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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: March 15, 2000



  ________________ THE BURMANET NEWS _________________
/        An on-line newspaper covering Burma           \   
\_________________ www.burmanet.org ___________________/

Wednesday, March 15, 2000
Issue # 1487

To view the version of this issue with photographs, go 
to-

http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$238


_______________________________________________________

 NOTED IN PASSING:


"The [regime's policy of large-scale displacement of 
certain ethnic groups, the continued practice of forced 
labour for military camp work and portering and related 
human rights violations remain the main cause of refugee 
movements."

United Nations Special Rapporteur for Myanmar Rajsoomer 
Lalah (See AFP:  HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND ABJECT 
POVERTY IN MYANMAR)


_______________________________________________________



*Inside Burma


ASIAWEEK: MAI GETS IT WRONG

BANGKOK POST: SICK KHUN SA EXPECTED TO RETURN HOME 

SSA: ANOTHER RAID ON HEROIN FACTORY

AFP:  HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND ABJECT POVERTY IN 
MYANMAR

THE NATION: HISTORIAN TRIES TO SAVE LANGUAGE 

THE IRRAWADDY: THE NEW FACE OF THE KNU

THE IRRAWADDY: SILENT MIGRATION


*International

FEER: MYSTERY BURMA TALKS

MIZZIMA: INSURGENCY AND VIOLENCE ON THE RISE IN INDIA'S 
NORTH EASTERN STATES

BANGKOK POST: YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR 



*Other

ACTIONS BIRMANIE: NEW ELEMENTS ON BIRMANIE.NET WEBSITE

YALE: NEW BOOK--"THE 1988 UPRISING IN BURMA" BY DR. MAUNG 
MAUNG



___________________ INSIDE BURMA ______________________



ASIAWEEK: MAI GETS IT WRONG

(Asiaweek, March 17, 2000)

In December, Myanmar forced Thai Airways International to 
cut back it's weekly passenger load of about 3,500 
between Yangon and Bangkok to the jointly aggreed cap of 
2,500. The Thais had quitely upped the number to 3,500 
and were doing well-it's a lucrative route for them. 
Myanmar thought that if Thai Airways' capacity was 
reduced, passengers(most of them tourists) would be 
forced to fly Myanmar Airways International. It didn't 
worked out that way. Instead of opting for MAI, 
travellers apparently opted out. The clearst result of 
the decision? Hotels in the tourist centres of Yangon, 
Mandalay, Bagan and Inle Lake are complaining of falling 
occupancy rates.

Related link:
MAI schedules: http://www.myanmars.net/mai/


_______________________________________________________



BANGKOK POST: SICK KHUN SA EXPECTED TO RETURN HOME 


March 15, 2000



Favourite house being prepared
Subin Khuenkaew and Cheewin Sattha
Khun Sa is next month expected to return to his former 
stronghold in Homong, opposite Mae Hong Son, to live out 
the rest of his days.
Following months of speculation about his return, sources 
among border security authorities and the former drug 
warlord's followers, said a house in Homong, known to be 
one of his favourites, is being cleaned and renovated in 
anticipation of his return in early April.
A family member said Khun Sa, or Chang Shi-fu, is 
paralysed on the right side and can hardly speak. "He 
wishes to spend his final days in Homong. This is the 
place where he lived his most successful years," the 
relative said.
Homong is 40km inside eastern Shan State, Burma. Opposite 
Muang district, the area was once an advanced settlement 
along the Thai-Burmese border, with a hospital, 
telephones, a hotel and even a karaoke bar.
Before his capitulation to the Burmese military junta in 
early 1996, Khun Sa built a stupa 3km south of Homong and 
had told close aides it was to be his final resting 
place.
Homong has been under the control of Burmese soldiers 
since early 1996.
A source at the Office of Narcotics Control Board said he 
was aware of the rumours but could not confirm them. He 
said that it would be difficult for Khun Sa to regain his 
status as a drug warlord with the United Wa State Army 
now firmly in control of the drugs trade in the Golden 
Triangle.
The charismatic Khun Sa, half-Chinese half-Shan, once 
controlled most of the opium and heroin trade in the 
drug-producing area where the borders of Burma, Laos and 
Thailand meet.
Early this month, the South China Morning Post quoted an 
unidentified source as saying the State Peace and 
Development Council, the ruling junta in Rangoon, had 
given permission for his return to Homong.


_______________________________________________________


SSA: ANOTHER RAID ON HEROIN FACTORY

SSArmy News 
March 14, 2000 
Another raid on a heroin refinery

According to the SSA's policy against narcotics, our men 
from Khun Sarng Ton Hoong's column made a raid on a 
heroin refinery at Wan Kharng Par (half way between Ho 
Mong and Pieng long). The raid took place on 10th March 
2000, from 18:00 to 18:45 hr. This refinery has been 
under the protection of SPDC's 221 IB and is only 25 
minutes walk from its garison. The owner of this refinery 
is known to be ''Ai Lieng" and the following items were 
captured in this raid. 

1. Pure heroin (still in processing to become flakes) - 
7.7 Kilograms.
2. Opium juice (still in boiling stage) - 110 Kg.
3. Opium byproducts (1 large bag) appx. - 60 Kg.
4. Opium residue (sot zua) - .6 Kg.
5. Acids (30 litres per container) - 6 containers.
6. Ether - 2 bottles.
7. Quick lime (50 kg per sack) - 5 sacks.
8. Honda generator - 1 pcs.
9. Gas 10 - tanks
10. Large cauldron 5 pcs.
11. Large frying pan for opium - 1 pcs.
12. Hong fee set - 1 set.
13. Suction pump - 1 pcs.
14. Glass funnel and large glass bottle - 1 set.
15. Long glass tube - 1 pcs.
16. Sieve - 1pcs.

As this refinery is settled near the SPDC's 221 IB camp, 
the captured items which could not be evacuated were 
burnt or destroyed togetherwith the 2 refinery-huts by 
our troops.It is also known that besides the protection 
of this refinery, the SPDC troops also supply them with 
chemicals.

Supreme Command
Shan State Army


_______________________________________________________



AFP:  HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS AND ABJECT POVERTY IN 
MYANMAR

GENEVA, March 14 (AFP) - Two international reports on 
Myanmar condemned Tuesday widespread human rights 
violations and the large-scale dipslacement and 
mistreatment of some ethnic groups.

"The adoption by the government of Myanmar of military 
solutions to political problems ... continues to generate 
a pattern of gross and systematic human rights 
violations," a UN report released in Geneva said.

"Myanmar's ethnic and religious minorities such as the 
Karen, Karenni, Shan and Rohingyas continue to suffer 
severe abuses including arbitrary arrest, killings, 
forced labour in the army and trafficking of women," said 
the report compiled by special rapporteur Rajsoomer Lalah 
in January.

"The policy of large-scale displacement of certain ethnic 
groups, the continued practice of forced labour for 
military camp work and portering and related human rights 
violations remain the main cause of refugee movements."

Meanwile, an Amnesty International report compiled by 
four Danish doctors and a representative of the 
DanChurchAid group who in 1979 and 1999 examined Myanmar 
refugees in Thailand, also found evidence of human rights 
violations. The 997 refugees had been "subjected to 
forced labour and porter service,  forced relocation from 
their villages, arbitrary arrest, and physical assault, 
including torture and killing," said Dr Hans Draminsky 
Petersen. Refugees from 1999 "reported just a massive and 
systematic violations of human rights, and there was 
nothing to suggest that the situation had improved 
during the two intervening years."

Most of the refugees examined were from the Shan, Karen 
and Mon ethnic groups, the report said.

The UN report also raised the issue of political 
prisoners, saying that there were thought to be about 800 
in 1998. It also estimated that about one million 
children in Myanmar suffer from malnutrition, and that 
there was an increasing use of heroin and an alarming 
spread of HIV/AIDS. Meanwhile in Yangon, UN Assistant 
High Commissioner for Refugees Soren Jassen Petersen held 
talks on Tuesday with senior members of the Myanmar 
military junta.

Myanmar watchers say the officials likely discussed the 
repatriation of Rohingyas from Bangladesh. Soem 250,000 
refugees fled to Bangladesh from Myanmar, although many 
returned under a 1991 UNHCR-Yangon agreement.


_______________________________________________________



THE NATION: HISTORIAN TRIES TO SAVE LANGUAGE 


March 15, 2000


Once a master race, the Mon people now have no country 
and are desperately trying to save their language with 
help from a Rangoon historian, writes 

Peter Janssen of the Deutsche Presse-Agentur:

RANGOON - When the Mon New State Party agreed to end 48 
years of armed insurgency against the central Burmese 
military regime in June 1996, the Mon people notched up 
yet another defeat in their long history of losses.

Over the past five centuries the Mon have arguably lost 
two countries - Burma and Thailand.

Believed to be the first settlers in the agriculturally 
rich central plains of Burma and Thailand, the modern Mon 
are now a people without a country, and pretty soon they 
may lose their language as well.

Rangoon-based Mon historian Nai Pan Hla, 76, is 
struggling to stop his mother tongue from joining the 
growing list of dead languages.

"Some people say I'm a madman," said Nai Pan Hla. "But I 
don't want my language to disappear in my lifetime." 
Since returning to Burma in 1998 from a 10-year 
professorship in Japan, Nai Pan Hla has been teaching 
ancient and modern Mon script and literature to 45 senior 
academics in Rangoon and has 62 high school pupils in 
Moulmein, now the main city in the Mon State of Burma.

"I think Mon will be a dead language within 40 years," he 
said. "Everywhere in the world the minority language is 
swallowed by the majority one."

The looming demise of the Mon language in Burma threatens 
to further erase the cultural contribution of one o he 
once-most powerful and widespread civilisations in 
mainland Southeast Asia.

The Mon, part of the Tibetan-Khmer ethnic group believed 
to have originated in the Yangzi River Valley of China, 
were the first known inhabitants of the central plains 
and sojuthern coastlines of modern-day Burma and 
Thailand.

They became the dominant Khmer people in Cambodia, whose 
modern language is similar, but incomprehensible to 
Burmese-Mon.

Mon founded Burma's capital Rangoon, originally called 
Dagon. Mon Buddhists built the spectacular Shwe Dagaon 
pagoda, a towering structure, standing 99 metres high on 
a hill overlooking the capital, originally calling it 
"Kyaik Dagon" in Mon, ro "Dagon Pagoda".

Dagon itself is a Mon word meaning "three hillocks", 
describing the city's three distinctive peaks.

In Thailand, the Mon were the first known settlers in the 
central plains, before being slowly assimilated by the 
southern migration of the ethnic Thais.

"The population of Ayutthaya, Thailand's old capital, was 
half Mon and half Thai," said Nai Pan Hla, an ethnic Mon 
himself who spent 40 years working for the Archaeological 
Department of Burma's Ministry of Culture.

Many prominent Thais still claim Mon heritage, among them 
former Prime Minister Anand Panyarachun, whose ancestor 
was a governor of Martaban in Burma, a city which no 
longer exists.

While the Thais assimilated the Mon peacefully, their 
fall from power in Burma was a bloody one. 

In the 16th century, Pagan's King Tabin Shwe-ti, the 
second Burmese monarch to unite the country's plethora of 
ethnic minorities under single rule, conquered the Mon 
cities of Pegu, Martaban and Prome.

His campaign was a brutal one according to historical 
accounts.

Fernao Mendes Pinto, the famous Portuguese adventurer who 
was in Myanmar in 1542 during the sacking of Prome, gave 
this lurid eye-witness accunt:

"The inhumanities committed were beyong imagination. The 
King ordered all the dead children that lay up and down 
the streets to be brought, and causing them to be hacked 
very small, he gave them mixed with bran, rice and herbs 
to his war elephants to eat."

Despite their wars against the Mon, the Burmese people 
obviously shared much in common with the Mon. In Pagan, 
the traditional seat of power for the Burmese ethnic 
group, ancient Mon script was used for Royal edicts and 
temple inscriptions up until the 12th century.

Burmese kings only started to use their own script in 
1113, when King Anawrahta came to power.

The early Burmese also used Pyu script, a Burmese 
language that is now extinct, as are the Pyu people as a 
distinct ethnic minority.

Burma's military junta claims there are eight major races 
today in their country and some 135 different ethnic 
groups, making a racial melting pot they often use to 
excuse their heavy-handed grip on power.

"In fact there is only one real race in Burma, the Asian 
race," said Nai Pan Hla. "What distinguishes the ethnic 
groups are their different languages and dialects, and 
their cultures."

Some ethnic minorities in Burma have managed to preserve 
their language and culture by openly opposing all things 
Burmese in their traditional territories.

Not so the Mon. "The Mon State is in name only. If you 
visit the 10 cities in the Mon State in Burma you will 
not hear anyone speaking Mon," complained Professor Nai 
Pan Hla.

"The Mon mix easily with the Burmese people. The other 
ethnic groups, like the Kachin, Karen and Shan, can keep 
their languages because they don't mix with the Burmese, 
but they will all eventually be assimilated as well," he 
predicted.









_______________________________________________________


THE IRRAWADDY: THE NEW FACE OF THE KNU


Vol.8 No.2 Febraury 2000

The KNU leadership reshuffle looks to solidify internal 
support as well as present a more refined view to the 
rest of the world, report Aung Zaw and Moe Gyo.

Southeast Asia's longest running insurgency, the Karen 
National Union (KNU), recently chose a new leader. Saw Ba 
Thin Sein aka Ba Thin replaced Gen Bo Mya, ending his 
twenty-four year rule. Accompanying the leadership change 
is the advancement of a group of younger leaders elected 
to the executive committee.

The KNU has seen better days during the past fifty-two 
years of struggle against the Burman-dominated ruling 
junta in Rangoon. In the past five years, it has suffered 
several military setbacks and internal divisions, 
including the loss of several key bases and a defection 
of Karen Buddhists who later formed the Democratic Karen 
Buddhist Army. The DKBA is allied with the Rangoon ruling 
junta. However, the leadership reshuffle looks to 
solidify internal support as well as present a more 
refined view to the rest of the world. 

"In the last four years we were weak in exercising 
collective leadership, some leaders acted on their own 
[without respecting the organization]," a senior KNU 
officer told The Irrawaddy.

In any event, KNU officials are happy with the recent 
shake up. "Before we never had a chance to enter the top 
ranking positions but we now have a chance to do that," 
said central executive committee member David Htaw. 

"Unlike previous times, Bo Mya was quite reasonable and 
appeared to accept the leadership changes," a senior KNU 
leader said. In the past, the KNU leader refused to step 
down. "But this time he accepted the vote," he said with 
a smile. 

But while the KNU has a new head, its body retains many 
of its old leaders. Bo Mya is now vice president and 
retains his positions as defense minister, chairman of 
the Democratic Alliance of Burma and president of the 
National Coalition of the Union of Burma. As one former 
member of the Thai National Security Council (NSC) notes, 
"This is not a big change at all as the new leader is of 
the same generation."

One issue that has plagued the KNU has been the lack of 
younger leaders in high ranking positions. But this has 
changed. The new executive committee contains members of 
the second generation of the KNU who have been involved 
in the struggle for a long time but were too young to be 
involved in its inception over half a century ago.

Among the new figures coming to power in the recent 
reshuffle is Saw Satila, who will head the Religious 
Affairs department. This move has surprised KNU watchers, 
as he is a devout Buddhist and a former monk. Clearly, by 
allowing a Buddhist Karen to head the religious 
department, the Christian dominated KNU is wooing its 
splinter groups, such as the DKBA. 

Indeed, the DKBA has given the KNU a hard time: Thai-
based Karen refugee camps have come under fierce attacks 
from DKBA rebels. Senior Karen leaders have been 
abducted, harassed and killed by them. And pro-DKBA 
Karens remain in the refugee camps. 

The KNU is not only wooing the DKBA but also looking 
abroad for support. "The leadership change is to improve 
the KNU's international image. Ba Thin has good English.  
"They [the KNU] want to appear more sophisticated," said 
Burma watcher Bertil Lintner. Ba Thin, 73, has a career 
path different from many KNU leaders. After serving in 
the army, he has since served as head of the education 
and culture department and as general secretary of the 
KNU.

But will Ba Thin have a chance to show his diplomatic 
skills? "It is still difficult," said a senior Karen 
leader who was recently appointed to a higher post.

Shortly after the reshuffle, analysts were surprised at 
the absence of Ba Thin from the Karen revolutionary day 
ceremony held in the KNU-controlled area in the jungle. 
All leaders except Ba Thin attended the ceremony and Bo 
Mya gave the speech instead. "We wonder who is the real 
leader," said a journalist who attended the ceremony. KNU 
leaders insist that they now practice collective 
leadership, but they also admitted that after serving 
under Bo Mya for decades, Ba Thin may find it difficult 
to show he is now in charge.

But soon after taking his new position, Ba Thin made some 
interesting gestures. One of his first pronouncements was 
a "politics before military" policy, which emphasized 
strengthening the KNU organization. He also called for 
all Karen factions to be united. So far, Ba Thin's soft 
and gentle attitude has won him many supporters.

Previously, border-based dissidents expressed concern 
that the KNU would soon enter into cease fire talks with 
Rangoon. Some speculated that the recent KNU Congress was 
selecting delegates to go to Rangoon for peace talks this 
April. Senior KNU leaders have remained tight-lipped. But 
one insider said that while the matter was discussed 
during the conference, no decision has been made. 

"Our cease fire policy with Rangoon won't change much," 
KNU's secretary general Padoe Mahn Shar said, adding that 
Ba Thin's strategy would be moderate. "But he [Ba Thin] 
is not pro-cease fire," Mahn Shar stressed. 

According to a KNU insider, the organization wants to 
keep channels open with Rangoon. Major Soe Soe who has 
been acting as a KNU liaison officer keeps contact with 
Rangoon. "There is always a line of communication," said 
a KNU observer in Mae Sot, a border town with Burma.

So far, Rangoon's demands that the KNU lay down its arms 
and abandon armed struggle have been rejected by the KNU. 
Padoe Mahn Shar maintains that the KNU must keep their 
weapons. "Our position is for the SPDC to stop oppression 
against the KNU. They should make meaningful peace talks 
with Karen and meaningful dialogue."

"Their position is to ask the KNU to enter the legal fold 
but the legal fold is rule by martial law,"he added.

Thus it seems that even as the KNU remains embattled, the 
change in leadership does not signal a change in the 
KNU's policy of armed struggle, but is, rather, an 
attempt to strengthen itself internally and improve its 
international image so that it is in a better position to 
broker a cease fire on its own terms. But it appears 
unlikely that Rangoon would accept their cease fire 
terms.

The KNU and Burmese have been engaged in intermittent 
negotiations since mid-1995, but [the talks] have broken 
down over the issue of arms. "The Karen have seen the 
example of the Kachin's cease-fire. They want to keep 
their weapons," says one KNU veteran.

The KNU's apparent steadfastness continues despite 
mounting pressure. In the mid 1980s, the KNU was able to 
field tens of thousands of soldiers and finance their 
insurgencies with tax revenue from border trade. But 
since their loss of territory in the mid 1990s, they have 
limited funding, as they have lost revenue from logging 
and trade and can't buy arms. 

Analysts suggest that the KNU, which has lost its 
strategic hills including its headquarters, is in deep 
trouble. 

But some Karen leaders believe otherwise. "It is a lot 
easier [for us] to control as we do not need to take care 
of our territory," said David Htaw. In the past, the KNU 
controlled a large amount of territory, which it would 
protect in set piece battles. "We now have no ammunition 
we cannot fight the powerful Burmese army," he admitted. 


THE THAI POSITION

Over the past decade, growing economic ties have brought 
the governments in Rangoon and Bangkok together. Along 
with this narrowing of the gap between the historic 
rivals, the demise of the communist threat to Thailand 
has prompted Thai security policy makers to withdraw 
their tacit support for the KNU.

For several decades, the KNU provided a buffer zone 
insulating part of Thailand's border from the Burmese. 
The KNU's service as an auxiliary fighting force freed up 
Thailand's limited military manpower to address other 
security concerns such as Thailand's communist insurgency 
and other neighboring communists in Vietnam, Laos and 
Cambodia. But these threats have dissipated, and "[the 
Thais] have forgotten who protected them for almost fifty 
years," said one KNU veteran. 

This change in the region's geopolitical environment has 
altered the utility of the KNU for Thailand. And for many 
Thai policy makers, the KNU's presence on the border 
represents a large number of refugees rather than the 
military ally that it once was. Many officials in Bangkok 
hope to relieve themselves of the burden of refugees.

In the past few years, the Thai Army and the NSC have 
pressed the KNU return to the "legal fold" by closing 
down ammunition supply routes and confiscating arms 
caches hidden inside Thailand. The intention was to push 
KNU to strike a deal with Rangoon.

But the Thais have learned a lesson from the fragile 
peace deals in the recent past such as the Karenni, DKBA, 
and other Karen factions, including God's Army. In the 
past, the Thais pressured the Karen and its splinter 
groups into cease fire on a piecemeal basis. But after 
pushing the KNU's 4th and 6th Brigades into a ceasefire, 
they realized that while they can foster a cease-fire, 
the refugees remain and border incursions continue. The 
recent hospital seizure in Ratchaburi by rebels with ties 
to God's Army has complicated their policy assessments.

Since the KNU leadership reshuffle, the Thai government 
has not yet pressured the KNU to make a cease fire deal 
with Rangoon. While the Thais leaned on the KNU to reach 
a deal in the past, the Thais now recognize that there is 
a risk. "They [Thai government] want the KNU to strike to 
deal with Rangoon but not as group by group," said a 
senior KNU officer. 

However, over 100,000 Karen refugees live in Thailand and 
remain a major concern of the Thais, who are at odds 
about how to deal with the refugees. Says one UNHCR 
worker in Mae Sot, "Even if there is a repatriation it 
will take at least three years." But this will be 
difficult because of the instability inside Burma.

Thus, how long the KNU will last is also dependent on the 
current Karen leadership as well as Thais. Meanwhile, 
Thai officials and the Army are not interested to see the 
KNU rushing to Rangoon. But realistically, they do not 
also see that the KNU is about to enter a cease fire deal 
with Rangoon. 

"They [Thai] still want us to be on the border," said a 
senior KNU officer. Presumably, for Thais keeping Karen 
troops along the border is much safer than Burmese 
troops.

A KNU agreement with Rangoon does not augur well for 
Burma's dissidents on the border. "If they go, we 
[democratic forces] will be in deep trouble," said a 
Burmese dissident based in Mae Sot. "The day they [KNU] 
strike a deal with Rangoon, our movement [here] is over," 
he said.

So far Karen, Burmese democrats and Thais do not see any 
sincere peace gesture coming from Rangoon. And while the 
KNU may reopen talks with Rangoon, they will most likely 
proceed slowly. Definitely, Burmese dissidents who have 
forged strong links and an alliance with the KNU will ask 
Padoe Ba Thin and Bo Mya to hang on. They need each 
other. With new leadership KNU is entering a new ball 
game with Rangoon, its allies and splinter groups. They 
are all watching.


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


THE IRRAWADDY: SILENT MIGRATION

Vol.8 No.2 February 2000

A massive population transfer in Wa-controlled territory 
has alarmed Thailand, writes Aung Zaw.

Since late last year, 90,000 ethnic Wa have moved to the 
Mong Yawn area opposite Thailand's Mae Ai district. Wa 
leaders, who reached a cease-fire deal with the Rangoon 
regime in 1989, engineered the move. The United Wa State 
Army (UWSA), which has 20,000 troops, is known as the 
world's largest drug trafficking armed group.

"This [Wa migration] is a threat to Thailand," said a 
source familiar with the Wa situation. He added that 
without Rangoon's approval, the Wa wouldn't come. 

So what is the real motive?

By the end of last year, 50,000 families had already 
moved to the Mong Yawn area. According to truck drivers 
in the area, more than 100,000 Was and ethnic Chinese 
would be moving there. "More are coming," the source 
added. 

Sources have also confirmed that these internal migrants 
include Chinese from mainland China. 

At least 3 out of 10 people who have moved to Mong Yawn 
are Chinese. Some could be former People's Liberation 
Army soldiers who have come to Mong Yawn to give training 
in how to use military equipment, Shan observers said. In 
the past, China's military engineers and soldiers came to 
the Communist Party of Burma (CPB) headquarters in 
Pansaning for training. The CPB collapsed in 1989 and the 
Wa set up the UWSA and reached a cease-fire deal with 
Rangoon.

But in Rangoon, some generals might not be happy to see 
the Wa and Chinese resettlement in Mong Yawn. "Maung Aye 
faction definitely won't be happy with it," said a 
source. 

Maung Aye, number two in the ruling junta, did not strike 
a cease-fire deal with the Wa. But his rival, Lt Gen Khin 
Nyunt, reached a deal with former CPB rebels and has so 
far maintained relatively good relations. 

"The Wa now pose a threat to Rangoon," said a border 
source.

According to Hong Kong-based Asiaweek magazine, the Wa 
recently acquired modern weapons including shoulder-
launched anti-aircraft missiles. 

If Maung Aye is upset and worried about the Wa build-up, 
he's not alone. The Thai government and generals are 
worried, too.

Thailand is uneasy with the Wa resettlement on the border 
and the production of millions of methamphetamine 
tablets, or "mad pills". Over the past few years, the ex-
communist Wa leaders have steadily expanded their heroin 
empire and become known as Asia's biggest drug 
trafficking group. 

After druglord Khun Sa surrendered to Rangoon, the Wa 
quickly took over his stronghold and the expansion 
continued along the Thai-Burma border. Alarm bells are 
ringing in Bangkok.

Recently, Thai army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont and 
senior officer Gen Mongkol Ampornpisit visited Mae Ai 
district, opposite the Wa-controlled territory, to assess 
the situation. Last year, Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai 
accompanied the Thai army chief on a tour of the area. 

In August, the Thais shut down the Ban San Ton Du 
official checkpoint opposite Mong Yawn in order to stop 
the flow of drugs. In addition to that, in their 
strongest statement to date, high-ranking Thai officials 
slammed Burmese army officials for their involvement in 
the drug trade and accused Rangoon of ignoring the 
expansion of drug trafficking activities by the Wa. 

With the expansion, the production of mad pills in Wa 
territory has increased by millions. The closure could 
not halt the flow of drugs, as there are many illegal 
routes. Besides, officials on both sides of the border 
are known to be involved in the business. 

Pornpimol Trichot from Chulalongkorn University said that 
Wa pose a threat to Thai national security and Thai 
people. "We know we can't solve this problem overnight 
but more and more of our children becoming drug addicts."

In Thai newspapers, more and more drug seizures have been 
seen. Thai drug enforcement authorities and the US Drug 
Enforcement Agency (DEA) have nabbed some drug dealers 
and seized millions of mad pills and heroin. But their 
actions do not stop the drugs from coming into Thailand.

Professor Chairachut of the political science department 
of Chulalongkorn University said that Thai officials are 
also involved in the drug business. Thus, the crackdown 
is not hitting the real big-time drug dealers. 

Back in Rangoon, Col Kyaw Thein of anti-narcotics program 
recently surprised foreign media and analysts by saying 
that the regime has punished military officers who were 
implicated in drug trafficking. It was the first time 
Burma acknowledged its officers' involvement in the drug 
trade. Sources in Rangoon also said that many of those 
punished for drug-related offenses were closely connected 
with Maung Aye. This may spell more trouble for Khin 
Nyunt.

But analysts have argued that as long as former druglords 
such as Khun Sa and Lo Hsing Han are given amnesty and 
allowed to do business, the junta's war on drug means 
nothing. 

Back in Mong Yawn, Wei Xueigang, the ethnic Chinese 
senior leader of the UWSA continues to build up his 
empire. In October last year Lt Gen Khin Nyunt visited 
Wei's headquarters. Wei was indicted in an eastern New 
York Federal Court, and the US State Department has put a 
US$2 million bounty on his head.

Last year, Rangoon hosted an Interpol conference on 
heroin trafficking. Western nations boycotted the meeting 
and activists slammed Interpol for handing the junta an 
opportunity to whitewash its own involvement in the drug 
trade. 

So far, Rangoon's war on drugs is gaining no kudos. 
Whatever moves they make are greeted with skepticism. 
Neighbors have lost confidence in Burma as promised 
cooperation has failed to materialize. The shaky cease-
fire deal with the Wa, drug trafficking and other 
conflicts along the Thai-Burma border are threat to 
regional stability, noted Chulalongkorn's Pornpimol 
Trichot.

"Not God's Army but the UWSA is the real threat to our 
society," said the Thai analyst.



___________________ INTERNATIONAL _____________________




FEER: MYSTERY BURMA TALKS

Bertil Litner
Far Eastern Economic Review
16 March 2000

An informal, closed-door conference on Burma, held in 
Seoul on March 5-6, probably has the generals in Rangoon 
worried, No official announcement has been made about the 
outcome. But a Western diplomat based in Bangkok
describes the meeting of 14 countries--comprising Japan, 
Thailand, Malaysia, the Philippines, several EU members, 
Canada, Australia and the United States--as a 
"brainstorming session" aimed at finding ways to
restore momentum to the United Nations' efforts to bridge 
the political impasse between Burma's military government 
and the country's democratic opposition. While the 
attendance of fellow Asean members at the meeting has
angered Rangoon, even Burma's closet allies agree that 
something has to be done to break the decade-long 
deadlock.

After several unproductive visits to Rangoon, the UN's 
special representative to Burma, Peruvian Alvaro de Soto, 
has been given a new job in Cyprus, UN Secretary-General 
Kofi Annan has said he will name a new envoy; it's 
possible that the meeting was called to discuss what his
approach to Rangoon should be. In late 1998, a similar 
meeting was convened near London. Press reports at the 
time said the Burmese junta had been offered $1 billion 
in aid--provided it began a dialogue with the opposition. 
While attendees denied this, they said they had discussed 
"hard stick, big carrot" tactics to force talks.

The approach doesn't seem to be working. When Annan 
visited the Thai capital in February, he called for 
Burma's military rulers to restore democracy as a first 
step toward being eligible for international aid.
However, Burmese Foreign Minister Win Aung proposed the 
opposite: He said aid was needed first--to spur economic 
growth, which must precede democratization. Given these 
totally different ways of looking at the problem, the 
current stalemate is likely to continue.




_______________________________________________________




MIZZIMA: INSURGENCY AND VIOLENCE ON THE RISE IN INDIA'S 
NORTH EASTERN STATES

New Delhi, March 15, 2000
Mizzima News Group

Insurgencies continue to fester and violence has been on 
the rise in recent months in the North Eastern States of 
India, according to Institute for Conflict Management. In 
its newly launched website on terrorism in South Asian, 
Institute for Conflict Management has stated
that insurgency-related violence has been on the rise in 
the North Eastern States of India except in Mizoram State 
which effectively resolved insurgency through dialogue in 
1986.

"While insurgency in Mizoram has largely subsided, 
security forces continue to battle with terrorism in 
Assam, Manipur, Nagaland and Tripura. Despite a cease-
fire between the security forces and several
insurgent groups in Nagaland there have been reports of 
violence," noted the Institute in its websitae: 
http://www.icm-stap.com, which was launched on March 11.

Tripura is the worst violence-hit state amongst the North 
Easten States in recent months and total 78 violent 
incidents have been reported in the first five weeks of 
this year. Total 47 insurgency-related violence
incidents have been so far reported in Assam while 39 
incidents and 24 incidents are reported in Manipur and 
Nagaland respectively during the first five weeks of 
2000.

Moreover, over-all number of violence in Manipur, Tripura 
and Nagaland had shown an increasing trend during 1999. 
Though total number of incidents in 1999 had come down to 
447 as against 735 last year in Assam State, it has 
recently witnessed a number of dreadful incidents
including a killing of Assam PWD and Forest Minister Mr. 
Nagen Sharma by the United Liberation Front of Assam 
(ULFA) on February 27.

In Assam alone, total 23 major and minor insurgent groups 
are operating while 15 such groups are operating in 
Manipur State. Many of these groups are also active in 
other neighboring states.

In its fight against terrorism and to combat increased 
activities of Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence 
(ISI) in these North Eastern States, Indian government 
has stepped up its security measures. In
Manipur alone, Indian Army had deployed over 20,000 men. 
The government has also befriended the neighboring 
countries like Burma and Bhutan in seeking their 
cooperation to flash out base camps of these insurgent
groups from their territories.

It further stated that estimated 21 ULFA camps are 
situated in Bhutan while a number of National Socialist 
Council of Nagaland (Khaplang) camps are based in Burma's 
remote territory bordering with India. There
were reports that Indian and Burmese government troops 
have recently launched joint operations against ULFA and 
NSCN (Khaplang) militants in Indo-Burma border areas.

Meanwhile, Bhutan government has also initiated steps 
towards closing training camps of Indian insurgent groups 
on its soil and issued a stern warning that anybody 
helping the ULFA would be tried under the 1992
National Security Act. At least two Indian insurgent 
groups, the ULFA and National Democratic Front of 
Bodoland (NDFB) have their camps in
Bhutan.

The Institute for Conflict Management is a non-
governmental organization in India, set up by K.P.S. 
Gill, former Director General of Punjab Police to engage 
directly in the search for solutions to the widening
sphere of conflict and violence in South Asia which is 
one of the most
volatile regions in the world.





_______________________________________________________




BANGKOK POST: YOU DON'T GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR 


March 15, 2000



Thai electricity users are paying high prices to cover 
the cost of gas we do not receive. Something could be 
done about it, but this might be seen as an admission of 
another example of typical government bungling.
Pipob Udomittipong
The price of electricity has been rising dramatically in 
line with the increased cost of fuels such as oil and 
natural gas. Since nearly half our electricity is 
produced from natural gas, higher gas prices mean higher 
prices for consumers.
One of the main reasons for the expensive gas prices is 
the disadvantageous contracts the Thai government has 
signed with foreign petroleum companies. Eighty percent 
of the gas purchased from foreign companies is burned for 
power production, so these contracts have a significant 
impact on consumer prices.
The Yadana gas project uses natural gas from the Andaman 
Sea off Burma which is shipped to a Thai power plant via 
a 500km pipeline.
Repeated delays have put the project almost two years 
behind schedule, and Thai consumers are paying for gas 
they are still not using. The government negotiated a 
take or pay contract, and Thai consumers are bearing the 
cost through unnecessarily high utility prices.
This is one of the many examples of government 
mismanagement and putting the country at a long-term 
disadvantage that jeopardises national interests.
The nature of the purchase contract means that constant 
payments have to be made regardless of the amount of gas 
taken or the needs of buyers. Even though the Petroleum 
Authority (PTT), the main energy procurer, has not 
received any gas from Burma, it has to pay the amount 
agreed to in the contract in advance. Delivery should 
have begun more than one and a half years ago.
Prasert Bunsampun, president of PTT Gas, said the PTT has 
paid up to $55 million (two billion baht) to the Yadana 
consortium led by Total-Fina of France and Unocal of the 
United States. The power plant which will use the gas 
also is not completed, so the PTT is now thinking about 
seeking a review of the contract, according to Mr 
Prasert, which could save the Thai public as much as $990 
million (37.5 billion baht) over the next decade.
The contract requires that the purchase ceiling price 
rise steadily based on estimates made during the economic 
boom years. Despite the adjustment in projected demand in 
2005 from four billion cubic feet per day of gas to 2.68 
billion cubic feet, the PTT is paying advances for 
nothing and this is hurting its financial position.
As a result of these advance payments and the 
recapitalisation of several PTT subsidiaries that have 
been hit hard financially, the spending deficit of all 
state enterprises including the PTT will increase.
In other words, the late delivery of gas from Yadana has 
worsened the financial situation of all state enterprises 
and has reduced their net profit. Thai consumers are 
bearing the brunt of this financial burden as people pay 
more for electricity.
The Electricity Generating Authority (Egat) uses a fuel 
adjustment factor to calculate the price of electricity. 
If gas prices rise, this factor rises, and so too do 
electricity rates. The burden has been passed on to the 
people, who should not take responsibility for the 
government's poor decision making.
The contract signed by the PTT and the Yadana consortium 
forces us to buy gas at a fixed incremental rate for 30 
years. It does not matter whether our demand for gas 
rises or falls. We have to purchase the gas or pay 
advances for gas we do not use. Even though we have found 
other cheaper fuels, we cannot make use of them as we 
must abide by this long-term fixed contract.
The long-term contract puts us at financial risk due to 
foreign exchange fluctuations. Fluctuations have already 
occurred and the exchange rate of the baht has gone from 
25 to one US dollar to almost 40 baht in just over two 
years.
Recently, Suwat Liptapallop, the industry minister, said 
the government had to pay $75 billion for gas that we are 
unable to use as a result of the poor contracts 
surrounding the Yadana and Yetagun fields (the other gas 
source from Burma) and seven other sources in the Gulf of 
Thailand. He ordered the revision of all the contracts, 
an attempt that may be opposed by the various 
consortiums.
The price of gas from the Yadana and the Yetagun fields 
is almost 50% more expensive than that of domestic gas 
and that purchased from Unocal from the Gulf of Thailand. 
The high price of the Yadana gas was reported as early as 
September 1994, when Savit Bhodivihok, the minister 
attached to the Prime Minister's Office, flew to Rangoon 
to sign the memorandum of understanding before the sales 
contract was signed officially in February 1995. 
Conservation groups which have campaigned against the 
Yadana project have suggested to the government that, in 
light of the economic crisis, the project should be 
postponed without breaching the terms of the contract. 
This recommendation was based on the findings of a legal 
committee appointed by the prime minister to review the 
purchase contract. According to these findings, the 
government, as the buyer, can cite the force majeure 
clause to delay the commencement of delivery without 
being fined. Details of the findings can be found in the 
report submitted to the prime minister on Jan 12, 1997.
Conservation groups have proposed a number of times that 
the economic crisis could be cited as force majeure to 
delay construction. This was rejected by the PTT and the 
government. They claim there can be no flexibility and 
the country badly needs energy. Both claims have been 
proven specious.
First, late in 1999, the PTT successfully negotiated a 
reduction in the advance payment to the Yadana 
consortium. Secondly, the country now faces a power glut. 
The reserve margin of electricity is now more than 50% of 
the actual need despite the fact that several generators 
have halved output.
Ironically, Mr Suwat is bragging about his idea to revise 
the contracts just as the conservation groups have been 
suggesting for some time.
The construction of the Yadana pipeline has greatly 
affected local villagers as well. Their property has been 
damaged by the use of explosives, and the market value 
has declined because no one wants to live near the 
pipeline, which may cause fatal accidents at any time as 
well as damage their farms.
The PTT also has not followed the recommendation of the 
Committee to Review the Yadana Conflict appointed by the 
prime minister. The committee said the PTT should provide 
proper damages to affected villagers immediately, but the 
PTT has ignored the locals and has not paid fair 
compensation.
The Yadana project also has led to extensive logging and 
the looming extinction of endangered species such as 
elephants, hog-nosed bats and the smallest crabs in the 
world. The project also required the laying of hundreds 
of pipes (1m in diameter) in class A1 watershed areas, 
the most important forest classification in Thailand. The 
Yadana project has involved extensive and gross human 
rights abuses and the impediment of democracy in Burma. 
Two lawsuits are pending in the United States against 
Unocal with the plaintiffs claiming they suffered abuse 
including forced labour, rape, torture and looting as a 
result of the pipeline and security measures imposed by 
the Burmese military to protect the company's investment.
But it appears the PTT cares very little about its 
mistakes and the impact on the national interest. As the 
sole supplier of oil and gas, it enjoys all the profits 
and passes any burden on to ordinary people.
Pipob Udomittipong is with the Kalayanamitra Council, 
which has been campaigning with local groups in 
Kanchanaburi and others in opposition to the Yadana gas 
pipeline.
Bangkok Post (March 15, 2000)






______________________ OTHER _________________________


ACTIONS BIRMANIE: NEW ELEMENTS ON BIRMANIE.NET WEBSITE


Have a look on the Belgian website "Actions Birmanie" 

http://www.birmanie.net

You'll find new elements of information concerning :

- TotalFina & the junta ;

- A meeting in Brussels of European MPs (members of PD 
Burma)  involved in 
the support of Burmese democrats ;

- The public questioning, by the President of the main 
Belgian students association of the French Prime 
Minister, of the Chairman of the European 
Commission and of the Chairperson of the World Health 
Organisation ;

- And many other things ; 


As Belgian citizens are able of compassion, here are 
quotations of the most interesting pieces of information 
concerning TOTAL. Some parts of the Belgian paper (in " 7 
on en parle, Documents " are written in English, too.

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

- The first contract signed by TOTAL with the junta 
concerning Yadana is dated July 1989 !

Quotation from " ENERGIES ", nø39, Spring 1999 (a 
publication from Total). Page 50, author :  Jean-Michel 
Beuque, "Directeur general" of TOTAL Indonesia

"When the Bonkot project was launched, domestic energy 
demand was growing so fast that the estimated production 
from the Gulf of Thailand was not expected to meet 
demand, so exploration campaigns were launched to find 
additional gas. Total took exploration blocks in 
partnership with Shell on Thailand's Khorat plateau, but 
struck no oil. The company also took up onshore 
exploration blocks in the Gulf of Thailand not far from 
Bonkot, but still without success".

"But Group planners kept coming back to Myanmar and in 
the end, the Group's early experience there turned out to 
be very useful because, in 1983, the national energy 
company MOGE discovered a gas accumulation offshore in 
the Gulf of Martaban. The field was ideally located for 
gas export to Thailand. By the end of 1989, Total had 
reopened negotiations with the petroleum authorities in 
Yangon, fortunately finding many familiar faces still 
there since the first contact 15 years earlier".

"In July 1989, after long negotiations in a context of 
tough competition, the Group was awarded exploration 
rights on two separate permits.  Engineers quickly 
completed a 3 D seismic campaign and drilled four 
delineation wells in the same area they had explored in 
1983. The result was the Yadana gas field".


For more, see

http://www.birmanie.net



_______________________________________________________



YALE: NEW BOOK--"THE 1988 UPRISING IN BURMA" BY DR. MAUNG 
MAUNG

March 2000



Yale Southeast Asia Studies announces release of a new 
publication:

The 1988 Uprising in Burma

By 
Dr. Maung Maung

Publisher: Yale University Council on Southeast Asia 
Studies
Monograph Series, Volume #49

306 pp. (1999). Cloth (Library), $35.00; Paper, $22.00

A personal account of a critical turning point in Burmese 
history by someone closely involved in the events. Dr. 
Maung Maung, former president of the Socialist Republic 
of the Union of Burma, presents a set of reminiscences 
covering his part in events in Burma from the end of the 
war up through the day of the military take-over on 
September 18, 1988.

Editorial Comments: "Dr. Maung Maung's The 1988 Uprising 
in Burma is an `insider's` account of the events leading 
up to the consideration of the referendum. The subsequent 
martial law and elections are given lasting historical 
importance by the unique vantage point of Dr. Maung 
Maung. His own historical memory and connections together 
with the `flashbacks` to the `40s, `50s, and`70s are also 
valuable, though some of this ground will inevitably have 
been covered in his previous work." -James C. Scott


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

To Purchase / Order: 
Contact: The Council on Southeast Asia Studies
Yale University
P.O. Box 208206
New Haven, CT 06520-8206
U.S.A.

Tel: 203-432-3431; fax: 202-432-9381 
e-mail seas@xxxxxxxx 
also see: www.yale.edu/seas/Monographs.html 
http://www.yale.edu/seas/Monographs.html 



________________

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