BurmaNet News: February 22, 2000

[strider@xxxxxxxxxxx]

=========== THE BURMANET NEWS ===========
Tuesday, February 22, 2000
Issue # 1468
============www.burmanet.org=============

=========
Headlines
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Inside Burma--
AFP: HUN SUN WELCOMED WITH 19 GUN SALUTE IN MYANMAR
MIZZIMA: SOLDIERS SAY THEY LEFT THE ARMY DUE TO LITTLE SALARY AND 
BEATING BY THE OFFICERS
International--
REUTERS: ALBRIGHT, KONO TALK ON REGIONAL ISSUES
NORTH EAST SUN (India) IMPROVING BORDER TRADE
BANGKOK POST: SAWMILLS ON BORDER SPARK WORRY
THE NATION: ASIA INTERNAL REFUGEES IN THE SPOTLIGHT 
Other--
ANNC: UPCOMING TALKS ON BURMA

=========================================


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 INSIDE BURMA
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AFP: HUN SUN WELCOMED WITH 19 GUN SALUTE IN MYANMAR

YANGON, Feb 19 (AFP) - Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen was warmly 
welcomed to Myanmar on Saturday at the start o fhis first official visit 
since both countries joine the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.

Hun Sen was met at the airport by Myanmar's Senior General Than Shwe and 
other senior members of the military government.

Honoured with a 19-gun salute after stepping off his plane, Hun Sen was 
feted by hundreds of students waving flags as he made his way from the 
airport and into the city.

The two leaders were due to hold talks later Saturday, and Hun Sen was 
also due to meet Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt, head of military 
intelligence. 

Foreign ministers of the two nations will sign a visa-free agreement for 
diplomats and government officers.
Oiffcials here said that the visit would concentrate on strengthening 
already friendly relations and enhancing trade and political ties.

Both countries are in the less developed bloc of ASEAN nations. Myanmar 
is lumbered with an economy starved of foreign investment, largely due 
to the range of sanctons imposed by foreign nations critical of its 
humani rights 
record.

Cambodia's economy and society is still struggling to shake of the 
effects of years of civil war.
Both economies were shielded from mthe ost damaging effects of the Asian 
financial crisis due to their low levels of sophistication but Myanmar 
and Cambodia have been badly hit by plunging levels of investment from 
ASEAN states.

Myanmar joined ASEAN in 1997, despite a storm of protest from Western 
countries who said the move would make it feel less pressurised to carry 
out political reform.

Cambodia became a member in 1999, after its membership was delayed after 
Hun Sen ousted his then co-premier Princer Norodom Rannaridh two years 
earlier. Hun Sen is due to be honoured with a state dinner on Saturday 
night and will tour Yangon and a seaside resort no Sunday before 
returning home to Phnom Penh on Monday.


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MIZZIMA: SOLDIERS SAY THEY LEFT THE ARMY DUE TO LITTLE SALARY AND 
BEATING BY THE OFFICERS

Aizawl: February 22, 2000
Mizzima News Group

Four Burma soldiers who were arrested by Mizoram police in India-Burma 
border said that they left the army due to little salary and injustice 
done to them in the army. The four army deserters told the police 
investigation team in Champhai yesterday that their monthly salary is 
too little even to survive. According to them, a soldier (with Private 
rank) gets only Kyat 450 per month as salary. With current exchange rate 
in the border, the amount is equivalent to Indian Rupees 70 only.

They also said that their officers treated them badly and the seniors 
occasionally beat them. One of the soldiers showed his fresh injuries to 
the police team, which he got due to beating by his officers.

The four Burma soldiers deserted their army outpost in Rid village of 
Chin State of Burma on February 17. The local police arrested them the 
same day near a border village in Champhai district of Mizoram State of
India.

According to police sources, Mizoram State's Director General of Police 
Mr. M.Tumsanga and Champhai Superintendent of Police Mr. K. Amonan 
crossed the border to Rid village on February 19 to discuss with their 
counterparts in Burma on the fate of the deserters.

Four Burma soldiers (Pvt Tun Linn Naung, 13, Pvt Win Kyaw, 18, Pvt Than 
Thun, 25, and Pvt Soe Aye, 20) from Light Infantry Battalion No. 266 of 
Burma army along with three G-3 assault rifles and ammunitions were
arrested by local police on February 17 after they deserted their army 
post in Burma side.


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 INTERNATIONAL
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REUTERS: ALBRIGHT, KONO TALK ON REGIONAL ISSUES

WASHINGTON, Feb 20 (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State 
Madeleine Albright and Japanese Foreign Minister Yohei Kono met on 
Sunday for talks on bilateral relations, regional issues in Asia and the 
upcoming global trade talks.

State Department spokesman James Foley described the
discussions during the two-hour private meeting as ``extensive'' and 
``very substantive.''

He said the talks covered the ``excellent bilateral
relations'' between the two countries, regional issues involving such 
nations as China, Indonesia and Myanmar, and the Group of Eight (G8) 
summit that Japan will host on Okinawa in July. During his three-day 
visit, Kono is also due to meet President Bill Clinton and U.S. Trade 
Representative Charlene Barshefsky.

Japanese officials have said Kono's trip was part of an
effort by the two allies to coordinate views ahead the G8
summit, which brings together the United States, Japan, France, Germany, 
Britain, Canada, Italy and Russia.
Foley declined to discuss the substance of the talks, but
said Albright and Kono held a 30-minute session alone and then met as 
part of a larger group that included their aides at a breakfast meeting.


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NORTH EAST SUN (India) IMPROVING BORDER TRADE

By Rahib Chowdhury
 "North East Sun"
Bi-weekly Magazine
(Feb: 1-14, 2000 Vol. 5, No. 13)

 A high-level meeting between the Government of India and Myanmar 
discussed the possibilities of improving border trade between both the 
countries. The meeting was held at Hotel Polo Towers in Shillong on 
January 8. The meeting also discussed the problems like drug menace, 
insurgency and border security.

 The 14 members delegation of Myanmar was led by General Maung Aye, 
Vice-Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council, Deputy 
Commander-in-chief of Myanmar Defence Service and the Commander-in-chief 
of the Myanmar Army. The Indian delegation consisted of Union Minister 
of Commerce and Industry, Murasoli Maran and the Union Minister of 
Power, P.R. Kumaramangalam.

 Addressing a press conference at the Hotel Polo Towers, Murasoli Maran 
said the delegation had wide-ranging bilateral talks, aimed at expanding 
economic and technical cooperation between the two countries. He said 
that there were lots of bottlenecks and the meeting was organized to 
discuss such problems.

 He felt that if proper banking system were not evolved border trade 
would die a premature death.

 Mr. Murasoli Maran informed that the Myanmar delegation wanted some 
more border points, which could be mutual interest to both the 
countries. He said that the two sides reviewed the growth of bilateral 
trade and various measures required to be taken to give further impetus.

Both sides also decided to take all measures necessary to ensure that 
border trade at the existing border point Moreh-Tamu is fully 
facilitated. The two sides also agreed to consider operationalising the 
second border trade point at Champhai-Rih in Mizoram sector, including 
improvement in the infrastructural facilities in the area.

 The Union Commerce Minister also informed that the meeting also 
discussed about the possibilities of navigation through River Ka Ladan 
which flows through both Mizoram and Myanmar and if inland water 
transport system is created than Calcutta could be connected via 
shipway.

 Mr. Maran also said that the two sides agreed to concrete measures to 
enhance cooperation in the fields of agriculture, industry, 
infrastructure development and science and technology.  Both sides 
agreed to cooperate in the energy field by carrying out detailed  
investigating with a view to determining the feasibility of joint power 
projects.

 Union Power Minister, P.R. Kumaramangalam who was also present at the 
conference said that a high powered technical team will be going soon to 
Myanmar to work out the modalities of setting up of a hydel power 
project. The team is expected to leave India within one month's time. He 
also informed that two more delegations would go to Myanmar to do the 
groundwork for the setting up of a diesel generation engine plant and a 
remote sensing and remote data Centre.
 It is learnt that the India team made a forceful plea to Myanmar 
government to flush the insurgents of the North-East, including the 
Khaplang faction of NSCN out of Myanmar.



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BANGKOK POST: SAWMILLS ON BORDER SPARK WORRY
February 22, 2000

Supamart Kasem and Somsak Suksai
The mushrooming of sawmills along the Moei river in recent years has 
raised concern among Thai authorities that the mills may be supplied 
with timber illegally cut from the Salween national park and wildlife 
sanctuary.
There are now nearly 100 small sawmills scattered in Burmese border 
areas opposite Thailand's Mae Sot, Tha Song Yang and Prop Phra districts 
and areas near the Salween forest.

The sawmills are reportedly run by some 30 Thai timber traders from 
Phrae, Lampang, Tak, Kanchanaburi and Suphan Buri provinces.
The sawmills have mushroomed in the past two years after Thailand 
imposed a ban on Burmese wood imports.

Sawmill operators claimed their feedstocks came from forests in Burma, 
but Thai authorities feared the mills might be partly supplied with logs 
illegally cut from the Salween forest.
Lt-Gen Wattanachai Chaimeunwong, the Third Army chief, has recently 
ordered bridges across the Moei river removed to prevent bids to smuggle 
Thai timber to Burma.

Maj Prasarn Saengsirirak, civil affairs chief of the Fourth Infantry 
Regiment's task force, said border checkpoints manned by infantrymen 
have also been set up along the border, opposite the sites of these 
sawmills.

He added the bridges across the Moei were built by the sawmills.
The removal of the bridges would be raised at the next meeting of the 
local Thai-Burmese border committee, Mae Sot district chief Cherdsak 
Chusri said.

According to a source in the timber business, these border sawmills have 
entered into a deal with influential timber traders and brokers in 
Burma. The latter group has agreed to bribe Burmese officials to allow 
the transport of timber from Burmese forests to the sawmills where the 
wood is to be processed and delivered to furniture makers in Thailand.


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THE NATION: ASIA INTERNAL REFUGEES IN THE SPOTLIGHT 
February 22, 2000

A SENIOR UN official for internally displaced persons will attend a 
three-day regional conference on internal displacement in Asia opening 
today in Bangkok. 

The conference will look for more effective solutions to problems of 
displaced persons in Asia. Millions of people have been forcibly 
displaced internally by armed conflicts, ethnic strife, violations of 
human rights, natural and man-made disasters and development projects. 

Unlike refugees who have an established system of international 
protection and assistance upon which to reply, the internally displaced 
often find themselves with no one to turn to, although they are in 
equally desperate state, it added. 

International experts, representatives of national human rights 
commissions, non-governmental organisations, and regional and 
international organisations are to attend the conference. Sixteen 
countries were invited to send representatives. 

Chuchai Kasemsarn, the Foreign Ministry's deputy permanent secretary, 
will give an opening statement while Francis Deng, the UN 
secretary-general's representative on internally displaced persons, and 
other key representatives will deliver introductory statements on the 
subject. 

The conference is hosted by Chulalongkorn University and Forum Asia, and 
sponsored by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, the Brookings 
Institution Project on Internal Displacement, the Norwegian Refugee 
Council and the US Committee for Refugees. 

According to informed sources, the organisers have failed to convince 
the Thai government to allow the attendance by Burmese representatives 
who work with Burmese refugees and internally displaced persons. 

Thailand is currently housing about 100,000 refugees from Burma, and an 
estimated half a million Burmese are migrant workers in the Kingdom. 

According to private relief agencies and Burma's armed ethnic groups, 
some 500,000 people along the Thai-Burma border have been displaced by 
the Burmese junta during the past several years. 
According to the United Nations, about 20 million to 25 million people 
are internally displaced worldwide. 


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OTHER
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ANNC: UPCOMING TALKS ON BURMA 

Free Burma Coalition (UK)

29th February 2000
Rachel Goldwyn and Ko Aung will be speaking about Burma, and their 
experiences in Insein Jail, at The London School of Economics, Houghton 
Street, London, WC2 on Tuesday 29th February form 6-7pm in the Hong Kong 
Theatre. This is a ticket event, tickets available, free of charge, from 
the Students Union reception, or contact 0171 955 7158. Nearest 
Underground: Temple, British Rail: Waterloo, Buses: The Aldwych

16th March 2000
Round-Table: The Crisis in Burma.
Speakers: Robert Taylor, Gustaaf Houtman, Rachel Goldwyn
Thursday 16th March, 5 - 6pm Room G58
Centre of South East Asian Studies, School of Oriental and African 
Studies, Russell Square, London, WC1
Nearest Underground: Russell Square, British Rail: Euston, Buses: 
Russell Square/Tottenham Court Road
For further info contact: Irene Cummings 020 7898 4220


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coverage of news and opinion on Burma (Myanmar).  For a subscription to 
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