BurmaNet News: February 8-10 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

February 8-10 2003 Issue #2171

INSIDE BURMA

AFP: Myanmar arrests 12 democracy activists for ‘anti-government’ activity
Irrawaddy: Crackdown despite Amnesty visit
DVB: Burmese authorities detain Shan party leader
Inter Press Service: Amnesty seeks prisoners’ release, exiles skeptical of
visit
AFP: Amnesty concerned about Aung San Suu Kyi freedoms

GUNS

Washington Post: Burma’s child soldiers tell of army atrocities

MONEY

Xinhua: Japan to fund Myanmar’s education sector

REGIONAL

BBC: Thaksin targets Burma drug trade
DPA: Thai PM declares Myanmar working visit a success
Narinjara: Burmese refugees’ hunger-strike in Dhaka
Kyodo: ASEAN ministers plan urgent meeting if Iraq war breaks out
TV Myanmar: Burmese deputy foreign minister, delegation attend border
meeting in Laos
Kyodo: International conference on Burma to be held in Japan 15 Feb

STATEMENTS/OPINION

Nation: The big dangers of can-do diplomacy
Amnesty International: AI welcomes first visit, calls for further
improvements
Arakan Historical Society: Arakan Historical Society deplores recent
anti-Muslim violence
All Women Movement Committee of Burma

INSIDE BURMA

Agence France-Presse February 10 2003

Myanmar arrests 12 democracy activists for "anti-government" activity

Myanmar's military said Monday it had arrested 12 activists from
pro-democracy parties for "anti-government" activities undertaken with
funding from dissident expatriates.

The 12 were mostly members of the opposition National League for Democracy
(NLD), headed by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, a military
spokesman said at a specially called media briefing.

"It has been found that some members of the legally standing political
parties inside the country have been engaged in anti-government activities
with financial support from dissident expatriates," Brigadier General Than
Tun told the briefing. Than Tun said some of those who were arrested had
produced "anti-government materials".

They included a NLD vice chairman from Kamayut township, Khin Win, and
Shan National League for Democracy (SNLD) secretary Sai Nyunt Lwin.

The pamphlets had been found with another NLD member, Maung Maung Myint.

"Maung Maung Myint was arrested on February 5 together with around 450
anti-government pamphlets he admitted he had personally authored," Than
Tun said.

Maung Maung Myint had also admitted to authoring an anti-government
pamphlet aimed at monks and students, 1,000 copies of which had been
produced for public distribution, he said.

"They were obviously trying to get the sympathy of monks as well as the
general public for their cause," he said.

"We will take legal action against some of the 12 arrested and release
those we deem to be innocent after our investigation is complete," Than
Tun said, adding "everything will be legal and above board."

International human rights group such as Amnesty International "need have
no worries" on that score, he said. Amnesty returned last week from its
first fact-finding mission to Myanmar, which has a poor rights record.

Than Tun said although it was clear some members of the opposition parties
were involved in anti-government activities, "we have not accused the
leadership of either political party of being directly involved."
_______________

Irrawaddy February 10 2003

Crackdown Despite Amnesty Visit

In a brazen show of force, the Burmese regime arrested an estimated 20
Burmese democracy activists, including a prominent ethnic politician,
while human rights watchdog Amnesty International was in Burma on its
first ever fact finding mission, according to government sources and
opposition members in Rangoon.
Donna Guest, an Amnesty International researcher on Burma and Thailand who
was part of the two-member delegation, told The Irrawaddy today from
Bangkok that she was unaware of last week’s crackdown in Rangoon. "It
would certainly be of great concern to us if that were true," Donna Guest
said today. Amnesty was in Rangoon from Jan 31 to Feb 8, and held a press
conference today in Bangkok to discuss the visit.
Government spokesperson Brig-Gen Than Tun confirmed the arrests of 12
democracy supporters at a press conference in Rangoon today, including
seven National League for Democracy (NLD) members. Reliable sources from
Rangoon, however, said at least 20 people were arrested during the first
week of Feb.
NLD spokesperson U Lwin also commented today from Rangoon about two NLD
members who were arrested last week. "The authorities said their arrest
was not because of party activities, but underground ones," said U Lwin.
"And both of them will have to face trial soon."
Among those arrested was Sai Nyunt Lwin, secretary of the Shan National
League for Democracy. He was summoned by military intelligence officers
last Friday, and continues to be detained at a military intelligence
detention center. He was reportedly arrested for printing anti-government
leaflets.
The government’s continuing decision to brook no dissension inside the
military ruled state does not bode well for democratic reforms that have
been promised by the regime for months now, analysts say.
According to a Reuters report today, when Than Tun was questioned about
the affects the latest crackdown would have on relations between the
opposition and the regime, he said: "We need to see how the legally
existing parties respond to the illegal activities of their members." He
then declined further comment.
Relatives of those detained since last week said today that they did not
know what the government’s motives were for carrying out the arrests. But
some did say the arrests might have stemmed from their connections to
groups considered "unlawful" by the regime, including exiled Burmese
democracy groups.
Amnesty International met with a whole spectrum of groups while in
Rangoon. They held a two-hour meeting with NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi on
Jan 31 and also spoke with government officials, detained political
prisoners and former political detainees. They said their recommendations
to the regime as well as their findings would be published later this
year. The London-based rights group had been trying to receive visas to
Burma for over 15 years.
Meanwhile, according to former political prisoners, a Rangoon court
recently sentenced at least three democracy activists to three-year prison
sentences for possessing opposition journals printed in Thailand. Three
activists had been detained in Insein Prison since last September under
section 17/1 of the 1957 Unlawful Associations Act. The three individuals
are Hla Htut Soe, Ko Myint Ye and Ko Baydar.
Two nuns were also imprisoned last month for holding a peaceful
demonstration in front of Rangoon City Hall. The junta accused them of
being fake nuns sent by the NLD (Liberated Area) in order to stir unrest
inside the country.
_______________

Democratic Voice of Burma February 9 2003

Burmese authorities detain Shan party leader

At a time when various ethnic delegates converge in Rangoon to attend the
56th Anniversary of Union Day, it has been learned that U Sai Nyunt Lwin,
one of the Shan ethnic leaders, was arrested by the Military Intelligence
(MI). U Sai Nyunt Lwin, 52, is the general secretary of the Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), the party that won the second
most seats in the May 1990 General Elections.
Responsible officials from the SNLD told DVB that he was arrested by
members of MI-7 about 1200 noon on Thursday (6 February). It is still not
clear why he was arrested. It was reported that prior to U Sai Nyunt
Lwin's arrest, one of his relatives, a youth, who returned to Lashio to
sit for the matriculation examinations, was first detained by the MI in
Lashio. After the arrest, the MI showed him a leaflet written in Shan
Language, urging all the Shan Buddhist monks to pick up arms and to engage
in armed struggle, and asked him whether the pamphlets were designed and
printed using U Sai Nyunt Lwin's computer.
Simultaneously, while investigations were being carried out in Lashio, it
has been learned that U Sai Nyunt Lwin was summoned by the MI-7 by
telephone in Rangoon. While U Sai Nyunt Lwin was at the MI Office, some MI
officials went to U Sai Nyunt Lwin's house while his family was there and
carried out a detailed search of the house, computer, and documents. They
backed down only when they could not find any evidence related to the
pamphlet concerning the Shan Buddhist monks.
It has been learned that the detained youth in Lashio was released later
in the evening after his parents were made to sign an undertaking.
Although the MI assured that U Sai Nyunt Lwin would be released in the
evening, they later informed him that since they need approval from the
higher authorities they would have to hold him till the open of business
the following day.
Although it has been reported to relevant authorities to clear the matter
as soon as possible, responsible officials from the SNLD told DVB that no
response has been received yet. They also added that they could not
understand why a national race delegate was arrested prior to the Union
Day.
Furthermore, another noted that the arrest has surprised many because it
coincides with Amnesty International delegates' current visit to Rangoon.
Prior to U Sai Nyunt Lwin's arrest, the MI has arrested at least seven
democracy activists including two members of the National League for
Democracy. Political observers have pointed out that the State Peace and
Development Council's arrest of about 10 persons, during the 10-day visit
of Amnesty International delegation that came to Burma to improve the
human rights condition, could trigger an increase in international
criticism.
__________

Inter Press Service February 10 2003

Amnesty Seeks Prisoners' Release, Exiles Sceptical of Visit
By Marwaan Macan-Markar

Amnesty International, which this week ended its first-ever visit to Burma
(Myanmar), called on its military government Monday to release all
political prisoners as proof that it is serious about improving the
country's human rights climate.
In addition, Rangoon's ruling junta should press ahead with changing the
harsh laws - some dating back to the late 19th century - that have
contributed to the easy incarceration of political activists, the global
rights lobby added.

BANGKOK, Feb 10 (IPS) - Amnesty International, which this week ended its
first-ever visit to Burma (Myanmar), called on its military government
Monday to release all political prisoners as proof that it is serious
about improving the country's human rights climate.

In addition, Rangoon's ruling junta should press ahead with changing the
harsh laws - some dating back to the late 19th century - that have
contributed to the easy incarceration of political activists, the global
rights lobby added.

Amnesty's appeal came after it concluded a 10-day trip to Burma, from Jan.
30 to Feb. 8, that the London-based body sees as the initial effort to
pave a roadmap for future human rights investigations in that South-east
Asian country.

''We see our visit as the start of a process. We are not miracle
workers,'' Demelza Stubbings, Amnesty's Asia-Pacific programme director,
told the media at a press conference here. ''We felt on the basis of our
initial visit that there is merit in our return.''

This visit also enabled Stubbings and a colleague, Donna Guest, the rights
lobby's researcher on Burma, to affirm that Rangoon's rulers have shown
some heart towards improving prison conditions in recent years.

''Since 1999, the authorities in Myanmar have made significant
improvements in conditions of detention in many facilities throughout the
country,'' said Stubbings, using the name that the Burma's military regime
choose to call their country.

That, she confirmed, was based on the interviews the Amnesty team
conducted with select political prisoners from the nearly 1,300 people
incarcerated in Burmese jails and detention centres for their political
beliefs.

But a former Burmese political prisoner disagrees with Amnesty's reading.
''I have a problem with Amnesty's assessment that prison conditions have
improved since 1999,'' says Zin Linn, who spent eight years in solitary
confinement in Rangoon's notorious Insein prison from 1991 to 1997.

''Last year, four political prisoners died in jail because they did not
get medical treatment in time,'' adds Linn, who escaped to Thailand in
2001 to avoid being arrested for political activities by the State Peace
and Development Council (SPDC), as the military government is officially
known.

''But I cannot blame Amnesty for going. They have a mandate and I
understand their position,'' he adds. ''If they can get beyond the upper
level of the SPDC system, penetrate deeper, they will understand the
atrocities being committed.''

By focusing on the plight of the political prisoners during this
ground-breaking visit, Amnesty underscored a key concern of theirs: the
judicial system and political culture that prevails in Burma.

The visit confirmed that ''policing, trial procedures and conditions of
detention fall short of international law and standards,'' said Stubbings,
adding that ''many of the laws and directives - which have the status of
law - criminalise the exercise of certain fundamental human rights,
including freedom of expression, association and assembly''.

Typical of such laws that violate international standards is a section in
Burma's 1975 state protection law. Under this section, the law grants
those holding executive authority to detain persons and also denies the
detained person legal aid to challenge the detention.

The political environment that surrounds Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's
opposition leader, also offers another pointer about rights violations.

The Amnesty team expressed concern about the Nobel Peace Prize winner's
''inability to move around'' and the intimidating environment that
visitors to Suu Kyi - they are photographed by the authorities - find
themselves in when they go to see her.

For Amnesty, the laws that have contributed to such an environment --
criminalising the freedom of assembly - are out of step with international
human rights standards as are some of the other laws, such as the
emergency provision act and the official secrets act.

Of late, the Burmese junta has been under pressure following reports last
year that the armed forces had raped close to 625 women and girls in the
country's eastern Shan state, where government troops are fighting a Shan
rebel group.

In addition, Rangoon has also been accused of child conscription, with one
study revealing that Burma had 70,000 child soldiers, the highest number
in the world.

On top of that is the SPDC's notorious record on freedom of expression,
its harsh treatment of human rights defenders -- including imprisoning
lawyers for taking human rights cases -- and forced labour.

According to Guest, the Burma researcher, Amnesty will use the current
opening it had in Burma to influence change in a range of human rights
violations. ''We would expect to be making regular visits over a longer
period of time. We are doing this because we hope that we can make a
difference.''

It is a process that will be carefully scrutinised by Burmese in exile
like Linn, since they are deeply suspicious of the SPDC's motives to open
its doors to a group that it has regularly ''attacked in the government
newspapers''.

''We were amazed when the SPDC approved the Amnesty visit,'' he confessed.
''We still think this invitation was to use Amnesty for the sake of
mending the SPDC's bad reputation internationally.''

Burmese exiles maintained a similar view following a visit to their
country in October by Paulo Pinheiro, the U. N. human rights envoy to
Burma. On that occasion, Pinheiro pressed the junta to enable independent
investigations into a host of human rights violations.

To date, Burma has still to see the signs of an independent, impartial and
effective investigation along the lines Pinheiro envisaged.
______________

Agence France-Presse February 10 2003

Amnesty concerned about Aung San Suu Kyi freedoms

Human rights watchdog Amnesty International expressed concern Monday that
Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's freedoms of travel and
assembly were under threat and that those who associate with her are
intimidated.

Two Amnesty representatives met with the Nobel peace laureate, who was
released from 19 months of house arrest in May, in her Yangon home late
last month at the beginning of the organization's first-ever visit to the
military-ruled state.

"Daw Aung San Suu Kyi is not a prisoner of conscience any more," Demelza
Stubbings, Amnesty's interim program director for Asia-Pacific and head of
the mission to Myanmar, told a Bangkok press briefing. "However I think it
is fair to say that the organization remains concerned about her ability
not only to travel but also to meet freely with people around the
country."

Stubbings also spoke of the "extremely intimidating" conditions faced by
visitors, associates or supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi, particularly
Myanmar nationals.

She said the country's outdated and restricted laws, such as the 1975
state protection act under which Suu Kyi was held without charge for
years, helped contribute to an atmosphere of oppression.

"If there are laws that criminalize the basic right to freedom of
assembly, then you could actually be committing a crime just by, for
example, coming to a place where you've heard Aung San Suu Kyi or another
prominent NLD member might be visiting that day."

Aung San Suu Kyi heads the National League for Democracy (NLD), which won
an overwhelming 1990 election victory which the ruling junta has refused
to recognize.

After spending a total of seven and a half years under two stints of house
arrest, she was released undonditionally last May and has since embarked
on several political trips around the country, where thousands of
supporters often line roadsides to greet her.

"Even if she is free to go to places, are people free to come to her?"
Stubbings said.

She said the point was driven home to Amnesty during their visit to Aung
San Suu Kyi's lakeside residence, where she said a government security
detail photographed her through the car window as they passed barricades
set up near the house.

"For ourselves it doesn't matter. But for other people who may wish to go
and visit, that can be extremely intimidating."

Stubbings would not reveal details of her two-hour meeting with Aung San
Suu Kyi, saying the contents were confidential as agreed by both sides.

In December Aung San Suu Kyi clashed with authorities who attempted to
physically bar her supporters from meeting her during a trip to the
country's west.

GUNS

Washington Post February 10 2003

Burma's Child Soldiers Tell of Army Atrocities
By Ellen Nakashima

MAE SOT, Thailand -- He was taught how to hold an assault rifle and aim it
at an enemy. He was taught how to pull a trigger, aim at the next enemy
and pull the trigger again. He learned all this, he says, by the time he
was 12, when he was officially declared a soldier of Burma and sent to the
front lines of a long-running civil war.
Now 14, the taciturn boy Kyaw Zay Ya lives in a rebel-held village in
Burma near the Thai border, one of the few places in the country willing
to protect him from service in what human rights monitors call the largest
child army in the world.
According to New York-based Human Rights Watch, Burma's army of 350,000
includes as many as 70,000 youths under 18. A study the group issued last
October found that rebel groups fighting the army also use child soldiers,
though in far smaller numbers.
The numbers would make the military-ruled Burma, also known as Myanmar,
the worst violator of international laws against using children in armed
conflicts, Human Rights Watch contends.
The Burmese government has denied that its army takes in recruits under
18, and says that its force is all volunteer. But people interviewed in
safe houses and camps along the border disputed those contentions.
In a two-hour talk here, Kyaw said he was press-ganged into the army at
age 11, took part in combat repeatedly and felt "afraid and very far from
home."
Another young man, Naing Win, said he was 16 when he was ordered into a
nasty firefight. To fuel the soldiers, he said, the commander made them
take amphetamines, washed down with whiskey. The troops, Naing recalled,
"got very happy."
In the encounter, each soldier was ordered to lob five grenades at the
enemy. Naing, whose forehead bears a shrapnel scar, said he was
sufficiently high on the drugs that at one point he was throwing stones.
With one grenade, he forgot to remove the pin that allows it to explode.
Then he was ordered to run forward exposed to enemy fire, retrieve the
grenade, take out the pin and throw it again. The battle killed his best
friend, 15.
Another time, after his unit had won a battle against ethnic Karenni
rebels, his commander wanted the area cleared of mines. About 40 Karenni
villagers were made to walk through the mined zone, he said. In the
ensuing explosions, some died and some lost their legs. Those who survived
were lined up. Naing said he and several other soldiers were ordered to
shoot them. They did.
"I'm very sorry," he said.
For much of Burma's history since it gained independence in 1948, the
national army has been fighting guerrilla armies fielded by ethnic groups
that want control of their own affairs and regions. Currently, army
operations consist largely of low-intensity conflicts against a handful of
opposition groups, notably the Shan State Army, the Karen National
Liberation Army and the Karenni Army.
The army has a major advantage in numbers over these groups, none of which
has more than 15,000 troops, according to Karen and Karenni officials and
Human Rights Watch, but they say the army still employs underage soldiers.
"Children are picked up off the street when they are 11 years old," said
Jo Becker, child advocacy director for Human Rights Watch. "Many have no
chance to contact their families and see their parents again. Everyone
that we had talked to had been beaten during the training. Most were
desperately unhappy."
The Burmese government denies the charges. "I am totally flabbergasted at
the assertions in the Human Rights Watch report," said Col. Hla Min,
deputy head of the Defense Ministry's international affairs department in
the capital, Rangoon. "The Myanmar Defense Forces does not recruit
underage and, in fact, MDF is a voluntary army. Today, after 98 percent of
all the insurgents have made peace with the government, there is not much
need for recruitment as accused by certain quarters."
In a faxed reply to a query, he stated that Burmese troops are now engaged
in work similar to that of the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps during the
Great Depression.
U Kyaw Tint Swe, Burma's ambassador to the United Nations, said in a
statement to the U.N. Security Council on Jan. 14 that "there is no
credible evidence of the use and recruitment of children by the Myanmar
armed forces."
U.S. policy is that people can enlist in the military at age 17, but must
be at least 18 to serve on front lines.
In an interview, a 19-year-old named Aung, who asked that his full name
not be used, said he was taken into the army in 1998 at age 14 after seven
years in an army-run prep camp, named Ye Nyunt. There he and others
learned to march in straight rows, clean guns and recognize land mines.
Aung was 9 when he first picked up a gun, a standard army-issue G-3. The
gun was taller than he was, he recalled.
Aung thought that after he finished his studies, he would become an army
captain. But one June day in 1998, when he was 14, a general showed up at
the school. All boys older than 13 who had not finished the 10th grade
were pulled aside. He and his schoolmates thought they were just being
sent to another class. Instead, they were trucked to a holding center in
Mandalay. "I got to the army by force," he said, "not voluntarily."
Aung said he first saw battle at the age of 15, and he was sick for three
days afterward. But he grew used to it: In the following two years, he
took part in seven major firefights and countless minor skirmishes, he
said.
The worse battle lasted from early morning into the evening, in the
village of Loi Lin Lay in 1999. The fighting began at the back of the
village and by afternoon had moved to the front, where he and his friend,
another 15-year-old, were deployed. By nightfall, most of his Burmese
counterparts were dead.
"During the fighting, you don't have time to think," he says. "Only shoot."
He said he felt powerless to resist. In the army, "if a bad person gives
an order, you have to follow it. If he says burn the village, you have to
burn it. If he says kill a person, you have to do it."
Naing Win, the boy soldier who recounted use of amphetamines, said in an
interview that he was picked up at a train station near Mandalay when he
was 15. Authorities found he had no identification card and gave him a
choice: Join the army or go to prison. He was forced into a truck with 40
other people, 16 of whom were boys. They were taken to an army base, then
to a holding camp for recruits.
If a boy refused to eat his food, was late or missed a task, the other
soldiers would often be forced to beat the victim with bamboo strips or a
whip, Naing said. There were other forms of punishment, the former
soldiers said, such as jumping in the sand like frogs for 10 minutes, or
lying flat on the ground and staring at the sun.
One boy was stripped naked, his hands and legs tied, Naing recalled. After
20 or 30 blows, his skin was bloody. An officer rubbed salt into the
wounds on his back. The boy screamed in pain. Hours later, he was dead.
But not all officers were harsh, said Kyaw, who recounted being plucked
for military service from a bus stop near Rangoon at age 11. One officer
let the boys watch videos, including James Bond movies. Others would
arrange surreptitious meetings between a youngster and his parents.
In the field, they had duties that included rounding up villagers in rebel
areas to serve as porters, the former soldiers said. Those who balked or
could not keep up were beaten or killed. Naing said he also witnessed
Karenni villagers being raped. A general told the soldiers that raping
women serves "to give the soldiers energy."
"Some of my friends said, 'It's okay. They're not Burmese. They're
Karenni.' " Once, he said, he saw a teenage girl being raped repeatedly in
an open field in the evening. First came the battalion leader, then a
bodyguard, then ordinary soldiers. She was screaming and crying. She was
left to die, he said.
All three of the former soldiers said they eventually deserted.
Naing fled in 1995, after six years in the army. He married a Karenni
woman and joined the Burma Patriotic Army, a group of 30 fellow deserters
whose aim is to oppose the central government in Rangoon. He said he has
pretty much abandoned hope of seeing his family in Mandalay province
again, unless there is a change in government. He still dreams about his
friend who was killed.
Aung escaped in May 2001. Today, he lives in a Thai town near the border
and works odd jobs. He is waiting for the political situation to change,
so that he can return home to Rangoon province. The only way he expects
that to be possible is if "people in the outside world put a lot of
pressure on the government."
And last September, after three years in uniform, Kyaw was bathing alone
in a stream near a waterfall. No one was watching. He bolted. After
walking for four hours, he reached a Karen village, where soldiers tied
his hands and punched him, thinking he might be a spy. After he convinced
a Karen officer that he was a true deserter, he was given refuge in a
border village.
He does not dare to go home. "They will put me in prison," he said. He has
no desire to resume studying. His only desire is to be a kickboxer one
day, like his favorite Burmese boxers Shwe da Win and Wan Chai. He says he
does not think much about the army. He has no nightmares. "I don't dream,"
he said.

MONEY

Xinhua News Agency February 10 2003

Japan to fund Myanmar's education sector

The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA),  Japanese government's
overseas aid agency, will fund Myanmar's basic education sector in the
fiscal year 2003-04 beginning April.

Spending about 20 million US dollars, the JICA will help Myanmar build
training centers and conduct information technology courses as well as
implement health care projects, the weekly Myanmar Times Monday quoted the
JICA as reporting. Despite reduction in its overall budget, JICA's
allocation for Myanmar for the current year remained unchanged, the report
said.

Myanmar is the 27th largest recipient of fund from the agency in 2000, the
13th largest in 2001 and the 9th largest in 2002.

The JICA's undertakings, which initially covered meeting basic human
needs, have been expanded to include assistance for infrastructural
development.

Japan is known as Myanmar's biggest donor country. It suspended its
Official Development Assistance (ODA) along with humanitarian aid in 1988
for political reason, but resumed in March 2001 its ODA to the country,
while its humanitarian aid was resumed earlier in 1995.

The ODA extended to Myanmar totaled 32.27 million dollars during the past
two years of 2001 and 2002, according to Japanese official figures.

Meanwhile, up to 2001, Japan provided aid for debt relief to Myanmar for
20 times including that of 3,594 million yens ( about 29.22 million
dollars) in 2001.

REGIONAL

British Broadcasting Corporation February 9 2003

Thaksin targets Burma drug trade
By Jonathan Head

The Prime Minister of Thailand, Thaksin Shinawatra, has gone to
neighbouring Burma in an attempt to persuade the military government there
to do more to curb the production of drugs.
The Thai authorities have launched a tough campaign against drug dealers,
which has seen more than 80 people shot dead in the past week.
Since he came to office two years ago, Mr Thaksin has tried to build a
more co-operative relationship with Burma, but his efforts have so far
done little to reduce the flow of narcotics into Thailand from
north-eastern Burma.
A former telecoms tycoon, Mr Thaksin likes to present himself as a man of
action - so he has given his government until the end of April to rid
Thailand of the scourge of drugs.
No surprise then, that drugs are at the top of his agenda during this
visit to Burma, also known as Myanmar.
But in keeping with his emphasis on co-operation and not confrontation, Mr
Thaksin will also be offering his Burmese counterparts help in developing
their tourist industry.
Rebel control
It is doubtful, though, whether the Thai prime minister will come home
with anything more than the promises of action which have been given many
times before by Burma's military rulers.
Most of the drugs coming into Thailand are produced in an area of Burma
controlled by the Wa ethnic minority, who have been given a free hand by
government troops in return for helping fight other ethnic rebel groups.
The Wa army still operates factories which churn out hundreds of millions
of highly addictive methamphetamine pills - most of which end up in
Thailand.
An added complication is that senior Thai officials are also believed to
be involved in the drugs trafficking.
The high-profile anti-drugs campaign launched last week by Mr Thaksin has
already resulted in the deaths of more than 80 alleged drug dealers - most
of them shot in fights with police or rival gangs.
But the powerful figures who really run this lucrative trade may remain
untouched.
__________

Deutsche Presse-Agentur February 10 2003

Thai PM declares Myanmar working visit a success

Thailand's Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has described his one-day
working visit to neighbouring Myanmar (Burma) as a success upon his return
to Bangkok on Monday.

Thaksin said he had the opportunity to hold discussions on a host of
issues with senior officials including General Than Shwe, chairman of
Myanmar's ruling junta, known as the State Peace and Development Council
(SPDC). "My talks with General Than Shwe primarily focussed on border
issues and how to improve the cooperation between our two countries," he
said.

If cooperation and communications along the common border could be
improved misunderstandings of the past that resulted in clashes between
the two countries' armies could be avoided, Thaksin reported.

"Furthermore, cross-border drug trafficking could be curbed more
effectively," he said.

To further develop bilateral trade in the long term the SPDC also agreed
to establish more land border crossings and build road links.

With regard to Thailand's concerns about thousands of illegal Myanmar
workers within her borders, Thaksin said he had reached an understanding
that the SPDC would accept back workers expelled from Thailand.

"In exchange Thailand will purchase increasing amounts of agricultural
goods to ease the financial burden of Myanmar by re-integrating these
workers," he said.

The prime minister also appealed to the junta to improve the dialogue with
Myanmar's democracy movement, the National League for Democracy led by
Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Full national reconciliation would not only benefit Myanmar but also
Thailand, as it would help solve the refugee problem," he said.
___________

Narinjara News February 8 2003

Burmese refugees’ hunger-strike in Dhaka:

Respite after talks with high officials
The two-day long hunger strike by the Burmese refugees in Bangladesh in
front of the UNHCR office in Dhaka, was broken yesterday evening after
holding talks with the Deputy Representative of the local UNHCR, according
to our correspondent.
The hunger-strikers have been given assurance for more formal talks as a
way to solve the present crisis resulting from either delay or rejection
by the Dhaka branch of UNHCR to recognize the Burmese Buddhist refugees
here who have been living under the most difficult circumstances in the
hilly border areas in the south-eastern part of Bangladesh. The talks,
scheduled to take place on Sunday, will be held between the three
representatives of the UNHCR and three representatives of the refugees, in
presence of the police commissioner, Mahfuzaur Rahman, as a mediator,
sources said.
Aung Tun Khaing, a mouthpiece of the refugees told Narinjara that they
have put forward three demands to the local chapter of the UNHCR:
Stoppage of giving lump sum grants to refugees for starting a micro business
Issue monthly subsistence allowance to those Burmese refugees recognized
by the UNHCR
To recognize the asylum seekers without making any delay
While inquired the refugees told that those who were given lump sum grants
to start their own micro businesses failed in their enterprises for many
causes including very little amount of start-up fund, language barrier
(the Burmese refugees have little knowledge of Bengali, the local
language), and also because there is no jobs available for them in the
local job market.
Though most of the refugees from Burma, most of whom are Rakhine
nationals, have been in the country since 1988 Burmese democracy movement,
only about sixty persons have been recognized by the UNHCR. In the jungles
of south-eastern Bangladesh there are at least five hundred Rakhine
refugees living unknown and unreported by any of the media or government
agencies, said Aung Tun Khaing.
He also demanded that a refugee has to wait for as much as one year to be
recognized as an asylum seeker, while many are rejected on vague grounds.
For most of the refugees who have fled the wreath of the ruling Burmese
State Peace and Development Council junta that is too long a period to
wait as they do not have either the personal security or the money needed
to shuttle between Dhaka and the jungles of the border areas.
Most of the hunger-strikers totalling about fifty persons included women
and small children, have not been recognized even after repeated requests
and visits made to the UNHCR authority, they demanded.
The Deputy Representative who has been newly posted said to them not to
"exert pressure, but come to table for talks in sorting out all the
differences of opinion and obstacles in a peaceful way." However, no UNHCR
officials were immediately available for comments as it was a weekly
holiday.
The refugees expressed their willingness to resort to another suicidal
‘fast unto death’ programme if their demands are not met peacefully and
reasonably on Sunday.
_____________

Kyodo News Service February 10 2003

ASEAN ministers plan urgent meeting if Iraq war breaks out
By Siti Rahil

Cambodian Foreign Minister Hor Namhong said Monday that foreign ministers
of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have
agreed to hold a urgent meeting to exchange views and coordinate positions
if the United States attacks Iraq.

'We have already agreed in principle to have a meeting among ASEAN foreign
ministers if the U.S. launches war against Iraq,' Hor Namhong told Kyodo
News in an interview.

He added that the meeting is likely to be held in Cambodia, which is
currently chair of the ASEAN Standing Committee. ASEAN, he said, is
concerned the war will have a major economic, political and security
impact on the whole world.

'The geopolitics of this region will change with the consequences of this
war, and I believe that terrorism will increase...ASEAN as a regional
grouping should have a view on such an event.'

Governments in the region are concerned about the reaction from their
Muslim populations should the United States go ahead with plans to strike
Iraq.

Indonesia has the world's largest Muslim population, Malaysia and Brunei
are majority Muslim, and countries like Thailand, the Philippines and
Singapore have sizable Muslim populations.

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

Hor Namhong said he was optimistic about the spirit of cooperation among
ASEAN countries, and added that the recent conflict between Cambodia and
Thailand over the burning of the Thai Embassy in Phnom Penh has not eroded
ASEAN unity.

'There is no more problem...We are in the same ASEAN family,' he said,
adding that ties between the two countries are returning to normal.

Hor Namhong, who is on a three-day working trip to Singapore, said his
country's problems with Thailand were not even discussed during his
meeting earlier in the day with Singapore's Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar.
_________

TV Myanmar February 9 2003

Burmese deputy foreign minister, delegation attend border meeting in Laos

A Myanmar Burma delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin Maung Win
attended the Third Meeting of Myanmar-Lao Border Authorities at Central
Level held in Laos People's Democratic Republic from 6 to 8 February.

Bilateral cooperation for maintenance of peace, stability, and law and
order, boundary inspection, transportation in a river between the two
countries, upgrading of border checkpoints between the two countries,
promotion of border trade, and promotion of mutual cooperation in
upgrading of road linkages between the two countries were discussed at the
meeting. At the end of the meeting on 7 February, minutes of the Third
Meeting of Myanmar-Lao Border Authorities at Central Level were signed by
the two deputy foreign ministers.

While in Laos, Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin Maung Win also held separate
discussions with Vice Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Somsavat
Lengsavat and Agriculture and Forestry Minister Dr Sian Saphangthong of
the Laos People's Democratic Republic.

The Myanmar delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin Maung Win
arrived back in Yangon Rangoon on the evening of 8 February.

The delegation was welcomed at Yangon International Airport by Foreign
Minister U Win Aung, director generals and responsible personnel from the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Charge d'Affaires ad interim Mr Khamsouay
of the Lao Embassy in Yangon.
____________________

Kyodo New Service February 10 2003

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON BURMA TO BE HELD IN JAPAN 15 FEB

An international conference aimed at facilitating restoration of
democratic rule in Myanmar Burma will be held Saturday 15 February in
Tokyo under the auspices of the United Nations, diplomatic sources said
Monday.

The sources said participants in the closed-door conference to be held at
the United Nations University in central Tokyo will include government
representatives of Japan, members of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations (ASEAN), and Western countries such as the United States,
Australia and Britain.

The meeting will be neither joined by representatives of the ruling State
Peace and Development Council nor the National League for Democracy of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, but will include UN special envoy
Razali Ismail. Razali has been endeavouring to bring Myanmar's ruling
generals and their formidable opponent Suu Kyi together to engage in a
substantive political dialogue that would lead to national reconciliation
in Myanmar.

A diplomatic source said it is hoped the Tokyo meeting will help
jump-start the so-called "Razali process", which he said has recently been
losing momentum.

"At the rate things are going now, the Razali process cannot be expected
to yield results, and the support of the international community is
indispensable," the source said.

He said it is also timed to occur ahead of Razali's 10th visit to Myanmar,
which is set to take place late this month.

Razali, who brokered dialogue between the junta and Suu Kyi that led to
her release from almost 20 months of house arrest in May of last year,
last visited Myanmar in mid-November.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Razali his special envoy to
Myanmar in April 2000 to break the deadlock. He succeeded in bringing the
NLD and the military government to the negotiating table during his second
visit in October 2000.

Hundreds of political prisoners, mostly NLD members, have since been set
free but dialogue between the junta and the NLD is said to be still in the
confidence-building stage and the two sides have yet to enter into
substantial political talks.

STATEMENTS

Nation February 10 2003

The big dangers of can-do diplomacy
By Kavi Chongkittavorn

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has blown hot and cold, playing good guy
and bad guy in handling relations with neighbouring countries. He uses
different styles and rhetoric in handling Cambodia and Burma.

Despite the early faux pas of a plan to dispatch commando assault units in
reaction to Cambodia's burning of the Thai Embassy and business
establishments, his gutsy reactions have won kudos from the public. For
now, nobody will question him over the long-term prospects of his
toughness about Thai-Cambodian relations. He is riding high on Thai
nationalist sentiment. The evacuation of the Thai ambassador, his staff
and over 700 Thai residents from Cambodia on January 30 represented one of
the biggest crises Thailand has encountered in recent times. In two border
skirmishes with Laos in the late 1980s and one with Burma, casualties were
confined to combat troops.

Like his predecessors, Thaksin took advantage of the prevailing situation.
Former prime ministers MR Kukrit Pramoj, General Kriangsak Chamanand and
Chatichai Choonhavan did the same as continental Southeast Asia went
through sea changes.

Kukrit asked US troops to leave and to vacant their bases. Kriangsak
befriended former communist Indochinese countries and left it to Chatichai
to turn the war-ravaged area into a market-place.

None of these leaders was as aggressive or media-conscious as the current
prime minister. They did not talk tough, but they were firm. To get what
they wanted, they cooked, sang and did the ramwong folk dance with
neighbouring countries.

In contrast to his approach to Cambodia, Thaksin has been appeasing the
Burmese leaders since he came to power in 2001. He turned the previous
government's Burmese policy upside down and inside out. Economic and
business affairs are the only topic that concerns him. If Burma's economic
condition improves, he believes unwaveringly, everything else will be fine
and dandy, especially the influx of drugs and illegal workers.

In his special lecture last Wednesday at the army's headquarters, he
talked of Thailand's pre-eminent position in the region. This has brought
such problems as narcotics and illegal migrants to Thailand.

"We have to help our neighbours better their economies by expanding Thai
production bases to neighbouring countries, especially in agriculture and
small factories. This way Thailand can improve relations with these
countries and meanwhile prevent illegal immigrants from pouring into
Thailand," he said.

That was well said, and many leaders before him had said the same. But it
is almost impossible to bring the vision to reality.

Today Thaksin is in Burma. His main task is to convince the Burmese to
increase anti-narcotics cooperation with Thailand. Two years of
wait-and-see have elapsed, and the influx of amphetamine pills from Burma
continues unabated. He has got tough on drugs on the home front. Will he
get tough on Burma?

After Thaksin declared war on drugs, a rampage of extrajudicial killings
fast became the norm. Closed to a hundred people have been blown away in
the 10 days since the campaign opened. Now, Thailand is one of the world's
worse human-rights violators.

Thaksin's close aides confide in private that he is losing patience. They
feel that Thaksin and the Burmese junta leaders have created enough
rapport in the past two years to make a difference on drug suppression. It
is payback time. Everybody knows that Thaksin's plan will not work if
Burma continues to pay only lip service.

Obviously Thaksin wants fast and tangible results on drugs. He wants them
now, not in 2015 when the countries in the region say they will attain a
drug-free zone.

As his populist policies face increased public scrutiny and mounting
obstacles, he needs a dramatic outcome for the anti-drug campaign.

Let the truth be told. The Burmese leaders seldom divert their foreign
policy or domestic objectives at the behest of foreign countries - let
alone Thaksin's Thailand. After all, Burma is not a democracy, and the
leaders do not have to respond to public sentiment or voters in their
constituencies.

Whatever Thaksin chooses to do with Burma will have far-reaching
repercussions on Thai diplomacy towards other neighbouring countries.
After all, he is now running everything. A can-do mentality and
intuition-driven diplomacy can produce spectacular public support in a
flash but are unsustainable in the long run.

Apart from Burma, the effort to mend fences between Thailand and Cambodia
and negotiations over compensation will tell how effective Thaksin's brand
of diplomacy is - concentrating on four-eye meetings and completely
ignoring people-to-people diplomacy.

In addition Thailand is hosting the Asian Dialogue Cooperation and the
Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation in the coming months. Thaksin's great
desire to lead Asia will be also be tested.

Thai history gives good insights. Whenever Thailand asserts itself
diplomatically and expands economically with strong-minded and
self-centred leaders, the country ends up in conflict with its neighbours.
___________

Amnesty International February 10 2003

Myanmar: Amnesty International welcomes first visit, calls for further 
improvements After its first ever visit to Myanmar, Amnesty International
called upon  the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC, Myanmar's
military  government), to release immediately and unconditionally all
prisoners of  conscience still held throughout the country.

"The continued imprisonment of between 1200 - 1300 political prisoners,
many of whom we believe are prisoners of conscience, held solely for their
peaceful, political activities, was one of the key issues  discussed with
the local authorities," Amnesty International said during a press
conference held today in Bangkok, Thailand.

The organization, which had been requesting access to Myanmar since 1988,
welcomed the efforts made by the government officials in Myanmar to
accommodate the delegation's requests and the frank discussions it held
with Ministers, police and prison officials.

During the visit, Amnesty International's delegation also met with
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi - in her capacity as General Secretary of the
National League for Democracy (NLD) and with members and supporters of the
NLD. The delegates talked to representatives of various international
organizations and the diplomatic and business communities as well as
visited detention facilities, including Insein Prison in Yangon and the
Guard Ward at the Yangon General Hospital.

The delegation's meeting with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi took place on 31
January at her residence.

"We discussed various issues of mutual concern during a cordial
two-hour-meeting," Amnesty International said explaining that the content
of the discussions is confidential, as agreed with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

Amnesty International views this visit as the start of a process,  which
should result in the organization's return to the country for  research
purposes.

"One of our key objectives on this visit was to meet with as many people
in Yangon as possible, and to lay the groundwork for travel to other parts
of the country to conduct research later this year," the organization
continued.

At the end of the visit, the delegates offered written recommendations for
immediate action to alleviate suffering in prisons and detention
facilities, specifically that all prisoners including those held for
political reasons should have access to reading and writing materials  and
should not be held in isolation.

During the meetings with SPDC offficials, Amnesty International also
raised cases of recently arrested political prisoners and appealed for the
immediate release on humanitarian grounds of one such prisoner held in
Insein Prison in Yangon with her 18 month old child.

The organization awaits an early response from the SPDC to its 
recommendations.

Amnesty International's concerns in Myanmar are wide-ranging, and its
discussions touched on many different issues, while focusing on the 
administration of justice.

"Without good laws, appropriate policing, fair trials, and humane 
conditions of detention, violations can and will continue, violators will
remain unpunished and victims will have no chance of gaining redress,"
Amnesty International said.
Background
The visit took place between 30 January and 8 February 2003. It was
Amnesty International's first visit to Myanmar. The delegates for this
mission were Demelza Stubbings, Program Director for the Asia Pacific 
Region; and Donna Guest, Researcher on Myanmar and Thailand.

It is Amnesty International's policy to seek visits to all countries
around the world, in order to investigate the human rights situation, and
to hold talks with the authorities and other actors with the aim of
protecting and promoting human rights.


For an official statement of the head of the delegation made during the
press conference in Bangkok, visit our website www.amnesty.org or
www.news.amnesty.org (ASA 16/005/2003).
_____________

Arakan Historical Society February 9 2003

Arakan Historical Society deplores recent anti-Muslim violence
in Myanmar

Arakan Historical Society, Chittagong would like to express its deep
concern over the recent anti-Muslim violence in Central Myanmar (Burma)
led by some hoodlums in guise of Buddhist monks.
Attention of the Arakan Historical Society has been drawn on a news item
posted in the Burmanet News on February 5, 2003 that a large group of
people led by some 20 hoodlums in guise of monks attacked Enn Ywa, a
Muslim village of Katha Township under Sagain division on 25th January
2003. The mob suspected to be members of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA), which has the support of the SPDC, set
ablaze at least 45 Muslim houses including one mosque and a madarasa
religious school and abducted 32 students to an unknown place. The
students reportedly include boys and girls of different age whose
whereabouts has so far remained unknown.
The same Netnews, quoting the Democratic Voice of Burma dateline February
5, 2003, also carried that books fanning anti-Muslim sentiments with the
caption “We are afraid that our race will disappear” have been found on
display for sale in the book stalls of Kyaukse at a price tag of Kyat.
100/- which is unprecedented and also in clear defiance of the Information
Committee of the regime.
In Myanmar, no printed material could be published without the prior
approval from the censor division of Press and Information Ministry of the
State Peace and Development Council. And persons found violating the law
could be sentenced to severe punishment.
Arakan Historical Society would urge the ruling regime of Myanmar to
protect the live and properties of its Muslim community from the unruly
attacks which could lead to further religious violence across the country
as was reported in the past.
The Society would also like to draw the attention of the world community
to the plight of Muslim community in general and the Rohingya in
particular of Myanmar and would appeal to caution the ruling regime of the
continued violations of human rights and citizenship rights and cooperate
with the international community to work together for establishment of
stable state.
__________

All Women Movement Committee of Burma February 7 2003

Felicitation for Daw Aung San Suu Kyi Winning the Al Neuharth Free Spirit
Award

On behalf of the women of Burma, we, All Women Movement Committee of
Burma, would like to say thank to the United States based Freedom Forum
for honoring the “Al Neuharth Free Spirit Award” to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.

The Al Neuharth Free Spirit Award is, in fact, an award honoring for those
who has stirred the public’s hearts and souls by demonstrating the human
capacity to dream, dare and do. The Freedom Forum’s honor such an award to
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi means exhibition that the world is watching the
ruling State Peace and Development Council’s human rights violations to
the people of Burma including women, the injustice and the persecution to
the political movement in Burma. Furthermore, it is highlighting the
global families to watch carefully to the critical situations in Burma, we
do believed.

For honoring such an award to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the State Peace and
Development Council needs to consider gravely and to ultimately put an end
the personal oppressions onto Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. So we, All Women
Movement Committee of Burma, urged solemnly to the State Peace and
Development Council to start immediately the talks with Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi regarding to the people of Burma.

And we, All Women Movement Committee of Burma, would like to state here
that we will continue the struggle together with Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in
order to obtain freedom and peace in Burma.