BurmaNet News: May 15 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

May 15 2003 Issue #2237

INSIDE BURMA

DVB: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Phakant
IHT: The mysterious power of the white elephant

DRUGS

Radio Myanmar: Burmese authorities seize over 10,000 stimulants in east

REGIONAL

Xinhua: Myanmar-Thai meeting on illegal workers ends in Myanmar
Bangkok Post: Talks next week on road transport links, new border bridge
BBC: Alert sounds for turtles and tortoises

INTERNATIONAL

IPS: Razali to push dialogue again
Keralanext.com: Russia eyes East Asian weapons market
M2: ILO and Myanmar agree on facilitator to help end forced labor
Straits Times: Trade ties: every little step counts
Irrawaddy: Germans repatriate Burmese man

INSIDE BURMA

Democratic Voice of Burma May 14 2003

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi in Phakant
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team who arrived in Phakant, Kachin State
yesterday evening raised the signboard of the NLD Phakant Township office
at 9 o’clock this morning.

A local resident told the DVB that she then gave a speech to the
supporters and continued to Tanaing at about 11am.

As the local authorities are limiting the use of telephone during this
trip, the correspondences between Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the NLD office
in Rangoon tend to be always late, according to the NLD’s spokesman, U
Lwin. Therefore, we contacted Phakant directly to find out the latest
situation of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s trip and local resident told the DVB
as follows:

DVB : Has she left Phakant?

A Phakant resident : Yes, at 11am.

DVB : She was allowed to raise the signboard of the local NLD office?

A Phakant resident : Yes.

DVB : Did you hear what she said to the people?

A Phakant resident : Yes, I did. She gave a speech as soon as she arrived
in the evening. This morning, she gave another around 9am.

DVB : How many people went to see her?

A Phakant resident : There were many people. I don’t know about Lone Khing
area.

DVB : She addressed to the people at two places?

A Phakant resident : Yes. In this area, the streets were full of people.
There were many people.

U Lwin said that he only heard that she had arrived at Lone Khing area
yesterday and he hasn’t heard the latest situation of today. Yesterday, at
Lone Khing, about 10,000 people welcomed and greeted her and U Lwin
summarised her speech at Lone Khing as follows:

U Lwin : Lone Khing is quite a big village. Villagers from the
neighbouring areas also came to welcome her in numbers. There were more
than 10,000 people, I was told. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi talked there for
awhile. She gave some short comments in accordance with the needs of the
location. The place was full of people who came to work there. She said
that on the way people greeted her ‘may our mother be healthy’. As a
mother, I want to greet you also that may you all be healthy, she said.
Take care of your health. As Phakant is full of people from all over the
country, I have heard that HVI/AIDS disease is rampant. Please take care
of yourself. Medicine San Frontier [MSF] from France and ACD from Holland
were there and the people have the chance for medical treatments. She told
them to learn the precautions against the disease and the like. She said
these at Lone Khing.

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team will be arriving at Tanaing after 9pm and if
the condition of the road is bad they could be as late as midnight, said a
local resident. Tomorrow, they are expected to raise the signboard of NLD
Tanaing Township office and they will continue to Myikyina from Tanaing.

In order to harass and hamper the progress of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and
team at Tanaing, Myitkyina and Momeik, members of the Intelligence Service
and the USDA are systematically preparing their plans. The Tanaing NLD’s
chairman, U Kason Sinwa Naw was summoned and warned today by the local
authority chairman not to welcome her with brass bands and not to use
amplifiers and sound boxes at the stage when Daw Aung San Suu Kyi arrives.
The commander and members of No. 8 Intelligence Base are arriving in
advance at Tanaing and they are discussing how to harass Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi and team. At Momeik, Members of the USDA are taking field trips to
every village and rallying the villagers not to welcome Daw Aung San Suu
Kyi and team and they are preparing for the harassments at potential
places where she might deliver her speeches. Last Friday, the local
authority chairman summoned and warned the Momeik NLD’s chairman, U Myint
Swe and in the evening, members of the USDA smashed and destroyed wooden
sticks intended for holding NLD office signboard.

At Myikyina, four truckloads of USDA members are being organised and they
are discussing to disrupt and harass Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team when
they arrive tomorrow, on the 15th of May. These plans are not only being
prepared in Kachin State, but also the team was being harassed and
hampered in various ways when they visited Indaw and Katha in Sagaing
Division last week. Then, on the evening of 13th of May, U Htay Aung, the
secretary of Katha District USDA gave the people who took part in the
harassments a grand dinner party as celebration.

On the 5th of May, the chairman of Myaing Township authority, Magwe
Division summoned and instructed civil servants in the morning, and
members of local authorities [Ya-Ya-Kas] in the evening - not to welcome
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and not to go outside their homes when she comes.
Members of Ya-Ya-Kas were told to prepare so that local people could not
come out of their homes for the welcome. Although, the chairman of Myaing
Township local authority is preparing and working hard to stop people from
welcoming the team, it is still not known if Daw Aung San Suu Kyi will
visit Myaing during this trip, a local resident told the DVB.

Meanwhile, it is reported that members of Pakkoku’s government sponsored
People’s Power Holders are giving trainings in handling catapults, ropes,
bamboo spikes and assault techniques with the excuse of maintaining local
security. The trainings have been given at No.9. State Primary School,
Pakkoku since the previous two weeks. The local USDA members, 20 members
from each ward were forced to attend as trainees and each trainee is given
300 kyats per day. Although the trainings are claimed to be for the
security and defence of the local communities, its real aims are to put
down riots and to intimidate local people with force. A local resident
said that the trainings are the preparations by the SPDC for the purpose
of harassing and taunting Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team who are coming to
the town soon because there was no training like this and these trainings
are given just before Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and team are coming to the
town.

DRUGS

Radio Myanmar May 14 2003

BURMESE AUTHORITIES SEIZE OVER 10,000 STIMULANTS IN EAST

A combined team comprising members from the local intelligence unit and
Myanmar Police Force, acting on information checked vehicles at Thanlwin
Bridge in Pa-an on 25 April.

The team found 11,302 stimulant tablets from passenger Win Naing, son of U
Tin Aung of Yankok Village, Kawkareik Township on board a Hilux vehicle,
license plate Na/7067.

Action is being taken against the offender under the Narcotic Drugs and
Psychotropic Substances Law by the police stations concerned.
__________

International Herald Tribune May 15 2003

The mysterious power of the white elephant
By Paul Spencer Sohcazewski

RANGOON From 1549 to 1769, the kings of Thailand, Cambodia and Burma
fought a series of wars over who had the greatest number of white
elephants. In fact, white elephant-related plunder was partly responsible
for the building of Burma's national symbol, the golden stupa of the
Shwedagon pagoda in Rangoon.

I recently strolled around this spectacular structure with a Burmese
friend as he shielded his eyes from the reflection. "It's said that there
is more gold on the Shwedagon Pagoda than in the vaults of the Bank of
England," he told me, obviously in awe of both the religious importance of
the site and the quantity of gold leaf on the stupa. Much of Shwedagon's
gold was taken from Thailand in the white elephant wars.

How, I wondered, could two and half centuries of bloodshed be consecrated
to a symbol of the peaceful Lord Buddha?

The white elephant, according to Buddhist belief, represents the
penultimate incarnation of Gautama Buddha before he was born to Queen
Maya. But it also plays significant social and geopolitical roles. U Toke
Gale, Burma's leading elephant expert, explained: "The white elephant has
always been a symbol not just of Buddhism, but of prestige, prosperity and
political power."

Thailand's revered constitutional monarch, King Bhumibol Adulyadej,
reportedly has eight white elephants. Laos is said to have only two and
Cambodia none at all.

Burma says it has three white elephants. The military government, which
has been widely criticized for its repression and is struggling with a
host of economic problems, is not shy about using the elephants as symbols
of legitimacy and progress.

The retired Burmese army officer who is responsible for capturing and
maintaining the precious animals insists that they "only appear during the
reign of the righteous leaders" and that their presence signifies "a new
renaissance" for Burma.

The country's official newspaper, New Light of Myanmar - Myanmar is
Burma's official name - states: "Throughout history, white elephants
emerged during the time of Myanmar kings and governments who ruled the
nation discharging the 10 kingly duties. The white elephant is a good omen
when the state is endeavoring to build a peaceful, modern and developed
nation."

Capturing a symbol of rebirth in Burma is serious business. U Saw Sei, the
veterinarian who tranquilized Rati Marlar (Precious Flower), Burma's third
white elephant, in July 2002, related how frightened he was. "If you don't
capture it," he was led to understand, "don't come back home."

Precious Flower is a beautiful animal, with fair skin the color of pinkish
sand, white eyelashes and pearl-colored eyes. She has five toenails on the
front feet and four on the back. It is rare for a white elephant to be so
easily discernible. Most "white" elephants are not white at all and it can
be difficult for the uninitiated to tell at a glance that they are viewing
an incarnation of Lord Buddha.

White elephant experts say that for a white elephant to be genuine the
skin has to turn red, not black, when sprayed with water, the tail and
trunk should be straight and long, and the eyes must have yellow irises
enclosed by red rings. Some of the more mystical authorities even insist
that a white elephant must not snore but should emit the gentle sounds of
Burmese and Thai classical musical instruments.

My Burmese friend, who has lived through the British colonial period, the
Japanese military occupation and a succession of postcolonial governments,
thinks the presence of a few white elephants in Burma doesn't mean much.

"If you meditate and do good work then good fortune will come - you will
be judged by your actions," he replied obliquely when asked about Buddhism
and the future of the current military regime.

Paul Spencer Sochaczewski wrote about white elephants and the powers of
kings in his book "Soul of the Tiger: Searching for Nature's Answers in
Southeast Asia," co-authored with Jeffrey A. McNeely.

REGIONAL

Xinhua News Agency May 15 2003

Myanmar-Thai meeting on illegal workers ends in Myanmar

The fifth meeting of the Myanmar-Thai Joint Task Force on illegal workers
in Thailand has ended in Bagan, Myanmar's Mandalay division, state-run
newspaper the New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

The meeting, jointly chaired by Myanmar Deputy Foreign Minister U Khin
Maung Win and Permanent Secretary of the Thai Foreign Ministry Tej Bunnag,
covered repatriation of illegal Myanmar workers from Thailand and drafting
of a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in the employment of
workers.

The Myanmar-Thai joint task force on illegal workers was set up in
February 2002 along with the establishment of a Leading Committee of
Myanmar, headed by First Secretary of the State Peace and Development
Council General Khin Nyunt, on receiving illegal Myanmar immigrants
working in Thailand.

According to Myanmar statistics, altogether 9,554 illegal Myanmar workers
have been repatriated to Myanmar from Thailand since February 2002 up to
April 26 this year.

The returnees, coming back through reception camps opened by the Myanmar
government in the border town of Myawaddy in Kayin state, included 6,123
men, 3,102 women and 329 children.

It was reported that there are 140,000 Myanmar refugees and more than
400,000 Myanmar illegal immigrants in Thailand.
________________

Bangkok Post May 15 2003

TALKS NEXT WEEK ON ROAD TRANSPORT LINKS, NEW BORDER BRIDGE
By Achara Ashayagachat

Thailand and Burma will hold talks on road transport links and cooperation
against drugs during next week's launch of a project to build a second
Thai-Burmese friendship bridge.

The new bridge _ 90m long and 14m wide _ will link Mae Sai in Chiang Rai
with Burma's Tachilek border town. Thailand would pay 38 million baht to
fund its construction due to be completed in one year. Foreign Minister
Surakiart Sathirathai and Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, secretary one of Burma's
ruling State Peace and Development Council, will on Monday discuss the
bridge construction and decide on routing of road transport links from Mae
Sot in Tak province to Myawaddy's Kawkareik and Pa-an in Burma.

Thailand favoured that route because it could be linked with the East-West
Corridor in Laos and Vietnam.

Bangkok has pledged 300 million baht to help fund the repair and
construction of only a 65km stretch from Myawaddy to Kawkareik, not the
entire 160km route to Pa-an.

Rangoon preferred another route linking Kanchanaburi with Tavoy in Burma
where a deep-sea port was being developed.

Mr Surakiart would also discuss a crop substitution programme for Burma,
to which Bangkok has provided 20 million baht in aid, as well as other
cooperation schemes to rid the Thai-Burmese border of illicit drugs.

Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt would take Mr Surakiart on a helicopter tour to see
progress in the development of Muang Yong Kha town in Shan state, located
some 50km from Tachilek.

Mr Surakiart would also meet his Burmese counterpart, Win Aung, to discuss
ways to hold a summit between Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand to boost
economic development in the region.

The idea was raised by Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra during an
informal Asean summit on Sars in Bangkok.

Mr Surakiart would also sign an agreement on the construction of the
second friendship bridge at Ban Sanphak-hi in Mae Sai.

The new bridge is expected to help ease traffic on the existing friendship
bridge, situated about two kilometres away, which is too narrow to be
expanded.
_____________

BBC May 15 2003

Alert sounds for turtles and tortoises
By Alex Kirby

BBC News Online Growing human pressure means the survival of two-thirds of
the world's tortoises and freshwater turtles is under threat,
conservationists say.
They are launching a $5m campaign to try to save the 25 most endangered
species.
The greatest threat is the use of the reptiles for food and Far Eastern
traditional medicine.
Scientists say some species could be driven to extinction within 20 years.
The campaign is the work of the Turtle Conservation Fund (TCF), set up by
the Center for Applied Biodiversity Science (Cabs), based at Conservation
International, and two partners of IUCN-The World Conservation Union.
They are the Turtle Survival Alliance, and the Tortoise and Freshwater
Turtle Specialist Group.
Critical list
It does not include the eight marine turtle species. Dr Kurt Buhlmann, TCF
executive director, told BBC News Online: "Substantial resources and study
have been expended for the marine turtles, but not for the smaller but no
less charismatic freshwater turtles."
The fund's list of the 25 species at highest risk includes:
the Roti snake-necked turtle of Indonesia, driven to commercial extinction
by the pet trade
the Chinese three-striped box turtle, hunted with dogs for use in making
supposedly cancer-curing soup and jelly
the Burmese star tortoise, now protected by Buddhist monks
the southern speckled padloper tortoise of South Africa, which grows to a
maximum length of four inches (10 cm)
the yellow-blotched map turtle of Mississippi, shot for fun by US sportsmen.
The fund says 200 of the world's 300 surviving tortoises and freshwater
turtles are threatened and need protection, with human exploitation and
development-related pressures a growing danger.
It says: "Of particular concern is the unrelenting demand from the Asian
food and traditional medicine market, with more than half of the
continent's 90 species endangered or critically endangered.
"Tonnes of live turtles are imported each day to southern China... The
non-sustainable harvest has decimated natural populations near the
consumer source... and is now even beginning to impact turtles in North
America, Africa, Europe and elsewhere."
Hundreds of thousands of adult and hatchling snapping and softshell
turtles have been exported from the US to China for food in the last
decade.
Frank Momberg is the Vietnam country programme director for Fauna & Flora
International, based in Cambridge, UK.
Ignorance is total
He told BBC News Online: "Borneo is already empty of turtles, the trade is
going into Myanmar, the whole of Asia is being emptied out for China.
"That's where the volume trade is, but there's also local consumption in
Vietnam. I've been invited to turtle feasts by forest department
officials.
"I've seen macho youths slitting the throats of softshelled turtles and
letting the blood drip into glasses of rice wine. There's no awareness
whatsoever."
Other threats include habitat loss, the pet trade, alien species,
pollution, and introduced pathogens.
Twenty-one of the 25 listed species live in 11 of the world's 25
"biodiversity hotspots", areas which house the greatest number of species
and yet face the severest threats.
Lone warning
The fund hopes to raise $5.6m to implement its five-year action plan,
which will include captive breeding, turtle farming, research and
monitoring, and sustainable harvest programmes.
Nine turtle and tortoise species have been driven to extinction in the
modern era, including seven giant tortoises from Africa and Latin America.
An eighth, the Abingdon Island giant tortoise of the Galapagos, is
represented by one survivor named Lonesome George, who may survive another
century in solitary state.

INTERNATIONAL

Inter Press Service May 15 2003

Razali to Push Dialogue Again
By Larry Jagan

UN special envoy to Burma Razali Ismail plans to return to Rangoon in
June, after an absence of more than six months. His arrival will mark yet
another opportunity for the UN to jumpstart the stalled dialogue between
the generals and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
Burmese government spokesman Col Hla Min announced this week that the
regime gave Razali permission to return to Burma on June 6 for a four day
visit, his tenth since taking the post in April 2000.
Razali has been trying for months to return to Burma to help restart the
process, but the generals have rebuffed his repeated attempts to visit the
country over the past three months. The authorities continually found
excuses—the country’s banking crisis, the visit by the UN human rights
rapporteur Paulo Pinheiro or trips abroad by key government ministers—to
delay his visit.
In the past few weeks, the UN envoy has begun to express his frustration
and annoyance publicly. “I am perplexed and disappointed,” he said on a
recent trip to Bangkok where he met the Thai foreign minister. “I thought
I was a good friend to all sides so I can't understand why I’m unable to
visit,” he said.
The UN envoy was largely responsible for brokering secret talks between
the two sides more than two years ago, while the opposition leader was
under house arrest.
He also convinced the Burmese generals to free Suu Kyi a year ago. But
since then, there has been little contact between the military government
and the opposition leader.
“There’s nothing happening on the political front,” said an Asian diplomat
in Rangoon. “The whole national reconciliation process has stalled and
needs Razali to return to give it new momentum.”
Since Razali started his diplomatic mission more than three years ago, he
has visited Rangoon every three months or so. “It is crucial that I see
all parties involved in the dialogue process as regularly as possible,”
Razali emphasized recently.
It will now be more than six months since his last visit—his longest
interval between trips. Diplomats in Rangoon believe the military regime’s
reluctance to allow the UN envoy to return to Burma is a clear sign that
the dialogue process is in real trouble. So Razali will be returning to
Burma at a very crucial time.
There has been no real contact between the two sides for more than six
months. In recent weeks there had been fears that the dialogue process was
degenerating into a war of words between the two sides, fought through
press conferences and prepared statements.
Four weeks ago, Suu Kyi went on the offensive for the first time since her
release last May. She publicly accused the military government of not
being sincere in their promises to introduce democratic reform.
“I have come to the conclusion that the SPDC [State Peace and Development
Council] is not interested in national reconciliation,” she told reporters
in Rangoon.
Since Suu Kyi’s statements there have been signs that the military
government is anxious to repair its relations with the opposition leader.
These signs include the release of more than 20 political prisoners in
early May this year.
Diplomats in Rangoon also expected a face-to-face meeting to take place
between Suu Kyi and senior representatives of the military government, but
this does not appear to have happened.
It is unlikely to take place now, as the opposition leader is touring
Burma’s northern Kachin State and is not due back until just before
Razali’s scheduled arrival in Rangoon. But even if the regime seems to
have mellowed by allowing Razali to return to Rangoon for meetings with
both sides, there is still no sign that Burma’s top generals are prepared
to start the serious political talks they promised after Suu Kyi’s release
from house arrest.
According to UN officials, Razali hopes to be able to convince them to do
just that on this trip. But Razali will have his work cut out for him.
“Razali is likely to be exploring ways in which the two sides can actively
cooperate with each other as a preliminary stage before substantive
political negotiations,” said a UN official.
The envoy is anxious to find ways of moving the process from
confidence-building to active cooperation between the regime and the
opposition. Such a move could lead to substantive talks.
He is likely to try resurrecting some of the recommendations he has made
to both sides in the past. “He’s looking for a project or two for both
sides to work together on,” UN officials in New York said privately.
Razali is believed to feel there is scope now to pursue such projects,
since the humanitarian crisis is rapidly worsening and both sides realize
Burma’s desperate need for humanitarian and development assistance.
Both the opposition leader and the senior military officials say they
should cooperate on humanitarian and development issues like AIDS, health
and education. “They [the generals] have shown that they are not willing
to cooperate with us in matters of humanitarian aid,” Suu Kyi told a press
conference in Rangoon last month.
“The government actively welcomes meaningful and constructive help in all
areas of national development—particularly in education, health care and
economic development,” said Col Hla Min in a recent statement to the
international press.
Razali remains convinced that he can help all sides in the reconciliation
process: the government, the opposition and ethnic minorities too.
Diplomats feel that the generals and Suu Kyi are unable to talk to each
other without some form of international mediation, and without mediation
Burma’s political deadlock will never be resolved.
UN officials insist the organization has a important role to play in all
conflict situations, one that goes beyond mere facilitation. In recent
months the international community has also begun to suggest that Razali’s
role should be boosted.
Now Razali will have another opportunity to see if he can help push the
dialogue process forward. Interestingly, the Burmese authorities agreed to
the upcoming trip as the US and the European Union began to seriously
consider increased sanctions against Rangoon due to the political impasse.
____________

Keralanext.com May 14 2003
Russia eyes East Asian weapons market
Sydney: Russia is stepping up diplomatic efforts to secure a bigger
foothold in the flourishing East Asian weapons trade as it quietly
capitalizes on the region's ambivalence toward the U.S.-led invasions of
Iraq and Afghanistan.
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Vietnam are among the targets of a
marketing blitz aimed at winning new friends for Moscow and restoring
defence industries that straddled the world during the Soviet era but are
now in serious decline.
Drawn up in the mid-1990s but disrupted by the 1997 Asian economic crisis,
the strategy has been revived as part of a redefining of Russian security
interests, as planners confront post-Cold War uncertainties and shifting
alliances.
Analysts say Moscow is keen to establish a foothold in Southeast Asia, and
to even court traditional U.S. allies farther to the north, to counter
China's billowing economic influence and defuse a multitude of threats to
its own borders.
"Essentially they are picking up where they left off in 1997, but with the
added challenge [of] responding to global terrorism tensions in a regional
context," said a West European diplomat.
"Undoubtedly the transfer of military technology is a core instrument of
Russian diplomatic policy, as it was right through the communist era, and
of course it was particularly the case from Asia's perspective."
East Asia is of strategic interest to Russian planners because of its
growing economic clout and the disenchantment evident in much of the
Islamic world with Washington's aggressive foreign policies.
President Megawati Sukarnoputri of Indonesia, the fiercest critic of U.S.
intervention in Iraq, will visit Moscow next week for bilateral talks that
are expected to touch on the possible acquisition of fighter jets, air
defence systems and helicopters.
Jakarta has been denied U.S. weapons since 1999 in retaliation for its
poor human-rights record in East Timor and other restive provinces.
Conservative legislators in Washington have blocked Indonesia's efforts to
have the blockade lifted.
Malaysia, another predominantly Muslim state, signed a US$48 million
contract in April for multi-role fighter aircraft that will be delivered
during the next three years from a joint Russia-Indian plant.
Already equipped with Russian MiG-29 fighter jets, Kuala Lumpur is
believed to be considering other acquisitions from Russia, ranging from
battlefield tanks to submarines and missile batteries.
Vietnam, a staunch ally from the Soviet era, purchased several patrol
boats last year and relies heavily upon Russian technicians to refurbish
its mostly 1970s military technology, including jets, tanks and artillery.
Even Thailand, the closest U.S. ally in Southeast Asia, is considering
buying Russian equipment as an alternative to the equally cheap Chinese
weapons, which are generally of poor quality and have not lived up to
pre-sale expectations.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra led a delegation of service chiefs to
Moscow in October that revealed a different ploy by cash-strapped Russia
to open up new markets: barter exchanges.
"They have offered to repay a $70 million obligation from purchases of
Thai rice with a package of satellite technology and military equipment,
and the purpose of the visit was to evaluate the equipment. There is no
commitment to buy weapons, as this was an exploratory trip," Defence
Minister General Thammarak Isarangkura na Ayudhaya said on his return.
Russia already matches the U.S. deliveries of artillery, armour and
helicopters to the Asia-Pacific region, but lags badly in sales of
missiles, supersonic fighters and other more advanced military technology.
Economic difficulties forced sharp cutbacks in military budgets between
1997 and 2000, but Russian producers still managed to sell 350 tanks and
20 pieces of towed artillery, compared with 93 and six units respectively
for U.S. suppliers.
Only China and a scattering of European suppliers challenged the U.S. in
missile deliveries.
The Chinese, ironically dependent on Russian expertise for much of their
military know-how, were the biggest source of anti-ship missiles, but
trailed the U.S. in supplies of surface-to-air missiles.
China re-entered the Russian arms market in 1994, reluctantly putting
aside three decades of ideological differences to forge a loose diplomatic
pact with Moscow as a hedge against U.S. expansionism.
During the Cold War it was ideology that largely determined the pattern of
Asian weapons shipments, as Moscow armed the Vietnamese against U.S.
forces and the Indians against Chinese-backed Pakistan, while staging a
misjudged occupation of Afghanistan to counter the spread of Islamic
fundamentalism.
Both the scope and penetration of Russian export shipments remain limited,
with India and China together accounting for more than 70 percent of
Moscow's acknowledged global weapons sales of $4.8 billion in 2001.
Although the tally was $1 billion more than the previous post-Soviet
record, registered in 1999-2000, it represented a market share of only
about 12 percent and was a mere one-fourth of Russian sales in the late
1980s.
By comparison, the U.S. sold $13 billion worth of arms in 2001 for a 50
percent market share, benefiting from the weakening of the dollar against
other major currencies and its technological edge over the crippled
Russian military establishment.
Hamstrung by the loss of non-Russian plants after the break-up of the
Soviet Union, and an unpaid claim of $880 million on the government from
previous transactions, the 1,700 defence contractors are not geared up to
compete in export markets.
"The Russian defense industry was mainly developed to meet the demand of
the Soviet armed forces and Warsaw Treaty Organization allies. After the
end of the Cold War the dramatic reduction in orders for equipment from
the Russian ministry of defence created a crisis in the defence industry
and dependence on exports - previously relatively low - increased
dramatically," said Ian Anthony, an analyst at the Stockholm International
Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
President Vladimir Putin, anxious to restore Russia's flagging
international prestige, is credited with the exports strategy, which is
based around higher production subsidies and the coordination of more
private sales through state marketing mechanisms.
As the exports focus spreads to other regions, it is no longer clear
whether shipments are being driven by commerce or ideology.
Weapons have found their way to unstable regimes in Myanmar, Iran, Syria,
Libya, Yemen and much of Central America, as well as less-volatile but
smaller partners such as Greece, Bangladesh and Algeria.
Washington has charged that Moscow broke a U.N. embargo on military sales
to Iraq, equipping Baghdad's forces with night-vision goggles and
anti-missile defence systems that were later used against U.S. troops.
Iran alone has taken delivery of more $3 billion worth of military
hardware, including submarines that some analysts fear could one day be
used against Asian oil tankers passing through the Strait of Hormuz.
Moscow has also provided Iran with a nuclear reactor, and the U.S. Central
Intelligence Agency says it has proof that Russia is supplying
ballistic-missile technology to Iran, Libya and Iraq, as well as China.

____________

M2 Presswire May 15 2003

ILO and Myanmar agree on facilitator to help end forced labour

The Director-General of the International Labour Organisation (ILO), Juan
Somavia, today welcomed a formal understanding negotiated between the ILO
and the Union of Myanmar for the establishment of a facilitator to assist
possible victims of forced labour in Myanmar.

In a letter to Mr. U Tin Winn, Minister of Labour of Myanmar, Mr. Somavia
said:

"I welcome both the Formal Understanding on the Facilitator to assist
possible victims in Myanmar to seek remedies available under the relevant
legislation and as provided under the Forced Labour Convention No. 29
(1930) and the reaffirmation of your government's commitment to
eradicating forced labour, expressed in this Formal Understanding.

"It is now of utmost importance that the Plan of Action, including the
selection of the site for the pilot project, is finalised promptly. As you
will recall, the (ILO) Governing Body stressed the importance of
concluding this before the International Labour Conference, which starts
in Geneva in the beginning of June. I look forward towards discussing the
implementation of the Plan of Action with you at the time of the
Conference."

Mr. Somavia also reiterated in his comments that the ILO Liaison Officer
in Yangon, Ms. H'ng-Trang Perrett-Nguyen "will continue to do her utmost
for a successful conclusion of the Plan of Action". In addition to the
formal understanding on the facilitator, such a Plan of Action would
comprise a road-building project in a pilot area; alternatives to the use
of forced labour; and information and awareness raising.
____________

Straits Times May 15 2003

Trade ties: Every little step counts
By Lee Kim Chew

GERMAN Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder's whistle-stop tour of South-east Asia
this week comes at a difficult time, for him and the four Asean countries
he visited.
In Germany, he grapples with a growing budget deficit, economic slowdown,
11 per cent unemployment and strong resistance to his welfare reforms.
All the four countries he visited - Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and
Vietnam - face the prospect of slower growth this year because of the Sars
outbreak and dwindling investments.
So what could possibly come out of the Chancellor's trip to boost
Asean-European Union economic relations?
Not much, for now.
Singapore, a prime mover in pushing for closer Asean ties with the EU, has
yet to convince the Germans about the virtues of a free-trade pact with
the Republic to speed up Asean-EU economic collaboration.
Instead of bilateral pacts, Mr Schroeder said the EU favoured linkages
with Asean as a grouping. An Asean-EU pact could be forged when the 10
South-east Asian economies were more integrated.
Mr Schroeder is banking on a Trans-Regional EU-Asean Trade Initiative
(Treati), which he hopes could be implemented next year.
It is aimed at helping Asean countries meet EU standards and overcome the
obstacles they encounter in exporting their products to the EU. In some
cases, testing laboratories may be set up in Asean states to certify that
certain products meet EU requirements before they are shipped to Europe.
Besides health and safety standards, the Treati proposal also covers
customs regulations, intellectual property rights, common rules on
investment, services and technical barriers to trade.
By tackling the regulatory problems, Treati could pave the way eventually
for an Asean-EU free-trade agreement.
Mr Schroeder also pledged Germany's support for a substantial offer in the
World Trade Organisation's Doha Round to liberalise farm trade and give
better market access to developing countries.
This could help to remove a major roadblock in the WTO talks, which has
stalled over agriculture.
WTO director-general Supachai Panitchpakdi laments that the failure to
meet the deadline for an agreement on the framework for reforming
agricultural trade deprives developing countries of about US$60 billion
(S$10.5 billion) in income annually.
This problem had to be resolved urgently by the world's big economic
powers or the Doha Round risked failure, with dire consequences for global
trade, he warned. 'Trade volume in 2001 contracted by 1 per cent, the
first such decline in two decades. In 2002, trade growth of 2.5 per cent
and global economic expansion of 1.7 per cent remain well below the 6.5
per cent at which trade grew and the 2.5 per cent at which economies
expanded in the 1990s.'
Given this downbeat scenario, the German initiative is therefore laudable.
Asean needs every ounce of help it can get. With the EU preoccupied with
its expansion to 25 countries, France and Germany coping with the fallout
from their opposition to the United States in the Iraq war, Asean is
likely to stay low on the overall European agenda.
Even though Germany's trade with Asean now exceeds its trade with North
America, Asean-EU economic relations are on the slow track. Hobbled by
their differences over Myanmar since the latter's entry into Asean in
1997, Asean-EU cooperation is in limbo.
The EU recently renewed its political and economic sanctions on the Yangon
military regime for its human rights violations and refusal to implement
democratic reforms.
Asean economies, whose problems have been made more difficult by the Sars
health crisis, will have to find new ways to be attractive to investors.
According to United Nations statistics, the annual investment flows to
South-east Asian countries fell by 56 per cent to US$13.2 billion between
1997 and 2001, while foreign direct investment in China grew nearly 6 per
cent to US$46.8 billion in the same period.
There is no certainty that the Sars problem, which curtailed Mr
Schroeder's programme and shortened his South-east Asian tour, will divert
foreign investors from China to the Asean countries.
The EU has decided to await the outcome of the WTO negotiations on tariffs
and market access before it contemplates any free-trade agreement with
Asean. This means that Asean countries will have to wait for several years
- till 2005 at the earliest, when the WTO is scheduled - to conclude its
current round of negotiations to liberalise global trade.
The WTO's target date won't be met if the diplomatic rift arising from the
Iraq war between the Americans and their detractors spills over into the
WTO talks. Faced with these uncertainties, many countries are reluctant to
open up their markets.
In this light, every little step that Germany and the Asean countries take
to expand their economic relations counts.
________________

Irrawaddy May 15 2003

Germans Repatriate Burmese Man
By Naw Seng

German authorities deported a Burmese asylum seeker last week, causing
some Burmese refugees in Germany to worry that they could be next.
According to a statement issued today by Burma Bureau Germany, Mr Tun
Kyaw, whose asylum application had been rejected, was arrested on May 6
and “brought immediately to Frankfurt International Airport and forcefully
[sic] repatriated to Rangoon, Burma”.
“His fate is at present not known,” said the statement.
Members of the Burmese community in Germany now wonder who else faces
deportation. Fifty-three Burmese with outstanding asylum applications are
at risk, according to Sonny, a Burmese refugee in Germany. “It will be
more difficult for us to stay if the Burmese authorities welcome
repatriation,” said Sonny.
Twice last year German authorities repatriated a Burmese asylum seeker.
One was reportedly arrested and sentenced to a 10-year prison term upon
after arriving in Burma. Burma Bureau Germany feels the same fate awaits
anyone sent back to Burma.
Since 2000, economic opportunities have attracted more Burmese to Germany
than in previous years. Most make arrangements through Burmese brokers and
travel to Germany via France, said Ba Saw, a former All Burma Students’
Democratic Front member living in Germany.
There are currently over 500 Burmese refugees residing in Germany. Many
have refugee status and carry Burmese passports. But recent events are
causing concern among those whose asylum cases are yet to be decided.
“I think that it is possible for the German government to change their
policy [on refugees] at the present time because there are a lot of
unemployment problems,” said Sonny. The Burmese community could be
targeted because it is smaller than other immigrant communities in
Germany, he added.
Burmese in Germany are drafting a letter to send to Germany’s Justice
Department asking that no one be deported to Burma. They are also
conducting a signature campaign.