The BurmaNet News: November 1, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: November 1, 1999
Issue #1391

HEADLINES:
==========
XINHUA: MYANMAR CARRIES OUT GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE
THE BANGKOK POST: JUNTA FIRMS TIES WITH DRUG ARMY
REUTERS: MYANMAR COURT REJECTS OPPOSITION ABUSE COMPLAINT
THE BANGKOK POST: TROOPS TRANSFER LINKED TO NEW BATTLES
THE NATION: SSA SENTENCES CAPTURED ETHNIC SHANS TO DEATH
THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA FREES 31 GAMBLERS
SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: "SLAVERY, MURDER, AND RAPE" BY REGIME
THE BANGKOK POST: TAK PREPARES TO SEND 80,000 WORKERS BACK
KYODO: COUNTRIES OPEN TO RECEIVING EXILED MYANMAR STUDENTS
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XINHUA: MYANMAR CARRIES OUT GOVERNMENT RESHUFFLE
29 October, 1999

Xinhua, Yangon, 29 October 1999....The Myanmar State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) carried out another government reshuffle Friday, allowing two
ministers to retire, reassigning two ministers and appointing two new
ministers and one new deputy minister. The state-run Radio Myanmar reported
Friday night that the two ministers allowed to
retire are Minister of Commerce Major-General Kyaw Than and Minister of
Sports Brigadier-General Sein Win. Former Minister of Social Welfare, Relief
and Resettlement Brigadier-General Pyi Sone was reassigned as Minister of
Commerce and former Minister of Religious Affairs Major-General Sein Htwa as
Minister of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement.

The SPDC appointed U Aung Htwe as the new Minister of Religious Affairs and
Brigadier-General Thura Aye Myint as Minister of Sports. Moreover, U Myo
Myint was appointed as Deputy Minister of Electric Power.

It is the third time Myanmar has reshuffled its government this year and is
also the sixth time since the country formed the SPDC which replaced the
former State Law and Order Restoration Council on November 15, 1997.

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THE BANGKOK POST: JUNTA FIRMS TIES WITH DRUG ARMY
31 October, 1999 by Nusara Thaitawat and Subin Khuenkaew

SECURITY CHIEF AT BASE DURING EMBASSY SIEGE

Chiang Rai -- Burma's intelligence chief Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt was with drug
kingpin Wei Hsueh-kang of the United Wa State Army on Oct 1, when five
dissident students occupied the Burmese embassy in Bangkok demanding an end
to military rule.

Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt was inspecting the construction of Wei's new headquarters
at "46", opposite Ban San Ma Ked in Mae Fa Luang district, a reliable source
said.

"His presence in '46' underline the close ties between Rangoon and Wei, and
the importance Rangoon attaches to development projects being undertaken by
Wei and the UWSA," said the source, with contacts on both sides of the
border.

Wei has become the most powerful drug kingpin in the golden Triangle, where
the borders of Burma, Laos, and Thailand meet, since Khun Sa of the Mong Tai
Army capitulated in January 1996.

Millions of methamphetamine pills produced by Wei's group flood the Thai
market each month. Heroin makes its way to the US, sources said.

Wei is wanted by Thai and US authorities on separate drug trafficking
charges.

Other UWSA brigades also produce illicit drugs, but keep a low profile,
anti-narcotic source said.

On Oct 1, Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt also visit Tachilek, opposite Mae Sai, an
important trading point between Thailand and Burma, before the border was
ordered closed after the Bangkok embassy siege.

The visit was part of a regular tour of border towns under development.

The intelligence chief inspected Mong Yawn, opposite Ban San Ton Du, Mae Ai
district, Chiang Mai, in July. He took a first hand look at the massive
infrastructure development, estimated to be worth at least one billion baht,
being undertaken there by the UWSA's 894th Brigade under the command of Wei
Xai-tang (not related to Wei Hsueh-kang).

Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt is seen in a video, obtained by the Bangkok Post, pointing
at different construction sites and asking questions, with local commanders
of the UWSA surrounding him.

The Burmese government has been accused by the US of condoning drug
trafficking by armed ethnic minority groups, and of harboring drug
fugitives.

Rangoon has claimed it is doing its utmost to fight illicit drugs and that
its way of dealing with the problem is more practical than Washington's
failed measures.

At the 10th anniversary celebration of the founding of the United Wa State
Party (UWSP) and UWSA, the leadership announced that all areas under their
control would be drug free within five years. Thai border officials and
villagers refer to Wei's 46th Brigade and its new headquarters simply as
"46" and the village traditionally known as Ban Hong which is being
developed for the brigade's dependents as "muang mai".

Wei's 46th Brigade was until Last May the UWSA's 361st Brigade based in Mong
Yawn. Initial reports of the renaming of Wei's brigade and transfer of
troops from Mong Yawn to Ban Hong led to speculation of a split between Wei
and the newcomer 894th Brigade. The 8945th was sent to the Thai-Burmese
border by the party's headquarters in Pangsanh under an agreement with
Rangoon to topple Khun Sa. Wei's solders had been based in the area since
the 1980s, when he began to challenge Khun Sa's control over the drug trade
in the Golden Triangle.

The half-Shan, half-Chinese charismatic Khun Sa had commanded the strongest
anti-Rangoon ethnic army from his headquarters in Ho Mong, opposite Muang
district, Mae Hong Son. He controlled the strategic Doi Lang mountain range,
of which Mong Yawn is part, and referred to the area as his "backdoor".

It is widely understood Rangoon Promised the UWSA Khun Sa's territory in
exchange for toppling him. Earlier this year, Rangoon extended for another
five years its agreement with the UWSA to develop Mong Yawn and nearby
areas.

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

REUTERS: MYANMAR COURT REJECTS OPPOSITION ABUSE COMPLAINT
29 October, 1999

YANGON, Oct 29 (Reuters) - Myanmar's Supreme Court on Friday dismissed
complaints of abuse of power levelled by Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's
opposition National League for Democracy against senior officials of the
military government.

Legal sources said Supreme Court judge Tin Aung Aye ruled that the
complaints, related to arrest and harassment of opposition members, were not
valid and dismissed them.

It was the first time the Supreme Court had formally responded to the
complaints by leaders of the NLD since the military government took power in
late 1988, but the decision came as no surprise.

A government statement said the opposition complaints had been investigated
but no evidence found to confirm them.

It also said NLD leader Aung Shwe and the three other complainants had
failed to present necessary permission from the government to lodge a
complaint against civil servants.

``Therefore sufficient reason for carrying on the investigation into the
direct complaints made ... were not found and they were dismissed,'' it
said.

The NLD filed the complaints on September 30 against the director-general of
National Intelligence Bureau, Home Minister Colonel Tin Hlaing, Information
Minister Major-General Kyi Aung and Ba Htay, the election commission
chairman.

The current intelligence chief is Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, the
official number three in the ruling military council, but widely regarded as
its most powerful figure.

Listing its complaints in a statement earlier this year, the NLD said its
activities had been ``continuously disrupted, prevented, and destroyed by
the authorities concerned.''

It accused the authorities of illegally detaining its members and organising
mass rallies to denounce elected representatives.

NLD won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a landslide but the military
ignored the result and has since tried to silence dissent through arrests
and intimidation.

Last year, hundreds of NLD members were detained and large numbers have
since been forced to resign from the party after it pushed for the convening
of parliament.

NLD leaders including Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner,
attended Friday's hearing, which lasted about an hour.

The NLD later issued a statement saying it planned to submit a ``revised''
case to the authorities.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: TROOPS TRANSFER LINKED TO NEW BATTLE
31 October, 1999 by Nusara Thaitawat and Subin Khuenkaew

BATTLE ANALYSTS PREDICT WAR BY PROXY THEORY

Wei Hsueh-kang recently reassigned about 350 soldiers of his United Wa State
Army to border areas opposite Mae Sot district, Tak, informed Thai and
Western sources said.

Narcotics agents and Third Army officers are closely monitoring the
movements of these troops, who were dropped off near Myawaddy township by
Burmese military trucks under Wei's personal supervision on Aug 14.

An analyst said the Burmese junta may be pulling the strings of yet another
proxy war to resolve ethnic problems by teaming the UWSA with the Democratic
Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) against Rangoon's arch enemy, the Karen National
Union (KNU).

The DKBA broke away from the Christian-dominated KNU several years back.

Analysts say the split was instigated by the Burmese junta.

"The KNU is the last ethnic thorn in Burma's side," one analyst said. "The
UWSA has more than proven its fighting skills when it brought down Khun Sa
in late 1995.

"The DKBA knows the KNU inside out and is familiar with the terrain. Teamed
together, they fit the bill perfectly for the Burmese government," he said.

Another analyst was not so happy with the war by proxy theory. He said the
military leaders in Rangoon and the UWSA did not get along that well.

"Neither side trusts the other. All that the Burmese government wants is
some level of stability. I don't believe that the Burmese government would
want to give the opportunity to the UWSA to move further south and expand
its influence," he said.

He cited the dispute between the Burmese junta and the UWSA over the Wa
refusal to return to Pangsanh after it won a battle against Khun Sa in the
Doi Lang area three years ago.

Another source pointed out that Wei's 46th Brigade should be seen as "an
almost separate entity" within the UWSA, headquartered in Pangsanh in
Burma's Shan State.

"Wei is like a golden hen for the Burmese junta. He's a drug dealer, a
businessman, a fighter and a criminal. It's not known that he has any
political ambition to free the Wa ethnic group from Burmese domination," he
said.

"The Burmese can rest assured, as long as there's money to be made," he
said.  Concerned officials are verifying where the soldiers were relocated
from, possibly Mong Yawn, opposite Ban San Ton Du, Mae Ai district, Chiang
Mai, where Wei's former 361st Brigade was based, or Ban Hong, opposite Ban
San Ma Ked, his new headquarters.

"These two sites may be a bit too far from Myawaddy. It's possible that Wei
relocated a few soldiers here and there from his units along the border,"
said one senior officer of the Third Army.

The UWSA controls most of the area opposite Mae Sai district, Chiang Rai,
down to Tha Ton district, Chiang Mai. The sources confirmed that about 60
trucks from the Burmese army were used to transport the soldiers down the
main road linking Myawaddy to Mae Sot on Aug 14, and that Wei was present.

The road was closed to traffic that day. A public announcement of the
closure cited "rain damage," they said. The soldiers were dropped off just
outside Myawaddy.

UWSA negotiators have made contact with the DKBA and there is a possibility
that the arrangement could be more than political.

Three, possibly four, new laboratories producing met amphetamine pills began
operation recently. One which is ran jointly with the DKBA is in the
vicinity of Oo Kay Hta village in Dooplaya, south of the town of Walay, said
one source.

Wei, whose Thai name is Prasit Chivinnitipanya, is wanted by both Thai and
US authorities on separate drug trafficking charges.

The US last year announced a US$2million reward for information leading to
his arrest and prosecution.

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

THE NATION: SHAN STATE ARMY SENTENCES CAPTURED ETHNIC SHANS TO DEATH
31 October, 1999

SHAN independence fighters have sentenced to death five ethnic Shans they
captured on Thai soil in a cross-border raid from Burma, the Thai Army said
yesterday.

The Shan State Army (SSA) plans to execute them, saying they were involved
in the drugs trade, said Lt Col Terdsak Namsanong of Thai Army Region 3,
which covers the northern border with Burma.

The SSA, which is fighting a resistance war against Burma's military regime,
has publicly declared a wear on drugs, but its claims are difficult to
verify.

Its members include former fighters of ex-drug kingpin Khun Sa, who has
surrendered to Rangoon and is wanted by the United States on
drug-trafficking charges.

Four other ethnic Shans, among nine captured in the raid on Thursday, have
been released. They include the wife and the one-year-old son of Maung Thu,
the man who was the major target of the abduction, Terdsak said.

Maung Thu was said to be a former SSA member who had quit to join the United
Wa State Army, the biggest drug-trafficking ring in Southeast Asia's
infamous Golden Triangle, where the borders of Burma, Thailand and Laos
meet.

"Maung Thu's captors said they were angry when he used the SSA's name while
dealing in drugs for the Wa," said the Army officer.

The Thai military, currently struggling to suppress the flood of heroin and
methamphetamines across the border from Shan State in eastern Burma, have
said the abduction arose from a conflict between drug-trafficking groups. -
Associated Press

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THE BANGKOK POST: BURMA FREES 31 GAMBLERS
29 October, 1999

RANONG -- The 31 Thais detained by Burma for illegal entry have been
released following a court verdict and a fine of $ 1,200 each, Governor
Thawat Hantra said yesterday.

The fines, totalling 1.5 million baht, were paid by Vikorm Aiyasiri, granted
a 30-year concession to operate a casino in
Kawthuang.

They were earlier expected to pay a $1,000 fine each.

All gamblers, including nine displaced people, were expected to return to
Thailand yesterday. Families and relatives gathered at the Andaman Club pier
here awaiting their arrival.

A police boat stayed afloat in Andaman Sea for about five hours but there
were no signs of the freed gamblers. Six vans and
patrol vehicles were put on standby at the pier until 4.30pm.

According to a border source, the gamblers will also be fined 800 baht each
upon arriving, while the displaced people would be sent back to Burma.

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

SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: "SLAVERY, MURDER, RAPE" BY REGIME
30 October, 1999

New York: The repression of human rights in Burma is worsening, the United
Nations says in a report, alleging that the military regime condones murder,
rape and forced labour amounting to slavery.

The report will be submitted to the human rights committee of the UN General
Assembly next week, the assembly's spokeswoman said.

It alleged that children as young as eight were used as unpaid labourers to
help build a temple in Kunhing, about 260 kilometres east of Mandalay.

Porters who were forced to work for the military were often unfed and tied
to a yoke at night, the report said.

The report, published on Thursday, was prepared by the special rapporteur of
the Commission on Human Rights, Mr Rajsoomer Lallah.

It referred to "summary executions, rape, torture, ill-treatment during
forced labour" and other abuses of ethnic minorities, in particular in Shan
and Karen states on Burma's eastern border with Thailand.

The violations had been "thoroughly documented by human rights organisations
and newly arrived refugees in Thailand", the report said.

He also referred to the murder of 22 villagers on July 27 in Kawei and
Mergui villages in Tenasserim district, which lies in the narrow strip of
Burmese territory about 200 kilometres west of the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Seven Karens including a girl, 9, and a pregnant woman were murdered by
Burmese troops on July 31 in Ta Hpo Hkee village, close to Kawei and Mergui,
the
report said, adding that the girl and the woman were gang-raped first.

"Repression of civil and political rights continues and intensifies whenever
there is any form of public protest and any form of public political
activity. The rule of law cannot be said to exist." - Agence France-Presse

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THE BANGKOK POST: TAK PREPARES TO SEND 80,000 WORKERS BACK
29 October, 1999 by Supamart Kasem

LOCAL INDUSTRIES VOICE OPPOSITION

Tak - More than 80,000 illegal Burmese workers here will be rounded up and
sent home after Sunday's deadline falls due.

Governor Nirat Watchanaphum said yesterday a major crackdown on illegal
foreign workers would start right after the 90-day reprieve ends on Nov 1.

It was originally agreed the employment of foreign labourers, mostly
Burmese, Cambodians, and Laotians, must end on Aug 4. However, a government
panel dealing with the problem of alien workers later decided to allow
86,895 foreign labourers to carry on in 18 types of work in 37 provinces for
another 90 days from Aug 4 to Nov 1 this year.

The panel reasoned that the reprieve was necessary to prevent severe
manpower shortages in labour-intensive industries such as construction,
fishery and water transport, which had long been dependent on foreign
labour.

Mr Nirat said only 2,125 out of 83,200 Burmese workers are being employed in
the 18 types of work allowed by the government.

This meant at least 81,000 of them would be targeted by the impending
crackdown.

Only foreign workers in the fields of work facing a severe labour shortage
will be granted work permits provided their employers have them registered
with the local labour office by Oct 31. However, the Tak provincial industry
council disagreed with the move to repatriate foreign labourers.

Suchart Wisuwan, the council chair- man, said the move would affect the
country's export industry which relied heavily on
foreign labour.

About 6,700 million baht in export value would be at stake if the lost
manpower could not be sufficiently replaced, he said and called for another
90-day reprieve.

Panithi Tangpati, chairman of the provincial chamber of commerce, also
slammed the government's decision to push back foreign workers, saying it
was impractical and went against the decentralisation policy because it was
a top-down approach which failed to respond to local needs.

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

KYODO NEWS SERVICE: COUNTRIES OPEN TO RECEIVING EXILED MYANMAR STUDENTS
28 October, 1999

BANGKOK, Oct. 28 (Kyodo) - At least eight or nine countries are open to
receiving exiled Myanmar students in Thailand for resettlement, an official
of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said Thursday.

Jahanshah Assadi, a UNHCR regional representative, said interested countries
include Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the United States and some from
Europe.

Thai authorities have urged the UNHCR to speed up procedures for resettling
in third countries thousands of exiled Myanmar students following the Oct.
1-2 incident where five armed men, believed to be Myanmar students, broke
into the Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok and held 38 people hostage for 25 hours.

Assadi told a news conference the majority of Myanmar students he talked to
during a trip to Maneeloy camp were interested in resettling in third
countries.

Assadi said those who did not express interest ''may feel uncomfortable
living in strange cultures in Western countries.''

Thousands of Myanmar students fled to Thailand to seek asylum after the
military government started a crackdown in 1988. About 2,700 students are
registered as ''people of concern'' with the UNHCR and of that number about
1,000 are living in Maneeloy camp in Ratchaburi Province, 100 kilometers
west of Bangkok.

About 800 students live outside the camp but still maintain contact with the
UNHCR, while the remaining 900 are unaccounted for, Assadi said.

He said 2,000 students from Myanmar have been sent to third countries for
resettlement since 1988.

Assadi said Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan suggested during a meeting
Wednesday that qualified exiled Myanmar students be placed at Thai
universities.

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