BurmaNet News, August 10, 2004

[Editor]

August 10, 2004, Issue # 2535


ON THE BORDER
Irrawaddy: Refugees bound to border camps

BUSINESS / MONEY
Xinhua: Myanmar exploring new export items to help develop economy

REGIONAL
AP: ASEAN to insist on Myanmar's participation in EU Summit
AFP: Myanmar PM holds talks in Cambodia in midst of ASEM deadlock
Reuters: Myanmar PM brushes off questions over Suu Kyi
Bangkok Post: Caucus to work for civil liberties

INTERNATIONAL
AP: Unocal urges L.A. judge to dismiss human rights case
Business World: Burma entry to ASEM still in doubt
Reuters: Olympics-Zimbabwe, Myanmar sports ministers barred
Xinhua: Myanmar to compete in weightlifting, archery in Athens Olympics
Irish Times: Burmese hope to transmit from Ireland

OPINION/OTHER
FEER: How to move Burma ahead

______________________________________
ON THE BORDER

August 10, Irrawaddy
Refugees bound to border camps - Aung Lwin Oo

Burmese refugees living in urban areas are to be sent to camps near the
Thai-Burma border

On July 21, the Thai Ministry of the Interior issued a directive that
ordered Burmese refugees to report to the Immigration Police in Bangkok
and Tak Province. According to the directive, 1,834 Burmese refugees who
have held conventional Person of Concern status since before August 31,
2003 will have to contact immigration officials in Mae Sot, Tak Province
or the Special Detention Center in Bangkok.

On late Monday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, or
UNHCR, Bangkok office made a public announcement regarding the interior
ministry directive so that Persons of Concern would be aware of their new
responsibilities.

Refugees are required to report to officials no later than the end of
August. Those that fail to follow procedures will be treated as illegal
aliens.

“I do not want to enter [the refugee] camps because of the bad experiences
that our comrades had living in the camps in the past,” said Tin Maung
Lwin, a Burmese refugee in Bangkok who was a former member of All Burma
Students Democratic Front, or ABSDF.
Prior to entering refugee camps, the directive states that Persons of
Concern will be allocated temporary shelter in Tak, Ratchaburi,
Kanchanaburi and other provinces approved by the interior ministry.

“I think that in sending Burmese refugees to the border, the Thai
government has stepped up its efforts to restrict the activities of the
Burmese opposition in Thailand,” Tin Maung Lwin claimed.

The Thai government restricted UNHCR activities early this year. In July
last year, Bangkok accused the UNHCR for granting Person of Concern status
without informing Thai authorities.

______________________________________
BUSINESS/MONEY

August 10, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar exploring new export items to help develop economy

Yangon: Myanmar is exploring new export items in addition to rice and
beans and pulses, emphasizing extended cultivation of new marketable crops
for increased export to help develop the country's economy.

Rice and beans and pulses have been Myanmar's leading traditional export
items.

The government has outlined some new items such as chilly, onion, coffee,
tea, pepper, long-staple cotton, oil palm and rubber to be considered for
export if there is surplus after meeting local consumption, official
newspaper The New Light of Myanmar reported Tuesday.

Toward this end, the government has reformulated the policy on
agricultural crops trading for development of local and foreign trade,
General Shwe Mann, member of the State Peace and Development Council was
quoted as saying.

The policy also stressed the balance of foreign trade and increase of
value-added goods by promoting the amount of export and reducing the
volume of import.

Export of paddy, cotton, sesame, maize and beans and pulses had been
suspended since the end of last year but was lifted in the past two months
as they are not found affecting the domestic market.

Agricultural products stood second after mining's with an export value of
400 million US dollars, or 16 percent of the total in 2003-04 fiscal year
ended in March, according to official statistics.

Agriculture represents the mainstay of Myanmar's economy with its output
accounting for about 42 percent of the gross domestic product. The country
has a cultivable land of 18.23 million hectares and the land under crops
cultivation stretches 10.53 million hectares, of which over 6 million
hectares are covered by paddy, which is Myanmar's main crop.

Other figures show that Myanmar's foreign trade, including the border
trade, in the 2003-04 totaled 4.93 billion dollars, of which the export
took up 2.7 billion. Rice export during the year amounted to 106,312 tons,
a drop from 678,000 tons in 2002-03 out of temporary rice export ban
within the year.

______________________________________
REGIONAL

August 10, Associated Press
ASEAN to insist on Myanmar's participation in EU Summit

Manila: Southeast Asian countries will insist on Myanmar's participation
in an upcoming Asia-Europe summit, despite threats from European Union
leaders to boycott the event if representatives from Yangon show up, a
Philippine official said Tuesday.

The 25-member EU has opposed any inclusion of Myanmar at the October
summit due to the country's poor human rights record, and the continued
detention of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Myanmar's military government detained Suu Kyi in May 2003 and she remains
under house arrest. The EU has demanded her release.

The 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations wants Myanmar,
Cambodia and Laos accepted into the Asia-Europe Meeting, to be held from
Oct. 8-9 in Hanoi, Vietnam.

"We maintain the same position that the three will also be accepted,"
Philippine Foreign Secretary Delia Albert told reporters.

The EU has indicated it has no objection to the inclusion of Cambodia and
Laos into ASEM.

ASEAN nations have countered the boycott threat, saying they will block
participation by the 10 newest EU member countries unless Myanmar, Laos
and Cambodia are all granted ASEM membership.

In June the EU scrapped talks with Asian finance ministers because of
their insistence that Myanmar take part in the October meeting.

ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar,
Thailand, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. All are members of ASEM.

______________________________________

August 10, Agence France Presse
Myanmar PM holds talks in Cambodia in midst of ASEM deadlock

Phnom Penh: Myanmar Prime Minister General Khin Nyunt completed a two-day
visit of Asian allies Tuesday but remained tight-lipped over the festering
row that threatens an October summit between Europe and Asia.

After visits to Laos and Vietnam on Monday, the premier Tuesday called on
his Cambodian counterpart Hun Sen but left for home saying only their
talks had been useful.

"We had a very fruitful discussion, like a brother... No more interview.
This is a good visit," Khin Nyunt told reporters shortly before heading to
the airport.

Hun Sen's spokesman Eang Sophalleth also refused to comment about the
leaders' closed-door session.

Khin Nyunt's tour comes amid efforts to resolve a stand-off between the
10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the European
Union over Myanmar's presence at the planned Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) in
Hanoi.

EU ministers have demanded a signal that the junta is prepared to allow a
degree of democratic progress before sitting down with a Myanmar
delegation.

It included the release from house arrest of opposition leader Aung San
Suu Kyi who has been detained by the military regime since May 2003
following a bloody clash between her supporters and a pro-junta mob.

But ASEAN has refused to leave Myanmar out of the talks.

Officials declined to say whether the issue was raised in Tuesday's talks,
but in Vietnam a Myanmar delegation member said it was on the agenda for
Khin Nyunt's meeting with Vietnamese Prime Minister Phan Van Khai.

And in Laos, where Khin Nyunt met with Lao Prime Minister Bounnhang
Vorachit, both sides emphasised the need to strengthen ASEAN cooperation,
Vietnam's state-run media reported.

Cambodia has already lent its unwavering support to Myanmar by insisting
it will boycott the summit if the junta, which has ruled the nation since
a 1962 coup, is not allowed to join in discussions.

It gave Khin Nyunt the red carpet treatment on Tuesday as he was greeted
by hundreds of cheering and flag-waving children with diplomats from
Southeast Asia and the European Union looking on.

The warm relationship between the two nations was also highlighted by Hun
Sen's acceptance of an invitation to attend a major Buddhist conference in
Yangon in December.

Myanmar's junta enjoys a large measure of tolerance from its fellow ASEAN
governments, who strictly observe a much-criticised ban against
interference in other member nations' affairs.

An ASEM finance ministers' meeting scheduled for last month and a
September gathering of the group's economy ministers have already been
cancelled, but the EU sent an envoy to Asia in July to try to secure a
compromise.

The last ASEM summit was held in Copenhagen in 2002 involving the then 15
members of the EU along with China, Japan, South Korea, and ASEAN members
Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, Vietnam, the Philippines and
Brunei.

______________________________________

August 10, Reuters News
Myanmar PM brushes off questions over Suu Kyi

Phnom Penh: Military-ruled Myanmar's Prime Minister Khin Nyunt brushed
aside questions on Tuesday over the release of detained democracy icon and
opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

"Later, later," he said in response to a question from Reuters about when
he planned to release the Nobel peace laureate, who has been in prison or
under house arrest for more than a year.

Khin Nyunt, who was on the Cambodian leg of a three-country southeast
Asian courtesy trip, told reporters he had had a "very fruitful
discussion" with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, a former Khmer Rouge
soldier whom he described as a "brother".

Hun Sen spokesman Eang Sophalleth said the two leaders did not discuss Suu
Kyi's detention or a simmering diplomatic spat between Asia and Europe
over the former Burma's accession to the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) forum
in October.

European countries led by Britain, Myanmar's former colonial master, want
the junta's leaders excluded from the Hanoi summit because of their
repression of political opponents, in particular Suu Kyi.

However, the 10-country Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
insists Myanmar be allowed to join the meeting en bloc with new ASEAN
members Cambodia and Laos - the same ASEM accession principle the EU is
demanding for its 10 new members.

"The two prime ministers met for about half an hour. They did not talk
about either ASEM or human rights records," Eang Sophalleth told
reporters.

Suu Kyi, whose National League for Democracy won a landslide victory in
1990 general elections, was detained in May 2003 after clashes between her
supporters and pro-government demonstrators.

______________________________________

August 10, Bangkok Post
Caucus to work for civil liberties - Achara Ashayagachat

Burma / Road to Democracy

A group of parliamentarians has joined with colleagues from other Asean
countries in forming a caucus to work towards democratisation and
promotion of human rights in Burma.

Democrat MP Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Bangkok Senator Jon Ungphakorn, and
Chiang Rai Senator Tuenjai Deetes said yesterday they would work with
other parliamentarians in setting up a pro-democracy network to coordinate
with the Asian Forum for Human Rights Development and other regional civil
groups.

Malaysia has already set up a core group of 12-15 parliamentarians to work
on the project, M.R. Sukhumbhand said, adding that countries such as
Thailand, the Philippines, Indonesia and even East Timor were also
beginning to form alliances to work for change in Rangoon.

"We realise the government might have limitations, including diplomatic
etiquette and protocols, in pushing for change and thus we would like to
start another force.

But at the moment there appears to be little interest among Thai MPs,
probably because it's the election season," the former deputy foreign
minister said.

Mr Jon said the Senate committee on foreign affairs, led by chairman
Kraisak Choonhavan, and the panel on social development could support the
movement for change in Burma and might work on related issues.

A discussion yesterday organised by Forum-Asia was briefed by exiled
National Coalition Government of Union of Burma spokesman San Aung and
Teddy Buri.

They hoped to instill a sense of urgency in efforts to resolve the
deadlock over the issue of Burma's attendance at the Asia-Europe Meeting
summit in Hanoi in October and also Rangoon's chairmanship of Asean in
2006.

______________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

August 9, Associated Press
Unocal urges L.A. judge to dismiss human rights case - Paul Chavez

Los Angeles: Lawyers for the Unocal Corp. told a Superior Court judge on
Monday that a human rights case brought against the energy giant over a
1990s pipeline project in Myanmar should be dismissed because the wrong
companies were sued.

A lawyer for the villagers suing Unocal argued that a jury should decide
if the parent company can be held responsible for the actions of its
subsidiaries.

Daniel Petrocelli, lead trial counsel for El Segundo-based Unocal, told
Judge Victoria Gerrard Chaney "there is nothing left to try."

In urging a dismissal, he cited Chaney's bench ruling earlier this year in
which she found that Unocal was not the alter ego of subsidiaries that
built and operate the pipeline and that the subsidiaries should have been
sued instead. The statute of limitations to sue the subsidiaries involved
in the $1.2 billion Yadana pipeline project has expired.

Chaney said she would issue a written ruling in September on whether the
case can proceed in state court.

The case against Unocal is considered the flagship among human rights
advocates trying to hold multinational corporations responsible in U.S.
courts for alleged atrocities committed abroad. It is proceeding both in
state and federal courts.

The villagers' attorney, Dan Stormer, said Unocal could be held
responsible under alternate legal theories that the company's subsidiaries
acted as its agents or were in a joint venture with the parent company.

"Unocal directed and controlled its subsidiaries on security and human
rights issues," Stormer told the judge.

The lawsuit was brought on behalf of 14 unidentified villagers who claim
Unocal shares responsibility for enforced labor, murder and rape allegedly
carried out by the Myanmar military during construction of the natural gas
pipeline. Louisa Benson, an activist from Altadena, is included as the
15th plaintiff in the case.

The military junta ruling Myanmar, also known as Burma, has been
sanctioned by the U.S. government for its crackdown on pro-democracy
advocates and its human rights record. Economic sanctions have been
imposed to prod the Asian nation's rulers to release pro-democracy
activist Aung San Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize winner, and other political
prisoners.

Unocal has denied that human rights abuses occurred during the 1990s
pipeline project.

The case dates to 1996 when it was first filed in federal court in Los
Angeles. A federal judge found that Unocal had no liability and dismissed
the suit, which prompted the plaintiffs to pursue their claims in Superior
Court.

The federal case was reinstated in 2002 by a three-judge panel of the 9th
Circuit Court of Appeal. Unocal argued in June 2003 before a full panel
that the panel wrongly relied on the 1789 Alien Tort Claims Act.

The federal appeals court held off on making a decision while the 1789 law
was being considered in a separate case by the U.S. Supreme Court.

The high court in June voted 6-3 that certain types of cases involving
violations of international law can be pursued in federal courts under the
Alien Tort Claims Act.

The federal appeals court has not yet issued a ruling on the Unocal case.
The plaintiffs, meanwhile, have refiled their federal case to include
Unocal's subsidiaries as defendants.
Burma entry to ASEM still in doubt

______________________________________

August 10, Business World
Burma entry to ASEM still in doubt - Eloisa I. Calderon

Citing Burma's tumultuous political environment and the widespread human
rights violations allegedly being committed by the its military junta, the
European Union (EU) appears inclined not to accept the Asian country into
the Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM).

"We have no difficulties with Cambodia and Laos, but we're having
difficulties with Burma due to its human rights records and their lack of
democracy," said Ambassador Jan de Kok, head of the delegations of the
European Commission in Manila.

Mr. de Kok said a special envoy of Burma had been lobbying at Asian and
European governments for the entry of his country to the ASEM.

He added that 10 new EU members - Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia,
Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and
Slovenia - were likewise applying for membership in the ASEM and enjoy the
backing of EU.

The application of Burma, Laos and Cambodia, including the ten new EU
members will be taken up during the ASEM Summit at Hanoi slated in October
this year.

Mr. de Kok urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to welcome the
entry of the EU's new members as they could become trade and political
partners of the 10 ASEAN countries.

Mr. de Kok added that the enlargement of EU, now a 25-nation body, would
benefit the Philippine economy.

"The EU offers an increasingly attractive market for both electronic and
agricultural exports from the Philippines due to the EU's unique set of
trade rules, a single tariff, the removal of rules of origin requirements
and a harmonized set of administrative procedures," Mr. de Kok said.

______________________________________

August 10, Reuters News
Olympics-Zimbabwe, Myanmar sports ministers barred

Athens: Greece said on Tuesday it had banned the sports ministers of
Zimbabwe and Myanmar from the Olympic Games in accordance with European
Union sanctions.

"The Greek stance in dealing with such issues is according to the
political and conventional international obligations of our country as an
EU member," Foreign Ministry spokesman George Koumoutsakos said. A
government official, speaking anonymously, said the ban applied to
Zimbabwean Sports Minister Aeneas Chigwedere and the sports minister of
Myanmar, Brigadier-General Thura Aye Myint.

"We will apply the EU ban. This means that they will not be allowed to
enter the country," the Greek official said.

It was not immediately clear whether either of the two officials had had
any intention of coming to Greece.

European Union governments and the Zimbabwean opposition accuse President
Robert Mugabe of rigging his re-election.

Myanmar, run by the military for four decades, is frequently criticised by
the EU for human rights abuses.

Last week Greece said it would bar entry to the sports minister of Belarus
at the recommendation of the EU because of allegations against the former
interior minister involving the disappearance of journalists.

______________________________________

August 10, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar to compete in weightlifting, archery in Athens Olympics

Yangon: Myanmar will field two athletes to compete in weightlifting and
archery in the upcoming 28th Olympic Games to be held in Athens, Greece,
according to the Myanmar Olympic Committee here Tuesday.

Women weightlifter Nan Aye Khaing, participating in the Olympic Games for
the first time, will compete in 48kg weightlifting event in the Athens
Games and women archer Thin Thin Khaing will take part in archery event.

Nan Aye Khaing got two silvers and one bronze medals in last April's 17th
Asian Women's Weightlifting Championship in Almaty, Kazakhstan, the
regional qualifying event for the Olympics.

China, Bulgaria and the United States will be the toughest opponents in
the 48kg event, said U Hla Win who is Nan Aye Khaing' s coach and joint
secretary of the Myanmar Weightlifting Federation.

As for other athlete Thin Thin Khaing, since her first international
competition at the Asian Archery Championship in Bangkok in 2000 up to her
latest victory in Kuala Lumpur in June this year, she has won 8 gold
medals.

She is the best and most experienced archer Myanmar has ever had and she
will face great challenges to compete with the world's bests South Korea,
China and Japan, said secretary of the Myanmar Archery Federation U Kyaw
Oo.

Except 21th Olympic Games 1976 in Canada, Myanmar has participated 12
times in the Olympics since 14th London Olympic Games 1948 after regaining
her independence.

Seven athletes of Myanmar competed in the Sydney Olympic Games 2000 in
which Kay Thi Win finished fourth in the women's 48 kg weightlifting
event.

______________________________________

August 9, Irish Times
Burmese hope to transmit from Ireland - Kitty Holland

Political exiles from Burma are hoping to establish a radio station here
to broadcast into their home country.

Mr Khin Maung Win, deputy director of the Democratic Voice of Burma (DVB)
radio, will meet officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs as well
as the Broadcasting Commission of Ireland today. The service is currently
being broadcast from Norway.

The station is supported by Trócaire and Burma Action Ireland.

Mr Maung Win said the station was looking at two countries - Sweden and
Ireland - as possible bases.

Although broadcasting from Norway since 1992, those behind DVB radio would
like to move because the humanitarian basis on which they are allowed to
stay in Norway depends on their leaving every four years and reapplying
for their visas.

"Also we would like to be in the EU so we can travel around more easily.
We need to be able to travel to south-east Asia to make contact with
people working for us."

Twelve Burmese exiles staff the Oslo office, and there are up to 80
journalists working in Thailand and also within Burma, said Mr Maung Win.

Since the first military coup in 1962 in Burma, independently-run
newspapers, journals and magazines were either closed down or became
organs of the military government, he said.

"The government in Burma see free speech as the number one enemy. They
hate the media."

The station broadcasts for two hours a day - an hour in the morning and
another in the afternoon - on short wave, by satellite and on the
internet.

He said the station has an audience of about 13 million people.

"Our mission is to provide accurate and unbiased news to the people of
Burma, and impart the ideals of democracy and human rights.

"The sound quality is much better on the satellite than on short wave, and
we get about 3,000 visitors a day to the website.

"We are hoping we will get approval and support - political, practical and
moral support from the Irish Government.

"We decided to try Ireland because it has a good record on supporting the
people of Burma and human rights. We think of Bono and Mary Robinson."

Mr Maung Win was forced to leave Burma after taking part in the massive
pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988.

They ultimately forced the resignation of military dictator Ne Win in July
and the formation of a provisional democratic government in September.

This was quickly followed, however, by a second military coup, which saw
the junta retake power, and the violent suppressing all dissent, with
hundreds of deaths.

Human rights leader Mr Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest by
the dictatorship."The idea of a free radio station is very important. It
is the most powerful expression," said Mr Maung Win.

______________________________________
OPINION/OTHER

August 12, Far Eastern Economic Review
How to move Burma ahead - Andrew Steele

The 5th Column

Burma's ruling military junta is making headlines again. The hardline
regime's continued detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and its failure to move
towards democratic reform roused United States Secretary of State Colin
Powell's rebuke during July's Asean Regional Forum in Jakarta,
underscoring America's enduring irritation with the junta. Meanwhile, the
European Union plans to dispatch an envoy to Rangoon in a last-gasp effort
to rescue the October Asia-Europe meeting in Hanoi. The EU has threatened
to boycott the annual meeting if Burma participates.

But two items have been mysteriously absent from these upbraidings. One
concerns the general inability of the United Nations' special envoy to
Burma, Razali Ismail from Malaysia, to broker a truce to the political
stalemate more than four years into his mission. The other is the lack of
a UN-sponsored independent investigation into the May 2003 bloody attack
on Suu Kyi's convoy, which resulted in the killing of as many as 100 of
her supporters. The U.S. State Department has said government-sponsored
"thugs" led the attack.

The U.S. and the EU had high hopes for Razali, who replaced Alvaro de Soto
as the UN envoy in April 2000. Regionally, his close rapport with
then-Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad was widely viewed as a
diplomatic asset. Mahathir had pushed hard for Burma's 1997 entrance into
Asean, and it was thought Razali could use that social capital to push the
junta towards reform.

But the junta's continued intransigence and human-rights abuses likely
caused Mahathir in July 2003 to take a diplomatic U-turn and broach the
possibility of ousting Burma from the regional grouping. Razali's general
ineffectiveness likely is linked to Mahathir's change in temperament,
leading the Burmese regime to spurn Razali's recent advances. On a number
of occasions, the junta has even denied Razali's requests to enter the
country for meetings.

At the start of Razali's mission, many thought democratic change was on
the horizon after it was revealed that he had been leading secret national
reconciliation talks between senior junta members and Suu Kyi. That
euphoria has since evaporated.

In Razali's defence, the military government was never going to be an
amenable lot to deal with. The generals have made promises they haven't
kept, and the recent staging of a national convention to prepare a new
constitution nominally aimed at moving the country towards a democratic
transition has proved to be more theatre than substance.

Ultimately, political change in Burma will need to come from within.
American-led investment and trade sanctions have severely weakened the
Burmese economy, but the trickle-down effect has hit Burma's citizens more
than its generals. National morale is also so low that some local Burmese
quietly pine for U.S. military intervention. On the heels of the U.S.
invasion of Iraq, some optimistic corners in Rangoon held out hope that
Burma's plight might attract the attention of the interventionist Bush
administration. Some continue to see this as acceptable, despite the
strong possibility of civilian casualties. The reality, however, is that
America is highly unlikely to put its military on the line in a situation
without any U.S. strategic interests. Indeed, such hopes in Rangoon only
show the desperation of people who can't see realistic measures they can
take on their own.

In July, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan said he was reassessing his
strategy towards Burma, and that he had consulted with Western governments
to discuss new levers to press the junta into action. These levers may
include pressuring the EU to adopt an import ban similar to Washington's,
as the current unilateral approach has proven inadequate in damaging the
junta. More importantly, the UN could try to coax regional actors, such as
Thailand, to lead the push for change in Burma. Thus far, Thailand has
given the Burmese junta the benefit of the doubt concerning its alleged
sincerity towards reform. But with a resurgent HIV/Aids epidemic looming,
a continued spillover of Burmese migrants into Thailand as well as a drug
scourge fuelled largely by narcotics from Burma, Thailand might be
persuaded that the time is right to begin carving out a solution in Burma.

While foreign military intervention is highly doubtful, other strategies
do exist that could effect change in Burma. One bold step in that
direction would be the replacement of Razali Ismail with a new UN
representative better able to strong-arm Burma's generals.

The writer is a former correspondent for the Chiang Mai-based Irrawaddy
newsmagazine