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BurmaNet News: December 30, 3000
- Subject: BurmaNet News: December 30, 3000
- From: strider@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Sat, 30 Dec 2000 06:40:00
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
December 30, 2000 Issue # 1699
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
NOTED IN PASSING: ?There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that the SSA
[Shan States Army] has begun to receive military aid from Thailand...
While the Thais may have turned a blind eye to much of the opium trade,
they cannot ignore the surging use and availability of amphetamines on
the streets of Bangkok.?
Scotsman Online (UK): Burma?s forgotten nation now paying the price of
peace
INSIDE BURMA _______
*Scotsman Online (UK): Burma?s forgotten nation now paying the price of
peace
*International Crisis Group: Burma/Myanmar?How Strong Is the Military
Regime?
*Myanmar Embassy Paris (SPDC): VOA that daren't show its face
*Bangkok Post: Karen Rebels Accused of Train Attack
*Shan Herald Agency for News: Junta officer: Wa Expansion part of
Rangoon's for eventual subjugation of Wa
*Shan Herald Agency for News: News Brief: Wa roadbuilding begins - with
convicts
*Karen Human Rights Group: Convict porters??horrific conditions? set
Burma apart
REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL _______
*Nouvel Observateur (France): [Summary/translation of article on French
scandal figure and G.W. Bush]
*ABC (Australia): UN envoy to visit Burma next week
*Bangkok Post : US Army to Help Train Thai Troops
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
Scotsman Online (UK): Burma?s forgotten nation now paying the price of
peace
Dec. 30, 2000
Paul Dillon
THE dusty streets of Hsipaw, a bustling Burmese market town, overflow
with children, animals and cheroot-smoking grannies lounging in the
shade against baskets of vegetables. Hawkers flog everything from
plastic machine-pistols to cheap Chinese-made soap outside the tent
where rice farmers line up to pay 10 kaht (15p) to view the three-legged
chicken, sad-faced monkeys and a dozing python as thick as a man?s
thigh.
Caught in the crush beneath the Ferris wheel and magician?s tent are
several expensive, late-model Isuzu four-wheel drive trucks, creaking
Fifties-era army Jeeps and converted mini-buses bristling with smiling,
heavily armed members of the Shan State Army (SSA).
The Shan?s annual harvest fair is about to begin but the real high-wire
act is occurring behind the scenes. The SSA?s arrival in Hsipaw, 750km
north-east of the capital, Rangoon, was preceded by the withdrawal of
the equally well equipped Burmese national army. The hated tatmadaw, who
occupy towns throughout the resource-rich Shan state, retired to their
bases 5km to the north in the interests of maintaining a precarious
ceasefire negotiated between the SAA and the government 11 years ago.
Both sides profit from the lucrative, cross-border trade into China and
Thailand of opium, precious stones and human beings, but tensions are
high and it is the kind of peace that might not survive a couple of
litres of cheap Mandalay rum in the belly of a trigger-happy teenager.
"Generally, we have good relations with the other side; we move around
without interference from the army, we fly our flag, we keep our weapons
and they don?t try to stop us," Sao Hso Hten, the 64-year-old chairman
of the SSA told The Scotsman during a two-hour interview at a well
guarded safe house outside Hsipaw.
"Of course there are problems. They force the people to work like slaves
without paying them. They terrorise the people. But, at this time they
are too strong. We cannot fight them head-on because the high tide of
armed struggle would fall on us and we are not ready."
For 30 years the Shan and more than a dozen other ethnic groups fought
guerrilla wars against the Burmese. They claimed the government had
betrayed the spirit of the agreements negotiated before independence
from Britain in 1948 between Rangoon and various ethnic minorities, most
notably the Kachin, Karen and Chin.
Among the first Shan to flee into the dense forests in 1958 to fight the
Burmese was Sao Hso Hten, then a 22-year-old mining engineer with no
military training. Today, he claims to have 10,000 armed followers. "We
are much stronger today than in the past," he says, flicking the Rolex
on his wrist as he reaches for a cup of tea. He claims his force has
grown three-fold in the past decade. "Our men are very well trained, we
have good weapons and we have structures right down village level.
"But the Shan people still have no human rights [and] we cannot match
the army. They are 400,000 men with helicopters. As I said, we cannot
afford full conflict at this time."
The State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) government and its
predecessor, the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), have
been accused of everything from arbitrary arrest, torture and murder to
forced relocation of civilians, forced labour, drug trafficking and
sexual slavery. It is widely believed that the army, in co-operation
with local warlords, smuggles opium, gold, silver, rubies, teak and
other woods across the border. Another commodity, say human rights
workers, are Shan women, bound not for promised manufacturing jobs but
servitude in border brothels.
Human rights activists have also documented the forcible relocation of
upwards of 300,000 Shan - from a population of eight million - out of
SSA-controlled areas in the past three years. The use of forced or
unpaid labour for everything from road construction to agriculture
remains widespread. And, as Amnesty International reported in early
December: "Torture has become an institution in Myanmar [Burma], used
throughout the country on a regular basis. Police and the army continue
to use torture to extract information, punish, humiliate and control the
population."
While the day-to-day fighting in Shan state between the SSA and Burmese
army may be a thing of the past, there are regular skirmishes between
the two armies and suggestions of more to come. The SSA?s southern
command was recently "invaded" by the tatmadaw who killed eight of his
men and stranding several hundred SSA fighters in the mountains, Sao Hso
Hten said.
On 25 November, upwards of 150 people (many of them innocent villagers)
died during a battle in the town of Mong Koe between Burmese soldiers
and a Shan faction in what Sao Hso Hten said was a power-play for
control of local opium fields.
There is anecdotal evidence to suggest that the SSA has begun to receive
military aid from Thailand. A flourishing trade in amphetamines
manufactured by the Rangoon-supported United Wa State Army and shipped
into Thailand has strained the rocky relationship between Bangkok and
Rangoon. While the Thais may have turned a blind eye to much of the
opium trade, they cannot ignore the surging use and availability of
amphetamines on the streets of Bangkok.
In late November, a 40-man Shan unit attacked an amphetamine storage
facility in a UWSA-controlled area, seizing 200,000 pills and arresting
a dozen Burmese soldiers. It is widely believed that Thai soldiers
participated in the attack.
Questioned on the source of his funding, the smile on the Sao Hso Hten?s
face, which does not reach his heavily lidded eyes, never falters. Only
when pushed hard on the issue - and the SSA?s alleged involvement in the
drug trade - does his voice sharpen. The SSA collects "taxes" from
companies mining in Shan state, and donations from local citizens, but
does not smuggle opium.
"There are no poppies grown in this area," he claims. "We are not
involved in this. If there is a poppy here, it is the [Burmese] army
growing it. We grow sugar cane and corn, and we harvest teakwood in the
forest. We are not like the Wa [Shan?s northern neighbors are considered
the most powerful drug lords on the Burmese side of the border], who are
getting fat and lazy living a good life in the city, driving in their
big new cars."
If the SSA is not involved in the drug trade, then it is the only group
in Shan state without a stake in the poppy fields. On a hillside less
than 10km from Hsipaw, men in military dress carrying assault rifles are
posted around empty fields. It is impossible to tell from a distance
whether they are regular army.
Sao Hso Hten claims he is a democrat, that he wants an autonomous Shan
state with its own constitution within a larger Burmese federation. How
he expects to play out this end game is unclear, particularly as Rangoon
has said his attempts to form political alliances violate the terms of
the ceasefire.
"This is a very serious challenge to the ceasefire," he says. "We want
to have a political voice and we are looking again at the ceasefire. The
government is strong militarily but politically very weak."
Earlier this year, the SSA and the Shan State Peace Council agreed to
support a South African-style truth and reconciliation commission that
would grant amnesty to the Burmese military and the cadre of generals
that has run the country for most the past five decades.
It is a dangerous new tack because it sets SSA on a collision course
with popular sentiment here that the military must pay for the excesses
of the past at the hands of a civilian government. While he supports her
party, Sao Hso Hten believes Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-democracy
campaigner and Nobel Peace Prize winner who remains under house arrest
in the capital, was "naive" to promise before the 1990 elections that
the generals would be brought before the courts.
"This was the wrong tactic," said Sao Hso Hten. "The military have a
crushing control over the country and they enjoy the power. I do not
believe they will turn over that power if they believe they will be
punished. They saw what happened to [the former Indonesian strongman]
Suharto and now they are more scared."
____________________________________________________
International Crisis Group: Burma/Myanmar?How Strong Is the Military
Regime?
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
This report, the first in a proposed series, is a preliminary assessment
of the strengths and vulnerabilities of the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC), the military regime ruling Burma/Myanmar. Its purpose is
to provide essential background - not at this stage policy prescriptions
- for policy makers addressing the prospects for non-violent democratic
transition in the country and ways to achieve that transition.
Despite the international attention which Burma/Myanmar continues to
attract, there are large and important gaps in publicly available
information about the personalities who lead the SPDC, about the
operations and state of the armed forces, and about the situation in
many parts of the country and inside important groups, such as the
students and the monks. A complete and reliable picture of the strengths
and vulnerabilities of the SPDC will require a further major research
effort.
But the outlines of that picture are reasonably clear: a regime which is
presently very strong and comfortable in its resistance to internal and
external pressures for change, but which is not totally invulnerable,
particularly in terms of its capacity to maintain tight military control
of the entire country.
The military government in Burma/Myanmar does presently appear to be as
strong as at any time in the country's history. It controls all public
aspects of the country's political life and important parts of the
private sector economy. It has put in place all of the institutional
means, including a robust and well-organised domestic intelligence
apparatus, needed to ensure the continuity of military rule. It is
showing no weakening in its determination to hold on to power.
The modernisation of the armed forces since 1989 has delivered the
regime unprecedented military successes against ethnic insurgencies.
Over the decade, the government has brokered ceasefire agreements with
seventeen of its former foes, including the most powerful narco-armies,
such as the United Wa State Army (UWSA).
The regime partially opened up Burma/Myanmar's economy after 1988
prompting new levels of foreign direct investment, particularly in the
oil and gas sector, into the early 1990s. The country has achieved
positive economic growth through the whole of the last decade at the
national level, though this has been from a low base and is probably not
as high as the reported average annual GDP growth of about 5 per cent.
The drug trade has become a significant factor in the overall economy
and the regime has obtained vital revenue from reinvestment of narcotics
profits.
Despite its considerable strength, the regime's stranglehold on power
does have some vulnerabilities, the most important of which may lie
within the armed forces ? precisely that part of the Burmese governing
order about which the outside world knows least. The most significant
vulnerability here is simply overstretch. The more extended the
military's reach has become in areas previously controlled by ethnic
insurgents, the more vulnerable the regime's control becomes, and it is
questionable whether it has the sophistication, capacity and management
tools to make and implement the necessary fine judgments about how far
to extend its operations. There is already some evidence that the regime
cannot feed its soldiers in the far-flung outposts. A four-fold salary
increase for the armed forces reported in April 2000 is another
suggested pointer to the scale of the problem.
The ethnic armies, although most of them for the moment are not fighting
SPDC forces, will remain a potential threat if only because they retain
all their weapons. These groups are significantly weaker and somewhat
more demoralised than ever before, but the ceasefires were not
exclusively the result of military defeat at the hands of government
forces. The SPDC regime had to make promises to secure the agreements,
such as offering a role in drafting a new Constitution, and these will
need to be kept if the regime is to continue to reap the political gains
from the ceasefires.
There is no doubt that popular discontent in Burma/Myanmar is profound,
with regime success coming at the cost of sustained brutalisation of the
civil population, including forced labour and forced migration. But it
is unclear just how politically focused the discontent is, and whether
or in what ways it could threaten the SPDC. The political opposition,
primarily the National League for Democracy (NLD), continues to mount a
challenge to the legitimacy of the military regime and will remain an
important irritant to it. But the NLD's points of leverage inside the
country for weakening the SPDC's grip on power are few, and it is
difficult to be optimistic about it achieving change in the near term.
Internationally, the SPDC is in a strong position. It has major allies,
particularly China, which has been supplying it with military equipment
in large amounts. Its other neighbours (ASEAN countries and India) and
some near-neighbours (Taiwan and Hong Kong) have been expanding
relations with it. Burma/Myanmar has been denied bilateral military
sales and multilateral economic aid from most developed countries, and
these and other sanctions do at least continue to register the moral and
political unacceptability of the regime. The robust role of the
International Labour Organisation (ILO) in investigating and condemning
forced labour, and likely follow up moves by other UN agencies, will
also help ensure that the SPDC's position remains a subject of
considerable international political contest. But actual and threatened
sanctions, and other forms of international isolation, have so far done
little to undermine the regime's survival.
The challenge for the international community is to find ways - having
regard to the regime's apparent strengths and vulnerabilities - to
intensify the pressure upon it to accommodate peaceful democratic
transition. A crucial related issue is how, in achieving that
transition, to support the democratic opposition forces within the
country in ways that are not counterproductive. Future reports by ICG
will seek to address these issues.
Bangkok/Brussels, 21 December 2000
About the author--The International Crisis Group (ICG) is a private,
multinational organisation committed to strengthening the capacity of
the international community to anticipate, understand and act to prevent
and contain conflict.
ICG's approach is grounded in field research. Teams of political
analysts based on the ground in countries at risk of crisis, gather
information from a wide range of sources, assess local conditions and
produce regular analytical reports containing practical recommendations
targeted at key international decision-takers.
For more information, see www.crisisweb.org
____________________________________________________
Myanmar Embassy Paris [SPDC): VOA that daren't show its face
[Posted to the soc.culture.burma newsgroup in two segments on Dec. 28,
2000. Header as follows?]
Subject: VOA that daren't show its face
Date: 12/28/2000
Author: MYANMAR EMBASSY, PARIS <106711.21@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
[BurmaNet adds; VOA=Voice of America, BBC=British Broadcasting Comany,
RFA=Radio Free Asia, DVB=Democratic Voice of Burma]
All the Myanmar people know that VOA, BBC, RFA and DVB radio stations
are under the control of colonialists, who are interfering in the
affairs of the international community. These colonialists radio
stations are airing foul news polluting the atmosphere by praising the
democracy and human rights of the global colonialists and national
traitors. The small nations of the six continents of the world wish to
extend cordial relations with every nation on the earth, while standing
independently on their own feet and existing peacefully and in harmony;
but the international colonialist bloc failing to dominate and
manipulate these small nations at will is using VOA, BBC, RFA and DVB
radio stations in disparaging them. There are many instances in which
the colonialists make perpetrations and instigations to discredit the
governments of the small nations, to cause civil commotion in these
nations, to destroy their unity and to cause their disintegration .
Of all the colonialists radio stations the broadcasts from VOA could be
said fair. As for journalists the reports from the VOA could be said a
mixture of one per cent truth and a 99 per cent falsehood. Ah! I had a
little more respects for the method of VOA's news reporting than those
of the BBC, RFA and DVB which were airing concocted news in a random
way.
But now I have to shout that I was wrong. On 6 August at 6 am, VOA
announced a slanderous news report under the heading Six arrested for
sending news through satellite to Los Angles. The summary of the news
report was like this: Six persons who smuggled out news abroad were
arrested. The incident was reported vaguely in the State-run newspapers.
The news smugglers are going to face a severe punishment as freedom of
press is prohibited to the most possible degree. Two electronics
experts, U Myat Thu and U Kyaw Win Naing, of Asia Plaza are the main
persons in sending news abroad, U Kyaw Thet Win, age 53, an old student
of Yangon University and an ex-member of Student Union, an ex-reporter U
Khin Maung, age 55, an ex-reporter U Paing Tun, age 51, and an ex-member
of Yangon Division Special Police Force U Saw Aung Pe, age 53, were
arrested as persons who were collaborating with the two news smugglers.
Based on the facts, I will rebut the slanderous news reported by VOA.
All the people of Myanmar might have read about it. For those who
hadn't read it or those who had already read the news but did not
remember it can find it under the bold headline. l5 kinds of
communication equipment including American satellite disk seized;
action will be taken against all illegal communications internal and
external, and in the fifth and sixth columns on the back page or page 16
of Myanma Alin Daily, or under the bold headline Authorities exposed and
seized perpetrators illegally contacting abroad with advanced satellite
system in columns three, four and five on the back page or page 16 of
Kyemon daily, both issued on 22 May 2000.
Is your eyesight so poor? I would like to ask VOA for floating such
slanders by saying the report was vaguely mentioned in the dailies in
Myanmar. Moreover, VOA made a brazen lie. It reported that six persons
were arrested for sending news to Los Angles through the satellite. The
report means that the government of Myanmar never permits Myanmar
citizens to freely make contacts with foreign nations; people are being
arrested just for sending out news reports; there is no democracy in the
nation; and human rights are being violated. As is known to all the
people of Myanmar, the nation has adopted the open door market-oriented
economy; every individual, entrepreneur or company has been permitted to
make phone or fax contacts freely with any other nation in accord with
the rules laid down by the Post and Telecommunications Department;
however, authorities will expose and take action against all illegal
and secret contacts in the nation or with abroad breaching the MPT
rules. I dare say that the slanderous accusation made by VOA by saying
that there was no freedom of press in Myanmar is one of
[Continues in message segment 2]
the perpetrations of the so-called democracy movement.
I pitied VOA for its mean acts to make the matter confused. Because I
will now recall in brief the report published in 22nd May 2000 dailies.
The extract is as follows: Mr Irawan Sidaria a citizen of Indonesia and
Mr
Jayvee a citizen of the Philippines rented a room at Asia Plaza Hotel in
April 2000 in Yangon under the pretext of opening a company. Then Mr
Jeffrey Craing Lesuer, a US citizen, sent by Mr Mike Butler of America,
arrived Yangon on 13 April. 2000 bringing together with him
communication equipment. He installed the equipment at Room No 717 of
the Asia Plaza Hotel. Mr Irawan of Indonesia was staying at the hotel,
and Mr Jayvee of the Philippines at the Traders Hotel.
Mr Irawan hired U Myat Thu, an electrical engineer of Asia Plaza Hotel,
at US $ 100 per month salary. He also hired an electronics expert Kyaw
Win Hlaing
at 50 US$ per month. After making arrangements to make illegal
communications with foreign nations, Mr Jayvee left for Thailand.
Finally the authorities were able to expose and arrest Mr Irawan, U Myat
Thu and Kyaw Hlaing Win.
The truth is that the total number of persons who were arrested was
three.
How they had violated the laws was stated completely in the news
reports. VOA brazenly lied that the number of arrested persons was six;
it also added the names and other facts of the six persons. I don't
know who had given all these false information to VOA. It added U Kyaw
Thet Win, age 53, an old student of Yangon University and an ex -member
of Student Union, an ex-reporter U Khin Maung, age 55, an ex-reporter U
Paing Tun, age 51, and an ex-member of Yangon Division Special Police
Force U Saw Aung Pe, age 53, in the list of arrested persons. VOA, you
should look at yourself in the mirror to know how foolish you are. It
is quite clear. The persons who faced arrest were an Indonesian citizen
and two Myanmar's. For what reason VOA in creating a slanderous report
had added another four more Myanmar's together with their designations
in the list of persons who were seized?
It is sure that these four persons never ever have existed in Myanmar.
Even if there are persons whose names are the same with the four, their
design, actions cannot the same. Because the four persons were created
by VOA in making a slanderous news report.
The VOA that is airing corrupted and slanderous reports is not an
ordinary or a small one. It is under the direct control of the great
democracy nation, America, which has laid down strategies and general
tactics and making slogans to give leadership to and pass decisions in
democracy and human rights for the people of the six continents of the
earth during the 21st century. However, I don't know what has happened
to the clever VOA or whether it was caught in a trap or not.
I don't know who, a male or a female, had sent the slanderous news
report to VOA with the aim of getting VOA into trouble. If so, the
tricky VOA caught in a treachery, has no more democracy dignities left
at all. If VOA knowing that it had been tricked would say with
shameless face and in a instigative manner that it was not tricked, but
it was Lying, for the sake of Lying. I have nothing more to say. I
will just pity it, Tut tut, the clever VOA was caught in the
treacherous trap. I want to shout at the height of my voice that it is
shameful for VOA to make such a brazen lie and air a false report; and
now it dares not show its face in the crowd.
___________________________________________________
Bangkok Post: Karen Rebels Accused of Train Attack
FRIDAY, DECEMBER 29, 2000
Rangoon, AP
[BurmaNet adds?Updates previous wire service stories. Adds KNU denial.]
Two persons were killed and three others injured after a passenger train
in southeastern Burma hit a land mine allegedly planted by ethnic Karen
rebels, the state-owned newspaper Myanma Ahlin reported yesterday.
The train was travelling from the Mon State capital of Mawlamyine - also
known as Moulmein - to Ye, 130km to the south on Wednesday morning, when
it hit the mine planted by 10 members of the Karen National Union, the
report said. It did not explain how the attackers were identified.
A spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU) said the insurgent group
wasn't involved.
"We deny any responsibility for the train bomb incident; the government
is trying to frame us," said Ner Dah, contacted from Bangkok by
telephone. "We are not terrorists, our policy is quite clear that we
will fight the Myanmar government and its armed forces, not its people."
The newspaper report said the attackers looted property from the
passengers when the train engine overturned and two coaches derailed.
It said a gunfight broke out when the train's security guards opened
fire at the "KNU terrorists" who made off with the loot. One policeman
and a passenger were killed, the report said.
___________________________________________________
RSF/IFEX: Opposition journalist sentenced to twenty-one years in prison
SOURCE: Reporters sans frontieres (RSF), Paris
THE INTERNATIONAL FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION EXCHANGE (IFEX) CLEARING HOUSE
29 December 2000
(RSF/IFEX) - In a 26 December 2000 letter to the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC, military junta) vice-chairman, General Maung
Aye, RSF strongly protested the twenty-one year prison sentence for Aung
Myint, alias Phya Pon Ni Loan Oo, an opposition journalist. The
organisation called on the vice-chairman to "ensure the immediate
release of the journalist who merely expressed his opinions". RSF
considers that a jail sentence constitutes a serious violation of press
freedom. In a document dated 18 January, the United Nations Special
Rapporteur for the promotion and protection of the freedom of expression
and opinion emphasised that "imprisonment as a punishment for the
peaceful expression of an opinion constitutes a serious violation of
human rights." This heavy sentence passed on a journalist, who is a
member of the National League for Democracy (NLD), occurred at a time
when contacts have been restored between the Burmese junta and European
countries. "In this very repressive context, the European states must
impose conditions on the resumption of dialogue," stated Robert Monard,
the organisation's secretary-general. He also asked General Maung Aye to
secure the release of the twelve journalists and editors currently
detained in the country's infamous jails. According to recent
information, several prisoners, among them Win Tin, San San Nweh, Soe
Thein and Sein Hla Oo, are in a very poor health condition. RSF has
previously denounced the criminal attitude of the military junta that
has let hundreds of dissidents waste away in jail.
According to the information collected by RSF, Aung Myint, alias Phya
Pon Ni Loan Oo, journalist, poet and the head of the information
department of the National League for Democracy (NLD) in Rangoon, was
sentenced on 20 December to twenty-one years in prison by a military
court. He was arrested on 14 September by members of Unit 14 of the
Military Intelligence Service (MIS, military secret services led by
Lieutenant-general Khin Nyunt) and detained in the Insein jail. The
opposition journalist was found guilty of violating the emergency laws
(State Protection and Emergency Provision Acts). Kyaw Sein Oo, his
assistant at the NLD, was sentenced to seven years in prison for
violation of the press law (Printers and Publishers Registration Act).
The military court accuses the journalist and his assistant of
distributing information regarding repression of the NLD to
international press agencies and to Western diplomats based in the
Burmese capital. Last September, Aung San Suu Kyi, Nobel Peace Prize
winner, was prevented by members of the security forces from leaving
Rangoon. A few hours after the incident, Aung Myint and his assistant
wrote and distributed a press release to international press agency
correspondents and to some foreign embassies in Rangoon. Soldiers
arrested the NLD leader on a country side road and prevented her from
leaving for a couple of days. Since then, she has been under house
arrest.
On the same day, the military court sentenced four other NLD members to
heavy prison terms, including Saw Nine Nine, a NLD MP elected in May
1990.
Aung Myint, now in his fifties, started his career at the official
newspaper "Botahtaung" in the 1980s writing satirical articles and
poems. From 1983 to 1988, he worked for "Pay-ful-lwa" (The Message)
magazine directed by Tim Moe, a journalist who spent several years in
jail and now lives in exile. The monthly was banned in 1990 by the army.
In 1988, Aung Myint joined "Cherry" magazine. In 1997, the journalist
was arrested by the military and sentenced to two years in jail. After
his release, the authorities prohibited him from working for "Cherry"
magazine. In 1999, he became the head of the NLD's information
department in Rangoon. His name is banned from all Burmese publications.
Recently, he wrote an article entitled "Where are the freedom of
movement and freedom of expression in the Golden Land?" that had an
underground distribution among NLD members.
For further information, contact Vincent Brossel at RSF, 5, rue Geoffroy
Marie, Paris 75009, France, tel: +33 1 44 83 84 84, fax: +33 1 45 23 11
51, e-mail: asie@xxxxxx, Internet: http ://www.rsf.fr
___________________________________________________
Shan Herald Agency for News: Junta officer: Wa Expansion part of
Rangoon's for eventual subjugation of Wa
29 December 2000
Junta officer:
Wa Expansion part of Rangoon's for eventual subjugation of Wa
A Burmese commander has of late disclosed to Shan friends that Rangoon's
decision to allow Wa expansion along the Thai border was part of
Rangoon's grand strategy to subdue the uncontrollable Wa, said sources
from across the border.
A company commander from one of the 4 battalions in Mongton, opposite
Chiangmai, recently said: "Our superiors in Rangoon had decided to let
them spread far and wide so they become so overstretched there wouldn't
be enough troops in their capital, Panghsang to defend themselves.
It won't be easy for us to handle them if we just keep them in the north
and Mongyawn (Monghsat Township, oppositeChiangmai and Chiangrai
provinces)."
The United Wa State Army's 171st Division, commanded by Wei Hsiaokang,
wanted in the United States and Thailand for drug offenses, has been
expanding into border areas formely under his rival Khun Sa's control
(now under Shan State Army's control) since end of October. He has been
authorized to move his troops as far as Karenni (Kayah) and Karen
state, according to unconfirmed reports.
However, an inside source said, "Immediate outbreak of war between the
Shan and Wa does not seem likely. Sao Yawdserk (Commander-in-Chief of
the Shan State Army) has issued orders not to shoot unless attacked."
Panghsang is also apparently of the same opinion. "One of the Wa
officers in Tachilek told his Shan counterpart at a meeting two weeks
ago the Battle of Loilang (Doilang in Thai, opposite Mae Ai District,
Chiangmai) that cost both sides thousands of their fighters should
stand as a memorial," said the source.
Nevertheless, the Wa have shown no sign of retreating. "Their job is to
occupy as much as they can at the least risk of hostilities", one of the
local ex-resistance fighters commented.
So far, they have been contented positioning themselves on the eastern
part of the Maekun (one of the Salween's tributaries between Homong and
Monghta), he added. Another source agreed. "Important border check
points like Mae Aw and Namon (opposite Muang District, Maehongson), and
Laktaeng (opposite Wianghaeng District, Chiangmai) are still manned by
Burmese troops."
All the same, most of the Burmese units in the area have left leaving
only 3 battalions: LIB 422 (Mongpai), LIB 316 (Talerh, Tachilek) and IB
43 (Mongpiang) to "keep an eye on both the Shans and Wa", said a source
from Maehongson.
It was also reported that the Burmese were not satisfied with the
outcome of the battle of Loilam (Doidam in Thai, opposite Wianghaeng
District, Chiangmai, 6-7 November) when the combined Burmese-Wa
attacking force had failed to dislodge the Shan defenders from their
stronghold. "Some Burmese officers even accused the Wa of playing two
faces".
___________________________________________________
Shan Herald Agency for News: News Brief: Wa roadbuilding begins - with
convicts
29 December 2000
Derides Junta for neglect
Reporter: Saeng Khao Haeng
200 convicts in 8 ten-wheelers were dispatched to Mongton Township,
early this month to build roads along with 5 macros (tractors and
bulldozers), following expansion of Wa troops to areas west of
Mongton-BP1 highway.
Construction have begun since and is expected to continue to
Mongtaw-Monghta area in the west during the dry season, November-April.
The Nakawngmu-Monghsat-Tachilek road was completed last year and it has
become an all-season route, where travelers at each end can now visit
the other and return in one day.
"They say they are 'government' but what have they done for the public
these past 4 years?" asked one Wa officer, who arrived in
Mongtaw-Monghta area a month ago. It takes 3 hours to drive from
Monghta to Nakawngmu, about 40-miles, during the dry season. During the
rainy season, it sometimes took up to 3 days, said the drivers.
"When we have accomplished something, the only thing they know is to
come in and take credit for it," said another officer.
Wa have 8,000 motor vehicles
Several local people agree that no less than 8,000 Wa trucks, with
number plates beginning with SW (Southern Wa), mostly Ford or Tiger
4-wheelers or Toyota six-wheelers, are roaming the three township along
the border: Mongton, Monghsat and Tachilek.
Wa have deserters too
Many convicts working along the road are not only those punished for
drug addictions but also for desertions, said local people in Mongton.
"They only receive K. 600 per month each," said a source. "So most Lahu
and Shan soldiers could not stand and chose to flee to Thailand to find
work. On the other hand, there are few Wa deserters, since they are
used to a more rugged life."
Life in the UWSA for the rank and files is not an easy one, they said.
"Only a few of the units who are given security assignments for
merchant-convoys enjoy better salaries."
Discrimination is worse than the Mong Tai Army of Khun Sa, who was known
for favoring officers of Chinese origin to Shans and other natives,
according to them. "If you are Wa, you live better only if you are a
company commander and upwards," one said.
It is not unusual to find Wa officers holding parties while the rank and
file look on, said other sources.
___________________________________________________
Karen Human Rights Group: Convict porters??horrific conditions? set
Burma apart
Dec. 30, 2000
While it is the political prisoners who receive the most attention,
Burma's prisons are full of people arrested for other offences ranging
from murder to drug trafficking to breaking curfew. Many people in
Burma are arrested every day and serve long sentences for offences which
in other countries would merit a fine or maybe a month in jail; one of
the convict porters interviewed for this report was serving a 7-year
sentence for eloping with his girlfriend. Many of the offences are
related to the poverty and desperation experienced by most of the
population. These are compounded by rage and frustration among the
population, caused by the feeling of helplessness in the face of
repression and the commonly-held view that the rich in Burma can get
anything they want and can buy their way out of any problems they may
have.
Many prisoners report being convicted for crimes which they say they did
not commit and for which no evidence was presented in court. People are
commonly punched and kicked during arrest and sometimes tortured, and
torture before trial is often used to force a suspect to admit to a
crime. Courts very seldom overturn charges laid by the authorities, and
judges sometimes tell suspects that if they take up the court's time by
presenting a defence, their sentence will be lengthened. Suspects can be
kept in jail for long periods of time before they are convicted and
sentenced to prison.
The abuse for the prisoners begins from the first day they enter prison.
They are subjected to beatings and systematically humiliated in what
the prisoners call the "Prison Standard." A monotonous diet of bean
soup, fishpaste and rice is fed to the prisoners two times a day. They
are forced to sleep almost on top of each other in the overcrowded rooms
they live in. There is almost no health care for the ill except for
what the prisoners can buy themselves. Scabies, diarrhoea, and
communicable diseases are common. One convict described watching eight
patients being injected one after another with the same needle, after
which several of them died of AIDS, while another said that hypodermic
needles are used and re-used for up to a month. A prisoner interviewed
by KHRG who spent six and a half years in Moulmein prison saw about 50
people die in that time from what appears to have been AIDS.
Money can make the stay in prison much more comfortable. Prisoners
whose families bring things from home and pay off the guards are able to
sleep more comfortably, get more rice, and even avoid work. Some
prisoners interviewed by KHRG said that conditions became a little
better after the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) began
prison visits in May 1999. They qualified this, however, by saying that
for people without money it remains much the same. While well-known
political prisoners obtain a form of protection by being known
internationally, thousands of ordinary people imprisoned for political
offenses (such as Article 17/1 for 'associating with illegal
organisations') are internationally ignored, their existence not even
acknowledged by international human rights organisations. For these
people and for those imprisoned for real or imagined criminal offenses,
there is no protection from the brutality.
The use of prison convicts for labour is not something new to Burma, nor
is it specific to Burma. It is the horrific conditions under which the
convict labourers must work which make convict labour in Burma stand
out. The prison system has become an integral part of the forced labour
schemes of the SLORC and now the SPDC, to the point where some of the
convicts interviewed for this report believe that they and others were
arrested and convicted solely for the purpose of obtaining more convicts
for forced labour. Forced labour work camps, such as rock quarries and
road labour camps, exist in various places throughout Burma. Convict
porters have also become more common as operations porters with Burma
Army units serving on the frontlines. Many die from physical abuse,
lack of food and medical care, and overwork.
Convict labour has long been used in Burma for infrastructure projects,
tourism projects and as operational porters for Army units. Formerly,
the prisoners were taken out of the prisons and handed directly to the
Army units, but since 1996 the SLORC/SPDC has created the 'Won Saung' to
formalise and institutionalise this process. Sometimes translated into
English as 'porter battalions' or 'service camps', 'Won Saung' actually
translates more closely as 'carrying service'. The Won Saung come under
the Prison Authority and function as holding centres for the convicts
before they are taken to porter at the frontline by the Army. The
prisoners are drawn from various prisons around Burma, and according to
their testimonies it appears that there are quotas which each prison
must provide to the Won Saung camps on a regular basis. To fill these
quotas the prison authorities lie to the prisoners, telling them that
their sentences will be reduced or that they will be released after a
short shift of portering, and if this is not enough they even send
elderly and disabled prisoners, those under treatment in the prison
hospital, and those whose sentences are about to end.
The convicts are usually given loads much heavier than what civilian
porters are forced to carry; sometimes the loads are so heavy that they
cannot get to their feet without help from the soldiers. While carrying
for the Army, the porters are constantly subjected to verbal and
physical abuse from the soldiers when they have difficulty carrying
their loads. Porters who fall out of line from exhaustion are beaten
and kicked until they rejoin the column. When porters just cannot
continue, they are left behind and sometimes kicked down the
mountainside to an almost certain death. The straps from the baskets
cut into the porters' shoulders and backs and result in painful wounds.
Despite their requests for medicine, the porters are never given any,
even when they have seen the medics treating the soldiers. Food
generally consists of a starvation diet of rice and fishpaste, while the
soldiers eat dried shrimp, chicken and vegetables. The food and
belongings which soldiers loot from villages are thrown on top of the
porters' loads, as are the soldiers' personal packs and boots. In many
cases civilian porters are taken along with the convict porters. The
porters are forced to walk between the soldiers, partly to prevent them
running away and partly in the hope that resistance groups won't ambush
the column if they see civilians. This doesn't usually work, however,
and one porter told KHRG he saw 12 wounded and dead soldiers and porters
after an ambush in Pa'an District.
Contrary to claims made internationally by the SPDC, the use of convict
porters on operations and at the frontline camps in no way lessens the
forced labour burden of the villagers. The convict porters interviewed
by KHRG indicated that villagers were taken to porter alongside them and
to work with them at the camps. These included women and men of various
ages. The convicts witnessed the soldiers stealing chickens and produce
from the villagers. At one camp they were even forced to participate in
the looting of the villagers' paddy storage barns.
Rather than being seen as an alternative to civilian forced labour, the
use of convicts for portering and other forced labour in Burma should be
seen for what it is: an additional, unnecessary, and particularly brutal
form of human rights abuse.
Today more and more convicts are being used on infrastructure and
tourism projects and as porters for the Army, being treated little
better than animals. However, this has not reduced the demands for
forced labour placed on the civilian population; instead, as can be seen
in other KHRG reports, forced labour is on the rise throughout rural
Burma. The SPDC has simply expanded its forced labour pool to include
more convicts along with the civilians. This allows the regime to
extend its control by implementing more and bigger infrastructure
projects, and to support its ever-expanding Army. The Army has almost
tripled in size since 1988 and has more than tripled its number of bases
and outposts throughout rural Burma, resulting in an ever-increasing
demand for both civilian and convict forced labour. Villagers are still
taken to porter, sometimes right alongside the convict porters. They
are also still conscripted to work at the Army camps and on
infrastructure projects, many times also with convict porters. In cases
where convict labour is used, it allows the SPDC to allocate the
civilians to a different project; and it is usually the convicts who are
given the worst assignments on the most dangerous projects. The
establishment of the Won Saung convict porter camps has further
institutionalised the process, and indicates that the SPDC has every
intention of continuing along its current path, treating the entire
population as little more than a pool of forced and unpaid servants. For
all of these reasons, the issue of convict labour in Burma needs to be
taken much more seriously internationally and added to the human rights
agenda, so that the SPDC can be pressed to stop this terrible abuse of
its people.
For further details, the full text of this report ("Convict Porters",
KHRG #2000-06) is available at
www.khrg.org .
___________________ REGIONAL/INTERNATIONAL___________________
Nouvel Observateur: [Summary/translation of article on French scandal
figure and G.W. Bush]
Source--French language weekly news magazine.
Dec 28, 2000
[Not a verbatim translation]
Pierre Falcone funded generously G. W. Bush electoral campaign. W's wife
is a personal friend of Falcone's wife. Among the guests of Falcone's
"Ranch" in Scottsdale (Arizona, "the world's biggest concentration of
billionaires"), figure also Bill Gates, high ranking Chinese
dignitaries, and French friends flown from Paris in his private jet.
Since 1992, Mitterrand's son was part of them. Pierre Falcone is jailed
in Paris since dec 1 and Mitterrand dec 22.
___________________________________________________
ABC (Australia): UN envoy to visit Burma next week
Dec. 30, 2000
The United Nations special envoy to Burma, Razali Ismail, will visit
Rangoon next week in the hope of promoting political dialogue between
the military junta and the opposition.
The UN says Mr Rizali will meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the
opposition National League for Democracy, during his visit.
Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since September, and other
leaders of the opposition were sentenced to long prison terms early this
month.
Officials say he will urge both government officials and opposition
leaders to engage in a substantive political dialogue that would
hopefully lead to national reconciliation in Burma.
___________________________________________________
Bangkok Post : US Army to Help Train Thai Troops
Dec. 30, 2000
Wassana Nanuam
The United States army will train Thai soldiers in drug operations from
next month, according to the Third Army chief.
A joint command headquarters will be set up in Chiang Mai as a training
centre for anti-drug drives, said Lt-Gen Watthanachai Chaimuenwong.
During the training programme, American troops will pass on lessons from
their experience in efforts to counter the cocaine trade in Colombia.
Four companies, three from the army and the other border patrol police,
will form a rapid deployment force to intensify the drug war.
Problems will worsen next year with the United Wa State Army likely to
raise methamphetamine output to 600 million pills from 400 million this
year, said Lt-Gen Watthanachai. Only 25 million pills were seized in
Thailand this year.
The relocation of 10,000 Burmese ethnic minorities to areas close to the
border has served to boost production of opium and other drugs.
"We must urge the international community to pressure Burma to seriously
combat drugs. It should not claim that drug precursors are smuggled via
Thailand, China or other countries," said Lt-Gen Watthanachai.
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