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OSI: Burma News Update No. 56
- Subject: OSI: Burma News Update No. 56
- From: ccraig@xxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Wed, 06 May 1998 08:08:00
Burma Project, Open Society Institute
Burma News Update No. 56
5 May 1998
More Arrests, Death Sentences
Six pro-democracy activists were sentenced to death, and 33 others to
long prison sentences in an intensified crackdown on opposition forces
in Burma. A junta spokesman claimed that the six men given death
sentences were caught with explosives and that others were jailed for
"activities to cause instigation and agitation in the country."
Several people have recently been jailed for their writings or for
disseminating materials to diplomats and international media.
(Bangkok, Agence France-Presse, 30 April)
Heroin Causes Burma AIDS Crisis
The New York Times reports that an AIDS crisis spurred by heroin
addicts sharing contaminated needles is at crisis levels in Burma, but
that the country's army junta claims an AIDS/HIV rate less than five
per cent of the actual figure, in part not to scare away potential
tourists. Excerpts: "[The junta] has reported registering only 60,000
addicts, with as few as 17,000 infected with AIDS. Foreign medical
researchers put the total number of addicts closer to 500,000 and
estimate that several hundred thousand heroin injectors have become
HIV-positive. . . . [Burma] offers a harrowing example of
drug-producing or transit countries that find their own people growing
addicted. . . . [The regime's] own AIDS statistics have been suspect
since 1996, when it wooed foreign tourists with a `Visit Myanmar'
campaign that portrayed the country as a vacation paradise."
(New York Times, 3 May)
Japan Urges Talks
Japan's decision in March to fund repairs to Rangoon's airport was a
one-time exception to its freeze on aid to Burma's army junta, a
Japanese Foreign Ministry spokesman said in Bangkok on 30 April,
adding that his government remains concerned over continuing human
rights abuses in Burma and has again urged the junta to open talks
with democracy leader Daw Aung San Suu Kyi.
(Bangkok, Associated Press, 1 May)
EU Extends Ban
European Union Foreign Ministers extended the ban on senior-level
official contacts with Burma's army junta for six more months on 27
April. Officials said restrictions on contacts and visas for junta
members were extended because of the military regime's ongoing human
rights violations. (Luxembourg, Deutsche Presse-Agentur, 27 April)
Chinese Presence Worries India
India's defense minister, George Fernandes, said on 3 May that India
is deeply concerned over a sophisticated electronic surveillance base
China has built on Burma's Coco Islands, which he says can monitor
defense activity along India's east coast. Fernandes said Chinese
activities in Burma and the growth of Burma's army from 160,000 to
over 450,000 over the past six years are potential threats to India's
security. (New Delhi, Reuters, 3 May)
Oil and Heroin Mix
A French newsweekly reports that France's soft policy towards Burma is
driven by the French TOTAL oil company's investment in a billion
dollar natural gas pipeline project being built across southern Burma.
The article reviews Francis Christophe's new book, Burma, the Poppy
Dictatorship, which notes that since the current military junta seized
power in 1988, Burma's opium production has leapt from 800 to almost
3000 tons annually, and describes the army's involvement in every
stage of the drug trade. France is the only Western country which does
not condemn the junta, the article says, adding that this "human
rights contempt" may be joined by "financial waste" if the current
Asian financial crisis hurts TOTAL's pipeline investment.
(Paris, L'?v?nement du Jeudi, 16 April)
UNOCAL Outlook Negative
Standard & Poor's revised its outlook for the UNOCAL Corp. from stable
to negative, noting that two-thirds of UNOCAL's reserves are in
countries of high political risk, including Southeast Asian nations
now experiencing economic turmoil. [UNOCAL, a partner with Burma's
military junta in a one billion dollar natural gas pipeline, also
faces suit in federal court in California over its alleged complicity
in human rights abuses by its military partner in the pipeline
area_Ed.]
(New York, Business Wire, 30 April)
BURMA NEWS UPDATE is a publication of the Burma Project of the Open
Society Institute.
400 West 59th Street, New York, N.Y. 10019 tel: (212) 548-0632
Website:www.soros.org/burma.html