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burma news update
/* Written 8:35 am May 6, 1994 by mbeer@xxxxxxxxxxx in igc:soc.cult.burma */
/* ---------- "burma news update" ---------- */
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Michael Beer
mbeer@xxxxxxxxxxx
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Copyright 1994 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
May 05, 1994 03:57 Eastern Time
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 680 words
HEADLINE: Mercy missions reach remote cyclone-hit areas as roads reopen
BYLINE: Nadeem Qadir
DATELINE: COXS BAZAR, Bangladesh, May 5
BODY:
Food and medicines were reaching thousands of cyclone victims Thursday in
remote areas of southeastern Bangladesh as blocked roads were reopened for
relief convoys.
"We are (now) well-equipped for the post-cyclone situation... our medical and
relief teams are fanning out in the remote areas," Enamul Kabir, the chief
administrator of this frontier district, told AFP.
The fishing town of Teknaf bordering Burma and other areas falling under
Coxs Bazar district were the hardest hit by Monday's cyclone, which left at
least 139 people dead and thousands injured and homeless.
Some news reports said up to 200 people died in the cyclone, which devastated
parts of the region.
About 200,000 Burmese Moslem refugees sheltered in hillside, makeshift camps
suffered the worst. Among the dead were 85 refugees in the camps, most of which
were razed to ground, leaving almost 80 percent of the inmates homeless.
An estimated 250,000 Moslem Rohingyan refugees fled to Bangladesh in 1991
following alleged persecution by the military junta in their homeland. About
50,000 have have since been repatriated.
Government and relief officials were to hold talks here Thursday with
officials of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other international aid
agencies to coordinate post-cyclone refugee rehabilitation.
Kabir said tents and polythene sheets were being sent to cyclone-stricken
areas to put up makeshift shelters and a nine-member committee was overseeing
relief and rehabilitation missions.
He admitted that relief had initially been slow in reaching victims mainly
due to damaged communications and blocked roads.
An official from the regional city of Chittagong, who visited the affected
areas, said the cyclone had highlighted the need for a strong wireless network
linking coastal areas and islands exposed to frequent natural calamities. This is needed to pinpoint the worst-hit areas in the event of disaster to
ensure speedy relief, the official said.
Telecommunications with the cyclone-ravaged areas, including Teknaf and St.
Matin island, would be restored in up to four days and power supplies in a
fortnight, Kabir said.
"We are also thinking of alternative measures for the interim period," Kabir
said.
Telecommunications officials in Dhaka said earlier that a mobile satellite
station was dispatched to Teknaf to restore emergency telephone lines.
Besides levelling most of the mud-and-bamboo houses along the coast, the
cyclone, packing wind speeds of up to 250 kilometers (152 miles) per hour,
damaged hundreds of electric and telephone poles and overhead cables.
It left material losses worth 130 million dollars and damaged crops in tens
of thousands of hectares (acres).
Losses were minimised by advance storm alerts and a massive evacuation effort
that saw half the region's 1.2 million people evacuated to cyclone shelters and
other safe places before the cyclone slammed into the coast.
A cyclone that struck the same region claimed an estimated 139,000 lives
three years ago in the worst natural calamity to hit Bangladesh in four decades.
nq/gt/akp/h
Copyright 1994 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
May 05, 1994 10:09 Eastern Time
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 307 words
HEADLINE: Vietnamese prime minister to visit Burma
DATELINE: RANGOON, May 5
BODY:
Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet is to visit Burma in a trip that will
make him only the third head of government to go to Rangoon since the 1988
military coup here. The official New Light of Myanmar (Burma) daily on Thursday said Vo Van
Kiet, his wife and an official delegation would visit Burma "in the near
future" at the invitation of Senior General Than Shwe, chairman of the ruling
military junta. It did not elaborate.
But reliable diplomatic sources said the visit would be May 11-14.
Prime Minister Khamtai Siphandone of Laos visited Burma in February 1992,
and Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong of Singapore came last March.
Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw earlier said one of the government's top priorities
is to establish personal contacts with the leaders of other nations particularly
those in Southeast Asia, to foster "better understanding."
Vietnam, Laos and Burma are the three regional countries still outside the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Vietnam and Laos are expected to attend the July ASEAN meeting as observers
and there has been a flurry of diplomatic initiatives from host Thailand to
invite Burma to attend as a guest.
ASEAN follows a "constructive engagement" policy toward Burma and has
rejected calls by Western nations to isolate the military government here for
alleged human rights violations.
kmt-jwh/jms
Copyright 1994 Agence France Presse
Agence France Presse
May 05, 1994 13:58 Eastern Time
SECTION: International news
LENGTH: 414 words
HEADLINE: Bangladeshi troops reach Teknaf for cyclone rehabilitation
DATELINE: TEKNAF, Bangladesh, May 5
BODY:
A Bangladeshi army unit reached this worst-hit frontier coastal district
Thursday, to assist civil authorities in the rehabilitation of tens of thousands
of survivors of Monday's cyclone.
An officer from a local brigade accompanying the unit said they hoped to
start relief operations Friday "after spots are specified" by the authorities.
As the troop convoy carrying relief and construction materials drove toward
this fishing town, many distressed families on the outskirts stood and waved in
hope of receiving emergency food and other supplies.
Many families have placed red flags on make-shift poles near levelled
mud-and-bamboo houses, in a bid to draw the attention of the passing relief
teams.
The arrival of the troops here coincided with the reopening of the main
highway linking this frontier town with Cox's Bazar, after volunteers worked for
days to clear thd road of hundreds of fallen trees and debris.
Earlier reports said troops joined volunteers and government workers in
relief efforts all across the southeastern Bangladesh coast, which was ravaged
by Monday's cyclone from the Bay of Bengal.
The storm killed 139, and left thousands wounded and nearly half a million
homeless.
The dead included 86 Burmese Moslem refugees, after most of their 18
make-shift refugee camps near here were blown away or damaged in the cyclone.
250,000 of the refugees, known as Rohingyas, fled their homeland in 1991
alleging persecution by Burmese authorities, but 50,000 had been repatriated in
recent months.
Teknaf and neighbouring coastal areas, bordering Burma, bore the main brunt
of the storm, which packed winds of upto 250 kilometers (152 miles) per hour. A
sudden change of course for the storm, the absence of tidal waves and adequate
preventive measures left the toll dramatically lower than following the 1991
cyclone here which killed 139,000 people.
nq/gt/pse
Copyright 1994 The British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
May 5, 1994, Thursday
SECTION: Part 3 Asia - Pacific; SOUTHEAST ASIA; BURMA; FE/1989/B ;
LENGTH: 491 words
HEADLINE: [1];
Than Shwe addresses management trainees
The British Broadcasting Corporation, May 5, 1994
SOURCE: Radio Burma, Rangoon, in Burmese 1330 gmt 2 May 94
BODY:
Excerpts from report
Senior General Than Shwe, patron of the Union Solidarity and Development
Association [USDA], chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council and
commander-in-chief of the Defence Services, addressed the opening ceremony of
the USDA executives management training course No 2/94 held at 0900 today [2nd
May] in the Union Hall of the Training Department of the Central Public
Relations Corps in Hmawbi...
Than Shwe said that the central level of the organization would not be able
to operate extensively at the grass-roots level, and that the course is to
enable regional leaders to operate extensively aas full-fledged members at the
grass-roots levels. He explained that the training course is being held to
enable executive members to coordinate work systematically among themselves at
various levels so that they would not carry out programmes on their own
initiative. He said the course would systematically train them in office and
organizational work. The trainees would also be taught in areas of general
knowledge, he said.
Than Shwe explained that the courses would be conducted by cabinet ministers,
directors-general and managing directors, and called on the trainees to study
and observe subjects to be taught and to ask questions if they do not
understand... [passage omitted]
Than Shwe explained that following the events of 1988, there has been a
switch from a one-party system to a multiparty one, and the economic system has
been changed to a market economy. He said the USDA is a social organization
which, together with the Defence Services, will provide guidance to ensure that
the union, which is formed by all national races, remains stable and peaceful.
He said the SLORC is currently holding the National Convention, which is
aimed at developing a firm state constitution. He said the new constitution
would emerge when the time comes and a new nation would then emerge. He added
that the SLORC is working for national reconciliation. He explained that there
had been no national solidarity and stability and peace in the country since
independence. That was why armed organizations in the jungle are being invited
to return to the legal fold. The invitation is being extended not because we
have difficulties, but because we would like to carry out development projects
in areas where the armed organizations have returned to the legal fold and where
national races previously had no rights to economic development, health,
education and social development.
He said there has been considerable success in introduction of the market
economy and that the rate of economic growth was 10.9% in 1992-93 and 6% in
1993-94. He said efforts would be made to maintain this growth to improve the
living standards of everyone, including workers and peasants. He said that while
we should strive for political stability and national unity, we should also work
for economic progress...
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
May 5, 1994, Thursday
SECTION: Part 3 Asia - Pacific; SOUTHEAST ASIA; BURMA; FE/1989/B ;
LENGTH: 145 words
HEADLINE: [2];
Khun Sa's aide denies Shan State story
BODY:
'The Nation', Bangkok, in English 3 May 94 p a4
Text of report (FE/1986 B/1 [2])
A close aide of Burmese drug warlord Khun Sa yesterday [2nd May] denied that
the opium kingpin wants his Shan state to become part of the Thai kingdom.
Khernsai Jaiyene said although Khun Sa respects the Thai monarch highly and
wants closer ties with Bangkok, he wants Shan to remain "independent" . He said
Khun Sa could have been misquoted.
"We respect His Majesty the King and, once Shan state gains independence, we
would like to invite the Thais to trade with us," Khun Sa said during a recent
press interview. "All our rich natural resources can be sold to Thailand as raw
material and Thailand will benefit immensely from it."
Khun Sa said he would like Shan state to have a close economic relationship
with Thailand, like that of countries in the European Community.
Copyright 1994 The British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
May 5, 1994, Thursday
SECTION: Part 3 Asia - Pacific; SOUTHEAST ASIA; BURMA; FE/1989/B ;
LENGTH: 145 words
HEADLINE: [3];
Japanese government visitor meets Khin Nyunt
SOURCE: Kyodo News Service, Tokyo, in English 0632 gmt 4 May 94
The British Broadcasting Corporation, May 5, 1994
BODY:
Text of report
A senior member of Japan's ruling coalition, Kozo Watanabe, met Lt-Gen Khin
Nyunt, leader of the ruling military Junta Wednesday [4th May] morning,
diplomatic sources said. Watanabe, a member of the House of Representatives and
a key legislator in Shinseito (Japan Renewal Party), is the second Japanese
parliamentarian to visit Myanmar [Burma] in the past week. Shingo Nishimura, a
lower house member of the Democratic Socialist Party, a coalition partner, met
the general, who is also secretary of the State Law and Order Restoration
Council, on 28th April.
Watanabe came to Yangon [Rangoon] on Tuesday morning with 11 Japanese
business magnates. They will fly to Mamdalay, Myanmar's second largest city
located 700 km north of Yangon, on Wednesday afternoon. They will proceed to
Kunming in the Chinese province of Yunnan on Thursday.
Copyright 1994 The Times Mirror Company
Los Angeles Times
May 5, 1994, Thursday, Home Edition
SECTION: Part A; Page 15; Column 1; Foreign Desk
LENGTH: 248 words
HEADLINE: DEATH TOLL FROM CYCLONE THAT HIT BANGLADESH RISES TO 167
BYLINE: From Reuters
DATELINE: DHAKA, Bangladesh
BODY:
Rescuers sifting through collapsed homes and twisted forests recovered 37
bodies Wednesday, raising the death toll from Monday's cyclone to 167, officials
said.
The death toll could pass 200, they said, as hundreds of people were still
missing after high winds and heavy rains battered the Bay of Bengal coast and
offshore islands.
More than 7,000 people have been injured, many critically, and more than half
a million made homeless, according to official estimates.
Officials supervising rescue and relief efforts said more than half of the
dead were refugees from Myanmar, killed when the storm blew down 16 of their
18 camps.
Camp officials said food, medicine and other supplies had been washed away or
damaged by heavy rain.
"The damage is much worse than I expected," said Dan Prewitt, spokesman for
the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.
"In effect, the camps are almost completely wiped out," he said Wednesday
after visiting some of the camps. "But, despite the devastation, loss of life in
the camps has been low."
Prewitt praised the government of Bangladesh for its quick relief efforts,
saying they have been "effectively coordinated with the efforts by
non-government organizations and aid agencies."
"I have worked in many countries where there was lack of such coordination,"
he said.
Local officials said virtually no house was left standing in affected
villages. Uprooted trees and electrical poles blocked highways, witnesses said.
GRAPHIC: Photo, Devastation in Bangladesh: Sifting through collapsed homes and
twisted forests, rescuers in Bangladesh recovered 37 bodies, raising the death
toll from Monday's cyclone to 167, officials said. More than 7,000 people were
injured, officials said, and hundreds more were still missing. Above, a man
carries his injured wife from their wrecked home. Reuters
Copyright 1994 The British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Summary of World Broadcasts
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