[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

The BurmaNet News: September 3, 199 (r)



Subject: The BurmaNet News: September 3, 1999

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

The BurmaNet News: September 3, 1999
Issue #1351

Noted in Passing: "Villagers usually avoid fleeing at this time of year at
all costs, so their flight in itself indicates the desperate situation they
must be facing." - Karen Human Rights Group (SEE SCMP: KAREN FLEE ARMY
ROUND-UPS OF "HUMAN MINESWEEPERS" 

HEADLINES:
==========
NCUB: CRACKDOWN ON SYMPATHISERS IN THE MILITARY 
REUTERS: BRITON JAILED IN MYANMAR FOR 17 YEARS 
SCMP: KAREN FLEE ROUND-UPS OF "HUMAN MINESWEEPERS" 
REUTERS: CURFEW IN KAREN TOWNS - TRADERS 
AFP: MYANMAR JUNTA HITS OUT AT NLD CRITICISM 
NATION: DOUBTS ON JUNTA'S AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION 
KYODO: MYANMAR ACTIVISTS END HUNGER STRIKE IN SYDNEY 
*****************************************************

NATIONAL COUNCIL OF THE UNION OF BURMA (NCUB): CRACKDOWN ON PRO-DEMOCRACY
SYMPATHISERS IN THE MILITARY 
3 September, 1999 

Seven military officers as well as two rank-and-file soldiers were arrested
on August 27, 1999 in Papun township of Karen State, Eastern Burma because
they had been circulating pro-democracy pamphlets, posters and stickers in
Karen State and because they had been trying to organise fellow military
personnel to involve in the pro-democracy movement led by NLD and Daw Aung
San Suu Kyi They are presently being detained and interrogated by the
military intelligence service (MIS). 

The NCUB has been informed that on that same day, August 27, two military
orders were issued from the military command headquarters at the main War
Office in Rangoon. These orders consist of instructions to all military
commanders to prohibit military personnel from travelling to Rangoon unless
they have a duty in the capital, and to call back all officers who are
presently in Rangoon, including those who are on a casual leave, to return
to their respective military units. 

Meanwhile, restrictions have been imposed on relatives of military
personnel as well. They are strongly prohibited from wearing anything with
a yellow colour, the symbol of the upcoming 9-9-99 pro-democracy movement,
and they are not allowed to organise any religious ceremony for the time
being. 

According to Mahn Shar, member of the secretariat of the NCUB, "The recent
arrests of 9 military men as well as tightening security measures all over
Burma are an indication of the extent of dissatisfaction with the current
situation within the military. The dominating role of the military
intelligence, the cruel treatment that officers provide for rank-and-file
soldiers, and the economic hardships that ordinary soldiers have to face
while the generals enjoy the privileges of a ruling elite, have obviously
become underlying factors for disagreements within the military itself". He
added that the NCUB presumes that middle-ranking officers will increasingly
become involved in any movement supporting the will of the people to reach
a democratic Burma.

List of names of those arrested in Papun on August 27, 1999: 

1. Lt. Kyaw Thura 
2. Lt. Maung Aung 
3. Lt. Aung Htay Lwin 
4. Lt. Okkar Myint 
5. Lt. Myint Zaw 
6. Lt. Kyaw Zaya 
7. Lt. Than Win 
8. 2nd Corporal Sein Thaung 
9. 2nd Corporal Myint Kyu

Information Committee, National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB)

*****************************************************

REUTERS: BRITON JAILED FOR 17 YEARS
2 September, 1999 by David Brunnstrom 

BANGKOK, Sept 2 (Reuters) - In its latest crackdown on pro-democracy
campaigners, Myanmar's military government has jailed for 17 years a Briton
arrested carrying anti-government leaflets.

James Mawdsley, 26, from Lancashire, who also holds an Australian passport,
was arrested in the northeastern town of Tachilek bordering Thailand on
Tuesday. He was tried and sentenced there on Wednesday.

The government said the sentence included a five-year term for illegal
entry imposed last year before he was deported, an additional five years
for the latest illegal entry, and seven years under a law governing
printing and publishing.

A British embassy statement expressed displeasure.

``We are unhappy with the way the case was handled and that we did not have
access to Mr Mawdsley before the trial took place. We are making this clear
to the Burmese government,'' it said.

[Also from Reuters: ``The government of Myanmar deeply regrets having to
take such actions against Mr James Mawdsley. But...his repeated breach of
the same law and conditions agreed upon makes it difficult for the
government to show leniency this time,'' [a government statement] said ... .

Last year, Mawdsley spent 99 days in solitary confinement in Yangon's
notorious Insein jail after being sentenced to five years for illegal
entry. Yangon says he was freed from that sentence after pleas from his
parents and the embassies.

A diplomat in Yangon called the speed of the latest sentence ``almost
unprecedented.''

``It was meteoric in its speed,'' he said, ``but it's not for me to comment
on the legal system here.''

An Australian diplomat said Mawdsley could appeal under the local court
system, but it was too early to say whether Canberra would make
representations on his behalf ... .

Mawdsley has published letters on the Internet at
www.insideburma.freeisp.co.uk, making clear he expected arrest and was
willing to face the consequences, including torture.

He said he was twice tortured during his previous detention, collapsed
through lack of nutrition, and was denied medication.

Friends say he decided to take risks for Myanmar democracy after a school
in a dissident camp he was working at on the Thai-Myanmar border was burned
during a 1997 Myanmar offensive.

A committed Christian, he said in one of the letters he wanted a copy of
the Bible sent to him in detention.

The letters demanded the ruling generals release all political prisoners,
reopen universities that had been closed for most of the past decade and
start a dialogue with opponents.

He said he decided to go to Myanmar because it was right ``morally,
rationally, spiritually and personally.'']

A diplomat in the Myanmar capital Yangon said on Thursday that about 20
students had been detained this week for staging a pro-democracy protest in
Yangon.

The diplomat quoted an eyewitness as saying about two dozen students took
part in the protest outside the city's Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest
Buddhist shrine, on Tuesday.

``We understand about 20 were picked up,'' said the diplomat, adding they
had shouted slogans supporting an uprising which dissidents have called for
``four nines day'' -- September 9, 1999.

On Wednesday, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Myanmar's main
opposition party, said the government had arrested 16 dissidents in the
city in connection with the movement.

The diplomat said the students were not included in this figure.

The NLD said nine of the 16 were league members and the remaining seven
from other pro-democracy groups.

The government denied the arrest of the students but has not commented on
the NLD statement.

The military has arrested at least several dozen dissidents in the past
month to prevent a repeat of the student-led pro-democracy uprising in 1988
in which thousands were killed.

It says it has detained 36 people outside the capital, but dissident groups
in exile put the figure at more than 150.

The NLD called on representatives of the International Committee of the Red
Cross, which earlier this year began visiting Myanmar prisons, to look into
the fate of those arrested and arrange for their families to see them.

Myanmar's military has been criticised worldwide for human rights abuses
since the 1988 uprising and ignoring the result of a 1990 election when the
NLD won by a landslide.

The NLD estimates the authorities hold at least 1,000 political prisoners
at any given time.

NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace prize winner, said in a
recent interview obtained by Reuters that 40-50 NLD members of parliament
were in detention, 10 of them in jail.

Commenting on arrests in connection with the uprising call, she said: ``All
these arrests were made, I'm sure, in ways that were totally contrary to
the laws of the land.

``When the military intelligence personnel go around arresting people they
don't have warrants with them, they simply march into people's homes and
drag them away.

``They are tried in camera, if they are tried at all. Quite often they are
simply tortured into making some kind of confession.''

The government denies holding political prisoners. 

*****************************************************

SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: KAREN FLEE ARMY ROUND-UPS OF "HUMAN MINESWEEPERS" 
2 September, 1999 by William Barnes 

Not only elephants tread on Burmese landmines.

While millions of baht have been donated in Thailand to help an elephant
that stepped on a mine across the border, hundreds of ethnic Karen have
fled Burma for Thailand for fear they will be used as human minesweepers.

Motala, a 38-year-old elephant, was foraging in Burma when she stepped on
one of the mines laid in an increasingly desperate guerilla war fought by
the Karen against an encroaching Burmese army.

Over the past fortnight, more than 100 families - over 500 people - have
fled the central Karen state despite the treacherous monsoon season,
according to the Karen Human Rights Group.

"Villagers usually avoid fleeing at this time of year at all costs, so
their flight in itself indicates the desperate situation they must be
facing," the group said.

The Karen National Union (KNU) - which has been fighting for autonomy for
more than half a century - claims that five light infantry divisions have
been told to subjugate the area this year and clear it of landmines.

The KNU claims that Burmese units have been ordered to use villagers as
human minesweepers.

Some of the runaways told human rights investigators that members of the
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which has allied itself to the Rangoon
regime, warned them they would be rounded up and marched in front of army
patrols to set off landmines.

The southeastern Pa-an district is the most heavily mined area of the Karen
state.

The increasingly desperate guerillas use the mines to try to defend a
dwindling number of enclaves.

The Burmese army and its Karen allies also scatter mines to "sanitise"
disputed territory and prevent relocated people returning.

None of the forces involved properly map the minefields they lay.

The Karen Human Rights Group said there were "several dozen cases" of
villagers being killed or maimed by mines and exploding tripwires. Many of
the victims were acting as human minesweepers for the army.

The Burmese junta yesterday ordered an 8pm-5am curfew in major towns in
Karen state amid fears of a general strike on September 9, according to a
resident of Pa-an who reached Thailand.

Since early last month, the junta has reportedly enforced a curfew in the
central city of Mandalay and banned groups of more than five people from
gathering.

*****************************************************

REUTERS: MYANMAR ANNOUNCES CURFEW IN KAREN TOWNS - TRADERS 
1 September, 1999 

MAE SOT, Thailand, Sept 1 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military has imposed a
curfew in some towns in an eastern state to prevent participation in an
uprising dissidents have called later this month, cross-border traders said
on Wednesday.

The Myanmar traders, who arrived in this Thai town opposite the Myanmar
town of Myawadi, said local military authorities said the night-time curfew
from Wednesday would affect several towns in Karen state including, Pa-an,
Hlaingbwe and Kawkariek.

``The curfew is to prevent people from lending hands or supporting the
campaign for the ``four-nines day'' uprising,'' one trader said.

``People who violate the curfew, which bans them from leaving residences
from 20.00 to 06.00 a.m. will be arrested,'' he said.

But a government spokesman told Reuters by telephone from Yangon that the
authorities had not imposed any curfew.

Karen state borders Thailand and the borderlands have long been bases for
dissident and insurgent activity.

Myanmar dissidents in exile have called for a pro-democracy uprising on
``four nines day'' -- September 9, 1999. The main Myanmar opposition led by
Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi says it did not mastermind the call but
will never disown its allies.

The exiles chose the date for its numerical significance after August 8,
1988 -- the so-called ``four eights day'' which saw the start of a
nationwide pro-democracy uprising that was bloodily crushed by the military
when it seized power that year.

The government spokesman said talk of a curfew was aimed at creating a
picture that parts of Myanmar were gripped by tension ahead of September 9,
he said.

``None of the talk is true. They (dissidents) are trying to create a
picture to make it look like there is tension in many parts of the country
ahead of September 9,'' he said.

``They are also trying to aim for attention ahead of the U.N. general
assembly next week,'' he added. ``They are also saying students have been
arrested in some townships and other things.''

Diplomats in Myanmar say the authorities have stepped up security around
the country since the uprising call and arrested dozens of dissidents.

But the government spokesman said: ``It's business as usual. There is not
even extra security on the streets in main towns.''

*****************************************************

AFP: MYANMAR JUNTA HITS OUT AT NLD CRITICISM  
2 September, 1999 

YANGON, Sept 2 (AFP) - Myanmar's military rulers hit out at the opposition
National League for Democracy (NLD) Wednesday, saying criticism from the
party was damaging the nation's well-being. "The stance and action the NLD
are taking ... are unnecessarily hampering the nation's development," a
junta statement said.

"It's daily statements criticising every aspect and effort the government
is undertaking for the welfare of the people of Myanmar are
unconstructive," it said.

The leader of the NLD, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been critical of the visit
last month of Australian human rights commissioner, Chris Sidoti, who
travelled to Myanmar to discuss setting up a human rights body.

"It is a little ironic that anybody imagines that they will be able to
cooperate with the junta to improve the human rights situation in Burma,
it's a bit like asking the fox to look after the chicken," she told AFP in
an interview last week.

The junta is accused throughout the world of gross human rights abuses
including rape and torture.

It rejects all the allegations and maintains that it intends to make
democratic changes.

"Cooperations with the International Committee of the Red Cross, human
rights organisations and other countries ... to further enhance social
welfare and the basic rights of the people have been constantly under
attack," the junta said.

In April Myanmar authorities allowed the ICRC to inspect its prisons for
the first time.

However, Aung San Suu Kyi criticised the ICRC for not consulting her before
accepting a government offer to visit jails.

The Nobel peace laureate claimed the ruling military junta had transferred
hundreds of prisoners ahead of its inspection.

The ICRC strongly defended its visit and said its delegates did not consult
Aung San Suu Kyi because it was trying to build confidence with the
government.

Aung San Suu Kyi told AFP she saw these initiatives "as increased concern
on the part of the international community with regards to the human rights
situation in Burma."

"I think all these moves are well meant but whether they will achieve what
they are expected to achieve is another matter altogether, and of course
the junta is quite eager to present a civilized front so they have received
these delegations," she said.

The junta and the NLD have been locked in a bitter political battle since
the opposition won an overwhelming victory in 1990 elections, which were
ignored by Myanmar's military rulers.

*****************************************************

THE NATION: DOUBTS ON JUNTA'S AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION 
2 September, 1999 by Philippe Agret

Western experts and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi have expressed
scepticism at an ambitious agricultural plan by Burma's military rulers.
Philippe Agret of Agence France-Press reports from Rangoon.

Burma's junta is pushing an extensive agriculture campaign to cultivate
waste land, but experts say the scheme may not produce the economic goals
hoped for and could prove socially and ecologically disastrous.

"We want to introduce a growth-based industry based on agriculture,"
explained Mya Maung, director general at the department of agricultural
planning, in the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation.

Agriculture is the major industry here accounting for 46 percent of gross
domestic product (GDP) and 40 percent of export revenue.  It also employs
around 63 percent of the workforce, he said.

The ambitious plan calls for reclaiming cultivable land currently lying
fallow, an estimated eight million hectares (19.56 million acres), or about
12 percent of the total available cultivable land.

Under the plan the land will be opened to local private businessmen who
will be required to make it productive in return for which they will be
able to keep and export half of the rice they produce.  Rice is currently a
state monopoly.

So far 76 companies have claimed 1.2 million hectares since December 1998,
according to the agriculture ministry.

"I have full confidence that it will be a success and that the private
companies can make a profit within three or four years," Mya Maung said.

But western experts have their doubts, and opposition leader Aung San Suu
Kyi also expressed scepticism at the plan.

"It is a potentially disastrous scheme because there have been several
attempts in the past to reclaim waste land and it turned out not to be
successful," she said.

"Specialised agencies have said that this is not going to be successful,
this is going to result in economic, social, and ecological problems, so we
are aware of the inadvisability of this sort of scheme but it seems that
the authorities are not aware of (that)."  She added the plan suffered from
both incompetence and greed.

"It's both, because most of these lands are given to their (government)
supporters, it's a way of trying to consolidate their power.

"It's a way of rewarding their supporters, and of course it's because of
incompetence that they have not realised that such schemes are not of any
benefit to anybody in the long run," she said.

Western economists tend to agree the plan may not succeed.

"You don't develop a country at the turn of the century by returning to the
land.  Economic development is done in the cities," said one, adding the
junta's vision was "out of date."

But it's not only the idea of boosting the economy through agriculture,
which has worked in the past -- namely in South Korea and Taiwan -- but the
way it is being done that concerns the experts, both foreign and local.

Some believe the junta is hoping to use the plan to return to the old
land-based oligarchy and cement their power with provision of land to local
tycoons, many of whom were stung in the 1997 Asian financial crisis.

"Giving privileges to private businessmen, is to give privileges to the
rich to the detriment of small farmers," said an expert on development.

The plan also threatens the environment because of the number of dams which
will be needed to irrigate the land.

The junta has long boasted of the country's abundance of natural resources
which not only make it self-sufficient but could allow it to act as the
"rice bowl" for the region.

But experts say the picture is not so rosy with production stagnating and
agricultural growth, according to international news agencies, lagging
behind other Asian nations.

Ironically even as the government races to open fallow land, other farms
are closing down as small farmers falter under the twin pressures of state
control and taxes.

The state buys 20 percent of all production at fixed prices 300 kyats (less
than one dollar) for a 26 pound basket although the market price is 550 kyats.

As a result farmers tend to sell their poor quality rice to the government,
to the detriment of the country's export quality, or plant other more
profitable crops like beans.

"The generals would be better off doubling production that trying to
reclaim unusable land," one expert said.

*****************************************************

KYODO NEWS SERVICE: MYANMAR ACTIVISTS END HUNGER STRIKE IN SYDNEY
1 September, 1999 

Democracy activists from Myanmar ended a nine-day hunger strike outside the
New South Wales parliament in Sydney on Wednesday. 

Members of the New South Wales parliament from five political parties,
including the ruling Labor Party, congratulated the nine hunger strikers
and pledged to pressure the Australian government into boycotting companies
that do business in Myanmar.

*****************************************************