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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: May 1, 2000





______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________

May 1, 2000

Issue # 1522


This edition of The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:

http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$368


NOTED IN PASSING:


`We don't necessarily expect good treatment, but this is the first 
time that they tipped their hand that they want to kill relief 
workers. So we took that personally.''

Stanford surgeon David Mohler on the Burmese army's attempt to kill a 
group of relief workers.  (See SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: RELIEF TEAM'S 
RISKY JOURNEY)


	
*Inside Burma

AFP:  ASEAN TRADE MINISTERS OPEN MEETING IN MYANMAR

SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: RELIEF TEAM'S RISKY JOURNEY

SHRF: KILLINGS OF SHAN CIVILIANS IN APRIL?EXTRACT FROM MONTHLY REPORT

RSO NEWS SERVICE: ROHINGYA REFUGEE INFLUX IN BANGLADESH AGAIN

RSO NEWS SERVICE: BURMESE JUNTA ORDERED DEMOLITION OF 3 MOSQUES IN 
ARAKAN STATE, MUSLIMS ELDERS ARRESTED

KNU: 70 WOMEN FORCED TO SERVE AS MILITARY PORTERS


*International



AFP: MYANMAR JUNTA SLAMS BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY COOK'S REFUGEE TOUR

ASIAN AGE: BURMESE JUNTA BIGGEST ENEMY OF MEDIA



*Opinion/Editorials

SPDC: PRESS STATEMENT ON KNU


*Other

BRITAIN BURMA SOCIETY: BURMESE FESTIVALS PAGE ONLINE




__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
	

AFP:  ASEAN TRADE MINISTERS OPEN MEETING IN MYANMAR
   

by Stephen Collinson


   YANGON, May 1 (AFP) - Myanmar on Monday opened its biggest-ever 
diplomatic meeting, welcoming trade ministers from Southeast Asia by 
predicting its economy was about to take off and taking a swipe at 
its critics in the West.

   The retreat of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic 
Ministers (AEM) is military-run Myanmar's most high profile 
undertaking since joining the group in 1997.

   Opening the meeting, the head of military intelligence Lieutenant 
General Khin Nyunt characteristically took aim at Myanmar's critics 
in the West who he said saw the Asian economic meltdown as proof that 
development, Asian
style, did not work.

   "At the time of the crisis, it may be recalled that there were 
many doomsayers, particularly from the West," he said.

   "Many attacks were launched against Asian values and some doubts 
were even expressed about the future of ASEAN, about the future 
prospects of the Asian region.

   "But the last couple of years have proved these critics wrong," 
said Khin Nyunt, who oversees Myanmar's ASEAN steering committee.

   Myanmar's entry into ASEAN three years ago came despite fierce 
criticism from Western nations which accuse the government of gross 
human rights violations and of suppressing the democracy movement of 
Aung San Suu Kyi.

   Khin Nyunt however said Myanmar's ability to hold such a high 
profile meeting was proof that the government was succeeding in 
building a "country that is peaceful, stable and economically 
vibrant, with people full of zest and full of confidence in the 
future."

   Ministers from all 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations 
(ASEAN) members will hold a day of talks expected to be dominated by 
arrangements for the ASEAN free trade area due to come into force in 
2003.

   They will try to make progress on a dispute over automobile 
tariffs which threatens to derail smooth progress towards the 
implementation of AFTA.

   Malaysia, which is keen to protect its national car, the Proton, 
wants a minimum two-year exemption on import tariff reductions on 
automobile and agricultural products.

   Thai Commerce Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi, the future head of 
the World Trade Organisation (WTO), said he hoped the meeting 
would "emphasise that we are on track with our AFTA scheme in spite 
of some diversions."

   The ministers will be joined on Tuesday by counterparts from 
Japan, South Korea and China in the latest step in a process of 
deepening ties between ASEAN and its powerful neighbours.

   Khin Nyunt said in his speech that Myanmar's economy was beginning 
to overcome the challenges of the Asian crisis, which saw inward 
foreign investment fall sharply.

   "Preliminary figures show that Myanmar's economy grew by more than 
10 percent during the last fiscal year ... we are fully confident 
that Myanmar's economy is on the verge of economic take-off."

   His assessment contrasts sharply with outside evaluations of the 
economy, which is plagued by power shortages, roller coaster 
inflation and an almost worthless currency.

   The World Bank said in a leaked report last year that only radical 
economic and political reform could pull the country back from the 
brink of economic breakdown.

   As well as the official economy, a huge blackmarket and informal 
economy operates here providing many people with their only source of 
income.

   ASEAN's most developed countries, Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the 
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand have agreed to cut tariffs to 
zero-to-five-percent on most products by 2002 under the accelarated 
AFTA scheme.

   Less-developed members Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam have 
more time to meet the targets. AFTA is scheduled to debut in 2003.

   ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, 
the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.




____________________________________________________



SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS: RELIEF TEAM'S RISKY JOURNEY

April 29, 2000

Combat conditions challenge Stanford doctor, companions

BY MICHELLE GUIDO
Mercury News Staff Writer 

Just after dawn on April 13, Stanford surgeon David Mohler and three 
other men, members of a little-known organization of ex-soldiers who 
provide medical relief in combat zones, awoke in the jungle of 
eastern Burma and prepared to leave for a war-ravaged village 50 
miles away.

After a breakfast of instant coffee and plain white rice, the relief 
workers set out on foot, their 70-pound backpacks filled with medical 
supplies. Twenty minutes later, the village they had just walked away 
from came under attack.

A group of Burmese soldiers entered the tiny village, called La Twee 
Tha, marched directly to the hut where the Americans had slept and 
riddled it with bullets. Mohler said villagers told him the soldiers 
had come to kill the American doctors. The soldiers then scavenged 
the hospital Mohler and his group had established, burned it down 
while the villagers fled in terror and planted land mines to prevent 
them from returning. It was over in an hour.

Mohler and his crew had been in dangerous situations before, but 
until earlier this month, they had never been the target of an 
attack. In the 18 years since Refugee Relief International (RRI) 
began, they have conducted medical missions in Afghanistan, southeast 
Asia and Central America. It's always dangerous work. But this time 
was different.

``We've always been under the impression that they would rather 
capture us than kill us,'' Mohler said from Stanford University 
Hospital on Friday. ``We don't necessarily expect good treatment, but 
this is the first time that they tipped their hand that they want to 
kill relief workers. So we took that personally.''

Since 1995, Refugee Relief International has conducted a dozen relief 
missions along the Thailand-Burma border, primarily to treat victims 
of land mines, often young children. Mohler said the area is crowded 
with refugees from the Karen (pronounced Kuh-REN) people in eastern 
Burma.

The Burmese military junta has forced the ethnic Karens to relocate 
within the country, and Mohler said thousands have fled to squalid 
refugee camps across the border in Thailand.

The Burmese ``have an illegal government that was voted out of power 
and has been conducting internal `ethnic cleansing' of the Karen 
people outside the view of the media,'' said Mohler, who celebrated 
his 43rd birthday in the Burmese jungle. ``And you can't get a better 
cause than that, in terms of what we do.''

Lengthy travels

On a typical mission, a group of four to six RRI members will arrive 
in a country. In the case of Burma, they fly to Thailand and sneak 
across the border on foot. They then travel by land -- either walking 
or in pickup trucks -- across dense jungle to get to areas beyond the 
reach of civilian medical services. They usually are escorted by 
locals who know the area and provide security.

Though there are 40 members of RRI, a non-profit organization, Mohler 
said there's a core group of about 10 who make the most trips 
overseas.

Most, like Mohler, are former special forces soldiers who can operate 
in war zones and other dangerous environments where other 
humanitarian agencies dare not go. The need is so great that RRI 
could operate year-round, Mohler said, but the group is limited 
because it doesn't get
a lot of contributions.

``In my fantasy life, when my rich Silicon Valley friends become 
philanthropic, we'll start increasing teams,'' said Mohler, an 
Atherton resident whose wife, Heidi Roizen, is a plugged-in Silicon 
Valley venture capitalist and mentor to high-tech companies.

The organization (http://www.refugeerelief.org) does receive 
donations -- frequently from former patients of Mohler's or others 
who have heard of the cause. And RRI members often salvage old 
medical supplies that are still perfectly functional.

Andrew Hyslop of Santa Clara found out about RRI in 1986 when he was 
working for the Santa Clara Fire Department. He was looking for a 
building the department could burn down for a training exercise and 
stumbled across an old civil defense hospital filled with supplies 
that were ripe for donation. He heard about RRI and wrote to see if 
they'd be interested.

They were, and RRI took many of the supplies to El Salvador and 
Nicaragua in a mission to provide health care and medical equipment 
to the Contra rebels fighting Nicaragua's leftist Sandinista 
government.

RRI was established in part by the editors of the right-wing Soldier 
of Fortune magazine. And retired Army Maj. Gen. John K. Singlaub -- 
who led special forces units in Vietnam -- still sits on its board of 
directors. During the Iran-Contra scandal, Singlaub was active in 
supporting the Contras.

But current RRI members stress that the group has never been 
affiliated with or funded by the government and say their purpose is 
strictly to provide humanitarian medical relief.

When Hyslop, who was an Air Force medic in the '70s, started working 
with RRI in the mid-1980s, he mostly procured supplies and used his 
Air Force training to help the group pack efficiently for its trips. 
He went
to Cambodia in 1996 to treat land mine victims and said it was one of 
the best experiences he's ever had.

Paying their way

RRI's annual budget is about $15,000, but that can go a long way if 
the volunteers involved pay their own air fare -- and many do.

``There are hundreds of organizations that are appealing to people 
for donations, and they all do about the same thing,'' he said. ``But 
we have a special niche in that we go into really hostile areas.''

Once they arrive in a place, the team works closely with the local 
medical practitioners. The surgical unit performs between three and 
10 operations a day -- ranging from simple surgeries to amputations 
of limbs -- usually without running water or electricity.

Mohler said the doctors, nurses and physician assistants on the trips 
are not armed, but are generally protected by armed security forces. 
And though episodes like the April 13 attack can be terrifying, 
Mohler and his team insist they will go back.

``There's no greater adrenaline rush than combat. It's also 
terrifying,'' Mohler said. ``But with training and experience it 
becomes controlled terror and purposeful action, all designed to keep 
you alive and keep your team safe.''


Contact Michelle Guido at mguido@xxxxxxxxxxxxx or (650) 688-7590.

____________________________________________________


 
SHRF: KILLINGS OF SHAN CIVILIANS IN APRIL?EXTRACT FROM MONTHLY REPORT

Shan Human Rights Foundation

MONTHLY REPORT -- APRIL 2000

13 DISPLACED FARMERS MASSACRED IN MURNG-KERNG

On 27.3.00, 13 relocated farmers, 8 men and 5 women, who were 
clearing a plot of land for growing rice in a forest some distance 
from Murng-Kerng town were shot dead in a group by SPDC (State Peace 
and Development Council) troops from LIB514 led by Capt. Pan Aung.

The farmers were originally from Yaang Loi village, Yaang Loi tract, 
Murng-Kerng township, that had been forced to relocate to the out 
skirts of Murng-Kerng town by SLORC/SPDC troops in 1997-1998.

Since there was no land available for them to farm in the town 
vicinity and they could not as wage earners earn enough for their 
virtually starving families, these farmers had secretly tried to grow 
rice in the forest on hidden plots of land.

Taking turns to help clear each plot of land belonging to different 
families, these farmers worked in a group. They had been working for 
8 days when, on the day of the incident, they were surrounded and 
gunned down without any questions or warnings by a column of 80-90 
troops of Company No.5 of LIB514, under the command of Capt. Pan Aung.

The victims were:

1. Paw Thao Pan-Ti (m), aged 54
2. Lung Nyaa (m), aged 51
3. Zaai Ma-La (m), aged 38
4. Zaai Khat (m), aged 33
5. Zaai Wi-La-Sa (m), aged 31
6. Zaai Zan-Da (m), aged 30
7. Zaai Na-Long (m), aged 40
8. Zaai Khin (m), aged 25
9. Naang Awng (f), aged 27
10. Naang Lao (f), aged 31
11. Naang Kya (f), aged 33
12. Pa Mon (f), aged 41
13. Pa Mai (f), aged 44

5 DISPLACED FARMERS SHOT DEAD IN THEIR FARMS, THEIR CAMP LOOTED, IN 
KUN-HING

On 2.4.00, SPDC troops from IB246 led by Capt. Aung Htay shot dead 4 
farmers, 2 men and 2 women, and wound ed 1, who man aged to run away 
and escape, at a farm near a deserted village of Naa Hawng in Wan Lao 
tract, Kun-Hing township.
After being stationed in Kaeng Tawng area for 3 months, the troops of 
Company No.3 under the command of Capt. Aung Htay were ordered to 
return to the base of IB246 in Kun-Hing town.
On their way back to the town, the troops searched the forests and 
deserted villages along their way and at one point saw 5 people 
working in a farm at a remote spot near an old village of Naa Hawng, 
in Wan Lao tract.
Without asking or giving any warning, the troops opened fire at them, 
killing 4 instantly. One of the farmers saw the troops in time and 
ran away and escaped, but sustained a fractured head which he got 
from falling down while running. 

The victims were:
1. Zaai Zit-Ta (m), aged 27, managed to run away and escaped with a 
fractured head
2. Zaai Aw (m), aged 25, instantly killed
3. Zaai Mon (m), aged 23, instantly killed
4. Naang Kui (f), aged 24, instantly killed
5. Naang Awng (f), aged 21, instantly killed
After they killed the farmers, the troops looted their makeshift 
camp, taking away the fol low ing possessions:
1. 4 Baht-weight of gold ornaments
2. 1 musket
3. 1/2 basket of rice
4. 80 baskets of unhulled rice (the market price of 1 basket of 
unhulled rice at the time was 1,000 Kyat)

3 DISPLACED WOMEN RAPED AND KILLED IN KAE-SEE
In late March 2000, 3 Shan women were raped and shot dead by SPDC 
troops from Company No.3 of LIB514 led by Capt. Than Myint at a place 
2-1/2 miles south of Kae-See town, Kae-See township.

The 3 women were originally from Wan Khem village, Wan Khem tract, 
Kae-See township, that had been forcibly relocated to the outskirts 
of Kae-See town in August 1998 by the then SLORC troops from the same 
LIB514 led by Commander Mya Thaung.

On 26.3.00, the women were foraging for wild vegetables in the forest 
about 2-1/2 miles south of the town when they were surrounded and 
arrested by a patrol of about 30 SPDC troops. The troops accused the 
women of being wives of Shan rebels, tied them up and interrogated 
them, demanding to know where the Shan resistance soldiers were in 
the area and who their leaders were.

While the women were being tortured and questioned, a male civilian 
porter, Sai La Kyaw, who happened to be from the same original 
village as the women, tried to explain to the troops that the women 
were not wives of Shan soldiers, but innocent villagers from the same 
village as him. But the SPDC soldiers only slapped his face and 
ordered him to stay away immediately.

Since the women had not seen any Shan soldiers and did not know their 
whereabouts, they could only explain about their ignorance and could 
not give any information demanded by the SPDC troops. 

Eventually, Capt. Than Myint, the patrol commander, took the youngest 
woman for himself and ordered 2 of his junior officers to take the 
other 2 women and raped them.

1. Naang Ong, aged 15, was raped by Capt. Than Myint

2. Naang Thun Nae, aged 19, was raped by Lt. Aung Hla

3. Naang Paan Yaen, aged 22, was raped by Sgt. Pa Thein

The 3 SPDC military officers raped the women all night and into half 
of the next day and finally gave the 3 women to the remaining 30 
troops. The troops then gang-raped the wom en to their satisfaction 
and eventually shot all 3 of them dead. 







____________________________________________________




RSO NEWS SERVICE: ROHINGYA REFUGEE INFLUX IN BANGLADESH AGAIN

Rohingya Solidarity Organization (RSO) New Service


April 29, 2000

A group of 52 Rohingyas belonging to Buthidaung township of Arakan 
State, Burma entered Bangladesh border area of Gundum under Cox's 
Bazar district in the 2nd week of April, 2000. And another 3 families 
entered Teknaf area of the same district in mid April, according to a 
reliable source visited the site.

It is reported that the 52 Rohingyas belonging to 10 families and 
another 12 persons from 3 families entered Bangladesh in the 2nd week 
of April following eviction by the Burmese military forces from their 
decades old settlements at Buthidaung township. A member of the 
refugee belonging to Gundum group told that the Burmese military in 
Buthidaung township had ordered eviction of a large Muslims village-
tract to establish Buddhist model village as part of their relocation 
programme in Arakan State. 

Many evicted Rohingya families have no where to go nor have they any 
means to subsist following their  eviction  and hundreds of families 
are reported to have been looking for a chance to cross over 
Bangladesh.

The Burmese military junta's anti-Muslim drive in Arakan state has 
resulted in exodus of large scale Rohingya Muslims To Bangladesh in 
1978 and 1992. Despite repatriation agreement between the Burmese 
regime and the Bangladesh and assurance of peace and security in 
Arakan State for the ethnic Muslims, about 30,000 Rohingya Muslims 
entered in Bangladesh in 1996.

 The repatriation of officially registered refugees in Bangladesh has 
been stalled as  the Burmese authorities have been denying clearance 
to nearly 10,000 refugees.


____________________________________________________



RSO NEWS SERVICE: BURMESE JUNTA ORDERED DEMOLITION OF 3 MOSQUES IN 
ARAKAN STATE, MUSLIMS ELDERS ARRESTED


The Military Intelligence (MI) under orders of the directorate of 
border administration has ordered arrest of 12 Muslims elders on 10th 
April as they failed to demolish 3 old mosques in Maungdaw township 
in Arakan State, Burma according to a person who crossed to 
Bangladesh fearing arrest.

The Burmese border administration of Arakan State on 15th March had 
ordered to demolish 3 mosques at Dodine village of north Maungdaw 
township and asked the nearby villagers to execute the order 
immediately. However, the villagers led by village secretary  
Mohammad Yasin approached the Area Commander that they could not 
comply the government orders as Muslims are not allowed to demolish 
mosques in their religion except for rebuilding it. At this, the Area 
Commander ordered the arrest of 12 persons who came to see him. He 
also ordered the arrest of other villagers who supported the defiance 
of the order.
 About 10 Muslim villagers of the area have gone into hiding and some 
crossed over the Bangladesh fearing arrest.
The SPDC has been promising rights of religious freedom to all 
religious groups living in Burma since it seized power.




KNU: 70 WOMEN FORCED TO SERVE AS MILITARY PORTERS

KNU Mergui-Tavoy District Information Department
April 29, 2000
08/00


Tenasserim Division, Burma- Burma army's No. 33 Division forced 70 
female villagers from Tahpohta village tract in Tenasserim division 
to serve as frontline military porter.

On April 24, 2000, No. 33 Division demanded civilians porters from 
Tahpohta (Tharabwin) village tract. Pyi Thu Sit (Burma army's village 
defence force) could not search male porters in the area because all 
the men quit to escape by learning that order. Pyi Thu Sit could not 
find men to serve as porter and captured women in the village to 
fulfil their duty. Pyi Thu Sit captured 43 old and young women from 
Kin Inn village and 27 from Kaw Daw village and sent them to Tahpohta 
where the order came.

Those women were kept at Tahpohta and waiting to serve as frontline 
military porters for Division 33. Tahpohta village situated in the 
east of Mergui town in Tenasserim Township, Tenasserim division. No. 
33. Army Div. is a light infantry division, which assigned to 
Tenasserim division to serve under the control of Coastal Military 
Command (CMC).


__________________ INTERNATIONAL ___________________
		


AFP: MYANMAR JUNTA SLAMS BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY COOK'S REFUGEE TOUR
   

   BANGKOK, April 28 (AFP) - Yangon Friday slammed British Foreign 
Secretary Robin Cook's visit to a Karen refugee camp, charging 
the "destructive" British government with being a "co-conspirator" 
with Myanmar rebels, offical sources said.

   "The sudden escalation of a propaganda war" by "destructive" 
Britain shows  London is a "co-conspirator" with the "atrocious" 
armed opposition group Karen National Union (KNU), a government 
statement said.

   Myanmar also warned Britain "any attempt to militarily support the 
KNU will arouse a regional response that could have ... serious 
consequences."
 
   In his visit last week to an ethnic Karen refugee camp 10 
kilometres (six miles) from the Myanmar frontier, Cook accused Yangon 
of brutally persecuting  its ethnic minorities and painted a gloomy 
picture of everyday life in Myanmar.

   "I have heard enough and I have seen enough to know that the 
people that are here only came here because they were fleeing from 
brutality, from  military action," Cook said at the Ban Tham Hin camp.

   He charged the government with using forced labour to persecute 
the Karens  and of burning their homes and farms.

   Ban Tham Hin is one of a string of refugee camps in Thailand 
housing more than 100,000 displaced people from Myanmar.

   Myanmar frequently accuses the British government of interfering 
in its  affairs and dismisses accusations that it is guilty of gross 
human rights  abuses as post-colonial meddling.


ASIAN AGE: BURMESE JUNTA BIGGEST ENEMY OF MEDIA


By Sarju Kaul
"The Asian Age" newspaper

Date: May 1, 2000.

New Delhi, April 30: Asia has earned itself a dubious distinction--it 
is a continent with the most journalists in jail. Journalism in Asia, 
according to a report on press freedom in the Asia-Pacific region by 
the Paris-based Reporters Sans Frontiers, is a dangerous profession 
with about 30 media professionals behind bars.

Burma is the biggest culprit with 13 journalists in prison, China 
with nine, Vietnam with four, Nepal with three and Pakistan with one 
follow right behind.

The foundation has announced its 1999 award which went to journalist 
San San Nwe of Burma to highlight the stress media professionals in 
Asia have to face in the course of their work--armed conflicts, civil 
wars, repressive laws, authoritarian governments and even violence by 
security forces.

Seven Asian nations--Afghanistan, Bhutan, Burma, China, Laos, North 
Korea and Vietnam--do not provide any freedom for the press according 
to the report.

The report has highlighted the Indian subcontinent as a region where 
the state of press freedom has worsened over the time. It points a 
finger at the Nawaz Sharif regime for harassing independent and 
Opposition journalists. Similarly, Bangladesh with its frequent 
Opposition
sponsored strikes and shutdown has created problems for journalists 
covering these events as it exposes them to harassment by the 
security forces and activists of the political parties.

The situation is worse in Sri Lanka where the media professionals 
have to face the Army censorship and violence by Tamil separatists. 
Nepal, with three journalists in prison, does not present an 
optimistic picture either. The Nepal government used the pretext of 
Maoist insurgency to arrest journalists, according to the report. 
Even India has put restrictions in functioning of the media in the 
areas where insurgency is at its peak in the country, the report says 
that adds that the Indian
government has used this as an excuse to provide access to some 
Pakistan websites.

The 1999 report by the Reporters Sans Frontiers has listed six 
journalists who died in the course of their work. It also gives a 
list of eight other who died under suspicious circumstances.

The report has applauded the press freedom in Thailand, where media 
has been reporting "high-quality news". However, in Malaysia it 
presents an opposite scenario with the media being controlled by 
firms loyal to the government of Mr. Mahathir Mohammad, Prime 
minister of the nation for almost 44 years now. "Vietnam and Laos do 
not tolerate any opposition newspapers but situation is slowly 
changing for the better in Cambodia".

The report says. "Japan, Mogolia and Taiwan are generally regarded as 
models for press freedom in Asia," it says.

In China, the press freedom is in a dismal state, with the Communist 
Party set to take over the tabloid press, which effectively means 200 
newspapers, according to the report which adds: "extreme vigilance is 
needed to thwart Beijing's authoritarian tendencies".

On a note of optimism, the report says that the use of Internet is 
booming in China, which recorded more than per cent increase in 1999, 
and "this may be able to smash the authorities control on 
information".

In the Pacific, Australia and New Zealand have got a good review but 
in the smaller islands in the area, especially Fiji, the freedom of 
press is still subject to whims of the various governments. However, 
the report says that even in nations that generally respect press 
freedom, the media "may still have to face arbitrary repression from 
the government".

 It also lists growing threats to foreign correspondents in the 
regions as one of the worry factors and gave examples of pressure 
faced in China, Vietnam and Malaysia.




 
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________


SPDC: PRESS STATEMENT ON KNU 

>From MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE, YANGON

Information Sheet
No.B-1352 (I)         1st May 2000


Issue No. 4/2000                              April  2000

                 News Release

       The Embassy of the Union of Myanmar would like to
make the following clarifications as follows:

1.      The government of the Union of Myanmar having
achieved peace with 17 out of 18 decades old armed
insurgencies in recent years has continuously offered the
Karen Natioinal Union (KNU) similar terms of peace.

2.  Hundreds of guerrillas each year have responded to
this offer including (KNU) ministerial rank leaders and
high military officials (such as Phado Aung San, and the
Quarter-Master  Wa Heain in March, 2000) and are
continuing to do so.

3.  It has been the national duty and obligation of
the government and the armed forces of Myanmar, however
regrettable, to subdue all illegal and armed insurgencies
within it's sovereign borders like all national
governments in the world today.

4.  In the case of the present situation, it was the
KNU, who without the support of the millions of peace
loving Kayins (or Karens), chose to fight the first
constitutionally elected government half a century ago and
whose military campaign has been on a downhill course over
the years and finally having to seek refuge across the
border in Thailand.

5.  The government of Myanmar would still urge the KNU
leaders to accept the peace offer and return to the legal
fold like the other thousands of Kayins who are doing so
well and peacefully developing their land within their own
state.

6.  The government of Myanmar, has also already
offered to all nationalities of the Union,considerable
degree of autonomy in the newly drafted constitution and
has even abandoned the country's anglicised name of
''Burma'', in order to do away with the connotation of
Bamar (or Burmese) domination and reverting to the old
name of the Kingdom in our own language.

7.  It must be stressed that any persuasion by any
foreign power for the KNU related civilians to remain in
the ''Camps'' across the border until another Myanmar
government came to power must be firmly resisted since it
will only prolong the agony of the people basically
displaced by the long standing belligerency of the KNU.
There is simply no way that armed struggle can win in a
foreseeable future. At the same time no foreign power,
should implement a policy that could extend the suffering
of the Kayins displaced abroad.

8.  The democratic transition can only be affected by
a government that is capable of not only achieving peace
with all it's nationalities but also capable of defending
the sovereignty and integrity of the Union. Times have
changed drastically from 1947 and a repeat of that history
of significant foreign interference is simply no longer
possible. Above all, the present government is firmly
resolved to affect a democratic transition but undue
foreign interference, will only stifle both political and
socio economic development of the country, which in turn
will unnecessarily delay further political change.




_________________ OTHER _________________


BRITAIN BURMA SOCIETY: BURMESE FESTIVALS PAGE ONLINE

April 29, 2000

A comprehensive (16-page) list of the Burmese festivals throughout 
the year is now available on the Britain-Burma Society's web site 
("Planet Burma" / "Planet Myanmar").

Click on this link for Planet Burma:

http://www.planet.simplenet.com/Calendar/Festivals.mv?Burma

or this one for Planet Myanmar:

http://www.planet.simplenet.com/Calendar/Festivals.mv?Myanmar

        The calendar is compiled by Vicky Bowman.

        Derek Brooke-Wavell
        Britain-Burma Society


_______________


Acronyms and abbreviations regularly used by BurmaNet.


AVA: Ava Newsgroup.  A small, independent newsgroup covering Kachin 
State and northern Burma.

KHRG: Karen Human Rights Group.  A non-governmental organization 
that  conducts interviews and collects information primarily in 
Burma's  Karen State but also covering other border areas.

KNU: Karen National Union.  Ethnic Karen organization that has been 
fighting Burma's central government since 1948.

NLM: New Light of Myanmar, Burma's state newspaper.  The New Light of 
Myanmar is also published in Burmese as Myanmar Alin.

SCMP: South China Morning Post.  A Hong Kong newspaper.

SHAN: Shan Herald Agency for News.  An independent news service  
covering Burma's Shan State.

SHRF: Shan Human Rights Foundation

SPDC: State Peace and Development Council.  The current name the  
military junta has given itself.  Previously, it called itself the  
State Law and Order Restoration Council




________________


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