BurmaNet News, September 30, 2004

[Editor]

September 30, 2004, Issue # 2570


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: KNU base attacked by govt troops
Irrawaddy: Opposition suspends three members

ON THE BORDER
AFP: Thais expand baby elephant poaching into Laos and Myanmar: experts

REGIONAL
Reuters: Thai formin faces uphill race to win U.N. top job
Bangkok Post: Academics slam PM's foreign policy agenda

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Myanmar defends its human rights record
AFP: UN's Annan convenes meeting to press Myanmar
Irrawaddy: Rights group wants Burmese sailors protected

PRESS RELEASE
M2 Presswire: Secretary-General pleased by constructive discussions in
high-level consultation on Myanmar

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 30, Irrawaddy
KNU base attacked by govt troops - Shah Paung

A Karen National Union, or KNU, Fourth Brigade camp at Nam Ka Prao village
in Southern Burma, Tenasserim Division was attacked by the Burma Army on
Tuesday, despite a ceasefire agreement being in place, according to KNU
general-secretary Mahn Sha.

The Battalion 203 camp, near the Thai border province of Prachuap Khiri
Khan, was attacked on September 28 in the late afternoon by Burma Army
Battalion 262. The KNU retreated. Battalion 203 is commanded by Gay Kaw
Mya, a son of Gen Bo Mya, the KNU deputy chairman.

There is, as yet, no casualty count because communications with frontline
soldiers have been interrupted. “We heard that the villagers living near
the camp all ran away and the SPDC [the ruling State Peace and Development
Council] soldiers took everything they could and destroyed what they
couldn’t take,” said Mahn Sha.

According to a Karen man recently returned from the area who asked not to
be identified, Nam Ka Prao village was rehabilitated just last year. The
hamlet boasted about 30 homes, a primary school and a hospital run by the
KNU.

The next round of ceasefire talks between the KNU and Rangoon are due to
start in early October. The occasion will mark the fourth time negotiating
teams from the two sides have met since late last year.

Mahn Sha said that even though they continue fighting, the two sides will
carry on with the peace process. “But it can affect the ceasefire talks if
they keep attacking us like this,” he added.

According to the KNU, on September 17, Burma Army Battalions 59 and 106
attacked a KNU Seventh Brigade camp at Mu Aye Pu in the Pa-an township
area near the Thai province of Tak. One KNU soldier died, while a Rangoon
trooper was killed and two others injured.

___________________________________

September 30, Irrawaddy
Opposition suspends three members - Nandar Chann

Burma’s main opposition party, the National League for Democracy, or NLD,
suspended three senior members for one year yesterday for organizing a
march to a UN office in Rangoon, the party’s spokesman said on Thursday.

Three women, Naw Ohn Hla, member of the Central Women’s Executive
Committee in Rangoon Division, Kyu Kyu San, a secretary in the branch
office of Sanchaung Township in Rangoon Division, and Sandar Win, head of
the party’s women’s wing in Magwe Division, were suspended from the party
for organizing a march to the UN Development Program, or UNDP, office in
the Burmese capital on Monday.

“Their duties were suspended for one year, effective from yesterday,” said
NLD spokesman U Lwin by telephone from Rangoon today.

Thirty-five NLD members marched to the UNDP office and submitted a letter
calling for the release of the party’s leaders and for the UN to intervene
to help break Burma’s political impasse.

The decision to suspend the three members was announced during a meeting
at the party’s headquarters in Rangoon on late Wednesday.

The move has upset several NLD members across the country, including one
of the suspended women.

“I feel that this is a backhanded punishment since they didn’t reprimand
me to my face,” she said, asking not to be identified.

_____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

September 30, Agence France Presse
Thais expand baby elephant poaching into Laos and Myanmar: experts

Bangkok: Thai poachers capture dozens of endangered wild baby elephants in
Laos and Myanmar each year to feed growing demand from circuses, zoos and
traveling shows, experts warned Thursday.

About 60 baby elephants are captured from forests each year in Thailand
and the two neighbour states, eventually to be sold off to merchants
mainly in China, according to the Asian Conservation Alliance Task Force
(ACATF), a coalition of non-government groups.

"Poachers in Thailand are now expanding their network into neighbouring
Myanmar and Laos," said ACATF coordinator Remi Chandran.

Soraida Salwala, founder of Friends of the Asian Elephant, said many of
the animals have been poached from the Nakai plateau in southern Laos.

"Little does the public know that they are actually caught from the wild
and these babies are having miserable lives," she said.

The coalition called for an immediate halt to the trade, which they say is
being exploited by Thai breeders who falsely claim their stocks have been
bred in captivity. Animals bred in captivity can be sold abroad under
certain circumstances.

Wild elephants reproduce at a far higher rate than their counterparts in
captive breeding programmes.

ACATF leaders said they have documented 147 elephants exported from
Thailand from 1980 to 2002. They say the number could be far higher
because several are suspected to have been smuggled across the border,
mainly through Laos or Myanmar into China.

Many of the creatures die in transport or from malnutrition, Soraida said.

Thailand is currently home to 1,500 to 2,000 wild elephants while Myanmar
claims about 5,000 in the wild.

Asian elephants are among the most protected species in the world with
only 50,000 of them left in the wild -- about half the level of 100 years
ago.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 30, Reuters News
Thai formin faces uphill race to win U.N. top job - Darren Schuettler

Bangkok: Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai faces a long, uphill
race for the top job at the United Nations despite the backing of his
Southeast Asian neighbours, analysts and diplomats said on Thursday. The
wealthy Harvard-educated lawyer was endorsed by his regional counterparts
on Wednesday as Southeast Asia's choice to succeed U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan when his second five-year terms ends in 2006.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, keen to raise Thailand's profile
abroad, had touted his foreign minister as Asian nations argued it's their
turn to lead the 191-nation group.

Those efforts appear to have paid off with the endorsement of the
10-nation Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), a bloc of some
500 million people.

But the jockeying to replace Annan has only just begun, experts say, and
Surakiart, 46, has yet to score a major foreign policy success to raise
his global profile.

"With ASEAN's backing, he has clearly overcome a hurdle, but he has many
more hurdles to come," said Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a foreign relations
lecturer at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University.

"I think he will have an uphill task. We have about two years left and
when it gets down to the wire I'm sure questions about his suitability
will come up," he added.

The son of a bureaucrat and an avid collector of rare watches and antique
cars, Surakiart has spent most of his career moving between academia,
business and politics.

After earning a doctoral degree in law from Harvard University, he taught
law in Bangkok before entering politics as a chief adviser to Prime
Minister Banharn Silpa-archa.

His appointment as finance minister in 1995, despite not being an elected
member of parliament, was a bruising experience. Accused of incompetence
and blamed for a sluggish stock market, he quit a year later and went into
oil and banking.

"I have never been successful when it comes to public relations. I don't
know why. Neither do I know how to correct it," he once said about
negative media coverage during that time.

A co-founder of Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai (Thais Love Thais) party, he
became foreign minister after the party swept to power in 2001.

MYANMAR HURDLE

Annan has made clear he does not want a third term. Nominations for the
post usually originate from regional groupings, with the 15-nation
Security Council settling on a single name that is voted on by the
191-nation General Assembly.

But ASEAN is part of a 56-member Asian group, which could either back
Surakiart or put forward other candidates - the latter being more likely,
one Western diplomat said.

"I was surprised because he doesn't really have a global profile. His big
international initiative was the Bangkok Process, but that was flattened
and I would think that would take the wind out of his sails," said the
Bangkok-based diplomat.

The Bangkok Process aimed to bring military-ruled Myanmar, its neighbours
and the West to the negotiating table to encourage the transition to
democracy in the former Burma.

But the talks stalled after Yangon refused to attend the last meeting in
April. It is pushing ahead with a controversial democracy roadmap that
excludes opposition icon Aung San Suu Kyi, who remains under house arrest,
and her party. Unlike the West, Thailand has tried to engage Yangon's
generals and opposes sanctions on the junta. But Western nations are
frustrated at Thailand's reluctance to get tough with its neighbour and
that could hurt Surakiart's candidacy.

"Thai policy towards Burma is not well received by the international
community," Thitinan said.

_____________________________________

September 30, Bangkok Post
Academics slam PM's foreign policy agenda; Thaksin 'helping his personal
ambitions' - Achara Ashayagachat

Foreign policy has served Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's own
ambitions for regional leadership and for his business empire, academics
at a Chulalongkorn University seminar said yesterday.

Thitinan Pongsudhirak, a political science lecturer, said the Asia
Cooperation Dialogue, the Economic Cooperation Strategy and the Bangkok
Process, along with bilateral trade strategies were intended to enhance
Thailand's international role.

They were also formulated to further Mr Thaksin's own wishes to influence
the region, mirroring the late Gen Chatchai Choonhavan's ambitions for
Indochina when he was premier in the early 1990s.

The objectives and conduct of these policies were beset with conflicts of
interest involving corporate concerns of the Shinawatra conglomerate and
the business interests of his associates, Mr Thitinan charged.

The stalled Bangkok Process to find solutions for Burma has proven the
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), the military junta, is most
effectively dealt with from a position of strength, not concessions and
accommodation, he said.

"It would be a win-win solution if we took a hard-line stance as we might
not be condemned by the international community. It the SPDC did not
comply we would have nothing to lose.

"But the PM has to relinquish some of his business expansion [ideas] and
sacrifice his own family interests," he said.

On Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai's bid for the UN
secretary-general post, Mr Thitinan said the chances of him winning did
not look good.

Mr Thitinan said if Mr Surakiart did not succeed it will only be
embarrassing for him in the short term, but in the long term the country
would lose face.

"We need to demonstrate our distinction, like Indonesia did in being
moderate, democratic and the largest Muslim country in the world when it
bid for the Security Council [seat]. Thailand's approach is unclear," he
said.

Former ambassador to the UN, Asda Jayanama, said the Thaksin government's
unconventional diplomacy was to use bargaining chips with other countries
rather than getting any tangible benefits.

"With the policy U-turn to the US, the Thaksin government became
associated with the anti-terror agenda rather than balancing it with
multilateralism under the UN auspices," Mr Asda said.

Instead of playing the major powers off against each other and maintaining
distance from them, the premier had chosen a trade-off policy by
exchanging anti-terror for non-Nato major ally status. He had also curbed
the Falungong movement in Thailand for closer economic ties with China, he
said.

"Our foreign policy has been formulated with a total lack of preparation
and turned out to be simplistic," Mr Asda said.

Mr Thitinan agreed Thai-US free trade agreement (FTA) negotiations are not
purely driven by economic considerations, but the overall Thai-US
relationship.

Similar political and strategic considerations were also at work in the
Thai-China FTA, he said.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 29, Associated Press
Myanmar defends its human rights record - Kim Gamel

United Nations: Myanmar on Wednesday defended its human rights record in
the face of international pressure to release pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi, but an exiled opposition member warned that abuses "continue
unabated."

U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan, meanwhile, urged countries to "redouble
their individual and collective efforts" and provide more support for U.N.
initiatives to move the military-ruled nation toward democracy.

Government minister U Tin Winn addressed the U.N. General Assembly's
ministerial meeting Wednesday, a day after a U.N. report criticized
Myanmar's military junta for holding more than 1,300 political detainees
and showing no indication it will release Suu Kyi from house arrest.

"Allegations of human rights violations in Myanmar are aimed at
discrediting the government for political purposes," the minister said. He
didn't mention Suu Kyi or her movement in his speech.

The European Union has given Myanmar, a politically isolated country
formerly known as Burma, until Oct. 8 to release Suu Kyi or face further
sanctions. It already has imposed a travel ban on Myanmar's military
leaders and frozen their financial assets in Europe. The United States
also has imposed sanctions on the junta.

Annan met with high-level representatives from 12 nations, the World Bank
and the U.N. Development Program on Wednesday at the United Nations to
discuss ways to move the process forward.

"He urges the Myanmar authorities to listen to advice given by friendly
countries, in goodwill, and allow his special envoy to visit the country
as soon as possible," according to a statement from his spokesman's
office.

He also expressed concern about Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate who
has spent many of the years since 1989 in detention for her nonviolent
struggle for democracy.

"All of us would want to see her released," Annan told reporters after the
meeting.

Minister U Tin Winn said his government was preparing for a second round
of a constitution-drafting convention after the initial closed-door
discussions were adjourned in July.

"We are greatly encouraged by the results of the first session," he said.

The convention, billed by the junta as a first step toward restoring
democracy, began on May 17 but was boycotted by Suu Kyi's party, the
National League for Democracy. It was criticized by human rights groups
and some Western governments as unrepresentative.

Thaung Htun of the self-styled exiled National Coalition Government of the
Union of Burma said the minister's speech failed to address a
"deteriorating" human rights situation.

"It was just a defensive statement on the regime's own political agendas
and the total denial to the appalling human rights situation, including
the use of rape as a weapon against the ethnic nationalities," Htun said
at a news conference at U.N. headquarters in New York.

"Forced relocations, forced labor, rapes, arbitrary killings and
confiscation of land and properties continue unabated," he said.

Prime Minister Gen. Khin Nyunt last year announced a seven-point plan that
was supposed to lead to new elections, with the convention the first
point. He set no deadlines.

Suu Kyi has been detained most recently since May 2003, when the military
cracked down on her party after a violent clash between her followers and
government supporters. The NLD won a landslide victory in a 1990 general
election but was not allowed to take power by the junta, which seized
control in 1988 after brutally suppressing mass pro-democracy protests.

_____________________________________

September 29, Agence France Presse
UN's Annan convenes meeting to press Myanmar

United Nations: UN Secretary General Kofi Annan met with representatives
of a dozen nations here on Wednesday to seek ways of pressing Myanmar's
military regime, in power for more than four decades, to move toward
democracy.

Officials from the World Bank and UN Development Programme also attended
the meeting, called on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly where
Myanmar earlier vigorously defended the regime's record on human rights.

"We will use the individual influence of each of the countries to see how
they can help move the process forward," Annan told reporters after the
session. He said the goal was to "encourage" the government.

"The member states who came in here are all concerned about the issue,"
Annan said.

In recent months, the UN chief has stepped up the pressure on Myanmar with
statements critical of the junta's national forum on democracy, which he
said could not be credible without opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her National League for Democracy (NLD) has boycotted the national meeting
and Suu Kyi has been under house arrest for more than a year, the third
time the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner has been detained.

The forum is part of the regime's "road map" for democracy, and a top
Myanmar official earlier Wednesday warned that the nation's fate could not
be determined by one person alone -- a reference to Suu Kyi.

"We cannot allow the national convention to be derailed under any
circumstances," Tin Winn, an official in Prime Minister General Khin
Nyunt's office, said in a speech to the 191-nation General Assembly.

"The future of the nation cannot be determined by one individual or one
party acting alone," he said.

Suu Kyi's NLD won the elections in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, in
1990 but the military rulers, who took power in a 1962 coup, refused to
recognise the result.

Four NLD members were given seven-year jail terms last week, and a UN
rights specialist outlined allegations of human rights abuses in a new
report issued on Tuesday.

"Allegations of human rights violations in Myanmar are aimed at
discrediting the government for political purposes," Tin Winn told the
assembly. "Myanmar has consistently cooperated with the United Nations on
huamn rights."

But the military rulers have not allowed either the specialist or Razali
Ismail, Annan's special envoy to Myanmar, to return to the country in
recent months.

Razali attended Wednesday's meeting along with representatives from
Australia, Britain, France, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, current EU
president The Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, Thailand, the United States
and Vietnam.

Annan's spokesman later said the meeting had "strengthened the sense of
common purpose on how to assist Myanmar in making its process of
democratic transition more inclusive and sustainable."

The spokesman said the UN chief was also urging Myanmar to "listen to
advice given by friendly countries, in goodwill, and allow his special
envoy to visit the country as soon as possible."

_____________________________________

September 30, Irrawaddy
Rights group wants Burmese sailors protected - Aung Lwin Oo

The Brussels-based International Confederation of Free Trade Unions, or
ICFTU, on Wednesday sent a letter to Indonesian President Megawati
Sukarnoputri urging the Indonesian government not to deport six Burmese
seafarers who were detained last month.

The six men were recruited by a Thai agent for work on a Thai-owned
fishing vessel in Indonesian waters and all were issued with Thai
passports. The Burmese crew members allegedly mutinied by throwing seven
Thai seamen, including the crew’s captain, overboard. They were arrested
by local police on August 22, after coming ashore without valid passports,
which were believed to have been confiscated by representatives of the
owners of the Thai-flagged fishing vessel.

They are being held by immigration officials on the island Tual, in
southeast Maluku.

The ICFTU claims that the six detained Burmese crew members, who belong to
the Thai-based Seafarers’ Union of Burma, or SUB, face possible
deportation to Burma or Thailand. The SUB is affiliated with the
International Transport Workers’ Federation, and another Burmese exiled
labor group, the Federation of Trade Unions Burma.

“The international trade union movement is concerned that the six
seafarers risk being repatriated to Thailand, or even to Burma,” the ICFTU
said in a statement released yesterday. “On past occasions, Burmese trade
unionists and democracy activists have been repatriated from Thailand into
the hands of the Burmese military junta.”

The trade union is concerned for the safety of the six crew members and
called on the Indonesian government to protect their rights. The statement
added that the case has also been referred to the UN High Commissioner for
Refugees for the protection of the seafarers.

_____________________________________
PRESS RELEASE

September 29, M2 Presswire
Secretary-General pleased by constructive discussions in high-level
consultation on Myanmar

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for the
Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General convened a high-level informal consultation on
Myanmar today at Headquarters which was attended by senior representatives
of a dozen Member States, as well as representatives from the United
Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the World Bank. The Special Envoy
of the Secretary-General, Mr. Razali Ismail, also took part in the
consultations.

The level of representation reflects the interest and concern that the
United Nations and the international community share about the current
political situation in Myanmar. The Secretary-General was pleased by the
constructive discussions which strengthened the sense of common purpose on
how to assist Myanmar in making its process of democratic transition more
inclusive and sustainable.

The Secretary-General hopes that on the basis of today's discussions, the
participating countries will redouble their individual and collective
efforts, and provide further support for the United Nations efforts, to
move the process forward.

He also urges the Myanmar authorities to listen to advice given by
friendly countries, in goodwill, and allow his Special Envoy to visit the
country as soon as possible.