BurmaNet News, June 22, 2004

[Editor]

June 22, 2004, Issue # 2501

INSIDE BURMA
BBC Monitor: Burmese government restricts National Convention delegates'
outings
JEN: Myanmar to draft action plan on child rights
S.H.A.N: Army makes people pay for rebel attack

DRUGS
Xinhua: Area under opium poppy down 43 percent in five years in Golden
Triangle

BUSINESS / MONEY
Xinhua: Myanmar, Bangladesh to hold talks on trade promotion
Xinhua: Myanmar, Thailand to establish contract farming areas

REGIONAL
Mizzima: Manipur urges to consider border fencing
Irrawaddy: Two Burmese arrested for murder

INTERNATIONAL
Xinhua: European Commission president calls for democracy in Myanmar
AFP: WWF says dams pose threat to China's Yangtze river
Guardian: Arms exporters ignoring promises about poverty

OPINION / OTHER
IHT: Sanctions may be satisfying, but they do no good

ANNOUNCEMENT
Burma Campaign UK: Get Sergio Tacchini out of Burma!


INSIDE BURMA
______________________________________

June 22, BBC Monitor
BBC Monitor: Burmese government restricts National Convention delegates'
outings

Source: Democratic Voice of Burma web site, Oslo, in Burmese 1430 gmt 21
Jun 04

It has been learned that criticism has been increasing among delegates of
the authorities' intensified control of the Nyaunghnapin convention, which
is being held in Hmawbi Township.

All delegates were allowed to leave the convention venue for downtown
Rangoon in the previous weekends. However, an unidentified cease-fire
leader told the DVB (Democratic Voice of Burma) that only 10 important
delegates were allowed to leave the venue and all the rest were forcefully
taken on buses to pagodas this weekend. The important delegates, who were
permitted to leave the venue, were asked to promise not to reveal what the
situation was inside the convention to the media.

The unidentified cease-fire leader also said that the SPDC (State Peace
and Development Council) is worried mainly about a dispute over a power
sharing proposal between central government and state and division
governments presented by cease-fire groups.

______________________________________

June 22, Japan Economic Newswire
Myanmar to draft action plan on child rights

Myanmar will soon draft a national plan of action on child rights in
response to suggestions by the U.N. Committee on Rights of the Child,
according to a semiofficial weekly.

Myanmar's Committee on Rights of the Child has yet to discuss its
priorities but said it will draft a national plan of action in line with a
U.N. agenda which focuses on education, combating HIV/AIDS and protecting
children from abuse and exploitation, Myanmar Times said.

The U.N. committee earlier this month suggested Myanmar should strengthen
efforts to integrate the principles of the U.N. Convention on the Rights
of the Child into its laws and practices.

The committee said it is 'deeply concerned that economic exploitation is
extremely widespread in Myanmar and that children may be working long
hours.'

However, the Myanmar committee believes it should allow children to work.
'We cannot say children shouldn't work because they are helping their
family,' an unnamed committee member was quoted by the weekly as saying.

On corporal punishment, the U.N. committee recommended the Myanmar
government eradicate the practice through legislation and by encouraging
parents to change.

But Khin Aye Win, general secretary of the Myanmar child rights committee,
reportedly said it is 'a real controversial issue in Myanmar' because the
practice, used as a form of discipline, has been entrenched in family
tradition.

On another contentious issue of criminal liability age, the U.N. report
urged the Myanmar government to raise the age to an 'internationally
acceptable' level. In Myanmar, the age is set at 7.

Myanmar became a signatory to the UNCRC in 1991 and enacted a law
prohibiting child labor in 1993.

______________________________________

June 22, Shan Herald Agency for News
Army makes people pay for rebel attack

Following recent attacks by the Shan State Army of Col Yawdserk, that had
left one killed and one living quarters damaged, the Burma Army in
southern Shan State's Kengtawng hydelpower project area has ordered locals
to build fences and trenches, reports S.H.A.N. correspondent King Cobra
from the border:

All able-bodied males in Kengtawng sub-district, 100 miles east of
Taunggyi, were ordered by Military Operations Command 17 on 18 June to
construct strong walls made of available materials in the countryside and
dig trenches 3 cubits deep and 2 cubits wide around the 1-mile perimeter
of each of the five Burma Army bases. "Villagers were told to leave all
their day-to-day family responsibilities with their wives," a trader told
S.H.A.N.. (One cubit is 18 inches.)

The order was the result of two attacks on Monday, 14 June, on two light
infantry battalion posts by the SSA's 579th Brigade, commanded by Maj
Khamleng. LIB 574 had suffered one living quarters wrecked and LIB 569 one
sergeant dead.

Two days later, Mongpan-based Military Operations Command #17 chief Brig
Gen Nyunt Hlaing held a meeting with his commanders, according to other
sources.

"Believe me, there will be more refugees coming, whether the Thais want
them or not," commented the trader.

A hydropower plant to supply electricity to the whole southern Shan State
by 2006 has been under construction by Rangoon in Kengtawng.


DRUGS
______________________________________

June 22, Xinhua
Area under opium poppy down 43 percent in five years in Golden Triangle

The area under opium poppy plants in the Golden Triangle of Myanmar,
Thailand and Laos was reduced to 73,300 ha by 2003 from 130,000 ha in
1998, China's drug enforcement agency said Tuesday.

A leading official with the Narcotics Control Administration of the
Ministry of Public Security attributed the progress to closer
international cooperation, with China playing an active role.

The Golden Triangle has been a major source of illegal narcotics on the
world market, and it has been targeted by China, the United States and
those southeast Asian countries in their fight against drug trafficking.

The official said China has enhanced information exchange, cooperation in
police training and law enforcement with neighboring countries with
significant breakthroughs in the war on drug makers and dealers.

China also conducted anti-drug cooperation with the Republic of Korea,
Japan and the Netherlands, Afghanistan, and member countries of the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization, Canada, France, and Australia in recent
years.

China has been targeted by drug dealers as a transit and a market for
banned drugs in the past decade.

The ministry said Monday there were about 740,000 users of banned drugs in
China by the end of 2003, and the country's registered number of drug
addicts totaled 1.05 million, including those that had gone clean. China
has a total of 643,000 heroin users on the record during the past several
decades.


BUSINESS / MONEY
______________________________________

June 22, Xinhua News Service
Myanmar, Bangladesh to hold talks on trade promotion

Myanmar and Bangladesh are due to hold the first meeting of their Joint
Trade Commission (JTC) here in July to seek promotion of bilateral trade,
a local news journal reported Tuesday.

The two countries established the JTC during a visit to Yangon by
Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia in March last year.

The JTC will discuss the two countries' normal and border trade, holding
of trade fairs in each other's country, technical cooperation and exchange
of trade delegations and commerce-related information, the 7Day journal
quoted the Ministry of Commerce as saying.

Although Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed on account trade arrangement,
it is yet to be implemented and revised biannually, said the report.

Along with the two memorandums of understanding (MoUs) on the
establishment of the JTC and the account trade introduction, the two
countries also agreed on coastal and maritime shipping last year.

Meanwhile, a visit to Dhaka by Myanmar Prime Minister Khin Nyunt in last
April has produced another MoU on the establishment of a direct road link
to facilitate trade ties between the two countries along with two other
MoUs on cooperation in agriculture and mutual visa exemption for holders
of diplomatic and official passports.

According to official figures, Myanmar-Bangladesh trade volume has
amounted to over 100 million US dollars annually in the past few years
with Myanmar's exports registering at about 17 million dollars. Bangladesh
has so far injected 2 million dollars of investment into Myanmar.

______________________________________

June 22, Xinhua News Service
Myanmar, Thailand to establish contract farming areas

Myanmar and Thailand are coordinating the work of establishing contract
farming areas in Myanmar, the local Myanmar Times reported in this week's
issue.

Feasibility studies are being conducted on developing the Myanmar land by
Thailand as well as the private sector under contract, the Ministry of
Agriculture and Irrigation was quoted as disclosing.

According to the report, Thai agro-based industries will supply
agricultural seeds, technology and equipment for the areas, while the
Myanmar side will provide farmers to cultivate crops.

The contract farming areas are in addition to three industrial zones
covered by an economic cooperation strategy (ECS) agreed upon at a summit
of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Thailand last November,

The three Thai-involved Myanmar industrial zone projects are due to start
sooner this year. They are Myawaddy and Hpa-an in southeastern Kayin state
and  Mawlamyine in southern Mon state opposite to Thailand.

Taking at least two years to complete, the three industrial zone projects
will be implemented in cooperation with the Industrial Estate Authority of
Thailand and the products will be supplied to the Chinese and Indian
markets.

More economic development zones are also planned in Myanmar's Tachilek,
Kengtung, Dawei, Myeik and Kawthoung under the four-country ECS program
which provides for cooperation in five strategic areas covering
agriculture, industry, trade and investment, transport, tourism and human
resources development.

The ECS program is aimed at fully harnessing the huge economic potential
of the four countries to enhance spontaneous and sustainable economic
development by transferring their border areas into zones of durable peace
and stability as well as economic growth.


REGIONAL
______________________________________

June 22, Mizzima News
Manipur Urges to Consider Border Fencing - Surajit Khaund

Governor of northeast India's state of Manipur, Arvind Dave, has urged the
Union Defence Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, to consider proper fencing along
the Manipur-Burma border. The porous international border between the two
sides, extending over 398 km, is a volatile area due to the ease of entry
and escape for armed militants.

It is also known as a safe haven for illegal drug traffickers. The
proposal for fencing the international border was raised by the Manipur
Government during a meeting with Mukherjee in New Delhi on late Wednesday.
The meeting was also attended by Special Resident Commissioner of Manipur
Bhavan, New Delhi C R Chibber, according to reports.

The governor also briefed the new Union Defence Minister on problems faced
by inhabitants of Manipur in matters of security and development. It was
conveyed by sources that, as a result of the absence of a conducive
security environment, most of development projects have been unable to
take off and the benefits of investment has not filtered down to the
people. To ensure development in Manipur it would be essential that
security-related issues are addressed on a priority basis.

With regards to development issues, the Governor highlighted the
importance of restructuring and reinforcing the North Eastern Council
(NEC) which was originally conceived as a regional development body.

The Defence Minister, responding to the appraisal reportedly "agreed with
the recommendations" and indicated that this would be considered at the
appropriate level.

Mukherjee, who visited the border town of Moreh in his capacity as a
leader of the Parliamentary Committee when in opposition a few years
earlier, agreed to the recommendations of taking up a fencing programme
along the border. Chief Minister Okram Ibobi, during the BJP government,
had repeatedly urged the centre to properly fence the India-Burma border
as has been done along Indo-Pak and India-Bangladesh borders.

______________________________________

June 22, Mizzima News
India-Burma Talks on Rebels - Surajit Khaund

A fourteen-member Burmese delegation led by Lt Gen Ye Myint visited
India's Three Corps based in Nagaland, northeast India, yesterday. The
visit is significant as it comes at a time when Indian Government is
pursuing the Burmese Government to flush out anti-Indian insurgents taking
shelter in Burma's areas bordering India.

Highly-placed sources connected with the Three Corps told this
correspondent that this was a routine visit from the Burmese Army to chalk
out a future strategy to contain the activities of the insurgents. "From
last year onwards we are working together in containing the activities of
the underground elements," the sources said.

Though the Indian army has refused to divulge more information regarding
the visit for security reasons, it is learnt that Burmese Lt Gen Ye Myint
held a series of closed door discussions with Indian senior army officers
of the Three Corps about the stepped up activities of the ultras.

The Burmese army delegation had come Tamu close to the Indian border and
were air lifted to Rangapara with high security. Myint, Vice Chief of the
Burmese Army, held discussions with senior officials of the Indian Home
Ministry.

After the New Congress-led Government assumed charge in India, the Burmese
government indicated its desire to keep Indo-Burmese relations intact. The
new Indian Government has softened it's stand in order to increase the
volume of trade.

The sources further said that the marathon discussion between the Indian
and Burmese counterparts, which lasted about three hours, covered various
issues including insurgency, drug trafficking and border fencing. "We have
decided to share our intelligence reports while launching operations along
the international border. This is as well as both the countries having
agreed to gear up patrolling along the international border," the sources
added.

Meanwhile, during the visit of Burmese army, suspected members of the
Manipur People's Liberation Front (MPLF) have attacked an Indian Army post
located at Sajaktampak last evening. About 20 members of the militant
group attacked the post. Army personnel also retaliated.

No one was injured during the attack. The defence press release from
Manipur stated that army personnel had destroyed several of the
insurgent's camps in the area. The firing, which continued for up to six
hours, forced villagers to flee from the area.

______________________________________

June 22, Irrawaddy
Two Burmese arrested for murder

Thai police arrested a Burmese couple yesterday suspected of killing six
Burmese Muslims in Tak Province last Friday night, said a Phop Phra
District police officer today.

Ali, 27, and his 50-year-old wife, Karli, were apprehended while trying to
cross the border into Burma on Monday for their suspected involvement in
the incident. Police are searching for two other suspects.

On Friday night, the assailants, armed with automatic weapons, entered a
house in Baan Ruam Thai Pattana village in Phop Phra before opening fire.
The attack killed six and injured two—Maung Maung, 50, and a man also
named Ali, 20, who are receiving treatment in a local hospital.

The attackers are suspected drug traffickers operating near the border in
Thailand, police said at the weekend. The victims, originally from Kaw Ka
Reik Township in Burma’s Karen State, settled in Baan Ruam Thai Pattana to
distribute methamphetamine tablets to Burmese migrants working on Thai
farms, police added. Earlier news reports said the victims served as
police informants.

A brother of one of the victims said the attackers had sent the drugs for
sale in Thailand. When his brother couldn’t pay back the money, he said,
the attackers killed the entire family.

Thai authorities say the use of a pickup truck and assault weapons
indicates that a Thai boss may have ordered the killings.

In January six Burmese migrant laborers were murdered on a rubber
plantation in southern Thailand. In May six Burmese construction workers
were killed.

More than one million illegal workers live in Thailand, the majority of
them from Burma.


INTERNATIONAL
______________________________________

June 22, Xinhua News Service
European Commission president calls for democracy in Myanmar

European Commission President Romano Prodi reiterated the European Union's
call for democracy in Myanmar on Tuesday in explaining its recent
cancellations of meetings with its Asian partners.

"On the European Union side, there is a principle that we work for the
respect of democracy, human rights, minorities, and this is the criteria
that we use for our relations with all other people," Prodi said in a
joint press conference following a summit with Japanese Prime Minister
Junichiro Koizumi.

"I think that now we must make pressure in order to get progress in this
direction," he said. "Clearly, we cannot give up our principle because we
live on principles."

But Prodi also clarified that a definite decision has not yet been made
and that he hopes to continue regular Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) forum
sessions.

Prodi, Koizumi and Irish Prime Minister Bertie Ahern, who currently holds
the rotating EU presidency, attended the press conference.

In a foreign ministerial meeting earlier this month, the European Union
canceled two ASEM sessions --one of finance ministers that had been
scheduled for July 6 in Brussels and one of economic ministers in
mid-September in The Hague --over Myanmar.

The two sides have been discussing enlarging the ASEM membership at its
next summit in October in Hanoi, but the European Union has refused to
admit Myanmar on the grounds that the country has been slow to promote
democratization and improve its human rights record.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations wants a simultaneous
admission of its newer members --Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar --in ASEM in
return for the participation of the European Union's 10 new members
--Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta,
Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

ASEM consists of 10 Asian countries --Brunei, China, Indonesia, Japan,
Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam
--and 15 EU member countries.

______________________________________

June 22, Agence France Presse
WWF says dams pose threat to China's Yangtze river

China's longest river, the Yangtze, has become the world's most endangered
river because of heavy damming, with native species including a rare breed
of dolphin headed for extinction, global environmental pressure group WWF
said on Tuesday.

WWF warned in report that the wildlife of the Yangtze river, which rises
in the Tibetan highlands and flows 5,550 kilometres (3,450 miles) across
the country into the East China Sea, was under serious threat.

The Yangtze basin is the site of the Three Gorges Dam, the world's
largest, which has forced nearly a million people from their homes and WWF
said 46 more dams were planned in the region.

"Many species are under threat," WWF said. "The Chinese aligator, the most
threatened crocodile species in the world, the finless porpoise, the only
freshwater-adapted porpoise in the world, and the Yangtze River dolphin,
the most threatened cetacean in the world with only a few tens of
individuals remaining."

According to WWF, 60 percent of the planet's 227 largest rivers are
disrupted by dams, which are held responsible for wiping out local animal
species and displacing tens of millions of people.

Worldwide, a further 1,500 dams are either planned or already under
construction, WWF said.

WWF acknowledged that damming has had positive repercussions in many
countries, improving irrigation in agriculture, reducing the risk of
flooding and providing electricity to millions.

But it argued that those benefits were often outweighed by the
environmental and social cost of such ambitious projects.

"For example, much of the water provided by dams is lost, mainly due to
inefficient agriculture irrigation systems, which globally waste up to
1,500,000 billion litres of water annually," the report said.

Latin America's Rio de la Plata, which winds through Argentina, Brazil,
Bolivia, Uruguay and Paraguay, is the second most threatened river
worldwide, with 27 dam projects under way, it said.

The Tigris and Euphrates rivers, which originate in Turkey and wind more
than 2,000 kilometres across the Middle East to join in Iraq, are also
targeted by 26 dam projects.

Other watercourses endangered by damming include the Salween, which rises
in western China before flowing through Thailand and Myanmar, as well as
the Kizil Irmak in Turkey.

WWF also warned of the effects of damming on the mythical Ganges, whose
waters run through China, Nepal, India and Bangladesh.

______________________________________

June 22, The Guardian
Arms exporters ‘ignoring promises about poverty' - Richard Norton-Taylor

Arms-exporting governments are reneging on their promises by failing to
take into account the impact that the trade has on poverty, Oxfam says in
a report published today.

Sales are diverting resources from areas such as health and education.

The report, Guns or Growth, says six developing countries - Oman, Syria,
Burma, Pakistan, Eritrea and Burundi - spend more on arms than they do on
health and education combined.

It says governments that sell arms can assess the impact it will have on
poverty, and that they should agree an international treaty to control the
trade and safeguard sustainable development and human rights.

"Government failure to stick to their own promises on arms exports means
that children are denied an education, Aids sufferers are not getting
treatment and thousands are dying needlessly," the director of Oxfam Great
Britain, Barbara Stocking, said.

The report says:

* In 2002 weapons delivered to Asia, the Middle East, Latin America and
Africa constituted more than two-thirds of the value of all arms
deliveries worldwide;

* An average of £12bn a year is spent on arms by countries in Asia, the
Middle East, Latin America and Africa: enough to to put every child in
school and to reduce child mortality by two-thirds by 2015;

* In 2002, 90% of all arms deliveries to Asia, the Middle East, Latin
America and Africa came from the five permanent members of the UN security
council;

* In sub-Saharan Africa military expenditure rose by 47% in the late 1990s
and life expectancy has fallen to 46 years;

* The world spends about £30bn on aid and £490bn on defence;

* In 2001 Tanzania spent £22m on a British military Watchman radar system:
enough to provide healthcare for 3.5 million people;

* Corrupt practices are common. The industry comes second in the "bribe
payers index" of Transparency International.

Seventeen countries in the survey have signed agreements committing them
to assess the impact that their arms exports have on sustainable
development.

But only the British and Dutch governments consult their departments for
international development when making decisions on arms exports.


OPINION / OTHER
______________________________________

June 21, International Herald Tribune
Sanctions may be satisfying, but they do no good - David I. Steinberg

How to influence Myanmar

Washington: When the military leaders of Myanmar, formerly Burma, convened
a constitutional convention last month without the country's main
opposition party, they lost an opportunity for progress. Although the
ruling junta called the convention the first step on a "road to
democracy," their refusal to release democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi led
her party to boycott the convention.

Yet President George W. Bush also lost a chance to influence developments
in Myanmar when he extended political and economic sanctions against the
country for another year in response to what he called "large-scale
repression of the democratic opposition." By isolating Myanmar, the United
States has neglected internal humanitarian concerns and has driven Myanmar
closer to China.

Consider the wider context. Myanmar flanks the two greatest regional
powers in Asia, China and India. It links India to the rest of the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and it provides China with access
to the Bay of Bengal and potentially to the Malacca Straits, the most
important natural waterway in the world.

So if the United States hopes to balance Chinese influence in the region,
it should reconsider its policies.

China, for its part, has been engaged in a most effective diplomatic and
economic initiative in Southeast Asia.

Beijing has supplied the Burmese military, the second largest in Southeast
Asia after Vietnam, with about $2 billion in armaments. In 2003, China
provided Myanmar with $200 million in economic assistance. It has helped
with the construction of roads, railroads, airfields, ports, and dams
throughout the country. Chinese investment is probably the largest of any
foreign country.

India has worried more than any regional power about the China-Myanmar
connection. A Burmese state dominated by China would place India at a
distinct disadvantage: China to the north, China's ally Pakistan on the
western flank, and a Chinese-influenced Myanmar to the east. Yet rather
than seeking to isolate Myanmar, India has offered economic and strategic
support to counter China's influence. Japan has also been anxious to
provide assistance; ASEAN, also concerned with the extent of Chinese
penetration, admitted Myanmar in July 1997.

In contrast, immediately after the 1988 coup the United States cut off
military and economic assistance. Washington has since demanded that the
military leave power and honor the results of the May 1990 election, which
was swept by the opposition National League for Democracy, or NLD, led by
Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest three times since 1989
and is currently in confinement.

In 1997, the U.S. Congress passed legislation banning all new U.S.
investment. After an ambush of Aung San Suu Kyi's motorcade last year, in
which a large number of people were killed, Congress banned all imports
from Myanmar and Bush issued an executive order freezing all Burmese
assets. Bush's recent announcement extends these policies.

No other country has an isolation policy as strict as that of the United
States. The American stance also neglects growing humanitarian concerns.
Congress has passed legislation allowing for some humanitarian assistance
to be provided in Myanmar, although not directly to the government. But
this is minor compared to the needs of a population, half of which is at
or below the poverty line.

What possibility is there for reform on the Burmese side? A truncated
National Convention opened on May 17 with the goal of drafting a new
constitution. All political parties and major minority groups with which
the regime has cease-fire agreements were invited. But the NLD's refusal
to participate has stripped the convention of international legitimacy.

In 2006, Myanmar will host an ASEAN summit meeting. It must assuage that
group, for without change Myanmar could be suspended or even expelled. The
Thai prime minister and the Malaysian foreign minister have both expressed
concern about the situation. The Burmese leaders realize that by 2006,
there needs to be a new constitution.

Yet instead of promoting change in Myanmar, U.S. policies have
strengthened the regime's resolve to stand up to U.S. pressure and have
thrown Myanmar closer to China.

The United States needs to rethink its policy. Informal, private
discussions between U.S. and Burmese officials, with a carefully
calibrated set of benchmarks, might move the regime and allow the United
States to resume its interest and influence in that society.

David I. Steinberg is director of Asian studies at the School of Foreign
Service, Georgetown University, and author of "Burma: The State of
Myanmar." This comment was reprinted with permission from YaleGlobal
Online.

_____________________________________

ANNOUNCEMENT

June 22, Burma Campaign UK
Get Sergio Tacchini out of Burma!

SEND A CAMPAIGN EMAIL TO SERGIO TACCHINI!

Italian sportswear manufacturer Sergio Tacchini is manufacturing its
clothes in Burma. Clothing exports earn Burma's military dictatorship
millions of dollars a year. Workers in Burma's factories get as little as
5p (7 eurocents) an hour. Fifty percent of the regime's budget is spent on
the military. The regime spends just 19p per person per year on health. By
manufacturing clothes in Burma Sergio Tacchini is helping to fund Burma's
dictatorship.

Most major clothing companies refuse to source clothing from Burma because
of human rights concerns. Companies boycotting Burma include: Nike,
ADIDAS, Kappa, Reebok, Lotto, M&S, Levi, Walt Disney, Gap, Calvin Klein,
and Puma.

SEND A CAMPAIGN EMAIL NOW!
Please email Sergio Tacchini telling them you will boycott them until they
cut their ties with Burma's dictatorship.

SEND THE FOLLOWING MESSAGE TO SERGIO TACCHINI.

Send to: st at sergiotacchini.com and copy the email to:
info at burmacampaign.org.uk.

Dear Sir/Madam

I am shocked that Sergio Tacchini is having clothes manufactured in Burma.
Burma is ruled by a regime that uses rape, torture and murder to oppress
its own people. By sourcing clothes from Burma you are helping to fund the
dictatorship. Until you stop having clothes manufactured in Burma I will
not be buying any Sergio Tacchini clothing. I will also be asking my
friends to boycott Sergio Tacchini.

Yours sincerely,


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