BurmaNet News, March 4, 2004

[Editor]

March 4, 2004 Issue # 2433

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: UN envoy Razali concludes Myanmar mission after flurry of talks
AFP: Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi wants to 'turn the page': UN envoy
AP: Special U.N. envoy departs Myanmar, labor envoy arrives

DRUGS
Xinhua: Myanmar exposes 203 drug-related cases in January

REGIONAL
AFP: ASEAN insists Myanmar must take part in ASEM despite EU objections
Nation: Thailand to receive Burma fishing rights


INTERNATIONAL
Nation: US Senator slams PM
AP: Study: Use of Girl Soldiers on the Rise

OPINION / OTHER
BI: "Join the Army or Go to Jail!"

STATEMENT
NCGUB – East: Statement by Senator McConnell on Thailand's policy toward
Burma delivered in the Senate on March 2, 2004



INSIDE BURMA
___________________________________

March 4, Agence France Presse
UN envoy Razali concludes Myanmar mission after flurry of talks

UN envoy Razali Ismail on Thursday wrapped up his twelfth visit to Myanmar
after a flurry of meetings with the junta and democracy icon Aung San Suu
Kyi in his push for democracy in the military-run state.

Razali spent three days shuttling between separate talks with Aung San Suu
Kyi, who remains under house arrest, Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt and
others in a bid to move forward the "roadmap" to democracy Yangon
announced last August.

"His mission went well," a source close to the envoy's visit told AFP
after Razali's departure from Yangon to the Malaysian capital Kuala
Lumpur.

"It is too early to say if there has been progress, maybe we will see some
results in the next few weeks," the source said, adding that Aung San Suu
Kyi, whom Razali met twice in two days, remained in high spirits.

"As usual, she was very pugnacious and determined," the source said of the
Nobel peace laureate, enduring her third period of house arrest since
1988.

Razali was kept in a tight security cocoon during his trip, which
authorities did not publicise, and reporters could not approach him as he
left his Yangon hotel for the airport.

Yangon's democracy "roadmap" has been met with scepticism from Western
governments, which tightened sanctions against Myanmar after last May's
brutal crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD).

The NLD won a landslide 1990 election victory but was never allowed to rule.

But Razali appears to have thrown his support whole-heartedly behind the
process and held a series of meetings with government officials, foreign
diplomats and ethnic leaders.

"Razali is in a positive mood, very much at ease and has absolutely no
will to give up," the source said.

Political leaders have said Razali, a veteran Malaysian diplomat, is
pursuing a plan for the United Nations to become more involved with the
junta's roadmap, expected to begin this year with a national convention to
draft a new constitution.

A senior ethnic political leader said after meeting the envoy that he had
come to Yangon to propose that the NLD take part in a new forum with the
ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and ethnic parties.

Khun Tun Oo, of the Shan National League for Democracy, described the move
as a "breakthrough" but diplomats and experts downplayed that assessment.

"Razali has said that there had been no breakthrough, nor any news of any
forum meeting soon as has been claimed," a Western diplomat said.

"Things are advancing, but there are still difficulties within the junta,"
he said, adding that Khin Nyunt needs to "negotiate as much with his
boss", Senior General Than Shwe, as with the political parties.

"They (the generals) don't want to make too much noise. The idea is that
the UN be more involved and that the parties and the ethnic minorities
discuss about the conditions for convening the national convention with
the government," he added.

The NLD withdrew from an earlier convention in 1995 and the generals have
attempted to boost the credibility of the new convention by ensuring many
ethnic groups will attend.

Dialogue between the SPDC and the opposition, which was initiated by
Razali in October 2000, broke down last year but secret contacts have
continued.
__________________________

March 4, Associated France Presse
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi wants to 'turn the page': UN envoy

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi wants to "turn the page" and engage
Myanmar's generals in a political dialogue, UN envoy Razali Ismail said
Thursday after wrapping up a key visit to the military-run state.

Razali spent three days shuttling between separate talks with Aung San Suu
Kyi, who remains under house arrest, Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt and
others focusing on pushing forward Yangon's "roadmap" to democracy it
announced last August.

Aung San Suu Kyi, whom Razali met twice in two days, remained in high
spirits despite her confinement and expressed a resolve to join the
political process from which she has been excluded for so long, he said.

"Aung San Suu Kyi is in a very good state of mind, very positive, and she
believes she can work with the prime minister," Razali told AFP upon
returning to Kuala Lumpur.

"No recrimination, she is not asking for a pound of flesh. She wants to
turn the page. She hopes to be released quite soon," he said of the Nobel
peace laureate, who is enduring her third period of house arrest since
beginning her political career in 1988.

Razali had a "very good, useful visit and I had thorough discussions with
the prime minister," he said.

"I think the way forward would be for Aung San Suu Kyi and NLD (National
League for Democracy members) to be released and they can have a working
relationship with the prime minister."

Razali said Khin Nyunt too was eager to move Myanmar's glacial political
process significantly forward by restarting a dialogue with Aung San Suu
Kyi.

"I think this is also seen as an important thing by the prime minister and
the prime minister should be given a full mandate to go ahead -- I'm
convinced he wants to go ahead -- in the context of the power apparatus of
Myanmar to effectualise national reconciliation and democracy."

Dialogue between the SPDC and the opposition, which was initiated by
Razali in October 2000, broke down last year but secret contacts have
continued between Aung San Suu Kyi and junta officials.

Yangon's democracy "roadmap" has been met with scepticism from Western
governments, which tightened sanctions against Myanmar after last May's
brutal crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD.

The NLD won a landslide 1990 election victory but was never allowed to rule.

Razali appears to have thrown his support whole-heartedly behind the
process and held a series of meetings with government officials, foreign
diplomats and ethnic political leaders.

"Razali is in a positive mood, very much at ease and has absolutely no
will to give up," a source close to the envoy's mission said about
Razali's efforts to bridge Myanmar's bitter political divide.

Political leaders have said Razali, a veteran Malaysian diplomat, is
pursuing a plan for the United Nations to become more involved with the
junta's roadmap which is expected to begin this year with a national
convention to draft a new constitution.

Razali said a statement from the United Nations was expected later Thursday.

A senior ethnic political leader said after meeting with the envoy that he
had come to Yangon to propose that the NLD take part in a new forum with
the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) and ethnic parties.

Khun Tun Oo, of the Shan National League for Democracy, described the move
as a "breakthrough" in efforts to bring the warring sides to the
negotiating table.

But diplomats and experts downplayed that assessment and cautioned that
there was still much to accomplish.

"Razali has said that there had been no breakthrough, nor any news of any
forum meeting soon as has been claimed," a Western diplomat said.

"Things are advancing, but there are still difficulties within the junta,"
he said, adding that Khin Nyunt needs to "negotiate as much with his
boss", Senior General Than Shwe, as with the political parties whose
support of the convention is seen as crucial.

The NLD withdrew from an earlier national convention in 1995, saying the
process was unrepresentative, and the ruling generals have attempted to
boost the credibility of the new convention by ensuring many ethnic groups
will attend.

Myanmar's 17 ethnic groups which have signed ceasefires with Yangon have
said they would join the convention, but conditions for participation have
yet to be determined.
__________________________

March 4, Associated Press
Special U.N. envoy departs Myanmar, labor envoy arrives – Aye Aye Win

A U.N. special envoy wrapped up a four-day visit to Myanmar Thursday after
attempting to reconcile differences between the ruling junta and the
pro-democracy opposition.

Razali Ismail - U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan's special representative
- refused to answer questions about his meeting with Prime Minister Khin
Nyunt, detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and other political
figures during his stay.

After meeting Suu Kyi on Wednesday, he said he wouldn't provide details or
an assessment of his talks with both sides. Reporters were denied access
to Razali before his departure for Malaysia, via Thailand, late Thursday.

As Razali ended his mission, an envoy from the U.N. International Labor
Organization arrived.

Francis Maupain, a special adviser to the ILO director general, arrived in
Yangon late Wednesday on a mission to investigate working conditions in
Myanmar.

The ILO in November 2000 urged its 175 member countries to impose
sanctions on Myanmar, after discovering forced labor practices were
widespread.

Maupain will evaluate whether the military regime has made improvements in
its labor conditions, and meet with government officials, ILO liaison
officer Richard Horsey said.

Razali met with Suu Kyi - the former Nobel laureate - twice during his stay.

The current junta came to power in 1988 after violently crushing a
pro-democracy uprising. Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party won
a landslide victory in a 1990 general election, but the military refused
to hand over power.

Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, met five other senior leaders of Suu
Kyi's NLD to discuss the military government's so-called "road map" to
democracy - a seven-step plan the regime says will lead to free elections.

The government detained Suu Kyi after a May 2003 clash between her
supporters and a government-backed mob in northern Myanmar. She was later
moved to her Yangon villa where she remains under house arrest.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been under military rule since 1962.


DRUGS
_____________________________________

March 4, Xinhua
Myanmar exposes 203 drug-related cases in January

The Myanmar authorities exposed a total of 203 narcotic-drug-related cases
in January this year, the official newspaper The New Light of Myanmar
reported Thursday.

During the month, the army units, police and the customs seized 25.1 kg
heroin and 56.2 kg opium as well as over 343,000 tablets of stimulant
drugs.

The authorities punished 314 people including 271 men and 43 women for
being involved in the January cases, it said.

According to official statistics, the Myanmar authorities exposed a total
of over 2,760 drug-related cases in 2003, arresting 3,848 people in this
connection. Seizure during the year included 568 kg heroin and 1,481.5 kg
opium, 156.25 kg morphine, 85.2 kg marijuana and 307.9 kg ephedrine as
well as 4 million tablets of stimulant drugs.

Also during the year, the authorities destroyed seven opium refineries in
northern Shan state of the country.

Other official report said as part of its drug eradication efforts,
Myanmar destroyed a total of 2,558 hectares of illegally grown opium poppy
plantations in four states and divisions including Shan state during the
2003-04 poppy cultivation season up to February.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) quoted
Wednesday's report of the International Narcotics Control Board for 2003
as saying that Myanmar's opium poppy cultivated area dropped 24 percent to
62,200 hectares in 2003 from 2002's 81, 400 hectares. The decline in the
year also registered by two-thirds since 1996.

The UNODC survey also revealed that the potential opium production in
Myanmar fell 2 percent to 810 tons in 2003 from 828 tons in 2002.


REGIONAL
_____________________________________

March 4, Agence France Presse
ASEAN insists Myanmar must take part in ASEM despite EU objections – Ben
Rowse

Southeast Asian foreign ministers insisted Thursday that Myanmar must take
part in October's Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) despite objections from the
European Union over the junta's human rights record.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wants its newer members
-- Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar -- to be included in the biennial summit in
return for the participation of the 10 European Union candidate countries.

The EU, however, is opposed to Myanmar's involvement unless the military
regime takes meaningful steps to improve the human rights situation there.

"The Asian position is very clear. It's not just an ASEAN position,"
Singapore's Foreign Minister S. Jayakumar told reporters at the annual
retreat of ASEAN foreign ministers in Vietnam's picturesque Halong Bay.

"The Asian position is that on the ASEAN side there are three new
members... and the leaders of ASEAN have decided we should take a unified
position on that.

"On the European side there are 10 new members, so our position is that 10
new members from Europe be admitted and three new members from Asia," he
said.

His comments were echoed by Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda:
"We did agree... that no political conditions be attached on their
admission to ASEM."

International observers have expressed concern that the Myanmar issue
could jeopardise the summit, which is due to take place in the Vietnamese
capital.

"There is no confirmed EU line at the moment on what to do if Hanoi wants
Myanmar to participate. It is pegged on whether encouraging steps are
taken by Myanmar," a Western diplomat told AFP.

The EU is one of Myanmar's harshest critics, and in June last year it
strengthened sanctions against the country after the junta detained
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest.

However, Myanmar enjoys a large measure of understanding and tolerance
from its fellow ASEAN states who strictly observe a much-criticised ban
against interference in other member nations' affairs.

At the ASEAN summit in Bali last October, the bloc said international
sanctions would not help bring about democratic change. It also lent its
support to the junta's "roadmap" to democracy, a process that has been met
with scepticism from Western governments.

When asked if ASEAN members will encourage Yangon to speed up steps to
bridge the country's bitter political divide, Singapore's Jayakumar said:
"I think each of us in ASEAN has been supporting efforts by the Myanmar
government to make movement particularly on the roadmap and we will
continue to do so."

But he said the regional grouping was puzzled by the EU's ASEM stance
given that a previous stand-off whether Myanmar could take part in
EU-ASEAN meetings was resolved in April 2000 with a move to allow the
Myanmar minister into discussions while concurrently toughening the EU
stance on Myanmar.

"So the point which the Asian side finds difficulty in understanding is
that we made a breakthrough there and we admitted Myanmar to participate
in the ASEAN-EU meeting, but why is it at ASEM there is an objection from
the European side," he said.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Dy Nien, however, said he believed the
stand-off would be successfully resolved. "We will sort it out," he said.

The foreign ministers' retreat coincided with the 12th mission to Myanmar
by UN envoy Razali Ismail in a bid to hurry along the roadmap to
democracy.

The most recent ASEM summit was held in Copenhagen last year involving the
15 current EU members, China, Japan, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia,
Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and Brunei.
_________________________

March 4, Nation
Thailand to receive Burma fishing rights

Burma is to award a oneyear fishing concession to Thailand ? four years
after the right was terminated in the wake of border clashes, Foreign
Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said yesterday.

“Burma has agreed to give concessions in the Burmese sea for a trial
period of one year,” Surakiart said. “If no Thai fishermen are arrested
during this period, the concession could be continued.”

Burma has long complained about Thai fishing boats entering its waters
illegally. They were barred in May 2001 following a series of border
skirmishes between Thai and Burmese troops.

Surakiart was speaking on the sidelines of the Asean Retreat in Hanoi.

A Foreign Ministry source said Rangoon would allow 500 Thai vessels to
fish in its waters.

Surakiart said Thailand and Burma would consider a joint investment in
fisheries. Rangoon wants Thailand to invest in its fish processing
industry, he said.

Surakiart said the second “friendship bridge” across the Sai River,
linking Chiang Rai”s Mae Sai district with the Burmese town of Tachilek,
would open in late April. The Mae Sae border checkpoint would be upgraded
as an international crossing, he added.</P>He also said Thailand has asked
Burma to waive taxes on an 18kilometre road it is building inside Burma,
which is part of a link between Tak’s Mae Sot district and Myawaddy.


INTERNATIONAL
_____________________________________

March 4, The Nation
US Senator slams PM

Is Thaksin soft on Burma because of iPSTAR, Shin Corp? Sen McConnell
demands answers

A leading US Congressman, Senator Mitch McConnell, has blasted Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, describing his support for the military
government of Burma as ?odd behaviour given Thailand’s professed
commitment to democracy and human rights?.

Speaking in the US Senate on Tuesday, McConnell charged that Thaksin's
policy towards Burma may have been shaped by his family’s investment in
the country.

Thaksin’s cosy relationship with Burma’s ruling State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC) was questionable because it comes amid the
influx of ?narcotics, HIV/AIDS and other undesirable exports pouring
across Burma’s borders into Thailand?, said McConnell, who is also the
chairman of the US Senate Appropriation Committee.

Some suspect that the raison d'etre can be summed up in a single word:
iPSTAR, McConnell said.

iPSTAR is a US$350 million (Bt14 billion)broadband satellite owned by Shin
Satellite and Shin Corporation, a holding company founded by the Thai
Prime Minister who owns 53 per cent.

“What investments, including projects and activities related to iPSTAR, do
Shin Satellite and Shin Corporation have in Burma, and/or have planned for
Burma” asked McConnell, adding that he will pose this same question to
Secretary of State Colin Powell when he appears before the Foreign
Operations Subcommittee next month.

Shin Corp's chief executive officer Boonklee Plangsiri dismissed the
allegation, saying: "Our business dealings have nothing to do with
politics.”

“We are merely leasing transponders to the Burmese. We are not operating
anything there,” he said.

A spokesman at Shin Corp’s marketing department said the deal was a joint
investment with Burma’s Bagan Cybertech.

Shin Corp was granted a concession to install 5,000 satellite receiving
stations in Burma’s rural area and that the company has so far completed
1,000.

Moreover, said the spokesperson, iPSTAR received a $350 million loan from
the US’s ExIm Bank at the end of 2002 and added any objections over the
deal would have been raised then.

McConnell also said he was alarmed and distressed by reports of
deportation of Burmese refugees, exiles and migrant workers from Thailand
to Burma.

“As the last few weeks have clearly demonstrated, Thai politicians are
quick to promise a chicken in every pot, but sometimes chickens get the
flu. I say this only to illustrate my hopes that Prime Minister Thaksin
has prepared an alternative approach toward Burma and the SPDC that
includes the full participation and input of [Aung San] Suu Kyi and the
NLD as well as all ethnic nationalities,” McConnell said.

He said while the international community, Malaysia and Indonesia raised
concerns over the political deadlock in Burma, Thaksin seemed keen on
letting the wind out of sanction sails at every opportunity.

“Where others speak out to demand concrete actions from the SPDC,
including the unconditional and immediate release of Suu Kyi and her
compatriots, Thaksin has repeatedly risen to defend those whom Secretary
Colin Powell referred to as murderous thugs.”

Last year, he initiated an international forum on Burma selfdubbed the
“Bangkok Process” that did not include the NLD (National League for
Democracy), the United States, or other proven champions of freedom,” said
McConnell in a statement to the Congress.

However, it did include the SPDC, and was described by Thaksin as a
meeting of the “like minded.” The “Bangkok Process” is fundamentally
flawed by the very absence of Suu Kyi and her supporters at the table.
Tellingly, they remain under arrest and detention in Burma, he said.
_________________________

March 4, Associated Press
Study: Use of Girl Soldiers on the Rise

Girl soldiers have been members of fighting forces on a larger scale than
previously thought - taking part in conflicts in 38 nations since 1990,
said a study released Wednesday.

Girls under 18 have served in the armies of governments as well as rebel
and paramilitary units, the study funded by the Canadian government said.

The U.N. Children's Fund estimates that there are about 300,000 child
soldiers worldwide. "Based on our work, a conservative estimate would be
about a third are girls, and in some cases it's 50 percent," said Dyan
Mazurana, the study's co-author.

Mazurana, a research fellow at Tufts University, and co-author Susan
McKay, a nurse and professor at the University of Wyoming in Laramie,
collected data on girls in armed groups worldwide and examined their
participation in conflicts in Sierra Leone, Mozambique, and northern
Uganda.

"From Sudan to Burma, from Uganda to Sri Lanka, girls are members of the
armed forces, engaged in armed conflicts," said Jean-Louis Roy, president
of Rights & Democracy, a non-partisan human rights organization created by
Canada's Parliament which published the study. "Their presence is a
central component of the majority of today's armed conflicts."

The study found that girls became part of fighting forces for reasons
ranging from recruitment and abduction to making money and escaping
violence in the community or abuse at home. In Uganda and Sierra Leone,
girls averaged about 13 years old when they entered the forces.

While girls associated with armed groups have traditionally been seen as
"sexual slaves" or "camp followers," the authors said girls had many other
roles from combat soldiers, slave laborers, spies and informants to
messengers, cooks, porters, thieves and suicide bombers.

Mazurana said governments try to conceal the use of girls in their own
militaries and point to their presence in opposition forces. But "in
almost every conflict, those same governments are using child soldiers,"
she said.

According to the study, girls were part of fighting forces in 55
countries, involved in armed conflicts in 38 countries, and served as
fighters in 34 countries.

When conflicts end, the study said, girls are almost never included in
programs to disarm, demobilize, and reintegrate former combatants.
Instead, girls often return to their communities - with babies born of
rape - and have great difficulty being accepted.

Noeleen Heyzer, head of the U.N. Development Fund for Women, said war has
turned girls into killers and fighters, adding that some have been forced
into early motherhood.

She called on the international community to respond urgently and adopt
new policies to help these girls get an education, training, and become
productive citizens.


OPINION / OTHER
_____________________________________

Volume 14, Number 2, February 2004: Burma Issues
"Join the Army or Go to Jail!" - Saw Ehna

As the 12 year-old stood at the bus stop his young heart heavy with the
fight he had just had with his mother, he was confronted by a group of
Burmese soldiers.

Aung Tin had decided to visit his aunt, in a town called Letpadan, from
his own home, a small village called Moo oh Bin, in the Bago Division,
north of Rangoon, the capital of Burma.

His father had died and he was not getting on with his mother so he ran
away from her. It was while waiting at the bus stop, that he was forced
into a situation that changed his life forever.

Over the next few years he would come face to face with death, rape and
the destruction of people who were defenseless against The State Peace and
Development Council, (SPDC) soldiers from the Burma’s brutal military
government, who now stood before him.

They asked him for his ID card and when he told them he didn’t have one
they gave him a choice — “Join the army or go to jail”.

This huge decision to be made by one so young left him wishing that he was
back home with his mother. Instead, Aung Tin was forced to sign a piece of
paper that stated that he had now voluntarily joined the army.

For the next five years he became another child soldier, conscripted into
an army that rules Burma with an iron fist.

An overwhelming number of children are “recruited” by SPDC soldiers at bus
stops, railway stations, marketplaces, festivals and on the streets of
Burma’s cities, towns and villages. Today, there are 300.000 child
soldiers in the world, Burma is the biggest user with 70.000 of them
serving in its army ranks.1

Burma’s Army forms part of one of the largest armies in Southeast Asia
ruled by the generals of the SPDC. Children are also present in the
opposition groups who have fought against this regime for 54 years.

This is Aung Tin’s story as told to Aung Kaw and Ler Wah who are
documenting the abuse of Burma’s oppressed people. At the meeting held on
November 6, 2003 he spoke openly about how he finally escaped from the
death and the destruction that had destroyed his youth.

He was sent to Mingaladon, a main military base, half-hour drive from
Rangoon to undergo training. As a child amongst men he endured four and a
half months of extreme physical suffering, often with very little food in
his stomach.

After training he was posted to a battalion in Thaton, 145 miles east of
Rangoon. For three months he was treated violently by his commanding
officers and older soldiers.

The gun he carried was as tall as he was and he wore the smallest uniform
the soldiers could find for him.

“As a new soldier, I had to do everything. When the platoon commander got
drunk he would make me do things for him. If I told him I did not have the
time to help him he would beat me up or put me in the camp jail.”

“The sergeants always forced the new soldiers to work for them and they
told us they would give us coffee or tea but we never got it. They fed us
good rice, but never curries. We had to work everyday. If we were not
patrolling we had to grow vegetables for the battalions.”

After completing his three months at Thaton, he was sent into battle in
the jungle to fight against the Karen resistance stronghold in Mae Tha
Waw, in eastern Burma bordering Thailand.

One of the many ethnic opposition groups, the Karen National Union (KNU)
have been fighting Burma’s military regime since 1949.

They want their own homeland and equal rights in their country that has
been ravaged by the longest civil war in the history of the world since
World War II.

“We had no permanent base. We just roamed around the jungle passing
through many villages, sometimes, patrolling, looking for Karen rebels.
One day our column came under attack from the rebels. Bullets were flying
in all directions.”

“ I was very afraid and did not know how to fight. We did not know who was
shooting whom. After the clash, four soldiers were dead. When the battle
ended my commander beat me up until I bled because I had fought so badly.”

This was not to be his last fight with the rebels and often when the
soldiers could not find their enemy they went from village to village
murdering the people who they accused of being the spies for Karen
soldiers.

“We patrolled in this area for two months. One day our platoon ran out of
food. The commander ordered me to go to a village headman to get rice and
chicken. The headman came with food but only enough for the higher-ranked
soldiers so we had to steal from the villagers to feed ourselves.”

Soon the starving Aung Tin, with other young soldiers learnt the taste of
power through their guns and preyed on the defenseless communities taking
food whenever.

“When the villagers refused to give us food, we beat them up. One time a
villager was killed when we met him on a path in the jungle while we were
on patrol. Some of us did not want to kill him. But others said that he
might inform the Karen soldiers where we were and that we would get into
trouble from our commander so it was better to kill him.” Later the
headman told Aung Tin that the dead man had no connection to the KNU
soldiers.

As weeks went by he witnessed many deeds of torture and rape of the local
people.
One day at a village his battalion arrested a boy, accusing him of being a
spy for the KNU. They tied him up. His mother begged for his life. The
boy’s sister came and pleaded to the commanders for her brother. After he
raped the girl, he gave her to his soldiers. They raped her and then the
boy was released after he was savagely tortured, Aung Tin said.

After that he was sent to Mae Tha Lit, opposite the Than Song Yang a small
border town in Thailand, where they had to patrol around another KNU
military base. This part of the jungle was heavily mined. He saw seven men
killed and 11 injured after they stepped on landmines.

He carried the images of the inhuman treatment he had witnessed like a
dark shadow on his mind. The weight and pain his battalion had inflicted
on the local people felt even heavier than the supplies villagers had to
haul along with the troops. Not fed enough they were often killed, beaten
or left behind exhausted in the jungle.

“A man who no longer could carry his load asked the soldiers if he could
go home. They shouted at him to keep moving. After climbing another
mountain he became even more exhausted. In desperation he tried to run
away but they just shot him dead.”

Another porter confronted the soldiers and asked; “We are one, we come
from the same country, is it fair to treat us like this?” Within seconds
he too was shot dead by a lance corporal.

The battalion he was with then moved to the infamous Kawmoora – a KNU
stronghold that the SPDC have been unable to destroy for 11 years. Many
thousands of men from both the government’s military and the KNU have lost
their lives during numerous attacks on this base. Allegations that the
SPDC have used a barrage of weapons containing chemicals, phosphorus and
conventional munitions have surfaced over the years. It was here that the
young boy came face to face with the reality of war that still rages
between the KNU and the military Junta in Burma. “Everyday we had to dig
bunkers as shells rained on us. Two or three of SPDC soldiers were killed
daily. For three months we fought like this then eventually I was injured.
I was sent back to the base for treatment.”

Once his wounds had healed he was sent back to the frontline to face the
bloodshed and torture once again.

Finally the day came – five years after he had been arrested at the bus
stop – he could return to his village.

“I visited my family. My mother urged me to leave the army because my
father, when he was alive, hated it. “
Once again he did not listen to his mother and the child soldier returned
to the SPDC military base.

“I went back to my battalion where I had a fight with my Commander’s
nephew and he put me into a cell for three months. But I was released
after one and half months.”

“Then I started to think about what my mother had said. I knew that I now
had to listen to her and somehow get home.”

In 1996 he deserted the military base and went to his mother. For six
years he has lived in constant fear of being arrested and thrown into
jail.

***Many names and places have been left out to protect the lives of the
people involved.***

Endtnote:
1 “My gun was as tall as me”, Human Rights Watch, October 2002.
_________________________

STATEMENT

March 3, NCGUB - East
Statement by Senator McConnell on Thailand's policy toward Burma delivered
in the Senate on March 2, 2004:

Statement of Senator Mitch McConnell
Thai Policy Toward Burma: Principled or for Profit?

Mr. President, as my colleagues know, freedom in Burma has long been under
 siege by a military junta calling itself the State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC). In response to last year's brutal assault against the
supporters of the National League for Democracy (NLD) and its leader Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, Congress quickly passed - and the President signed into
law - the Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003.

This was an appropriate response to an act of terrorism orchestrated and
carried out by the SPDC and its affiliated organizations.

Last week, the State Department issued its annual human rights report, and
the section on Burma evidences egregious and systematic human rights
abuses. Let me read one excerpt from that report:

"[The SPDC's] extremely poor human rights record worsened, and it
continued to commit numerous serious abuses. Citizens still did not have
the right to change their government. Security forces continued to commit
extrajudicial killings and rape, forcibly relocate persons, use forced
labor, conscript child soldiers, and reestablished forced conscription of
the civilian population into militia units."Murder, rape, forced labor,
child soldiers this is a sobering reminder of how egregious and extreme
human rights  violations are in Burma.

While many in Burma's neighborhood raised concerns with the situation in
that country (including Malaysia and Indonesia), Thailand - led by Prime
Minister Thaksin Shinawatra - seemed keen on letting the wind out of
sanction sails at every opportunity. This strikes me as odd behavior given
Thailand's professed commitment to democracy and human rights.

Where others speak out to demand concrete actions from the SPDC, including
the unconditional and immediate release of Suu Kyi and her compatriots,
Thaksin has repeatedly risen to defend those whom Secretary Powell
referred to as "murderous thugs".

Last year, he initiated an international forum on Burma self-dubbed the
"Bangkok Process" that did not include the NLD, the United States, or
other proven champions of freedom. However, it did include the SPDC, and
was described by Thaksin as a meeting of the "like minded". The "Bangkok
Process" is fundamentally flawed by the very absence of Suu Kyi and her
supporters at the table. Tellingly, they remain under arrest and detention
in Burma.

I agree with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen that "all voices in
the country had to be heard and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi must be
released." In stark contrast, Thaksin recently stated, "Burma is on the
right track. If they follow our recommendations, they will be okay and get
everything done."  With narcotics, HIV/AIDS and other undesirable exports
pouring across Burma's borders into Thailand, it is only fair to question
Thaksin's motivations in his cozy relationship with the SPDC. Some suspect
that the raison d'etre can be summed up in a single word: iPSTAR.

iPSTAR is a $350 million broadband satellite owned by Shin Satellite
(Sattel) and Shin Corporation, a holding company created by the Prime
Minister that owns 53 percent of Sattel. If successfully launched and
operational, the satellite will beam its signal across Asia.

To convince doubting Thomases, who suspect that Thailand's approach to
Burma may be based on selfish profit - not principle - Thaksin should
answer the following single question: What investments, including projects
and activities related to iPSTAR, do Shin Satellite and Shin Corporation
have in Burma, and/or have planned for Burma?

I intend to pose this same question to Secretary of State Colin Powell
when he appears before the Foreign Operations Subcommittee next month.

Let me close by saying that many of us remain concerned with the continued
deterioration of democratic institutions in Thailand - including a free
and independent press. We are alarmed and distressed by continued reports
of the deportation of as many as 10,000 Burmese refugees, exiles, and
migrant workers from Thailand to Burma each month. My colleagues can find
additional information on this matter in a February 25th article by Ellen
Nakashima in the Washington Post and through Human Rights Watch's report
"Out of Sight, Out of Mind: Thai Policy Toward Burmese Refugees and
Migrants".

With rising tensions in the south, it is more important than ever that
Thailand stay the course in its political and legal development.

I am sure my colleagues will agree that accountability and transparency
must be maintained in Thailand, be it a crackdown on drugs or business
with Burma. As the last few weeks have clearly demonstrated, Thai
politicians are quick to promise a chicken in every pot - but sometimes
chickens get the flu. I say this only to illustrate my hopes that Prime
Minister Thaksin has prepared an alternative approach toward Burma and the
SPDC that includes the full participation and input of Suu Kyi and the NLD
as well as
all ethnic nationalities.

Mr. President, I ask that following my remarks an article from Thailand's
English language newspaper 'The Nation' appear in the Record. Thaksin has
it wrong - the United States is not a "useless friend" to Thailand. On the
contrary, America is a strong advocate of democracy and human rights
throughout the region.