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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: May 31, 2000
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
May 31, 2000
Issue # 1542
*Inside Burma
JAPAN TIMES: MYANMAR'S ETHNIC PATCHWORK: AN ANTHROPOLOGIST'S DREAM,
BUT A POLITICAL NIGHTMARE
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: CURIOUS POWER OF 'THE LADY'
SHRF: TV AND VIDEO OWNERS REQUIRED TO PAY TAXES IN MURNG-SART [Shan
State]
KARENNI NEWS: NEWS FROM INSIDE KARENNI
*International
NIKKEI SHINBUM [JAPAN]: KHIN NYUNT WILL ATTEND OBUCHI'S FUNERAL
NATION: BURMA CALLED ON FOR PROTECTION
HINDUSTAN TIMES [INDIA]: ULFA SHIFTS 3 MAIN CAMPS TO ARUNACHAL
*Economy/Business
NLM: SEMINAR ON BOND MARKET OPENS
ALGEMEEN DAGBLAD (NETHERLANDS): ABP REVIEWS IHC STOCK
HET FINANCIELE DAGBLAD [NETHERLANDS]: [MORE ON IHC'S BURMA INVESTMENT]
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
JAPAN TIMES: MYANMAR'S ETHNIC PATCHWORK: AN ANTHROPOLOGIST'S DREAM,
BUT A POLITICAL NIGHTMARE
By Richard Humphries
Special to The Japan Times
May 31, 2000
In terms of sheer social complexity it has few rivals Perhaps
Lebanon, possibly the Balkans. But Myanmar's ethnic mix is truly
diverse. There are some 100 languages and dialects. Major ethnic
groups like the Karen, Shan, Mon, Chin, and Kachin encompass
others. The Chin alone have 40 subgroups. Even the majority Myanmar
citizens, some two-thirds of the total population, include numerous
assimilated Mon and Karen.
While it is an anthropologist's dream, Myanmar's ethnic patchwork
has proved a continuing political nightmare. Most of the ethnic
minorities have, at one time or another, taken up arms against the
central government. Some are still fighting, yet the destruction
and deprivation visited upon minority communities is rarely
reported.
While all sides in these conflicts bear degrees of responsibility
for the turmoil, one salient fact stands out. No Myanmar government
has addressed minority grievances in a fully fair and comprehensive
manner. The spirit of "Unity in Diversity," promoted by the
country's founder, Aung San, largely passed with his assassination
in 1947. If minority concerns are addressed at all, then military
solutions are sought for political problems. "One blood, one voice,
one command" was for years a favored government army slogan.
In the last decade, the current junta has acquired a vast array of
armaments and increased its armed forces to almost 500,000 men.
Armed ethnic groups like the Mon or Kachin have been pressured or
beaten to the point where they found it necessary to strike
ceasefires with Yangon. The junta says that represents progress,
and certainly much unnecessary killing has stopped. Unfortunately,
promised political dialog has been farcical or nonexistent and
promised economic development not much better. When it comes to
large-scale projects, such as the Yadana gas pipeline, through Mon
and Karen territory, or the projected Salween Dam in Shan State,
minorities are told to step aside and used as forced labor.
No ethnic group has fought longer or harder than the Karen have. In
1949, when their struggle began, the Karen, led by the Karen
National Union (KNU), controlled Mandalay and were poised to take
Yangon. Today, the KNU controls little territory and over 120,000
Karen languish as refugees in Thailand, with a much larger number
internally displaced in Myanmar's Karen State.
Outside observers have sometimes found fault with the KNU
suggesting that it is fighting an unwinnable war and led by a
largely Christian old guard. In 1995 a Buddhist faction split off
and formed an armed alliance with Yangon.
In January this year, the KNU elected a new leader, Saw Ba Thin,
replacing General Bo Mya, who had led the organization for 24
years. Ba Thin's path upward in the KNU has been more political
than military. In appearance a genial, articulate 73-year old
Karen, he was originally from the Henzada district in Myanmar's
upper Irrawaddy delta. At a private interview, in the Thai-Myanmar
border area in March, Ba Thin addressed criticisms of the KNU and
spoke of Karen concerns and goals.
Ba Thin acknowledged that many observers would see the KNU's
abandonment of fixed positional warfare for guerrilla tactics as a
sign of weakness and admitted that "force of circumstances"
impelled the change. He emphasized, however, that the force of
Karen nationalism was not something to be measured in terms of guns
or territory. And that fortune can change.
"Yes, by viewing from the outside, maybe people see us like that,"
Ba Thin said. "But they don't see the mind or the inner part of the
heart of the Karen and how we feel. Take World War II. The Japanese
and the Germans were very powerful and people thought they'd
overrun the whole world. But within two or three years the
situation changed. There are 7 million Karen. If you can't kill all
of them at once, the heart will remember."
The leadership change has also extended downward and younger Karen
have been brought into important positions. Significantly, a
Buddhist and former monk named Saw Satila, now heads the
organization's Religious Affairs Department.
"Because many of our leaders were over 75, we have to hand over
power to the new generation, the KNU president said. "They are
younger and more intellectual. The struggle has been going for
three generations so they have to shoulder this duty. We must
encourage them. They should know how to lead and how to educate
their people."
The KNU rankles at the frequent aspersions in Myanmar's government-
controlled press that it is made up of separatist bandits against
whom military actions are justified. "The question of the Karen
people is a political one and we feel it should be solved by
political means," Ba Thin said. "Reach an agreement, only then
there can be a real peace, real reconciliation. When you start
talking you must start solving problems. It cannot be one-sided;
there must be dialogue. We are not separatists. We struggle for the
establishment of a federal union where all the minorities can enjoy
equal rights."
What serious dialog there has been, has not been with Yangon, but
more with dissident Myanmar prodemocracy activists who have
sheltered in minority- controlled areas. Many of these were
students who fled after the 1988 massacres perpetrated against
their colleagues by government soldiers. Though obviously lacking
power, they represent probably the first generation of educated
Myanmars to both share and understand many minority concerns. There
is hope for the future. However, any linkup between the minorities
and domestic dissidents makes the junta see red. A 1997 Ethnic
Nationalities Seminar in Karen territory, followed by the playing
of a video tape made by Aung San Suu Kyi wearing traditional Karen
dress, led to massive Myanmar military retaliation upon KNU
positions.
From time to time the KNU, feeling pressure from Thailand or
otherwise seeking an end to fighting, has engaged in cease-fire
talks with Yangon. They have not ruled out doing so again in the
future. The last talks, in 1997, ended in failure when Yangon
insisted the KNU lay down its arms, or basically surrender, and
return to the "legal fold," implying their 50-year struggle was
illegal. Ba Thin was not at the negotiations but was clearly upset
by Yangon's demands.
"What kind of legal fold is this?" he asked rhetorically. "You are
a military dictatorship. You don't even have a constitution for the
country yet. Where are the rules, laws and regulations? There is
only the law of the jungle."
For the displaced Karen in Thailand, life is getting harder. The
camps are dead ends and security is relative. Talk of repatriation
is in the air and now the United Nations High Commission for
Refugees is involved in the refugee issue. Many Karen are afraid
that any repatriation won't be voluntary, although the UNHCR and
some Thai officials insist it will be. They feel that, typically, an
important issue affecting minority concerns is being decided over
their heads. On this issue Ba Thin said, "My view is clear, unless
and until we can solve the political problems of this country, it
will be hopeless." Meanwhile the war goes on.
When political expression leads to jail
Bo Kyi speaks English in a soft voice. He learned it the hard way,
unable to see his teacher. They were political prisoners in
adjoining cells in Myanmar's Thayawaddy Prison. His teacher
whispered to him while the guards were away. Then Bo Kyi used a
piece of brick to write out new words on his cell wall.
If the ethnic question represents one side of Myanmar's profound
social failure, the lack of political consensus is the other.
Freedom of expression does not exist. To call or campaign for
political rights often means jail. At least 2,500 political
prisoners are currently in some 20 prisons throughout Myanmar.
Bo Kyi, a student political activist, was first arrested in Yangon
on March 16, 1990 and sentenced to three years with hard labor.
After his release, he was rearrested again on July 17, 1994 and
given the same sentence. He served his sentences at three prisons:
Insein, Mandalay, and Thayawaddy. After the second release,
military intelligence officers visited his home at least once a week
to discuss his "opinions' and often threatened him with rearrest.
When they came to his house to do just that on August 28, 1999,
luckily he was away.
Now Bo Kyi is in Thailand. He and 14 other ex-political prisoners
have formed an organization called the Safeguard Association for
Political Prisoners in Burma. The organization has five goals: to
report on the oppression of political prisoners; to encourage
international support; to secure human rights for political
prisoners; to protect them from intimidation after release and; to
aid them after release, both mentally and physically. Their
organization is providing concerned NGOs like Amnesty International
with information on prison conditions.
And those conditions are bad. The regime mixes political prisoners
with common criminals and encourages the latter to take advantage
of the former. Food is monotonous and inadequate: rice, curry, fish
paste and a watery, ersatz soup called "talapaw." "We cannot
survive on only the food given by the jail, it's not enough," said
Bo Kyi. "We depend on our families. Mine provided me (with food)
regularly twice a month so I was able to share with my comrades."
Not all families can afford to help their imprisoned relatives and
some jails are isolated. Bo Kyi spoke of Myingyan Prison, in
central Myanmar, as one where conditions were much worse. No one
wanted to be sent there.
"That area is very hot in summer and very cold in winter. Each
prisoner is allowed just two pieces of clothing and one blanket. In
other prisons you can share your food but not in Myingyan. If your
family can't support you, you will eat only the food given by the
prison." One of Bo Kyi's friends, Saw Eh Dah, sickened and died
there, after just one year of malnutrition and severe beatings.
Beatings are frequent in Myanmar's jails. Sometimes it's for
surreal infractions, like failure to capture a quota of 100 flies
in a day. Other times it's for political activity, real or
suspected. Additional intimidation techniques used in these jails
include sleep deprivation, blindfolding, and isolation in small,
excessively bright or darkened, cells.
Aside from the brutal elements of prison life, just getting through
each day requires mental strength. "Time is slow," Bo Kyi
says. "Today, tomorrow, yesterday are the same. The typical life is
routine. I am awakened at 5:30 in the morning. At that time I must
sit on my knees for at least 30 minutes. Then I walk around the
room. Since, as you know, I am a Buddhist, sometimes I make
meditation. I try to think about what was wrong in the past and what
was right."
The recent arrest and imprisonment of two British nationals, James
Mawdsley and Rachel Goldwyn, briefly focused world attention on
Myanmar's jails. Goldwyn was eventually let go but Bo Kyi and his
comrades had difficulty understanding some of her reasoning upon
release. She seemed out of her depth. Mawdsley was a much different
matter. "Especially him, he is now in Kengtung Prison and we really
do honor him, for his courage and what he is doing there."
The SAPPB possess a poster of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's
democracy leader, with her words, "There will be change because all
the military have are guns." Ironically, one of the SAPPB members
was a private in the Myanmar Army in 1988. He refused to fire on
the crowds of pro-democracy demonstrators and deserted. For that he
was sentenced to twelve years in jail. (R.H.)
Risking death with every step, every day
"We are full of love for you but cannot take care of all." -from
a notice to Karen villagers that landmines would bet set on their land
During World War One, military personnel comprised 90 percent of
deaths, and civilians the other 10. In today's warfare, that ratio
has been reversed. One big reason has been the proliferation of
landmines. They are cheap, portable, and maim or kill very
effectively.
In Myanmar's Karen State, all sides to the ethnic conflict use
landmines. The Karen National Union's armed wing, the Karen
National Liberation Army, uses them to protect their supply lines
and to harass their enemies. Those enemies, government forces of
Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council and those of its
ally, the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army, which split from the KNU
in 1995, use them in much larger numbers and far more
indiscriminately.
The KNLA tries to warn villagers where not to go, such as which
trail is dangerous, but does not specify where mines are placed.
Villagers still step on them. Neither the SPDC nor the DKBA give
even a warning. The results are deaths, injuries and fear for the
many innocent civilians who have stepped on mines or risk doing so
every day.
The KNLA largely relies on homemade mines, made of bamboo and
filled with steel pellets and explosives. According to the Karen
Human Rights Group, an independent NGO which monitors human-rights
violations in the conflict area, the SPDC and DKBA were using
imported Chinese models, but now mostly use ones made in Myanmar,
with factories and technology again supplied by China. The most
deadly type is the MMI, based on a Chinese design called PMOZ-2,
which was widely used in Cambodia. It is known as the "corncob"
because of its shape but there the similarity ends. The MMI is
sometimes attached to a post above ground and hidden in tall grass.
It is activated by a tripwire, with the purpose being to kill or
maim more that one person.
The message at the beginning was from a DKBA commander to a Karen
village. Compounding the fear that these villagers face in their
daily tasks are other mine- related worries. SPDC soldiers will
often dragoon villagers into forced labor as army porters or human
minesweepers. If they tell the soldiers that the particular path
they're on is dangerous, they are often told to simply keep walking,
in front of course, or branded as KNU/KNLA supporters. It becomes a
Hobson's choice whether to say something or keep quiet. Either way
they face the probability of an unpleasant fate. (R.H.)
____________________________________________________
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: CURIOUS POWER OF 'THE LADY'
Saturday, May 27, 2000
[Photo] Champion of democracy: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San
Suu Kyi's party won 80 per cent of the vote a decade ago but has
been denied power by the nation's military junta.
By William Barnes
Ten years ago today, the Burmese people voted in a surprisingly
unambiguous majority in a rare general election for opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy (NLD).
The ruling generals responded by declaring that it could not transfer
power because the elected representatives could only be responsible
for drawing up a new constitution.
The NLD did not accept this argument, but did say that a new
constitution could be hammered out within a couple of months. The
military has a rather slower timetable in mind - a decade on and a
stage-managed constitutional convention still has not finished its
work.
In the meantime, a misleadingly delicate woman in traditional wrap-
around skirt and blouse and an orchid in her hair has put up what
the world sees as transparently magnificent resistance to a sinister
regime.
She is defiance incarnate - a charismatic spirit facing an obdurate
wall erected by people whose deepest instincts are to control and to
restrict. Any observer would need a heart of stone not to be
affected by the extraordinary chutzpah of a woman who has willingly,
and at no little personal cost, become the embodiment of a nation's
desire for change - to use Ms Suu Kyi's own words, "for freedom and
happiness".
Yet some veteran Burma watchers now wonder whether the Nobel Peace
prize winner's famous defiance might not in itself be an obstacle to
progress. "A number of people feel her stand on principle makes it
very difficult to have a stand on politics," said Robert Taylor, the
vice-chancellor of the University of Buckingham, in England.
Ultimately, he argued, politics was the art of compromise and that
negotiations would never have got anywhere in Northern Ireland or
South Africa if both sides had not displayed a willingness to be
flexible.
Aung San Suu Kyi has strongly rejected suggestions that she
is "inflexible" - complaining that her only request is that talks
should be without preconditions.
But with hindsight many observers do argue - mostly privately on
this delicate matter - that the opposition could have spelt out in a
much clearer way what sort of position the military might occupy in
the future.
Ms Suu Kyi has reminded the generals that the army was founded by her
father, the independence hero Aung San, and has strongly hinted at
reconciliation. But she has refrained from outlining what kind of
role the military might have, so as not to pre-empt negotiations and
wider political participation.
Many people wish that it was possible to engage in a debate about the
merits of this or that course of action. The nature of the police
state makes such a debate difficult, to say the least, inside Burma,
but even within exile and international circles the "beauty versus
the beast" polarisation effectively trumps any attempt to question
her methods.
"The moral high ground is a very difficult place to occupy. It makes
it difficult to disagree with her on tactics because that means you
undercut her position," said Professor David Steinberg, director of
Asian Studies at Georgetown University in the United States.
There is also the blunt fact that half a century of mostly
repressive government since independence from British colonialism
has not enabled Burma to produce political institutions capable of
absorbing any dissenting views or loyal opposition.
"The opposition also exhibits characteristics that seem rather
intolerant or an inimical to the development of democratic
processes," Mary Callahan, an American academic expert on the
Burmese military, wrote recently.
Ms Callahan cited as an example the expulsion of two members from the
NLD in 1997 - Than Tun and Thein Kyi - who had called for the
opening of dialogue with the regime. "To get compromise you must not
always stick to principles," said Than Tun. The NLD said it had
strong evidence that the pair were stooges for the junta.
Many observers have privately described the stand-off between the
military and Ms Suu Kyi as "very Burmese". If Ms Suu Kyi sometimes
appears unbending, this is likely to be at least partly because her
hardcore supporters demand a tough stance.
Nevertheless there is little doubt that the stand-off between her and
the military has a very personal edge to it. They really do not seem
to like her.
Perhaps this is partly because she "insulted" their patron - the
former dictator, Ne Win - a decade ago. Perhaps because she has
constantly reminded the army that it had a much more limited role
during Burma's brief democratic era. Perhaps it is because when she
talks freedom, they talk control. And perhaps it is because the
sentiment is reciprocated against a group she blames for the dire
state of the nation.
Yet only dreamy exiles currently imagine that an army that has nearly
tripled in size over the past decade is simply going to fade away.
Some analysts have suggested the current, enervating impasse might
be unlocked when Ne Win - who was 89 this week - dies.
This now looks unlikely. Ms Suu Kyi does arouse a surprising degree
of irritation in Rangoon among many Burmese officials and
intellectuals, as well as foreign businessmen and even some
diplomats. Faced with a regime that shows no sign of bending, she is
perhaps the easier target.
The bulk of the population do still seem to harbour a unique
affection for "The Lady" - something the regime seems determined
never to test by holding free elections again.
The first independence premier, U Nu, tried to build unity through
Buddhism. Ne Win imposed his own quirky brand of socialism. But the
self-styled State Peace and Development Committee has nothing so
subtle - just army rule.
Mr Taylor said he was "very depressed" about Burma's prospects. The
United Nations is trying to offer the ruling generals financial and
aid "carrots" in exchange for some lifting of the jackboot. Regime
spokesmen rebuffed initial proposals as "bananas offered to
monkeys".
Professor Steinberg has suggested that the NLD and the military
might co-operate - to break the ice - on some "neutral" national
project such as a campaign against the terrible explosion of HIV. On
past form both sides will reject the notion as giving succour to an
opponent who appears to be weakening.
Mr Taylor said this might be the time for the NLD to unhook itself
from the 1990 election which was, after all, "a decade ago now".
This is certainly what the military would like.
Maureen Aung-Thwin, who runs the Burma Project for the Soros
Foundation, said: "No, this has to be the key issue because in the
end it's really about law and order, legitimacy, and the will of the
people. It will be up to the NLD to call the election history . . .
but it's their call, not the junta's or the UN's."
One Rangoon-based diplomat said he was puzzled that a trait that in
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was seen as necessary toughness
was viewed by some as unhelpful stubbornness in Ms Suu Kyi. "You
can't take away from her the fact that she won 80 per cent of the
seats in a general election when she was already under house
arrest," he argued.
Ms Aung-Thwin added: "She has managed to keep intimidated one of the
world's most experienced, battle-hardened, biggest armies. Why are
half-a-million armed men afraid of a 90-pound unarmed woman?
"She has kept the world's spotlight on Burma's plight. Without her,
Burma would long ago have had its 15 seconds of fame."
William Barnes is the Post's Bangkok correspondent
(wbarnes@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx).
____________________________________________________
SHRF: TV AND VIDEO OWNERS REQUIRED TO PAY TAXES IN MURNG-SART [Shan
State]
Shan Human Rights Foundation
>From May 2000 Monthly Human Rights Report
In April 2000, people who owned TV and Video sets in Murng-
Ton and Murng-Sart townships [Shan State] were required to pay taxes
to the military authorities. On 27.3.00, the Deputy Commander of
Military Tactical Command in Murng-Sart issued an order to village
and community leaders in the township to provide lists of people who
either owned TV or Video sets or both. On 1.4.00, the Commander
issued another order requiring the civilian leaders to collect taxes
on TV and Video sets from the owners and bring them to the base of
IB49 in Murng-Sart no later than 15.4.00. Any headmen or leaders who
failed to provide the tax money before the specified date would face
severe punishment. In Murng-Ton, similar orders were issued
virtually at the same time by the military authorities in the
township. The taxes were fixed at 2,000 Kyat per TV set per year. The
same amount was set for Video sets, but those who used their Video
sets for "Karaoke" entertainment were required to pay an additional
2,000 Kyat per set. Owners who failed to pay the taxes on time would
be fined and their machines confiscated, said the orders.
____________________________________________________
KARENNI NEWS: NEWS FROM INSIDE KARENNI
Karenni News Agency for Human Rights
May 31, 2000
SPDC troops from LIB 516 led by Lieutenant Colonel Saw Shwe entered
Kwa Kee village in no. 2 District of Karenni and shot at the
villagers. Saw Ku Ku, aged 24, escaped with a wound. 2 villagers were
arrested but released later on the same day.
Battle News
At Hway Pulong, near the Thai border, during fighting between the
SPDC LIB 428 led by Captain Win Myint and Karenni troops, one SPDC
soldier was killed. There were no Karenni casualties.
Another battle occurred very close to Karenni refugee camp #3. Over
the past week there have been several attacks along the Thai-Karenni
border. There have been attacks near all of the refugee camps. The
SPDC troops are moving closer to and are attacking the Karenni
strongholds on the border. This is threatening to both the people in
Karenni and the refugees in Thailand who are within earshot of the
attacks.
____________________________________________________
__________________ INTERNATIONAL __________________
NIKKEI SHINBUM [JAPAN]: KHIN NYUNT WILL ATTEND OBUCHI'S FUNERAL
May 30, 2000
Myanmar SPDC First Secretary will attend the former Prime Minister
Obuchi's funeral. Number Three of the military government
An attempt to maintain a relation with the biggest financial
supporter
The first secretary of the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), Khin Nyunt, who holds the third position in the power
hierarchy within Myanmar's military regime, will attend the former
Prime Minster Obuchi's funeral organised jointly by the cabinet and
the Liberal Democratic Party on 8 June. The information was released
by a foreign official. The first secretary is in charge of issues
such as Myanmar's foreign relations, internal order and racial
problems. He will be the highest official who will have ever visited
Japan from Myanmar since the military regime started with a coup in
1988.
The United States and the European Community (EU) have
been economically sanctioning Myanmar as they accuse its military
government for suppressing democratisation. Japan has joined the
sanction and frozen its official development aid (ODA). However,
Myanmar's military government decided to dispatch one of the highest
executive officials to the former prime minister's funeral, as it
wishes to remain good terms with its biggest financial supporter,
Japan. The first secretary plans to arrive on 7 June and stay one
night in Japan.(Kiyoshi Noma, Bangkok)
____________________________________________________
NATION: BURMA CALLED ON FOR PROTECTION
May 31, 2000
HUMAN Rights Watch yesterday urged the Burmese and Bangladeshi
governments to take immediate action in providing protection for the
Muslim Rohingya refugees who have fled the Arakan State to take
refuge in Bangladesh.
The statement came as a planned trip to Dhaka by the chief of
Burma's ruling junta General Than Shwe was abruptly cancelled on
Monday. Gary Risser, a researcher for Human Rights Watch in Asia,
said that Burma should improve the treatment of the Rohingya, who
had suffered abuses in their own country.
The new 29 page report said the Rohingya refugee problem lacked
a "durable solution".
Gen Than Shwe had planned to pay a state visit to Dhaka on Monday
and return today.
Between1991 and 1992 over 250,000 Rohingya fled Burma and sought
refuge in Bangladesh. Although most have been repatriated under a
programme launched by the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees, about 22,000 remain in refugee camps.
Meanwhile in Geneva delegates to the International Labour
Conference, which started yesterday, may decide to call on
companies, trade unions, international bodies and states to review
their ties with Burma to ensure that they do not contribute to the
use of forced labour.
Measures to have Burma stop the use of forced and compulsory labour
will be presented to the 3,000 delegates attending the conference,
which ends on June 15. This would ask affiliates of the
International Labour Office (ILO) to ensure dealings with Burma in
no way fostered forced labour.
In March the ILO governing body decided that Burma had made no
progress in ending the widespread use of forced labour, despite
promises to do so, and invoked for the first time an ILO article
allowing it to recommend measures to oblige the country to comply.
Burma was to have responded to concerns raised by an ILO committee
of inquiry last year.
Last week an ILO mission held discussions with the junta on the
implementation of the panel's recommendations, which included that
no more forced or compulsory labour be imposed by the authorities.
The mission will present its report to the conference.
____________________________________________________
HINDUSTAN TIMES [INDIA]: ULFA SHIFTS 3 MAIN CAMPS TO ARUNACHAL
Utpal Parashar
Guwahati, May 29
May 30, 2000
Fresh moves by Bhutan and Myanmar against militant outfits based in
their areas have forced the United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) to
look for new camp sites in Arunachal Pradesh.
Official sources state that following recent counter-offensives
launched by the Myanmarese Army, the ULFA has recently shifted three
main camps along with nearly 100 cadres to the border areas of
Arunachal Pradesh.
The Bhutan government's recent threats to use force to evict militant
outfits based in their soil have also pressurised the ULFA to look
for new places to set up camps for training their cadres, sources
stated.
The first ULFA camps in Myanmar were set up 15 years ago with the
help of Kachin Independent Army (KIA), a local militant group which
was also instrumental in providing training and arms to ULFA and many
other militant outfits of the region.
"With the surrender of many senior leaders in the past few months,
the KIA suffered huge setbacks and reached an agreement with the
Myanmar government recently. Following this agreement, the Myanmarese
Army launched counter-offensive against the militant outfits from
India based there. This is the main reason why ULFA is shifting camps
to Arunachal," said an official.
The move to shift camps to Arunachal Pradesh is also the result of
strict vigil by the Royal Bhutan Army in the past few weeks. Last
month, the Bhutan Government assured India that it would not allow
the Indian militant outfits to operate from its soil.
The assurance came after reports of King Jigme Singhye Wangchuck,
having breakfast with the ULFA cadres in camps located in Bhutan
appeared in many newspapers. The Bhutan government denied the reports
and stated that its government would never support any outfit
operating from Bhutan.
_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
NLM: SEMINAR ON BOND MARKET OPENS
New Light of Myanmar
YANGON, 29 May-Seminar on Bond Market jointly sponsored by Ministry
of Finance and Revenue, Tokyo Stock Exchange of Ministry of Finance
of Japan and Myanmar Securities Exchange Centre Co Ltd was held at
the Traders Hotel this morning.
Minister U Khin Maung Thein said capital market plays a pivotal role
in investment of market-oriented economic system and effective use of
the investment market Bonds are important investment in capital
market like stock and share, he added. Director Mr Yoichi Takahashi
of Institute of Fiscal and Monetary Policy and Director Mr Hironori
Sento of Tokyo Stock Exchange explained matters related to the
seminar.The seminar continues tomorrow.
____________________________________________________
ALGEMEEN DAGBLAD (NETHERLANDS): ABP REVIEWS IHC STOCK
27 MAY 2000
The ABP, the Netherlands' largest pension fund, will decide next week
if it
will continue to invest in IHC Caland. This was ABP's reaction after
the
shareholders' meeting yesterday where the ship and offshore builder
stated
unequivocally that it would continue with its activities in Burma.
"We would do it all over again, as long as we don't abuse human
rights. We
are not a party," said Langman, the head of the supervisory board.
Two
political parties, PvdA and D66, have brought this issue to the
Parliament.
Langman remarked somewhat cynically that he was "happy that ABP was
still
investing in the Netherlands."
About the unexpected resignation of Aad de Ruyter, the president of
IHC
Caland, Langman said that, "Both sides made an error of judgement."
Sources from the top of the company stated that there was a great
difference of opinion about a strategy for the future, and that
there was
conflict between him and the former president, J. D. Bax. He also
wanted
mergers with other companies.
____________________________________________________
HET FINANCIELE DAGBLAD [NETHERLANDS]: [MORE ON IHC'S BURMA INVESTMENT]
27 May 2000,
"IT IS NOT EASY TO SUCCEED BAX"
It seemed like a well-planned distraction technique from the ship and
offshore building company IHC Caland. A completedly unexpected
announcement of the resignation of president-director Aad de Ruyter
preceded the shareholders' meeting on Friday. However, the criticism
of
controversial activities in Burma did not die down.
"It is not easy to succeed Bax," said H. Langman, the head of the
supervisory board yesterday at the annual shareholders' meeting,
meaning
Bax, the predecessor of the just new president-director A. de Ruyter.
What
was he trying to say? "Bax is an extraordinary person who made the
company
flower," was his answer.
The resignation of De Ruyter, according to the supervisory board of
which
Bax is also a member, has nothing to do with a difference of
opinion. The
president stepped down for personal reasons, clarifies the official
explanation. In hindsight, De Ruyter's past experience was not
compatible
with the company's activities...
According to Langman, the company does not feel the pressure from
investors that do not agree with IHC Caland's business in BUrma.
After
detailed correspondence with the human rights organization Burma
Centrum
Nederland, ABN Amro had sold all of its shares in IHC Caland by the
end of
April. But this week the bank assured Langman via letter that the
Burma
question did not play a role in its decision.
Rene Maatman, the legal advisor of the pension fund ABP, believes
differently. The code of conduct that was established by IHC Caland
under
De Ruyter last year is praiseworthy, but the importance lies in the
implication of it, he says. "In IHC Caland, there is one important
risk
that remains unmentionend: a risk of reputation."
"Corruption and human rights violations are daily occurrences in many
countries that IHC Caland does business with," Maatman said at the
shareholders' meeting. If the security of a project leads to the
abuse
of human rights, then inclusion in that project is unacceptable, he
said.
This damage of reputation shall surely affect other shareholders.
The IHC
stock owned by the ABP will be reconsidered at the directors' meeting
in a
few weeks, said Maatman.
Langman seemed to remain unimpressed. "There is no difficulty in
losing one
shareholder as long as there are others willing to fill the place," he
said. "As long as we do not abuse human rights, we would sign another
similar contract. God only knows why most of the oil and gas is to be
found
in countries without democracy."
-by Alexander Weissink
translated and condensed by Burma Centrum Nederland
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