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BurmaNet News: May 26, 1995 [#179]





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The BurmaNet News: May 26, 1995
Issue #179

NOTED IN PASSING:
          Now, by request of SLORC, Thai forces are making a huge media
          show of going into the camps and confiscating the weapons,
          which in some cases they handed out themselves to begin with. 
          They are making every effort to cast the  refugees as 'armed
          insurgents' and not real refugees and attempting to turn Thai
          public feeling against the refugees, possibly in preparation
          for a sudden and large-scale forced repatriation operation.
               See <KHRG: THAI ARMY THREATENS RETURN OF KAREN REFUGEES>


BURMANET: SUGARLAND BLUES AT UNOCAL ANNUAL MEETING
HOUSTON CHRONICLE: PROTESTERS CRASH UNOCAL MEETING
KHRG: NOTIFICATION TO BURMANET USERS                   
KHRG: THAI ARMY THREATENS RETURN OF KAREN REFUGEES
BURMANET: A BILL ON THE HILL WOULD PRESSURE SLORC
NATION: DESPITE RIGHTS ROW, US MAY TRAIN BURMA TO COMBAT
          DRUG TRAFFIC 
NATION: UN OFFICIAL CLAIMS VIJIT'S ESTIMATE ON
          REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES SLORC'S FIGURE
NATION: KAYAN LEADER REPORTED MURDERED
BYVA-JAPAN: NLD JAPAN PLANNING MEETING HELD
NATION: BURMESE UPRISING INSPIRES CANNES FILM
OCC:  OCC PROFESSOR EAGERLY AWAITS DEBUT OF MOTION PICTURE
      ABOUT BURMA


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BURMANET: SUGERLAND BLUES AT UNOCAL ANNUAL MEETING

[Based on reports by Gandalf and Legolas]

Unocal was embarassed for a second year running at their annual 
shareholders meeting, held in Sugar Land, Texas on May 22, 1995.  
Although the company switched the meeting to Houston, some 30
activists turned up.  The meeting was held in Texas probably in an
attempt to avoid the large demonstration that occurred outside its
annual meeting at its headquarters in Los Angeles last year.

About ten people opposed to the pipeline were allowed inside the
meeting room where 300 shareholders were gathered.  They were allowed
to address the share-holders at the meeting although few questions
were generated by those present.  A Mon monk, speaking through an 
interpreter, addressed the meeting as did Dr. Thaung Htun
(A.B.S.D.F.).  Others there included  Ko Latt from LA (who is a
refugee student), rainforest action people from LA and SF.   

Unocal defended their involvement in the pipeline, saying that their
presence was purely economic and denied charges of their complicity in
the worsening human rights situations in Burma.  

The protest event was given fairly good coverage in the local media as
there were four TV and two radio stations present.  One Unocal
official was overheard telling the Mayor of Sugarland that the company
would not hold their meeting in his town next year.  If so, Sugarland
joins Seattle Washington and Berkeley California as cities Unocal  
won't be holding its next meeting in. Seattle and Berkeley have passed
ordinances restricting business with companies that like Unocal, do
business in Burma.



HOUSTON CHRONICLE: PROTESTERS CRASH UNOCAL MEETING
May 23, 1995 

By David Ivanovich
------------------

Unocal Corp. officials might have figured moving the annual meeting
from  down town Los Angeles to suburban Sugar Land would make for a
somewhat  quite session.

Any such notions were quickly dispelled Monday when banners reading 
"Unocal Supports Slave Labor in Burma" and "Save Burmese Rainforests
/  No Deals with Dictators" went up along U.S. 59.

Human rights groups hammered away at company officials Monday,
insisting  Unocal pull out of military-controlled Burma, which is
called Myanmar by  its rulers and Unocal officials.

Unocal, France's Total the Petroleum Authority of Thailand and Burma's 
state owned Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise are developing the Yadana 
Fields in the Sea of Andaman, an area believed to hold 5.7 trillion 
cubic feet of natural gas.

The group plans to construct a $1 billion, 260-mile pipeline from the 
Yadana Field east across Burma to Thailand. Unocal officials made
clear  Monday the project is a cornerstone of the company's strategic
plan. 
"In Thailand alone gas markets are projected to grow more than 50 
percent by the year 2000-and more than double by 2010," Unocal Chief 
Executive Roger Beach said. "We intend to be a major player in
supplying  this growing market."

"Unocal is not the only U.S oil company operafing in Burma. White 
Plains, N.Y based Texaco is exploring for oil and gas off the coast of 
Burma in the Gulf of Martarban.

But Burma is a pariah in the international community and its relations 
with the United States are strained.

The country's millitary government, the State Law and Order
Restoration  Council(SLORC), invalidated the results of a 1900
democratic election  and placed opposition leader and Nobel Peace
Prize winner Aung San Suu  Kyi under house arrest.

While American companies remain the largest foreign investors in the 
country, the U.S government charging that opium and heroin doubled
under  the current rulers has moved to isolate Burma.

"The Wall Street Journal," a publication not exactly known for its 
liberal politics, noted in a Feb. 10 editorial: "We have argued for 
commerce and investment where it strengthens civil societies vis-a-vis 
dictators. But these deals, by putting money directly into SLORC's 
pocket, only make a richer prize out of political power. The prospect
of  vast petro dollars gives the generals yet another reason to cling
to  office no matter how many bodies of their fellow citizens pile
up". 
At the annual meeting Monday,Protesters told stories of Burmese 
citizeens being relocated to make way for the pipeline or even being 
forced to work in slave labor camps.

"My home is not very far from the area where Unocal wants to build a 
pipeline," said Nai Ong Mon,secretary-general for the Indigenous Mon 
Council of Burma, now living in Philadelphia. "Does Unocal consider it 
has any responsibility for the people whose property was seized for
the  pipeline? They were living there before the United States was 
discovered."

Human rights groups such as Human Rights Watch say they have
documented  cases of Burmese being forced to clear land to build a
railroad. And  many protesters insist Burmese civilians now are being
forced to  construct the pipeline as well. That outrageous accusation
angered  Unocal's outgoing chairman,Richard Stegemeier, who noted that
the  railroad has no connection to the pipeline. And he argued that
reports  of slave labor on the pipeline must be false since
construction has not  begun.

"There is no slave labor on a pipeline that doesn't exist," Stegemeier 
said.

Stegemeier said the company sent representatives to the villages in
the  affected area to investigate complaints. "We have not observed, 
ourselves, any human rights violations in the area in which we work, 
Stegemeier said.

And Stegemeier argued there is only so much a U.S company working in
a  foreign land can do.

"We are by necessity, apolitical," Stegemeier said. It's not only
smart  business, but it's often required by law and certainly by our 
contracts".

Thaung Htun with the National Coalition Government of the Union of
Burma  warned that if Unocal does not pull out now, a democratically
elected  government will not honor its contract if the military is
forced out of  power.

The protesters sponsored a stockholder proposal to beef up the
company's  ethics code. The board recommended shareholders vote
against the  proposal and it was roundly defeated.

Burma, however was not the only issue on the protesters' agenda. They 
also criticized Unocal's environmental record and its planned 
construction of a sour gas plant in the Slave Field in Alberta,
Canada,  over the objections of the local Lubican Lake Indian tribe. 
((passage omitted relating to Unocal staff reduction and moving to
Sugar  Land))





KHRG: NOTIFICATION TO BURMANET USERS                   
May 16, 1995

KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP


It has recently been brought to our attention that SLORC
representatives in at least one SLORC Embassy have been given open and
direct access to BurmaNet.  While realizing that InterNet is not a
secure medium at the best of times, we still feel that this was a most
unfortunate decision by the organizers of BurmaNet (i.e., allowing
SLORC on the BurmaNet).  As our reports contain information from
villages inside Burma, we have an obligation to the people of those
villages to do our utmost to protect them from SLORC retaliation. 
Therefore, we have no choice but henceforth to withhold certain of our
reports from BurmaNet  distribution.  Reports which we do upload onto
BurmaNet will be scanned  beforehand, and any specific information
which would be of use to SLORC Intelligence in pinpointing villages
will be blotted out.  Certain individual testimonies or portions of
reports may have to be dropped entirely.  This process will also
result in a greater time lapse before the reports can be uploaded.

Our direct contacts should note that they will continue to receive the
normal versions of our reports, but that these will not be identical
to the BurmaNet versions, which will be much more strictly 'blacked
out'.  We are presently considering the possibility of establishing a
direct Internet mailing list for our reports in order to get around
this problem for  contacts who want fuller versions of the reports
than will appear on  BurmaNet.  Anyone interested in being on such a
list should send a message  to KHRG c/o strider@xxxxxxxxxxx, including
an explanation of your interest  in Burma and at least one reliable
reference (preferably with an email  address) within the
Burma-interest community.

As a result of this situation, we must also request people who obtain
our  reports on paper NOT to upload them onto BurmaNet.
 

                              Karen Human Rights Group














KHRG: THAI ARMY THREATENS RETURN OF KAREN REFUGEES
KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP:  COMMENTARY UPDATE / URGENT ACTION REQUEST 
May 16, 1995

The future of Karen refugees continues to grow more desperate, as the
Thai approach to the problem of cross-border attacks by SLORC and DKBA
appears to have entered a new and extremely worrying phase.  While the
DKBA claims that it will only hold off its attacks if the Thais
forcibly repatriate refugees, the Thai authorities appear to be
preparing to appease them and the SLORC by doing just that.

Since the cross-border attacks began in February, Thai officials have
made it quite clear to local refugee camp leaders that they were
unwilling to provide sufficient forces to secure the camps against
attack.  They therefore authorized and even encouraged camps to create
their own security forces.  In some cases these security forces were
allowed to be armed with a few small arms to defend the camp, and in
some cases they remained unarmed.  In some remote camps north of Mae
Sariang, the local Thai forces even supplied the arms to the camp 
security group.

Now, by request of SLORC, Thai forces are making a huge media show of
going into the camps and confiscating the weapons, which in some cases
they handed out themselves to begin with.  They are making every
effort to cast the  refugees as 'armed insurgents' and not real
refugees and attempting to turn Thai public feeling against the
refugees, possibly in preparation for a sudden and large-scale forced
repatriation operation. The Thai  language media, which is
'self-censored' and largely owned by the Thai  military, is going
along with the show.  While disarming whatever limited  camp security
there has been up until now, the Thais are NOT providing  any increase
in Thai military protection for the camps.  Truckloads of  Thai
soldiers arrive at the camps, have themselves filmed marching through 
the camp and then pile back on their trucks and leave.  They are only 
securing Thai towns in the area, not refugee camps, while there is
evidence  that their retaliatory helicopter 'attacks' against SLORC
and DKBA forces  have all been faked.  However, the Thai media is full
of images of convoys  of Thai Army trucks, APCs and helicopters to
convince the public that  something is being done.

This is an Urgent Action request for all people concerned with Burma
to  mobilize their governments, NGOs and public opinion to prevent any
mass forced repatriation of Karen refugees by Thai authorities.  These
people are refugees, not armed 'insurgents', and camp security groups
only took up arms to defend their camps with the agreement and
cooperation of Thai  authorities, and because Thailand refused to
protect its own territorial  sovereignty.  The refugees state that
they cannot return to Burma in conditions of safety and dignity right
now, and all available human rights evidence supports them in that
assertion.

Thailand is right now vulnerable to international pressure, because
they plan to sponsor SLORC to this year's ASEAN Foreign Ministers'
Meeting in  Brunei this July and they would rather not be the subject
of an  international verbal attack by ASEAN's international dialogue
partners. Chuan Leekpai's government also faces a strong domestic lack
of confidence  right now.  At the same time, as this is being written
American and Thai forces are participating in Operation Cobra Gold in
other parts of  Thailand, the largest joint military exercise in
Southeast Asia.  It is certainly ironic that the Thai and American
Armies can throw all their effort into such a practice exercise at the
same time that Thailand allows the SLORC Army, one of the world's most
condemned gangs, to invade its western border without even putting up
a fight.




BURMANET:  A BILL ON THE HILL WOULD PRESSURE SLORC
May 26
 
A section of HR 1561, The American Overseas Interest Act a Bill being
proposed in the U.S. Congres would reduce the American diplomatic
presence in Rangoon and pressure the United Nations to cut funding for
several agencies working in Burma.  The purpose of the bill is to cut
some of the support the regime is receiving from international
agencies and from Americans doing business in Burma.  At this stage, 

HR 1561 authorizes appropriations for the Department of State and
related agencies for fiscal years 1996 and 1997.  At this stage, it's 
still just a bill, but according to observers in Washington, the
language on Burma stands a good chance of passage in some form.

The actual text of the bill that deals with Burma is as follows: 

HR 1561- American Overseas Interest Act 
Submitted by Congressman Benjamin Gilman 
Chair. House Foreign Affairs Committee
Chapter 3 - BURMA
        
Sec. 2651-United States Policy Concerning the Dictatorship in Burma

        
A. Sense of Congress. It is the sense of Congress that the President
should take steps to encourage the United Nation to- 
        
1. Impose an international Arms Embargo on Burma.         
2. Affirm support for Human Rights and the protection of all Karen, 
   Karenni and other minorities in Burma.         
3. Condemn Burmese officials responsible for crimes against humanity.
4. Take steps to encourage multilateral assistance programs for 
   refugees from Burma in Thailand and India; and         
5. Reduce United Nations activities in Burma, including UNDP(Un ited
    Nations Development Programs), UNICEF(United Nations Children's
    Fund)'  UNFPA(United Nations Family Planning Agency), World Health 
    Organization (WHO), Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) , and
   UNDICP(United Nations International Drug Control Programs)        
  activities.

 B. Reduction in Diplomatic presence- It is the stance of Congres s
that the President should reduce the diplomatic presence of the United
States in Burma by reducing the total number of member of the Foreign
Service stationed in Burma on the date of the enactment  of this act.





NATION: DESPITE RIGHTS ROW, US MAY TRAIN BURMA TO COMBAT
          DRUG TRAFFIC 
25.5.95/The Nation

Rangoon -US authorities trying to plug the pipeline  that
supplies America with  70 per cent of its heroin are debating whether
to give Burma money to fight drug traffcking.

The United States now supplies no such aid, insisting that Burma first
put a stop to human rights violations and adopt democratic reforms.

Deputy US Assistant Secretary of State Thomas Hubbard said recently
that any direct US aid to the Southeast Asian nations's ruling junta
would " grant legitimacy to a regime that seized power by overturning
democratic elections and presecuting its opponents."

But there are indications this stance may change, given the amount of
heroin smuggled from Burma into the United States. The results are
violence, the spread of Aids, overdose deaths among some 600,000
heroin addicts and enrichment of crime syndicates. 
Proponents of anti-narcotics assistance to Rangoon say training
Burmese police, sharing intelligence an dprovidign funds and equipment
such as helicopters and communication gear would stem some of the
heroin tide.

While large-scale aid is not foreseen, knowledgeable sources expect at
least training assistance and more funds channelled to UN drug
programmes in Burma this year.

" Clearly if you going to deal with the heroin problem you have to
engage Burma,"  said Dr Lee Brown , director of White House Office on
Drug Control Police and the Clinton administration's top anti-drug
official.

Another huge crop of about 2,500 tonnes of opium was harvested in
Burma late 1994 and early this year. Refined into heroin in remote
laboratories ,the drug is traficked to North America, Europe ,
Australia and Asian nations.

As this latest avalanche of white powder rolls into American cities,
a new heroin strategy is in the final states of
foumulation before being sent to President Cliton .

American cfficials in Southeast Asia say Brown's office, the US Drug
Enforcement Administration and teh section of the US State Department
dealing with narcotics favour more cooperation with Rangoon . Opposed
to closer ties are the State Department's human rights officials and
members of the National Security Council . 
The controversy blew into the open when DEA agent Richard A Horn sued
last year after being abruptly reassigned from the US Embassy here .
He charges the State Department subverted his work in Burma and
purposely hoodwinked the US Congress and public about Rangoon's
successful anti-narcotics efforts .

In a now two-year campaign against Khun Sa, the Burmese Army has
suffered hundreds of dead while disrupting the operations of an opium
warlord wanted by the United States . They have also started a UN-
backed programme to substitute opium with cash crops .

" Western countries haven't really recognized what we have done," said
Brig Gen David Abel, a member of Burma's ruling military council, in
a recent interview in Rangoon.

"We have sacrificed life and limb. Nobody has come forward to say you
have done this very well . They just close their eyes
purposely." 

The Burmese junta argues that with out international support it can
only take limited action; that weaning opium growers from their deadly
crop takes years; and that it has little access to opium - growing
areas controlled by insurgent armies.

"Some of the Western countries seem to have mixed narcotics and
politics. We see narcotics and politics as different," said Col Kyaw
Win , a key officer in Burma's anti-narcotics drive.

DEA officials have said pretty much the same thing.     







NATION: UN OFFICIAL CLAIMS VIJIT'S ESTIMATE ON
          REPATRIATION OF REFUGEES SLORC'S FIGURE

24.5.95/The Nation


A SENIOR Thai official said yesterday that more than 10,000 Karen
refugees have returned to Burma, But a UN refugee agency
representative in Bangkok put the number at about 3,000.

Defence Minister Vijit Sookmark pointed out that it is Thai policy to
repatriate refugees, and said Rangoon had agreed to their return .

"So far, I have been told that more than 10,000 Karen refugees have
already returned to Burma " he said.

But Ruprecht von Arnim, of the United Nations High Commissioner for
Refugees [UNHCR] office, said " this figure is from Slorc".

The State Law and Order Restoration Committee [Slorc] is the ruling
junta in Rangoon.

" It is definitely not 10,000 Karen who returned to Burma, maybe 3,000
-we are not sure," he said.

Some 10,000 Karen fled Burma this year when the Democratic Kayin
Buddhist Organization [DKBO] broke from the Karen National Union [KNU]
and joined forces with the government . Together they inflicted a
number of heavy defeats on KNU forces along the border.

Since then the DKBO " has been trying to drive their family members
from Thailand," von Arnim said." That was the purpose of the
incursions. But [the refugees were unwilling to return], so they used
more forceful methods."

DKBO fighters raided several refugee camps inside Thailand last month
to either abduct refugees or burn down their homes to force them back.

Von Arnim said he did not know about conditions on the Burmese side or
if it was safe for the Karen to return because his agency has no
representative there.

"The Burmese government has not expressed any wish yet to have UNHCR
monitor the return of the refugees," he said." The Thais have said
yes, but they can't authorize the UNHCR to work in Burma."

On April 28, about 1,000 huts were torched at the main camp of Huay
Manok . Thai authorities have since been relocating all new arrivals
to a "safe  area " at Mae La, 10 km from the border. 
But every time a camp is closed, "people disappear", von Arnim said.
Some may go back to Burma, but others just move elsewhere in Thailand