BurmaNet News: October 16-17 2002

[editor at burmanet.org]

October 16-17 2002 Issue # 2016

INSIDE BURMA

Irrawaddy: Humanitarian aid benefits junta
Business Times Singapore: Jockeying for power in Myanmar
DPA: UN envoy in Myanmar to probe rape as ‘weapon of war’ allegations
AFP: UN rights envoy to arrive amid rising criticism of junta

DRUGS

Mizzima: Drug smuggling in Kachin State

GUNS

AFP: Myanmar rejects Human Rights Watch report on child soldiers
Irrawaddy: Forced military training in Tenasserim

MONEY

Petroleum Economist: Premier backs out
Xinhua: Myanmar’s foreign trade down in first half of 2002
Myanmar Times: Ostrich chicks arrive from KL

INTERNATIONAL

Xinhua: China donates opium-substitute crop seeds to Burma
Narinjara: Bangladesh sent its new envoy to Burma

ON THE BORDER

TV Myanmar: Burma blames Karen National Union for Thai border bombs
AFP: More explosions rock Thai-Myanmar border region

STATEMENTS/MISCELLANEOUS

KNU: Statement on explosions in Myawaddy
SDU: Open letter to H.E. Pinheiro

__INSIDE BURMA____

Irrawaddy
October 17 2002

Humanitarian Aid Benefits Junta
By Naw Seng

The Burmese junta stands to gain millions of dollars from international
donations that will be channeled through the UN and humanitarian agencies
based in Burma, charged a recent report released by Altsean-Burma, an
alternative Asean organization based in Bangkok.
The report, "A Peace of Pie?", focuses on Burma’s humanitarian aid debate
and criticizes Rangoon-based UN agencies and International NGOs that it
says will become conduits for the junta to funnel millions of dollars
directly into their pockets without improving human rights conditions or
moving political dialogue forward with opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.
The report also says that there is a risk of bribery within these
organizations.
"Most of the humanitarian agencies (UN as well as INGOs) don’t want to
talk about human rights because it means that they have to consider the
political implications of their works," says Debbie Stothard,
Altsean-Burma coordinator.
The report found that for every U S dollar destined for UN agencies in
Rangoon, between 40 to 60 cents automatically benefits the regime as UN
agencies accept an exchange rate on the dollar lower than the going market
rate.
"Better governance is the answer to Burma’s humanitarian crisis," said
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in an interview with Altsean-Burma in
August.
In Burma, some government NGOs (GNGO) operate inside the country but
function more as extensions of the military state apparatus than as
humanitarian agencies. GNGO members have the authority to promise
employment to citizens, to level fines and administer beatings as forms of
coercion to expand and enforce membership.
"The international NGOs are not doing enough to support the growth of
independent NGOs in Burma and we need more independent NGOs," Stothard
says.
Humanitarian aid is sorely needed in Burma. But the political stagnation
since Suu Kyi was released from house arrest in May and the continued
spending on military at the expense of education and other humanitarian
concerns, leads many to believe that the time is not yet right to resume
humanitarian assistance.
Recently, Britain decided to donate 15 million dollars to combat HIV/AIDS
via UN agencies and, in October, Japan granted 764 million yen (US $6.1
million) for an anti-desertification program and student scholarships.
There are currently 30 INGOs and two Red Cross organizations operating in
Burma.
[Ed. Note: “Peace of Pie” can be viewed at
http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/peaceofpie.htm
http://www.ibiblio.org/obl/docs/peaceofpie.doc ]

________

Business Times Singapore
October 17 2002

Jockeying for power in Myanmar
By Harish Mehta

WHAT should one make of the sentences of death by hanging of the
son-in-law of former Myanmar dictator Ne Win and his three grandsons? Was
there really a coup attempt?

For one thing, it means General Than Shwe, the current strongman of
Myanmar, wants to become an even stronger man, if that were possible. But
he has to keep looking over his shoulder at other members of the ruling
troika: vice-chairman Maung Aye and first secretary Khin Nyunt. It also
means that the former strongman, ex-dictator General Ne Win, variously
said to be either 92 or 94 years old, is apparently still capable of
mustering a rabble of dissenters. And all these questions arise only
because Gen Ne Win's family has lost no opportunity to enrich themselves.
As their wealth grew, they developed political ambitions as well. But
strongmen rulers do not tolerate dissent well (and sometimes not at all).
Gen Than Shwe did what the political science textbooks say he would do:
crack down on Gen Ne Win's family. And so four of them were sentenced to
death. By making an example of them, the message goes to the generals,
brigadiers and colonels in the ruling junta: don't mess with Gen Than
Shwe.

The 'ruling strongman versus ex-strongman' drama had been simmering on the
back burner for several years in the economically-devastated country and
would have gone on but for the fact that Gen Ne Win and his supporters
started baiting Gen Than Shwe. So, just a few days before the sentences
were handed down, the National Unity Party (NUP) - a political
reincarnation of Gen Ne Win's Burma Socialist Programme Party that ruled
till 1988 - suddenly came out with stinging criticism of the ruling
military junta for mishandling the economy.

Everything the party said was, of course, true - that people are suffering
from rising consumer prices and inflation, and that life is generally
miserable. Of course, the irony is that Myanmar was one of South-east
Asia's most dynamic economies in the 1950s, and it was Gen Ne Win's very
rule that turned it into an economic disaster. By the time the present
junta had worked on the economy, the country had become a basket case.

But the NUP went too far in calling for the emergence of a
constitutionally elected government to solve the country's political and
economic problems. Gen Than Shwe found the criticism from Gen Ne Win's
supporters just too hard to swallow. On top of that, he was fed up with
the bad behaviour of Gen Ne Win's family members, many of whom were
involved in murky business partnerships with military officers in the
ruling junta.

Many of those deals broke one law or the other, and everyone involved
ought to have been charged a long time ago. But they were tolerated. The
latest provocation was just too much to bear. That Gen Ne Win should again
be attempting to exercise power through the NUP, while his children incite
some junta officers to rebellion, was, in Gen Than Shwe's eyes, more than
any mortal strongman could bear.

So thus it was that on Sept 26, a court in Yangon sentenced Gen Ne Win's
son-in-law Aye Zaw Win, 54, and the latter's three sons - Aye Ne Win, Kyaw
Ne Win, and Zwe Ne Win, all in their 20s - to death by hanging for high
treason. They were accused of attempting to recruit senior military
officers to stage a coup earlier this year.

Aye Zaw Win is the husband of Sandar Win, the wealthy favourite daughter
of Gen Ne Win. He is thought to be mainly interested in making money; but
Sandar is known to harbour political ambitions, and may have even seen a
role for herself in promoting her father's questionable legacy. So her
husband may have paid a price for her ambitions. The junta then turned on
its own unruly ranks. Four senior military officers, including two
regional commanders, were sacked for their involvement with the Ne Win
clan.

With the threat from the Ne Win clan and their political supporters
neutralised, Gen Than Shwe now controls power unmolested. But his problems
are not over. Jockeying for power continues within the ruling troika,
along with vice-chairman Maung Aye and first secretary Khin Nyunt. Gen
Khin Nyunt is Ne Win's protege and is seen as a rival to Gen Maung Aye.
Moreover, Gen Khin Nyunt was the man who personally held endless rounds of
talks with National League for Democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and he
is believed to be leaning towards a settlement with her more than his
troika colleagues. With Ms Suu Kyi demanding greater democracy, and
rivalries running through the ranks of the junta, Yangon is not a place a
strongman can sleep easy at night.
______

Deutsche Presse-Agentur
October 17 2002

U.N. envoy in Myanmar to probe rape as 'weapon of war' allegations

United Nations special rapporteur on human rights, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro,
arrives in Myanmar (Burma) on Thursday to investigate allegations of mass
rape by the junta's soldiers.

Pinheiro will visit the Shan state between October 22 and October 24 to
probe accusations the Myanmar military used rape against ethnic minorities
fighting for autonomy in the region.

The allegations were made in a June report by the Shan Women's Action
Network and the Shan Human Rights Foundation, two Thailand-based rights
groups. The groups detailed mass rapes involving at least 625 girls and
women by Myanmar's soldiers in the Shan state. The report accused the
junta of condoning the use of rape as a "weapon of war" against civilians.

Myanmar's military junta welcomed the U.N. investigation, saying in a
statement, "the government of Myanmar stands in solidarity with the
civilized world community against rape of any kind, most especially as an
instrument of government policy of war".

"We will cooperate fully with him (Pinheiro), so that he may report on
these outrageous allegations of human rights abuses," spokesman Hla Min
said.

"We believe an unbiased report from Mr. Pinheiro and the United Nations
will affirm what we have been saying all along: these accusations are
false."

During his visit, Pinheiro will meet with State Peace and Development
Council (SPDC) first secretary General Khin Nyunt, Foreign Minister U Win
Aung and Home Minister U Khin Maung Win.

After his return to Yangon on October 25, he will discuss his findings
with a number of government officials concerned with human rights before
embarking on a visit of Thayarwaddy prison, 100 kilometres north of
Yangon, where human rights organisations allege political prisoners are
being detained.

Before departing Myanmar on October 28, Pinheiro is scheduled to meet
opposition leader and Nobel Prize laureate Aung San Suu Kyi.
____

Agence France-Presse
October 17 2002

UN rights envoy to arrive in Myanmar amid rising criticism of junta

UN human rights envoy Paulo Sergio Pinheiro was due to arrive in Myanmar
Thursday on an 11-day mission that comes after a series of damning human
rights allegations have been levelled against the junta.

During his fourth trip to Myanmar, the Brazilian academic is expected to
investigate the claims as well as meet with democracy campaigner Aung San
Suu Kyi and top junta leaders.

In the latest report to attack the regime's rights record, the US-based
watchdog Human Rights Watch (HRW) said Tuesday it believed that more than
a fifth of the soldiers serving in Myanmar's army could be under the age
of 18. Its investigation found that children as young as 11 were being
forcibly recruited into the national army where they were made to
participate in human rights abuses.

And in July, two Thai-based rights organisations representing the Shan
ethnic minority released a report claiming the military used rape as a
weapon of war against their people.

Myanmar's government has repeatedly denied the rape allegations and said
this week that it had invited Pinheiro to make an "independent review" of
the claims.

Earlier Thursday it also rejected the HRW report which drew on interviews
with more than three dozen current and former child soldiers.

"The government of Myanmar refutes the claims made by the HRW and
furthermore finds it very difficult to understand on what basis it is
making such claims saying that 20 percent of the national army is made up
with underage (people)," the junta said in a statement.

Pinheiro, who is to arrive in the Myanmar capital late Thursday, is
scheduled to make a three-day visit to Shan state beginning on October 22.

The Shan Women's Action Network (SWAN) which helped compile the rape
report said Thursday that it welcomed Pinheiro's plans to visit Shan state
but had little faith it would improve the situation there.

"We are not expecting too much from his visit because we doubt that he
could really find out the right persons to inquire," said the group's
spokeswoman Hseng Noung.

"The mission was at the invitation of Yangon's military regime and they
will show him only what they want."

Hseng Noung said that according to its sources in Shan state, Myanmar
authorities had already taken steps to cover up the truth in many areas
where major human rights and sexual abuses were taking place.

Forced relocations of villagers in affected regions had taken place and
residents were forced to sign documents saying that people in the area had
experienced no problems with local authorities or soldiers, she said.

In a report to the UN General Assembly released Monday, Pinheiro said the
"recent mellowing on the political front" in Myanmar was not enough to
improve the human rights situation.

He urged the UN to get ready to help with the transition to democracy,
saying: "The present delicate situation... needs to be handled with great
care and generosity on the part of those who wish the people of Myanmar
well."

Pinheiro is due to leave Yangon on October 28. No date has been set for a
meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi, who was released in May from 19 months
under house arrest.

___DRUGS____


Mizzima News
15 October 2002

Drugs smuggling in Kachin State
By Thun Nain

According to local reports, the smuggling of drugs in Kachin State
-especially in a large cities like Hupin, Moe Kong, Phakant and Myitkyina
- is steadily on the rise. According to local information, drugs are
traded illegally at five different locations in Hupin, at ten locations in
Moe Kong, and at six locations in Myitkhina. In Phakant too drugs are
easily available.
Reportedly, the retail price for one bottle of Penicillin in Myitkyina
ranges between 40,000 and 50,000 Kyats, while in Moe Kong one would have
to pay 8,000 and in Hupin 10,000.
Not only have local authorities failed to eradicate the illegal selling of
drugs effectively; in many cases they are actively involved. Some drug
smugglers, already arrested, pay their way out - if they can afford it. It
appears that although the military authorities know of the locations of
illegal drug sales, they conveniently forget this knowledge, given
appropriate payment.
As a result of official complicity, drug smuggling increases. As do the
number of drug addicts and AIDS patients.

____GUNS_____

Agence France-Presse
October 17 2002

Myanmar rejects Human Rights Watch report on child soldiers

Myanmar's military regime on Thursday rejected as a smear campaign a
report which said that more than a fifth of the soldiers serving in its
national army could be children under the age of 18.

The report released Tuesday by the US-based watchdog Human Rights Watch
(HRW) found that children as young as 11 were being forcibly recruited
into the army where they were made to participate in human rights abuses.

"The report is just another example of attempts to tarnish the image of
Myanmar and the Myanmar Tatmadaw (military) in the eyes of the
international community," the foreign ministry said in a statement. "It is
no accident that the report appeared on the eve of the visit by a
high-ranking UN official and at a time the UN General Assembly is starting
to consider human rights questions," it said.

UN special rapporteur on human rights, Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, is due to
arrive here late Thursday for an 11-day visit -- his fourth to the
country.

The government has asked the Brazilian academic to investigate allegations
made in another report released in July which said the military used rape
as a weapon of war against the Shan ethnic minority.

Myanmar's government has repeatedly denied the allegations contained in a
study prepared by two Thai-based Shan rights organisations which detailed
the assault of 625 girls and women, mostly between 1996 and 2001.

According to the HRW report, army recruiters focus on boys at train and
bus stations and markets, threatening them with jail if they fail to join
up.

The boys are given no opportunity to contact their families, and are sent
to camps where they undergo weapons training and are routinely beaten and
brutally punished if they try to escape.

The foreign ministry statement said that it was against Myanmar's laws to
draft men under the age of 18 and that "this regulation is strictly
enforced"

"Myanmar has a purely voluntary army and those entering the military
service do so at their own free will," it said. "There is neither a draft
system nor forced conscription in the country."

Myanmar's army has doubled in size since 1988, and with an estimated
350,000 soldiers, it is now one of the largest in Southeast Asia.

Human Rights Watch said estimates put the number of conscripts under the
age of 18 at more than 70,000.

The report claims to be the most comprehensive study of its kind and drew
on interviews with more than three dozen current and former child
soldiers.
__________

Irrawaddy
October 17 2002

Forced Military Training in Tenasserim
By Ko Thet

Young villagers in Tenasserim Township, Tenasserim Division have been
forced to attend military training sessions with Battlion 561, according
to a spokesperson of the All Burma Students’ Democratic Front (ABSDF).
"Coastal Regional Command ordered the training," said the ABSDF
spokesperson. "After the training, three villagers from each village were
forced to join the army while villages had to provide 4,000 kyat for each
villager who joined the army." The source added that families of those who
joined the army were exempt from providing financial support.
The training course lasted six months. Also, school teachers,
anti-insurgent associations and members of the Union Solidarity and
Development Association (USDA) also had to attend the training, but were
not required to join the army.
The ABSDF source said that in August alone, nearly three-dozen villagers,
ranging from ages 13 and up, fled to the Thai-Burma border to escape the
training. Included in this group were three high school girls and two
junior high school girls.
If caught by the authorities, escaping villagers will receive jail
sentences of about four years, the source added.

____MONEY____

Petroleum Economist
October 17 2002

MYANMAR (BURMA); PREMIER BACKS OUT.

Premier Oil is pulling out of the country, it said last month, as part of
a wider restructuring that effectively puts the UK independent up for
sale. The move triggered celebrations by human-rights activists, who have
lobbied against the company's involvement in the country, which is ruled
by a military dictatorship, since Premier signed a gas-exploration
agreement there in 1990.

The restructuring also ends the shareholdings in Premier of Malaysia's
Petronas and the US' Amerada Hess, which each owned 25%. Premier's
chairman, David John, says the $670m group restructuring would leave the
firm "better balanced to deliver shareholder value". Through a series of
transactions, Premier's net indebtedness will be reduced by over GBP 200m
($310m), he adds, and will allow "the company to pursue its refocused
strategy of exploration and commercial deal-making". It is said that the
company would now welcome a bid. In cancelling the shareholdings of
Amerada and Petronas, Premier agreed to transfer its interest in the
Yetagun gas project to Petronas; a 15% interest in the Natuna Sea block A,
in Indonesia, to Petronas; and a 23% interest in Natuna to Amerada. As
part of the deal, Petronas is to assume and repay, at completion,
Premier's Yetagun project debt of $152m and make a cash payment to Premier
of $207m. Amerada will pay Premier $17m.

The company says the restructuring will reduce its pro forma net debt from
GBP 204m to GBP 111m and slash its gearing from 98% to 39%. Premier's
average production will fall from 50,000 barrels of oil equivalent a day
(boe/d) to 30,000-35,000 boe/d.

Brushing aside the financial argument for restructuring, activists claim
they have forced the company from the country. But Charles Jamieson,
Premier's chief executive, insists it is a "purely commercial decision".

Premier executives privately maintain that the company's presence had a
positive influence on the country, particularly in helping to secure the
release of James Mawdsley, a UK campaigner jailed for handing out
human-rights leaflets. Pro-democracy activists do not share this view.

Human-rights groups also claim Premier's exit from the country will
discourage investment there by other firms in the future.

TotalFinaElf (operator and 31.24%), the US' Unocal (28.26%), Thailand's
PTT Exploration & Production (25.5%) and state-owned Myanma Oil & Gas
Enterprise (15%) are developing the 5 trillion cubic feet Yadana gasfield.
_______

Xinhua News Agency
October 17 2002

Myanmar's foreign trade down in first half of 2002

YANGON, Oct. 17 (Xinhua) --Myanmar's foreign trade went down by 14.72
percent, registering 2,471.87 million US dollars in the first six months
of 2002 compared with the same period of last year, according to the
latest figures released by the Ministry of National Planning and Economic
Development.

Of the total, imports amounted to 1,018.89 million dollars, down 35.64
percent, while exports were valued at 1,452.98 million dollars, up 10.45
percent. It stood a favorable balance of trade during the six-month period
of 2002 with 434.09 million dollars. It is the first time to have struck
such a balance of foreign trade since the present government took office
in late 1988.

During the firs half of 2002, the import value of consumer goods,
intermediate goods and capital goods respectively accounted for 43.69
percent, 32.97 percent and 23.34 percent of the total imports.

Over the period also, Myanmar's private sector took up 890.53 million
dollars or 87.4 percent of the total import value, while it made up 769.8
million dollars or 52.98 percent of the total export value.

The rest of the percentage of the imports and exports were held by the
government sector.

The statistics also show that Myanmar's income from customs duties earned
379.43 million dollars, down by 25 percent compared with the same period
of last year.

The import customs duties, obtained mainly through normal trade, took up
373.37 million dollars or 98.4 percent of the total with the rest fetched
through border trade.
_____

Myanmar Times
October 14-20 2002

Ostrich chicks arrive from KL

A SHIPMENT of 20 ostrich chicks arrived in Yangon last week for a pilot
breeding project involving the Myanma Farms Enterprise and a Malaysian
health food company. The two-month-old chicks arrived by plane from Kuala
Lumpur and were taken to the MFE’s farm at Bago, about 50 miles north of
Yangon, where they will be raised for use as breeding stock. The chicks
were provided by the Kuala Lumpur-based company, PSSM, under an agreement
with the MFE for a breeding project which could lead to large-scale
commercial production of the birds. However, PSSM director Mr Casey Teh
told Myanmar Times last month that it should be possible to say after six
months whether commercial production was feasible. The project comes amid
growing demand for ostrich meat, skin and eggs in the world market.

____INTERNATIONAL_____

Xinhua News Agency
October 17 2002

CHINA DONATES OPIUM-SUBSTITUTE CROP SEEDS TO BURMA

China has donated agricultural crop seeds to the authorities of Kokang,
Shan State Special Region-1 of Myanmar Burma , to help substitute for the
region's poppy cultivation under the Myanmar-China drug control programme.

According to a report of Myanmar's Central Committee for Drug Abuse
Control available here Thursday 17 October , the donation, made by the
National Narcotic Control Committee (NNCC) of China on Tuesday in Laukkai
of Kokang region, included 11 tons of potato, 600 kg of China lablab bean
and 400 kg of green peas. Attending the donation ceremony were NNCC Deputy
Secretary-General Wan Gan and Deputy Director-General of the Myanmar
Police Force Brig-Gen Zaw Win.

According to the report, the NNCC has also conducted short-term courses on
agricultural methods two times for farmers in the region.

Since the 1990s, China has strengthened effective cooperation with
Myanmar, and through labour force, capital and technical assistance, it
helped Myanmar grow agricultural and economic crops to replace poppy in
northern Myanmar, pushing the socio-economic development of the region.

According to incomplete statistics, China's Yunnan Province has injected
more than 300m yuan (about 36m US dollars), cultivating 25,000 ha of
various opium-substitute crops in northern Myanmar and sending experts to
the area to have trained nearly 1,000 Myanmar agricultural technicians.
_______

Narinjara News
October 16 2002

Bangladesh sent its new envoy to Burma

Dhaka, 16 October 2002:  The newly appointed Ambassador of Bangladesh to
Burma A.B Manjoor Rahim presented his credentials to Senior General Than
Shwe, Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council and Head of
State of Myanmar yesterday, according to today’ the independent.

While presenting his credentials, he conveyed to the senior General the
greeting from President Professor Dr. Iajuddin Ahmed and Prime Minister
Begum Khaleda Zia.

The new Bangladesh envoy said the government headed by Prime Minister
Begum Khaleda Zia was keen to further develop the existing relations with
its neighbouring countries. He said he would work for furthering the
existing close relations between Myanmar and Bangladesh. Reciprocating the
sentiment, Senior General Than Shwe appreciated Bangladesh’s initiate
towards fostering relationship with its neighbours.
He praised the success achieved in socio-economic, micro credit programs,
women empowerment and female education in Bangladesh.

The Senior General Than Shwe also appreciated Bangladesh’s positive
contribution towards regional peace and development. He assured the new
ambassador of Bangladesh of all possible help and assistant during his
tenure in Myanmar.

___ON THE BORDER____

TV Myanmar
October 17 2002

BURMA BLAMES KAREN NATIONAL UNION FOR THAI BORDER BOMBS

The government has been striving on all fronts to establish a modern and
developed nation. However, the KNU Karen National Union terrorist
insurgents have been engaged in destructive activities aimed at disturbing
local peace and tranquillity in villages and causing death, injury, and
fear among innocent citizens. They have also been consistently committing
acts of terrorism and brutal murders.

At the time of reopening of Myanmar Burma -Thai border checkpoints, the
KNU terrorist insurgents carried out acts of sabotage in Myawaddy with the
aim of causing death, injury, and fear among the innocent people.

Two time bombs were set off at 1040 on 15 October and at 0605 on 16
October. Authorities concerned discovered in time a US-made M-16 A-1
anti-personnel mine set up with a remote control near No 3 Middle School
in No 3 Ward in Myawaddy at 0700 on 16 October. There were no casualties
and loss of property from the bomb explosions.

Similarly, at 0730 on 15 October, KNU terrorist insurgents launched a mine
attack at a car carrying a monk from Thamanya Aung (Theikdi Shin)
Monastery as it was leaving Kawkareik for Myawaddy, destroying the
vehicle.

It has been learned that the KNU terrorist insurgents plotted and carried
out these attacks on 15 October at the time of reopening of Myanmar-Thai
border checkpoints to cause death, injury, and fear among the people, to
disrupt border trade, and to undermine normalization of Myanmar-Thai
relations.
_______

Agence France-Presse
October 17 2002

More explosions rock Thai-Myanmar border region

Another two explosions have rocked the Thai-Myanmar border area, the
latest in a series detonated since Myanmar reopened its checkpoints this
week, Thai authorities said Thursday.

Immigration officials at the Thai-Myanmar Friendship Bridge in Thailand's
Mae Sot district said two blasts occurred 15 kilometres (nine miles) into
Myanmar's Myawaddy province on Wednesday evening. The officials told
reporters there were no reports of casualties from the latest explosions,
but Myanmar vendors said three Myanmar soldiers were killed and several
were injured.

Myanmar slammed its border checkpoints shut in May after bloody clashes
between its troops and another ethnic militia. They were reopened on
Tuesday after intensive diplomacy between the neighbours defused the row.

Earlier on Wednesday a small bomb went off in Myawaddy town near a pier
controlled by the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), a militia group
aligned with the Myanmar army.

Another device fitted with a timer was found undetonated nearby.

No one has claimed responsibility for the bombings, or another explosion
that occurred Tuesday morning at a market 2.5 kilometres (1.5 miles) from
the Thai border in the same area.

Myanmar authorities have stepped up security checks and deployed an extra
100 soldiers to patrol public areas such as markets, temples, schools and
hospitals, the local vendors said.

Thai police in Mae Sot, the twin settlement facing Myawaddy, said they had
already stepped up security after the weekend blasts in the Indonesian
resort of Bali, in line with a plan to increase precuations at all Thai
tourist sites.

Both Thai and Myanmar nationals were crossing the bridge normally
Thursday, despite the unrest.

___STATEMENTS/MISCELLANEOUS____

Karen National Union
October 17 2002
KNU Statement on Explosions in Myawaddy

1.      We, the KNU, have learned that two explosions occurred in
Myawaddy, a border town in Kawkareik District of Karen State, opposite
Tak Province of Thailand, on October 15 and 16, 2002.

2.      October 15 was the date on which the Thai-Burma
friendship-bridge was reopened for border crossing, after closure for
five months. We view the reopening of border crossing as beneficial to
the peoples of both Thailand and Burma, and we have no policy against
it.

3.      We would like to categorically state that the two explosions
have nothing to do with us, the KNU. We have no doubt that it was the
work of one of the factions in the SPDC, which would lose by reopening
of the border crossing or which wanted to hurl allegations against the
ethnic and democratic opposition groups in order to tarnish their
image.

4.      Factions in the SPDC are involved in high-paying illegal
activities, directly or indirectly, such drug smuggling, consumer
goods smuggling, gambling, human trafficking and extortion of traders
and legitimate businesses. Each faction is controlled by a head at the
highest level of the SPDC hierarchy. Each faction tries to keep out of
the way of the other, but a clash of interest and show of force occur
at times at the lower levels.

5.      A clash of interest at high levels normally leads to
elimination of the opposing faction or leader. A case in point is the
elimination the SPDC 2nd Secretary Gen. Tin U or the elimination of Ne
Win's son-in-law. As the economic condition is getting worse, we may
expect more clashes among the various factions.

6.      In conclusion, we would like to affirm that we, the KNU,
always bear in mind the interest of the peoples of Thailand and Burma
and we have no policy to harm in anyway the good relations between the
two countries.
______

SHAN DEMOCRATIC UNION (SDU)
October 17 2002

OPEN LETTER TO H.E. PINHEIRO


H.E. Paulo Sergio Pinheiro
Special Investigator for Burma
UN Commission on Human Rights

Your Excellency

The SDU-Shan Democratic Union welcomes your visit to Burma.

We are also aware that the ruling Burmese junta, the State Peace and
Development Council (SPDC), will attempt to use Your Excellency's visit to
bolster its blanket denial of the rapes in the Shan State. It will take
you to villages and will get villagers to deny that rapes have taken
place.

Regarding this, as a Shan leader, Khun Tun Oo said in a radio interview
that it is certain that nobody will dare to talk about the rape cases
because they will be in trouble if they do so. We hope and believe that
Your Excellency will keep in mind the helplessness of the people -- the
ordinary folks -- in the face of a government that does not govern, a
government that represses, harasses, and brutally intimidates the people
on a daily basis.

Your Excellency is no doubt clearly aware that the SPDC does not rule with
the consent of the people and holds on to power by coercion and harsh
repression alone. It believes in holding onto power in perpetuity and at
all cost.

Aware of the SPDC's unpopularity and its inability to govern well and to
the benefit of the country -- that the SPDC state is a failed state -- the
international community, including the United Nations, have urged the SPDC
to make peace with its population or citizens, and to negotiate with the
democratic opposition led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and the ethnic
nationalities.

The opposition, including the ethnic nationalities, are prepared to
negotiate in good faith with the SPDC, whatever its crimes, if the SPDC is
willing to become part of the solution.

It is hoped that Your Excellency will let it be known to the SPDC that it
is time, to quote Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, for a quick change in Burma, and
that the current "failed state" status quo is damaging to the country and
in reality benefits no one. It is time to move on.

We pray that Your Excellency will be firm with the SPDC, and as a high
U.N. official, charged with investigating human rights abuses in Burma,
will not let the people down.

Shan Democratic Union

Contact: Sai Wansai
E-mail: s.wansai at onlinehome.de
Website: www.shanland.org