BurmaNet News: November 20 2002

[editor at burmanet.org]

November 20 2002 Issue #2125

INSIDE BURMA

Bangkok Post: Dialogue remains stuck at talks about talks stage
Xinhua: Myanmar says national reconciliation process moving forward
Irrawaddy: Political prisoner dies in his cell

GUNS

Muslim Information Center Burma: Armed fighting arises between DKBA groups
in Burma
AFP: Dozens feared dead as infighting hits Myanmar ethnic community

MONEY

Nation: Cheaper Burma gas

REGIONAL

FT: China modernization march turns Mekong into battleground
Narinjara: 4000evicted Rohingyas camp near Teknaf border
Network Media Group: Two Burmese opposition students taken to Bangkok
Myanmar Embassy

MISCELLANEOUS

OSI Burma Project/SEA Initiative Internship Program

___INSIDE BURMA______

Bangkok Post
November 20 2002

Dialogue remains stuck at talks about talks stage
By Larry Jagan

The UN special envoy has paid another visit hoping to move the generals
forward. And again he looks to have left disappointed.
Burma's fragile dialogue between the country's generals and the opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi may be on the brink of collapsing.

Despite three years of international pressure and the concerted mediation
efforts of the UN through its special envoy Razali Ismail, the prospect of
democratic reform seems as far away as ever. What is now clear is that the
future of the process is in the balance, and can only be saved if the
generals match their promises of reform with action.

Mr Razali has just completed his latest mission to Rangoon without
securing any real concrete progress in the dialogue process. ``It seems we
are still at the talks about talks stage,'' one senior Western diplomat in
Rangoon said. ``It's now up to the regime to prove they are serious about
political reform.''

At the end of his latest trip to Rangoon, Mr Razali told the Bangkok Post
that he had established that there was no interactive dialogue going on
between the two sides, although there had been regular contact between
them since the opposition leader was freed in May.

This is just not good enough, the envoy said. ``Dialogue about substantive
issues is essential if a lasting and durable national reconciliation is to
be achieved,'' he said.

Mr Razali has been pressing the generals for more than six months now to
do just that. UN officials say he believed when he secured Ms Suu Kyi's
release on May 6 that it also signified the generals' willingness to start
substantive political talks with the opposition leader. He has made no
secret of the fact that he has been upset and angry at the junta's failure
to talk directly to Ms Suu Kyi in the last few months, despite their
promises to do so when he was in Rangoon in early August.

UN officials say this again was his key message to the generals on this
visit. One of the key objectives of his trip was to see the country's top
general, Than Shwe _ which he managed to do, and hear from him why the
dialogue process seemed to have stalled.

While it may have been a short meeting, some 20 minutes according to
reliable sources in Rangoon _ it was fruitful. Diplomatic sources in
Rangoon say the atmosphere at the meeting was friendly and the exchange
cordial.

``The crucial thing was that Razali actually met Than Shwe this trip and
conveyed the international community's message directly to him without
having to go through intermediaries,'' a senior Western diplomat in
Rangoon said.

The Burmese leader is reported to have told Mr Razali that the government
is doing all it can, but things have to take their course and cannot be
hurried.

Apart from acting as the representative of world opinion, Mr Razali also
continued to pursue his role as interlocutor between the generals and the
pro-democracy opposition. Mr Razali told the Bangkok Post he had suggested
to both sides that they consider reconvening and revamping the National
Convention _ which the generals set up nearly 10 years ago to draw up a
new constitution _ provided all the parties involved in the process of
national reconciliation agreed.

But there are several stumbling blocks that will affect whether Mr
Razali's suggestion of reviving the National Convention can be
implemented. After all, the National Convention was set up to draw up a
new constitution with most of its 700 delegates being handpicked by the
government. Most diplomats believe that the convention was only pursuing
the generals' instructions and was not in a position to draft an
independent and democratic constitution.

Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy, soon felt it was
not being given a real role and walked out of the National Convention in
1995, calling it a sham. At the time, the NLD leaders said it was
unrepresentative and undemocratic. Proposals made by the pro-democracy
minority were consistently blocked. This would have to change if the NLD
were to consider participating in a reconvened convention.

During his trip to Rangoon last week, Mr Razali made it very clear that
his proposal entailed restructuring the National Convention in a way that
was agreeable to all parties involved in the national reconciliation
process.

This has been met by a mixed reaction amongst the parties concerned. The
military has all along insisted that a new constitution must be drafted by
the National Convention. The ethnic political parties, like the Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy, which have continued to attend the
convention despite the NLD boycott, are sympathetic.

``The recommendation has merit,'' said the senior Shan politician and SNLD
leader Khun Tun Oo. ``We would support the proposal as long as the
convention was made more representative and became a platform where all
political opinions could be expressed freely.''

The reconvening of the National Convention is more problematic for the
NLD. For it the crucial issue remains acknowledging the results of the
1990 national elections which it won overwhelmingly but the generals have
ignored ever since. It is the elected representatives who should be
drafting the constitution, most pro-democracy activists argue.

``The NLD central executive committee would give Mr Razali's s proposal
careful consideration,'' the NLD spokesman U Lwin told the Bangkok Post.
``But any move in that direction must come from them [the military
government].''

Diplomats in Rangoon say that if the generals are interested in
resuscitating the convention and are serious about political reform then
they should release all the remaining elected MPs _ there are still more
than 15 in prison, almost all of them from the NLD. The generals will also
have to consider reinstating those political parties which fought the 1990
elections but were de-registered without any legal hearings.

For the international community and the pro-democracy parties in Burma the
role of the MPs and the ethnic groups would have to be paramount in the
drafting of the new constitution if a revamped and restructured National
Convention is to be reconvened.

In the meantime, Burma's generals are continuing to insist that they are
committed to political reform _ a message that Burma's military government
spokesman reiterated again this week.

Burma's third most important leader, the intelligence chief, General Khin
Nyunt has assured Mr Razali that the talks with the opposition NLD have
not stalled, he said, in an interview carried in this week's edition of
the Myanmar Times _ a semi-official English-language weekly magazine
published in Rangoon.

The best way for the generals though to show their commitment to the
dialogue process would be the release of a significant number of political
prisoners. ``I urged the State Peace and Development Council to release at
least 200 political prisoners by the end of the year,'' Mr Razali said.
Privately though, UN officials have indicated that he actually urged the
military leaders, including senior General Than Shwe, to free a minimum
300 political prisoners.

The number and speed of releases is now likely to be seen as a concrete
measure of the generals' stated commitment to democratic reform. But there
is little evidence that the generals are prepared to make even this kind
of gesture let alone enter serious structured political negotiations with
Ms Suu Kyi.
_____

Xinhua News Agency
November 20 2002

Myanmar says national reconciliation process moving forward

A Myanmar government spokesman said Wednesday that his country's national
reconciliation process is moving forward.

In a statement extending the government's appreciation to a recent visit
to Myanmar by UN Special Envoy Razali Ismail, government Spokesman Hla Min
described Razali's efforts in the process as "persistent and patient".

Noting Razali's balanced approach and determination to assist in the
ongoing dialogue in the process, Hla Min said, "Razali's frank discussion
with State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) Chairman Senior-General
Than Shwe, Vice Chairman Vice-Senior General Maung Aye and Secretary-1 of
the SPDC General Khin Nyunt helped clarify issues and continued to expand
confidence". "We very much appreciate the hard work of UN special envoy
Razali and hope that friends of Myanmar worldwide will support this
process with patience and understanding of the complexity of the
situation," he went on to say, adding that the government is encouraged
after Razali's five-day visit last week.

Hla Min cited one of the facts that since 1990, the Myanmar government has
achieved much in its progression toward national unity, concluding
agreements with 17 anti-government armed groups and bringing them into the
legal fold.

He pledged the government's commitment to working with all national races
to ensure an enduring national reconciliation and steady progress toward
building a more unified and peaceful nation.

In a renewed effort to speed up Myanmar's national reconciliation process,
Razali made an official visit to the country from Nov. 12 to Nov. 16,
which was also the ninth since his appointment as the envoy in April 2000.

During his trip, Razali also met opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi
(ASSK), General Secretary of the National League for Democracy (NLD), in
addition to the government leaders.

However, no details of their talks were disclosed by both sides.

At the end of his visit on last Saturday, Razali said he was disappointed
with little progress in restoring dialogue between the government and the
opposition, adding that "I can't expect good results all the time."

He expressed continued belief that "dialogue on substantive issues is
essential if lasting endurable national reconciliation in Myanmar is to be
achieved".

Razali was believed to have initiated the confidence-building talks
between the two sides since October 2000 which resulted in the release of
ASSK and 334 NLD members and its activists.

However, no timetable has been set by the government to further the talks
after ASSK's release despite repeated calls by the NLD to start a
substantive dialogue on the future of the country.

Meanwhile, the international community including the UN has also been
calling for such a dialogue between the government and the opposition to
bring about national reconciliation in the country as early as possible.

The NLD won a landslide victory in the 1990 general election sponsored by
the military, gaining 396 parliamentary seats out of 485.

However, the NLD complained that it has not been allowed to take office
until now although the election has ended for more than 12 years.

Meanwhile, the government insists that it is a care-taker or transitional
one with no intention to hold on to power for long.
________

Irrawaddy
November 20 2002

Political Prisoner Dies in his Cell
By Naw Seng

Another political prisoner inside Tharawaddy Prison in central Burma died
last Friday, sources close to his family told The Irrawaddy. U Maung Ko,
aged over 50, died of a heart attack while in detention.
U Maung Ko was arrested in 1996 under charge 5(J) of Burma’s Emergency
Provision Act 1950. Authorities accused him of sympathizing with the
Communist Party of Burma (CPB) and he was sentenced to seven years in
prison.
"We have found that the death rate of political prisoners is rising
rapidly these days, because of poor medical treatment and torture," said
Bo Kyi, from the Association for the Assistance of Political Prisoners
(Burma) (AAPP), based in Thailand.
According to AAPP, U Maung Ko is the 82nd political prisoner to die while
in the custody of the current military regime.
U Maung Ko is the fourth political prisoner to die this year. Other
political prisoners who have died since July include: Mai Aik Pan, leader
of Palaung State Liberation Front; U Aung May Thu, also held inside
Tharawaddy Prison; and U Sai Phat, a National League for Democracy (NLD)
leader from Shan State.
Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, UN human rights rapporteur, said during his visit
to Burma last month that conditions for political detainees held in
Burmese prisons are improving. He estimated about 1,450 political
prisoners are still being held in Burmese prisons.
In 1990, another U Maung Ko, from the NLD, died while being held in an
interrogation center. Also in the early 1990s, a third U Maung Ko, who was
an alleged underground cell leader of the CPB, died during interrogation
by the junta.

_____GUNS______

Muslim Information Center Burma
November 20 2002

Armed fighting arises between DKBA groups in Burma

On November, 16, 2002, a day-long armed fighting took place between two
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) groups resulting in heavy casualties
from both sides and the leader of breakaway DKBA group, Major Pha Dae
reportedly committed suicide, according to a group of villagers near the
fighting place in Pa-an  district of Karen State, who requested not to be
identified.
The villagers said that an Abbot very close to Myaing Gyi Ngo, the supreme
leader of the DKBA imposed trade restriction on DKBA  Battalion (555)  at 
Paw Pa Hta camp, which angered its commander Major Pha Dae.

On the fateful day, Major Pha Dae, with his strong 60 armed men, captured
arms and ammunitions from soldiers of other DKBA camps along Thai Burma
border and established their separate base at Ta Gaw Ywa Hill, the
villagers said.

The fighting occurred when the other DKBA central troops led by Mat Tat
Lam tried to recapture the Hill, the villagers said.

At least 8 DKBA soldiers from Major Pha Dae-led breakaway group were
executed by the central troops after surrendering to the central forces.
DKBA is an alliance armed group of ruling SPDC military regime.
________

Agence France-Presse
November 20 2002

Dozens feared dead as infighting hits Myanmar ethnic army

Fighting between factions of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), an
ethnic militia aligned with the Myanmar junta, is feared to have left
dozens dead, Thai military sources said Wednesday.

"There was internal fighting and a massacre in the DKBA, but we cannot
confirm the number of casualties, we are checking," said Major Prayoon
Phonok, commander of a civil affairs taskforce in the Myanmar border
region. "Initially I heard some 50 DKBA militia were killed, but it is
still unclear," he told AFP.

The Karen National Union (KNU), a rival militia which is waging a
decades-old guerrilla war against Myanmar's military government, said some
two dozen DKBA members were killed in the gun fight on November 16.

KNU secretary general Pado Mahn Sha said an armed group of 60 junior and
low-ranking DKBA left their base inside Myanmar and took a position on a
nearby hill to wage an all-day assault on their former headquarters.

Myanmar government troops joined the battle to support the DKBA leaders at
the headquarters in Myaing Gyi Ngu, he said.

"The DKBA leaders have good contacts with Myanmar's military which are
making them rich while low-ranking members are poor, with not even enough
food," Pado Mahn Sha said.

"I believe this is the result of a divide-and-rule policy over the DKBA by
the Myanmar government and I feel sorry for the low-level DKBA members."

Prayoon said the rebel faction's leader, Captain Pa Aee, went into
negotiations with Myanmar soldiers but he was ambushed and committed
suicide to avoid being held captive.

The Thai officer also said he believed the conflict stemmed from a lack of
funds in the DKBA, caused by a business conflict within the ethnic army.

___MONEY____

The Nation
November 20 2002

Cheaper Burma gas
By Watcharapong Thongrung

PTT Plc yesterday announced that it had signed an amendment to the
natural-gas sales contract with the Yetagun consortium in Burma, reducing
the price of gas by Bt4.2 billion a year.

Anon Sirisaengtaksin, senior executive vice president of PTT, said that
apart from the price reduction the Yetagun consortium had also agreed to
grant Bt800 million in funding to the Ratchaburi power plant. The money
will be used to buy equipment that will allow the plant to consume more
gas in its generation of electricity.

The Yetagun consortium - led by Premier Oil - signed the original contract
with PTT in 1995 to supply gas produced from an offshore field in Burma's
Gulf of Mataban. PTT's upstream arm - PTT Exploration and Production -
also has a stake in the consortium. Anon said that PTT also succeeded in
amending the contract in terms of postponing an increase in the volume of
gas purchased. PTT had earlier committed to increase its purchase from 200
million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) to 260mmcfd by last month. This is now
delayed until January.

The next increase to 400mmcfd, previously slated for April 2004, has been
postponed to February 2005.

The price reduction will apply to volume above 300mmcfd, which will now be
priced at 90 per cent of the price of oil, said Anon. For example, if the
oil price is US$20 (Bt865) a barrel, or equivalent to $3 per million
British Thermal Units (BTUs), the price of gas for the amount above
300mmcfd will be at $2.70 per million BTUs.

___REGIONAL______

Financial Times
November 20 2002

China modernisation march turns Mekong into battleground
By AMY KAZMIN and RICHARD MCGREGOR

The riverthe Chinese call Lancang used to flow lazily through
Xishuangbanna, a quiet rural region of China that is home to a number of
ethnic minorities who spill comfortably over the porous borders with Laos
and Burma.

From its source high on the Tibetan Plateau, the Mekong River, as it is
known to the rest of the world, is one of the most bio-diverse inland
waterways in the world. It flows 4,880km through some of the poorest
regions in Asia, a basin inhabited by millions of small subsistence
farmers who depend on the river's bounty for their survival.

Today China and the Asian Development Bank see the river as an asset in
the region's modernisation. Construction has already become of a string of
hydro-electric dams that will eventually send electricity to energy-hungry
industrial centres in China's southern Guangdong province and around
Shanghai. It is part of China's "Go West" policy, which aims to ensure
that the benefits of the country's roaring growth are not limited to the
coastal regions, but also spread towards more remote provinces.

Yet China's southern neighbours - Burma, Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and
Vietnam - are deeply worried about the consequences of the ambitious plans
to develop their shared waterway.

Thai environmental activists and experts in global research institutes
warn that the huge Chinese projects will in effect "kill" the river - by
destroying its fragile ecology, including the prime breeding grounds for
the fish that now nourish millions of people.

Such fears have turned the Mekong - once identified with America's
military adventures in Indochina - again into a battleground, the latest
front in environmentalists' global war against big dams.

"The Mekong is our mother and will be so forever," says Niwat Roikaew, an
activist from the small Thai town of Chiang Kong, which sits on the bank
of Mekong, facing Laos. "We must fight for the life of the river and for
our communities' future."

However, even as they fret about how the massive Chinese dams will affect
them, Vietnam, Laos and Thailand have erected and are planning their own
smaller dams on some of the Mekong's tributaries. This has muted their
complaints.

"If they start criticising dams in China that puts them in a bind, because
they want to build their own dams," says Dave Hubbel, an activist with
Terra, a Thailand-based environmental group. "They are just quietly hoping
somebody will stop China, but that nobody will stop them."

The Mekong's bounty that is now under threat includes sediment-rich soil
that allows for highly productive riverside cultivation in the dry season,
and more than 1,200 species of fish, including the giant Mekong Catfish,
which many along the river revere.

China is already constructing the 292-metre high Xiaowan hydroelectric
dam, which will cost Rmb22.2bn (Dollars 2.7bn, Euros 2.66bn, Pounds 1.7bn)
and is due to be completed in 2012. Second in size only to the Three
Gorges dam on the Yangtze river, Xiaowan is the third of eight dams
Beijing plans to build on the river.

Beijing is also pushing a scheme to dynamite the many rapids and shoals
that have long hindered navigation of the Mekong. Burma, Laos and Thailand
have all signed up to the programme - which will enable large cargo ships
to ply the river - and some blasting has already begun.

China says it has made a "comprehensive" study of the Xiaowan's
environmental consequences, and insists the impact of the dam - and the
blasting of the rapids - will be negligible.

But activists contend the dams and the blasting will submerge the homes
and farmlands - and otherwise destroy the livelihoods - of the regions'
weakest, most vulnerable people, while profiting more affluent people.

"The benefit and the cost are in different places," said Xu Xiaogang, an
academic and environmental activist in China.

An independent evaluator has condemned the Chinese-led environmental study
for the rapid-blasting project as "fundamentally flawed", and said its
findings were mere "speculations".

Activists have recently won support from an unexpected quarter: Thailand's
army. The military is worried that dynamiting the rapids of the Mekong -
which serves as the border between Thailand and Laos - could hasten
erosion along river banks, influencing the location of a boundary that has
never been properly delineated. The army has ordered a halt to some of the
blasting until the border issue can be settled.

But in the long-term, China, is unlikely to face much resistance from its
poorer neighbours.

"You are talking about negotiation between unequal partners who are trying
to find an equitable solution," said Rajat M. Nag, director of the ADB
Mekong Division. However, he insists that there will be give and take.
"This will be a matter of goodwill, bargaining power and trade-offs."

___________

Narinjara News
November 20 2002

4000 Evicted Rohingyas camp near Teknaf border

Evicted by a combined police and army drive, at least 4,000 Muslim
Rohingyas have taken shelter at a makeshift camp nears Teknaf border,
according to the daily star.
Apart from the 21,000 Rohingya refugees living in the town refugee camps
in the country, a number of Rohingya refugees from Myanmar are living in
the border area said the township administration.
These Rohingya people are living in hardship under open sky near the
Teknaf Township office. Most of them do not want to go back to Burma.
Severe torture by the Mogh ( Rakhaing) people compelled them to leave to
country, they noted.
However, the administration remained tight-lipped about whether these
Rohingya Muslims are refugees.

_________

Network Media Group
November 20 2002

Two Burmese opposition students taken to Bangkok Myanmar Embassy
November 20, 2002

Two Burmese exiled students who have applied for recognition to UNHCR were
arrested and taken to Myanmar (Burmese) Embassy in Bangkok by Thai special
police on November 19, while they were going to a NGO office for
assistance. After refusing and struggling in front of the embassy, they
were finally sent to Immigration Detention Center (IDC) in Bangkok, said
Aung Khine, a Burmese refugee student in Bangkok.

Than Oo, 25 and Naing Aung, 21 years old were arrested on the way to
Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) around 11 am on Tuesday.

When they reached to Myanmar (Burmese) Embassy, they refused to go inside
and after struggling for some time, police agreed to send them to IDC.
But, police handed the personal documents of them to Myanmar Embassy,
including biographies, photographs of them while they were in All Burma
Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) and other documentation, which they took
with them as identification for themselves to JRS, said a Burmese student
who got phone contact with them after they had reached to IDC.

"They were sent to Burmese Embassy. When they reached to the embassy, they
refused and told the police that they cannot go to embassy. So, finally
they were sent directly to IDC. We referred the case directly to UN," said
a relief worker, Ye Yint, who works with National Catholic Commission on
Migration, a religious NGO helping refugees and migrants in Bangkok.

"As soon as they were arrested, we got the information. So, we contacted
to UN office first. UN took immediate action. As I know so far, they are
still in IDC. UNHCR will try for their release. I learnt that to send them
to the border has also been postponed," Ye Yint continued.

Daw Cho Cho, mother of Naing Aung, who lives with them in Bangkok, said,
"(Burmese) Embassy took their bios and photos. So, they cannot go to the
border. I am afraid that Thai will send them to the border. If they were
sent to the border, people from other side (Burmese authorities) will come
and get them."

Two students were ex-members of All Burma Students Democratic Front and
they applied for recognition of UNHCR in Bangkok during May and June of
this year. UNHCR had issued them "protection papers" which were dismissed
in September for unknown reason, said Burmese students in Bangkok.

This is the first time that Thai police tried to send opposition members
to Burmese embassy.

Thousands of Burmese students fled to Thailand and border areas after
crack down of military regime on pro-democracy uprising in Burma during
1988. Some students also fled to border in 1990s to avoid the suppression
the Junta. Around two thousand students have resettled in third countries
with the help of UNHCR. Hundreds of students are still left in Thailand
and border areas.

_____MISCELLANEOUS______

OSI Burma Project/ SEA Initiative Internship Program
Request for Applications

The Open Society Institute (OSI) is seeking applications from
organizations interested in participating in an Internship Program. The
program aims to provide Burmese and ethnic people from Burma an
opportunity to gain hands-on training while contributing to the work of
local, regional and international organizations.  Additionally, the
program hopes support institutional exchange between Burmese and SEA
organizations and encourages Burmese organizations to consider hosting
non-Burmese interns from the region.

We are looking for organizations that have the capacity to provide a
learning environment, while at the same time anticipate that they can
benefit from an intern. Host organizations should have the time to provide
basic relevant training for the intern and also be able to equip them with
skills that will be useful beyond the period of the internship.

Factors for organizations to keep in mind while considering or planning
for an intern are: time availability and ability of staff to train and
supervise the intern; needs and interests of the individual intern; skill
level, experience and competence of the intern in relation to what they
will be expected to accomplish.  It is recommended that a comprehensive
skills and needs assessment of the proposed intern be conducted.

Organizations will be selected to host an intern by OSI and an advisory
board based in Chiang Mai.  Intern selection will be the responsibility of
the host organization presuming the application process is both open and
fair. The program coordinator and the advisory board will provide support
for organizations and interns, including periodic visits to participating
organizations.

[The Burma Project/ SEA Initiative is a project of the Open Society
Institute.  For more information, please visit our website at
www.burmaproject.org]

Applications

Applications are due 15 December 2002.  Organizations interested in
hosting an intern should contact Heather Marciniec
(hmarciniec at sorosny.org) to request an application and/or additional
information.