BurmaNet News: April 3 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

April 3 2003 Issue #2208

INSIDE BURMA
AFP:  Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi leaves for another political trip
Irrawaddy:  Suu Kyi May Face Harassment, NLD Says
Irrawaddy:  NMSP Elects New Leaders
Xinhua:  Myanmar leader calls for national development

DRUGS
Myanmar Information Committee: UWSA United Wa State Army troops arrest
drug traffickers

REGIONAL
Asia Pulse: India's Bangladesh Border Trade to Remain Suspended


INSIDE BURMA

Agence France Presse April 3 2003
Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi leaves for another political trip

Myanmar's pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi on Thursday
left the capital for a ten-day political trip to western Chin state, a
source from her party said.

"She left early this morning for Chin state," the National League for
Democracy (NLD) source told AFP.

She travelled with party vice chairman Tin Oo and a group of eight youths
providing security in a convoy of three cars, the source added. Chin
state, which borders India, is home to Myanmar's Chin ethnic minority.
Anti-Yangon activity in this state has been extremely low relative to
other states in Myanmar with large minority populations.

The trip is her seventh since she was released from 19 months' house
arrest by the ruling military junta in May last year, with a promise that
she would be granted complete freedom of movement.

The Nobel peace laureate has said although her trips around the country
aimed at bolstering her beleaguered NLD party have gone well, some local
officials have been obstructive.

The most serious incident occurred during her last trip in December to
western Rakhine state, where in the town of Myauk-Oo she climbed aboard a
fire engine to prevent it from dispersing a crowd of 20,000 people with
high-pressure hoses.

Both the United States and Britain have expressed concern over harassment
by government officials during her trips.

The junta has said that although party politicians were now allowed to
travel freely around the country, "the existing laws permit holding of
mass meetings and speeches only within party buildings and premises".

The NLD won a landslide 1990 election victory, but was never permitted to
rule by the military.

Talks aimed at national reconciliation brokered by the UN began two years
ago, but besides Aung San Suu Kyi's release, few tangible results have
been seen so far.
__________

Irrawaddy April 3 2003
Suu Kyi May Face Harassment, NLD Says
By Kyaw Zwa Moe

The opposition National League for Democracy has concerns for party leader
Aung San Suu Kyi’s trip to Chin State, in Burma’s northwest.

"She may face harassment like she did on her last trip," NLD spokesman, U
Lwin said, referring to a political trip she took in Dec 2002 to Arakan
State. On that trip, local officials used a fire truck to disperse a crowd
of people who had come to hear her speak and then stopped her from
erecting a party billboard.

Already, the NLD has reported that letters and pamphlets from unknown
sources expressing anti-NLD sentiment are being distributed in Gangaw,
Magwe Division, where she is expected to stay overnight on Friday.

Burma’s opposition leader is travelling by car with U Tin Oo, the NLD’s
vice-chairman. She left Rangoon at 4.30 am this morning and arrived in
Aung Lan, Pegu Division at around 10.30, U Lwin told The Irrawaddy.

This is Suu Kyi’s sixth trip to visit and re-open party offices outside of
Rangoon since she was released from under house arrest in May last year.
She is expected to be away for at least 10 days.

U Lwin said he was worried about her trip through Sagaing Division where
anti-opposition pamphlets have been circulated in the past few months.
Pamphlets have also surfaced in Sagaing and Tenasserim division and in
Arakan and Shan states. Suu Kyi is due to make a stop in Kalay, Sagaing
Division on her way back from Chin State.

The NLD says it doesn’t have any strategies to prevent harassment but said
it was would fend off disturbances if need be and deal with events as they
had in the past.

After the incidents in Arakan State, the party lodged an official
complaint with the regime. Military government officials pledged to act
against those who stood in the way of her political functions, but so far
there have been no reprisals.
______________

Irrawaddy April 3 2003
NMSP Elects New Leaders
By Naw Seng

The New Mon State Party (NMSP) held an election on Monday, the first since
the death of prominent Mon leader, Nai Shwe Kyin. New leaders, however,
have not signaled any change in policy, an NSMP officer said.

Voting took place during an emergency meeting of the NMSP at the party’s
jungle headquarters inside Burma, where the group has met continuously
since the end of March. An NMSP officer reported that Nai Kyin, aged 82,
was chosen as chairman and Nai Han Thar as general secretary. He added
that Mon people inside Burma and abroad welcome the new leaders. So far,
the party has not released an official statement.

"Our policies remain the same, but we strive to promote better relations
with allies and support political dialogue," Nai Han Thar, the new
secretary general said.

The new leaders are not expected to back down on party criticism of State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC) actions in Mon State. The last NMSP
meeting was held before the death of former leader Nai Shwe Kyin, who died
in Moulmein on March 7 this year. At the conclusion of that meeting, the
group condemned military confiscation of land in Mon State for Burmese
Army bases.

The NMSP entered into a ceasefire with the military government on the June
29, 1995.

One Mon activist stated the overall policy of the NMSP on the ceasefire
agreement has not changed, however, the party leadership hasn’t been
satisfied with some practices of the SPDC, such as the confiscation of
land from farmers. He added that there have been no meetings between the
NMSP and the regime since January.

When asked for reaction to news of the election, Karen National Union
Secretary General Padoh Mahn Sha said, "We see the NMSP as our comrade,
however, they have engaged in a ceasefire with the SPDC."

"An ally is ally whether there is a ceasefire or not," an officer from the
NMSP replied. "They [ethnic armies] are not our enemy."
__________

Xinhua News Agency April 3 2003
Myanmar leader calls for national development

Myanmar leader General Khin Nyunt has called on his country people to make
efforts for national development through self-reliance.

Khin Nyunt, First Secretary of the State Peace and Development Council,
made the call at an annual meeting here on Wednesday of the Myanmar
Academy of Agriculture, Forestry, Livestock and Fisheries, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Thursday.

"This is the time when all developing countries like the Union of Myanmar
are striving in competition with others for development of modern science
and technology with the passage of time for producing highly qualified
human resources for the development of various sectors including economic,
social and defense sectors and for strengthening the national economic
life," he said.

He warned that under the international situation, it is very hard to
believe in others due to the competition among the nations, hatred and
hostility towards others, selfish undertakings for one' s nation and
people.

Noting that Myanmar has a favorable climate and is rich in valuable
resources and its citizens have high intellectual ability, he believed
that there is no difficulty in effectively exploiting abundant resources
utilizing knowledge and skills.

He urged the people to make concerted efforts right now to enable Myanmar
to stand tall among the nations of the world.


DRUGS

Myanmar Information Committee April 2 2003
UWSA United Wa State Army troops arrest drug traffickers

On the 30 March morning at about 7 a.m., a group of Wa troops acting on a
tip-off raided Kya Nu village in Mong Tong Township in Northern Shan
State. During the operation some armed villagers responded by small arms
fire and fled the scene leaving behind 192.2 kilos of opium, seven
assorted weapons, 11 land mines, two hand grenades and 12 mules. Again on
the same day at about 8.30 a.m., another group of Wa soldiers while on
patrol duty discovered a hidden heroin refinery a few miles away from Kya
Nu village in the same township. The Wa patrol arrested one villager from
Mong Kyawt village together with 13.5 kilos of heroin, 67.7 kilos of
morphine, 15.8 kilos of opium, 32.8 kilos of opium residue, chemicals of
sorts totalling 940 litres and assorted paraphernalia, it is learnt.


REGIONAL

Asia Pulse April 3 2003
INDIA'S BANGLADESH BORDER TRADE TO REMAIN SUSPENDED

Bilateral trade in 10 land customs stations on the India-Bangladesh border
in the north eastern region would remain suspended pending review of the
security situation, though 15 others would be operational, official
sources said Wednesday.

Officials of the Commissionerate of Federal Customs in north eastern
region quoting an order issued Tuesday said the suspension would be
effective in one LCS in Mizoram, four in Tripura, two in Meghalaya and
three in Assam.

The order, the officials said would not affect trade on the India-Bhutan
and India-Myanmar borders, the sources said.

The order came in the wake of the February 28 kidnapping of Customs
Inspector Deepak Mahanta and six coal exporters by suspected militants
from Meghalaya's Ghasuapara LCS.

Mahanta and three coal exporters were released by the extremists on March 30.

According to the order, border trade would remain suspended in Mizoram's
Demagiri, Tripura's Dholaighat, Khowaighat, Manu and Mohorighat,
Meghalaya's Ghasuapara and Rinku and Assam's Golakganj, Mankachhar and
Mahisashan land customs stations.

Commissioner of Customs in the region, D D Ingty, yesterday said the
threat perception and security situation of the LCS were being reviewed.