BurmaNet News: September 6-8 2003

[editor at burmanet.org]

September 6-8, 2003 Issue #2321

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Red Cross: Suu Kyi Not on Hunger Strike
AFP: Myanmar lashes out again at US over Suu Kyi hunger strike claims
RFA: As many as 100 killed in May operation targeting Aung San Suu Kyi
Xinhua: Myanmar denies report on May 30 incident
Xinhua: Myanmar arrests over 400 human traffickers in a year
AFP: Myanmar junta names new members of constitutional body

MONEY
Kaladan: South Korea and Burma Businessmen Meet

REGIONAL
IPS: ASEAN inaction irks Myanmar exiles
AFP: Thailand welcomes Myanmar constitution commission but wants NLD involved
AFP: Indonesia urges Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi before ASEAN summit
AP: Protesters across Asia demand release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi as she
spends 100th day in detention
Narinjara: Bangladesh-Burma border trade resumes today

INTERNATIONAL
AFP: UN envoy's Myanmar trip delayed, says give junta plan a chance

EDITORIALS
Irrawaddy: Ethnic Agendas: The PM’s Road Map To Nowhere
Dallas MN: World Should pay more attention to Burma
Slate: Starving for Freedom in Burma
BP: Let the Burmese Decide Their Future
Gulf News: Change of Guard in Myanmar’s Military Junta Sends Mixed Signals


----INSIDE BURMA----

Associated Press   September 6, 2003
Red Cross: Suu Kyi Not on Hunger Strike
By AYE AYE WIN

YANGON, Myanmar: Detained Myanmar pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is
not on a hunger strike as reported by the United States, a Red Cross
spokesman said Saturday after group officials visited the Nobel laureate.

The officials met with Suu Kyi for about an hour, said Jean Pascal Moret,
a communications officer at the International Committee of the Red Cross
mission in Yangon.

``She is well and not on hunger strike,'' he said, declining to say where
Suu Kyi was being held.

A State Department spokesman said last week the agency received ``credible
reporting from our embassy'' that Suu Kyi was on a hunger strike to
protest her detention by the country's military regime.

Spokesman Richard Boucher would not elaborate on the sourcing of the
report about Suu Kyi but said the United States was ``deeply concerned for
her safety and her well-being.''

Myanmar had dismissed the report as ``groundless'' and ``quite odd,'' and
denied that Suu Kyi was refusing food.

Suu Kyi, who was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, was arrested May 30
along with a group of her supporters while on a political tour of northern
Myanmar.

The government of Myanmar, also known as Burma, refuses to say where she
is being held or how long she will be in detention.

Moret said a doctor did not accompany the two Red Cross officials because
one was not requested. He added that Suu Kyi is aware of the reports she
was on a hunger strike.

Myanmar's military seized power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy
uprising. It held elections in 1990 but annulled the results after Suu
Kyi's party won.


Agence France Presse   September 8, 2003
Myanmar lashes out again at US over Suu Kyi hunger strike claims

Myanmar on Monday launched another scathing attack on Washington's
"destructive engagement" with the military-ruled state and berated what it
called a series of false claims against Yangon.

It also called attention to the sanctions recently imposed on the country
by the United States, which has blasted Yangon for detaining democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi and claimed recently she was on a hunger strike.

Yangon has strenuously denied that charge, and the International Committee
for the Red Cross (ICRC) refuted it Saturday by announcing its
representatives visited Aung San Suu Kyi and said she was not refusing
food.

"Once again, just as the world witness(es) the destructive engagement of
the United States in Myanmar's internal affairs by way of creating a false
claim (about the hunger strike) made on August 31, the United States
wasted no time in releasing another claim based on yet more 'reliable' and
'credible' sources," the junta said in a faxed statement thickly coated
with sarcasm.

It pointed to a report by US-government supported Radio Free Asia which
said up to 100 people were killed and an unknown number of women raped in
the area of northern Myanmar where Aung San Suu Kyi's convoy was attacked
on May 30, the clash which prompted her latest detention.

A pro-government activist interviewed by the US-based station said the
Yangon junta organised a cover-up to conceal the number of dead, and that
the strike on the Nobel laureate's convoy was carefully organized.

"The international community will be the judge of the 'reliability' of
these sources and should also expect more 'reliable' and 'credible'
information from the United States Department of State, or 'Department of
Spin' as it has been recently referred to by the diplomatic and business
community in Yangon," the statement said.

It also said it recognized that the sanctions, which went into effect
August 28, were being imposed on Myanmar "under the influence of extreme
elements in the United States' political spectrum."

"The world will be the judge of whether the United States has any concerns
for the welfare of the mass population of the country when it imposes
sanctions on any particular nation under the much-abused and misused
pretext of democracy and human rights.

"If democracy is United States' priority, there are many far more
important venues and issues the United States could pay attention to
rather than a small, peaceful country like Myanmar, which is already in
the process of evolution towards democracy."

Washington dropped its bombshell hunger strike claim a day after Myanmar's
new prime minister, General Khin Nyunt, announced a seven-point roadmap
towards "free and fair" elections, under a constitution to be drafted by a
national convention.

On Sunday Myanmar slammed the US hunger strike claim as "irresponsible and
self-centred."


Radio Free Asia   September 5, 2003
Killings, Rapes in Well-Planned Attack by Burmese Junta
As many as 100 killed in May operation targeting Aung San Suu Kyi

WASHINGTON, Sept. 5, 2003--A pro-government activist paid to take part in
a May 30 attack on the convoy of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi in
northern Burma has revealed that as many as 100 people were killed and an
unknown number of women raped in a series of government-led atrocities in
the area, Radio Free Asia (RFA) reports. In testimony recorded for RFA's
Burmese service, the man has described a well-planned terror operation by
the junta against its own people, including a carefully orchestrated
cover-up to conceal the number of dead.

"At midnight, [local junta official] Ko Tin Nyunt came to houses in [Kyi
and Yitthay villages] and hired men to shovel... In [an abandoned
irrigation department compound called] Sei Myaung Wun, they dug holes
between the buildings’ foundations," said the man, who spoke on condition
of anonymity. "Later, they brought the bodies, maybe 100 there, including
people who were alive with serious injuries."

The men filled roughly one dozen burial sites inside the compound, each
containing three to four bodies--although medical officers, police,
military intelligence personnel, and firefighters told villagers to sign
affidavits saying that only four people had been killed. On May 31, under
supervision of Depayin Township Police Commissioner Than Win, they exhumed
four bodies, washed their faces and photographed them, then buried them
again.

According to several sources, scores of bodies were delivered to a
crematorium in Monywar Industrial Zone and cremated over two nights, June
1-2. RFA has confirmed the existence of a crematorium in Monywar
Industrial Zone but--unlike other elements of this report--was unable to
independently corroborate that it was used on those nights to cremate
people who died in the attack on Aung San Suu Kyi’s convoy.

While the number of dead cannot be independently verified, opposition
supporters who witnessed the worst of the attacks in floodlights near the
Ywarthit Bridge, near Depayin Township in the north of the country, say at
least 100 people were beaten to death by government gangs in the area.

Then deputy home minister Brigadier Gen. Thura Myint Maung and chairman of
the junta’s district branch Lt. Col. Myint Lwin met May 31 at the Sei
Myaung Wun compound with other officials, the man said. Myint Maung
instructed everyone present to relate the events of May 30 as a brawl
between supporters of Aung San Suu Kyi and supporters of the ruling State
Peace and Development Council (SPDC), with authorities stepping in to
restore order. Myint Maung was promoted Aug. 25 to minister of religious
affairs.

"We, the civilian staff, were forced to attend briefings by the
authorities. They read out the government press conference as covered in
the newspaper. We were told that four people had been killed and 50
injured, and they asked us to sign forms testifying to this," said the
pro-government activist, a member of the government-led Union Solidarity
and Development Association (USDA).

The government activist who recorded his testimony for RFA said he had
been recruited to carry out the attacks and that he had agreed for fear of
being denounced as an opposition supporter. "The training we got was very
simple. Stand firmly at the position we were assigned, one step forward
and beat anyone who came within our reach, and step back. Since many
people were positioned everywhere, there wouldn’t be any way to escape
from the attack," he said, adding that a number of men dressed to look
like Buddhist monks attended the training sessions.

He described how men and women were detained separately on the night of
May 30 in storage halls in the abandoned Sei Myaung Wun compound. "Many
women were raped by authorities in the hall. I learned from a friend who
was in the next room on duty and secretly watched these horrible events.
He said it was unfair and atrocious, but he could do nothing to help."

"He heard women crying for help. The doors were closed, and nobody was
able to escape," he said. "There were a lot of missing persons around our
area. We, the whole town, knew that it was a premeditated attack. But the
authorities are trying to cover it up by arresting and killing those who
witnessed it."

The commander of the Northwest Military Division Command arrived in
Depayin Township at about 9 p.m. on May 30 and told subordinates to clear
away all evidence of the attack during the night, he said. "The deputy
home minister and the divisional commander were in Monywar Township before
Aung San Suu Kyi arrived, and they monitored the situation very closely,"
he said.

Witnesses agree that government officials arrived in the area many days
before the attack on the National League for Democracy (NLD) convoy,
commandeering a local school and 50-60 trucks and vans from the local
population. They also commissioned local carpenters to make bamboo spikes,
iron spikes, and other homemade weapons, which were issued to the
attackers.

All USDA members in the area were ordered to congregate at the No. 1 State
High School in Depayin Township no later than May 27, where they were
provided with training and free food. They were paid on May 30. Dinner was
withheld on May 30, however, until after the ambush, "so these people were
hungry and more impatient and mad," the USDA member reported. "Officers
with the rank of major instructed two cars [by walkie-talkie] to collide
with Aung San Suu Kyi's car--they tried to kill her this way," he said.

The USDA member said Aung San Suu Kyi’s car initially escaped the ambush
in scenes reminiscent of a Hong Kong action movie. But her driver was
finally stymied by a train blocking a railway crossing outside Ye Oo
Township a few miles from Depayin.

The junta has kept Aung San Suu Kyi in detention since the Depayin ambush,
drawing widespread international condemnation. The SPDC has repeatedly
characterized the attacks as a brawl between NLD and anti-opposition
supporters, with police trying to stop the conflict.


Xinhua General News Service   September 8, 2003
Myanmar denies report on May 30 incident

YANGON, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) --The Myanmar government denied on Monday a
recent radio report by the Radio Free Asia (RFA) that the country's May 30
incident had resulted in up to 100 deaths against four as reported by the
Myanmar government media.

A government statement released on Monday evening said the claim by the
US-based and -financed station last Saturday was the same as the one made
earlier by the United States Embassy in Yangon.

The statement said it would leave the reliability of these sources to be
judged by the international community.

It said that Myanmar has been persevering under the intense meddling in
its internal affairs by the United States for years until just recently
the United states resorted to impose economic sanctions on the country.

Whether the United States has any concern for the welfare of the mass
population of the country when it imposed economic sanctions on any
particular nation under the much-abused and misused pretext of democracy
and human rights will be judged by the world, it said.

The statement said that if democracy is United State's priority, there are
many far more important venues and issues it could pay attention to rather
than a small country like Myanmar.

It maintained that in spite of the constant negative attitude and claims
launched by the US government, Myanmar has undeniably managed to transform
itself into one of the most peaceful and stable nations in the world.

The statement, however, clarified that the Myanmar government holds no
ill-will towards the United States and its people, saying that the Myanmar
people understand that the sanctions being imposed on the country are
being done under the influence of extreme elements in the US political
spectrum.

The May 30 incident refers to the case in which a convoy of opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi (ASSK) was reportedly ambushed by the government
supporters on her political trip to the north of the country, which
resulted in, as declared by the government, four deaths, 48 injuries and
136 arrests in the bloody clashes between supporters of ASSK's National
League for Democracy and pro-government protesters.

Following the incident, the government detained ASSK in the name of
protection and since then the United States and other western countries
have stepped up sanctions against Myanmar to press for her release.


Xinhua General News Service   September 8, 2003
Myanmar arrests over 400 human traffickers in a year

YANGON--The Myanmar authorities arrested 417 human traffickers in
connection with 223 related cases from July 2002 to Aug. 21, 2003,
according to the figures released by the Ministry of Home Affairs on
Monday.

The detained human traffickers included 225 men and 192 women.

During the period, altogether 1,106 persons were rescued from being
smuggled by trafficking gangs. Of the cases, the court sentenced the human
traffickers of 83 cases.

Besides, from July 2002 to July 2003, a total of 82,251 people were
educated against human trafficking and 11,544 people could be sent home
with 1,028 being prosecuted.

Moreover, a reception camp has been opened in Myawaddy of Kayin state and
up to Aug. 18, 2003, a total of 10,005 people including 6,526 men, 3,164
women and 315 children were received.

Myanmar formed a 24-member Working Committee for Prevention Against
Trafficking in Persons in July 2002 with branches at state, division,
district, township, ward and village levels to implement the task.

Meanwhile, the Myanmar authorities have stepped up trafficking prevention
and suppression activities in three towns on the border with Thailand.


Agence France Presse   September 7, 2003 Sunday
Myanmar junta names new members of constitutional body

Myanmar's junta has named new members to a commission charged with
overseeing the drafting of its new constitution in a step towards
implementing its recently-announced democracy roadmap, the state press
said Sunday.

Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt detailed on August 30 the seven-point
roadmap, which includes "free and fair" elections under a constitution to
be drafted by a national convention.

"With a view to continuing the national convention systematically and
smoothly, the (ruling) State Peace and Development Council has effected
changes in the assignment of duties in the national convention convening
commission," the state press said, citing an order from hardline ruler
Senior General Than Shwe.

Lieutenant General Thein Sein has been named as the new chairman, with
Chief Justice Aung Toe and Minister of Electric Power Major General Tin
Htut as joint vice-chairmen.

Khin Nyunt had said the first step of the roadmap would be the reconvening
of the constitution convention suspended in 1996 following a boycott by
the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

No timeframe has been divulged for the execution of the plan, which has
been dismissed by analysts in Yangon as a sham and a reworking of previous
promises to shift towards democracy.

The announcement comes a day after the International Committee of the Red
Cross visited detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and said she was
well and not on a hunger strike.

Myanmar's government permitted the visit -- the first by the Red Cross
since July 28 -- after repeated claims from the United States that she was
refusing food amid increasing fears for the diminutive 58-year-old's
health.

Myanmar has been ruled for the past four decades by the military, which in
1990 refused to recognise elections that gave a landslide victory to Aung
San Suu Kyi's NLD party.


----MONEY----

Kaladan News   September 7, 2003
S. Korea and Burma Businessmen Meet

South Korean products recently have found ready market in Burma said a
Rangoon businessman, according to Burma Times.

Dr. Sabai (female) from Hein Burma Company Limited said disposable
syringes and needles from South Korea are popular in Burma because of
their good quality and reasonable price.

Despite the fact that the prices of many South Korea products are a
marginally higher than those of similar goods from China, the quality is
much higher, she said.

A business meeting was held between about 40 Burma companies and 7
companies from South Korea organized by the Korea Trade-Investment
Promotion Agency (KOTRA) last week.

Besides disposable syringes and needles, a diverse variety of other
products were presented by South Korea companies attending the meeting,
included industrial products such as agricultural hose piping, generators
and gas cutting torches, together with home appliances and bathroom
accessories, optical frames and shrimp feed.


----REGIONAL----

Inter Press Service   September 5, 2003
ASEAN inaction irks Myanmar exiles
By Marwaan Macan-Markar

BANGKOK - Myanmar exile groups are unimpressed by the failure of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to follow through on an
apparently tougher line against the Yangon junta, as once again it is left
to opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi to fight for democracy alone, most
recently through a reported hunger strike.

Beginning with the ASEAN foreign ministers' meeting in Phnom Penh in June,
most of the region's governments turned the heat on Myanmar's military
regime to release Suu Kyi from military custody and to restart the
country's stalled reconciliation talks. This attitude - including the
harsh words of condemnation in July by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir
Mohamad - seemed to show that on Myanmar, at least, ASEAN has been moved
to abandon its policy of non-interference with domestic affairs of member
states.
Previously, ASEAN's standard position had been toward a policy of
"constructive engagement" with Myanmar, which it hoped would nudge Yangon
toward more democratic change.

Suu Kyi and leading members of her National League for Democracy (NLD)
party were taken into military custody on May 30 after they were attacked
in a town north of Yangon by thugs linked to the junta. Next Tuesday will
mark her 100th day of this latest round of custody, which began about a
year after she had been released from 19 months of house arrest.

But Suu Kyi's reported hunger strike has yet to elicit the kind of open
sympathy ASEAN displayed toward the leader of the NLD few months ago. On
the contrary, the government in neighboring Thailand has seen it fit to
pour scorn on Suu Kyi's latest display of non-violent protest.

On Tuesday, Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra was quoted in Matichon,
a Thai-language daily, as saying that the Myanmar regime was more open to
participation of other political groups and "if Suu Kyi was still
stubborn, it would be helpless for her".

"The prime minister said the [Myanmar] regime [has] clearly shown its
sincerity in opening up itself [and] should be given time and support,"
the paper quoted Thaksin as having said.

ASEAN's inaction after the US government reported Suu Kyi's hunger strike
on Sunday, and denied by Yangon, is a bitter blow to political activists
in exile.

"We were upbeat in June after the pressure ASEAN foreign ministers put on
Burma and the statements that followed. But now we are not sure how
sincere they were," said Soe Aung, external-affairs director of the
Network for Democracy and Development, a Thailand-based body of Myanmar
exiles. "Our disappointment level has dropped below zero."

The lack of immediate and open sympathy by ASEAN toward Suu Kyi reveals
the "still unclear policy ASEAN members have" toward Myanmar, he added.
"It appears that they are willing to place their own economic
considerations above the suffering that the people of Burma have to
endure." (The junta officially renamed the country Myanmar in 1989, but
many exiles and others prefer the old name, Burma.)

The United Nations, on the other hand, did react to the hunger-strike
report and has called on Yangon's junta to release Suu Kyi and other
opposition members.

"Although restrictions on information make it impossible to confirm this
news, the special rapporteur remains gravely concerned by the continued
detention of Aung San Suu Kyi in an undisclosed location, as well as by
the impact of her confinement on her safety and health," Paulo Sergio
Pinheiro, UN special rapporteur on human rights for Myanmar, said in a
statement released on Tuesday.

Pinheiro said he was "deeply disturbed" by the unconfirmed report that Suu
Kyi had launched a hunger strike. The government of Myanmar is responsible
"for her protection and safety", his statement added.

Global human-rights lobbies such as the London-based Amnesty International
have also expressed concern. In a statement released on Tuesday, Amnesty
said the political climate in Myanmar has been deteriorating since the May
30 arrest of Suu Kyi.

"There have been reports that those detained on May 30 have been
ill-treated in detention, and that many are suffering from illness
exacerbated by their treatment in detention," Amnesty said.

It also said that political activists are still being arrested. "At least
75 additional people have been arrested since events on May 30, in many
instances on account of their calls for an investigation into the attack
and release of those detained on May 30," Amnesty said.

According to available reports, the junta is holding more than 1,300
political prisoners, including elected members of parliament.
Consequently, Myanmar watchers have dismissed as another charade the
wide-ranging policy statement revealed over the weekend by the country's
newly appointed prime minister, General Khin Nyunt.

"It is all propaganda. There is nothing new. The so-called 'roadmap'
mentioned to bring peace to Burma is disgusting," said Asda Jayanama, a
former Thai diplomat who served in Yangon.

On Saturday, Khin Nyunt said Yangon will resume work to pave the way for
political reform. But he failed to divulge a timetable for this journey
toward peace and reconciliation or state a role for Suu Kyi and the
country's opposition parties.


Agence France Presse   September 8, 2003
Thailand welcomes Myanmar constitution commission but wants NLD involved

Thailand on Monday praised military-ruled Myanmar's formation of a
commission to oversee the drafting of its new constitution but said Aung
San Suu Kyi's opposition party should participate in the process.

Yangon suspended its constitution convention in 1996 following a boycott
by the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD).

However newly appointed prime minister, General Khin Nyunt, unexpectedly
announced on August 30 a "roadmap" to democracy which has the reconvening
of the convention as its first step.

"It is good, and when there is progress, it will make the world confident
that Myanmar is sincere with its national reconciliation," said Thai
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai.

"Myanmar created this process itself, using some of our advice in the
roadmap, so we support it," Surakiart said.

"When it comes to this step (of drafting the constitution), minority
groups and the NLD should be part of the process to reach fair
reconciliation," he said.

On Sunday the ruling junta, known as the State Peace and Development
Council, named Lieutenant General Thein Sein the commission's new
chairman.

Myanmar Chief Justice Aung Toe and Minister of Electric Power Major
General Tin Htut were named joint vice chairmen.

No timeframe has been divulged for the drafting of the constitution or
execution of the roadmap, which has been dismissed by analysts in Yangon
as a sham and a reworking of previous promises to shift towards democracy.

Surakiart called on the other members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) to support Myanmar once the constitutional process
begins.

"Don't judge them from their history," Surakiart said. "The international
situation, ASEAN and Myanmar have changed.

"History is a lesson, but don't hold it against them. Consider (the
situation) from the present, look at their sincerity and don't destroy
their confidence."

Thailand's deputy premier Chavalit Yongchaiyudh urged Monday for Myanmar's
constitutional issue to be resolved "as quickly as possible".

"The drafting should be attended by several parties," he said, adding that
Myanmar's neighbour China, which Chavalit visited last week, backed
Yangon's bid to progress on its democracy roadmap.

Myanmar has been ruled for the past four decades by the military, which in
1990 refused to recognise elections that gave a landslide victory to Aung
San Suu Kyi's NLD party.

On Monday Indonesia urged Myanmar to release Aung San Suu Kyi, currently
held incommunicado by the junta, before an ASEAN summit in Bali next
month.

Her continued detention during the summit would severely embarrass the
grouping, currently led by Indonesia which faced criticism in 1997 for
admitting Myanmar as a member.


Agence France Presse   September 8, 2003
Indonesia urges Myanmar to free Aung San Suu Kyi before ASEAN summit

JAKARTA:  Indonesia has urged Myanmar to release opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi before the ASEAN summit in Bali next month, Foreign Minister
Hassan Wirayuda said.

"If the Myanmar government does not set free Aung San Suu Kyi, then it is
feared that the summit agenda would instead focus on her release," he said
in calling for the immediate end to her detention.

Wirayuda, quoted by the state Antara news agency, said the meeting was
supposed to focus on an Indonesian proposal to form an ASEAN Security
Community to combat terrorism.

In July Wirayuda said Myanmar had told Indonesia it hopes to resolve the
issue before the summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on
Oct 7 and 8.

The US and Europe reacted with outrage to the May 30 detention of Aung San
Suu Kyi, with Washington imposing tough new sanctions on the
military-ruled state.

Her continued detention during the summit would severely embarrass the
grouping, currently led by Indonesia, which faced criticism in 1997 for
admitting Myanmar as a member.

Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has warned Myanmar that it could
be expelled from ASEAN as a last resort if it refuses to free her.

On Aug 30 the junta announced a seven-point road map for democracy that
includes the holding of "free and fair" elections based on a new
constitution. It gave no timetable for the implementation of the plan.


Associated Press Worldstream   September 7, 2003
Protesters across Asia demand release of Myanmar's Suu Kyi as she spends
100th day in detention
By DANIEL LOVERING; Associated Press Writer

Protesters across Asia demanded the release of Myanmar pro-democracy
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as she marked 100 days in detention Sunday, and
the country's junta lambasted the United States for claiming she was on a
hunger strike.

The U.S. State Department said last week that it had received credible
reports that Suu Kyi was on a hunger strike. However, a Red Cross official
on Saturday said Suu Kyi was well and not refusing food after a team from
the organization visited her.

Suu Kyi, winner of the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, has been detained at an
undisclosed location since her arrest after a May 30 clash between her
supporters and a pro-government mob in northern Myanmar, also known as
Burma.

Protesters turned out in several Asian cities to show their support for
Suu Kyi on Sunday.

In Thailand, about 18 people fasted at Bangkok's Lumpini Park to protest
Suu Kyi's detention. The fast was scheduled to last 12 hours, according to
the Bangkok-based human rights group Forum Asia, which organized the
protest.

"Today's event aims to send the message that ... (Myanmar's government)
must release Aung San Suu Kyi and other political prisoners immediately
and unconditionally," the group said.

At a similar protest outside the Myanmar Embassy in Tokyo, a dozen
activists ended a 55-hour fast Sunday to push for Suu Kyi's release. Those
who fasted - all Myanmar nationals living in Japan - were later joined by
about 70 other activists.

Khaing Nyunt Naing, a Japan branch leader of Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy party, said he was cautious about the conflicting reports about
Suu Kyi's condition. "Either way, Mrs. Suu Kyi is detained," he added.

Similar demonstrations were planned in other cities, including Seoul and
New York.

Meanwhile, Myanmar's military government reacted bitterly to the U.S.
claim that Suu Kyi was on a hunger strike, calling it "irresponsible" and
accusing the United States of waging a campaign of "disinformation,
misinformation and fabrication" against countries it does not favor.

"It is astounding that the most powerful nation on earth would resort to
such tactics as crying 'wolf' in meddling with Myanmar's internal
matters," it said in a statement released Sunday, describing Myanmar as a
"small, peaceful country" that poses no threat to the United States.

Suu Kyi is currently in her third period of detention since 1989, when she
was put under house arrest for six years. She was put under house arrest
again from September 2000 to May 2002.

After her latest detention, the junta cracked down on her National League
for Democracy party, halting a reconciliation process brokered in October
2000.

Myanmar's military seized power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy
uprising. It held elections in 1990, but refused to recognize the results
after Suu Kyi's party won.


Narinjara News   September 7, 2003
Bangladesh-Burma border trade resumes today

Cox’s Bazar: Bangladesh-Burma border trade through Teknaf, southern part
of Bangladesh, resumes today after six days as the deadlock ended
yesterday following a fruitful negotiation between the parties concerned
at a joint meeting at Cox’s bazaar, according to our correspondent quoted
a local prominent businessman.

The border trade came to a halt on Monday when a joint body of importers,
exporters, C&F agents and truck owners in Teknaf enforced the strike
protesting ‘extortion and harassment’ by police and BDR, border security
force.

They alleged the members of BDR and police in the name of checking
documents and contraband goods often harass them at border and on several
points on the Teknaf- Cox’sbazar road while transporting goods.

After discussion, the joint meeting decided that the law enforcers or the
customs officers would not stop the truck carrying export-import goods to
and from Teknaf at those points on Teknaf-Cox’sbazar road.

It was decided that all necessary checking will be done by the police BDR
joint forces at Teknaf and not elsewhere, source said.

The meeting attended by representatives from all trade bodies in
Cox’sbazar and Teknaf, and the police, BDR and truck owners also agreed in
principle to consider the 10-point demands of the traders.

Deputy Commissioner of Cox’bazar, following a directive by the State
Minister for communications Salahuddin Ahmed, convened the meeting to end
the deadlock that badly affected the border trade.

The government had been incurring a revenue loss of TK 15,00,000 to Tk
20,00,000 daily following the suspension of border trade, the businessman
said.

The all trade bodies alleged the BDR forces use to intercept trucks and
vehicles at several points on Teknaf-Cox’sbazar road and demand extortion.

Goods like food grain, shoe, sandal, onion, spices, umbrella and fish are
imported everyday from Burma through Teknaf border.


----INTERNATIONAL----

Agence France Presse   September 8, 2003
UN envoy's Myanmar trip delayed, says give junta plan a chance

KUALA LUMPUR: UN special envoy Razali Ismail said Monday plans for him to
visit Myanmar in mid-September have been scrapped, as he called for the
country's junta to be given a chance to implement a new democracy
"roadmap".

"Some dates around mid-September were (discussed) but the dates were found
to be not possible," he told reporters here, without elaborating.

"I am hoping to be in Myanmar as soon as it is possible for both sides to
work out a date," he said.

"I am waiting to go in as soon as I can. I am allowing local efforts to
happen, then of course the UN would bring all its services to bear on all
parties."

Razali, who visited detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi during his
last mission to Yangon in June, said he had no recent news of her
condition but expected to meet her again on his next trip.

He noted that International Committee of the Red Cross representatives who
visited the Nobel peace laureate Saturday confirmed she was well and not
on hunger strike, contrary to US claims she was refusing food.

The UN envoy, credited with brokering landmark talks between Aung San Suu
Kyi and the junta which have now stalled, said he also hoped to meet Prime
Minister Khin Nyunt to discuss the military's seven-point "roadmap" to
democracy.

Yangon's plan to reconvene the constitutional convention suspended in 1996
as a first step under the plan is a "good idea" and the "right thing to
do," Razali said.

"Give Khin Nyunt a chance to try to get it done. I'm sure what we've got
is just a bare skeleton, the bare bones.

"We hope that this proposal is the precursor, the beginning of a healing
process that will bring about the release of Aung San Suu Kyi and other
parties.

"If we can play a role to facilitate understanding of this proposal to all
sides including Aung San Suu Kyi, we will do it."

Myanmar's junta Sunday named new members to a commission charged with
overseeing the drafting of its new constitution under the "roadmap", which
includes "free and fair" elections, but gave no timetable for the plan.

Analysts in Yangon have dismissed the seven-point blueprint as a sham and
a reworking of previous promises to shift towards democracy.

Asked if the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
should take a stronger role in the Myanmar crisis, Razali refused to
comment, saying it was "not my business talking about ASEAN."

World leaders have been up in arms since Yangon's military rulers detained
Aung San Suu Kyi on May 30 after a pro-junta mob violently attacked her
supporters as she was on a visit to the north of the country.

Since then her National League for Democracy party has faced a nationwide
crackdown that has persisted despite tough new sanctions by the United
States, the European Union and Canada.


----EDITORIALS----

The Irrawaddy   September 06, 2003
Ethnic Agendas: The PM’s Road Map To Nowhere
By Aung Naing Oo

Khun Markoban knew where the speech was heading before the first section
was over. As Burma’s new Prime Minister, Gen Khin Nyunt, trumpeted the
achievements of his military administration over the past 15 years,
Markoban knew something wasn’t right. When the speech was over, his worst
fears had been confirmed.

Khin Nyunt’s inaugural policy address on August 30 caught many by
surprise. Markoban, an ethnic Member of Parliament (MP) from the National
League for Democracy (NLD), was one of many who Khin Nyunt came away
disappointed.

People had hoped the new PM would deliver an epoch-making speech to turn
around all that the military had done in the past. But Khin Nyunt’s speech
failed to signal the softening of policy on political reform and did
nothing to advance the cause of national reconciliation.

True, ethnic groups may have more compelling reasons to be
disappointed—Khin Nyunt did not mention anything about their aspirations.
There was nothing about ethnic autonomy. And nothing about when the
Burmese regime would cease military offensives against groups that are
holding out on a truce with Rangoon.

Worse, Khin Nyunt attributed the lack of development in ethnic minority
areas to the lack of communication and infrastructure. He didn’t face up
to the real cause of underdevelopment in border areas—the civil wars waged
by the Burma Army on ethnic groups.
A statement issued by the Karen National Union (KNU)—one of the few
remaining groups that has not signed a ceasefire with the Burmese
junta—calls Khin Nyunt’s address "the lost road to nowhere." KNU General
Secretary Padoh Mahn Sha anticipated that Khin Nyunt would allude to the
release of political prisoners and the confusion surrounding the May 30
ambush on opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her supporters.

But he didn’t. Khin Nyunt also failed to detail how he was going to solve
the country’s economic crisis and political liberalization didn’t rate a
mention.

"The second part of Khin Nyunt’s road map sent a shiver down my spine,"
said the editor of an ethnic newspaper. Plans to resume the National
Convention, which has been in recess since early 1996, gave the editor
every reason to be skeptical. While Khin Nyunt confirmed his government
would implement the outcomes of the Convention, many doubt that it will be
conducted fairly.

The bottom line is that the outcomes have already been set. One guideline
protects "the leading role of Burma’s armed forces in the future affairs
of the State." Another, which is equally sinister if not more so, is the
military’s prerogative to declare a "state of emergency" whenever
necessary.

There are also provisions to prevent Suu Kyi from contesting the
presidency. Rules for the Convention say that presidential candidates must
be "well-versed in military affairs." With this stipulation, who else
other than the military men can qualify for the position?

Without doubt, these are likely to be the basis for the emergence of a
"genuine disciplined democracy" in Burma, or a veiled allusion to
continued military dominance. Markoban, who represented the NLD at the
original Convention explains, "that’s precisely the reason I left the
National Convention in 1993."

Many ethnic leaders argue that the Burmese generals have been provided
with an honorable way out of the political deadlock. A transitional road
map could have represented an olive branch for the beleaguered generals.
"Instead, the regime has chosen to walk on a path with thorns and rocks,"
said an ethnic leader on condition of anonymity.

Realistically though, Markoban and his ethnic colleagues are in for
further disappointment. After many years of stalling, this time the
generals clearly mean business. They will follow their road map undeterred
and the opposition’s mandate from the 1990 elections will be thrown out
the window. If the results were honored as voters and candidates had
hoped, around 70 ethnic MPs would have taken office in 1990. Their
appointment may have been what Burma needed to end decades of civil war.

Amid all the disappointment, there are some ethnic leaders who remain
relatively optimistic. "I am not that disheartened," said a veteran ethnic
politician. "Our experience has shown that we must be patient." For him
and his group, dialogue is still the best way to solve Burma’s problems.
Sadly, however, he will now be part of a diminishing minority that
continues to call for peaceful solutions to Burma’s problems.

Khin Nyunt’s speech makes it abundantly clear where the Burmese junta is
heading. His address confirms that ethnic issues are off the agenda and
the road to reconciliation through political dialogue has been closed.
Ethnic aspirations for federalism seem more distant the ever before.
Clearly ethnic groups are running out of options.

No one actually knows what’s in store for Burma’s ethnic nationalities.
But there seems little to hope for given the tone of the speech, the place
where it was delivered, the manner it was delivered and above all, the man
who delivered it.

Indeed, the military is in charge of Burma, and this will likely continue
for a long while into the future. The longer the military holds on to
power, the longer ethnic nationalities will remain subjugated.

Aung Naing Oo is a political analyst based in Thailand.


Dallas Morning News   September 7,2003
World Should pay more attention to Burma
by Rena Pederson

Before you take a bite of food today, stop a moment and think what it
would be like to be on a real hunger strike. Not just a tough diet, but a
matter of life and death for a principle.

Imagine growing dizzy, or so weak that just raising an arm requires all
.... your ... effort. You begin having trouble thinking clearly and even
remembering why you are denying yourself nourishment.

But if you are brave, you keep denying yourself out of sheer willpower,
using the only thing you have left – your sense of justice – to fight back
for a cause.

We can't know such conditions for sure, but the State Department has
expressed concern that Aung San Suu Kyi – the only Nobel Peace Prize
winner in the world being held in captivity – began a hunger strike last
Sunday to protest her continued incarceration in Burma.

The Burmese junta denied she was on a hunger strike, and it was unclear
whether it was continuing Friday. But the fact that an unarmed,
58-year-old woman – who scarcely weighs 100 pounds with her sandals on –
is having to use such desperate means to protest the brutal repression in
her country should be a rallying cry for the rest of the world.

A bolder international effort is needed soon, if one of the heroic figures
of our time is to be saved.

True, many others are fighting for democracy in Burma with their lives and
families at risk. But Aung San Suu Kyi is a very necessary symbol. Being a
Nobel laureate gives her standing in international circles. Without her,
the 52 million people of Burma would be relatively faceless.

And why should Burma rank as high as the many other trouble spots of the
hour?

To begin with, the moral imperative. More than a decade ago, Aung San Suu
Kyi's party won in a landslide in fair elections, but the military junta
has refused to make the transition to democracy, killing or locking up
most of the elected members of Parliament. Just a few weeks ago, one
imprisoned member was blinded from torture.

Ms. Suu Kyi – an eloquent champion of peaceful change – was dragooned back
into captivity on May 30 and has been held incommunicado since then. Her
hunger strike appears to be a desperate cri de coeur, sending up a flare
for help in the only way possible.

Any polite hesitation on the part of other countries at challenging what
goes on in another "sovereign" country is misguided. The Burmese military
regime is fundamentally illegal. It is one of the last surviving military
juntas on the planet. It provides the international community with nothing
good and plenty of bad – HIV/AIDS, human trafficking, tons of heroin,
millions of desperate refugees and countless horror stories of human
rights abuses. The Burmese generals rule with slave labor and gang rapes.

The thug in control – Gen. Than Shwe – has only a sixth-grade education,
but he is shrewd enough to pretend he is responding to international
pressure. Last week, he claimed to accept a "road map" for democracy
brokered by Thailand. But that is a sham so long as opposition leaders
like Ms. Suu Kyi are detained.

To its credit, the Bush administration has stalwartly spoken up in protest
of the recent crackdown. This summer, President Bush signed the Freedom
and Democracy Act, tightening trade sanctions on the regime. Congress gave
the president one of his largest mandates ever for the tougher sanctions,
voting 418-2 in the House and 97-1 in the Senate. Gallantly helping save
Aung San Suu Kyi would be not only the right thing but a very popular
thing to do.

Mr. Bush will have the opportunity to solidify his standing as a spokesman
for freedom when he visits Thailand on Oct. 22.

Meanwhile, it is time for the European Union to stand up as well and
support a targeted import ban or investment ban.

It is time for Australia, which continues on friendly terms with the
outlaw Burmese government, to take a tougher line.

It is time for the United Nations Security Council, currently under the
presidency of the United Kingdom, to put the Burma crisis at the top of
the agenda instead of "among other business." Burma's problems are causing
instability in the region.

And it is time for China, Japan and the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations to support higher standards in their neighborhood. The Burmese
generals smell up the region's economic progress.

Ms. Suu Kyi has had to resort to hunger strikes before. When she was put
under house arrest in 1989, she stopped eating to protest the arrest of
her young supporters and asked to join them in jail. She ended that strike
when she was promised they wouldn't be ill treated. She went on another
hunger strike in 1991 to protest her house arrest and ended up in a
military hospital. And in 1998, she went on a hunger strike for nine days
when her car was stopped and blocked by barbed wire to prevent her from
traveling to make a speech. She eventually was forced from her car and
taken back to Rangoon under surveillance.

After the earlier strikes, her hair fell out, and she suffered other
health consequences as a result of malnutrition. That she would deny
herself sustenance again, knowing the pain and the cost, should be seen as
a brave and desperate signal. The international community must not
equivocate on its response.

It must act now.

Rena Pederson is editor-at-large of The Dallas Morning News.


Slate.com   September 5, 2003
Starving for Freedom in Burma
By Ed Finn

A storm of controversy is building over Burma's repressive military
government. On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department announced its belief
that the country's most famous dissident, Aung San Suu Kyi, is on hunger
strike to protest her illegal imprisonment by Burmese authorities, a
confinement the authorities claim is for her own protection. Recipient of
the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, Suu Kyi heads a democracy movement that won
national elections 13 years ago—Burma's military rulers annulled the
results and remained in power. Despite mounting international pressure,
including severe trade sanctions, Suu Kyi has been in detention since May
30, while Burma continues to be wracked by poverty and ethnic conflict.

This bad press is the last thing Burma's generals want right now, just as
they tentatively begin to consider internal reforms. A recent top-level
shuffle gave the ruling brass civilian titles and promoted the country's
long-time chief of intelligence, Gen. Khin Nyunt, to prime minister. A
Manila Times op-ed noted that Nyunt, "considered in some quarters as a
moderate," had outlined plans for a revised constitution and free
elections in a speech last Saturday. The State Department dropped its
hunger strike bombshell three days later, citing "credible reporting from
our embassy" (Suu Kyi's condition cannot be verified, because no outsiders
have seen her since a Red Cross visit in July). Few observers believed
Burma's reform announcement, and Britain's Guardian angrily dismissed
Nyunt as "just another jumped-up general who has never fought a battle in
his life but is a veritable Napoleon when it comes to oppressing
defenceless civilians." Even the optimistic Manila Times piece demanded
action, quoting an exiled opposition leader and a Thai senator who argued
that reforms will not be taken seriously until Suu Kyi and other political
prisoners are released. Pakistan's Frontier Post called her "Burma's icon
of democracy" and concluded that "[s]hort of war, [her movement] should be
provided every support."

Burma's international relations are precarious enough without global
clamor over the alleged hunger strike. An article in Singapore's Straits
Times described the junta's recent reform efforts as a response to growing
international pressure: "The US and the European Union have imposed
tougher sanctions on the impoverished country, while key donor Japan has
frozen new aid." But while the State Department called for Suu Kyi's
release, Thailand's leaders joined the Burmese in denying that she is on
hunger strike. An editorial in the Bangkok Nation titled "Marching in Step
With the Generals" blasted the Thai foreign minister for trying to reform
Burma by establishing "close connections with their leaders" instead of
using tough love. Casting a blind eye over Burma's crimes hurts Thailand's
international credibility, especially as pressure for reform mounts
abroad. The Nation predicted Burma will come under increasing fire from
the United Nations as November's general assembly takes place and
observers report on alleged new atrocities such as mass rapes and other
"flagrant violations of human rights."

However, reform may never come unless Burma's immediate neighbors apply
more pressure. An editorial in Indian daily the Hindu took this stance on
India's chummy relationship with Burma's junta, pointing out that two
high-level Indian military delegations visited the country this week,
along with New Delhi's commerce and telecommunications ministers. The
visits had been planned well before the recent brouhaha, but the fact
remains that India is strengthening ties with its neighbor despite Burma's
near-pariah status. The article also noted that Burma's other gigantic
neighbor, China, is pursuing a similarly cautious plan and argued that the
junta may have played its cards right after all: "Having successfully
built solid ties with the two Asian giants—India and China—who warily
watch each other's presence in Myanmar, the military rulers in Yangon have
reasons to be confident that it will be impossible completely to isolate
the nation."


Bangkok Post   September 7, 2003
Let the Burmese Decide Their Future
BY MAXMILIAN WECHSLER

Analysts' conflicting rhetoric notwithstanding, one sure winner in the
recent cabinet reshuffle in Burma is the 70-year-old Senior General Than
Shwe, who remains the most powerful person in the country after
relinquishing the prime ministership to Gen Khin Nyunt.

The twists and turns of events followed the May 30 arrest of 58-year-old
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the National League for Democracy (NLD),
whose current detention has triggered a chorus of protests from all over
the world and _ for the first time _ from the staunchest Asean supporters
of the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC).

The United States and the European Union imposed new economic sanctions
while Japan, Burma's main aid provider, froze new assistance. This
obviously caused a panic within the SPDC ranks and compelled Gen Than
Shwe, who actually runs the country, to do something.

He ordered a cabinet reshuffle, which was announced on state-run TV and
radio on the night of August 25. The moderate'' Gen Khin Nyunt was
appointed the new prime minister, two hardliners'' were named SPDC
secretaries and five ageing ministers were replaced. More changes followed
on August 27. EXPECTATIONS SLIM

The Burmese public, treated daily to a barrage of official announcements
and posturing by the uniformed men in the media, didn't take much interest
in the new appointments. Similar changes which had occurred quite
frequently in recent years didn't bring any improvement to their lives.

Several residents of Mandalay and Rangoon interviewed after the reshuffle
expressed frustration with the current government and scepticism about
their future.

We want to see some improvement in our daily lives, and we won't get it
with this government,'' complained a hotel employee in Mandalay.

My main concern is to take care of my family and to survive. The military
men will not make our lives easier,'' lamented a Rangoon shopkeeper.

The reshuffle made headlines around the world and initiated a flurry of
prognoses from Burma-watchers. Some predicted that the shake-up might
trigger something bigger but others said the changes were only cosmetic.

Without any doubt, Gen Than Shwe remains the most powerful person in the
country as chairman of the SPDC, the highest decision-making body in
Burma. He also retains the post of commander-in-chief of the defense
services and that of defense minister.

However, his age is against him. Also, he has reportedly decided on his
successor who, like him, is a hardliner. Those who dismissed Gen Khin
Nyunt's appointment as a demotion were proven dead wrong when hundreds of
military and other officials from all over Burma came to Parliament House
in Rangoon on the morning of August 30 to hear his policy statement.
Dressed in full military uniform, Gen Khin Nyunt made an 80-minute speech
broadcast live on national television. In the audience were some SPDC
members and representatives of local and foreign non-governmental
organisations.

In his statement, Gen Khin Nyunt outlined the country's economic
achievements, the current political situation and made breaking news'' by
announcing a seven-point road map'' for democracy, including a free and
fair'' election to be held under a new constitution. However, he gave no
specific timeframes for these plans.

As expected, the road map'' was immediately rejected by the regime's
opponents, including the prime minister of the US-based National Coalition
Government of the Union of Burma, Dr Sein Win, who said: As the first
step, the plan will not be successful because the National Convention and
referendum will not work without the desire and involvement of the people.
The SPDC is just doing whatever it likes.''

A positive comment came from China's ambassador to Burma, Li Jinjun, who
said: I see the recent cabinet reshuffle and the seven-point road map as
positive. China holds the view that the international community should
stop pressuring and let Myanmar (Burma) solve its internal problems.''

THE TIRED FLOWER

The road map'' may look good in theory, but it will be hard to put into
practice without the participation of the NLD and Aung San Suu Kyi,
remarked a European diplomat in Rangoon.

The NLD overwhelmingly won the 1990 general election. However, Burma's
military, which has been ruling the country since a 1962 coup, denied the
NLD the right to govern and, instead, initiated a crackdown that kept the
NLD pre-occupied with its own survival and unable to galvanise a
population that remains too passive _ and too frightened _ to resist the
SPDC.

The opposition movement outside Burma _ with dozens of political and armed
groups and an equally diverse collection of leaders, aims and budgets _ is
fragmented and disunited, making it impossible to keep everyone under one
flag.

This fact is not disputed even by the most optimistic dissident.

Except for the top SPDC leaders, no one knows what the future holds for
Mrs Suu Kyi. However, it is highly unlikely that she will accept any post
offered by the military. Her doing is likely to create disarray within her
party and the entire democratic movement. Obviously, she faces a very
difficult situation.

Burma's future is equally bleak. A regime change by popular uprising is
hard to imagine at this moment, and the same can be said about a voluntary
transition of power to the NLD, or even a power-sharing between the two.

In this respect, Burma's problems will continue to affect security and
economic affairs among its neighbouring countries.

Sanctions imposed on the impoverished country by the international
community will hardly hurt the ruling generals.

But tens of thousands of ordinary citizens, particularly those working in
the clothing industry, will lose their jobs. These workers and their
families will be plunged into further hardships.

THE CHINA ANGLE

As Burma's biggest business partner and best friend _ and motivated by the
wish to contain US expansion into Southeast Asia _ China can help cushion
the impact of the economic sanctions and provide Rangoon with a necessary
life-line, at least for the moment. Dozens of fully-loaded heavy trucks
carrying Chinese-made products and equipment cross daily through China's
border town of Mong Ah to the Burmese Wa State capital of Pang Sang,
divided by a bridge over the Nam Kha River.

Despite the increased flow of narcotic drugs from the Wa State to the
southern Chinese province of Yunnan and other parts of China, the official
Chinese policy of non-interference in the internal affairs of other
countries and China's support for the SPDC continues. This must affect
China's stability.

It remains to be seen how much longer China can stick to its
non-interference'' policy.

Thailand also continues to suffer from the influx of millions of
methamphetamine tablets each year produced by Wa, Kokang, Kachin and Thai
drug gangs, which have strong Burmese connections.

In an attempt to stop the flow of drugs by peaceful means, some Thai
military officers visited Pang Sang in April and June of 2001. They met
with Zaw Mai, the late vice-chairman of the United Wa State Party (UWSP)
and other senior Wa civilian and military officials who listened to the
Thai officers' concerns and expressed their willingness to cooperate.

The UWSP issued a six-point memorandum signed by the current deputy
commander of the United Wa State Army (UWSA) and head of the economic
department, Po Lai Kam, on June 7, 2001, with the approval of Chairman Pau
You Chang.

The UWSP confirmed its pledge to eradicate narcotic drugs on its territory
by 2005 and asked the Thai government for assistance in this endeavour.
They expressed the wish that Burma and Thailand will enjoy good relations
and that any border demarcation disputes will be solved through
negotiation.

They also explained the reasons behind the resettlement of 50,000 Wa
people from the northern to the southern Wa State. They said the
relocation was part of the Wa leadership's plan to eradicate opium
growing, which was widespread in the northern part of the Wa State.

The relocated Wa people were given assistance to start a new life in
southern Wa State.

However, after Zaw Mai's death, and maybe with the intention of some
country not to solve this problem peacefully, the contact between Wa and
Thai representatives came to a halt. This might be relevant _ more or less
_ to the Wa's recent announcement to extend its drug eradication deadline
to 2007.

As a close neighbour of Burma, Thailand is affected by Burmese political
and economic problems, and may help in suggesting a way forward. But the
solution to the dilemma in Burma lies partly with the SPDC _ and mostly
with the 49.5 million Burmese citizens.


Gulf News    September 7, 2003
Change of Guard in Myanmar’s Military Junta Sends Mixed Signals
By Abdullah Al Madani

Since its emergence in 1990, ambiguity has been the dominant feature of
the decisions and practices of the Myanmar military junta, or the so
called State Peace and Development Council (SPDC). It was not surprising,
therefore, to see analysts of Myamarese affairs holding conflicting
interpretations and views over the recent leadership reshuffle in Yangon.

In late August, the SPDC announced a new power structure with its chairman
General Than Shwe, its second man General Maung Aye, and its third man
General Khin Nyunt being installed in newly created posts of president,
vice-president, and prime minister respectively.

To some observers the new arrangement signified that power was shifting
from the ageing and hardened leader Shwe to younger and more moderate
Generals led by Nyunt. The latter has been known for being a relatively
moderate and pragmatic figure in the repressive regime, and for advocating
dialogue with rather than the repression of the opposition represented by
Nobel Peace Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
(NLD).

Different view

Other Myanmar-watchers hold a completely different view. To them the
reshuffle strengthened Shwe and hardliners' power as it pushed General
Nyunt out of the SPDC, the highest decision-making body, and replaced him
with one of his fiercest opponents, namely Lieutenant General Soe Win.

By putting him in charge of the day-to-day running of the impoverished
country, Nyunt became an implementer rather than a maker of policies and
could be solely blamed for any failure.

Should he be removed from his last powerful position as head of military
intelligence, Nyunt will turn into a lame-duck. Apart from arguments over
the winners and losers in the recent reshuffle, the other development that
has attracted observers was Nyunt's first speech as Myanmar's new prime
minister. In a reformist, but ambiguous, message to the Myanmarese, he
talked about "free and fair" elections to be held under a new
constitution.

The fact that he gave no details about the authority that would write the
new constitution, the date on which general elections would be held, and
the fate of the ruling military junta in the future, made many Myanmarese
pessimistic.

To them, Nyunt's promise and the government reshuffle were nothing more
than attempts to improve the SPDC's ugly image in the face of regional and
international pressure and criticism, and to escape a Thailand-sponsored
roadmap for re-establishing democracy in Myanmar.

Bangkok, backed by its major partners in the Asean, has recently talked
about a proposal aimed at achieving peace and national reconciliation in
Myanmar in order to rescue the Myanmarese from declining living
conditions, isolation, and the consequences of economic sanctions imposed
by the West .

Not much is known about the Thai roadmap due to Bangkok's refusal to
disclose its details before receiving Yangon's approval. However, based on
comments made by the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his
Foreign Minister SurakIart Sathirathai, the initiative calls for the
release of Suu Kyi.

It also calls for the organisation of a forum in Bangkok before the end of
this year to collectively try "to make Myanmar acceptable to the
international community and to see that the Myanmarese people have better
lives", while taking into account such sensitive issues as the country's
national sovereignty and dignity. In addition to Myanmar and Thailand,
five other players are expected to participate in the proposed forum: the
United Nations (which has unsuccessfully been leading the process of
reconciliation in Myanmar since 2000), the United States (which leads
political pressure and economic embargo), Britain (Myanmar's former
colonial master), China (Myanmar's biggest economic partner and the SPDC's
strongest supporter), and Japan (the major source of aid and investments
that could help Myanmar's crumbling economy).

It is not at all unlikely that Beijing has been behind the recent measures
adopted by Yangon. In other words, they have possibly been inspired by the
Chinese ahead of any foreign intervention that might lead to installing an
anti-China regime in Yangon.

It is believed that should Thailand's proposed roadmap be implemented, it
would certainly result in holding general elections under international
supervision. In this case, the Myanmarese opposition led by Suu Kyi will
certainly win and form the new government with all the implication of such
a development in terms of Myanmar's foreign policy. The country under Aung
San Suu Kyi would definitely maintain close relationships with all the
states that tightened the noose against the military junta and supported
the pro-democracy movement, particularly the US and EU. Regionally, it
would strengthen its ties with New Delhi, given the personal bond existing
between the Aung Sans and India and the fact that the latter gave the
family sanctuary after it was forced into exile in the early 1960s.

Traditional rivals

Such a scenario will not be, of course, in Beijing's favour but will serve
the interests of its traditional rivals.

It should be noted that by exploiting the SPDC's isolation, Beijing has
been able to maintain diverse links with Yangon and to consolidate its
military influence in the Indian Ocean. It has established invulnerable
naval bases, equipped with sophisticated monitoring and espionage systems,
on Myanmarese soil opposite India's east coast.

During the past few years, China has been the only gateway open for the
SPDC to prolong its rule and to deal with the country's economic problems.
Myanmar's senior generals have regularly been visiting Beijing to sign
bilateral deals, particularly in the field of military co-operation. It
was reported that since 1992, the SPDC has spent about $ 3 billion on
Chinese-made arms and security equipment to tighten its grip on Myanmar
and the Myanmarese.

It was also reported that Beijing provided Yangon with loans and grants to
help the latter escape its financial and economic crises.

The most recent Chinese aid was a $ 200 million loan in late August.

Given the above background, the Chinese role in obstructing attempts by
Thailand to bring Myanmar out of its dark abyss must be worthy of
consideration and must be dealt with in earnest.

The situation serves as a reminder of Pakistan's role in Afghanistan. If
the international community had met Islamabad's interference with a firm
position from the beginning, the Afghans would not have suffered six rough
years of the worse kinds of human rights abuses at the hands of the
Taliban.