BurmaNet News: September 22-23, 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

September 22-23, 2003 Issue #2332

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: Indonesian envoy Alatas holds talks with Than Shwe
AP: Indonesian envoy meets with Khin Nyunt
Irrawaddy: Crowds Gather to Support Suu Kyi
BP: What Now After the Surgery?
Irrawaddy: Observers Upbeat About Alatas Visit
MT: Call to Western powers on National Convention

ON THE BORDER
TPR: Karen Refugees Pour into Thailand as Myanmar Army Steps Up Crackdown

MONEY
World Markets Analysis: Nippon Increases Myanmar Gas Stake
Xinhua Financial: China’s CITIC Seeks to Extend Reach in Mining, Oil
MT: Withdrawal from Yadana field not an option, says oil giant

REGIONAL
Narinjara: Clash with police leave Burmese Muslim refugees hurt

INTERNATIONAL
Reuters: Annan Sending Envoy to See Suu Kyi in Myanmar
Xinhua: Japan aids leprosy elimination project of Myanmar

EDITORIAL
Irrawaddy: Sanctions are the First Step


----INSIDE BURMA----

Agence France Presse   September 23, 2003
Indonesian envoy Alatas holds talks with Myanmar's leader

Indonesian envoy Ali Alatas met Myanmar's leader Senior General Than Shwe
Tuesday as he wrapped up a mission to negotiate the release of detained
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, an embassy official said.

The diplomat said however that Alatas had made no demands of the military
regime nor asked for permission to meet with Aung San Suu Kyi, who is
recuperating in a private hospital after major surgery last week.

"We are not demanding the government release Suu Kyi, we are just offering
to help ... the Myanmar government in the political situation it faces
now," he told AFP.

"He's not trying to meet with her, he has not made any request with the
government," he said.

The diplomat said Indonesia was anxious that the topic of the democracy
icon's detention since May 30 does not dominate a summit of Southeast
Asian leaders which it is hosting in Bali next month.

"We want to avoid having Aung San Suu Kyi raised in the agenda," he said
of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting at which
newly appointed prime minister General Khin Nyunt will represent the
military state.

Aung San Suu Kyi, the 1991 Nobel peace laureate, was arrested and taken
into detention at a secret location after a pro-junta gang mounted a
violent ambush of her supporters during a political tour of northern
Myanmar.

The 58-year-old underwent major surgery last week for gynaecological and
other unspecified conditions and her doctor Tin Myo Win said Tuesday she
was making a rapid recovery but must continue resting in hospital.

"He told us that he is extremely happy with how fast she is recovering,"
said one of the Western diplomats who attended a briefing given by the
physician.

"For the time being she has to stay at the clinic, but he reserved the
possibility of re-evaluating her situation" in the next few days, he
added.

Tin Myo Win said she was now walking and eating well and strong enough to
receive visitors in special circumstances, igniting speculation that a
visit by Alatas might be in the offing.

On Monday the envoy held talks with the prime minister, General Khin
Nyunt, and gave him a letter from Indonesian President Megawati
Sukarnoputri. As the current chairman of ASEAN, Indonesia has urged the
junta to free Aung San Suu Kyi before the Bali meeting.

Alatas served as foreign minister under Indonesia's longtime ruler
Suharto, a strongman who was considered a friend and a role model by the
Myanmar junta known as the State Peace and Development Council.

His mission is the latest attempt to break the political deadlock in
Myanmar, after the junta refused to recognise 1990 elections won in a
landslide by Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Demcracy (NLD).

UN envoy Razali Ismail, a Malaysian diplomat who had the backing of that
nation's formidable premier Mahathir Mohamad, managed to broker landmark
talks between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi that began in October 2000.

However, after months of stalling, the Razali initiative fell apart with
the opposition leader's arrest.

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said late Monday that he expected Razali
to be allowed to meet Aung San Suu Kyi on his latest trip to the country
beginning September 30.

Razali is hoping to hold talks with officials including Khin Nyunt to
discuss the release of the democracy activist whom he saw briefly in June,
one of the few outsiders to do so since she was taken into custody.

"The secretary general remains concerned about the well being of Aung San
Suu Kyi," Annan's spokesman Fred Eckhard said, calling for her immediate
release.

Observers believe the opposition leader's surgery may provide Myanmar's
generals with a face-saving way of shifting her from secret detention to
house arrest.

A move back to her lakeside residence would mark the start of a third
stint of house arrest for Aung San Suu Kyi, who has already spent a total
seven-and-a-half years confined to her home by the military.

Alatas, who arrived in Yangon Sunday, is to depart Wednesday after a
morning of sight-seeing, the Indonesian embassy said.


Associated Press Worldstream   September 22, 2003
Indonesian envoy meets with Myanmar prime minister
By Aye Aye Win; Associated Press Writer

An Indonesian envoy visiting Myanmar in a renewed bid to secure the
release of the detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi met Monday
with the country's prime minister, a diplomat said.

Former Indonesian Foreign Minister Ali Alatas met with Gen. Khin Nyunt at
a Defense Ministry guesthouse on the outskirts of the capital of Yangon
for about an hour, a diplomat said on condition of anonymity.

Details of their meeting were not immediately available.

Alatas was scheduled to visit Yangon's famous Shwedagon pagoda later
Monday and to meet the country's top leader, Gen. Than Shwe, on Tuesday.

Suu Kyi is currently recovering in a private Yangon hospital after being
admitted last week for what was described as major surgery. Doctors have
declined to give details about her operation and have not allowed any
visitors.

The Nobel Peace Prize winner's personal physician, Tin Myo Win, said
Sunday that she was well, and able to eat solid food for the first time
since surgery.

Alatas said earlier that he had been sent to Myanmar as a special envoy by
Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri, but refused to disclose
details of his visit.

But Alatas, who leaves Wednesday, is expected to convey the growing
concerns about Suu Kyi's detention among members of the 10-nation
Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Suu Kyi was detained in late May after a violent clash between her
followers and a pro-government mob in northern Myanmar.

Since then, Suu Kyi has been held at an undisclosed location, despite
appeals from world leaders for her release. The junta has said she will be
freed, but have refused to specify when.

The military seized power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy movement.
It held elections in 1990, but refused to recognize the results after Suu
Kyi's party won.


The Irrawaddy   September 23, 2003
Crowds Gather to Support Suu Kyi
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

Hundreds of Aung San Suu Kyi’s supporters have gathered to pray for her
recovery in front of the hospital where Burma’s pro-democracy leader is
recuperating after surgery, witnesses in the capital said.

Members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) started
assembling at the private Asia Royal Cardiac and Medical Centre in
Sanchaung Township on Friday following news that Suu Kyi underwent a
gynecological operation. Suu Kyi, 58, was admitted last Wednesday.

More than 300 NLD supporters have come to the hospital to show support for
Suu Kyi, a witness in the township said. "Many of the people are just
sitting outside, holding flowers for her," he added.

An NLD youth member, who has visited the hospital everyday since learning
of Suu Kyi’s surgery, told The Irrawaddy: "We go to the hospital to pray
for her health and to make sure she is okay. So far, we have been happy to
hear the good news from Dr Tin Myo Win."

Suu Kyi’s personal physician, Tin Myo Win, led the operation and has kept
the crowds outside the hospital informed on her condition, another NLD
member said.

While military intelligence officers have been watching the hospital
entrance since last week, authorities have not told Suu Kyi’s supporters
to disperse.

Suu Kyi’s doctor confirmed that she is recovering well, but did not reveal
when the opposition leader would be discharged. Some observers predict
that Suu Kyi will be placed under house arrest after she leaves the
hospital.

Meanwhile, Indonesia’s special envoy to Burma, Ali Alatas, is in Rangoon
trying to secure Suu Kyi’s release from "protective custody". The former
foreign minister has already met with top junta leader Sr-Gen Than Shwe
and Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt, but diplomats have tipped that Burmese
authorities will refuse Alatas’ request to see Suu Kyi.

Today, the United Nations reported that it would be sending its special
envoy, Razali Ismail, to Rangoon at the end of September. A UN spokesman
said Razali is expected to meet Suu Kyi and seek her immediate release.


Bangkok Post  September 22, 2003
What Now After the Surgery?
By Larry Jagan

Buma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has undergone a major
hysterectomy operation in a private hospital in Rangoon. The operation
went well and the patient is resting comfortably,'' said Ms Suu Kyi's
physician, Dr Tin Myo Win, who attended the operation.

The opposition leader is expected to stay in the hospital recuperating for
a few days, but may need weeks of rest before she is fully fit, according
to sources close to Ms Suu Kyi. The opposition leader was admitted to the
hospital last week and underwent preliminary tests before the three-hour
operation was conducted on Friday. Ms Suu Kyi's doctor had been allowed to
visit her in detention at an undisclosed place in Rangoon in the weeks
prior to her hospital admission. The operation went ahead on his advice,
at the hospital they chose.

Diplomats in Rangoon believe the timing of the elective surgery is
significant. Aung San Suu Kyi obviously does not expect to be released in
the near future,'' a western based diplomat in Rangoon said, and decided
to get the operation over and done with while she is not busy.''

A senior Bangkok-based diplomat who regularly deals with Rangoon.saw
things differently however. We are expecting a significant gesture from
the regime in the next two weeks leading up to the (Asean) summit (in Bali
next month),'' he said. Placing her under house arrest and resuming the
constitutional process would reduce the Asean pressure on Yangon
(Rangoon), at least in the next few months.''

There has been mounting international concern in recent weeks about Ms Suu
Kyi's health and safety as she has been held incommunicado for more than
three months now. Representatives of the International Red Cross were
allowed to see her earlier this month and were able to dispel fears that
she was on a hunger strike. A week earlier the United States had announced
that the opposition leader was refusing to eat in protest against her
continued detention.

But the fact that the opposition leader's medical operation appears to
have been successful will not lessen international pressure on Rangoon to
release Ms Suu Kyi immediately and unconditionally.

Even the Association of Southeast Asian Nations is stepping up efforts to
have her freed. Ali Alatas, a former Indonesian foreign minister, has
arrived in Rangoon to try to secure the opposition leader's release. He is
visiting Burma as the special envoy to the Indonesian president, Megawati
Sukarnoputri, to follow up Asean's concerns over Burma that were
vigorously expressed at their foreign ministers' summit in Phnom Penh in
July.

Asean had planned to send a troika to Rangoon for this purpose before the
leaders meet at their summit in Bali in early October. But Burma's
military rulers rejected this proposal and even refused to allow
Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda _ as Asean president _ to
visit as well. Instead, Mr Alatas is being allowed to come as an eminent
person and special envoy to the Indonesian president.

Mr Alatas last visited Rangoon in 1997 with then Indonesian president
Suharto, who was a staunch ally of Burma's military rulers and close to
the country's top General Than Shwe. Ali Alatas is also seen in Rangoon as
sympathetic to the regime, so he is likely to be well received on his
current trip.

His primary purpose will be to assess what political progress has been
made in Burma since the Asean foreign ministers' summit two months ago and
to press for Ms Suu Kyi's release. Both Jakarta and Rangoon have been coy
about giving details of the visit.

Asean officials say they hope he will be able to meet both the generals
and the opposition leader. It is unclear though whether he will meet Ms
Suu Kyi, or whether he will even seek to see her during his three day
visit.

It would be strange if Alatas didn't see her,'' said a Southeast Asian
diplomat who deals with Burma. In fact, Aung San Suu Kyi's hospitalisation
may make this easier. He could see her on a private and humanitarian visit
and not as a significant political gesture.

Military sources in Rangoon have already hinted that Mr Alatas will meet
Ms Suu Kyi during his visit. The most important thing though is for the
Indonesian envoy to meet Gen Than Shwe for, though Gen Khin Nyunt has been
promoted to prime minister and mandated to take the leading role in the
national reconciliation process, the senior general will make the final
decision on when _ and even whether _ to release the opposition leader.

Diplomats in Rangoon believe the military regime will return the
opposition leader to her residence when she is discharged from hospital
and placed under house arrest.

Southeast Asian leaders are hoping to find a way of preventing the issue
of Ms Suu Kyi's release and Burma's failure to introduce political reform
from dominating the summit.

By moving Ms Suu Kyi home, after Mr Alatas' visit to Rangoon, the generals
would certainly be giving Asean some kudos and prevent American pressure
or the United Nations envoy Razali Ismail, who is due to make a lightening
visit of a little over 24 hours to Rangoon starting on Sept 30 _ of being
given credit for her move.

But the international community, even Asean, will expect much more from
the generals than simply moving Ms Suu Kyi to house arrest to reduce
pressure on Rangoon to free the pro-democracy leader completely and resume
the dialogue process with the opposition. Time is running out for Gen Khin
Nyunt to prove the government's sincerity on introducing political and
economic reform.


The Irrawaddy   September 22, 2003
Observers Upbeat About Alatas Visit

The five-day Burma visit by Ali Alatas, Indonesia’s special envoy to
Rangoon, is likely to secure some positive breakthroughs, says a pair of
veteran Southeast Asia observers.

"It is a significant visit," says Andreas Harsono, editor of Jakarta’s
Pantau magazine. "Alatas understands the situation in Burma well." Alatas
is highly regarded in Southeast Asia’s diplomatic community for his
intelligence and skill, he added.

Alatas met with Prime Minister Khin Nyunt this morning, and delivered a
letter from Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri. He is scheduled to
meet tomorrow with Sr-Gen Than Shwe, who heads the armed forces and the
ruling junta.

Officials in Jakarta did not confirm that Alatas would be allowed to see
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The major goal of Alatas’ mission is
to secure the release of the detained National League for Democracy head
prior to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) summit in Bali
on October 7.

"We hope Myanmar’s [Burma’s] efforts to conduct reconciliation and
democratization can be continued ... and in relation to that we hope the
Aung San Suu Kyi matter can be resolved," Alatas said on Wednesday.

"Rangoon may be very interested in receiving Alatas, because he worked for
the Suharto regime that the Burmese generals have tried to emulate all
along," says Debbie Stothard, coordinator of the Alternative Asean Network
on Burma, a Bangkok-based network of human rights groups. Alatas served as
Indonesia’s foreign minister under President Suharto.

"Since Indonesia has a unique relationship with Burma, the leverage Alatas
carries is pretty strong," says Harsono.

Indonesia is also the current chair of Asean. The group broke with its
traditional non-interference policy towards the internal affairs of its
members by calling for the release of Aung San Suu Kyi during its June
meeting in Phnom Penh.

"Indonesia’s chairmanship of Asean must have some bearing. Although Alatas
doesn’t go with an official mandate from or the endorsement of Asean, he
has gained a lot of moral support from the group," said Stothard.
"Furthermore, we should not overlook that this veteran diplomat is well
experienced in dealing with military regimes, having worked for one
himself."

Stothard and Harsono believe both the Burmese government and Alatas are
quite aware that it is going to be extremely awkward and tense Bali summit
if Rangoon fails to respond to Alatas’ visit.

Aung San Suu Kyi continues to convalesce in a private Rangoon hospital
following surgery on Friday. She has been held incommunicado at an
undisclosed location since the violence of May 30.


Myanmar Times   September 8 -14, 2003
Call to Western powers on National Convention
By Thet Khaing

THE government has urged Western countries to encourage any Myanmar
politicians over whom they have influence to participate in a National
Convention to draft a constitution.

The call was made in a statement issued by the Myanmar embassy in London
on September 4.

“If what the Western powers truly want is national reconciliation in
Myanmar they should encourage the politicians under their influence to
strive toward participation in the National Convention process 
,” the
statement said.

The reconvening of the National Convention is the first step in a
seven-point roadmap to democracy outlined by the Prime Minister, General
Khin Nyunt, on August 30.

The date for reconvening the National Convention, which has been suspended
since 1996, is yet to be announced.

The government said the National Convention, which first convened in 1993,
had to be suspended following the withdrawal from the process of one the
participants, the National League for Democracy.

“It is most regrettable to see that, the politicians have already missed
several opportunities to play crucial roles in getting the country back on
the road to democracy,” the statement said.

It was imperative that the constitutional process be put back on track to
avoid any further delay, it said.

“What the Myanmar politicians, regardless of their foreign affiliations,
must now realise is that the National Convention may be the last great
opportunity they may have in a long time” to draft a constitution, the
statement said.

“Even though the earlier (constitutional) chapters approved by the
National Convention contained a percentage military representation in the
new national assemblies this can also be looked upon as a form of power
sharing where differences can be settled on the floor of the assembly and
prevent any military coups in the future,” it continued.

“The National Convention is certainly the place as well as the
opportunities where further steps of the political transition can be taken
together,” it said.

During its two years of deliberations from 1993, the National Convention
agreed on 15 chapter headings and 104 basic principles for inclusion in a
new constitution.

A new constitution will be Myanmar’s third. The first was adopted in 1947,
the year before independence. It was replaced by a constitution adopted in
1974


----ON THE BORDER----

Thai Press Reports   September 23, 2003
Karen Refugees Pour into Thailand as Myanmar Army Steps Up Crackdown

Fourteen Karen refugees from Myanmar have crossed the Prachuap Khiri Khan
border into Thailand, fleeing from what they say is a crackdown by the
Myanmar army on dissident troops in the border region.

Thap Sakae district chief Mr. Prasat Prasertying said yesterday that eight
of the refugees were children and five were women, with only one man among
the party.

The refugees, who are all Buddhists, claim to be feeling from a fresh
attack on border minority groups by the Myanmar army. They are sending
their women and children across the border for safety, but most of the men
are remaining behind.

Mr. Prasat said that border army and police officers, along with public
health officials and charitable organizations, were now overseeing the
situation.

However, Mr. Phisan Nakho, liaison officer for Vantage Co. Ltd, which has
been granted a concession from the Myanmar regime to cut a road linking
Moo Dong with Myeik, said that the border situation was not posing any
problems for the construction operations.

But he conceded that agreements between the Myanmar regime and minority
groups on the division of land after the opening of the border trading
post still lacked clarity.


----MONEY----

World Markets Analysis   September 23, 2003
Nippon Increases Myanmar Gas Stake
By Mike Hurle

Nippon Oil has taken an additional 5% stake in the Yetagun natural gas
projects in Myanmar. The Yetagun project, which covers the offshore blocks
M-12, M-13 and M-14, supplies around 300 MMcfd of gas to neighbouring
Thailand for use in power generation. The Japanese company took on the
additional stake from UK-based  Premier Oil, increasing its existing 19%
stake. Other companies, including Petronas and PTTEP of Thailand, have
been increasing their stakes in the project following Premier's decision
taken last year to scale back its involvement in the country (see Myanmar:
17 September 2002: Petronas Takes Premier Oil Assets in Myanmar and
Indonesia and Myanmar: 16 September 2003: PTTEP of Thailand Takes Stake in
Yetagun Gas Project).

Significance: Myanmar's gas projects have proved attractive to Asian
companies because they supply the growing Thai market and could ultimately
be linked into a wider regional network. UK and US companies such as
Premier Oil and Unocal have found it more difficult to operate in Myanmar
due to continued criticism of their links to the reviled military regime.


Xinhua Financial News - China Focus   September 23, 2003
China’s CITIC Seeks to Extend Reach in Mining, Oil

BEIJING (AFX) - China's state-run China International Trust and Investment
Corp intends to develop equity and financing links with an increased
roster of natural resources companies.

In an interview, CITIC Chairman Wang Jun said the company with interests
ranging from manufacturing and resources to banking and insurance is
actively seeking to boost the gold and copper reserves it invests in. The
company will use new technologies to develop oil and gas fields in China.

"We need to add to our gold and copper reserves," Wang said. "Our biggest
challenge is our natural resources." China's copper consumption alone far
outstrips its internal production, said Hans H.C. So, vice chairman of
CITIC's energy and gold divisions. Its holdings include vast tracts of
natural gas and oil fields in Dagang, the Sichuan Basin and Inner
Mongolia, as well as some 16 gold mines and one copper mine. The booming
China economy has the nation's factories consuming 2.8 mln metric tons of
copper each year yet producing only 800,000 metric tons of the metal from
state-owned mines. China's imports of copper, in raw form and processed
cathode, come largely from faraway Argentina and Chile.

According to several Beijing-based executives, CITIC is negotiating to
purchase a Myanmar copper mine from Ivanhoe Mines, the Canadian company
that is fast-tracking development of a vast copper and gold deposit in
Mongolia. Ivanhoe Mines executives declined to provide a timetable of such
a transaction. Wang would only say his corporation already has a long
history of purchasing large stakes in natural resource companies,
including timberland in North America, forest properties in New Zealand
and an aluminum smelter in Australia. "On a per-capita basis, for such a
large country, we are really quite short of natural resources," he said.

CITIC holds stakes in numerous publicly held companies in Hong Kong and
across Asia. Some have speculated it eventually will own part of Ivanhoe,
which on Monday upgraded the extent and the copper and gold grades of its
Oyu Tolgoi mine in Mongolia. "Ivanhoe has a very strong technical
background," said Wang, who noted CITIC has a mixed track record on
developing its own mining and natural gas and oil operations, even on land
it controls.

"This is why we are so interested in them. With technology, we reduce
risk," said the chairman, an engineer by training. He also mentioned his
corporation's efforts to extend its relationship with Beijing-based
natural gas and oil company Sunwing Energy, a 100 pct subsidiary of
Ivanhoe Energy. Sunwing, employing new extraction technologies, is already
producing oil from wells at the Dagang fields, not far from Beijing,
according to Patrick Chua, Sunwing's co-chairman.

"The Dagang fields are our short-term cash flow, and the Sichuan Basin is
our long-term reward," Chua told me at the company's Beijing headquarters.

Chua estimates 3 mln usd to 4 mln usd of cash flow a month by year-end
2004 from producing wells in the Dagang field, where it already has six
producing wells and a brand-new production-sharing pact with China
National Petroleum Corp.

As for CITIC, Wang says the company, with heavy interests in banks and
insurance, intends to shift more of its financial weight to natural
resources. He said areas of interest range from copper -- which is used to
make the refrigerators, cars and computers streaming out of China's
manufacturing centers -- to gold, platinum, palladium, nickel, lithium and
phosphorous.

Ivanhoe Mines has nearly 100,000 square km of property across Mongolia, as
well as producing mines and exploration tracts across China, in South
Korea, Australia and Myanmar.


Myanmar Times   September 8 -14, 2003
Withdrawal from Yadana field not an option, says oil giant

THE American energy giant, Unocal, said last week it had no plan to
withdraw from Myanmar despite being urged to do so by two state government
officials in the United States.

Unocal made the announcement on its website on September 3, a day after
the request was made by the Californian Treasurer, Mr Phil Angelides, and
his New York counterpart, Mr Alan Hevisi.

The pair made the request during a meeting with Unocal executives at the
company’s headquarters at El Segundo in California.

Unocal said its executive vice president and chief financial officer, Mr
Terry Dallas, had made clear at the meeting that withdrawing from the
Yadana offshore natural gas project was not under consideration.

“The company did agree to take under advisement the request by Angelides
and Hevesi to provide an analysis of staying in the Yadana project,” the
Unocal statement said.

Unocal is one of four partners in the US$1.2 billion Yadana project in the
Gulf of Moattama.

The gas field delivers natural gas to a power plant in Thailand via a
400-kilometre pipeline.

The other partners in the project are the state-owned Myanma Oil and Gas
Enterprise, the French energy giant TotalFinaElf, and Thailand’s PTT
Exploration and Production company.

The Unocal statement said Mr Dallas had told the meeting that the project
was economically sound for the company’s share holders and also provided
benefits to thousands of Myanmar families, including health care,
education and economic opportunities.

“He also emphasised that the Yadana project (which produces about 650
million cubic feet of natural gas a day) provides essential supplies of
natural gas for power generation to neighbouring Thailand, a key US ally,”
the statement said.

Unocal is facing legal action in the US Federal Appeals Court and in a
California state court over allegations that it was involved in human
rights abuses in Myanmar when the pipeline was built in the mid 1990s.

A Unocal spokesperson told the American news agency, the Associated Press,
on September 3 that the company’s withdrawal from Myanmar would not stop
the operation of the Yadana gas field.

“If we divest, the project would continue to produce gas and continue to
sell that gas to Thailand,” said the spokesperson, Mr Barry Lane. He said
the pipeline project was a long-term investment that included a 30-year
agreement to sell natural gas to Thailand. “It is good investment for us;
it is a good project. We are proud of the way it has been operated,” Mr
Lane told AP.

Unocal was exempted from a 1997 US ban on new American investments in
Myanmar because it had begun doing business in the country several years
earlier.

Unocal says it will not be affected by the US sanctions against Myanmar
that took effect late last month.


----REGIONAL----

Narinjara news   September 23, 2003
Clash with police leave several Burmese Muslim refugees hurt

Cox’s Bazaar:  At least fifty Burmese Muslim refugees were injured in a
clash with police on Sunday in a refugee camp in southeastern part of
Bangladesh.

According to UNHCR-run Burmese refugee camp officials at Kutupalong under
Cox’s Bazaar district, close to the western Burmese border, the clash
followed the arrest of two Rohingya camp-dwellers Azim Ullah and Jasim
Uddin.  The police arrested the two on allegations of being involved in
criminal activities.The refugees tried to snatch away the arrested when
they got locked into an hour-long clash with the police and paramilitary
troops.

In the aftermath fifty-eight Rohingya refugees suffered injuries while the
police demanded that four policemen were also injured though they named
only three.

Seven women members of the refugee camp were arrested while most of the
men fled to avoid arrest and police harassment.

The refugee camp houses about seven thousand Rohingyas in makeshift
thatched huts who are waiting to be repatriated to their homes in Rakhine
State in western Burma.  A total of about sixteen thousand refugees in two
camps remain to be repatriated, according to camp officials.

“We don’t want to go back to our homes as the Burmese junta cannot
guarantee us of citizens’ rights” a resident of the camp said. He added, ”
even if we go back we don’t get the right to earn our own livelihood like
other non-Muslim residents there. We can’t even travel to the nearest town
without the compulsory ‘pass’ from local village chiefs.”


----INTERNATIONAL----

Reuters   September 22, 2003
Annan Sending Envoy to See Suu Kyi in Myanmar
By Evelyn Leopold

UNITED NATIONS: U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced plans on
Monday to send a special envoy to Myanmar to seek the release of
pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and discuss reviving national
conciliation talks.

Malaysian diplomat and businessman Razali Ismail will be in New York on
Tuesday for consultations before traveling to Myanmar from Sept. 30 to
Oct. 2, his 11th mission to the country, U.N. spokesman Fred Eckhard said.

Suu Kyi, 58, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, is under detention
again and recuperating from what hospital sources described as a
gynecological operation on Friday.

Yangon says Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy party in 1990 won
a landslide election thwarted by the ruling military junta, was being held
for her own protection at an unknown location. She has been the subject of
international protests and sanctions imposed by the United States and the
European Union (news - web sites).

"The secretary-general remains concerned about the well being of Aung San
Suu Kyi and other NLD leaders and reiterates his call that they should be
released without further delay," Eckhard said.

Annan, who was following developments closely in Myanmar, expects Razali
to meet her, "find out her condition and work with government officials
toward her immediate and unconditional release," Eckhard said.

Razali, the spokesman said, was also expected to discuss with Prime
Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt and other officials ways in which to revive the
national reconciliation process, which came to a standstill after a May 30
clash between her supporters and followers of the ruling junta in the
northern part of the country.

NLD officials speculated the military may seek to deflect international
pressure by allowing Suu Kyi to convalesce at her Yangon home under house
arrest, as she has been for more than half of the last 14 years.

Razali last saw Suu Kyi in early June. He has visited Myanmar repeatedly
over the past two years to broker talks on national reconciliation and a
democratic transition in the former British colony ruled by the military
since a 1962 coup.


Xinhua General News Service   September 22, 2003
Japan aids leprosy elimination project of Myanmar

YANGON:  A five-year leprosy elimination pilot project, aided by the Japan
International Cooperation Agency (JICA), is underway in Myanmar, the local
Myanmar Times reported Monday.

Quoting the JICA, which is Japanese government's overseas aid agency, the
report said the leprosy control and rehabilitation project, that runs from
April 2000 to March 2005, cost about 300 million yens (about 2.5 million
US dollars), the annual cost being about 100 million yens (830,000
dollars).

The Japanese pilot project covers 48 townships in Mandalay, Magway and
Sagaing divisions, including the Special Skin Hospital and a leprosy
community in Hlegu township in Yangon division, it said.

Meanwhile, the JICA is also providing advanced training in Japan to
Myanmar medical staff in this regard, it added.

Myanmar was regarded as one of the countries where leprosy prevalence was
very high. However, according to official figures, the country has
attained such prevalence rate of less than one per 10,000 population 2003,
dropping from 1.04 in 2002.


----EDITORIAL----

The Irrawaddy   September 23, 2003
Sanctions are the First Step
By Dominic Nardi

Complex situations not only involve many factors, but many interconnected
factors. As such, when discussing the US "Burmese Freedom and Democracy
Act 2003" we must consider the relationship between sanctions and other
policy tools.

Seekins (in his online commentary, "Doing Something about Black Friday,"
Sept 19) admirably calls for the outside world to alleviate the horrible
conditions in Burma; but in criticizing sanctions he misses a fundamental
point.

Sanctions are merely a first step. The overall goals of activists are much
broader and more subtle. Sanctions alone will not bring down the regime,
but they may provide leverage to encourage change. No organization or
person worried about the plight of the Burmese people would see sanctions
an end unto themselves.

From 1989 to 1997 the US placed no significant economic sanctions on
Burma’s military rulers. During this period, the junta tightened its hold
on power, increased the size of the army from 200,000 to 550,000 soldiers,
and saw billions of dollars of foreign investment flow into the country.

The sanctions in 1997 only barred new investment. Hesitance from the US
failed to discourage the junta’s hardliners, who still have a firm grasp
on power, as the incident on May 30 showed. We cannot yet judge the full
effect of the new sanctions, but we do know that doing nothing has made
the situation worse. With the latest sanctions, the US has injected some
much needed dynamism into the situation.

Despite earnest efforts to target sanctions against the regime, some
innocent people were affected. Yet, in an economy where over 80 percent of
the people work in agriculture, the textile industry accounts for only a
small portion of employment. Even staunch critics of sanctions, such as
Steinberg, acknowledge that little would have transpired differently in
Burma’s textile industry without sanctions. Many businesses had withdrawn
from Burma before May 30 due to the dismal investment climate.

The American Apparel and Footwear Association called on its stores to ban
imports from Burma in April 2003. On the first day of 2005, the Multifiber
Agreement will expire and barriers to textile imports from China will
fall, meaning many foreign investors located in Burma would have relocated
to China anyway.

Seekins neglects to mention reports that US sanctions have indeed hit
their target. The military regime used American dollars for most of its
foreign trade. Enacting sanctions and freezing the regime’s financial
assets in the US has denied them this source of foreign capital. The
sanctions have also forced the Singaporean banks to downgrade the regime’s
credit rating.

Burma’s government has now encouraged its businesses to start using euros.
If Europe enacts tougher sanctions, this source of capital will dry up as
well. As a result, the regime will have a more difficult time purchasing
arms abroad. It will, however, find ways to obtain arms, especially from
China and Russia, so we must now turn our attention to these countries.

Seekins does acknowledge that we must do more to counter the influence of
Burma’s friends in the region. Too often critics of sanctions advocate a
passive, do-nothing alternative. Seekins’ suggestions do not differ so
much from the current goals of those who sought sanctions. Human rights
groups involved with Burma, including Amnesty International, have now
focused their attention on the UN and urged it to address the problems in
Burma.

Now that the US has stopped supplying the regime with foreign capital, it
must lean on other countries to halt the sale of arms to the regime.
America and Britain can bring the issue to the Security Council, yet China
and Russia will likely veto any arms embargo. In the end, countries
committed to a freer Burma will have to expend some political capital to
persuade China, Russia, and India to stop their arms transactions with
Rangoon.

Before May 30, and the ensuing campaigns in support of the sanctions bill,
few American politicians would have risked anything for Burma. Now that
Congress knows that voters care, American people can call on their
representatives to use their influence on other countries to stop the arms
sales.

Furthermore, few member states of the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations dared to criticize Burma until the US piled on pressure. America’s
tough line shook Asean out of its constructive engagement slumber and gave
its diplomats the political cover to blast the junta.

Therefore, the prospect of halting arms sales to Burma is more complicated
than Seekins acknowledges. The financial hurdles caused by the new
sanctions have indirectly increased the chances that Burma’s neighbors
will stop selling it arms.

Humanitarian aid to military dictatorships presents an ethical minefield.
Many people with the best intentions have genuine concerns about the
efficacy of sending goods and money to a country in which the regime’s
foul tentacles dip into every pot of gold. Some Burmese pro-democracy
supporters even worry that NGOs provide more money to the regime than
businesses. Therefore, the UN and donor countries will have to provide a
stringent monitoring system to ensure that as little of the aid as
possible goes to the military.

This is more complicated than one might expect. The system must calm the
fear of Burmese exiles about sending back remittances. The standards must
allow politicians from the UN and national governments to avoid the claim
that they have funneled money to the generals, since such a revelation
could be politically devastating.

Without tough monitoring of the money flow, politicians and Burmese exiles
will not fork over anything, much less participate in a "humanitarian
Marshall Plan," as Seekins suggests. However, none of this matters unless
the generals acquiesce to monitoring, which they are not likely to do in
border areas, where people suffer the most from human rights abuses. The
outside world needs some leverage with which to persuade the generals to
allow monitoring of border areas.

Which brings us back to sanctions. The bill has several provisions, some
of which Congress could lighten when the regime stops throwing money at
the army and starts spending on education and health care. However, the
outside world awaits significant and meaningful progress. Unlike FW de
Klerk, who in one dramatic sweep ended the ban on the African National
Congress and talked of the end of apartheid, Khin Nyunt rehashes the
failed rhetoric of the 1990s. The military must cross the Rubicon of
progress to convince the world of its intentions.

To push for change, we must employ a vast arsenal of policy tools, from
"blunt" sanctions to stinging human rights reports. We must now use
sanctions to influence the regime, promising their reduction if the regime
makes genuine progress toward negotiations with democracy groups.

We must also encourage the UN to do more, such as highlighting the
regime’s human rights abuses and enacting an arms embargo. Sanctions show
our commitment to the effort, and lend to our credibility as a moral voice
in the UN Security Council.

Finally, we must pressure Burma’s friends in the region to stop propping
up a dying regime. Sanctions were a big step; now we must take the next
few.

Dominic Nardi is a student at Washington’s Georgetown University and an
activist with the US Campaign for Burma.