on a stronghold of the Karenni
National Progressive Party (KNPP) near the Thai frontier. The junta forces
were
reportedly aided by ethnic Wa militia, with whom the Rangoon regime has
reached a ceasefire. The KNPP, operating in Kayah State, had also signed a
ceasefire with the junta, but it lasted less than two years before being
broken in
1997.
Bangkok, "Kyodo News Service," 08 July
Corporations Face Suits
Lawsuits that allege corporate responsibility for human rights abuses are
becoming
an important new tool for human rights activists in the United States, the
"Financial Times"
reports. Several are now progressing through U.S. courts. The most
prominent are
two
suits filed in 1996 against the Los Angeles-based UNOCAL oil company for
complicity
in
abuses against people living along the route of a natural gas pipeline
project in
southern
Burma, in which UNOCAL is a partner with Burma's military regime. The
plaintiffs
claim
that UNOCAL was aware of the junta's record of military abuses, and
accepted its
assistance
in securing the pipeline route. "If companies go into business with
dictators," a
lawyer working
on the case stated plainly, "they can be held accountable for the
activities of
their business
partners."
"Financial Times," 05 July
BURMA NEWS UPDATE is a publication of the Burma Project of the Open Society
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