BurmaNet News, April 5, 2005

[Editor]

April 5, 2005 Issue # 2690

INSIDE BURMA
AFP: In isolated Myanmar, young people lured by the outside world

ON THE BORDER
Xinhua News Agency: Myanmar steps up anti-human trafficking activities in
border areas

BUSINESS / MONEY
Reuters: Chevron to buy Unocal

ASEAN
Irrawaddy: Asean Foreign Ministers may support to block Burma from taking
chair

INTERNATIONAL
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: E.U. holds aid meeting on Myanmar, denies charges
of softer line
Irrawaddy: Burma’s Protest Day

OPINION / OTHER
Bangkok Post: Crunch time approaches for Asean

PRESS RELEASE
Burma Campaign UK: ChevronTexaco face Burma protests


______________________________________
INSIDE BURMA

April 5, Agence France Presse
In isolated Myanmar, young people lured by the outside world

Enthusiasm bubbled over as students gathered in the morning to take their
exams at the Hotel and Tourism Training Center in the Myanmar capital
Yangon, after a two month course that more and more young people are
lining up for.

Myanmar is one of the most isolated countries in the world, led by a
secretive military junta constantly wary of perceived foreign interlopers
out to destabilize their government.

But in contrast to the military government's desire for seclusion,
Myanmar's people -- and especially its youth -- are feeling the lure of
the foreign world.

Across from the posh Traders Hotel in the heart of Yangon, a huge red sign
reads "Oppose the foreigners to interfere" in Myanmar's affairs.

The junta constantly reinforces that message -- the top leader, Senior
General Than Shwe, on March 27 used his annual Armed Forces Day speech to
again warn of "challenges from abroad that come from all directions".

But despite the government's best efforts to block global media, including
much of the Internet, from its citizens, young people here show a clear
desire for contacts with the outside.

Interest in tourism careers has soared in recent years because of the
potential for interacting with foreigners, even though hotels are mostly
empty, students said.

In an economy that one observer said was "flatlining," tourism "is growing
as a hair" because of the lack of infrastructure, the nation's shoddy
human rights record and western campaigns pushing a tourism boycott.

While the students took their exams, the training center's director Win
Kyi said enrollment has shot up.

"Last year we had double the amount of students as what was originally
planned," he said.

The school opened in 1982 with about 80 students in its first year, but
last year 1,500 students graduated.

"The young generation is getting more and more interested," and not only
because tourism offers decent salaries, Win Kyi said.

For 40,000 to 60,000 kyats (about 44 to 66 dollars), students spend two
months learning how to be a receptionist or cook, or studying "hospitality
English". The program, subsidized by the United Nations, takes place in a
dilapidated buildings made available by the government.

Across the street, 21-year-old Myo Thandar had only praise for the course
she took, which has since landed her a job as a receptionist at the
luxurious Kandawgyi Hotel where she earns 40 dollars a month, twice what
civil servants make.

"It was very useful. I learned how to communicate with foreigners ... to
remember the name of the customer, to speak to them politely, to never
speak loud, never cross your arms in front of them," she said.

"It is nice to work in contact with foreigners," she added.

In another district in the capital, a young woman who asked for anonymity
proudly showed her diploma in diplomatic skills, which she received in
2002 after a paid training course at a center run by the foreign ministry.

She still has the hefty materials from the class, pages already yellowing
and smelling of mothballs. The topics covered international relations and
human rights declarations, but also negotiation, etiquette and setting a
western dinner table, with a number of utensils unheard of in Myanmar.

"I've learned a lot ... how to behave if you go to a dinner, how to dress,
to address someone," said the young woman, who now works for a foreign
communications firm.

"Myanmar people are very much interested to meet foreign people, but they
are scared," she said. "But less now, we have a little bit of Internet,
emails."

Myanmar is still a long way from being fully wired to the Internet, but a
handful of Internet cafes have opened, with strictly limited access to the
Web.

Until recently people here wait one year to get a passport, but those
taking hospitality courses hope the classes will open a door to the
outside.

"Many people who follow these classes want to go abroad," the young woman
said. "Some join the hospitality classes to go and work on cruises
liners."

Win Kyi, the training center's principal, agreed.

"The young want to grip the chances," he said.

"They want to work overseas as well as onboard the ships. With this
training they have a chance to go abroad, that is one reason why it is
popular."

____________________________________
ON THE BORDER

April 5, Xinhua News Agency
Myanmar steps up anti-human trafficking activities in border areas

Myanmar is stepping up anti-human trafficking activities in two border
areas in northeastern Shan state of the country, laying down tasks in law
enforcement as well as in repatriation, reintegration and rehabilitation,
a local press reported in this week's issue.

Anti-human trafficking issues are being handled in line with the UN
conventions, the Myanmar Times quoted local police unit as saying.

Meanwhile, a series of workshops have been held since March for law
enforcement officers taking up duties in the areas. These workshops are
sponsored by the Australian-funded Asia Regional Cooperation to Prevent
People Trafficking and the UN Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking in
the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS).

According to the unit, 200 law enforcement officers in other areas of
Tachilek, Kawthoung, Myeik and Mandalay had been trained earlier and more
such training will be provided to those in Myitkyina and Loijay in
northernmost Kachin state.

Government statistics reveal that the authorities netted a total of 939
human traffickers in 474 related cases in two years' time between 2002 and
2004, preventing 2,629 people, including 1, 225 girls, from being
victimized.

Meanwhile, Myanmar has been drafting a law on suppression of trafficking
in persons. The law, drafted in accordance with the UN Convention Against
Transactional Organized Crimes, is to be enacted by the middle of this
year.

The law is said to ensure that the rights of trafficked victims be
protected and that traffickers receive the maximum penalty as well as that
the property of their accomplices be freezed.

The country formed a 24-member working committee for prevention against
trafficking in person in July 2003 and has stepped up combating such crime
as well as commercial sexual exploitation of children.

As part of its international anti-human-trafficking and anti- illegal
migration cooperation, Myanmar has agreed with Australia in the move.

Besides, Myanmar enacted the Mutual Assistance in Criminal Matters Law in
April last year to serve as a legal basis for the country's international
cooperation in crime suppression including human trafficking.

Moreover, in October last year, as part of the Coordinated Mekong
Ministerial Initiative Against Trafficking (COMMIT) process, Myanmar
joined with five other countries of the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) in
signing the first ever memorandum of understanding on suppression of such
crime in the Asia-Pacific region.

The MoU lays out methods and areas of cooperation to combat all aspects of
human trafficking, encompassing areas of policy and cooperation at the
national and international levels, legal frameworks, law enforcement and
criminal justice, protection, recovery and reintegration of victims as
well as preventive measures.

_____________________________________
BUSINESS / MONEY

April 5, Reuters
Chevron to buy Unocal— Deepa Babington

New York: ChevronTexaco Corp. won a close race to scoop up smaller
California rival Unocal Corp. for about $16.4 billion on Monday, pocketing
prized assets in Asia and expanding its reach in the Gulf of Mexico.

The deal -- rumors of which had set shares of No. 9 U.S. oil and gas
producer Unocal ablaze since December -- gives ChevronTexaco a production
portfolio that stretches from the waters off Indonesia and Myanmar to
Congo and Brazil.

Analysts hailed the deal as a good fit for the No. 5 global oil company's
strategy to grow and a boost for its efforts to compete on the same
playing field as much larger rivals like Exxon Mobil Corp. and BP Plc.

"This points to something very important -- a strategic change from a
focus on returns to a focus on long-term growth," said A.G. Edwards senior
energy analyst Bruce Lanni. "Chevron needs to be in a competitive position
with companies like Exxon, BP and Shell and the areas they were not the
strongest were Asia-Pacific and the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico."

The deal, subject to regulatory and shareholder approval, came as oil
prices surged to a fresh all-time high above $58 a barrel on Monday, after
a steady ascent in recent months.

Surging prices have showered a cash windfall on oil companies, but
declining exploration opportunities coupled with limited access to
oil-rich regions such as the Middle East and Russia have left many
searching for acquisitions to grow.

TURNING A CORNER

Of particular interest to Western majors is Asia, a region that has
reshaped the energy landscape over the past year because of its burgeoning
demand for oil -- and one in which Unocal has the largest exposure to
among its U.S. peers.

"If you look at where all the assets are they are pretty close to hot
markets," said Morgan Keegan analyst Subash Chandra. "It's just a
substantial oil company that is up for sale and that is rare in this
business."

Despite its enviable presence in the East, Unocal has historically
underperfored peers and struggled with production declines. But booming
oil prices helped it post record earnings in 2004, giving Wall Street a
sense that its performance had finally turned a corner.

Last month, Unocal also settled lawsuits that accused it of ignoring human
rights abuses including slave labor and murder during the construction of
a pipeline in Myanmar, closing the chapter on a dispute that had blemished
its reputation.

The full story can be found at the following link:
http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=topNews&storyID=8085694&pageNumber=0

_____________________________________
ASEAN

April 5, Irrawaddy
Asean foreign ministers may support to block Burma from taking chair—
Teresa Cerojano

At least four foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations have indicated they may try and block military-ruled Burma from
taking the chairmanship of the regional trade bloc next year unless it
introduces democratic reforms, officials said Tuesday.

Burma is under increasing pressure to release pro-democracy leader Aung
San Suu Kyi, and take clear steps to democratize. Critics say Burma’s poor
human rights record and reluctance to reform tarnishes Asean’s reputation,
and it shouldn't be allowed to become the chair.

The subject is certain to be raised at an Asean foreign ministers’ retreat
this weekend in the central Philippine city of Cebu.

“Someone will bring it up,” Philippine Foreign Secretary Alberto Romulo
told reporters. “We go by consensus, so let us hope that there is
consensus on the issue.”

At least four ministers have indicated they will support parliamentarians’
calls to block Burma’s chairmanship, Southeast Asian legislators and an
official said on condition of anonymity.

A group of legislators from Cambodia, Indonesia, the Philippines,
Malaysia, Singapore and Thailand—who have initiated the Asean
Inter-Parliamentary Caucus on Burma—have sent formal letters to their
foreign ministers, urging that Burma be required to pass “a minimum
standard of compliance” to legitimize its Asean chairmanship in 2006.

The legislators demanded that Burma immediately lift house arrest for
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi and ensure that Burma’s
constitution-drafting convention be inclusive, particularly in allowing
the participation of Suu Kyi’s National League for Democracy and all
ethnic nationalities.

Romulo said the Philippine position on the proposal to strip Burma of next
year’s Asean chairmanship “has not been taken up yet, but we take note of
the position of our legislators.”

While criticism of Burma has been growing in Malaysia, Singapore and the
Philippines, other Asean members have been reluctant to denounce rights
abuses there because of a tradition of noninterference in each other's
domestic affairs.

Cambodia has already asserted that Asean should abide by that principle,
and Vietnam and Laos are unlikely to press hard for change in Burma.

US and European Union officials have warned they may boycott Burma-hosted
Asean meetings.

_____________________________________
INTERNATIONAL

April 5, Deutsche Presse-Agentur
E.U. holds aid meeting on Myanmar, denies charges of softer line

The European Commission on Tuesday rejected charges it was softening its
stance on dealing with the military junta in Myanmar as officials convened
a meeting of international aid experts to discuss stepped-up assistance to
the country.

As human rights activists protested against the gathering, Commission
officials said the European Union was anxious to ease the economic and
social suffering of the people of Myanmar and wanted expert information on
how best to achieve its goals.

"The focus of Burma Day 2005 is on the possibilities of providing
assistance to the people of Burma, not on the European Union's long-
standing policy of sanctions against the military regime," a Commission
spokeswoman told dpa.

"There is no softening of the E.U. line on Burma/Myanmar...no shift in
policy," the spokeswoman added.

The meeting follows a decision by E.U. governments last October to toughen
sanctions against Yangon but to back up the stricter line by promising
more aid to the people of the country.

The 25-nation bloc said it wanted to fund projects designed to improve
human rights as well as education and health facilities in the country.

It added that while such schemes would be implemented by United Nations
agencies and non-governmental organisations, the bloc would also "engage
with the government of Burma" over its development responsibilities.

The E.U. executive, however, distanced itself from a controversial report
prepared for the Burma Day meeting, saying that while the study was a good
basis for discussion, it did not reflect Commission policy.

Written by Robert Taylor and Morten Pederson, the report has angered
Burmese opposition groups and human rights activists by calling for a
review of E.U. policies on Mynamar.

The study says Brussels should call the country Myanmar instead of Burma,
resume regular high-level visits to Yangon and revise its strategic
objectives in the country.

"The military will remain in power into the indefinite future and any
transition, including important governance and economic reforms, will have
to be negotiated and implemented in cooperation with the officer corps,"
the report said.

Critics slammed both the report and the Commission initiative to organise
the aid meeting as a sign of a change in E.U. policy towards Myanmar.

European Parliament member Glenys Kinnock denounced the report's "crass
and unacceptable proposals to engage with the military junta."

Kinnock said she was especially dismayed that "a small and
unrepresentative band of anti-sanctions lobbyists have been given free
reign," while pro-democracy groups and the Burmese community were excluded
from the meeting.

Harn Yawnghwe, director of the Brussels-based Euro-Burma office said the
study had done little more than repeat old arguments against sanctions.

The E.U. policy of sanctions must be continued and developed to support
the process of change in Myanmar, he said.

Commission officials said that since the focus was on aid to the people of
Myanmar, invitations had been extended to individuals and agencies which
had direct in-the-field experience of working in the country.

They also denied allegations that the authors of the reports were
apologists for the military regime.

The meeting comes ahead of a routine six-monthly updating of E.U. policy
on Myanmar by the bloc's governments. The European Commission will also
soon unveil a strategy for assistance to the country.

_____________________________________

April 5, Irrawaddy
Burma’s Protest Day

Some 50 Burmese exiles traveled to Brussels to join pro-democracy groups
to protest outside a European Commission-sponsored “Burma Day 2005”
meeting today. The protesters complain that the meeting is heavily
lopsided in favor of those calling for an easing of EU sanctions against
Burma.

The meeting has been roundly criticized by non-government organizations,
trade union umrella groups and others for inviting only Burmese regime
sympathizers, shutting out regime opponents. The gathering was initially
meant to discuss humanitarian aid to Burma, but appears now to be looking
at a total review of EU policies on the issue.

Central to the day’s proceedings is a controversial report, commissioned
by the EC,  titled “Supporting Burma/Myanmar’s National Reconciliation
Process: Challenges and Opportunities.” It is written by Robert Taylor, a
fellow at Singapore’s Institute of Southeast Asian Studies, and Morten
Pederson, from the International Crisis Group. Protesters describe them as
longstanding opponents of EU sanctions, which include a ban on visas for
Burmese officials, certain trade and investment restrictions and an
embargo on weapons sales.

A group of protesters were shouting “shame on you” to Taylor and Pedersen,
whose report calls for dismantling sanctions, a resumption of high-level
contacts and increased aid. A Germany-based Burmese activist, Nwe Aung,
told The Irrawaddy by phone: “We are coming to gather here to show we are
against these military apologists.”

The Burma Campaign UK, a London-based NGO, on Monday condemned the EC for
not inviting  pro-democracy organizations to the meeting. “Burma Day will
be dominated by hand-picked delegates with a biased and political
anti-sanctions agenda,” said the organization’s director, John Jackson, in
a statement. “Dissenting voices have been excluded, and the outcome
already decided. The commission appears to be pursuing an anti-sanctions
agenda in direct contradiction to EU member states’ policy.”

Also in the statement, British member of the European Parliament Glenys
Kinnock said: “I am deeply concerned that the commission has organized a
meeting on democracy in Burma in such an anti-democratic and blatently
biased manner.” She called for an explanation from the EC about “why a
small and unrepresentative band of anti-sanctions lobbyists have been
given free reign, while at the same time pro-democracy groups and the
Burmese community have been excluded.”

Kinnock described the commission’s last-minute invitation to the director
of the Euro-Burma Office, Harn Yawnghwe, to join the panel discussion as
“a fig leaf to cover what are crass and unacceptable proposals to engage
with the military junta in Rangoon 
dissenting voices have been excluded,
and the outcome already decided.”

The EU imposed sanctions on the military regime in June 2003, and
tightened them in September 2004.

_____________________________________
OPINION / OTHER

April 5, Bangkok Post
Crunch time approaches for Asean— Kobsak Chutikul

With Burma due to assume the chairmanship of Asean in the middle of next
year, the question being asked now is whether all roads should be leading
to Burma, or away from it.

The International Labour Organisation's fact-finding team, headed by Sir
Ninian Stephen, former governor-general of Australia, and Ruth Dreifuss,
former president of Switzerland, left Rangoon abruptly at the end of
February when denied an expected meeting with a top Burmese military junta
officer. In a damaging report submitted to the ILO governing body in
Geneva at the end of last month, the team expressed grave doubts about the
credibility of promises made by the junta to put an end to forced labour
in Burma.

Back in 2000, the ILO had taken the unprecedented step of calling on its
178 members to impose sanctions against Burma because of the military
government's failure to curb forced labour. The resolution was withdrawn
in 2002 after the junta agreed to let the ILO set up a monitoring office
in Rangoon. Nonetheless, momentum generated by that call led to enactment
of sanctions-related legislation in a number of countries, most notably
the US Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 which placed extensive
restrictions on goods from Burma.

The ILO governing body now feels that in the present circumstances, it can
no longer adopt a wait-and-see attitude, and the call for worldwide
sanctions could be revived if there is no positive development in Burma by
the middle of this year.

The latest reports submitted by the Alternative Asean Network on Burma to
the UN Human Rights Commission document 51 incidents of forced labour in
seven different states and divisions of Burma over the past eight months,
involving thousands of villagers. In one case, in the Toungoo district of
Karen state, a 15-year-old boy forced to work on road construction stepped
on a landmine and lost the lower part of both legs.

A renewed call for sanctions by the ILO is bound to generate a new wave of
international pressure on Rangoon.

Other pressures are already building up within the UN system. The UN Human
Rights Commission in Geneva listened to an oral report last week from
Sergio Pinheiro, UN special rapporteur for Burma. Denied entry into Burma
since November 2003, Mr Pinheiro reported that given the sizeable number
of political prisoners still remaining in prison, only full and
unconditional release of all political prisoners will pave the way for
national reconciliation and the rule of law. Civil rights groups list
1,438 political prisoners being detained in Burma.

The UN Human Rights Commission also received a report from
Secretary-General Kofi Annan based on efforts undertaken by special envoy
Razali Ismail who has been denied entry to Burma since March 2004.
Significantly, the UN secretary-general expressed the opinion that the
format of the national convention put in place by the Burmese government
``does not adhere'' to successive UN General Assembly resolutions.

However, there are developments in the other direction. Two weeks ago,
Natwar Singh became the first Indian foreign minister to visit Rangoon in
18 years. He said India wanted ``a long-term partnership'' with Burma,
which is now considered a ``valuable neighbour and strategic partner''.

Today, the European Commission will be holding a Burma Day in Brussels to
discuss a report prepared by two self-proclaimed experts on Burma, Robert
Taylor and Morten Pedersen. Many European pro-democracy advocacy groups
and Burmese exiles have not been invited to attend. The report calls for a
revision of EU strategy, the easing of sanctions, and resumption of
high-level contacts as well as the provision of technical and financial
aid. The rationale provided is that the ``military controls almost every
lever of power'' and the ``capacity for establishing a civilian government
is weakening year by year''. The new European commissioner for foreign
affairs, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, has hinted that the Commission will soon
be proposing a shift in EU strategy and resumption of high-level talks
with the Burmese junta.

An exercise in real politik by the EU very often is merely a reflexive
climbing down from the fence on the side opposite to the United States. In
testimony to the senate in January, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice
had termed Burma an ``outpost of tyranny'' that would require close US
attention along with Iran, North Korea, Cuba, Belarus and Zimbabwe. Last
week, Senator Mitch McConnell, Republican majority whip, reiterated a call
that the ``US, the EU and the community of democracies should boycott any
and all Asean meetings and events'' if Burma is allowed to chair the
group.

In revising its policies towards Burma, the EU has one eye on the US and
the other on possible business opportunities. India has one eye on China
and the other on the possibility of new sources of oil and gas. Both
parties need to take into account the negative impact that the adjustment
of policies will have on their standing in the eyes of other Asean
countries and their own civil societies.

There is as yet no common Asean position on the question of Burma's
chairmanship. The newer member countries of Indochina are understandably
reluctant to pass judgment on the internal affairs of another Asean
country. But of more interest lately has been the strong undercurrent
against Burma's chairmanship in many of the older Asean members.

The full story is available at the following link:
http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/05Apr2005_opin28.php

PRESS RELEASE

April 5, Burma Campaign UK
ChevronTexaco face Burma protests

The Burma Campaign UK today warned that ChevronTexaco's purchase of UNOCAL
means it could become a target of human rights campaigners. UNOCAL has
significant investments in military ruled Burma.

ChevronTexaco's $18bn takeover of UNOCAL will make the company a partner
of Burma's military regime in the Yadana gas project in Burma. Earlier
this year a global campaign was launched to persuade TOTAL Oil -  another
partner in the project - to pull out of Burma.

"ChevronTexaco have bought themselves a major headache," said John
Jackson, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. "UNOCAL's Burma operations
means that Chevron will now be close business partners of one of the most
brutal regimes in the world. Unless they state that they will sell off the
Burma operations as soon as possible, they will come under pressure from
investors and human rights groups."

ChevronTexaco will be placed on the 'Dirty List' of companies directly or
indirectly funding the regime in Burma, which will next be updated on
August 23rd 2005.

Aung San Suu Kyi's party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), won 82%
of the seats in the elections in 1990, but the regime refused to hand over
power and instead imprisoned and tortured NLD members. Amnesty
International and the United Nations have reported a deteriorating human
rights situation in Burma in the past year. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under
house arrest following a brutal crackdown and massacre of up to 100 of her
supporters in May 2003. More than half the population of Burma lives in
extreme poverty, while at the same time the regime spends around half of
its budget on the military.

For more information contact Mark Farmaner, Media Manager, on 020 7324
4713 or mobile 0794 1239640.