Wired News on March 9, 1995

[FreeBurma@xxxxxxx]

Attn: Burma Newsreaders
Re: Wired News on March 9, 1995
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Burma's Karen want share of gas pipeline benefits   

    By Sutin Wannabovorn 

    KANAELAY, Burma, March 9 (Reuter) - Burma's Karen guerrilla army says it
will seek a share in benefits from a planned natural gas pipeline to be built
through its territory from Burma's offshore fields to Thailand. 

    Karen National Union (KNU) guerrilla leader General Bo Mya said in an
interview earlier this week he would seek talks with the foreign oil
companies involved in the scheme. 

    ``The Karen should get a share of the benefit from whoever gains from the
gas pipeline project,'' Bo Mya told Reuters. 

    ``We have not yet found a solution on how to share such benefit but I
believe we have to talk with all parties concerned, including the oils
companies,'' he said. 

    The veteran guerrilla commander was speaking in a southeastern Burmese
guerrilla zone during a break in an emergency meeting of the rebel
leadership. 

    The meeting was called to re-assess the KNU's future after serious
military setbacks, including the loss of its headquarters, earlier this year.


    Thailand's state petroleum authority signed a 30-year agreement with
Burma last month to import gas via a 400 km (250 mile) pipeline from Burma's
offshore Yadana field starting in 1998. 

    France's Total and Unocal Corp of the United States are due to build the
pipeline which will carry gas from the offshore field through areas of
southeastern Burma in which both Karen and Mon guerrillas operate, to western
Thailand. 

    Thailand will buy 525 million cubic feet per day of natural gas worth
about 10 billion baht ($400 million) per year from Yadana, Burma's largest
known offshore gas field. 

    The ethnic minority Karen guerrillas, who are seeking autonomy, object to
the project saying the revenue will reinforce the position of the military
rulers now in power in Rangoon. 

    Burmese opposition groups have in the past threatened to disrupt
construction of the pipeline or attack it after it has been completed, but Bo
Mya played down those threats this week. 

    ``The Karen never said we would destroy the gas pipeline, we only said it
is not right to build such a huge project while the civil war is still going
on,'' he said. 

    In a statement last month the KNU said it would welcome construction of
the pipeline when the war was over. 

    ``With the establishment of conditons for peaceful resolution of the
country's problems the KNU will welcome and cooperate fully with any business
activity that serves to improve the living conditions of the Karen people,''
the KNU said. 

    Human rights workers on the Thai-Burmese border say thousands of Mon and
Karen villagers have been relocated to clear the way for the pipeline. 

    Tens of thousands of people in southeastern Burma have been forcibly
conscripted to labour on a railway line which rights workers and the Burmese
opposition say is being built to support construction of the gas pipeline. 

    Burma's military rulers deny that it violates human rights and says all
those working on the railway project have freely volunteered their labour.

Transmitted: 95-03-09 02:38:33 EST
***********

Burmese military leader visits Vietnam   

    HANOI, March 9 (Reuter) - Burmese military leader General Than Shwe
arrived in Hanoi at the start of a five-day visit to Vietnam on Thursday, the
second top-level contact between the once-isolated countries in less than a
year. 

    Than Shwe, Chairman of Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC) and Prime Minister, is returning a visit to Burma last May by
Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. 

    Communist Vietnam is further down the road to economic liberalisation and
wide-ranging diplomatic and political relationships which the SLORC has
decided to pursue for Burma. 

    Vietnam is due to join the previously non-communist Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next July, and prospects of Burma's joining
the regional grouping are expected to figure in Than Shwe's talks here. 

    ``Lifting trade and economic relations to the same level as the
well-developed political ties (between Vietnam and Burma) is the aspiration
and determination of the leadership and peoples of the two countries,'' the
Communist Party daily Nhan Dan said in an editorial. 

    The two countries are due to sign economic agreements on Saturday before
Than Shwe flies to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's biggest city and main
commercial centre, government officials said. 

    Burma and Vietnam signed agreements on trade and tourism during Kiet's
visit to Rangoon last May, and Burmese officials here said they were aiming
for accords on cultural exchanges, civil aviation and cooperation against the
narcotics trade. 

    A joint cooperation committee, established last year, was meeting later
on Thursday and was expected to finalise the agreements to be signed. 

    Kiet planned to welcome Than Shwe officially at Vietnam's presidential
palace later on Thursday and the two premiers were due to lead delegations in
formal talks. 

    Than Shwe is due to meet Vietnam's top leader, Communist Party General
Secretary Do Muoi, on Friday, and state President Le Duc Anh on Saturday. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-03-09 01:37:15 EST
***********

Burmese military leader visits Vietnam   

    HANOI, March 9 (Reuter) - Burmese military leader General Than Shwe
arrived in Hanoi at the start of a five-day visit to Vietnam on Thursday, the
second top-level contact between the once-isolated countries in less than a
year. 

    Than Shwe, Chairman of Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration
Council (SLORC) and Prime Minister, is returning a visit to Burma last May by
Vietnamese Prime Minister Vo Van Kiet. 

    Communist Vietnam is further down the road to economic liberalisation and
wide-ranging diplomatic and political relationships which the SLORC has
decided to pursue for Burma. 

    Vietnam is due to join the previously non-communist Association of
Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) next July, and prospects of Burma's joining
the regional grouping are expected to figure in Than Shwe's talks here. 

    ``Lifting trade and economic relations to the same level as the
well-developed political ties (between Vietnam and Burma) is the aspiration
and determination of the leadership and peoples of the two countries,'' the
Communist Party daily Nhan Dan said in an editorial. 

    The two countries are due to sign economic agreements on Saturday before
Than Shwe flies to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam's biggest city and main
commercial centre, government officials said. 

    Burma and Vietnam signed agreements on trade and tourism during Kiet's
visit to Rangoon last May, and Burmese officials here said they were aiming
for accords on cultural exchanges, civil aviation and cooperation against the
narcotics trade. 

    A joint cooperation committee, established last year, was meeting later
on Thursday and was expected to finalise the agreements to be signed. 

    Kiet planned to welcome Than Shwe officially at Vietnam's presidential
palace later on Thursday and the two premiers were due to lead delegations in
formal talks. 

    Than Shwe is due to meet Vietnam's top leader, Communist Party General
Secretary Do Muoi, on Friday, and state President Le Duc Anh on Saturday. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-03-09 01:37:15 EST
***********

U.N. body condemns human rights abusers   

    By Philippe Naughton 


    GENEVA, March 8 (Reuter) - Some of the world's major violators of human
rights found themselves condemned at the United Nations on Wednesday, but
China foiled a U.S.-backed censure motion for the fifth year running. 

    The U.N. Human Rights Commission, wrapping up its annual six week
session, passed resolutions criticising violations in Iraq, Iran, Sudan,
Burma and others. 

    After furious lobbying from both sides, however, a draft resolution
expressing concern at reports of continuing rights abuses in China was
defeated by just one vote. 

    The 53-member Commission voted 21 to 20 with 12 abstentions against a
European draft resolution which was backed by the United States. 

    ``The Chinese government expresses its admiration and gratitude to those
countries who upheld justice and supported China,'' a Foreign Ministry
spokesman was quoted as saying on state radio in Beijing. 

    The strongest resolution by far was that condemning ``massive and
extremely grave'' human rights violations in Iraq, violations that were
blamed on the government of President Saddam Hussein. 

    The Commission decried ``an all-pervasive order of repression and
oppression which is sustained by broad-based discrimination and widespread
terror.'' 

    Iran, another persistent offender in the eyes of the Commission, was
censured for continuing rights violations including torture and excessive use
of the death penalty. 

    The U.N.'s highest human rights forum also expressed ``grave concern'' at
Tehran-backed death threats against British author Salman Rushdie for
allegedly blaspheming Islam in his 1989 novel ``The Satanic Verses.'' 

    Sudan was the subject of a particularly fierce resolution accusing it of
systematic torture, summary executions and even slavery. 

    The Commission expressed ``outrage'' at the use of military force by all
sides in Sudan's long-running civil conflict to disrupt or attack aid
operations for Sudanese civilians. 

    It called Sudan to release all political prisoners, put an end to torture
and close down clandestine detention centres. 

    In a resolution adopted by consensus, Burma was urged to release
``immediately and unconditionally'' Aung San Suu Kyi, the opposition leader
and Nobel Peace Prize laureate who has been held under house arrest for five
years. 

    The resolution criticised the recent Burmese military offensive against
Karen rebels, Burmese student groups and other parts of the political
opposition which it said was ``incompatible with the government's declared
policy of national reconciliation.'' 

    Aside from China, another country that managed to defeat a draft
resolution against it was Nigeria, supported by African and other developing
nations on the Commission. 

    The draft text spoke of arbitrary detentions, severe restrictions on the
right of expression, torture and summary and public executions. The European
Union-sponsored resolution was defeated by 21 votes to 17 with 15
abstentions. 

    A resolution critical of Zaire was passed without a vote. The resolution
said fundamental freedoms were still being flouted in Zaire, particularly
through the practice of torture in prisons where conditions were often
``inhuman and degrading.'' 

    The Commission also noted with concern that Zaire's army and security
forces continued to use force against civilians and to enjoy great immunity. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-03-09 00:39:33 EST
*********

Extravagant Burmese gems go on sale   

    RANGOON, March 9 (Reuter) - An extravagant collection of jade, gems and
pearls valued at nearly $23 million will go on sale at a gems fair in Rangoon
on Friday. 

    Deputy Minister for Mines Hlaing Win told a news conference on Wednesday
that 339 lots of gems, 621 lots of jade and 120 lots of pearls, with a total
value of $18,601,960 will be auctioned. 

    A further 129 lots of gems, 38 lots of jade, 5,705 pieces of jewellery
and 5,261 pieces of jade carving with a total value of $4,155,047 will be
sold at fixed prices, he said. 

    Hlaing Win said the annual output of jade from northern Burma's Kachin
state had risen over the past two years from 100 tonnes to 300 tonnes thanks
to a ceasefire between the government and Kachin guerrillas. 

    Gems and jade worth $6,047,412 were sold at last October's emporium. 

REUTER
Transmitted: 95-03-09 01:26:02 EST
*************
----------------------------------------------------------------END