BurmaNet News: June 9 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

June 9 2003 Issue #2256

INSIDE BURMA

Irrawaddy: Military leaders behind Black Friday
Washington Post: Attack on Burmese activist seen as work of military
Australian: Detained Suu Kyi ‘’on hunger strike”
Xinhua: Myanmar warns against negative view

MONEY

AP: South Korean frim to build US$22 million cruise ship complex in Myanmar

REGIONAL

New Light of Myanmar: Third meeting of ASEAN-Japan committee on
comprehensive economic partnership held

INTERNATIONAL

AP: UN envoy fails on Suu Kyi’s release
AFP: ILO chief calls for release of Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi
AP: Myanmar refugees demand refugee status from UNHCR in India
AFP: Thai premier departs for US as political turmoil roils Myanmar

STATEMENTS/OPINIONS

Washington Post: Time to lean on Thailand
LA Times: Court is villagers’ only hope
HRW: Thailand: Bush should press Thaksin on extrajudicial executions, Burma

INSIDE BURMA

Irrawaddy June 9 2003

Military Leaders Behind Black Friday
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

Burma’s top military officials were directly involved in planning and
commanding the May 30 ambush on the opposition National League for
Democracy (NLD) in Upper Burma, sources inside Burma said
It is widely believed that the military and the junta-backed Union
Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), were behind the violent
ambush. According to sources inside Burma, dozens of NLD supporters were
beaten to death, scores were injured and more than one hundred have gone
missing as a result of the clash. NLD leader Aung San Suu Kyi and several
of her key aides remain in "protective custody" at an undisclosed
location.
Sec-2 Lt-Gen Soe Win, one of the top military leaders, and his colleagues
clandestinely devised a plan to ambush Aung San Suu Kyi and her party
members on the NLD convoy’s recent trip through Northern Burma, according
to sources. Lt-Gen Soe Win is also a member of the USDA’s Panel of
Patrons, the group’s leadership body.
"Soe Win commanded the cruel crackdown on the NLD and his accomplices are
also top leaders of the USDA," a lawyer in Rangoon told The Irrawaddy
today. "However they could not launch such a massive crackdown without
instructions from the number one leader, Sr-Gen Than Shwe."
Lt-Gen Soe Win was commander of the Northwest Command before being
promoted to Air Defense General in 2001. He was later appointed Sec-2 of
the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). He is known to take hard
line against the opposition and reportedly once said publicly: "The SPDC
not only won’t talk to the NLD but will also never hand over power to the
NLD."
According to sources, Minister for Home Affairs Col Tin Hlaing, another
senior leader of the USDA, Maj-Gen Soe Naing, current commander of the
Northwest Command in Sagaing Division and Minister of Construction Maj-Gen
Saw Tun and were the other key players in planning and commanding the
ambush.
The planners were in Monywa, near the site of the clash, on May 30 and
sent orders to the attackers during the ambush of Suu Kyi and her
supporters, said a Mandalay resident.
Local people are also convinced that it was no coincidence that Brig-Gen
Kyaw Hsan, one of the secretariat members of the USDA and Burma’s Minister
of Information was in Sagaing Division in third week of May, before Suu
Kyi arrived in the area.
The SPDC has tried to convince people that they were not involved in the
ambush, painting the incident as a clash between NLD supporters and their
political opponents. But even the US State Department insists that the
violence on Friday was planned and perpetrated by the
"government-affiliated thugs."
After the clash, the United States announced that members of the USDA will
no longer be eligible for US visas.
Local military authorities and the USDA are reportedly organizing anti-NLD
protests throughout Burma.
__________

Washington Post June 9 2003

Attack on Burmese Activist Seen as Work of Military
By Alan Sipress and Ellen Nakashima

Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade was rattling along
a pocked one-lane road near Mandalay in northern Burma after sunset when a
pair of men, disguised in the burnt orange robes of Buddhist monks,
motioned for it to stop. They asked her to alight and make an impromptu
speech to at least 100 people gathered at a narrow bridge over a creek and
blocking her way, according to Burmese exiles who spoke with witnesses.
But she was running late. It was already pitch dark amid the rice paddies.

When one of her bodyguards, a young unarmed man, got out of the
four-wheel-drive vehicle to convey Suu Kyi's regrets, the crowd set upon
her convoy, attacking the entourage with wooden clubs and bamboo spikes,
according to the exiles and diplomats who also have spoken to witnesses.
Several hundred more assailants ambushed the motorcade from the rear.

By the time the battle was over late in the evening of May 30, at least
four of Suu Kyi's bodyguards were dead. Burmese exiles and diplomats said
scores of her supporters were also probably killed. And Suu Kyi, the 1991
Nobel Peace Prize laureate, suffered head and shoulder injuries, they
said, when her car windows were shattered and she was detained by Burmese
soldiers along with at least 17 supporters.

U.S. and other diplomats have concluded that the attack was an ambush
orchestrated by Burma's military rulers and carried out by a
pro-government militia reinforced by specially trained prison inmates.

Suu Kyi, 57, has remained in custody, incommunicado and out of public
sight ever since, prompting protests from the United Nations, the United
States and other governments.

The attack was not only a stunning bid to intimidate Suu Kyi and deflate a
pro-democracy movement that over recent months had been attracting larger
and larger crowds despite mounting government harassment, according to
exiles and diplomats in Rangoon and Bangkok. It was also an effort by
Burma's top leader, Gen. Than Shwe, who had been consolidating control in
recent months, to make clear he had lost patience with those in the
military advocating dialogue with Suu Kyi.

"This was a brutal power play to show them who is in charge here," a
European diplomat said. "This was a message from Than Shwe to the softies
in the military that you [had] better watch out. You are not to tolerate
Aung San Suu Kyi."

Although supporters of political reform have despaired of progress for
months, the attack outside Mandalay -- the bloodiest confrontation since
Burma crushed a pro-democracy uprising in 1988 -- could mark the end to
the spring of hope that began almost exactly one year ago.

Under intense international pressure, the Burmese government had released
Suu Kyi from house arrest in May 2002. Some high-ranking military officers
had calculated that Suu Kyi's popularity had faded during her detention
and that she no longer posed the same threat as she had in 1990 when her
party, the National League for Democracy, won a landslide election
victory, Burmese and other analysts said. Those results were voided by the
military, plunging Burma into its current political crisis and a decade of
international isolation.

The Burmese government, however, discovered that Suu Kyi still attracted
jubilant crowds when she traveled the country reopening nearly 200 local
offices for her party. Tens of thousands turned out to chant her name.
Many supporters walked miles to see her. Increasingly, her rallies drew
Buddhist monks, who command great respect in Burmese society, further
alarming the military.

"They are worried that despite all the threats they can employ against the
pro-democracy movement, people are continuing to go out and see Aung San
Suu Kyi," said Win Min, a Burmese researcher who studies civilian-military
relations.

Suu Kyi, who has always preached reconciliation, was also becoming openly
critical of the government's unwillingness to engage in meaningful
dialogue for a political settlement. The optimism that accompanied her
release from house arrest had long dissipated.

These developments were an affront to Than Shwe, the junta's leader, who
so loathes Suu Kyi that, as one European diplomat said, he "hates even to
hear her name mentioned."

Than Shwe, 70, chairman of the ruling State Peace and Development Council
and armed forces commander, has moved since last year to strengthen his
grip on power. He has beefed up the United Solidarity and Development
Association, the pro-government militia that witnesses said attacked Suu
Kyi's motorcade. He has manipulated the military, government and courts to
weaken his leading rivals while placing his loyalists in influential
posts, said diplomats and Burmese exiles.

"Than Shwe has been taking his time," said Zin Linn of the opposition
National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma. "He has purged many
of the senior military men who are soft-liners and are in some way
impressed with Aung San Suu Kyi" and Tin Oo, the vice chairman of her
party.

Most notably, Than Shwe's ascent has come at the expense of Gen. Khin
Nyunt, 64, the head of military intelligence and a leading advocate of
dialogue with Suu Kyi. His patron, former dictator Gen. Ne Win, died in
December. While Khin Nyunt remains the third-highest-ranking official in
the junta, his authority in running military intelligence has been limited
and he has told diplomats that he no longer has a mandate to pursue the
reconciliation talks, which had been mediated by U.N. special envoy Razali
Ismail.

The dispute pits so-called pragmatists, such as Khin Nyunt, who believe
Burma can string out the talks with Suu Kyi while placating foreign
governments, against officers urging that the pro-democracy movement be
crushed. But diplomats and analysts stress that the military is united in
its determination to retain power.

Suu Kyi's recent month-long swing through northern Burma offered an
opportunity for Than Shwe to deliver a resounding message to the
pragmatists that their moment had passed, diplomats and exiles said.

An expedition to the northernmost state of Kachin, which began May 6, was
her seventh road trip since her release. It was meant in part to bolster
the morale of loyalists in her party, who were disappointed that the
reconciliation talks had ground to a halt, said Debbie Stothard,
coordinator of ALTSEAN-Burma, a human rights group in Southeast Asia.

The trips, especially this last, had provoked growing harassment by the
government, which has staged protests by machete-wielding activists,
blasted music to drown out Suu Kyi's speeches and blocked her way with
logs and barbed wire. At least once, a firetruck turned its hoses on her
supporters.

If the military wanted to escalate the confrontation, Sagaing Division
northwest of Mandalay was a good place, Burmese exiles and diplomats said.
This impoverished region is the stronghold of Lt. Gen. Soe Win, a Sagaing
native and former military commander in the area. He was promoted by Than
Shwe in February to the junta's fourth-highest position. Soe Win is also a
leading activist in the militia and had toured several towns earlier this
year demanding that dialogue with Suu Kyi be halted.

Diplomats and exiles said they have received reports that Soe Win was at a
military headquarters in nearby Monywa either during or shortly before the
ambush against Suu Kyi's motorcade. Exiles said they believe he ran the
operation.

Military officials knew Suu Kyi was coming. She had been required to give
them her itinerary.

"Clearly, orders were given for a violent attack," a U.S. Embassy official
in Rangoon said.

The following account of the May 30 attack was provided by that official
based on the findings of a two-person U.S. Embassy team dispatched to
Sagaing Division late last week to investigate the incident. Much of the
story has been corroborated by information from witnesses provided to
other diplomats and exiles.

As Suu Kyi's motorcade traveled north toward the town of Dipeyin about two
miles from Monywa, it was met by 100 to 200 people at the bridge. Most of
them were disguised as monks but shed the costumes when the fighting
erupted. About 400 other convicts and militia recruits disguised as monks
with shaved heads, and wearing white armbands, blocked the motorcade from
behind.

Though Suu Kyi's supporters tried to assuage the mob, the assailants began
beating them and smashing the vehicles' windows. Trying to stave off the
attack and shelter Suu Kyi, members of her party stood on the road and
locked arms.

At the site, the investigating team found bloodied clothes, clubs and
spears, broken glass and debris from damaged vehicles.

"It was pretty clear that a big fight had taken place," the embassy
official said.

The team's findings contradict the brief version provided by the
government -- that the confrontation lasted two hours and was provoked by
Suu Kyi's party. The government said four people were killed and 50 others
injured.

The U.S. team reported that gunfire was heard in the middle of the night
when the army arrived to clean up the site. According to other accounts,
gunshots rang out during or shortly after the clash.

Reports reaching other diplomats and exile groups said Suu Kyi's driver,
trying to remove the democracy activist from the melee, gunned the engine
as the crowd pounded the car with rocks and other objects. She was
detained by security forces farther down the road in Dipeyin.

Tin Oo, 75, the vice chairman of Suu Kyi's party, was assaulted when he
left his car, according to Burmese exiles, who have expressed concern
about his condition and whereabouts.

Following the attack, the military closed most of the party's offices
across Burma, arrested other democracy activists and criticized Suu Kyi's
movement in the press. Some suggest that these steps were part of a
planned, concerted crackdown, not just a hurried attempt to prevent Suu
Kyi's supporters from protesting the attack and arrests. They noted that
in the weeks before the incident, 10 activists from the opposition party
were arrested and sentenced to prison terms of two to 28 years.

Since the attack, more than 100 party activists have been arrested and at
least a dozen imprisoned, said Stothard, coordinator of the human rights
group.

Those killed trying to protect Suu Kyi, or "The Lady," as she is popularly
known, reportedly included Toe Lwin, 32, a rising star in the party's
youth division who held a philosophy degree and was studying English in
Rangoon, a Western diplomat said. He was in Suu Kyi's vehicle, wearing his
orange opposition party jacket with its red badge emblazoned with a gold
fighting peacock. Suu Kyi treated these supporters as "surrogate sons,"
and saw in them a future generation of political leaders, Stothard said.

Suu Kyi is being held at Yemon military camp, about 25 miles outside
Rangoon, without access to her doctor, party members or Western envoys,
concerned diplomats said.

"If they lift her incommunicado status, she will speak," a European
diplomat said. "She will speak the truth and this will be damaging for
them."
___________

Australian June 9 2003

Detained Suu Kyi 'on hunger strike'
By Kimina Lyall

AUNG San Suu Kyi has responded to her "protective custody" by Burma's
ruling generals by embarking on a hunger strike, her exiled supporters
believe.

As the junta continued yesterday its tirade of accusations against her
National League for Democracy in the state-run media, Senior General Than
Shwe responded to the visit of United Nations special envoy Razali Ismail
by taking a beach holiday. Mr Razali, whose four-day visit is due to end
tomorrow, has not yet seen either the most powerful man in the military
regime, or Ms Suu Kyi.

General Than Shwe's absence from Rangoon could be considered a personal
insult to the retired Malaysian diplomat, who had had his visit dates for
some time and had an expectation they would meet.

Exiled Burmese dissident Sann Aung, from the National Council for the
Union of Burma, said yesterday Ms Suu Kyi's physician, Tin Myo Win, was
taken into military custody in Rangoon last Wednesday.

He said the doctor's arrest might mean he had been recruited to see and
treat Ms Suu Kyi for what activists say were injuries sustained in the
violence on May 31.

Other sources have told The Australian that military officials took a
friend of Ms Suu Kyi's in to see her, because she had refused to eat any
of the food they had offered her.

The friend had taken in food, the source said, but it was not known if Ms
Suu Kyi ate it.

Mr Sann Aung described General Than Shwe's absence from Rangoon as a "very
bad sign", as it was clear that only the top brass would be able to grant
permission for Mr Razali to see her.

Mr Razali has held meetings with the third-most powerful man in the
regime, Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt, as well as Foreign Minister Win
Aung, but has so far received no assurances that he can meet with Ms Suu
Kyi.

As the British Foreign Office demanded "immediate international access" to
Ms Suu Kyi, the Burmese ambassador to London, Kyaw Win, warned that the
junta would "defend our sovereignty" if there was a threat of regime
change. Asked if he meant the use of military action, Mr Kyaw Win told BBC
television: "There are many ways of doing it. Whatever the requirements
may be, we will use all means to defend ourselves."

US State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said the US had expanded its
visa ban to include some members of the Union Solidarity Development
Association, a military-affiliated organisation witnesses had claimed was
responsible for the violence that led to Ms Suu Kyi's detention.

The generals showed no sign of diverging from their version of events
yesterday, with Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt quoted in the state-run
newspaper as saying the events would serve as "lessons" for those
responsible for "disorderly and unruly acts".

"With or without foreign assistance, the Union of Myanmar will continue to
strive for the emergence of a peaceful, developed and democratic nation,"
he said, using the military's name for Burma.
________

Xinhua News Agency June 9 2003

Myanmar warns against negative view

Official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar warned on Monday against any
negative outlook held on the country, saying that its people never accept
acts and words launched with negative view.

There are many countries that had to free themselves from under the yoke
of the colonialism, and are striving to develop themselves with the
strength of their human and natural resources, the paper noted in an
article.

Myanmar, a developing country, faced poverty during the colonial era and
lagged behind in development during the period in which insurgency broke
out in the nation, the paper recalled.

The paper said that there are voices disturbing the nation from various
corners, adding that "despite the obstruction, disturbances and
'terrorist' attacks against the nation, the people have achieved peace and
stability and all-round development through their self reliance efforts."

The paper went on to say that Myanmar is also facing slanderous
accusation, instigation and problems manufactured by BBC (British
Broadcasting Corporation), VOA (Voice of America) and RFA (Radio Free
Asia) as well as some politicians of the West to cause dissension and
unrest in the country.

The paper concluded that "Myanmar people despise democracy of the persons
who, despite many democracy talks, are repeatedly requesting foreign
nations to impose various kinds of sanctions against Myanmar."

MONEY

Associated Press June 9 2003

South Korean firm to build US$22 million cruise ship complex in Myanmar

A South Korean firm has agreed to build a US$22 million cruise ship
terminal and hotel complex in the Myanmar capital of Yangon, a report said
Monday.

S and S Myanmar Investment Development signed a memorandum of
understanding with Myanmar authorities Thursday to build a berth, a
terminal lobby, a hotel and a parking area on a 1.6-hectare (four-acre)
site, The Myanmar Times newspaper reported.

A final contract was expected to be signed in six months, and construction
was due to begin early next year, the report said. The facility was to be
completed by early 2006.

It was not immediately known which local entities have a stake in the
project. Myanmar's military government often takes partnership in foreign
investment projects.

The ship berth is designed to accommodate cruise ships up to 300 meters
(yards) long while the hotel would offer 80 suites and a nearby parking
lot would have space for 250 vehicles, the report said.

The planned site is near the Nanthida river port in downtown Yangon.

The Myanmar Times quoted the company's executive officer, Lee Jong Man, as
saying that depending on the success of the project, S and S Myanmar
Investment Development would also consider building a tourist resort near
Thilawa port at the mouth of Yangon river, 25 miles (40 kilometers) south
of the capital.

Deputy Transportation Minister Pe Than said the new terminal would boost
Yangon's capacity to handle visits by cruise liners. More than 12,000
tourists have arrived in Myanmar on cruise ships since 1997.

Generally, Myanmar's tourism industry is weak because of the political
situation in the country. Most Western governments and human rights groups
discourage travel to Myanmar to protest against its military junta's
refusal to allow democracy.

Since May 30, pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been placed in
custody in a "preventive detention," and the junta refuses to disclose her
whereabouts despite demands for her release by the international community
and the United Nations.

REGIONAL

New Light of Myanmar June 8 2003

Third Meeting of ASEAN-Japan Committee on Comprehensive Economic
Partnership held

Yangon, 8 June - The Third Meeting of ASEAN-Japan Committee on
Comprehensive Economic Partnership (AJCCEP), hosted by Myanmar, was held
at Grand Plaza Parkroyal Hotel on Alanpya Pagoda Road this morning.
Present were representatives of ASEAN member countries, Japan and ASEAN
Secretariat.
Director Mr Ramoon Vicente T Kabigting of International Trade
Communication Bureau of the Republic of Philippines, Deputy
Director-General Mr Chihiro Atsumi of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of
Japan, Deputy Director-General Mr Yoshihiko Sumi of the Ministry of
Economic, Trade and Industry, Mr Kazuhito Yamashita of the Ministry of
Agriculture, Forest and Fisheries and Mr Koguchi Kazuhiko of the Ministry
of Finance jointly presided over the meeting.
The representatives discussed the Framework on ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive
Economic Partnership (Drafts) drawn by ASEAN countries and Japan.
The meeting was held with the aims of materializing the joint statement on
ASEAN-Japan Comprehensive Economic Partnership signed by Heads of
State/Government at ASEAN-Japan Summit held in November 2002 and of
receiving the Framework on ASEAN-Japan Compre-hensive Economic
Partner-ship. The first meeting was held in Malaysia in March 2003 and the
second in Japan in April 2003.
The meeting will continue tomorrow.

INTERNATIONAL

Associated Press June 9 2003

U.N. Envoy Fails on Suu Kyi's Release

Monday June 9, 2003 10:29 PM
By AYE AYE WIN

YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A U.N. envoy failed to secure the release of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi after a meeting Monday with
Myanmar's two top generals, but said he was ``encouraged'' by the talks.
U.N. special envoy Razali Ismail said he did not know whether he would be
allowed to see Suu Kyi, who was detained May 30 after a bloody clash
involving her supporters in northern Myanmar.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureate's whereabouts remain unknown, with the
junta refusing to produce her in public despite growing international
concern about her health and threats of U.S. sanctions.
However, Razali appeared upbeat after a one-hour meeting with the junta's
second- and third-ranking generals at a Defense Ministry guesthouse.
``I am encouraged by my meeting today with deputy Senior Gen. Maung Aye in
the presence of Gen. Khin Nyunt,'' said Razali, who end his five-day trip
Tuesday.
``I hope I will be able to fulfill one or two of my objectives of my visit
here,'' he said.
Asked if he would be permitted to see Suu Kyi or if he knew when she would
be released, Razali said: ``That's all I can say.''
In Geneva, the International Labor Organization expressed concern over Suu
Kyi's detention.
Her arrest has ``created a climate of uncertainty and intimidation,'' the
group's director-general Juan Somavia said in a speech to the
International Labor Conference.
Exiled opposition figures in Thailand say Suu Kyi may have received head
injuries in the May 30 violence, which they say left up to 70 people dead.
The government says four people died and that Suu Kyi wasn't hurt and is
being held in a ``safe place.''
The regime has since shut offices of her National League for Democracy
party, rounded up party members and put party leaders under house arrest.
Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her nonviolent struggle for
democracy, spent six years under house arrest in 1989-1995. Her party won
general elections in 1990, but the generals refused to hand over power.
Razali initiated national reconciliation talks between the two sides in
October 2000 in a bid to end the political deadlock, but the latest events
suggest the junta has no intention of mending fences and giving up power.
The U.S. State Department says the May 30 violence appears to have been an
ambush orchestrated by junta supporters. The junta blames Suu Kyi's party
for the violence.
In a statement Monday, the Japanese government called Suu Kyi's detention
``deeply regrettable'' and demanded ``an immediate assurance of the
freedom of political activities'' by Suu Kyi and her supporters.
Since the crackdown, Washington has tightened visa restrictions against
the Myanmar regime, imposing them on officials of the government-linked
Union Solidarity Development Association, said to have orchestrated
rallies against Suu Kyi.
The restrictions previously barred only senior government officials and
their immediate families.
The Bush administration also said it wants Congress to impose more
economic sanctions against Myanmar and was reviewing legislation to
prohibit imports from the impoverished country. The United States already
bans new investments by U.S. companies.
____________

Agence France Presse June 9 2003

ILO chief calls for release of Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi

The International Labour Organization (ILO) called Monday for the release
of Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as UN special envoy Razali
Ismail was in Yangon negotiating with the military junta there.

"I call on the governement of Myanmar to take immediate measures to
release her and other leaders and to guarantee their freedom," said ILO
director general Juan Somavia at the ILO's annual general assembly being
held here.

"The detention of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has created a climate of
uncertainty and intimidation," he added.

The Nobel peace laureate had been held in a military camp outside Yangon
since more than a week ago after violent clashes between her supporters
and a pro-junta mob in the north of the southeast Asian country.

The rearrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, who had been free only a year since her
last period under house arrest, sparked outrage across the world.

Razali, who arrived in Myanmar on Friday, said Monday he was "encouraged"
after talks with two of Myanmar's most powerful generals.

The UN envoy said after the talks with army chief Deputy Senior General
Maung Aye and military intelligence boss General Khin Nyunt that he was
making progress in his twin goals of securing a meeting and pushing for
Aung San Suu Kyi's release.

Razali refused to comment further, but he had not met with the opposition
leader by Monday evening, and an official close to the envoy said "nothing
is certain" with regard to a possible meeting.

The government's reluctance to allow Razali to see Aung San Suu Kyi is
worrying in light of eyewitness reports denied by the junta that she was
injured in the head and shoulder in the May 30 violence.

The ILO and Yangon officials last week completed negotiations here on
measures to bring an end to forced labour in Myanmar, an item under
discussion at this year's ILO general assembly, which began last Tuesday.
___________

Associated Press June 9 2003

Myanmar refugees demand refugee status from UNHCR in India

Nearly 150 Myanmar protesters marched to the office of the U.N. High
Commissioner for Refugees on Monday, demanding refugee status and
financial help.

The demonstrators briefly clashed with police when they were prevented
from entering the UNHCR office in New Delhi. They chanted slogans, calling
the UNHCR a "silent killer."

Three Myanmar refugees later met UNHCR officials and presented a letter.

"Faced with constant fear of torture, repression, imprisonment, rape and
even death, thousands of men, women and children have been compelled to
flee from Myanmar to seek refuge and safety in neighboring countries," the
letter said.

Kharrsiamngng, a spokesman for the Myanmar group, said the UNHCR no longer
recognized them as refugees and have decided to phase out subsidies given
to the asylum seekers.

Naina Bose, a UNHCR spokeswoman, denied the charges and said there has
been no blanket ban on granting refugees status to asylum seekers from
Myanmar.

She said the agency has recognized nearly 1,000 Myanmar refugees in India
and 100 appeals were pending from those whose cases were rejected. Many of
them fled to India after Myanmar's ruling junta cracked down on
pro-democracy protests in 1988.
_________

Agence France Presse June 9 2003

Thai premier departs for US as political turmoil roils Myanmar

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra left Monday for the United States
where he was to meet President George W. Bush as concerns over the
political turmoil in neighbouring Myanmar escalated.

Thaksin said his five-day visit would include a discussion with Bush about
terrorism, regional security and trade issues.

"We will talk about how to counter terrorism, as our countries have a
long-standing alliance," the premier told reporters before boarding a
special jet that departed from a military airport outside Bangkok.

"Thailand and the US must cooperate more than other countries."

Defence Minister Thammarak Issarangkun, accompanying Thaksin on the trip,
said Thailand and the United States "exchange information about terrorism
all the time," and that the government would closely consider any advice
Washington had to offer its Southeast Asian ally.

The two sides are also expected to discuss a future free-trade agreement,
said Commerce Minister Adisai Botharamik, another member of the Thai
delegation.

Almost certain to figure in discussions between Thaksin and Bush is the
state of affairs in military-ruled Myanmar, where opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi was taken into custody after violent clashes between her
supporters and a pro-junta mob.

The leadership of her National League for Democracy (NLD) party was also
put under house arrest in Yangon after the May 30 incident in which up to
100 people are feared to have been killed.

The United States has led global outrage over the crack-down on the
opposition, and raised the stakes at the weekend by adding more members of
the junta to its visa blacklist and threatening further sanctions against
Yangon.

Thailand has also called for Aung San Suu Kyi's release, in a rare comment
on the internal affairs of its neighbour with which it has prickly ties.

The Bangkok Post said Monday that Washington has strongly protested
Bangkok's soft approach to the Yangon regime, and urged it and other
members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to pressure
fellow member Myanmar into rekindling a dialogue with the opposition.

"It is time for the world to convey their outrage to the Burmese regime,
and it's time for the nations of Asia to decide where their real interests
lie," a European diplomat in Bangkok told the daily.

Thaksin's visit also comes one month after US officials expressed "serious
concern" over Thailand's much-criticised three-month war on drugs, during
which more than 2,200 people were killed.

His trip to the United States is at the invitation of the Washington-based
US-ASEAN Business Council, which he was to address during his stay.

STATEMENTS/OPINIONS

Washington Post June 9 2003

Time to Lean on Thailand
By Morton Abramowitz

Thailand's prime minister, Thaksin Shinawatra, calls on President Bush in
Washington tomorrow, a visit Thaksin has long sought. There is much to
discuss, some of it unpleasant. Two of Thaksin's policies -- strong
support of the Burmese junta and individual assassinations by his
government in its war on drugs -- are reprehensible and dangerous.
Thailand, a close friend, is undermining U.S. efforts to foster democracy
and the rule of law in an important region.

The government-sponsored violence last week in Burma and the detention of
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi once again have made it painfully clear
that "constructive engagement" with the Burmese military government is not
an option for changing its ways. Military leaders are too deeply involved
in the economy to withdraw from power. The military government -- in power
for more than 40 years of continuing decline -- has not met its pledge of
more than a year ago to reconcile with Suu Kyi. Rather, it seems intent,
again, on isolating her and her colleagues.

Burma focuses on its neighbors. Two of them in particular help keep the
Burmese government going with large-scale aid or other forms of assistance
and support: China and Thailand. China is not likely to end its support
because of U.S. concern about human rights and democracy in Burma. But the
United States could have an impact in Thailand.

Managing relations with its prickly Burmese neighbor has never been easy
for any Thai government. Since taking power in 2001, Thaksin has reversed
a policy of distancing his country from Burma and has actively pursued one
of conciliation, cooperation and public support for the widely ostracized
Burmese government. He and other senior Thai officials visit Burma
frequently. His government is apparently collaborating with the Burmese
military against armed Burmese ethnic rebel groups along the border.
Thailand is Burma's biggest export market, and the sizable unregistered
and often illegal trade across a porous border has become even more
important to Burma. Thai businesses are encouraged to invest in Burma.
Vying for further cooperation, Thailand has agreed to construct a two-lane
bridge across their border to boost trade and tourism, and has moved
forward a hydroelectric dam project on the Salween River. This is a
project whose environmental, social and political impact are uncertain but
whose economic benefits to the Burmese government are great. Meanwhile,
the Burmese government's lack of attention to HIV/AIDS helps fuel
Thailand's own HIV/AIDS problem, while Burma remains the principal source
of methamphetamines for Thailand.

Many Burmese pro-democracy activists, whose status in Thailand is unclear,
have become vulnerable to Thaksin's renewed crackdown on illegal
immigrants. Their activities -- often supported by U.S. government funds
-- have been seriously constrained. Recent Thai policies include
restricting visas for Burmese passport holders, the arrest and threatened
deportation of Burmese dissidents and aggressive repatriation plans with
the Burmese government. Thaksin is scheduled to sign a memorandum of
understanding at the end of this month to repatriate illegal Burmese in
Thailand to a country where there is little employment, less welcome and
much repression.

In Thailand, Thaksin began a new round in his campaign against drugs in
February and ordered police "to produce results at any cost." The goal was
to "eradicate all drugs in Thailand." This three-month campaign resulted
in 2,275 deaths. Official reporting only arouses skepticism: According to
police records, only 51 people were killed by Thai police. The rest were
reported to be the result of infighting among drug thugs. Government
investigation into these extrajudicial murders proceeds without serious
intent. The campaign has been extended through the end of the year and
broadened to encompass "dark influences," presumably Thailand's organized
crime and corrupt officials. The category of "dark influences" is
dangerously vague, and Thai officials have linked certain nongovernmental
organizations working on human rights and social issues with criminals and
drug gangs.

There is an irony here. Thaksin had a big electoral mandate and runs a
popular government with strong populist tendencies. The extrajudicial
policy of killing in the war on drugs retains popularity in Thailand
because of its supposed success. But his government has been careful to
control press coverage of the campaign and quick to rebuff concerns voiced
within its ranks and internationally. The rule of law in Thailand is
eroding.

Thailand has impressively transformed itself over the past 20 years. While
Thaksin himself has continuously expressed Thailand's independence from
supervision by international financial institutions and from foreign
influence in general, U.S.-Thailand relations remain strong. The two
countries have many common interests, including most recently increased
cooperation on terrorism. The United States no longer has the influence it
once had in Thailand, but what the United States says and does is still
important there. A reversal of Thai policy is far more likely to help
produce some change in Burma than another American embargo measure. One
hopes President Bush will make clear to the prime minister the strong U.S.
opposition to his Burma policy and the extrajudicial murders he condones
in the war on drugs.

The writer, a senior fellow at the Century Foundation, was American
ambassador to Thailand from 1978 to 1981.
___________

Los Angeles Times June 9 2003

Court Is Villagers' Only Hope;
The Justice Department and Unocal oppose a suit brought by alleged victims
of abuse in Burma.
By Ka Hsaw Wa
If an American company assists in and benefits from gross human rights
abuses committed by its business partners, should it be held liable and
accountable?

I'm an ethnic Karen from Burma now living in the United States. I fled my
birthplace of Rangoon -- renamed Yangon by the military regime, which
calls the nation Myanmar -- and spent several years on the Burma-Thai
border interviewing villagers about atrocities they had experienced and
witnessed at the hands of the Burmese military. As a leader during the
1988 student uprising, I had been held and tortured for three days by the
military.

In Burma, under the military dictatorship, stories of rape, summary
execution, torture and forced labor are common. But in the Tenasserim
region, where the population is largely ethnic Karen, those stories often
involve a natural-gas pipeline run by the French company Total and
California-based Unocal. These companies brought the military in to help
clear the pipeline corridor and to provide security. The military made the
lives of villagers miserable, even unlivable.

Villagers were forced to carry heavy loads for hours and to grow food for
soldiers even though they hardly had enough for their own families. Young
women were raped. Families and entire villages were relocated for the sake
of the pipeline. When one villager fled from forced labor on the project,
soldiers went to his home and kicked his wife so hard she dropped their
infant daughter into a cooking fire. The baby later died.

The villagers I interviewed in the area consistently connected these
abuses to the presence of Westerners and work on the pipeline. The Burmese
soldiers committed these atrocities on behalf of their pipeline partners.

After I began to see the pattern connecting the Yadana pipeline and these
human rights abuses, I met two young American lawyers living in Thailand.
I asked them, "Can't we do anything about this?" The answer, they said,
was yes, and in 1996 we filed a lawsuit against Unocal for complicity in
human rights violations under the Alien Tort Claims Act. That act was
first used in a human rights context in the late 1970s when a brave
Paraguayan woman named Dolly Filartiga sued her brother's torturer in
federal court in New York.

In the years since then, federal judges have consistently found that a
U.S. company like Unocal may indeed be held liable for aiding and abetting
a human rights crime in another country. One federal judge in Los Angeles
found that we presented evidence that Unocal "knew or should have known
that [these human rights crimes] had occurred, were occurring and would
continue to occur" for the benefit of the project.

But in May, the Department of Justice submitted a friend-of-the-court
brief in our case saying that the Alien Tort Claims Act did not allow
victims to bring human rights claims. Big business also has been
campaigning against these kinds of lawsuits. Under this logic, decades of
precedent, beginning with the Filartiga case, would be dismantled.

For our clients -- the villagers I met while I was hiding from the Burmese
regime -- this law is the only hope for a modicum of justice. Burma, after
all, does not have a functioning legal system. Crime and punishment is
determined by the military alone.

Is it consistent with U.S. ethical sensibilities to allow an American
company to aid and abet human rights crimes? If not, then the Unocal trial
now scheduled to start in July in California should be allowed to go
forward without interference from business or from the administration.

Ka Hsaw Wa is co-founder and co-director of EarthRights International,
which is co-counsel in Doe vs. Unocal.
__________

Human Rights Watch June 9 2003

Thailand: Bush Should Press Thaksin on Extrajudicial Executions, Burma
(New York, June 9, 2003) -- President George W. Bush should use his June
10 meeting with Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to raise concerns
about the recent wave of extrajudicial killings in Thailand and the need
for pressure on the Burmese military government to release Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, Human Rights Watch said in a letter today to the U.S. president.
Human Rights Watch said that the United States should also focus on
encouraging ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) to press for an
end to political attacks on Suu Kyi and her supporters.

"President Bush should make clear that the United States expects Thailand
to observe due process in its war on drugs and to allow independent and
credible investigations into the more than 2,000 killings in recent
months, " said Brad Adams, Asia Division Director of Human Rights Watch.
"Thailand must also assume its responsibility within ASEAN to address the
attacks on Suu Kyi and her supporters and insist on genuine political
reform."

Thailand's status as one of the leading rights-respecting democracies in
Southeast Asia has been called into question by its violent "war on
drugs." In response to a spiraling problem of drug use and drug
trafficking, Thai police have conducted an anti-drug campaign in recent
months in which more than 2,000 persons have died in apparent
extrajudicial killings and more than 50,000 have been arrested, many
arbitrarily.

The Thai government claims that 51 persons were killed by police in
self-defense and the rest in internecine battles among drug dealers. Few
in Thailand find this explanation credible. Somchai Homlaor,
secretary-general of Forum Asia, the highly respected Bangkok-based human
rights group, says, "In many provinces, there are death squads roaming
around killing drug dealers. The rule of law and democracy could disappear
overnight." Prime Minister Thaksin seemed to give his blessing to the
killings when he said, "In this war, drug dealers must die."

"While there is no doubt that there is a serious drug use problem in
Thailand, it is the responsibility of Thai authorities to tackle the
problem in ways that respect basic rights," said Adams. "This widespread
use of violence represents a major step backwards to the dark days of
military rule in Thailand."

Human Rights Watch wrote President Bush that "[s]hould the human rights
violations continue and no independent and credible investigations are
conducted into these killings, the United States should make it clear that
it will have a significant impact on U.S.-Thai relations, including in the
area of counter-narcotics, and call into question the leadership role
Thailand has assumed in the region."

Human Rights Watch also called on President Bush to ask Prime Minister
Thaksin to take strong steps in public and private to insist to the
military government in Burma that it end the persecution of its political
opponents and take concrete and good-faith steps towards political
reforms. The recent violence against Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and her
supporters, and the refusal of the Burmese government to allow a U.N.
envoy to meet Suu Kyi, are unacceptable.

Human Rights Watch said it welcomed the administration's strong statement
condemning the violence and the investigation of the State Department into
the events of May 30--and its candid conclusions of state responsibility.

"A cornerstone of ASEAN is its policy of non-interference in the internal
affairs of member states," Adams said in the letter. "The governments in
Burma, Thailand and other ASEAN states have insisted that private
diplomacy would nurture a process of political reform. Both
non-interference and private diplomacy have failed, and in the process
embarrassed ASEAN and threatened regional stability."

Human Rights Watch urged President Bush to tell Prime Minister Thaksin
that the United States expects Thailand to take a leadership role in
insisting to the military government in Rangoon that it make good on its
promises of political reform. These reforms must include a genuine
dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi and the National League for Democracy, the
release of political prisoners and detainees, an end to forced labor and
the use of child soldiers, and a halt to offensive military activities
against ethnic minority groups that have resulted in large-scale death,
injury and displacement for the civilian population.