BurmaNet News: December 24, 2000

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______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
        An on-line newspaper covering Burma 
________December 24, 2000   Issue # 1693_________

NOTED IN PASSING:  ``He has the reputation of wreck and ruin and 
leave...He probably shouldn't necessarily be trusted,'' 

Tina Arapkiles of Sierra Club on ?Toxic? Bob Friedland, whose Myanmar 
Ivanhoe company operates a copper mine in Burma.  See AP: Canadian miner 
agrees to pay dlrs 30 million in mine disaster 


INSIDE BURMA _______
*DVB: Burma Junta Gives Severe Jail Terms to 11 NLD Members for Issuing 
Statement
*Kyodo: Suu Kyi's lawyers submit statement in family suit over estate
*Xinhua: Myanmar Leader Calls for Speeding Up Efforts in National 
Development
*Xinhua: Myanmar to Introduce Law on Controlling Money Laundering

REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Xinhua: Thai Mobile Medical Unit Provides Services Across Border
*Xinhua: Thailand Proposes Joint Marine Patrol With Myanmar

ECONOMY/BUSINESS _______
*AP: Canadian miner agrees to pay dlrs 30 million in mine disaster




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__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________


DVB: Burma Junta Gives Severe Jail Terms to 11 NLD Members for Issuing 
Statement


Democratic Voice of Burma in Burmese

Dec 22, 2000

[FBIS Translated Text] 

NLD [National League for Democracy] members arrested during September 
have been sentenced to 11 years imprisonment each by Insein Jail 
Additional Military Tribunal on 14 December. Although the exact number 
of those sentenced have not been known, according to unconfirmed sources 
it is believed to be 11 members. They included U Naing Naing, NLD 
elected representative from Pazundaung Township in Rangoon Division; U 
Soe Han, Rangoon Division NLD Organization member, U Soe alias Pyapon 
Nyi Lone Oo, vice chairman of Dalla Township Organization committee; U 
Tun Myint, NLD Central Office member, U Soe Naing, and U Aye Kyu. They 
were sentenced to 11 years imprisonment while the remaining five were 
given seven years term. 

DVB [Democratic Voice of Burma] has learned that they were all charged 
under Section 5-J of the [1950] Emergency Provisions Act and the 
Printing and Publishing Law. The NLD members were arrested on 13 and 14 
September for issuing a statement when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD 
leaders were sent back from Dalla and kept under house arrest. The 
statement, issued as NLD Members' Statement, on 12 September, noted that 
the existence of NLD and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi lessen the threat of a 
political impasse and armed conflict; enhances national unity and 
solidarity; and also fulfills the aspirations of farmers, workers, 
populace, and students. 

They asked for the lifting of restrictions on NLD leaders, reopening of 
the NLD headquarters, and to allow the NLD party to function freely as a 
political party. In connection with the arrest of NLD members, the NLD 
Central Committee strongly condemned the actions in its announcement on 
15 September and urged the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] 
for the immediate release of those arrested NLD members. DVB has learned 
that no official statement has been issued by the SPDC regarding the 
sentencing of the NLD members and their relatives have not been 
officially informed. 



___________________________________________________


Kyodo: Suu Kyi's lawyers submit statement in family suit over estate

YANGON Dec. 22 Kyodo - Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's lawyers 
on Friday submitted a written statement of defense to the Yangon 
Division Court in response to a lawsuit filed by her elder brother Aung 
San Oo for ownership of half their mother's property. 

Suu Kyi and Aung San Oo, who lives in the United States, are being 
represented by their respective lawyers at the court. Suu Kyi's lawyers 
were given access to the plaintiff's written complaint on Dec. 8. 

The content of the defense statement was not immediately available. The 
court adjourned until Dec. 28. 

The government gave Suu Kyi's mother, Khin Kyi, the nearly two-acre 
estate at No. 54-56 University Avenue in the expensive lakeside area of 
Yangon after her husband died in 1947. 

Khin Kyi died in December 1988, survived by Aung San Oo and Suu Kyi, who 
has lived in the house since she returned to Myanmar from Britain in 
April that year. 

Lawyers estimate the value of the estate at 400 million kyat, (about 
$60.6 million), but it is unclear what it could sell for on the open 
market. 

Aung San Oo is suing for ownership of half the estate. Under Myanmar 
law, children can inherit property from their parents on an equal basis. 


Aung San Oo's representative said he visited Myanmar in July and asked 
him to proceed with the suit for partition of the property. 

Suu Kyi had another brother and a sister, but they died. 



___________________________________________________



Xinhua: Myanmar Leader Calls for Speeding Up Efforts in National 
Development

YANGON, December 24 (Xinhua) -- Myanmar leader Lieutenant- General Khin 
Nyunt has called for speeding up the country's efforts in keeping 
abreast with other countries in terms of development by upholding the 
tradition of striving on self- reliance. Khin Nyunt, who is First 
Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council, made the 
call when meeting with the country's engineers here on Saturday, 
official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday.


 "Today, the Union of Myanmar, a developing nation with the strength of 
national forces, is to double their efforts to enable itself to swim 
with the tide of international development by keeping national interests 
intact," he urged. He added that the efforts are also to prevent Myanmar 
from falling into the clutches of some big nations and to promote 
national development. Myanmar lagged behind in development for various 
reasons before the present government came to power, he said. Taking the 
opportunity when every nation is exploiting technological advances for 
their national interests and striving for the development of its 
peoples, some big nations, having an upper hand in terms of economy and 
technology, are attempting to control the progress of developing nations 
for their liking, he charged.


___________________________________________________



Xinhua: Myanmar to Introduce Law on Controlling Money Laundering

YANGON, December 24 (Xinhua) -- The Myanmar government is drawing a law, 
aimed at controlling illegally-earned money and property in the wake of 
rising organized transnational crimes in the world. The law is being 
drafted with the involvement of scholars from the country's 
Attorney-General's Office in accordance with one of the clauses on 
control of money laundering, a part of the 1988 United Nations 
Convention on Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances, state-run 
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Sunday. Although 
transnational and organized crimes have increased in the world, Myanmar 
have not faced such crimes at present, Myanmar Deputy Home Minister 
Brigadier-General Thura Myint Maung was quoted as saying. 

"The law needs to be extensive in case they break out in the country in 
future," Myint Maung stressed here on Saturday at a coordination meeting 
on introducing the law. Money laundering is one of the organized crimes 
which also include drug trafficking, arms and human smuggling, black 
marketing of nuclear technology, crimes related to computer and cyber 
space, piracy and corruption. 

Profits made in committing these crimes, also known as transnational 
crimes, are said to be estimated at 1.5 trillion U.S. dollars annually 
in the world. Meanwhile, Myanmar voiced support for the drafting of a 
convention on combating organized crimes across national boundaries at 
the 20th Conference of Police Chiefs of the Association of Southeast 
Asian Nations held in Yangon in May this year. Presently, there exists a 
property examination committee in Myanmar, empowered by the country's 
Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances Law, to confiscate capital as 
well as movable and immovable property from drug-related offenses.



___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
				

Xinhua: Thai Mobile Medical Unit Provides Services Across Border

BANGKOK, December 23 (Xinhua) -- A team of Thai medical staff crossed 
the border to provide services, free of charge, to people in Myanmar, 
according to a statement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs available 
here on Saturday. The mobile medical unit crossed the border to provide 
medical services and treatment for people in Myanmar's town of Pathein 
and Magwe Division who have ear, nose, and throat problems. The 
15-member medical team provided the mobile services in the towns between 
December 3 and 14, the statement said, quoting a reports from the Thai 
Embassy to Myanmar. Physicists and specialists on ears, throats, and 
noses from many Thai hospitals took part in the medical team. Thailand's 
mobile medical teams have provided free services and treatment for 
people in Myanmar every year since 1995. Nearly 2,000 people and 
villagers in the two Myanmar towns received the services this year. Her 
Royal Highness Princess Srinagarindra initiated mobile medical units in 
the country to provide medal and public health services for people in 
rural and remote areas.




___________________________________________________


Xinhua: Thailand Proposes Joint Marine Patrol With Myanmar


BANGKOK, December 23 (Xinhua) -- Thailand has proposed that Thailand and 
Myanmar launch joint marine patrol to control violation of the 
countries' territory by trawlers, the Thai News Agency (TNA) reported on 
Saturday. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Don Pramudwinai was quoted as 
saying that Thailand had raised the issue to Rangoon following reported 
cases of violation of the marine territory of both sides by trawlers and 
patrol boats. 

The latest case took place early this week, when a Thai trawler, named 
Chok Pornchai, was chased by a Myanmar patrol boat in the Thai territory 
in Ranong province, and a Thai crew was then shot dead, he stated. Don 
said that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs submitted an Aide Memoire to 
the Myanmar government through a representative of the Myanmar Embassy 
to Thailand, who was summoned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to 
request for a prompt investigation of the incident. The proposed joint 
marine patrol was aimed at preventing any repetition of incidents 
similar to the case in the future, and at preventing violation of the 
countries' territory by trawlers, he noted.







_______________ ECONOMY AND BUSINESS _______________
 

AP: Canadian miner agrees to pay dlrs 30 million in mine disaster 

DENVER (AP) _ A Canadian man whose company was blamed for cyanide 
pollution at a Colorado gold mine has agreed to pay dlrs 30 million to 
settle a lawsuit the state filed against him.
 
 The settlement with Robert Friedland was entered Friday in U.S. 
District Court in Denver. 

 In 1992, a cyanide spill from the Summitville mine in southern Colorado 
killed all life in a 17-mile (27-kilometer) stretch of the Alamosa River 
system. The state filed a lawsuit in 1999 over the cleanup, which is 
expected to cost dlrs 170 million or more. 

 Colorado Attorney General Ken Salazar said the settlement agreement is 
``a huge environmental victory for the community.'' He noted that some 
of money is earmarked for victims of the cyanide spill. 

 ``Instead of waiting for years and spending tens of millions of dollars 
while this case makes its way through the courts, the people most 
affected by the Summitville Mine will see very positive and direct 
benefits,'' Salazar said. 

 Roger Flynn, managing director of the Western Mining Action Project, 
said, ``This is a good start to restoring a dead watershed that was 
destroyed by open-pit gold mining.'' 

 Miners at the Colorado site used chemicals to extract gold. Toxic water 
from the mine, poisoned with cyanide and heavy metals, leaked into 
tributaries of the Alamosa River and eventually into the river itself. 

 A call to one of Friedland's companies, Ivanhoe Capital Corp. of 
Vancouver, British Columbia, was not immediately returned. 

 However, in an April interview with The Denver Post, Friedland said he 
was interested in any plan that would benefit those affected by the 
pollution. ``I remain open-minded about any good idea,'' he said. 

 Friedland has long held that while he was one of the principal owners 
of the parent company, he wasn't involved in daily operations. He says 
other individuals and firms were responsible for the disaster. 

 Environmentalists say Friedland typically severs ties with 
controversial projects when they start to generate negative publicity. 
His companies have been involved in controversial projects in Venezuela, 
Namibia, Myanmar, New Guinea and Brazil. 

 ``He has the reputation of wreck and ruin and leave. I guess it is a 
step in the right direction. He probably shouldn't necessarily be 
trusted,'' said Tina Arapkiles, southwestern U.S. representative for the 
Sierra Club environmental group. 

 The state is still suing several other companies accused of involvement 
in the disaster. 







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