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

June 5, 2000

Issue # 1546


The BurmaNet News is readable online at:

http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com



*Inside Burma

AP: TWO MYANMAR NATIONALS GET 27 AND 12 YEARS FOR SMUGGLING FALSE 
PAPERS

RSO NEWS SERVICE: SPDC SOLDIERS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED A ROHINGYA MINOR 
BOY

SHRF: RAPE AS A MEANS TO GET A WIFE IN MURNG-YAWNG [SHAN STATE]

NLD: ILLEGAL ARRESTS, IMPRISONMENT, TORTURE AND INTERROGATION IN PEGU

MON UNITY LEAGUE: ON THE FORCED ANNEXATION OF LANDS IN MON STATE

KNU: HUNDREDS OF CIVILIANS FORCED TO CONSTRUCT BONGTI-TAVOY HIGHWAY 


*International

AFP: MYANMAR WILLING TO COOPERATE WITH ILO ON LABOUR STANDARDS: JUNTA

NATION : FROM THE EDGE: DECISION TIME ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA 

BPF: ANALYSIS OF THE REPORT OF THE ILO TECHNICAL MISSION

XINHUA: MYANMAR LEADER MEETS CHINESE STATE COUNCILOR 

BANGKOK POST: WA TRIBESMEN AT BORDER UNDER CLOSE WATCH


*Economy/Business

XINHUA: MYANMAR, CHINESE COMPANY SIGN CEMENT PLANT ACCORD

			
*Opinion/Editorials

THE GLOBE AND MAIL (UK): ONCE UPON A TIME IN BURMA

THE ONION: GENOCIDE IS SUCH A HARSH WORD




__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
	

AP: TWO MYANMAR NATIONALS GET 27 AND 12 YEARS FOR SMUGGLING FALSE 
PAPERS

June 5, 2000

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ Two Myanmar nationals have been sentenced 
lengthy prison terms for smuggling dozens of forged seaman's 
passports into Myanmar, state newspapers reported Monday. 

 Tun Myat Thu, alias Naing Lin Hset, was arrested at his house in an 
eastern suburb of Yangon with fake passports and government seals. He 
was sentenced to 27 years by the Yangon East District Court on May 
31. 

 He confessed he had bought the documents and seals from Kyaw Soe 
Aung, a member of the antigovernment All Burma Students' Democratic 
Front in Bangkok to sell in Myanmar, the New Light of Myanmar 
newspaper reported. 

 Ma Win Yee, who was accused of smuggling the forged documents from 
Thailand to Myanmar, was sentenced on the same day to 12 years in 
prison. 

 She was caught at Myawaddy, on the Myanmar side of its eastern 
border with Thailand, with 165 forged seaman's passports, 91 forged 
first-grade overseas nautical officer certificates and 48 other fake 
documents, the report said. 

 Seaman's passports, used by Myanmar nationals who work on foreign 
vessels, are hard to acquire. They allow seamen from the impoverished 
military state to earn hard currency. 

 The students' front is outlawed in Myanmar, also known as Burma. It 
is the leading political group for student exiles who fled a bloody 
crackdown against a prodemocracy uprising in 1988 when hundreds of 
protesters were gunned down. 




____________________________________________________


RSO NEWS SERVICE:  SPDC SOLDIERS SEXUALLY ASSAULTED A ROHINGYA MINOR 
BOY

Rohingya Solidarity Organization

   RSO NEWS SERVICE
   News Sheet No.2/May
   May 24, 2000


   Four Burmese security forces at Maungdaw township of Arakan state 
grabbed a minor    Rohingya boys and sexually assaulted them several 
times. As a result one of the boys    died of excessive bleeding, 
according to a traveller passing through the area.     On 5th May, 4 
SPDC soldiers assigned at Badapara under Alaythangyaw sub-township    
went to inspect a watch post at dead hours of night and found 4 minor 
boys giving night    watch there. The Na Sa Ka (Border Security 
forces) took away one of the boy (12 years old) to an isolated place 
and raped him several times. Later, the boy was believed to    have 
been killed by breaking neck and thrown into the nearby creek.    The 
next day some fisherman fishing in the creek found the dead body 
stuck in the    fishing net with broken neck and marks of sexual 
violence. The relatives and the    fishermen brought the dead body to 
the commander of No.7 Na Sa Ka Area Command and reported that 4 
soldiers took him away.

   In spite of taking action against the 4 SPDC forces who were 
suspected of sexual assault and murder, the commander advised the 
relatives to bury the dead body    immediately.

    Although Burmese Na Sa Ka forces frequently violate the chastity 
of Muslim woman folks, incident like the one involving minor children 
is rarely reported.


____________________________________________________


SHRF: RAPE AS A MEANS TO GET A WIFE IN MURNG-YAWNG [SHAN STATE]


SHAN HUMAN RIGHTS FOUNDATION
 
SHRF  MONTHLY REPORT  --  MAY 2000


        On 9.4.00, a villager of Wan Paw village, (Naang In Keo), 
aged 19, was raped by a Private, Kyaw San, from Co. No.2 of LIB334 at 
a place near her village in Murng Yu tract, Murng-Yawng 
township.         

(Naang In Keo) and 2 other women from the same village were gathering 
wild vegetables along the banks of Nam Paw stream some distance from 
their village when, at about 16:00 hrs in the evening, one SPDC 
soldier suddenly appeared from nowhere and grabbed (Naang In Keo) and 
dragged her into a nearby bush. The other 2 women were too frightened 
to help their friend and ran away towards their village.         

Although (Naang In Keo) struggled at the best of her strength to get 
away, the soldier was just too strong for her, and because he also 
threatened to shoot her dead if she kept struggling, she had to give 
in and the soldier raped her to his satisfaction.         

The SPDC soldier who raped (Naang In Keo) was a Private named Kyaw 
San from Company No.2 of Murng-Yawng-based LIB334 and, because he had 
visited the village several times before, most villagers of Nam Paw 
had known him for some time, and he had even bought food at (Naang In 
Keo's) food stall in front of her house many times.         

When (Naang In KeoÆs) farther and the village headman tried to lodge 
a complaint with the Commander of Company No.2 at the military camp, 
no action whatsoever was taken to address their plight. Since the 
culprit was undeniably guilty, the Commander said, "It happened 
because my soldier loves your daughter. If you are afraid of losing 
face, isn't it good after all to let your daughter become Kyaw San's 
wife?"     The villagers could say nothing and returned quietly to 
the village with their heads down. 


____________________________________________________



NLD: ILLEGAL ARRESTS ,IMPRISONMENT AND TORTUROUS INTERROGATION IN PEGU


 
 
 National League for Democracy
 No: (97/B), West Shwegonedine Road
 Bahan Township, Rangoon
 
 Statement 77(5/00) (translation)
 
 
 
 Contents of letter dated 30 May sent by the Chairman, NLD to the 
Chairman, SPDC  are published for information to all.
 
 " (Start)  Subject - Illegal arrests ,imprisonment and torturous 
interrogation.  

 The military dictators illegally arrested and imprisoned 15 members 
of the NLD  Pegu Division, Pegu Township organising committee of 
which three are women. They  are innocent and have not offended the 
law but have been kept in solitary  confinement since the 22 May 2000 
at the No 1, Pegu jail.  These individuals are  nationals who of 
their own free will are working towards the attainment of  democracy 
in the country.
 
 We have received information that they are being interrogated by a 
detachment of  the military intelligence unit 3 and police personnel 
under very cruel and  torturous conditions with hoods over their 
faces for entire days and nights.  Those military dictators are 
violating the articles of the Universal Declaration  of the Human 
Rights to which this country is a signatory.  

 We give notice that should anyone of the said fifteen members be in 
any way  physically or mentally injured because of the torture and 
persecution meted out  to them in this illegal arrest and 
imprisonment, the entire military dictators in  Pegu will be held 
totally responsible.
 
 We demand that these innocent victims be immediately and 
unconditionally  released.           (End)"
 
 
 Central Executive Committee
 National League for Democracy
 
 Rangoon 
 31 May 2000



____________________________________________________


MON UNITY LEAGUE: ON THE FORCED ANNEXATION OF LANDS IN MON STATE

June 1, 2000

STATEMENT OF THE MON UNITY LEAGUE
ON THE FORCED ANNEXATION OF LANDS IN MON STATE
BY THE SPDC GOVERNMENT

1. Even though a cease-fire has been in effect between the New Mon 
State Party and the ruling military junta of the State Peace and 
Development Council (SPDC/SLORC) since 1995, the Agreement has not 
led to a political solution.

Instead, local battalions and troops of the junta continue to violate 
and suppress the human rights of the Mon people on a daily basis. 

Moreover, the regime has depleted the natural resources in the region 
and increased ecological and human misery at an alarming rate. 

Some of the most common human rights violations include the forced 
sale of paddy by local farmers at heavily discounted rates, the 
banning of the Mon language curriculum and the closing of Mon 
national schools, the collection of porter fees and several 
unofficial taxes, the expropriation of properties and lands, torture, 
arrest, forced labour and forced relocation, all of which are 
regularly committed by order of the ruling military government. 

2. Since the fighting between the two parties stopped following the 
cease-fire agreement, the military regime has taken advantage by 
illicitly expanding its control into Mon areas covered by the 
Agreement. In many places its troops have taken over land belonging 
to the people for the construction of military camps.

In 1999 alone, under the order of the South East Military Command, 
Light Infantry Battalion (LIB) No. 299 siezed farms and gardens 
amounting to over 200 acres from Ko Maing Village in southern Ye 
Township, while LIB No. 343 appropriated 900 acres from Aru Taung 
Village in northern Ye Township in Mon State.  These farms, owned by 
local Mon farmers,had been planted with several kinds of tropical 
fruits, vegetables and rubber trees worth at least 90 million kyat 
(at current valuation of $US 260,000).

Following the annexation, the owners requested compensation from the 
authorities concerned and relocation for the farming families on new 
lands, but up to now their demands have been ignored.

3. The violation of human rights and the suppression of Mon civilians 
by the military junta have increased their dissatisfaction with the 
government. It has also ruined all attempts at building trust and 
good relations with armed ethnic groups. Actions of this kind have 
clearly shown that the military government SPDC is taking the 
advantage of the cease-fire agreement. 

4. On behalf of the civilian who have suffered severely from these 
abuses, the Mon Unity League demands the military junta:

a) to cease forthwith from the appropriation of lands in the area 
covered by the cease-fire agreement and to provide
compensation to those whose lands have already been
annexed;

b) to cease forthwith from its program of military expansion and the 
construction of bases and battalions in order to
achieve trust with the armed ethnic nationalities;

We also strongly urge:

a) that discussions be initiated with the ethnic nationalities, based 
upon their right of self-determination, and

b) that a tripartite dialogue aimed at solving the political  crisis 
in Burma be initiated.

5. Continuing human rights violations are the cause of the political 
tensions in Burma and they are in clear contradiction to norms 
established for international behaviour.

Therefore we condemn the SPDC government for its abuses of the Mon 
people and other nationalities.

Central Executive Committee
Mon Unity League

1st June, 2000





____________________________________________________



KNU: HUNDREDS OF CIVILIANS FORCED TO CONSTRUCT BONGTI-TAVOY HIGHWAY 


KNU Mergui-Tavoy District Information Department

June 3, 2000

13/00

 

Burma army forced more than 500 villagers in the east of Tavoy town, 
Tenasserim division to work on the construction of Thai-Burma's 
Bongti-Tavoy highway project from the beginning of May 2000 and until 
now.  
 

In the beginning of May, Burma army's Tactical Command No. 2 (under 
command of Operation Commanding HQ No.9) Commander Colonel Khin Maung 
Myint has ordered his controlled battalions to expand 50 feet to both 
sides of constructed car road from Myitta village to Bongti, Thai-
Burma border. To expand the road, Burma army's troop forced the 
villagers from Myitkanbaw village tract, Myitta village tract, 
Paungdaw village tract, Heinda, Taung Thon Lon, Kyauk Me Taung, 
Bawatpyin, Bawatgone, Myinkanti, Pagayi, Kanainda, and Zalome to 
construct the road. Every village was forced to work 7 days terms. 
Each village has to send 70 to 100 people. An estimated at least 500 
villagers working on this car road in each term. The responsible 
troop demanded 5 chainsaws and 100,000 kyat cash from Paungdaw 
village tract, 5 chainsaw and 100,000 kyat from Myitkabaw village 
tract, and 3 chainsaws and 100,00 kyat cash form Myitta village 
tract. According to the information, the troops which responsible for 
the car road construction and oversees the security are Light 
Infantry Battalion 275, and 379.  
 

The villagers have to fell the trees, clearing the stubs, level the 
damage road, dig out the fallen earth, and dig drainage beside the 
road. The villagers did not get any things and they have to bring 
along their own foods and tools. Those who fail on their term have to 
hire someone for 7,000 kyat for substitution.  
 

Bongti-Tavoy highway project is the project which will connect Tavoy 
in Burma and Kanchanaburi in Thailand. The plan is to develop a 
transport route for eco tourism, and cargo transportation purposes 
that have connection with the project of Tavoy deep-sea port. The 
project recently dealt by Burma, Kyaw Lynn Naing Company and 
Thailand, Kanchanaburi Tavoy Development Company. Because of the lack 
of security, the project is on delay. The road was now using as 
military transportation route to their front line troops by Burma 
army.  
 

Villagers who are living in the East of Tavoy were forced to worked 
on this car road repeatedly especially after rainy season they have 
to reconstruct the damage parts. More than this, they have to serve 
as porter to the army's frontline camps regularly and paid many kinds 
of extortion money demanded by Burma army's troops continuously.  
 

In 1997, Burma army started their major offensive against Karen 
National Union's Mergui-Tavoy District and occupied the area for this 
road. During the offensive, all Karen villages in Tenasserim 
Riverside were destroyed and some were relocated to Burma army 
controlled area. Most of analysis said that the offensive purpose is 
to secure the Yadana gas pipeline and Bongti-Tavoy highway project as 
well.  


__________________ INTERNATIONAL __________________
		


AFP: MYANMAR WILLING TO COOPERATE WITH ILO ON LABOUR STANDARDS: JUNTA 

2000-06-04

	   YANGON, June 4 (AFP) - In the wake of a major 
International Labour Office 
(ILO) report, Myanmar's regime is willing to cooperate with the 
organization to 
ensure forced labour no longer exists in the country, a government 
spokesman 
said. 

	   Myanmar has shown "its willingness and commitment to 
cooperate with the ILO to further improve and develop its labour 
standards," the government spokesman 
said. 

	   The ILO report, released in Geneva on Friday, said Myanmar 
should adopt 
measures to ensure that state authorities, especially the military, 
do not 
impose forced labour on its people.

	   Legislative, executive and administrative measures are 
needed to stamp out 
the use of compulsory and forced labour, the ILO report said, issued 
following 
a mission to the military-ruled country.

	   A letter sent to ILO Director-General Juan Somavia at the 
mission's 
conclusion said it was hoped that Myanmar had shown it was "sincere 
in its 
efforts to resolve the issue of the allegations of forced labour."

	   Bangkok-based Myanmar analysts told AFP that the often 
vitriolic Yangon 
junta's kind words about labour reflect a genuine desire by the 
regime not to 
offend the ILO any more, since it is worried about further ILO 
condemnation. 

	   Myanmar was marginalised in the ILO in an unprecedented 
resolution last 
June, as ILO delegates voted in an unprecedented move to de-facto 
expel Myanmar 
because of its alleged use of forced labour.

	   "This is as isolated as a country can get in an 
organization which does not 
have a mechanism for expulsion," ILO spokesman John Doohan said at 
the time.

	   The aim of the May 22-27 mission was to explain to the 
Myanmar authorities 
what needed to be done to give "credible effect" to recommendations 
by a 1998 
ILO Commission of Inquiry, which uncovered the widespread use of 
forced and 
compulsory labour in Myanmar.

	   During the mission, ILO delegates also met Aung San Suu 
Kyi, the leader of 
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), who stressed the 
"continuing gravity of forced labour," particularly as used by the 
military.

	   She mentioned the enlistment of child soldiers as one of 
the extreme forms 
of forced labour, and said the NLD was the only organisation within 
the country 
trying to do something about the phenomenon of forced labour.




____________________________________________________



NATION : FROM THE EDGE: DECISION TIME ON FORCED LABOUR IN BURMA 


June 2, 2000.



AN historic event is in the making in Geneva. This week, the 174 
member International Labour Organisation begins debating whether to 
punish Burma for the use of forced or compulsory labour and what 
penalties it would impose against the junta if it decides to punish 
it. 
 
It was the first time in the ILO's 80year history when its governing 
body decided in March to introduce a Burma motion this month to 
discuss punitive actions against the regime, which has refused to 
comply with ILO recommendations on improving labour standards.  

Burmese and international human rights and labour activists have been 
lobbying for the passage of a tough ILO resolution that incorporates 
measures such as international economic sanctions and the downgrading 
of trade and diplomatic relations with Rangoon. But the junta, its 
Asian supporters and other developing economies, have tried to 
oppose, or at least delay, the imposition of penalties for fear of "a 
dangerous precedent." 

The ILO debates on Burma are the result of joint action and 
complaints filed by worker and employer organisations within the ILO 
as well as the ILO Commission of Inquiry in August 1998. The inquiry 
concluded that the junta continued "to inflict the practice of forced 
labour, nothing but a contemporary form of slavery, on the people of 
Burma."  


Despite the junta's denial that forced labour occurs in Burma, the 
ILO Commission of Inquiry produced a report of more than 6,000 pages, 
describing ôwidespread and systematic" use of forced labour "with 
total disregard for the human dignity, safety and health and the 
basic needs of the people." Subsequently, the International Labour 
Conference last June passed an unprecedented resolution that 
constituted a de facto expulsion of Burma and a refusal of all 
technical assistance until it helped end forced labour. The 
resolution received 333 votes in support, 27 against and 47 
abstentions. Each of the 174 ILO member states has four votes û two 
for the government, one each for employers and workers.  

In the past weeks, Asian governments have praised Burma's ruling 
State Peace and Development Council for its decision to allow an ILO 
technical team to visit the country. To them, the visit was "a 
positive sign" that the regime was willing to cooperate to gradually 
end the use of forced labour.  

But Western labour unionists and Burma activists do not support that 
view. They see Rangoon's last minute decision to welcome the 
threemember ILO delegation as a mere attempt to avoid a strong ILO 
penalty or to delay it, and not a genuine effort toward stopping the 
use of forced or compulsory labour.  

It is not yet certain whether punishment will be immediately imposed 
and what form it will take. The decision rests on the findings of the 
ILO technical team whose report was made public yesterday. The ILO 
Selection Committee will meet on Thursday to discuss the report and 
work out recommendations and a resolution before passing it to the 
plenary International Labour Conference for final voting.  

One interesting element in yesterday's report was that during the 
meeting with ILO delegates, top Burmese leader Lt Gen Khin Nyunt 
reiterated the juntaÆs denial that forced labour occurred in Burma. 
However, the ILO team was sent to Burma not to investigate if forced 
labour existed, but to help bring the practice to an end.  

"The sole purpose of the visit of the team is to establish with the 
Government a credible plan of action to ensure the full 
implementation of the Commission [of Inquiry] recommendationsö, ILO 
directorgeneral Juan Somavia said before the departure of the ILO 
mission.
  
Before the showdown this coming Thursday, several Asean members, 
along with China and Japan, are said to have been lobbying hard for 
ILO members to be lenient with the Burmese junta. Japan's Foreign 
Minister Yohei Kono was quoted by The Japan Times as saying that the 
ILO ôshould not move to take drastic measures at a time when it lacks 
informationö and that "Asia's position is slightly different from 
that of the United States and Europe." 
 
Supporting the Japanese stance, several Asian government officials 
told The Nation in separate interviews that they believed a "softer" 
resolution would be passed giving Rangoon more time to comply with 
the ILO plan of action to stop forced labour.  

One ambassador to Geneva noted that invoking punishment is "a double 
edged sword" as many developing countries including China, Laos and 
Vietnam are concerned that it would set a dangerous precedent for 
their labour practices.  

Although the junta has tried to urge Asean members to vote against 
the resolution, several Thai government officials said the grouping 
would not take a bloc vote. Thailand's vote depends on the finding of 
the ILO report and recommendations from the Selection Committee.  

One senior official said Thailand wanted to see a "balanced and 
constructive" resolution, which does not aim at only condemning and 
punishing but incorporates positive elements to encourage the regime 
to introduce labour reforms. "Now that ILO and Burma have dialogue, 
the process should continue," he added. "A good resolution should 
continue to urge both sides to have a cooperative approach in 
resolving the problem."  

But Western labour activists and Burmese opposition groups have 
argued that exacting forced or compulsory labour remains an integral 
part of the junta's policy and that there has been no sign that the 
practice has stopped. Speaking from Geneva, U Maung Maung, general 
secretary of the Federation of Trade Unions in Burma, said the 
federation had compiled and submitted to the ILO extensive 
documentation on forced labour in border areas between last September 
and March.  
The report supplements an earlier one submitted to the ILO by the 
opposition National League for Democracy last June, outlining forced 
and compulsory labour in urban areas across Burma.  

As employers and workers joined Western countries to vote last June 
in support of the resolution on Forced Labour in Burma, the next two 
weeks will be a crucial time as supporters and opponents of the 
Burmese junta work hard to win support for their arguments. Let's not 
blink.  

BY YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK 




____________________________________________________


BPF: ANALYSIS OF THE REPORT OF THE ILO TECHNICAL MISSION 

Burma Peace Foundation

June 3, 2000


An ILO technical cooperation mission visited Burma between 22 and 27 
May  2000 "to establish with the government a credible plan of action 
to ensure  the full implementation of the commission's 
recommendations" (ILO  Director-General Juan Somavia, in ILO Press 
Release, 23 May 2000, enclosed  below as Appendix 1), and to report 
back to the International Labour  Conference meeting in Geneva. The 
Conference has on its agenda an item  entitled  "Action recommended 
by the Governing Body under article 33 of the  Constitution - 
Implementation of the recommendations contained in the  report of the 
Commission of Inquiry entitled Forced Labour in Myanmar  (Burma)". In 
its Selection Committee and in the Plenary, the Conference  will 
debate imposing on Burma the punitive measures recommended by the  
ILO's Governing Body (see Appendix 2 for text of the GB's 
recommendations). 

The sending of the technical cooperation mission, strongly urged by  
Malaysia, Japan and other Asian countries, was a last-ditch effort to 
get  Burma to cooperate with the ILO in implementing the 
recommendations of the  ILO Commission of Inquiry (see Appendix 3 for 
text) and therebye possibly  escape the sanctions which these 
countries consider a bad precedent as well  as disrupting their 
commercial and other relations with Burma. 

NO CREDIBLE PLAN OR CONCRETE AND SPECIFIC MEASURES

The report of the mission, a masterpiece of diplomatic 
understatement,  makes it quite clear that the regime failed to come 
up with any concrete  commitments or plan of action, credible or 
otherwise, to tackle forced  labour in the country.

The mission repeatedly stressed to its "government" interlocutors the 
need  for CONCRETE, SPECIFIC, TANGIBLE, PRECISE and CREDIBLE measures 
to  implement the recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry (In 
the 12-pages  of the report - not counting the Appendices - I counted 
7 instances of  "specific", 8 of "concrete", 3 of "tangible", 12 
of "credible/credibility  and 4 of "precise".) What it got in reply 
was denial that forced labour  exists in Burma, along with vague 
generalities about "willingness" and  undefined "commitment" to deal 
with the "allegations" of forced labour, but  no concrete measures 
whatsoever. This in spite of the mission's emphasis  that, "in order 
to convince the Conference, the results would have to be  concrete 
and precise and involve a commitment by the authorities at the  
highest level".

On page 11 of the report, "The mission's conclusions", para 1, we 
read  that: "The letter from the Minister of Labour to the Director-
General  constitutes, in a way, the results of the mission".  When we 
turn to the  letter (reproduced below as Appendix 4) we find the same 
old tired list of  vague assurances and generalities the ILO has been 
hearing for the last  decade or more.

The Minister's letter contrasts starkly with the mission's concrete  
suggestions  regarding amendment of the Village and Towns Acts; the 
issuing  of instructions to the Army not to requisition forced 
labour; a possible  ILO presence in the country etc (see Appendix 5, 
the mission's Conclusions) 

DENIAL AT THE HIGHEST LEVEL

Regarding the commitment of those "at the highest level", we find a 
uniform  denial of the very existence of forced labour in the 
country. The mission  met three senior officials: Colonel Tin Hlaing, 
Home Minister, "denied that  there were any such practices [forced 
labour] at present"; Mr Win Aung,  Minister of Foreign 
Affairs "rejected the accusations of forced labour".  And in the 
report of the meeting with Secretary-1, regarded by many as the  
Strongman of the regime, we read that "... Although he acknowledged 
that  there might have been recourse to so-called forced labour when 
work was  being carried out on the infrastructure, these practices 
had ceased before  the ILO report had been concluded".

This statement denies the findings of the ILO follow-up reports of 
1999 and  2000  that forced labour had not ceased following the 
publication of the  report of the  Commission of Inquiry:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb276/gb-
6.htm 
http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb277/myan200
0.htm 
It also makes nonsense of the condition under which the mission was 
sent,  namely that "the sole object of such a mission would be to 
provide direct  assistance to implement immediately the 
recommendations of the Commission  of Inquiry..." (page 1, para 1). 
If forced labour no longer exists, there  is clearly no point in 
requesting assistance to implement the recommendations. 

It is unlikely that such denials and vague promises will convince 
the  Conference that Burma is willing to cooperate with the ILO to 
tackle the  problem of forced labour.


David Arnott, Geneva, 3 June 2000

AN ANALYSIS OF THE
REPORT OF THE ILO TECHNICAL COOPERATION MISSION TO MYANMAR 
The report is in PDF format on the ILO website at:

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/ilc/ilc88/pdf/pr-
8.pdf 

Most of the other relevant ILO documents can be found on

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb277/index.h
tm#GB 

The Report of the Commission of Inquiry is on

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/standards/relm/gb/docs/gb273/myanmar
 .htm 


____________________________________________________


SPDC: LETTER TO THE ILO `THERE ARE NO INSTANCES OF FORCED LABOUR IN 
MYANMAR'


Communication dated 27 May 2000 from the Government of Myanmar to the 
Director-General

Excellency,

I wish to express my appreciation to you for responding positively to 
our  request to send a technical cooperation mission to Yangon."

I am pleased to inform you that the members of the technical 
cooperation  mission and the senior officials from the Ministries of 
Labour, Home, and  Foreign Affairs and Attorney-General's Office were 
able to hold extensive 
discussions on Convention No. 29. I also had useful discussions with 
the members of the technical cooperation mission. Despite their brief 
stay, they also had the opportunity to call on the Minister for 
Foreign Affairs 
and the Minister for Home Affairs.

Moreover, His Excellency Lt. General Khin Nyunt, Secretary-1 of the 
State Peace and Development Council, took time out of his very busy 
schedule to receive the members of the technical cooperation mission 
and acquainted them in a frank and open manner with the actual 
situation in the nation. These discussions had been very useful and 
clarified issues where there have been differences of perception.

The Government also provided every assistance to facilitate their 
work and allowed them freedom of action. Our only regret is that due 
to constraints of time, they were not able to visit outside Yangon so 
that they would have a better understanding of the situation in the 
country.

It is our hope that through the discussions and the cooperation the 
mission enjoyed during the sojourn in Myanmar, we have been able to 
show that Myanmar is sincere in its efforts to resolve the issue of 
the allegations of forced labour.

I would also like to take this opportunity to inform you that we have 
taken and are taking the necessary measures to ensure that there are 
no instances of forced labour in Myanmar. Allow me to say that 
Myanmar would take into consideration appropriate measures, including 
administrative, executive and legislative measures, to ensure the 
prevention of such occurrences in the future.

In this regard, the talks held between Myanmar and the ILO technical 
cooperation mission have been most useful in providing a better 
understanding of the issues involved and it is our ardent hope that 
this process of consultation and technical cooperation within the 
framework of  the ILO recommendation will continue in working toward 
the resolution of  the matter. On my part, I look forward to meeting 
you during the coming ILC.

Accept, Excellency, the assurances of my highest consideration.

(Signed) Major General Tin Ngwe,

Minister for Labour,
Union of Myanmar.





____________________________________________________



XINHUA: MYANMAR LEADER MEETS CHINESE STATE COUNCILOR 


June 02, 2000 10:20 AM EST 

YANGON (June 2) XINHUA - Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and 
Development Council (SPDC) and Prime Minister Senior-General Than 
Shwe met with visiting Chinese State Councilor Ismail Amat here 
Friday afternoon. 

Present at the meeting were Chinese Ambassador Liang Dong, Head of 
the State Administration of Religious Affairs of China Ye Xiaowen, 
Myanmar SPDC Vice-Chairman General Maung Aye, SPDC First Secretary 
Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt and SPDC Third Secretary
Lieutenant-General Win Myint. 

Amat said at the meeting that the Chinese government and people 
treasure much the friendship fostered by leaders of elder generations 
of the two countries. 

He expressed China's will to make joint efforts with the Myanmar side 
in deepening the cooperation in every sector to enable that the 
bilateral relations will attain sustainable and steady development in 
the new century. 

He noted that China, as Myanmar's friendly neighbor, has witnessed 
the important achievement made by Myanmar in its economic development 
and foreign relations. 

He also appraised that Myanmar took a positive part in regional and 
international affairs, launched good-neighbor diplomacy and has 
established friendly ties with the Association of Southeast Asian 
Nations and those nations surrounding Myanmar. 

On the difficulties and problems which Myanmar is now facing, Amat 
expressed China's comprehension and sympathy, saying that China 
wishes to continue providing assistance and support to Myanmar to a 
permissible extent. 

At the meeting, Than Shwe said Myanmar and China, linked by mountains 
and rivers, enjoy the traditional friendship, adding that leaders of 
elder generations of the two countries have forged good foundation 
for Myanmar-China friendly relations. 

He expressed Myanmar' wishes to maintain such friendship generation 
by generation.  

He also expressed Myanmar's strong will to enhance the cooperation 
between the two countries in the sectors of economy and technology.  
Myanmar appreciates the cooperation with China as China's achievement 
made in its economic construction attracted worldwide attention, he 
said, hoping that Myanmar could obtain China's support and assistance 
and thanking the Chinese government for these rendered. 

He stressed that Myanmar always sticks to the "One China" policy, 
supporting China's entry into the World Trade Organization.  

Than Shwe requested Amat to convey his personal greeting to President 
of China Jiang Zemin, Chairman of the National People's Congress 
Standing Committee Li Peng, Premier of the State Council Zhu Rongji, 
and Chairman of the Chinese People's Political Consultative 
Conference National Committee Li Ruihuan. 

Before the meeting, Myanmar SPDC First Secretary Lieutenant- General 
Khin Nyunt had met with Amat on May 31. 

At the invitation of Khin Nyunt, Amat arrived here on May 31 on a 
five-day goodwill visit to Myanmar. Before coming here, he 
successively visited Nepal and Singapore. 


____________________________________________________



BANGKOK POST: WA TRIBESMEN AT BORDER UNDER CLOSE WATCH

June 5, 2000

  Apprehension over move to Mong Yawn 

  Yuwadee Tunyasiri

  Thailand is keeping a close watch on the relocation of Wa 
tribespeople to the southern   part of Shan state to see if Burma is 
serious about its promise to make them grow   substitute crops rather 
than opium, the head of the National Security Council said.   Burma 
recently announced it would relocate more than 100,000 ethnic Wa from 
areas of   northern Shan State controlled by the United Wa State Army 
to a special administrative   area in the south and promote 
substitute cropping.

  "More then 30,000 Wa people have been moved to Mong Yawn opposite 
Chiang Mai's   Mae Ai district," NSC secretary-general Kachadpai 
Burusphat said yesterday.   "We are keeping a close watch on the Wa 
community there to see what they produce and   whether there will be 
any problem about markets.



_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________



XINHUA: MYANMAR, CHINESE COMPANY SIGN CEMENT PLANT ACCORD 



Saturday, June 02, 2000

YANGON (June 3) XINHUA - The Myanmar Ceramics Industry authorities 
and a Chinese company signed an agreement here Friday on building a 
cement plant project in Kyaukse, central Mandalay Division of the 
country.  

The signing ceremony of the agreement between the state-run Myanmar 
Ceramics Industry (MCI) of the Ministry of Industry-1 and the China 
National Constructional and Agricultural Import and Export 
Corporation (CAMC) was attended by Myanmar Minister of Industry-1 U 
Aung Thaung and Economical and Commercial Counselor of the Chinese 
Embassy Jin Honggen.  

Representing their respective parties, Managing Director of MCI U 
Than Shwe and Chairman of the CAMC Ren Honbin signed the agreement.  

The plant, whose capacity is to be 500 tons a day, will have 
machinery and technology worth 16.5 million U.S. dollars. And it will 
be built within 22 months.  

Myanmar produced a total of 338,007 tons of cement in 1999, a drop of 
7.38 percent compared with 1998. 

In recent years, Myanmar has sped up the pace of infrastructural 
construction of roads, bridges and dams, resulting in a shortage of 
cement day by day. 

To meet the rising demand for cement, the Myanmar government has been 
trying to build more cement plants. 
 

_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS________________



THE GLOBE AND MAIL (UK): ONCE UPON A TIME IN BURMA


Wednesday, May 31, 2000



By Marcus Gee


Going to Burma is like stepping into the wardrobe in a C. S. Lewis 
story. Arriving in that land of temples and monks and ancient cars is 
like entering another time. One moment you are in the modern world, 
with its familiar sights and sounds and its everyday struggles and 
cares. The next you are in a strange and enchanted land where epic 
battles are being fought between the forces of good and evil. 

Nothing reveals Burma's fairy-tale quality like the story of Aung San 
Suu Kyi. The basics of that story are well known. Aung San Suu Kyi is 
the daughter of Burma's martyred independence hero, General Aung San. 
For 20 years, she lived quietly in Oxford as the wife of a British 
scholar. But when she returned to Burma a dozen years ago to nurse 
her ailing mother, she was caught up in the popular struggle against 
the country's despotic military regime. 

Under her leadership, the opposition won an overwhelming victory in 
an election held a decade ago, on May 27, 1990. Shocked, the regime 
refused to recognize the vote and put Aung San Suu Kyi under house 
arrest in Rangoon. There, she has remained for these 10 years. 

Though her house arrest has technically been lifted, her movements 
are sharply restricted and the group she leads, the National League 
for Democracy, has seen its brightest lights thrown into jail or 
driven into exile. 

If history sometimes reveals itself as a fable, then this one has all 
the elements of a classic. Like every fairy-tale heroine, Aung San 
Suu Kyi is beautiful. At 54, she still wears a flower in her raven-
black hair, and bears herself like a queen. 

Like every fairy-tale heroine, she faces a fearsome foe, the regime 
once known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council and still 
known in Burma by its sinister-sounding acronym, SLORC. 

Like every heroine, she has endured pain and loss. She has seldom 
seen her two sons since returning to Burma, and her husband, Michael 
Aris, died of cancer last year after being denied permission to come 
and see her for a final time. 

How will her story end? To all evidence, the prospects for a happy 
ending are remote. SLORC has doubled the size of its armed forces to 
400,000 since 1988. Thanks to the kind help of neighbouring China, 
those forces are heavily armed against any possible rebellion. Ethnic 
rebel groups that might have threatened the regime have been largely 
neutralized by a combination of military force and corrupt favours. 
The door to peaceful reform has been slammed shut. The government 
refuses to talk to Aung San Suu Kyi, whom it calls a traitor for 
favouring Western economic sanctions against the country. She remains 
cloistered in a decaying lakeside villa, and visitors say the street 
outside is guarded by military police around the clock. The NLD is a 
shell of its former self. Sixty-nine of its 110 recognized 
legislators -- members of a rubber-stamp parliament set up in 1993 -- 
are being held in custody at government "guesthouses." More were 
arrested as the anniversary of the 1990 election approached. 
Universities, another source of opposition, have been shut for nine 
of the past 12 years. 
Poverty has further weakened the will to resist, reducing life for 
most people to a daily struggle for survival. Diseases of poverty 
such as malaria and typhoid are rampant, while the number of people 
estimated to have the AIDS virus has soared to half a million. This 
in a country that spends 16 times as much on the army as it does on 
health care. Desperate, Burmese farmers are turning to the opium 
poppy for income, and Burma produces as much as 60 per cent of the 
world's heroin. 

Every attempt by the outside world to make Burma's generals change 
their ways has fallen flat. The sanctions tried by powers such as 
Britain and the United States have had little impact on a xenophobic 
government that has little interest in entering the international 
economy. Attempts by Asian countries to engage Burma's leaders and 
coax them gently toward reform have been equally fruitless. 

But, as hopeless as things look, it would be a mistake to give up on 
Burma. Many regimes look rock solid until they crumble. Consider the 
Soviet Union or, more recently, Indonesia. The people themselves are 
an added reason for hope. The Burmese are a sophisticated people with 
a strong sense of what they have been and what they could become. 

The symbol of both those feelings is Aung San Suu Kyi. In her willowy 
frame are embodied all the hopes of 40 million Burmese. 

As hard as life may be, as bleak as the future appears, they know she 
stands with them, and they believe that, one day, she will lead them 
to freedom. 

I think they are right. Every fairy tale has a happy ending. I 
believe in fairy tales. I believe in Aung San Suu Kyi.  
     


    E-mail: mgee@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


____________________________________________________



THE ONION: GENOCIDE IS SUCH A HARSH WORD

May, 2000

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: The Onion is a website and nationally 
syndicated "news" service specializing biting social and political 
satires with a forte in parodies.  "Genocide is Such a Harsh Word" is 
a political satire and should not be read literally.  

It is a  parody op/ed by a fictional junta leader from Myanmar 
denying human rights abuses (compare it with SPDC: LETTER TO THE 
ILO `THERE ARE NO INSTANCES OF FORCED LABOUR IN MYANMAR' above).]

****

Genocide is Such a Harsh Word

We're all adults here. Can we please conduct this U.N. tribunal 
without  stooping to using that loaded, pejorative term? Yes, as 
leader of the Kunhing  military junta in Myanmar, I did call for the 
death of four million people, all of  whom just happened to be of 
Shan ethnicity. And, yes, a few of these Shan-- let's say 921,452--
died at the hands of my mercenary army. But are we  really prepared 
to call it a genocide? Come on, now. That's not the sort of  word you 
just throw around.  

Granted, I did call for the Salween River to run red with the blood 
of the Shan.  But did I ever use the word genocide when I called for 
Burmese, Chinese,  and Karens to rise up against their Shan neighbors 
and rid the Earth of this  mongrel race? Of course not.  

If something that appears to resemble a genocide did occur at my 
hands in  Myanmar, that certainly was not my intention. Everything I 
did was in the  name of working toward the noble goal of 
redistributing all land and resources  to their rightful, non-Shan 
owners--a land-distribution system dating back to  the 11th century 
Burmese kingdom of Bagan.  

Even "ethnic cleansing" has become a dirty word nowadays. It's 
getting so  that you can't work toward purification without someone 
calling you the new  Hitler.  

Sure, we've all heard the recording of my radio addresses and read 
my  statements in The Shan-Annihilation Press, in which I urged 
Burmese  farmers to sharpen their scythes, descend upon Taunggyi, and 
leave not a  man, woman, or child standing. What does that prove? So 
what if Taunggyi  is the capital of the Shan state? Is everyone in 
Belgium a Belgian? 
  
True, it was the Shan miners at Bawdwin who were seized and burned 
to  death inside the shafts. And, yes, it was Shan workers who were 
split throat- to-stomach and stacked up like cordwood in the smeltery 
at Namtu. But to  call these massacres? That's so extreme.  

Now, maybe if we'd descended upon a Buddhist temple full of refugees 
in  Keng Tung armed with machine guns and missiles, the tribunal 
could call it a  massacre. We all know that a single rocket launcher 
costs nearly 125,000  kyat around here. We used mere rifles and 
bulldozers to kill the 13,000 in  Keng Tung.  

As with most things, your opinion of my regime depends entirely upon 
your  perspective. Yes, there is proof of the live burial at Thayetwa 
and the fire  raids on the grade school in Syway, but you really had 
to be there to  understand what went on. We have a saying in 
Kunhing: "One man's torture  center is another man's retreat where 
one is released from the shame of  being born into this world a 
Shan."  

Perhaps the lowest blow of all was when the U.N. tribunal brought up 
my  silly little nickname, "Ma-ubbin Toukka." Yes, technically, it 
does mean "one  who grinds human skulls into a fine powder with his 
boot." But the true spirit  of it gets lost in the translation.  

So how am I supposed to get a fair trial now? A person hears a phrase 
like  "genocide," and they close their minds to everything else. They 
completely  ignore the fact that, even to this day, these agrarian 
curs are marrying non- Shan. But all it takes is just one U.N. 
tribunal to scream "genocide," and  you're forever labeled a 
bloodthirsty mass-murderer. "Bloodthirsty"? Who  does this sort of 
name-calling benefit?  

Let's take one more look at this nebulous word "genocide," which is 
defined  as "the deliberate and systematic extermination of a 
national or racial  group." Last time I checked, there were still 
2,623,947 Shan left in Myanmar.  That doesn't sound like much of a 
genocide to me.  

Now, if you'd be so kind as to leave me be--perhaps until about, oh,  
September 2001--I have some important business to attend to.   


http://www.theonion.com/onion3620/genocide.html


________________


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