The BurmaNet News February 25, 1997

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------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
"Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: February 25, 1997
Issue #649

HEADLINES:
==========
ABSDF: INDO-BURMA BORDER NEWS
BRC-JAPAN: BORDER UPDATE -FEB 23, 1997
THAILAND TIMES:ARMY PORTERS SENT ACROSS THE BORDER
THE ECONOMIST: THE BRAVE FACES OF THE KAREN
THAILAND TIMES:HAWKE TELLS WORLD TO LINK WITH BURMA
SPEECH FOR CFOB: JOHN RAULSTON SAUL
ASIA TIMES: THAI GENERAL PREDICTS FALL OF KAREN REBEL
THE NATION: ALLIES LOOK ON AS KAREN TAKE BEATING
THE NATION: OPTIMISM ABOUT ENTERING ASEAN
THE NATION: HARSH TREATMENT OF DETAINED STUDENTS
THE NATION: PRICE CUT TIED TO INCREASE IN GAS PURCHASE
ANNOUNCEMENT:BAY AREA BURMA ROUNDTABLE
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ABSDF: INDO-BURMA BORDER NEWS
February 24, 1997

On 1st Feb 1997 Township Law and Order Restoration Council chairman of Leshi
township, Saggaing division, Naga hill tract U Mya Han sent a
letter to the command of (222) Burma Regiment mobile column Maj. Aung Swe Oo
to call civilian porters for carrying ration for (1000) soldiers.
Therefore Maj. Aung Swe Oo ordered the villagers from the following
villages to come to Leshi town without failure.

Name of the village
Number of porters
1. Summra village				                     130
2.Kuki village                                                       125
3.Phontharet village                                                  85
4.Pansat village                                                     115
5.Ngachan village                                                    100
6.Kokailong village                                                  108

These porters have to carry ration from Leshi to the places where the
soldiers are deployed inside Leshi township.But there is no car road between
Leshi and Summra and on foot it takes two days journey. The villages were
informed that they would not get any wages and for food
they have to arrange by themselves from their homes.
Villagers are busy at hill-side cultivation at the moment and due to that
the village chiefs requested to the army to reduce the number of porters.
But Maj. Aung Swe Oo replied that if the villagers can not fulfill the
number of porters that they had been asked, the villagers have to supply
the ration for (1000) soldiers. Thus they had to send their full quota of
porters to the said place.
Due to this forced porterage the villagers from respective villages had
to leave Summer season hill-side cultivation.

News and information unit
A.B.S.D.F. (Western Burma)

******************

BRC-JAPAN: BORDER UPDATE -FEB 23, 1997
February 23, 1997

Three camps in the Umphang area were evacuated to a place between Mae Kong
Mai and Umphang, about two kilometers from Umphang itself.  

For the camps in the Pai Khlao area -- Lay Pho Hta, Mae Ta Raw Khee and Kwee
Lae Ter, a camp will be set up near Der Lwe (bell) Village.  Nobody will be
allowed to go in or out of the camp.

Dupalaya District

SLORC is making IDs for all the people In Kyeik Don area.  Some people from
Chogali area evacuated to the Thai side, but went back.  SLORC and DKBA
obviously intend to identify and control local people completely.  

Refugee camps on the Salween are under threat by the DKBA.  Lar Lah camp is
thought to be the most likely to be attacked but Mae Yet Hta is also
threatened.  

The monastery in Mawker was burned a week ago.

http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm

*******************************

THAILAND TIMES: NINE BURMESE ARMY PORTERS SENT ACROSS THE BORDER
February 24, 1997

TAK ; Nine Burmese villagers, some of them still in their teens, who had
fled to Thailand after having been forced to work as porters for Burmese
troops were yesterday sent back across the border by Thai military
officials, according to a Thai army source.

Unlike their compatriots who also fled to Thailand following the Burmese
offensive on rebel Karen National Union (KNU) bases last week, the nine were
not granted permission to remain.

The men, who crossed over to Thailand last week, presented a sorry sight as
they returned to their homeland. On the point of starvation, they showed
visible signs of the hard work they had been forced into.

Thein Swe, 25, told of how together with 200 other Myawaddy villagers he had
been force to carry food and heavy ammunition on the grueling journey
between the Burmese town of Pa Kant and the border area opposite Tak's Phob
Phra district, according to the army source.

Earlier, accounts have detailed how the villagers were rounded up by the
Burmese troops as they were going about their everyday business.

*******************************

THE ECONOMIST: THE BRAVE FACES OF THE KAREN
February 22, 1997

Umphang, Thailand

Half a century seems long enough for any war; long enough to have been born
into the conflict and to have brought children and grandchildren into it.
But the thousands of refugees from Myanmar's Karen ethnic group who have
fled into Thailand this month still do not expect to see peace soon.  About
3,500 are camped in ditches along the road from the Myanmar border to the
Thai town of Umphang.  IN makeshift shelters of bamboo, banana leaves,
matting and blankets, they are waiting to be moved farther from the border.
Many have fled before, but this time do not expect to go home.  They have
brought all the belongings they can carry through the jungle Some led their
cattle, now snapped up by Thai traders.

They fled when they heard the mortar fire of the advancing Burmese army.  It
has been waging an offensive against the Karen National Union (KNU), the
biggest and oldest of the ethnic insurgencies along Myanmar's borders.  The
KNU-controlled market town at Sakan Htit fell to the government on February
12th.  The group's temporary headquarters at Htiker Pler was abandoned and
burned the next day.

The KNU has been in insurrection since 1949.  In the dry season, the
military junta in power in Yangon often attacks.  Some 80,000 refugees were
already in Thailand before the latest assault, which KNU officials say is
the biggest since it lost its headquarters at Mannerplaw in `995.  They
insist they will continue to fight, waging what they call a "defensive
guerilla war".  But after the current campaign, directed at KNU pockets of
control dotted along the 1,500 mile (2,500 kilometre) border, they are
likely to be bereft of territory in Myanmar, and hence of a source of funds.

There are also signs of a split in the movement's leadership.  Some senior
members criticise its veteran leader, Bo Mya, for being too uncompromising.
It was the collapse, on January 31st, of peace talks that seems to have led
to the latest offensive by the junta.  Others believe it may have been
provoked by meetings in January of the KNU and several other ethnic groups,
seeking to rekindle a united front against the junta, and voicing support
for the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi.  The junta has signed ceasefire
agreements with 15 ethnic groups.  Some are likely to break down soon.  That
threatens the junta's ability to entrench army rule across the country.

For the new refugees, however, the prime concern is security.  Even in
Thailand they may not be safe from the junta's soldiers and members of a
group called the democratic Karen Buddhist Association.  It broke away in
1995 from the KNU, many of whose leaders are Christian.  In January,
soldiers from the breakaway group crossed the border and burned down two
Karen refugee camps near Maesot.  Thailand has provided shelter, but, as
relations with Myanmar improve, seems reluctant to offer protection.  Nor do
the refugees want to contemplate life back home under the junta, which is
widely accused of atrocities against those it defeats.  As Em Marta, a KNU
leader, puts it: "For the civilians, there is no future really; but we have
to keep on struggling for our national survival."

*************************************

THAILAND TIMES: OZ'S HAWKE TELLS WORLD TO FORM LINKS WITH BURMA
by Rutchanee Uerpairojkit

SYDNEY ; Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke lent his support to
Thailand's policy constructive engagement policy to wards Burma's military
junta, urging the world community not to isolate the regime. Foreign
Minister Prachuab Chaiyasan said yesterday.

Speaking to Prachuab on the first day of his official visit to Australia,
the former Australian leader turn businessman said democracy can only be
achieved in Burma if the country is lifted from poverty.

"I am in complete agreement that cutting off aid to Burma or preventing it
from joining the world community will lead nowhere," Prachuab quoted Hawke
as saying.

Hawke, now a successful businessman, has vested interests in trade links
with Burma, as he is planning to invest in a dam construction project in
Burma's Salawin river.

Together with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations
ASEAN Thailand is eager to forge ties with Burma's dictators, but has come
under a barrage of international criticism for its stance.

Australia's former premier has long held an interests in the Southeast Asian
region. As prime minister, he approved Australia's proposal to donate money
for the construction of the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge, a decision for
which Prachuab yesterday expressed his thanks.

Prachuab questioned Hawke about his predictions for the future of China
following the death of Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Hawke voiced
his confidence that Jiang Zemin has inherited Deng's political mantle and
that the stability of China, where Hawke also has business interests, is not
in doubt.

Together with Commerce Minister Narongchai Akraseni and a team of
officials, Prachuab relayed Hawke's comments to participants at a seminar
entitled "Capturing New Opportunities in Thailand" hosted by the Australian
Business Chamber.

*************************************

SPEECH FOR CFOB: JOHN RAULSTON SAUL
November 16, 1996

"TO BE FREE IS TO BE ABLE TO DO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT", Aung San Suu Kyi
excerpts from a speech by John Ralston Saul at a CFOB reception in
Ottawa on November 16 1996.

 I'm a moderate on foreign policy questions.  A moderate and a realist, and
I think in fairness we have to say that Canada has been grasping for a way
to have a stronger foreign policy in Burma, but it isn't clear that there is
a real decision to go all the way.

However, I believe that this is one of those cases where what's required is
enormous clarity, blinding clarity.  Burma does not have a government by
Asian or Western standards.  It's a tyranny by Asian and Western standards.
The SLORC is at war, actively at war with the West through drugs.  The SLORC
has hijacked Burma.  It holds power by violence, by drug money and by
foreign investment. Violence, drug money and foreign investment.  Without
those three, it's not in power.

What we're dealing with is thugs, criminals and drug dealers.  Not people
that you should have in your office if you are a publicly elected figure,
elected by the Canadian people.

Canada's response to this sort of situation has been to say, "Well, you
know, we're a small country.  We don't have that much influence."

First of all, I want to say that we actually do have a great deal more
influence than we say we do. When you look at the import figures from Burma,
they're little figures, but the economy in Burma is very small.  Canadian
trade has moved from eight million dollars imports to Canada in 1993 to
close to 20 this year.

But our real influence comes from our role in the world, in  dozens and
dozens of organizations where we have a reputation, where we have cards to
play.  We have influence on the way those organizations, and therefore the
world, will treat Burma.
               WHAT ARE OUR STANDARDS?
But the primary question isn't actually what influence do we have or even
what effect could our policies have. The primary question is what do we
stand for ? What are our standards?  That's where you begin building policy,
particularly in these unusual cases of rogue governments.  Because if a very
few countries with a good reputation, even small to medium-size countries,
take a clear, strong stand, it creates an astonishingly solid pole of
attraction.

Suddenly, everybody else has to be measured against you.  Suddenly,
a form of reality has been created.

I found a wonderful quotation of Aung San Suu Kyi when she was
asked about her house arrest.  She said:

"I think to be free is to be able to do what you think is right."

This is a woman on her own.  If we in Canada can't even believe that to be
free is to be able to do what you think is right, then we are not as strong
as a single woman. That is a very depressing thought.

I'm not making idealistic statements.  I haven't got a romantic bone in my
body.  If we don't reflect our reality in our foreign policy we destroy our
reputation bit by bit.  It's all very well to say that Canadians are caring
people - wonderful people in regular editorials, in newspapers across the
country.  If we don't reflect that in our foreign policy, we're not those
things.

Smaller countries actually need reputations more than big countries.  Big
countries have armies.  Small countries need their reputations.  That's
their capital.  That's how they live in the international political arena.

So with a clear strategy I believe that others will actually come to us. We
already know that Scandinavia is ready to go down that road.  They were in
the same kind of, "We want to do the right thing but we're not quite sure
how far to go" situation, until their honorary consul James Leander Nichols
was murdered in June 1996 by the SLORC in prison.

We know that they're already trying to take actions in the European Union.
                         THE NEXT TWO YEARS
We also know that the United States is closer to taking clear action than
it's ever been.  You have a president who's in his second term.  He's not
under any pressure.  He'd probably like to make some good gestures.  The
next two years are the time when the good forces will be able to do
something in the United States, before the next election campaign begins.

Take a look at CFOB's Dirty Clothes, Dirty System report, at its list of the
13 leading investors in Burma.  Seven are members of ASEAN.  Four are
members of the EU, and both North American countries, Canada and the United
States.  Five of the seven G-7 are among the 13 leading investors in Burma.
This is a group which is perfectly moveable, if we have a clear position.
These are our allies.  What's lacking to make them move is clarity.

So let me run through what I think are a series of things that we
can do:

We have to stop treating the SLORC as if it were the government of Burma.
If the Canadian government decides that, then suddenly SLORC no longer gets
the benefit of the doubt or the respect due to governments.  Suddenly they
are no more than rogue criminals. 
                    A TOTAL BLOCKAGE IN TRADE
We have to move from there to a total blockage in trade.  Frankly, it is not
that difficult to accomplish in Canada or in the United States.  These
mechanisms are easy to put into place, to cut off investments and to cut off
trade.  There's no point in asking for less. Burma has no major economic
links with the West - except, that is, for its sale of heroin, which is its
principal contribution to Western civilization.

Then we can begin seriously pursuing Burma in all the international
institutions where they are still getting money indirectly, the World Bank
or the Asian Development Bank to name two. Once we take a firm stand, we can
create, with the Scandinavians, an almost impossible wall to get by whenever
those institutions want to give money to Burma.

We must deal seriously with the drug question.  The more we go out
there and say SLORC is the principal supplier of heroin to Americans, the
more the US government is going to have to act.  And the way they will act
is the Trading with the Enemy Act and the indicting of the members of the SLORC.

We have to start talking seriously to the Swiss about bank accounts.  The
Swiss are one of the few Western governments who are for more or less normal
relations with Burma. Draw your conclusions.
                         THE G-7 AND SLORC
Again -- we get the G-7 to come to terms with the SLORC as the source of
heroin, and then we have to turn to ASEAN and say that because the SLORC is
not a government, even by Asian standards, the normalization of ASEAN's
relationships with Burma is unacceptable to us.

If we take a strong stand in North America and Europe, it will be very
difficult for corporations in the ASEAN countries to deal with Burma. How
much is Burma worth to ASEAN in pure financial terms if they're going to
start losing in terms of their alliances, their friendships, their
cooperation in the West?  It's not worth much if the G-7 says no.  They'll
say, hey, how much are we making out of this?  Not enough to have the G-7
against us.

Finally, rogue juntas fall because they fail.  If you take a tough stand,
you'll find that there are moderates in the Burmese army. There are some
mid-level officers there who are just trying to have a career, who will
respond when the need for change becomes apparent inside Burma.  They would
be happy to see the legal government of Aung San Suu Kyi in power in Burma.
But because we are directly and indirectly propping up the SLORC in the West
and in ASEAN, those moderates are not getting a chance.

Some cases need simplicity.  You need to be tough.  You need to be direct.
That's the only way that we'll be able to unleash the various initiatives
that can bring down the SLORC.
--------------------------------------------------

On Buddhism and the SLORC, further excerpts:
What are the five precepts of Buddhism?
1. I vow to abstain from taking life.
Think about the SLORC, this famous Buddhist regime.  I vow to refrain from
taking life.  There aren't many regimes which actually send regiments into
the street to open fire with machine guns.  It is actually relatively rare,
much rarer than one would think.
2. I vow to abstain from stealing.
By serving only themselves, they have literally brought the country
financially to its knees and filled foreign bank accounts.
3. I vow to abstain from sexual misconduct.
Prostitution and child prostitution are very important questions in Burma
today.  Talk to people in Thailand about young girls being sent out of Burma
and then going home with AIDS.  Talk about the exploding AIDS problem in the
poorest villages of Burma as a result of prostitution.  You know that AIDS
is at its worst on a per capita basis in northern Thailand, which is where
the young Burmese women come out, make a little money in prostitution, then
go home and spread AIDS.  It is estimated that there are already 400,000
people infected with AIDS in northern Burma.  This is almost entirely the
result of prostitution brought on by poverty.  It's the SLORC which is the
master of poverty in Burma.  They are responsible for that happening.
4. I vow to abstain from false speech.
Well, that's obviously not even worth commenting on.
5. I vow to abstain from intoxicants that cloud the mind and to
encourage others not to cloud their minds.
Burma is capable of supplying the total heroin demand of the rest of the
world. Since 1962 production has continually grown so that it generally
supplies somewhere between 50 and 80 per cent, with the direct collusion of
the SLORC, who get a percentage of the money that's made by the drug armies.
Since the creation of SLORC in 1988 drug production has more than doubled.

John Ralston Saul is 1996 winner of the Governor General's award for
non-fiction for his book The Unconscious Civilization and 1995 CBC Massey
lecturer.  The full text of his speech is available from Canadian Friends of
Burma.

******************************

ASIA TIMES: THAI GENERAL PREDICTS FALL OF KAREN REBEL GROUP
February 24, 1997
Thomas Crampton and Vissuta Pothong, Asia Times
Mawker Refugee Camp, Thailand

The Karen?s 50-year battle for autonomy from Yangon will end in a crushing
defeat within four weeks, predicts a Thai general overseeing security in
Thailand?s Tak border province with Myanmar.
Sommai Wichaworn said some 10,000 guerrillas of the Karen National Union
(KNU) battling Myanmar government forces along the Thai border would soon
surrender or flee to Thailand.
On Sunday morning Myanmar?s state radio broke its silence on the military?s
latest massive offensive against the Karen to claim its troops had killed 41
rebels and seized 293 weapons along with 270,000 rounds of ammunition.
Another 243 weapons and 70,000 rounds of ammunition were brought in by 511
officers and soldiers who surrendered following disagreements with the
?extremist leadership? of the guerrilla movement, the broadcast said.
The KNU is the last major insurgency yet to reach a ceasefire with the
ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council. Since 1989, 15 other groups
have agreed to terms with the Yangon junta. 
The proximity of the fighting to Thailand has raised fears of confrontation
between the troops of Myanmar and Thailand which in the past has used the
various ethnic guerrilla armies along the border as a buffer against Yangon.
Thailand allows fleeing KNU fighters to take refuge in Thai territory, but
on condition they surrender their weapons.
?In the past we allowed armed Karen rebels into the camps. They went out at
night to fight, coming back by dawn pretending to be refugees. Now, however,
they must surrender weapons if they want to come into the camps,? Lieutenant
General Thanom Wacharaput, commanding general of the Third Army Corps said.
He added that the camps would be amalgamated and moved 10km away from the
border. For the first time movements in and out of the camp would be tightly
controlled by Thai soldiers, he said.
There have been several incursions into Thai territory by Myanmar-backed
Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) troops intent on torching the refugee
camps. 
At the end of January the DKBA burned and looted two of 17 camps along the
border, leaving more than 7,000 refugees homeless, apparently with the
support of Myanmar government troops.
Thailand hosts about 90,000 Karen refugees. Since the offensive began on
February 11, Myanmar troops have swept through Karen territory opposite
Umphang district of Tak province, sending at least 7,000 more refugees into
Thailand, according to the Thai military.

********************************

THE NATION: ALLIES LOOK ON AS KAREN TAKE BEATING
February 24, 1997

Slorc's offensive against the largest resistance group has highlighted the
weakness of the smaller ethnic armies as well, Aung Zaw writes. 

The National Democratic Front (NDF), a collection of ethnic groups opposed
to Rangoon's rule, ended its fourth congress on Feb 15 with the release of a
statement that ''strongly condemned" the use of arms by the government
against the Karen National Union (KNU). 

But apart from angry words, it became apparent at the close of the congress
that the NDF could do little to stop the Rangoon-directed onslaught against
the KNU, its most powerful member. 

The NDF was set up in 1976 at the KNU headquarters by the Shan State
Progressive Party, the Palaung Liberation Organisation, the Lahu National
United Front, the Karen National Union, the Palaung State Liberation
Organisation, the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Arakan
Liberation Party. Later the New Mon State Party, Kachin Independence
Organisation, Chin National Front and Wa National Organisation joined the
group. 

However, the Kachins and Mons returned to the ''legal fold" a few years ago
while the remaining groups, with the exception of the KNU are all small and
have little political influence. 

The main purpose of the recent NDF congress was to re-invigorate the group
after it fell into inactivity following the formation of the Democratic
Alliance of Burma in 1988. 

At last week's congress the group released a 10-point statement. The main
point being a call for the establishment of a genuine federal union. The
statement denounced the Slorc-sponsored national convention, and rejected
Slorc cease-fire agreements as a tactic to divide and rule the ethnic groups. 

The congress also welcomed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's speech on
the 50th anniversary of Union Day on Feb 12 in which she called for all
nationalities to join hands and establish a genuine federal union. 

Additionally, the congress' statement strongly stated that a tripartite
dialogue is the most appropriate means to solve Burma's political problems. 

Internal problems 

But the congress isn't also without its own troubles. The Karenni National
Progressive Party (KNPP), which hosted last week's meeting, submitted
resignation papers at the congress. The reason: The KNPP's fight to be
recognised as an independent state. 

''Karenni state is not a part of Burma," said Able Tweed, a KNPP foreign
ministry official said. 

Still, he stated, ''We are ready to join the NDF if there is a genuine
federal union. And we will continue to support the NDF from outside anyway." 

At their jungle hideout in Karenni territory the NDF delegates discussed
Burma's future federal union and urged their KNPP comrades not to leave the
band. 

Overshadowing these matters, however, was Slorc's major offensive against
the KNU. 

Khun Okker, president of the Pa-O People's Liberation Organisation, which
was founded in 1991, said the attack did not come as a surprise. 

''We all knew that Slorc would attack the KNU." 

Khun Okker reasoned the military government wasn't happy with a seminar held
in a Karen-controlled area in January which was attended by the Kachin, Mon,
and Wa, groups which have all reached cease-fire agreements with Slorc. At
the seminar many ethnic groups expressed their frustration about the current
political situation, complaining that the peace promises made by the junta
had not been kept. 

''We built up solidarity at the seminar," said Khun Okker, The Pa-O leader
said the KNU's outright rejection of Slorc's ''peace demands" was another
contributing factor behind the attack. 

''The Burmese army is very powerful so they could take over land in the KNU
area but our struggle isn't over," he said. 

Slorc has shown that it could not solve the existing political problems
through peaceful means, he said. 

''The Slorc's victories will only be temporary because the regime has failed
to politically win over the KNU," he said, adding that the show of military
might against the Karens was also intended to frighten the other ethnic groups. 

NDF strategy 

So what will be the NDF's strategy to counter Rangoon now that one of its
most powerful allies, the Karen, have been beaten? 

Khine Soe Naing Aung, an Arakanese leader and secretary of the NDF said,
''We will resist if Slorc applies military pressure." 

He declined to elaborate further saying only that the NDF had a secret plan. 

For the current offensive, he had few words: ''Slorc is politically defeated." 

In fact, apart from the KNU, the NDF has little military power to flex and
does not pose a major threat to the ruling junta. 

''The NDF has shown its weakness as it has no well-organised plan on how to
withstand the offensive and support the KNU," said on observer of the congress. 

Some of the delegates also said they should be more pragmatic. 

''We have to be realistic. We have little military power and it is
impossible to attack the junta," said one delegate who declined to be
identified. 

Moreover, since the NDF ethnic leaders cannot travel to many areas inside
Burma except for a few areas along the border, few people among the general
population in Burma know of their resistance. 

As the Rangoon generals step up their military campaign to wipe out the
decades-old Karen insurgency the future for the NDF is looking increasingly
uncertain. 

Nevertheless, as long as the junta refuses to address the underlying ethnic
issues and the demands for a federal union the ongoing civil war that is
being waged by the poorly organised border-based groups is likely to go on. 

''The strife will continue," said one delegate. ''But for how long? The
people have suffered enough."(TN)

******************************************************

THE NATION: NATIONS EXPRESS OPTIMISM ABOUT ENTERING ASEAN
February 22, 1997
By Yindee Lertcharoenchok

PATTAYA ­ Cambodia, Laos and Burma expressed full confidence last night that
they would all join Asean this July, as their senior officials are now
working out the final details for their admission. 

In separate consultations yesterday with representatives from Asean and the
Asean Secretariat the three prospective members described the progress they
have made in preparing to join the regional forum and exchanged views on how
to best integrate with ongoing Asean economic schemes. 

During the meetings, delegates from Cambodia, Laos and Burma appealed for
further technical assistance from Asean members to help ease their entry
into the group. 

The most urgent need, according to their representatives, is to train
officials to handle economic integration with the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (Asean) under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta). 

Speaking in separate interviews yesterday, officials from the three
prospective countries expressed high hopes that they would join Asean this
July, in time for the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the group's
founding. 

The head of the Laotian delegation, Somphet Khousakoun, who is the director
general of the Laotian Foreign Ministry's Asean Department, reiterated his
country's determination announced in 1995 that it would join Asean this year. 

''I'm fully confident that it [Laos' entry into Asean] will be this year,"
Somphet said. 

You Ay, the director general of the Cambodian Foreign Ministry's Asean
Department, showed similar confidence in her country's readiness to join,
saying Cambodia was in the final stage of preparation for Asean membership. 

She said even though Cambodia lacks the personnel to handle the Afta
programme and Asean affairs, the country is ready to join the tariff
reduction scheme right after it is admitted to Asean. All new members would
have to begin the tariff reduction scheme, called the Common Effective
Preferential Tariff (Cept),beginning on Jan 1, 1998. 

U Nyunt Maung Shein, the deputy director general of the Burmese Foreign
Ministry's Political Department, said his country has high hopes of being
admitted this year. 

All new members will have 10 years in which to implement their tariff
reduction scheme. Except for Vietnam, Asean members will complete the Afta
scheme in 2003 although efforts are being made to move it up to 2000. 

Somphet and Maung Maung Yi, the Burmese director general of the Ministry of
Planning's Direct Trade, Investment and Company Administration Department,
stressed that their countries had no problem with the 10-year time frame to
cut down to five per cent their tariffs on goods under CEPT. 

During the consultations, each of the three countries has to inform Asean
officials about their future product lists to be put under tariff cuts when
they join Asean. 

The Asean Secretariat is currently drafting three key documents that the
prospective members will have to sign on admission day. 

The documents are a declaration of admission, a protocol of accession to key
Asean agreements, and a protocol of accession to other economic agreements. 

Officials of Burma, Cambodia, and Laos are studying the legal implications
of about two dozen Asean declarations, agreements and treaties that they
have to abide by as members. 

Countries who join Asean must set up embassies in each Asean country and be
ready to abide by all Asean agreements and documents. They will also have to
meet financial commitments. All new Asean members must contribute US$1
million to the Asean fund and become a member of the CEPT. 

Once they are members, citizens of their countries can travel freely in
other member countries without visas. However, this arrangement still faces
problems, as Vietnam, since its admission in 1995, has not yet completely
followed the voluntary arrangement. 

Indonesian President Suharto, currently touring the three countries, told
Cambodian and Laotian leaders earlier this week of his strong support for
their admission into Asean this year. 

''President Suharto is the most senior political leader in the region and
Indonesia is a big country ... It's important that he is visiting the three
prospective countries. His visit is a reflection of support [for their
membership bid this year]," Nyunt Maung Shein said. 

Nyunt Maung Shein said Burma would meet all Asean requirements including the
setting up of an Asean affairs department in the Foreign Ministry, the
opening of an embassy in Cambodia and Brunei, and allowing officials from
Asean countries and the Asean Secretariat to travel to Burma without the
need for an entry visa. 

Burma's Asean Department is expected to be operational on April 1, the
beginning of the new fiscal year, according to one Asean official. (TN)

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THE NATION: HARSH TREATMENT OF DETAINED STUDENTS
February 23, 1997

Letter to the Editor

Shwe Hla , President, Burmese Students Association

Since before 8.8.88, the date of the People's Uprising, until now Burmese
students and youths have been sacrificing their precious time and lives ­
inside and outside of Burma ­ for democracy and human rights. 

Burma has been controlled by the Burmese military junta from 1962 till
today. Many students and youths have been killed and tortured or detained by
this illegally ruling fascist military regime. 

In 1995, one of many student detainees died in the Special Detention Centre,
Bang Khen, in Bangkok. Last Wednesday, Moe Pyan (UNHCR NI No3378), under the
care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), died in
the same centre. Neither of them received sufficient medical treatment nor
were they hospitalised in time. 

Inside and outside of Burma, the conditions of all Burmese students and
youths worsen day by day. They have been getting very painful lessons
because they love democracy and respect human rights. 

No one can predict what will happen to them today or tomorrow. To stop these
situations and ill treatment, they need the sympathy of the international
community, UNHCR, and especially, the Thai government. (TN)

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THE NATION: PRICE CUT TIED TO INCREASE IN GAS PURCHASE
February 22, 1997
By Watcharapong Thongrung

THE Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is set to begin negotiations with
the Burmese government to purchase an additional 150 million cubic feet of
natural gas per day from the Yadana field, providing the price is reduced by
15 per cent. 

Piti Yimprasert, president of PTT GAS, a unit of the state-owned oil and gas
company, said unless the Burmese government agrees to a lower gas price, PTT
will delay the additional purchase and look instead to other sources such as
Natuna of Indonesia or Cambodian gas fields. 
The Yadana gas developers are committed to supply 525 million cubic feet per
day (mmcfd) of gas, at US$3 (Bt78) per million British Thermal Unit (BTU),
to PTT from July 1998. 

According to the Yadana gas sales contract signed in February 1996, a swing
supply volume will allow the gas supply to be increased by 150 mmcfd. 

The Yadana gas developers comprise Total of France, Unocal of the US and PTT
Exploration and Production Plc. 

The PTT GAS president said it is not unreasonable to ask for a lower price
for Yadana gas' additional volume since the resulting production costs would
be minimal. 

Recently, there was final confirmation from the Burmese government that the
proved reserve of the Yadana gas field is now 9.6 trillion cubic feet (TCF),
up from 5.7 TCF, Piti said. 

Piti said it has been confirmed that the Cambodian gas deposits in the Gulf
of Thailand contain very good quality gas and PTT will shortly kick-off its
negotiations with Cambodian authorities. (TN)

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ANNOUNCEMENT:BAY AREA BURMA ROUNDTABLE-FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS OF OPPRESSION
February 22, 1997

For further information or to arrange interviews, contact:
Jane Jerome   408/467-2721
Dan Orzech    510/528-0653

On Wednesday, February 26, four Burma experts based in Thailand with
first-hand experience from Burma's front lines will speak at Unitarian
Fellowship in Berkeley at 7:30 p.m.  
Two Thailand-based activists from Earth Rights International, Ka Hsaw Wa and
Katie Redford, will bring with with them the first-ever photographs of the
notorious natural gas pipeline being built in Burma by Los Angeles-based
Unocal and the French oil company Total.
Two leaders of the All Burma Student Democratic Front (ABSDF), the
foremost student group advocating democracy in Burma (Myanmar) will report
on attacks upon student activists in December 1996 and the role of US based
activism in supporting freedom.  The ABSDF speakers, Dr. Naing Aung, vice
chair, and Aung Naing Oo are both elected representatives of the
organization's Central Committee.
Redford and Ka Hsaw Wa will also bring recent photographs of the refugee
camps inside Thailand burned in late January  by the Burmese military.   
Katie Redford is one of the attorneys in the pioneering human-rights
lawsuit against UNOCAL and SLORC (Burma's notorious State Law and Order
Restoration Council), which was filed last October in Los Angeles.
A member of Burma's Karen ethnic minority, Ka Hsaw Wa has been working for
democracy in Burma since the massacres of democracy activists there in 1988.
Ka Hsaw Wa directs ERI's Indigenous Staff's field work and gathers evidence
of the abuses associated with foreign investment in Burma. 
Both were involved in the publication of Total Denial, a July 96 document of
human rights abuses accompanying the Unocal/Total pipeline authored
jointly by Earth Rights International and Southeast Asia Information Network.  
The Unitarian Fellowship in Berkeley, is located at 1924 Cedar @
Bonita.  

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