BurmaNet News, September 15, 2004

[Editor]

September 15, 2004, Issue # 2559

INSIDE BURMA
AP: Press freedom group calls for lifting of ban on Myanmar magazine
Reuters: Myanmar lashes Britain, EU over sanctions threat
S.H.A.N.: Another Shan bites the dust

REGIONAL
AFP: ASEAN would accept lower level Myanmar delegation to summit: Thai FM
OAPNA: Cabinet gives illegal foreign workers more time to register

INTERNATIONAL
LA Times: Unocal must face abuse suit
IPS: Burma: U.N. blames junta for poverty in villages

______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

September 15, Associated Press
Press freedom group calls for lifting of ban on Myanmar magazine

Bangkok: An international press freedom group called on Myanmar's military
government on Wednesday to lift a recently imposed ban on a current
affairs magazine.

The Paris-based group Reporters Without Borders said the junta's
censorship bureau ordered the privately owned fortnightly Khit-Sann to
halt publication on Sept. 1.

Myanmar, also known as Burma, tolerates little dissent, and all major
media, print and broadcast, are controlled by the state.

"At the rate publications are being closed and pressure is being put on
journalists, the Burmese press will soon be limited to official propaganda
outlets and a few privately owned entertainment magazines," Reporters
Without Borders said.

The statement was issued in conjunction with the Burma Media Association,
a group of Myanmar journalists in exile.

It said the magazine was given no reason for being banned, but that editor
Kyaw Win was told by censors in August that it was viewed as too
pro-American.

The United States is a strong critic of the military regime for its human
rights abuses and failure to hand over power to a democratically elected
government. The opposition National League for Democracy of Nobel laureate
Aung San Suu Kyi won a 1990 general election, but the military never
allowed Parliament to convene.

Khit-Sann had been published since August 2003 and was popular with young
people and intellectuals. Reporters Without Borders described it as "one
of the very few publications to try to cover current affairs, as well as
social, economic and philosophical issues."

Khit-Thit, another privately owned publication, recently received warnings
from the censorship bureau, the group said. It said the cover of an issue
reporting on the 60th anniversary of World War II's D-Day was deemed
objectionable "because its photo of U.S. combat troops was deemed to be
'too aggressive.'"

RSF also said the government has been harassing two writers, Ludu Sein Win
and Dagon Tayar, after they gave interviews to the Myanmar-language
services of Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, which broadcast by
shortwave radio.

It said they had been criticized in the state-controlled press and that
Ludu Sein Win's telephone has been cut for two weeks.

______________________________________

September 15, Reuters News
Myanmar lashes Britain, EU over sanctions threat

Yangon: Britain and its European allies aim to destabilise Myanmar by
threatening tighter sanctions if Yangon fails to improve human rights
before an Asia-Europe summit next month, the military junta said on
Wednesday.

The European Union wants Myanmar to free democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi
from house arrest and meet other reform demands by Oct. 8 or it will
impose tougher economic and visa curbs. "Instead of trying to destabilise
Myanmar through a negative approach, we encourage the EU to constructively
join us in building a peaceful, stable and enduring democracy in Myanmar,"
the government said in a statement.

"The solutions to Myanmar's future should not be imposed from outside,
especially its former colonial ruler, but must be home grown," it added.

Myanmar is expected to attend the Oct. 8-9 conference in Hanoi for the
first time, but at a lower level than other states to satisfy British-led
complaints over human rights.

Wednesday's statement made no mention of the meeting or Myanmar's delegation.

EU foreign ministers agreed on Monday that if Myanmar had not released Suu
Kyi by the start of the Asia-Europe Meeting, or ASEM, and met other
demands set out in April, they would tighten sanctions at their next
meeting on Oct. 11.

The bloc would extend a visa ban on senior officials from Myanmar to
include all military officers of the rank of brigadier-general and above,
and all members of their families.

Measures also include prohibiting EU-registered companies or organisations
from providing financing to Myanmar firms.

The 10-member Asian side had argued that if the EU could automatically
introduce new members, then it could also add three new countries -
Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

But Britain's objections on human rights led to the cancellation of two
ASEM ministerial meetings in July and September, to Myanmar's fury.

On Wednesday, Yangon blamed its former ruler for a legacy of "internal
armed conflicts, chaos and tragedies" since colonial rule ended in 1948.

"The government together with the people of Myanmar urges Britain to
abandon its miscalculated attempts to destabilise Myanmar, a former
colony, by irresponsible actions and unrealistic expectations," it said.

The military has ruled the former Burma in various guises since 1962, but
announced a roadmap to democracy last year.

A National Convention to draft a new constitution is expected to reconvene
in November, but critics say it is a sham without participation of Suu Kyi
and her National League for Democracy (NLD).

____________________________________

September 15, Shan Herald Agency for News
Another Shan bites the dust

The Shan, who became "famous" after he was beaten and forced to resign
both from his party and the National Convention in 1996, passed away
yesterday at his hometown in Kachin State's Waingmaw township.

On Christmas Day in 1996, Soe Nyunt reported to Rangoon-based Shan
Nationalities League for Democracy headquarters he was battered repeatedly
with gun butts by five uniformed soldiers on 18 December at his home,
taken to the Infantry Battalion 58 post and put in stocks all night, along
with two other villagers, who had quarreled with a non-commissioned
officer the previous day. Sai Soe Nyunt had reportedly stepped in and
mediated between the two parties.

The next day, a Maj Win Thu came to the guardhouse to meet them. "To Maung
Soe Thein and Maung Hpo Tha Htoo, he said, 'Are you Bakapa (Communist
Party of Burma)? ABSDF (All Burma Students Democratic Front)? Insurgent
core members? I'll kill you. I have the right to kill you. The Tatmadaw
has no law.' To me, he asked, 'What are you?  A politician who sponges off
the fringes of Aung San Suu Kyi's skirts?'"

When Soe Nyunt told him he was a legitimate representative to the National
Convention, Win Thu barked, "What National Convention? There are only
whores, opium eaters and opium thiefs attending it. It's totally
meaningless. You just quit."

Soe Nyunt was then forced to sign his resignation that was forwarded to
the township electoral commission. All of them were released afterwards.

On receipt of his complaint, the SNLD presented a formal protest to Senior
General Than Shwe three days later along with a demand to take drastic
action. "Soe Nyunt was visited by MI (Military Intelligence) officers who
took him to the hospital," recalled Sai Nyunt Lwin a.k.a Sai Nood, Acting
General Security of the SNLD. "As for Maj Win Thu, we heard he was
transferred to another unit with a two year suspension to his annual
increments. But that was all."

The SNLD, since then, had several of its members forced to resign from the
party. The last one was Sai Htun Aung, Member of Parliament, Langkher
township, who tendered his resignation in June.

_____________________________________
REGIONAL

September 15, Agence France Presse
ASEAN would accept lower level Myanmar delegation to summit: Thai FM

Bangkok: Thailand's foreign minister on Wednesday moved to mend a
months-long rift between Europe and Southeast Asia over Myanmar, saying
ASEAN would not oppose a lower level Yangon delegation to an upcoming
summit.

European Union states agreed earlier this month to attend the October 8-9
Asia-Europe (ASEM) meeting in Hanoi but said they did not want to see
military-ruled Myanmar's top leaders there.

Thailand questioned the EU's right to "dictate" the summit's terms, but
Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai said Wednesday the Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) would be satisfied if Myanmar sent Foreign
Minister Win Aung.

"Myanmar has not yet officially announced who will attend the summit. In
principle the invitation was meant for the head of government, but who
will attend depends on talks between Vietnam and Myanmar," Surakiart told
reporters.

"If Myanmar's prime minister is busy with the national convention and
sends his foreign minister, ASEAN will not object," he said.

The EU has also threatened to tighten existing sanctions unless Yangon
took steps to improve its human rights record.

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, launched a national political convention
earlier this year billed as the junta's first step in its "roadmap" to
democracy.

It went into recess in July, and while no official return date has been
set observers have pointed to November as a likely restart.

Surakiart added that ASEAN reiterated its call on Yangon to free detained
democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for
more than a year.

"It is the Thai and ASEAN standpoint to demand that Myanmar release Aung
San Suu Kyi and allow her party to participate in the national
convention," he said.

The earlier EU refusal to let Myanmar attend the summit -- grouping the EU
and 10 members of ASEAN plus China, Japan and South Korea -- had
threatened to scotch the meeting.

In particular the EU lamented the continued house arrest of Aung San Suu
Kyi, and Myanmar's refusal to allow her party, the National League for
Democracy an unfettered role in the convention.

Regional human rights and advocacy group Altsean-Burma said Surakiart's
statement was a face-saving gesture to smooth feathers ruffled during
months of debate over Myanmar's participation.

"They are trying to find a compromise solution with regard to the
attendance of the (ruling) State Peace and Development Council," an
Altsean representative told AFP.

"We still would say ASEM should not allow the SPDC to sit at the summit,
for reasons that the human rights situation in the country is worsening,"
she said.

Myanmar is due to take over the chair of ASEAN in 2006 despite showing
little progress in democratic reforms.

_____________________________________

September 15, Organisation of Asia-Pacific News Agencies
Cabinet gives illegal foreign workers more time to register

Bangkok: The government has extended the registration period for illegal
workers till the end of September.

Illegal labourers whose work permits are due to expired on 25 September,
and their employers will now have until the end of this month to
re-register.

Employers and workers who fail to register in time will face tough
penalties, the Deputy Government Spokesman,Topong Chaiyasan, told TNA on
Tuesday.

The Labour Ministry now plans to issue registered foreign workers with
13-digit social and health insurance identity cards.

All foreign workers will all be given a medical examination before being
issued with the social and health insurance.

There are some two million foreign workers in Thailand, mainly from the
neighbouring countries of Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia.

Many of them are suspected of carrying rare diseases and spreading them in
Thailand.

_____________________________________

September 15, Irrawaddy
Burma road to democracy - Punnisa Nimmanahaeminda

As governments in Southeast Asia wrestle with the international community
over their perennial problem child Burma, a group of leading Thai
parliamentarians have decided to found a regional democracy network to
accelerate political reform in the military-ruled state.

Democrat MP Sukhumbhand Paribatra, Bangkok Senator Jon Ungpakorn and
Chiang Rai Senator Tuenjai Deetes laid plans to form the network in early
August, along with parliamentarians and civil society groups in the
Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia and East Timor. The Thai Senate Committee
on Foreign Relations and the Bangkok-based rights group Forum Asia will
also take part.

In the past several months Thailand has positioned itself to play a
leading role to mediate international discussions on Burma. In December,
Thailand hosted what is now known as the Bangkok Process, a loose
talk-shop attended by delegates from more than a dozen countries, which
Thai Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai called a “confidence building”
forum.

Critics accuse Thailand of using the forum to protect Burma’s military
rulers from international opprobrium and to undermine global efforts to
promote democracy in Burma. Burma’s government called off the second round
of the talks, scheduled for April, saying it was too busy with their
constitution-drafting National Convention. The meeting has been postponed
indefinitely.

In June a group of Malaysian MPs formed a committee to urge Burma’s junta
to immediately release all political prisoners, including opposition
leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and to hold free and fair elections.

Tuenjai Deetes, a senator from the northern Thai province of Chiang Rai,
which abuts Burma and Laos, said she got involved so that she could assist
Burma’s ethnic nationality groups, several of which have family and
friends which cross the borders every day.

As long as there is a political deadlock in neighboring countries in Burma
and elsewhere, she added, Thailand will continue to grapple with the flood
of illegal migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Laos entering the kingdom to
look for work.

So far, she said, the region’s leaders have advanced trans-national
political and economic cooperation while neglecting other issues. She
suggested instead building regional cooperation on resource management and
social and religious issues at the grassroots level.

Burma and Thailand, for example, are predominantly Buddhist countries and
share several rivers, including the Kok and the Mekong. Bilateral and
multilateral efforts to manage valuable resources would provide the fora
to share views and exchange ideas across borders.

Tuenjai and Jon Ungpakorn will attend a network meeting in Malaysia next
month.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

September 15, Los Angeles Times
Unocal must face abuse suit - Lisa Girion

A Los Angeles County Superior Court judge denied a motion by Unocal Corp.
to dismiss a long-running human rights lawsuit Tuesday, apparently
clearing the way for a jury trial in the case of Myanmar refugees who
allegedly suffered abuses at the hands of government soldiers guarding a
Unocal pipeline.

In an eight-page ruling, Judge Victoria Gerrard Chaney agreed with the
plaintiffs that El Segundo-based Unocal's liability could hinge on whether
its subsidiaries acted as its agents on the Myanmar pipeline -- and said
that was a question a jury must decide.

Chaney had previously scheduled a hearing on Sept. 29 to decide how to
proceed with the case.

"This is the moment I've been waiting for," said Dan Stormer, a Pasadena
lawyer representing some of the 15 Myanmar plaintiffs. "This means the
case will go before a jury, and I think a jury will clobber them for their
despicable behavior. This is the ruling that Unocal has feared from the
start."

Daniel Petrocelli, Unocal's lawyer, said the company still might move for
dismissal on other grounds and might ask an appellate court to review
Chaney's decision. But he said if the case were to go to trial, he was
confident Unocal would prevail.

Stormer said he believed that the trial could start within five months.

The case is being closely watched by the human rights and business
communities. First filed in 1996, it is the most advanced of about two
dozen suits in U.S. courts that seek to hold multinational corporations
liable for alleged human rights violations committed abroad.

In the Unocal case, 15 Myanmar refugees say that Unocal should be held
liable for allegedly looking the other way as soldiers enslaved villagers
to clear the path for the $1.2-billion pipeline to transport natural gas
off Myanmar's coast to Thailand.

Unocal subsidiaries were partners in the project, along with the French
oil company Total and the government of Myanmar, a military junta with a
poor human rights record in the nation formerly known as Burma.

The refugees also allege that soldiers guarding the remote jungle pipeline
corridor committed murder and rape. Unocal has disputed the allegations,
saying the refugees may be confusing conduct along the pipeline with
atrocities committed on a separate government railway project.

Unocal says the involvement of its subsidiaries and investment in schools
and health clinics have improved the quality of life along the pipeline.

Judge Chaney's ruling came after she found in an earlier bench trial that
Unocal could not be held liable for its subsidiaries' pipeline involvement
on the theory that the firms were merely fictitious shells, or "alter
egos," of the parent corporation.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs then argued that Unocal should face liability
because its subsidiaries acted as its agents on the pipeline.

In her ruling Tuesday, Chaney acknowledged that the two theories had much
in common, but agreed with the plaintiffs that alter ego and agents are
distinct legal concepts. Agency liability, she wrote, is a legal question
that is guaranteed a jury trial.

A tandem suit against Unocal over the same set of alleged human rights
violations is pending in federal court. The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of
Appeals heard arguments more than a year ago over whether the Alien Tort
Claims Act, a little-used 1789 law, would allow the refugees a trial in
federal court, even though the alleged crimes occurred abroad.

The appellate court is believed to be considering the question in light of
a ruling on the Alien Tort Claims Act by the U.S. Supreme Court in a
separate case in June.

The nation's high court held that foreigners could file suits in U.S.
courts for violations of certain international laws. The alien tort law
has been successfully used by Holocaust survivors and relatives of people
tortured or killed by dictators or their henchmen.

If the federal case proceeds, Unocal would be the first corporation to be
tried for indirect liability in human rights violations under the
215-year-old law.

_____________________________________

September 14, Inter Press Service
Burma: U.N. blames junta for poverty in villages - Marwaan Macan-Markar

Bangkok: A United Nations official is blaming the Burmese military
government's agriculture policies for driving villages in two border
regions of the country into deeper poverty.

The government restricts the free movement of agriculture products in
these regions and prevents the trade of farm products between ethnic
groups, Sheila Sisulu, deputy executive director of the World Food
Programme (WFP), said at a press conference here Tuesday.

"The policies of the government are impoverishing these people," Sisulu
added. "The market is not open to the farmers."

Sisulu made her comments following a four-day visit to Burma, also known
as Myanmar, where she inspected the projects of the U.N. food relief
agency. That included a visit to the Northern Shan State, where the WFP is
providing relief to farmers who were former growers of poppies, the source
of opium.

Since October 2003, the WFP has been supplying rice to 180,000 people in
the Northern Shan State.

The bulk of its effort, though, is directed towards the Northern Rakhine
State, in the west of the South-east Asian nation, which is home to the
minority Rohingya community. The WFP is currently assisting an estimated
420,000 people who were displaced due to an internal conflict in 1991.

The WFP's criticism of Rangoon's agriculture and trade policies amplify
the charge made by the International Crisis Group (ICG), a Brussels-based
think-tank, in a report released last week.

In 'Myanmar: Aid to the Border Areas,' ICG revealed that most border areas
are "highly or moderately vulnerable in food security terms, with Shan,
Northern Kachin and Chin states being the worst off."

The Rakhine and Chin states "have the highest levels of income poverty in
the country," it added. "Child malnutrition is most serious in the Rakhine
State, where almost 50 percent of children under five suffer from severe
or moderate under nourishment."

According to the WFP, nearly a third of the children under five years are
malnourished across the entire country.

What prevails in the Rakhine state typifies the problem local farmers in
the border areas are up against. "In the Northern Rakhine State, local
army commanders have taken control of all commerce by establishing an
agent system that requires licenses for any sale of livestock, crops or
other produce in village markets," the ICG report states.

The Rakhine State is near the Burmese-Bangladesh border, while the Chin
State is near the Burmese-Indian border. The Kachin and the Shan states
are near the Chinese border.

The military government is also undermining food security by preventing
farmers in the border regions to work on their land, a relief worker
assisting Burma's minorities said in an interview.

In some parts of the Shan area, for instance, people are being relocated
to inferior lands, while in other regions "the farmers' land is being
confiscated by the regime," she revealed.

"Food production is also affected due to forced labour imposed by the
military. The farmers cannot work on their lands during this period," she
added.

The consequence of that is reflected in the high percentage of farmers or
people from farming communities who make up the estimated 140,000 refugees
in camps along the Thai-Burma border.

"The majority of the people in the camps are rural farmers," says the
relief worker. "They are Karen, Karenni and Shan."

Burma's picture of malnutrition and poverty today is a stark contrast to
the image of self-sufficiency and food security it was known for prior to
its independence in 1948.

The events of 1962, when the military took over power in a coup and has
maintained its grip ever since, contributed towards its downward slide. By
1987, according to reports, Burma had entered the leagues of one of the
world's poorest countries.

"Before the coup, Burma was known as the rice bowl of Asia due to its
agriculture output," Soe Aung, foreign affairs spokesman for the National
Council of the Union of Burma, a group of Burmese political exiles, told
IPS.

The current food scarcity is the making of the military government, he
added. "The junta does not supply the military in the ethnic areas with
all their needs and the local army officers survive on extortion, taking
over farming land and the forced labour of farmers."

According to available reports, Burma's military strength has grown from
an estimated 190,000 in 1988 to over 400,000 by 2002.

The ICG asserts that the nearly five decades of conflict between various
insurgent groups linked to the country's ethnic communities and the
central government have "impoverished the state and devastated local
communities, particularly in the ethnic minority-populated border areas."

"More than a million people are estimated to have died in these hidden
wars, while millions more are wasting away in abject poverty," it adds.
"Most border areas fall significantly below the national average on
socio-economic indicators."