BurmaNet News, Feb 20 - 23, 2004

[editor at burmanet.org]

Feb 20 - 23, 2004 Issue # 2426


INSIDE BURMA
Irrawaddy: KNPP Ceasefire Talks Set for March
Irrawaddy: Students sentenced
Mizzima: KNU delegation headed to Maulmein for third round of talks with SPDC
AP: Dissident guerrillas attack army post before cease-fire talks, says
leader
Xinhua: Myanmar top leader reiterates adherence to "one China" policy
Xinhua: Myanmar to invite foreign investment for archipelago tourist
development
DVB: Burmese villagers robbed by uniformed dacoits
DVB: Buddhist-Muslim clashes continue in Arakan State

ON THE BORDER
DVB: Burmese workers killed in Thailand again

DRUGS
AP: Police says drug arrests expose new smuggling route
AFP: Opium production in Myanmar slashed by two-thirds since 1996: UN

BUSINESS / MONEY
Nation: Kan Agro signs deal with Burma
Xinhua: Myanmar exports increase slightly, imports fall sharply in 2003

REGIONAL
Nation: PM says Suu Kyi to be freed by October
Hindu: Myanmar begins to flush out terrorists

INTERNATIONAL
FEER: Britain Plans to Up Aid to Burma

OPINION / OTHER
Time Asia: Guerrillas in the Mist
IFI – Burma: Action Plans to Turn Mekong's East-West Road into "Economic
Corridor"
Nation: Mandalay unchanged

REVIEW
Nation: Mandalay unchanged




INSIDE BURMA
___________________________________

Feb 23, Irrawaddy
KNPP Ceasefire Talks Set for March - by Shah Paung

Representatives from the Karenni National Progressive Party, or KNPP, will
hold ceasefire talks with Burma’s military leaders in Rangoon early next
month, said a senior KNPP official.

The KNPP and the ruling junta negotiated a ceasefire in March 1995, but
fighting resumed three months later.

Joint secretary of the KNPP, Khu Oo Reh, did not provide an exact date for
the talks.

"A ceasefire will be a main topic of our discussion with the military
leaders," Khu Oo Reh said when reached by telephone.

The issue of refugees will also be addressed, he added. There are more
than 21,000 Karenni refugees living in two camps near Mae Hong Son,
Thailand.

The Kayah (Karenni) State Peace Organization will make arrangements for
the KNPP delegation and will take part in the negotiations, said Khu Oo
Reh. The group was founded in 1993 and is based in Karenni State. The KNPP
have plans to meet with representatives of the peace group later this
month, added Khu Oo Reh.

On Dec 26, 2003 the KNPP met with members of the Kayah State Peace
Organization, who invited the KNPP to join the National Convention. KNPP
Gen-Sec Raymond Htoo said the party responded by asking for details about
the National Convention and stating that they would like to reopen
ceasefire talks with the junta.
__________________________

Feb 23, Irrawaddy
Students sentenced - by Kyaw Zwa Moe

Six Burmese students received long prison sentences on Friday for
criticizing the ruling junta’s plan to reconvene the National Convention.

The National Convention is the first step of a seven-step political road
map proposed by Prime Minister Gen Khin Nyunt last August. Burmese
government officials have said it will be restarted this year.

The students were arrested last September for distributing leaflets in
Rangoon saying the convention will not bring democracy to Burma. The
leaflets strongly encourage opposition groups, including ethnic ones, not
to attend, calling those who do traitors.

According to the junta, 13 of Burma’s 17 ceasefire groups have promised to
attend the National Convention.

The six students received sentences ranging from seven to 17 years and
will serve their time at Insein Prison in Rangoon, said a university
student close to the prisoners.

The second year student at Dagon University, who was reached by telephone,
said that two of the six students were sentenced to 17 years, one was
sentenced to 12 years and the rest to seven years. Nandar Sit Aung and Zaw
Lin Tun received the longest terms, he said.

The military junta opened the National Convention in 1993, but it was
halted in March 1996 after the opposition National League for Democracy
party walked out because delegates were not allowed to freely express
their opinions during the proceedings.

In May 1992, one month after the junta announced the National Convention,
nine political activists, including some students, were arrested for
speaking out against the Convention. They received ten-year prison terms.
__________________________

Feb 22, Mizzima
KNU delegation headed to Maulmein for third round of talks with SPDC -
Sein Win

The Karen National Union announced that a twelve members delegation of KNU
left for Maulmein, capital of Mon State in southern Burma, for a third
round of peace talks with the SPDC today.

The KNU delegation is led by Joint General Secretary Saw Htoo Htoo Lay and
includes Chief of Foreign Affairs Saw David Taw and Commander, KNLA 5th
Brigade Brig-Gen Baw Kyaw Heh.

The KNU delegates will meet with their SPDC counterparts Brig-Gen Kyaw Win
and Colonel San Pwint of Office of the Chief of Military Intelligence.

Vice-chairman of KNU, Bo Mya, who led the delegation to the second round
of talks landed in Rangoon and both sides agreed verbally to a cease-fire.
The two sides abandoned their radical positions: Rangoon no longer insists
on “surrender first, talk later” and the KNU dropped its insistence on
holding peace negotiations only on foreign soil.

“The two sides will discuss the safe return and resettlement of Karen
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), the demarcation of territories, troop
positions and the release of all Karen political prisoners”, the KNU said.

Human rights activists and opposition members estimate that some 200,000
Karen are internally displaced, driven away by Rangoon's military
campaigns. More than 100 Karen political prisoners have been imprisoned in
Burma's jails for having fought the government, according to the
0Assistance Association for Political Prisoner-Burma.

The KNU, the strongest rebel group based in the Thai-Burma border area,
has been fighting the government for over five decades and demands ethnic
equality and the right to self-determination for the Karen people.

Rangoon invites all the ethic nationality cease-fire groups including the
KNU for taking part in its forthcoming National Convention on a seven-step
road map but the KNU has not yet decided on its position.
__________________________

Feb 23, Associated Press
Dissident guerrillas attack army post before cease-fire talks, says leader

Guerrillas belonging to Myanmar's largest ethnic rebel group disobeyed
orders and attacked a Myanmar army outpost hours before the two sides
began a new round of peace talks, a top guerrilla leader said Monday.

Bo Mya, vice chairman and elder statesman of the Karen National Union,
said Myanmar officials told him that KNU guerrillas killed three
government soldiers and wounded seven in the attack early Monday morning.

There was no way to independently confirm the attack, but Bo Mya told The
Associated Press it came despite orders he gave to his fighters to honor
an informal cease-fire the rebels reached with the government in December.

"I will order them again. If they do not obey again, I will punish them,"
he said.

Asked if the alleged attack would affect the talks, he said "maybe." There
was no word from the military junta in Yangon.

The Karen National Union, which has been fighting for independence for
more than five decades, sent senior members, including Bo Mya, on an
unprecedented visit to Yangon in January to work out a formal agreement
with Myanmar's military rulers.

The latest round of talks between the two sides began Monday in the
Myanmar border town of Moulmein.

Bo Mya said the KNU attack, in which an arsenal was set ablaze, reportedly
took place on an outpost in the town of Duyinseik, 130 kilometers (80
miles) northeast of Moulmein.

KNU and independent relief workers along the border have said that
government military operations against the rebels have also continued
despite the cease-fire.

The 11-member KNU delegation at the talks in Moulmein had intended to ask
the government to honor the agreement to halt military activities in
guerrilla-held areas.

In addition, the KNU delegation planned to discuss the demarcation of
territory and troop positions, the resettlement of ethnic Karen displaced
by fighting, and the release of Karen political prisoners, according to
KNU general-secretary Mahn Sha. He said the talks will last three or four
days.

The KNU is the only major guerrilla group in Myanmar that has not signed a
formal agreement with the junta to lay down arms. Myanmar's military
government took power in 1988 after crushing a pro-democracy uprising. It
has reached cease-fire agreements with 17 armed groups since 1989.
__________________________

Feb 23, Xinhua
Myanmar top leader reiterates adherence to "one China" policy

Myanmar top leader Senior General Than Shwe reiterated on Monday his
country's adherence to the "one China" policy, pledging to continuously
develop the traditional " paukphaw" (fraternal) friendship with China.

Than Shwe, Chairman of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council,
made the remarks here when meeting with Luo Haocai, visiting Vice-Chairman
of the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative
Conference and Vice-President of the Chinese Association for International
Understanding (CAIU).

Present at the meeting were Myanmar Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt and
other high-ranking government officials as well as Chinese Ambassador to
Myanmar Li Jinjun and key members of the CAIU delegation.

At the meeting, the two sides briefed each other on the domestic situation
of their respective countries, expressing their wishes to work for further
consolidation of the two countries' friendship, deepening of their
cooperative ties in all sectors and promoting the development of the
long-term, stable and friendly relations between the two countries.

Luo, who leads the CAIU delegation, arrived here last Saturday on a
five-day goodwill visit to Myanmar after he concluded his trip to
Thailand.
__________________________

Feb 23, Xinhua
Myanmar to invite foreign investment for archipelago tourist development

Myanmar has planned to develop an archipelago in its southern Tanintharyi
division into a major tourist destination by absorbing foreign investment
in the area.

The first annual Salone Festival held recently in Myeik archipelago where
Salone ethnic minorities inhabit has paved way for promoting tourism in
the area, the Hotels and Tourism Ministry was quoted as saying by the
Myanmar Times on Monday.

The forested and coral-fringed Myeik archipelago, made up of more than 800
pristine islands covering over 36,240 square-kilometers, teem with
wildlife and are almost totally devoid of tourism facilities.

To develop tourism in the area, especially to attract tourists from
neighboring Thailand, the border port of Kawthoung is being opened to
bring tourists to the area and a number of tour agencies have already been
set up there for operation, the report said.

Kawthoung so far has only two hotels though there is luxury resort on
small nearby island and hot springs in Kawthoung also have the potential
to be developed into a major tourist attraction, said the report.

According to official statistics, tourist arrivals in Myanmar reached
277,600 during the first seven months of the 2003-04 fiscal year which
began in April, increasing by 27.3 percent compared with the same period
of the previous year.

Statistics also show that contracted foreign investment in the sector of
hotels and tourism of Myanmar has amounted to 1.06 billion US dollars in
43 projects as of the end of 2002 since it started such investment in late
1988.
__________________________

Feb 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese villagers robbed by uniformed dacoits

A group of Burmese villagers who were forced to attend the Salon (Moken)
sea gypsy festival at Lampi Island, Mergui Archipelago, Kawthaung Township
in southern Burma were robbed by a group of uniformed dacoits in early 19
February.

Seven uniformed dacoits armed with standard Burma army weapons including
carbines, G3 and G4 assault rifles, believed to be Burmese soldiers opened
fire on the boat carrying seven passengers including four women and two
children and robbed them.

Increasing numbers of Burmese soldiers are resorting to piracy and dacoity
to feed their impoverished families while their commanders are getting
richer with bribery and other underhanded means.

Before the festival, sea gypsies were rounded up and detained on
designated islands by Burmese soldiers who forced them to perform for
tourists, and the local Burmese living along the Andaman Coast were told
by military authorities to attend the festival to bolster audience
numbers.

Recently, a boat carrying passengers sunk on 16 February drowning at least
five passengers who are mainly women and children. According to the
locals, the accident occurred because greedy boat owners carried more
passengers than the capacity of their boats.
__________________________

Feb 19, Democratic Voice of Burma
Buddhist-Muslim clashes continue in Arakan State

The clashes between Buddhist and Muslim students in Sittwe (Akyab)
University, Arakan State in western Burma which started on 18 February are
still continuing.

Because of the clashes, the university was temporarily shut down and a
full security clampdown was imposed by the army. The situation seemed to
improve within a day and the university was reopened on 19 February.

Nevertheless, on the morning of 19 February, three female Arakan students
on their way to the classes were stoned and wounded by some Muslim men and
the clashes continued.

The Burmese army is carefully watching the situation and soldiers have
been placed at all the wards throughout the town. The situation could
still get out of hand if the authorities are not dealing it delicately,
according to the locals.


ON THE BORDER
_____________________________________

Feb 20, Democratic Voice of Burma
Burmese workers killed in Thailand again

A six-wheel truck carrying over a hundred ‘illegal’ Burmese immigrants
overturned on 20 February in Kanchanaburi province, in western Thailand
killing at least six and injuring nearly a hundred who are also likely to
be deported to Burma despite the accident.

The truck, carrying 90 Burmese men, 13 women and one Thai immigration
official was on its way to the Three Pagodas border checkpoint to deport
the immigrants when the driver lost control of the vehicle on a sharp bend
killing three women on the spot. Three more died later at Sankhlaburi
Hospital, and 50 people were in seriously condition.

According to a Burmese human rights activist, the truck was quite old and
not fit to carry more than 100 people at a time and it was rolling more
than four times before it came to a stop.

Under the watchful eyes of Thai immigration officials and Burmese
intelligence personnel, injured victims told DVB from the hospital that
they are not only worried about their health condition, but also their
safety once they are in the hands of Burmese authorities. Those who were
not seriously injured had already been sent back to Three Pagoda Pass.

A similar accident occurred before at the same spot and 8 Burmese migrant
workers were killed. The victims and their family have no hope of
receiving compensations from the authorities concerned and they are likely
to face criminal charges, tortures and imprisonments in Burma for leaving
the country illegally.

Thai authorities also arrested and deported those who were working in
Thailand legally with work permit and political asylum seekers who were
under the protection UNHCR.


DRUGS
_____________________________________

Feb 23, Associated Press
Police says drug arrests expose new smuggling route

Thai police said Monday that recent arrests have exposed a new drug
smuggling network through neighboring Laos to avoid a crackdown along
Thailand's border with Myanmar.

Four Thais were arrested Sunday in Bangkok with 24 kilograms (52.8 pounds)
of heroin and 138,000 methamphetamine tablets brought in from Laos, said
national police chief Gen. Sant Sarutanond.

Their arrest led to the suspected leader of their gang, a 24-year-old
Laotian national, who was detained in the northeastern Thai province of
Nong Khai, which borders Laos, said Sant.

He said the five men confessed the drugs were smuggled through a new
trafficking route to avoid the Thai government's anti-drug campaign along
the border with Myanmar.

"The suspects were totally new faces," said Sant. "This is a new network
set up to avoid police after the mounting crackdown along the Thai-Myanmar
border."

Myanmar is the world's second biggest producer of heroin after Afghanistan
and also a major source of the stimulant methamphetamine.

Heroin has long made its way to Western markets through Thailand. In the
past few years Thailand also has seen a surge of methamphetamine abuse due
to huge quantities of the drug being smuggled from production bases in
eastern Myanmar.

Thai authorities have tried to stamp out the drug trade by catching street
dealers and kingpins of the trade inside Thailand and by intercepting
cross-border shipments.

Sant said traffickers have begun to shift their production from Myanmar to
Laos. All the Thai suspects were from northern Chiang Rai province, which
borders Myanmar.
__________________________

Feb 20, Agence France Presse
Opium production in Myanmar slashed by two-thirds since 1996: UN

Opium production in Myanmar has been slashed by two-thirds since 1996, but
booming trafficking in methamphetamines remains a major concern for the
region, the United Nations office here said Friday.

The UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) said ahead of the March 2 release
of an annual global drugs report that the ruling military junta had taken
further steps in the past year towards eradicating opium.

"The continued efforts of the government of Myanmar have had a profound
impact on narcotics eradication strategies in the country, where opium
cultivation has declined by almost two-thirds since 1996," the UNODC said,
citing the International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) report.

The INCB, an independent body which handles implementation of the UN drug
conventions, is to unveil its full findings in Vienna.

Myanmar is ranked as the world's second biggest producer of opium, after
being displaced from the number-one spot more than a year ago by
Afghanistan, where opium production surged after the hardline Taliban
regime were defeated.

A UNODC survey found that in 2002 Myanmar produced 820 tonnes of opium --
the raw material for heroin and morphine.

As strategies to wipe out Myanmar's narcotics crop bite, however, the INCB
cautioned that the soaring illicit trade in methamphetamines was posing a
threat to Myanmar and its neighbours.

"While there have been significant achievements in regional co-operation
regarding narcotics production and distribution, the use, manufacture and
trafficking of amphetamine-type stimulants remains an issue of major
concern throughout the Southeast Asian region," the UNODC cited the INCB
as saying.

Myanmar is a massive producer of methamphetamines, and millions of pills
flood every year into Thailand, the world's largest per-capita consumer of
the cheap stimulant.

Myanmar's state media reported Friday that the junta had arrested some
3,848 people including 731 women in 2,763 drug-related cases last year,
443 arrests fewer than in 2002.

The New Light of Myanmar also said authorities seized 568 kilos (1,249.6
pounds) of heroin, down 29 percent from the previous year, 1,481 kilos
(3,258.2 pounds) of opium and more than four million stimulant tablets.

The military and police force also exposed seven opium refineries in Shan
State, it said, adding that during the last growing season ending January
31, some 5,574 acres of poppy plants had been destroyed nationwide.


BUSINESS / MONEY
_____________________________________

Feb 23, Nation
Kan Agro signs deal with Burma

Kan Agro Industry Co, a processed food company based in Kanchanaburi, has
signed a preliminary agreement with a state-controlled firm in Burma to
operate contract farming for pineapple plantations and sweet corn on an
area covering 10,000 acres in Burma.

Singh Tangcharoenchaichana, the owner of Kan Agro Industry and also
chairman of the Federation of Industries in Kanchanaburi, signed the
agreement with a representative of Myan Naing Myint Co Ltd. He was
travelling with a Thai delegation visiting Rangoon between from Wednesday
to Friday last week to promote joint investments between the two
countries.

Under the agreement, Myan Naing Myint will produce pineapple and sweet
corn for Kan Agro, which will use the raw materials for its processed-food
operation. Kan Agro will enjoy free tariffs from Burma for its import of
the raw materials.

Pinij Charusombat, the industry minister, said Burma was ready to work
with Thailand to create a special economic zone on the Thai-Burma border,
which will be studied and laid out under tax-privilege guidelines by the
Thai Board of Investment.

His delegation was welcomed by General Khin Nyunt, the prime minister, who
held talks with the Thai side for more than one hour.

Pinij said the special economic zone might be located at the Thai-Burmese
border at Mae Sot district, Tak province, or at the border at Three Pagoda
Checkpoints in Kanchanaburi province.

"Burma said they would be providing special tax and other privileges for
investment in the special economic zones, which are better than the
packages they are offering in other parts of the country," Pinij said.

The Thai Board of Investment has been assigned to conduct a feasibility
study of the special economic zones located at the borders between
Thailand and Burma. It will come up with recommendations on tax benefits
and other promotional privileges before proposing to Burma further joint
approval with the Thai government.

"It is a clear policy of the Thaksin government to promote Thai investment
in neighbouring countries. The investments should be characterised as 
win-win for all parties. Investment from Thai companies in Burma will have
to be conducted at the government-to-government level. Burma has promised
to look after the interests of Thai investments through its Myanmar
Investment Commission," the industry minister added.

The Board of Investment, the Federation of Thai Industries and the Thai
Embassy in Rangoon will screen the Thai companies before any of them are
allowed to invest in Burma.

Dr Suchai Yonganukool, president of Krung Siam St Carlos Medical Centre,
said his company was interested in investing in a medical centre in Burma.
 "We may start by selling pharmaceutical products there first before
launching any investment because of the risk. We still have to be careful
because we have learned our lesson from investing in Vietnam," he said.

Supachai Banchasuek, managing director of Future Pack, which operates
plastic packaging for electronic components, said Thai businessmen should
look for opportunities to invest in Burma because competition remains low.

According to the Economist Intelligence Unit, Burma in 2002 was suffering
from hyper-inflation of 57.1 per cent a year, compared to 21 per cent in
2001. Its growth rate last year stood at 5.2 per cent. Its currency, the
kyat, weakened from 620 to the US dollar in 2001 to 970 in 2002.

Due to the international economic sanctions, Burma has been living largely
in isolation from the international economic community, causing problems
to its economy because fresh investment is not going into the country.
Foreign tourists are also boycotting the country in greater numbers.

Pinij said Burma was really interested in working with Thailand in
promoting trade and investment. "They would like us to invest in
consumer-products industries, which are necessary to improve the quality
of life," he said. "Other potential industries include agriculture,
electrical appliances, air-conditioners and car bodies."

During the visit, the Board of investment signed a memorandum of
understanding with the Myanmar Investment Commission on joint investment
promotion.

Watcharaphong Thongrung
__________________________

Feb 21, Xinhua
Myanmar exports increase slightly, imports fall sharply in 2003

Myanmar's exports amounted to 2.5 billion US dollars in 2003, up 2 percent
from 2002, while its imports stood at 1.8 billion, down sharply by 14.2
percent, the local Business Tank reported in its latest issue.

The huge downfall of imports was a result of the government's strategy of
"sell more, buy less" and "export more, import less" which aimed to
encourage its people to use home-made goods, limit import of high-value
consumer goods and substitute imported goods with domestic products as
much as possible.

According to the report, Thailand was Myanmar's top export partner during
2003 with 1.09 billion dollars, followed by India ( 325 million), the
United States (201 million), Singapore (108 million) and Japan (107
million).

Meanwhile, Singapore represented the country's largest import partner with
612 million dollars, followed by China (262 million), Japan (210 million),
Malaysia (164 million), South Korea (120 million) and Thailand (111
million).

Of Myanmar's foreign normal trade, that with four member countries of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) during 2003 accounted for
2.23 billion dollars or 51 percent.

Myanmar's private sector normally takes up about 75 percent of the total
import value and about 55 percent of the total export's.

Myanmar's export goods are known as agricultural, timber and marine
products, while its import commodities include industrial and construction
materials, fertilizer, cement, textile and electronic and pharmaceutical
products.


REGIONAL
_____________________________________

Feb 22, Nation
PM says Suu Kyi to be freed by October

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra predicted yesterday that Burma's
military junta would release opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi before
October.

Despite no announcement from Rangoon on the release, the junta has sent
many positive signs to presage her freedom, he said.

"With close relations with Burma, I would guess that they are doing that,"
he said and noted Burma would send representatives to attend the second
round of an international forum on Burma now dubbed the "Bangkok Process".

Bangkok will call the second meeting of the Bangkok Process with
"like-minded" countries to help the junta seek solutions to break the
political deadlock after the arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi last May.

"Burma is on the right track . . . If they follow our recommendations,
they will be okay and get everything done," he said.

Thaksin did not elaborate on why he had set October as the time, but his
spokesman Jakrapob Penkair said that month would see a meeting of the Asia
Europe Meeting (Asem), of which Burma is not a member.
__________________________

Feb 23, The Hindu
Myanmar begins to flush out terrorists

Myanmar has launched a Bhutan-like military operation to flush out
anti-India insurgent groups based in that country, a senior leader from
the North-East said today.

"It is already on," said former Lok Sabha Speaker P A Sangma after a
30-minute meeting with Deputy Prime Minister L K Advani here to discuss
the North-East peace process and the issue of seat sharing in the coming
Lok Sabha polls.

He declined to give further details or name any of the insurgent groups.

Sangma, who himself is trying to resume contact with ANVC, a Garo militant
group, said the strategy was to take neighbouring countries into
confidence and making the militant outfits realise that they have to come
to the negotiating table.

"This is helping us very much", he said.


OPINION / OTHER
_____________________________________

Mar. 01, 2004 issue, Time Asia
Guerrillas in the Mist – Andrew Marshall
Burma's ethnic Shan dream of having their own homeland. But first they must
survive the junta's attempts to wipe them out

The dense mist swirls, then parts, revealing one man, then 10, then an
entire platoon of guerrilla soldiers, all armed and battle-hardened. Their
tattered fatigues are muddy and cover tattoos they believe will ward off
cold and deflect enemy bullets. This apparition is part of the Shan State
Army (S.S.A.), one of a handful of rebel outfits still fighting the
Burmese government. The S.S.A.'s goal—an independent homeland for the
Shan, Burma's second largest ethnic group—is all but impossible to
achieve. But this is
still rebel country, with steep, jungle-clad mountains and plunging
ravines, where for years the S.S.A. has used hit-and-run tactics to
deter—but never defeat—the ill equipped and dispirited Burmese army.

The S.S.A. possesses between 500 and 2,000 troops—no one knows for sure. 
Ask a rebel spokesman how many, and he tersely replies, "Enough." Many of
the S.S.A.'s fighters were previously loyal to former opium warlord Khun
Sa, who surrendered to Rangoon in 1996. Today they answer to plainspoken
commander colonel Yawdserk, himself a former Khun Sa man, who vehemently
denies any current S.S.A. involvement in the drugs trade. On these remote
hills, poppies are still grown and opium is still traded, along with
millions of methamphetamine pills called yaba, or crazy medicine.

The penalty for an S.S.A. soldier caught dealing is execution, and a
senior rebel source claims credibly that the S.S.A. now collaborates with
Thai border authorities on some drug busts.

More than 3,000 wretched civilians live near the five S.S.A. camps along
the Thailand-Burma border. One-tenth of them are orphans. Many others are
dazed and traumatized, or missing limbs from land mines. These are all
victims of a slow-motion genocide. To cut off popular support for the
rebels, the Burmese army drove hundreds of thousands of Shan, Lahu, Pa-O
and Akha villagers from their homes across Shan state in an orgy of
looting, burning, torture and massacres. Human-rights monitors have
documented the rape by Burmese soldiers of hundreds of women and girls,
some as young as five years old. Thousands of families fester in military
concentration camps, and depopulated areas are designated "free-fire
zones," where rampaging Burmese troops shoot anything that moves,
including famished villagers returning to salvage what's left of their
crops.

The Shan have an uneasy relationship with their ethnic cousins, the Thais.
(Siam, the old name for Thailand, is a corruption of "Shan.") Unlike other
ethnic groups fleeing persecution in Burma, the Shan who cross into
Thailand are not granted refugee status, and easily fall prey to disease
and human traffickers. To appease Burma's generals—who would like nothing
more than a rebel-free Shan state—Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra
ordered his army to expel the S.S.A. from the group's headquarters, which
straddles the border. But that hasn't happened yet and, despite public
pronouncements to the contrary, probably won't. Operating deep inside
Burma, the S.S.A. shares vital intelligence on the movements of Burmese
troops and drug smugglers alike—the latter still Thailand's true foes.

With another insurgent group, the Karen National Union, now in historic
cease-fire talks with Rangoon, pressure on the S.S.A. to sit round the
negotiating table with its sworn enemies will only increase. For now,
however, it lurks in the mountain mist, a ghostly army for a haunted
people.
____________________________

Feb 20, IFI – Burma
Action Plans to Turn Mekong's East-West Road into "Economic Corridor"

Compiler's note:

The East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) is one of the "Flagship
Initiatives" of the Greater Mekong Subregion economic cooperation program,
and is being strongly promoted by the Asian Development Bank.  According
to the ADB's plans, the EWEC will link Mawlamyine/Moulmein in Burma to Da
Nang in Viet Nam by a 1,500 km all-weather road.  Deep-sea ports also will
be built at both Da Nang and Moulmein.

**********

Action Plans to Turn Mekong's East-West Road into "Economic Corridor"
ADB media release

www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2004/4409_Greater_Mekong_Subregion_economic_opportunities_for_east-west_corridor/

Lao PDR, Myanmar, Thailand and Viet Nam outlined action plans to realize
economic opportunities from the East-West Economic Corridor, focusing on
developing special economic zones, promoting tourism, and implementing
single-stop customs inspection and common use of an airport at the Lao
PDR/Thai border.

A workshop held this week at Savannakhet, on the Lao border with Thailand,
noted progress made in various parts of the East-West Corridor, identified
areas needing closer attention and acceleration of activities, and
prepared a set of actions to realize economic benefits.

The East-West Corridor, when completed in a few years, will link the
Indian Ocean to the South China Sea by a 1,500-kilometer all-weather road
running through four countries.

It is one of the key components promoted under the Greater Mekong
Subregion (GMS) cooperation program of the six countries sharing the
Mekong River, including Cambodia and Yunnan Province in the People's
Republic of China. The Program has been assisted by ADB since its
inception in 1992.

The workshop was hosted by the Lao Government with support from ADB, Japan
Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), Japan International Cooperation
Agency and Japan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

"The important challenge for all of us is to make sure that the East-West
Corridor will truly become a full-fledged economic corridor, where the
economic and social benefits to be derived from the improved
infrastructure is maximized and equitably shared by the four Corridor
countries," said Kazu Sakai, Deputy Director General of ADB's Mekong
Department.

The workshop noted progress to establish special economic zones at border
crossing points. The workshop called for increased coordination among
neighbor countries to make economic zones mutually complementary and
attractive to investors.

To promote the Corridor as a tourist destination, the workshop agreed to
accelerate joint promotion of tourism, product development and discussion
on measures to ease cross-border traveling.

Workshop participants also agreed to accelerate the pilot testing of
single-stop customs inspection to reduce transaction costs and smoothen
the flow of goods and people, beginning with the Lao Bao-Dansavanh,
crossing between Viet Nam and Lao PDR.

The workshop discussed a proposal to share Savannakhet airport in Lao PDR
with Thailand, and noted its potential significant benefits, given the
expected completion of the second international bridge over the Mekong
River by end 2006. The construction of the bridge between Savannakhet and
Mukdahan on the Thai border is being financed by JBIC.

The workshop highlighted the crucial role of the private sector in
developing the corridor. Representatives from development partners and the
private sector attended the meeting.

Improvements of the road sections in Lao PDR and Viet Nam are close to
completion.  Construction of the Hai Van tunnel linking Hue and Da Nang,
and the upgrading of Da Nang port are under progress.  Combined with roads
of other corridors now under implementation or at an advanced stage of
preparation, the East-West Economic Corridor is expected to bring about
major economic and social changes to the GMS.

Eventually, the Corridor will be an important link between South Asia and
mainland South-East Asia.
____________________________

REVIEW

Feb 22, Nation
Mandalay unchanged
Back to Mandalay: An inside view of Burma - by Gerry Abbott

Published by Orchid Press, Reviewed by Michael Smithies

The story of an English teacher who goes to Burma and launches into
dubious expatriate life

Old-timers may recall that Gerry Abbott in 1960 was busy teaching English
at a teacher training college in Thonburi. He then moved on for a British
Council stint in Jordan and subsequently took up an appointment with
Manchester University. Secondments took him to Uganda, Yemen, Sarawak,
Pakistan, Cameroon and Burma, this last in time to participate in some
degree in the events of 1988 as seen from the perspective of Mandalay. He
retired from English teaching in 1992 to concentrate on writing about
Burma.

This book follows the path, perhaps unconsciously, set by Dennis Insight’s
“Memoirs of a Mendicant Professor” or Harold Forster’s “Flowering Lotus”,
set in 1950s Java that of the expatriate teacher of English plonked down
in some outlandish spot and supported (in theory at least) by the British
Council and/or the British Embassy.

So we have a series of vignettes of expatriate life in the Burmese
outback, where housing problems and administrative concerns inevitably
figure large. These are varied and enlivened by asides concerning the
history and culture as witnessed in daily life and the monuments so
generously scattered around the environs by previous dynasties. Readers
may not gain an overall perspective on Burma’s past and present that is
not the intention, and can be found in Abbott’s “Inroads in to Burma”
(1997) and Traveller’s History of Burma, (1998), but obtain instead little
snapshots of daily life in what were sometimes (often erroneously) known
as “hardship posts.”

Not much seems to have been changed for this second edition. The “Dear
Reader” section is dated 1990 and the most recent book in the bibliography
appeared in 1991. There is a brief postscript also dated 1991, bringing
political events up to that year but not beyond, and linking the Burmese
massacres of 1988 to those in Tienanmen Square. Ne Win has departed, but
we are brought no further into time present, perhaps deliberately, since
nothing seems to be resolved on that front.

On the professional side, one wonders how much could really be
accomplished in any of these “hardship posts.” Local administrations
cherished their prerogatives and saw little need to change. The standards
were often abysmal; even the Burmese apparently called the BA (English)
the ABC (English) degree, and the BSc in mathematics the 123 (Maths), with
it was said a gold medal going to anyone who failed the compulsory English
exam for all students. But having an overseas lecturer constituted a foot
was in the door, which by some mysterious process meant that influence, of
some kind, was somehow, eventually, and hopefully, obtained.

Reading the book, memories of past trips to Burma flood back. Abbott found
the venerable Strand Hotel rooms lacking every facility; in the mid-1970s
this reviewer found the same, with the addition of rats scuttling across
the dining room floor (things have since been totally overhauled).

There was always the hazard of flying the local airline, and when one
arrived (phew!), came the hassle of obtaining a pre-booked room (again
this reviewer remembers having to sleep, rather uncomfortably, on the
billiard table at the then only hotel in Pagan for want of anything
better).

This is an easy read, with much emphasis on the good things in life like
food and drink, an occasional lapse into near-ribaldry, and enlivened by
some stunning photographs. A glossary of Burmese terms used would have
been useful, though: what does “they shikoed” mean.

Michael Smithies, a former honorary editor of the Journal of the Siam
Society, is a well-known scholar on Southeast Asia, with numerous
publications to his credits.
____________________________

ANNOUNCEMENT

Feb 23, Radio Free Asia
JOURNALIST (International Broadcaster)

International radio service(Radio Free Asia) seeks journalist with
background and experience in East and South East Asia.  Candidates must
speak and write Burmese fluently.

MINIMUM QUALIFICATIONS

Bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.  Degree in
journalism or related field preferred. One year broadcast experience
and/or specialized journalism.

All candidates must be eligible to work in the United States and provide
proof of eligibility.

Working knowledge of English required.  Position available immediately in
Washington, DC.  All qualified applicants will receive consideration for
employment without regard to race, creed, color, sex or national origin.

Send cover letter and resume to: P. O. Box 57023, Washington, DC 20036 or
fax to 202-530-7797.

Position closes 8 March, 2004.  All applications must be received by 12:00
noon EST on that day.

RFA is an equal opportunity employer committed to workforce diversity.