Reuters-Myanmar says Amnesty duped

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Subject: Reuters-Myanmar says Amnesty duped by insurgents 

Myanmar says Amnesty duped by insurgents
05:05 a.m. Jun 30, 1999 Eastern
BANGKOK, June 30 (Reuters) - Myanmar's military government said on Wednesday
that Amnesty International had been duped by supporters of terrorists into
producing a report accusing soldiers of the killing, torture and rape of
ethnic minorities.

A government statement described as ``regretful'' the human rights group's
report on the treatment of Karen, Kachin and Karenni minorities. The report
was released on Wednesday morning.

Amnesty said the report was based on interviews with more than 100 people
who had fled Myanmar to Thailand.

``Unfortunately most of the so-called refugees interviewed by Amnesty in
Thailand happened to be family members, relatives and sympathisers of the
armed ethnic terrorist groups,'' the government statement said.

It said groups like the Karen National Union had recently carried out
terrorist attacks on civilians.

``Unfortunately, these same terrorists are also exploiting Amnesty and using
it as a platform to attack the government in their smear campaigns.''

The statement rejected charges that it used children in forced labour
projects like the building of a temple.

``(This) cannot be regarded as child labour since the workforce comes to
participate of their own free will and according to Buddhist belief. No one
can deny them their right in taking action regarded by religion as a good
deed,'' it said.

The statement also defended temporary relocation of villages. ``This is done
to protect them from being terrorised by the armed insurgent groups,'' it
said.

The Amnesty report said the Myanmar military had killed dozens of unarmed
ethnic farmers in the past year and forced large numbers off their land or
to do unpaid work for the army.

It said such abuses had continued despite Myanmar's 1997 entry to the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and called on the bloc to put
pressure on Yangon to clean up its act at a ministerial meeting next month.

ASEAN had little to say on the report.

``One cannot expect results overnight,'' ASEAN Secretary-General Rodolfo
Severino told Reuters. ``I have no means to investigate these things.''


``Human rights in general is a matter of concern...all countries need to
improve their human rights. There are problems everywhere,'' he said.

The Amnesty report also documented killings and abuses carried out by groups
like the Karen National Union against Myanmar citizens and those considered
enemies of their movements.