The BurmaNet News: August 18, 1999

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 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
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The BurmaNet News: August 18, 1999
Issue #1339

HEADLINES:
==========
AP: REGIME SAYS MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT UNREST 
REUTERS: LOUDSPEAKERS GIVE "FOUR-NINES" WARNINGS 
REUTERS: LITTLE ALARM OVER 9-9-99 CALL 
BINA: QUIET STRIKE IN HLAING THA YA TOWNSHIP 
MIC: UPDATE ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 
IRRAWADDY: BETTER THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW 
NATION: ARMED GROUP CROSSED BORDER 
IRRAWADDY: MIGRANTS, RIGHTS, AND AIDS 
BKK POST: AID FOR DEVELOPMENT BEST WAY TO FIGHT DRUGS 
ANNOUNCEMENT: HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIPLOMACY TRAINING 
*****************************************************

ASSOCIATED PRESS: MYANMAR REGIME SAYS MEASURES TAKEN TO PREVENT SCHOOL UNREST 
17 August, 1999 

BANGKOK, Thailand (AP) - Myanmar 's military regime said Tuesday that
authorities were taking measures to prevent student unrest ahead of
opposition calls for an uprising next month. 

In a brief statement faxed to news organizations in Bangkok, the government
acknowledged opposition claims that high school students in the southern
town of Mergui had staged a protest march last Friday. 

The statement offered few details and fell short of confirming opposition
claims that more than 30 students had been arrested in the march, during
which they were said to have supported calls for an uprising Sept. 9. 

It said that "some" students were "being questioned by school faculties and
parents together with the local township authorities to work together in
helping expose and prevent the agitators from exploiting school children
for a vested interest." 

"Similarly, measures are also being taken by other townships to prevent
political extremists and unscrupulous elements from disrupting the
children's education and creating civil unrest," the statement said. The
locales were not listed. 

The "agitators" behind last week's incident had evaded Mergui authorities,
the statement said. 

Opposition groups have urged Myanmar 's long-suffering people to rise up
against military rule Sept. 9, which is seen as an auspicious number --
9-9-99 -- in the numerologically obsessed country, also known as Burma . 

Last week, the government said that two members of a group formed by
students who fled the country after the last big revolt on Aug. 8, 1988, or
8-8-88, had been arrested to thwart new unrest. 

Two mid-ranking members of the National League for Democracy, the party led
by Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi, were arrested as well, the
government said. 

The military has ruled Myanmar since 1962 and tolerates little dissent. Suu
Kyi's party won elections the military allowed in 1990, but the generals,
surprised by her victory, never allowed parliament to convene.

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

REUTERS: MYANMAR LOUDSPEAKERS GIVE "FOUR-NINES" WARNINGS
17 August, 1999 

MAE SOT, Thailand, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Military authorities in a Myanmar
border town have been using a loudspeaker truck to warn people not to join
an uprising dissident groups in exile have called for next month, Myanmar
traders said on Tuesday. 

They said the residents of Myawadi opposite the Thai town of Mae Sot were
warned against joining political gatherings or supporting a dissident
campaign for civil unrest on September 9, 1999 -- the so-called "four-nines
day."

The announcements stressed existing rules against gatherings of more than
five people and warned of tough punishments against anyone who defied the
warnings. 

Myanmar dissidents say the military government has detained more than 150
people in the past two weeks in a crackdown to prevent unrest next month. 

The government says it has arrested four people after exposing a conspiracy
to incite an uprising on September 9 and that others have been detained for
questioning. 

Anti-government sentiment remains strong in Myanmar but the military has
kept a tight rein on dissent since taking power in 1988 by bloodily
suppressing a pro-democracy uprising. 

Dissidents chose September 9 for their uprising call because of its
numerical significance after "four-eights day" -- August 8, 1988 -- when
the nationwide revolt began. 

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

REUTERS: LITTLE ALARM OVER 9-9-99 CALL 
17 August, 1999 by David Brunnstrom 

ANALYSIS

BANGKOK, Aug 17 (Reuters) - Myanmar dissidents in exile have picked
September 9, 1999 for a repeat of a "people power" uprising 11 years ago
that shook the foundations of authoritarian rule but was ultimately crushed
at the cost of thousands of lives. 

Their call to arms on the so-called "four nines day" looks like a triumph
of hope over long and bitter experience. 

The Myanmar military's whole raison d'etre since it seized direct power on
September 18, 1988, has been to prevent a return to "anarchy" it says ruled
that year, when millions took to the streets to demand an end to decades of
authoritarian rule. 

It crushed the revolt with bullets and bayonets and has since detained
thousands of dissidents, shut colleges and universities, ignored an
election result and endured consequent pariah status overseas rather than
surrender power. 

Historians say the trigger for the 1988 uprising was a call by underground
students for a general strike that August 8 -- the so-called "four eights
day" -- via a report carried by the British Broadcasting Corporation. 

A similar call has again been carried in recent weeks by foreign radio
stations many in the country rely on for independent news beyond the
tightly controlled state media. 

Diplomats, dissidents and other Myanmar watchers say the message has once
again hit home and caught the popular imagination, but the military is far
better prepared this time. 

In the past decade it has not only doubled the size of the armed forces to
an estimated 450,000 personnel, but greatly increased the pervasive
surveillance activity of its intelligence arm -- the Directorate of Defence
Services Intelligence. 

This has involved infiltration of dissident groups and sophisticated
monitoring of phone and e-mail links, analysts say. 

"In 1988, the government was surprised and that will never happen again,"
said a diplomat in the Myanmar capital Yangon. 

"The government has got pretty good links into all underground groups and
anti-government groups both here and abroad. It has tabs on everything it
has to have tabs on."

Myanmar scholar and journalist Bertil Lintner, author of an acclaimed
account of the 1988 uprising, said he could envisage some minor scattered
incidents of protest next month. 

"What is likely to happen is a few things here and there that will be
crushed. I can't see anything that remotely resembles the situation in 1988. 

"I don't think the public will risk taking part in anything that will get
them shot unless they are sure to win," he said. 

"And they could only win if a considerable part of the army decided to side
with them and there's no indication of that." 

Even so, the government is clearly concerned enough to take preemptive
action, including detentions of activists, a tightening of provincial
security and even the broadcast of loudspeaker warnings to people not to
join any protests. 

Dissident groups say more than 150 people have been detained for
anti-government activity in the past two weeks. 

The government said last week it had arrested four people in uncovering a
plot to instigate unrest next month and had detained others for
questioning. It said investigations were continuing. 

Earlier this month it warned the main opposition party, the National League
for Democracy (NLD), not to get involved in any unrest. 

A state media commentary accused its leader Aung San Suu Kyi of sowing
discord and reiterated a call for legal action against the 1991 Nobel Peace
laureate, who it kept under house arrest for six years until 1995. 

The NLD has distanced itself from calls for civil unrest, and the
government, in a tacit recognition of the party's popular clout, said
publicly last week that the NLD leadership had told its members not to take
part. 

The All Burma Students' Democratic Front (ABSDF), among the exiles pushing
the 9-9-99 campaign, said the aim was to push the military into dialogue
with the NLD, which it has long resisted. 

"We need various kinds of pressure and that pressure may be street
demonstrations and that pressure may be a shut down strike," said ABSDF
general secretary Aung Thu Nyein. "We call on the people to do whatever
they can. 

"I think the situation is ripe now -- the economic, political and social
situation -- this is the time that the military to think about changing
things in the country." 

He did not believe there was a risk of a repeat of the 1998 bloodshed. "If
the authorities order the soldiers to shoot the demonstrators again I don't
think they will." 

Others aren't so sure. 

While the authorities demonstrated more sophisticated techniques in dealing
with the last big round of student protests in 1996 -- employing water
cannon instead of live ammunition, this moderation might be tested by
larger protests. 

"If it were to turn out to be a repetition of what happened in 1988, I
think they might feel they had no choice but to shoot," said one Myanmar
exile.

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

BURMA INDEPENDENT NEWS AGENCY: QUIET STRIKE IN RANGOON'S HLAING THA YA
TOWNSHIP 
August, 1999 

BINA -- The Burma Independent News Agency -- 

Window on Burma #15

(From MoJo #5, August 1999)

The SPDC government took land from local people in the Hlaing Tha Ya
Township by claiming that the local people, who had title to the land, had
encroached on it. Then the army unlawfully occupied the land. 

The true owners of the land, over 100 people, at 9:15 am on 30 May 1999,
demonstrated for 20 minutes against the army at the Township PDC office.
They carried a sign saying, "We are Demonstrating without Support of
Political Parties", and "We Are Striking Peacefully to Recover our Land".
But even though the people were peacefully gathered, the MI arrested the
two strike leaders that evening, and held them in jail for six days.

[MoJo means "Lightning" in Burmese. MoJo is an independent newspaper from
the Burmese community in Thailand. Its primary content is social,
political, and economic news from all over Burma, and its intended readers
are the people inside Burma itself.  BINA will regularly provide
English-language excerpts from MoJo to the BurmaNet. If you would like to
receive a Burmese-language MoJo newspaper by post, please send your postal
address to bina@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx]

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

MYANMAR INFORMATION COMMITTEE: UPDATE ON RECENT DEVELOPMENTS 
12 August, 1999 

Myanmar News Bulletin, published By the Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
(London)

News Release No. 5/99 

An update on the Recent Developments in Myanmar

Against the back-drop of negative media campaign by dissidents living in
Western countries, some positive developments concerning the Union of
Myanmar in recent days have become particularly noteworthy. 

1. Since early June 1999 the International Committee of the Red Cross
(ICRC) began to visit major prisons and other correctional facilities in
Myanmar in a cooperative effort with the government to ensure a fair and
humane treatment of all prisoners in the country. 

2. In later July and early August, the Australian Foreign Minister observed
for the first time that the negative economic and other measures taken by
the European Union and the United States against Myanmar had not worked all
that well or had not borne fruit respectively. This was followed by the
visit of Australian Commissioner for Human Rights and Equal Opportunity who
met not only the government officials, but also politicians and leaders of
nationalities in Myanmar and exchanged views and explored avenues for
cooperation in the area of human rights. 

3. More armed insurgents from among the remaining few, namely, the Kayinni
National Development Party returned to the legal fold joining countless
other returnees who embraced the exchange of Arms-for-Peace programme and
now living peacefully and harmoniously in their respective homelands. 

4. More seizures of narcotic and stimulant drugs continued as a result of
valiant efforts by the Myanmar anti narcotic authorities with a view to
completely eradicating poppy plantations by the year 2015. 

Even a leading English language newspapers in Bangkok suffered serious
embarrassment when their allegations of Myanmar government complicity in
the drug trade was refuted not only by the Myanmar side but also by the
Secretary-General of the narcotic Control Board in Thailand - who confirmed
in his letter to the Editor of Bangkok Post that "the authorities of the
Union of Myanmar have extended serious, sincere and positive cooperation to
the Thai authorities in our common war against narcotics." 

5. Finally it was no coincidence that, a few days before this Thai "
news-fiasco" - the Canadian Foreign Minister announced that his country
would begin to co-operate with Myanmar's anti-drug effort somehow. 

If any trend of development is to be read out of these recent events - it
certainly favours only a trend for peace, stability and integrity of the
Union of Myanmar at the dawn of the new millennium.

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

THE IRRAWADDY: BETTER THE DEVIL YOU DON'T KNOW 
July, 1999 

A steady trickle of defectors from the Burmese army continues to flow into
neighboring countries. Their numbers are small because the penalty for
trying to escape from the frontline is execution.  Uncertainty about what
may await them when they surrender to "the enemy" is also a strong deterrent. 

The Irrrawaddy spoke to some recent defectors and learned that as little as
Burmese soldiers seem to know about the world beyond their own battalions,
most realize that life in the service of a brutal regime is about as bad as
it gets. 

NAING OO, 29, joined the army at the age of nineteen because he wanted to
fight. Nine years later, in August 1998, he defected from Light Infantry
Battalion 283 in Karen State after he got into an argument with a superior
officer. Despite his limited education (he only completed the fifth
standard) he found his commanders' behavior "unprofessional". He described
them as rude, brutal and oppressive, and not above stealing rations from
subordinates, who often had to beg for food. On a salary of 850 kyat
(approximately $2.50) per month, none of the soldiers could afford to
support their families. Many were depressed by the never-ending struggle
for survival in the face of poverty, vicious attacks by superiors and the
constant threat of becoming the next casualty of engagement with the Karen
National Liberation Army (KNLA). After seeing many wounded soldiers receive
inadequate care, Naing Oo decided that it was just a matter of time before
he became one of the dead or maimed. Given the opportunity, he said, every
soldier would leave the army.

When he fled from his battalion, Naing Oo took a grenade launcher to defend
himself against pursuers, recalling the fate of two other soldiers who had
tried to escape but had been killed by members of their own unit. Within
fifteen minutes of leaving his camp, he heard other soldiers chasing him,
but managed to escape by shooting back and hitting three of his former
comrades. Ten days later, he surrendered to the KNLA. Although most Burmese
soldiers feared the KNLA, Naing Oo said many more would defect if they were
offered food. 

Naing Oo confirmed reports of atrocities against villagers accused of
collaborating with insurgents, saying that most were executed immediately
after interrogation. He denied ever killing a civilian. 

HTAY LWIN, 24, was another willing recruit who learned to hate his
commanders so much that he decided to escape. He fled from LIB 205 in
November 1998 with three other members of his unit who had also had enough.
He said that soldiers were on duty twenty-four hours a day. In addition to
fighting, they were expected to stand guard and do manual labor. But this
was nothing compared to the hardships of prison inmates forced into service
as porters for the soldiers. Porters were given no food and were beaten if
they were too weak to work. When beatings no longer sufficed to keep them
moving, they were abandoned in the jungle. Others were killed in the
crossfire during skirmishes with the KNLA.

Htay Lwin said that he took part in the major assault on the KNLA's
headquarters in Manerplaw in 1995. (Editor's note: The fall of Manerplaw
was the Tatmadaw's most decisive victory in nearly fifty years of fighting
against the Karen insurgency) He recalled an incident from that battle
involving the abduction and rape of two Karen women by a lieutenant and a
senior sergeant. The officers were planning to kill the women after raping
them, but they were ordered by a senior officer to release them. 

Another experience that has stayed in his mind was the suicide of a friend
and fellow soldier who contracted malaria and lost all hope of recovering
or returning to a normal life.

MYO WIN ZAW, 20, had never wanted to serve in the army, but was given a
choice between that and going to prison after he was arrested in Rangoon
for not having an identification card. From the beginning he planned to
escape. At the age of eighteen, he did a four-month military training
course -- three months of which were spent performing menial tasks for
senior officers. He finally escaped -- with Htay Lwin and two others -- two
years later while stationed in Karen State with LIB 205.

Asked if he knew who Aung San Suu Kyi was, Myo Win Zaw said he had heard of
her, but only from what he had read in the state-owned press. Before
escaping to Thailand, he believed that she was trying to make Burma a slave
of the West.

BA HTAN, 17, was forced to join the army in March 1998 at the age of 16. He
was arrested in Mandalay because he wasn't carrying any identification. A
member of the Chin ethnic minority, he was on his way to his native Kachin
State to visit his mother at the time. Like Myo Win Zaw, he was given a
chance to get out of jail if he joined the army. The military policeman who
came to the jail to find new recruits told him that he was at the best age
to begin military training. But when he was taken to the Shwebo training
center, he found that some of the future soldiers were children as young as
nine. Many had tried to escape, but none had succeeded. On a regular basis,
these young "soldiers" were lined up against the wall while drill sergeants
shouted, "Is there anyone here who was forced to join?" Everyone answered
"No!" for fear of receiving a beating.

After training Ba Htan was sent straight to the front line. He and four
others made an attempt to escape before reaching their destination because
they knew that if they were caught trying to escape from the front line,
they would be executed. But even after this unsuccessful attempt, he was
determined to get away, so one night while he was on guard duty, he
persuaded his partner to join him in making a run for it. With food and
guns, they set off at 10 p.m. for KNLA-controlled territory, despite his
companion's fears about surrendering to their enemies. They later met a
Karen man who asked them who they were and what they were doing. When they
explained that they wanted to surrender, the man took them to the nearest
KNLA camp.

Ba Htan said that ordinary soldiers were always hungry and constantly
subjected to abuse from officers. He also spoke of how whole villages in
Karen State were sometimes burned down by Burmese soldiers. "I know there
is no justice," he said. 

THAN HTIKE, 18, was another involuntary recruit. He had tried several times
in the past to escape, but was always caught. He said that it was not
uncommon for soldiers to end up in jail for throwing punches at their
superiors out of anger. Tensions were always high because soldiers knew
that if they were injured in an attack or by land mines, they would not
receive proper medical care. 

Than Htike said that if soldiers found girls in villages, they would rape
them.

He also said that soldiers were not allowed to listen to short-wave
broadcasts from foreign radio stations, although officers often listened to
the radio secretly. He added that like most other soldiers, he knew little
about Aung San Suu Kyi or the Karen before coming to Thailand. But Than
Htike said he did not have to leave Burma to know what the military regime
was really all about. 

"The Tatmadaw calls itself the 'People's Army' but they are just oppressing
the people," he said, adding that the soldiers were also oppressed by their
superiors. 

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

THE NATION: ARMED GROUP CROSSED BORDER 
17 August, 1999 

MAE HONG SON

A 30-member armed group under the command of Burmese military forces
infiltrated a border village under Royal patronage in this northern
province on Sunday possibly hunting for a senior army office of Kayah
State, a senior border patrol police officer said yesterday. 

Maj Nophakao Kokilawathi, chief of the 336th Patrol Police company said
villagers at Nai Soi Centre in Tambon Pang Moo of Mae Hong Son District
reported that the armed group in army fatigues asked for the location of
the Na Soi Police Station, military units and government offices in the
sub-district. Nophakao said they reportedly headed in the direction of the
village after villagers refuse to provide the information. According to the
officer, a joint military and police night search on Aug 15 failed to
locate the group which was headed by Maj Lt Li Lae. 

He said the infiltration could have been aimed at attacking the Thai police
station as a show of strength. 

Nophakao said the group last month abducted four Thai hilltribe people from
the nearby village of Mai Sa Pae. 

He said the group also wanted Maj Gen Aung Mya, deputy commander of Kayah
State who the Burmese junta believe has taken sanctuary in Thailand. 

Aung Mya has engineered several military operations which has cost numerous
lives within the Burmese force and his death will bring the Kayah's
insurgency to the end.

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

THE IRRAWADDY: MIGRANTS, RIGHTS, AND AIDS 
July, 1999 by Teena Amrit Gill

Thailand-based journalist Teena Amrit Gill contributes a look at the impact
of HIV/AIDS on Burmese migrants in Thailand.

The Burmese military junta's silence on the HIV/AIDS situation in Burma has
kept under cover the exact extent of the spread of the disease for a long
time. In the past few years though, signals had already begun to emerge
that Burma is sitting on an HIV minefield, much of which is present along
its porous borders with Thailand, India and China.

Now with the Thai government threatening to deport Burmese migrants from
along its borders, within the next three years in collaboration with the
United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR), there is fear that
those affected by HIV are bound to suffer the most due to forcible
repatriation. While most migrants would have plenty to worry about on
returning home the situation of the HIV affected is expected to be
particularly disastrous because of Burma's complete lack of health care
infrastructure and negative attitudes fostered by the state towards
HIV-positive people.

Although it is difficult to estimate exactly how many of these
refugees/migrants have been affected by HIV, according to medical
professionals working along the border, Burma's ethnic minority groups are
in fact as heavily affected by HIV as are the Burmans, in inner Burma.
There are estimated to be over 750,000 migrants living and working in
Thailand, most of whom are from ethnic areas, based primarily on the Thai
side of the over 2000 km border. 

Most of these ethnic minority populations, have long waged secessionist
struggles against the Rangoon controlled civilian and military regimes, and
many consequently had to flee the country. They include the Karen, Shan,
Mon, Lisu and Karenni people.

The rapid spread on HIV in Burma first took place amongst injecting drug
users, according to Dr. Chris Beyrer, from John Hopkins University's School
of Hygeine and Public Health in the US who has worked extensively in the
region. According to a joint WHO and Burmese National AIDS Program study,
the HIV rate amongst drug users was in fact the highest in the world, with
74 percent of all addicts in Rangoon, 84 percent in Mandalay and 91 percent
in Myitkyina (Kachin border state) having contracted the disease.

Initially in fact, the majority of cases were reported on the Burma-China
and Burma-India borders, amongst intravenous drug users (IDUs). Heroin is
known to be easily available here, as well as in Shan state, along the
Burma-Thai and Burma-China borders, though amphetamines have become more
popular now. Burma is responsible for 40-60 percent of the world's heroin
supply. The practice of needle sharing is common, with bans on non-medical
use, in addition to shortages, leading to the rapid spread of the disease
amongst IDUs. "There are large numbers of drug users, and sex workers,
across the Thai border with Shan state especially in Tachilek and Mae Sai
towns," says Apichart Sutthiwong, a Thai journalist working on the border.
"Almost every day someone is dying from HIV/AIDS here."

The second most affected group has been commercial sex workers. Among
hilltribe people, however, according to Dr. Beyrer, this is the most
important mode of transmission, with these women being "at extraordinarily
high risk for HIV infection" as they "may have little awareness of the
risks of HIV infection, or indeed of the infectious nature of some diseases".

"Commercial sex is at the heart of Southeast Asia's AIDS catastrophe," he
says in his book War in the Blood, and amongst hilltribe groups there is
known to be only one risk "for women, having been a worker in the sex
industry; for men, having been a patron." The risks are not from within,
but from contact with the world outside. 

Although only some 5-10 percent of the estimated 750,000 migrants in
Thailand are sex workers, most of whom have been trafficked, the risks
involved are very high. 

A majority of these trafficked women are 'debt-bonded' and are from Shan
state, in addition to Lahu, Akha and Lisu women amongst others. 

At present the disease is spreading most rapidly amongst the general
population, primarily through men infected passing it on to wives, or
sexual partners, but also by women affected passing it on to husbands and
other partners, most of whom would never think of using condoms,
considering such sex 'safe'.

Amongst the estimated 350,000-400,000 people affected by HIV in Burma,
175,000 of these were pregnant women tested at antenatal clinics. The
disease has now begun to spread rapidly from infected drug users and sex
workers to the general population. In Keng Tung town in Shan state, close
to the Thai and Lao borders, over 10 percent of pregnant women were tested
HIV positive. 

According to a UNDCP study in Myitkyina, a Kachin town bordering China, 80
percent of all drug addicts were sexually active, and 98 percent had in
fact never used a condom.

The sale of condoms was illegal in Burma till 1993, and today the cost of a
packet of four condoms is equivalent to an average month's wages, and thus
unaffordable for most. Further, among certain ethnic minority groups the
subject of condom use is in itself taboo.

A foreign medical doctor working on HIV/AIDS related issues in Thailand who
did not want to be named, says with certain communities such as the Karen
refusing to discuss issues such as condom use or premarital sex on
religious grounds, it is very difficult to approach the issue. "Even
progressive ethnic movements refuse to touch the subject," he adds.

What is even more worrying however, are the consequences of having to
return to Burma with the disease where even the basic facilities available
in Thailand are nonexistent. 

Needle-sharing programs for injecting drug users, for instance, are totally
shunned. Reports from Shan state in fact point out that women and girls
returning from the sex industry in Thailand are pushed into
concentration-like camps specially created for them. In 1996, many of these
women were being housed in leprosy colonies with both groups being equally
terrified of each other. HIV-infected women who appear asymptomatic have
reportedly been resold into prostitution by military commanders, who then
pocket the proceeds.

Drug treatment centers in Rangoon are known to be run using a criminal
rather than medical model, with pictures of patients being chained to their
hospital beds reaching the world outside.

Symptoms in Burma show as tropical infectious diseases such as tuberculosis
and salmonellosis rather than opportunistic infections like in the West,
and treatment says Dr. Beyrer, "is essentially non-existent and patients
succumb quickly to infections." 

Besides, with even the capital Rangoon lacking the basic infrastructure and
medical supplies to assist HIV patients, facilities in the border areas are
known to be nonexistent. A provincial doctor is known to have told the John
Hopkins University medical team that if she receives an HIV patient all she
can do is prescribe tylenol, (a common analgesic) and an extra rice ration.

In Thailand, government medical facilities are equally available to Thais
and non-Thais, though once the disease becomes symptomatic patients are not
provided in-hospice care. "Some migrant women choose to return home when
they become symptomatic," says an activist working with Burmese migrants in
Chiang Mai. "But for those who cannot, they stay alone without any support
from families back home, and their own communities in fact shun them
because HIV is still seen as a 'bad persons' disease." As a result most did
not want to be interviewed.

While the situation on the ground is alarming, what has become increasingly
evident over the years is the rapid epidemic spread of HIV and other
infectious 'killer' diseases such as cholera and malaria in situations of
civil war.

"AIDS does discriminate," as Dr Chris Beyrer points out in War in the
Blood." HIV spreads fastest where social life is chaotic, where poverty is
endemic, where women are uneducated, and where the rights of vulnerable
groups and individuals are violated." As with all other pressing concerns
in Burma, the issue of the HIV infection will never be adequately addressed
until and unless the generals are silenced and the people allowed freely to
choose leaders accountable to them. 

THIS ARTICLE WAS CONTRIBUTED BY TEENA AMRIT GILL, A CORRESPONDENT FOR INTER
PRESS SERVICE.

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

THE BANGKOK POST: SURAYAD - AID FOR DEVELOPMENT BEST WAY TO FIGHT DRUGS 
16 August, 1999 by Veera Prateepchaikul, Nusara Thaitawat, Subin Khuenkaew
and Wassana Nanuam

Ethnic group needs international help

Development aid for Mong Yawn and the southern military command of the
United Wa State Army (UWSA) in Burma's Shan State is the best strategy
against drug trafficking by the group, the army chief said.

Gen Surayud Chulanont said in an interview with the Bangkok Post that both
Thailand and Burma, which he referred to as "neighbour", had agreed on this
point.

"Both our neighbour and us agree that to provide alternative development to
the ethnic Wa was the best solution at this time to enable the people to
have other means of living," he said.

The army chief said the government was exploring the idea of approaching
the United Nation International drug Control Programme (UNDCP) or a private
organization to come in and help the ethnic Wa. 

The commander said he was not directly involved.

The United Wa State Party, the political arm of the UWSA which was formed
in 1989 following the breakup of the Burma Communist Party of which the
ethnic Wa were a dominant faction, had appealed for international
development aid in 1993.

But letters of appeal, submitted to the UN and major aid donors were mostly
ignored because of the international boycott of the Burmese military rulers
in Rangoon. The UNDCP responded but faced much difficulty in raising funds
for an alternative development project in Ho Tao, in the south of the
UWSP's northern territory on the Chinese border, launched only last year.

But funding aside, the project which involves the governments of China and
Burma, the Wa leadership and the UNDCP could serve as an example for Mong
Yawn, located some 30km from the Thai border in Mae Ai district, Chiang Mai.

A private group based in Chiang Mai has already completed a "need
assessment" paper for Mong Yawn.

Gen Surayud's remarks follow tough military action against the UWSA drug
traffickers over the past month.

The 20-day operation involving 800 soldiers along a 50km stretch of the
border classified as most sensitive in Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, and which
ended on July 31, had significantly destroyed the UWSA's network in the two
provinces.

The suppression drive was prompted by the brutal killing of nine Thai
villagers who accidentally stumbled on a Wa drug caravan.

Other operations involving smaller army units have been launched to keep up
the pressure on the UWSA.

The San Ton Du temporary border crossing in Mae Ai was officially closed
last week. Gen Surayud said he was not aware of any reaction from Burma,
but that the official channel would be the Foreign Ministry.

"We want to send a signal to the UWSA that they can no longer do as they
please," said Gen Surayud. "We want to make it most difficult for them," he
said, of the result of the closure of San Ton Du.

While no drugs have been found at the San Ton Du border crossing, its
closure was intended to disrupt the UWSA's massive infrastructure projects
in Mong Yawn, believed to be funded by its drugs trade in Thailand. The
projects include a hydro-electric dam being built under the supervision of
Chinese engineers from Yunnan, electricity and water supplies, and housing
for over 10,000 people.

Land was being cleared for agriculture and animal husbandry, and also to
settle more people being relocated from UWSA's northern territory. The UWSP
is headquartered in Panghsang near the Shan-Yunnan border.

An estimated 6,000 Thai workers are being employed by the UWSA to build its
infrastructure in Mong Yawn and the UWSA southern military command which
stretches from Mong Yawn to Mong Hsat.

Gen Surayud said that the army still believes that the Kiew Pa Wok
temporary border crossing in Chiang Dao district, some 40km from San Ton Du
should be closed as well because it also leads to Mong Yawn. The army had
made the recommendation to the Defence Ministry together with San Ton Du
but was rejected. General Surayud said the anti-drug suppression was rejected.

General Surayud said the anti-drug suppression was funded by the army's
budget without any financial aid from the government because it thought
drug scourge was a security threat.

But if the fund proved inadequate, he said the army would ask for more
budget from the government.

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ANNOUNCEMENT: HUMAN RIGHTS AND DIPLOMACY TRAINING 
17 August, 1999 from dtp@xxxxxxxxxxx

Call for Applications
Human Rights and Peoples Diplomacy Training 
10th Annual Training for Human Rights Activists from the Asia-Pacific 
24 January - 11 February 2000 
Law School, Northern Territory University, Darwin, Australia

WHAT IS THE DTP? 

The Diplomacy Training Program (DTP) is a non-governmental, non-profit
organisation providing human rights training in the Asia-Pacific region.
The DTP was founded in 1989 by Professor Jose Ramos-Horta, the 1996 Nobel
Peace Laureate and representative of East Timor at the UN for more than a
decade. It is a unique program which provides practical training in human
rights and "peoples' diplomacy" to non-governmental organisations and other
sectors of civil society.

Since January 1990, the DTP has conducted regional training sessions in
Bangkok, Manila and Sydney, as well as in-country sessions in Australia,
Fiji, Nepal, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Taiwan and Thailand. To date, the DTP
has trained over 500 human rights defenders from 30 countries and
constituencies.

WHO SHOULD COME? 

Men and women from non-government and people's organisations widely
relevant to human rights from Asia-Pacific countries and indigenous
Australia. Participants affiliated with organisations are encouraged to
apply, but individual applicants will be considered. Priority goes to women
and indigenous peoples.

WHAT WILL PARTICIPANTS LEARN? 

a) Practical skills of negotiating, lobbying, using the media, strategic
campaigning, developing effective strategies for non-governmental
organisations. 

b) Information on the principles of human rights, the use of public and
international law, how to access the United Nations and its agencies, and
the role of regional and international bodies and organisations.

TRAINING METHOD 

The DTP training is interactive, with emphasis on group work, role plays
and simulations. Media training includes practising in front of a camera
and with video replay. Simulations include a session of the UN Commission
on Human Rights. DTP trainers are experienced and highly respected local,
regional and international NGO leaders, media professionals and committed
academics who understand DTP's philosophy of interactive involvement of
participants.

LANGUAGE OF TRAINING 

Participants are expected to have a basic understanding of English. Written
skills in English are helpful, but not as important as an ability to
understand and communicate in discussions.

COURSE MATERIALS 

Participants are provided with a comprehensive Manual in plain English
covering the course work. It is also a practical reference and resource for
participants when they return home.

PAST PARTNERS 

DTP partner organisation in the Asia-Pacific are experienced and respected
human rights and peoples' organisations. The partners help DTP to identify
and select the most appropriate participants for the training program.
Organisations the DTP has cooperated with in the past include: Hotline
Bangladesh, Forum-Asia (Thailand), South Asia Human Rights Documentation
Centre (India), Community Aid Abroad (Australia), Pacific Concerns Resource
Centre (Fiji), and Informal Sector Service Centre (Nepal). 

FUNDING AND SUPPORT 

An affiliation with the University of New South Wales provides valuable
support from academic staff, particularly from the Faculty of Law. However,
DTP relies entirely on donations to run its programs.

COST 

The 2000 annual training from 24 January - 11 February 2000 will be held at
the Northern Territory University in Darwin, Australia. Course fees are
A$3000 plus airfare. This fee includes training, food, accommodation and
materials. Participants with assistance of the DTP look to sponsors to
defray costs. Some scholarships available.

If you would like more information or an application form, please contact
dtp@xxxxxxxxxxx or mail Diplomacy Training Program, Faculty of Law,
University of New South Wales, Sydney 2052 Australia, tel: 61 2 9385 2277
f: 61 2 9385 1778 www.law.unsw.edu.au/centres/dtp

Diplomacy Training Program 
Faculty of Law 
University of New South Wales 
Sydney 2052 Australia 
tel: +02 9385 2277/2807 
fax: +02 9385 1778 
email: dtp@xxxxxxxxxxx 
www.law.unsw.edu.au/centres/dtp

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