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Burma News Update No. 87



The Burma Project
Open Society Institute

Burma News Update No. 87
1 July 1999

AMNESTY "SMEAR CAMPAIGN"
LABOR AID SUSPENDED
JUNTA, UNOCAL HAIL COURT
BURMA RISK HIGH

Amnesty "Smear Campaign"

Burma's military junta denounced a new Amnesty International 
report on extensive human rights abuses against ethnic minorities in Burma, 
claiming that the human rights groups is being "exploited" by "ethnic
terrorists"
in
a "smear campaign" against the regime. Abuses detailed in the 50-page report
released on 30 June include murder, rape, torture, slave labor, and the forced
relocation of villagers in areas inhabited by Karen, Karenni, and Shan ethnic
groups along the Thai frontier in eastern Burma. The junta said that
allegations of forced labor in Burma actually reflected "freedom of religion"
in the country, because Burmese join projects "of their own free will and
according to Buddhist belief."

Bangkok, "Agence France Presse," 30 June


Labor Aid Suspended

The United Nations' International Labor Organization (ILO) voted to suspend
all assistance to Burma because of the continuing massive use of forced labor
by the country's army junta. Labor groups say there are over 800,000 forced
laborers in Burma and say the military regime is guilty of a "crime against
humanity." The resolution condemning the regime, highly unusual in that it
was sponsored by both labor and employer groups, described forced labor in
Burma as "nothing but a contemporary form of slavery." A junta statement said
the ILO action is "unprecedented," "deplorable and  unscrupulous," and
renounced its treaty commitments regarding forced labor and freedom of
association. 

"BBC World Service"; "Financial Times", Geneva; "Xinhua News Service,"
Rangoon,
16-17 June


Junta, UNOCAL Hail Court

The California-based UNOCAL oil company joined Burma's military junta in
hailing a U.S. court ruling that overturns a law that effectively barred firms
doing business in Burma from receiving state contracts in Massachusetts by 
penalizing their bids by ten percent. A spokesman for an exiled Burmese 
pro-democracy group expressed little surprise at UNOCAL's response, saying
that 
the company, which is a major partner with the junta in a billion dollar gas
pipeline 
project, has been "helping the military in their PR [public relations, and]
are
accomplices 
to the rights abuses the regime has committed." A junta statement called
the court 
ruling "reasonable and responsible." Human rights groups and media reports
have 

detailed forced labor and military attacks on villagers along the pipeline
route. A
UNOCAL
representative in Singapore said people living near the pipeline happy with
the opportunities it presents. Sanctions on new American investment in Burma
have been in place since May 1997.

Reuters; "Voice of America," Bangkok, 24 June


Burma Risk High

A new risk analysis predicts that Burma's economic growth will likely fall
under one percent annually as the country's currency continues to devalue, and
that the country could face further political and social unrest. Some economic
improvement may result from higher commodity prices over the next year, but
foreign exchange reserves "will remain critically low." Burma remains in the
highest risk category internationally. The report predicts that the country's
military regime
will move toward new elections, but only after "dismantling" the opposition
National League for Democracy, to ensure it cannot repeat its landslide 1990 
election."

"Economist Intelligence Unit Country Risk Summary," 15 June 1999


Crime Reports "Without Basis"

Burma's military intelligence chief, General Khin Nyunt, dismissed reports
of money laundering in Burma as "completely without basis" and that reports of
trafficking of women are false and "have been spread by malicious elements."
Khin Nyunt was speaking at an Association of Southeast Asian Nations
Ministerial Meeting on Transnational Crime in Rangoon. A major Philippines
newspaper denounced the meeting, writing in an editorial, "The military rulers
of Burma know that the multinational conference will be a sham in the same
manner that an ASEAN conference on labor last May, which Rangoon also hosted, 
was a charade," the "Today" newspaper wrote, charging that Burma's junta has 
"for years rejected requests for it to collaborate in multinational efforts to
put an end to the illegal drugs trade in Southeast Asia because Rangoon's
overlords have been making vast personal fortunes out of it".

Rangoon, "Associated Press," Manila; Agence France Presse, 23 June



Junta Rallies Villagers

Villagers in the central Burmese city of Thazi attended rallies and delivered 
petitions expressing no confidence in the National League for Democracy (NLD)
representative elected in 1990 to the never-convened national parliament,
according
to reports from regime-run "New Light of Myanmar" newspaper and on state
television.
[The report is the latest in an almost daily series of accounts in Burma's
closely-controlled
media describing large-scale resignations form the NLD and mass rallies
against the
party, 
which won a sweeping victory in 1990 elections never honored by the country's
military
regime-Ed.]

"New Light of Myanmar" online, 26 June

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: http:www.soros.org/burma.html