[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index
][Thread Index
]
[theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: Ma
Reply-To: theburmanetnews-owner@xxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: March 24, 2000
________________ THE BURMANET NEWS _________________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
_________________ www.burmanet.org _________________
March 24, 2000
Issue # 1494
This edition of The BurmaNet News is viewable online at:
http://theburmanetnews.editthispage.com/stories/storyReader$260
*Inside Burma
REUTERS: REGIME SAYS MASS RALLIES WANT SUU KYI PARTY
DISSOLVED
AP: GROWING NUMBER OF MYANMAR FEMALE WORKERS SEEKING
DANGEROUS BACK-STREET ABORTIONS
TERRA: A DAM FOR BURMA'S GENERALS
*International
MIZZIMA: TWO BURMA REBEL LEADERS KILLED BY UNKNOWN
ASSAILANTS IN MANIPUR STATE
ECONOMIST: TEA PARTY
BANGKOK POST SEARCH ON TO LOCATE NEW TRANSIT ROUTES
*Other
FORUM ASIA: LETTER TO THAI PM ASKING INVESTIGATION OF
RATCHABURI SHOOTINGS
___________________ INSIDE BURMA ______________________
REUTERS: REGIME SAYS MASS RALLIES WANT SUU KYI PARTY
DISSOLVED
YANGON, March 24 (Reuters) - Myanmar's government-controlled
newspapers turned up the heat on Aung San Suu Kyi's National
League for Democracy (NLD) on Friday, reporting mass rallies
calling for her opposition party to be dissolved.
Official newspapers reported more than 111,000 people in a
township in central Myanmar about 400 miles (640 km) north of
Yangon rallied at separate sites to express their hostility to
the pro-democracy NLD.
The newspapers said all those attending the rallies had
signed a petition against the party. They said the township,
Taungtha, had 118,205 eligible voters.
The people from the township had ``expressed no support for
pessimist NLD and petitioned for dissolving it,'' they said.
Myanmar's military government has kept up a steady barrage
of attacks on Nobel Peace Prize laureate Suu Kyi and her NLD
since the party won Myanmar's last election in 1990 by a
landslide.
The NLD has never been allowed to govern and the ruling
generals have tried to silence the pro-democracy movement
through a series of arrests and intimidation.
In 1998, hundreds of NLD members were detained and large
numbers forced to resign from the party after it pushed for the
convening of parliament.
Official newspapers have cited similar anti-NLD rallies in
the past as evidence of popular hostility to the party.
Independent verification of such rallies is usually
difficult to obtain.
_______________________________________________________
AP: GROWING NUMBER OF MYANMAR FEMALE WORKERS SEEKING
DANGEROUS BACK-STREET ABORTIONS
MAE SOT, Thailand (AP) _ They come to hospitals bleeding, saying
they fell in bathrooms or down staircases, when actually crude
abortions lay behind their injuries.
Growing numbers of Myanmar female workers in Thailand are being
hospitalized after dangerous back-street abortions, prompting an
international aid group to start classes to teach migrant laborers
about contraception.
World Vision on Wednesday held its first family planning course
for 20 Myanmar women and men, among the tens of thousands who come
to the Thai border town of Mae Sot to work in factories that rely
on cheap Myanmar labor.
There are as many as one million Myanmar migrants in Thailand at
any one time, mostly illegal workers. Many are young, separated
from their families for the first time and lacking knowledge about
birth control and AIDS.
In the past six months, over 300 Myanmar women believed to be
suffering complications from abortions have been hospitalized in
Mae Sot, which lies 370 kilometers (230 miles) northwest of
Bangkok. In 1998, there were around 100 such cases.
``The rate of abortions has gone up terribly,'' Somyot Leetakul,
project coordinator for World Vision, said Friday.
The rise coincides with efforts of Thai authorities since
November last year to deport migrant workers.
The campaign, designed to free up more jobs for Thais, has had
limited success. Few Thais wanted to take up the poorly-paid jobs,
hurting Mae Sot's once-thriving garment industry.
Thousands of Myanmar workers who were deported have sneaked back
into Thailand. With jobs harder to find in factories after the
clampdown, more Myanmar women are taking up jobs as hostesses in
karaoke bars and as prostitutes.
Health surveys in Mae Sot show that eight in ten Myanmar
prostitutes are likely to contract the HIV virus that leads to
AIDS.
Other migrants who have found work in factories again are
confined in cramped quarters supplied by their employers, with men
and women housed together.
Many of the women conceive, but-of-wedlock pregnancies are
socially unacceptable in Myanmar's conservative society. The women
often seek abortions, usually performed in Myawaddy, the Myanmar
town opposite Mae Sot.
Dr. Witaya Sawaddiwudhipong, chief of the community and social
medicine department at Mae Sot hospital, said abortions were often
done by inserting a stick into the womb. Afterwards, the women come
to the hospital, attributing their bleeding to a slip on the floor
or down a staircase.
Two workers from 10 Mae Sot factories attended the first in a
series of family planning courses held at the town's hospital, to
learn about contraception, especially the use of condoms and birth
control pills.
Ma Aye, 40, a seamstress from Thaton in Myanmar's eastern Mon
State, said she was happy to learn about how to stop the spread of
HIV and sexually transmitted diseases, and would pass on the
knowledge to fellow workers.
``When women get pregnant they feel shame and get abortions,''
said Kyaw Kyaw, 25, a garment factory worker from Bilin, Mon State.
``It's alarming how many women get abortions now. Before you
hardly ever heard about it,'' he said.
_______________________________________________________
TERRA: A DAM FOR BURMA'S GENERALS
Feb. 2000
(From Watershed: People's Forum on Ecology, Burma, Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand,
Vietnam. Vol. 5 No. 2 November 1999 - February 2000, published by Towards Ecological
Recovery and Regional Alliance - TERRA)
A Thai dam-building company is proposing the construction of a massive hydroelectric
dam on the Salween River in northeastern Burma. Tens of thousands of local people have
already been forcibly relocated from the site of the proposed TA Sarong dam and its
reservoir, by order of Burma's military dictatorship.
"Recognising that there exist vast potential for joint utilization of energy resources,
particularly hydropower and petroleum resources in the Union of Myanmar; for the mutual
benefits of the peoples of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Union of Myanmar...
"The Government of the Kingdom of Thailand hereby agrees to cooperate with the
Government of the Union of Myanmar in the implementation of the policy to sell power to
Thailand, and would encourage the purchase of power by the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand (EGAT) or other agencies designated by the Government of the
Kingdom of Thailand to buy up to I,500 Megawatt [sic] of electricity power from projects
in Myanmar by the year 2010. (Memorandum of Understanding between the Government
of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Government or the Union of Myanmar on the Power
Purchase Program from the Union of Myanmar, 4 July 1997)
Two months after the Thai government and Burma's military dictatorship, the State Law
and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), signed this Memorandum of Understanding,
GMS Power Public Co. Ltd. signed a contract with the SLORC's Myanmar Economic
Corporation to study the feasibility of building the Ta Sarng hydroelectric dam on the
Salween River.
With a proposed dam height of 188 meters, Ta Sarng would be the tallest dam in mainland
Southeast Asia.* If built, it would be the first dam to be built on the 2,400 kilometre-long
mainstream of the Salween River, the only remaining free-flowing major river in the
region. The 320,000 square kilometre Salween River Basin is also the least dammed of the
region's major river basins. However, since the late 1970s, Australian and Japanese
consulting companies and Burmese and Thai state agencies have produced seven major
studies examining the possibility of constructing large dams on the Salween.
GMS Power is a subsidiary of Thailand's MDX Group of companies. Through GMS,
MDX is involved in dam projects in Cambodia, Lao PDR and China's Yunnan province.
GMS contracted Lahmeyer International, a German consulting firm, to coordinate the
prefeasibility study for the Ta Sarng project (completed April 1998) and the Electric
Power Corporation of Japan to oversee the project's feasibility study (completed March
1999). The final stage of study has been described by a GMS spokesperson as the "definite
plan", presumably the detailed engineering design of the project, which is scheduled to
begin in December 1999.
Lahmeyer's prefeasibility study indicates that the concretefaced rockfill Ta Sarng dam,
with an installed generation capacity of 3,300 megawatts, would be located on the
Salween River in the southern area of central Shan State in northeastern Burma. GMS
engineers claim that the project's reservoir would flood an area of at least 640 square
kilometers, storing 36,100 million cubic meters of water -- approximately one-third of the
Salween's average annual flow volume of 119,037 cubic metres.
The Thai-Burma Memorandum of Understanding attempts to justify the construction of
large hydroelectric dams and other large-scale projects for electricity generation in Burma
"for the mutual benefits of the peoples of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Union of
Myanmar". If nothing else, this statement ignores the experience with large-scale energy
sector-related infrastructure in both Thailand and Burma (e.g., the Thai-Burma Yadana
gas pipeline project, which involved forced labour, extrajudicial murder and forced
relocation extensively documented and criticised intentionally) and the destruction and
human rights violations that go hand-in-hand with these "development" projects. And that
the promise of large-scale projects to provide the State and its agents with the opportunity
for enrichment occurs at the expense of the citizens of these countries. The constant
repetition of the promises of "mutual benefit" derived from, for example, large dams,
therefore requires detailed examination.
How to destroy a river
A natural river ecosystem and its watershed have evolved together over thousands of
years, created by the natural flows of water, bio-mass and sediment through the watershed
and river. The construction of Ta Sarng would destroy the delicate balance between the
Salween, its tributaries and watersheds. The Ta Sarng dam would also result in a large,
deep reservoir. The dam's blocking of the river and impoundment of water in the reservoir
would radically alter the natural flow and the ecological, chemical and biological
characteristics of the Salween River.
In the project area, the reservoir would transform the free flowing Salween River into a
deep, slow moving or still water system, up to several hundred kilometers or more in
length. Decaying organic matter can create eutrophic conditions in the reservoir leading to
algae blooms, oxygen depletion and massive fish kills. Water from the reservoir and
directly downstream of the reservoir is often unfit for human or animal consumption. The
conditions of the reservoir produces changes in the physical and chemical characteristics
of the water, including pH balance, turbidity, oxygen levels, and temperature both in the
reservoir and downstream of the dam when water is released through the dam's turbines.
The fishes of the Salween River Basin have evolved in a riverine system. If the river were
transformed into a reservoir, most of these fish species would be extirpated by the
reservoir, as will many of the fish species living downstream of the dam due to the
ecological impacts of altered water flow and the poor quality of water released from the
reservoir.
Seasonal fish migrations in the area of the Salween River Basin affected by the project
would be prevented by the dam and the non-river habitat of the reservoir, while there
would be severe impact on fish migrations and populations downstream of the dam,
potentially along a stretch of the river hundreds of kilometres downstream of the dam.
Forests and fertile lowlands along the Salween River and in the tributary valleys would be
permanently submerged by the reservoir. Many of these areas are used for seasonal
cultivation of crops which serve the needs of local families and communities. The reservoir
will destroy the aquatic and terrestrial animal habitat of the river and its valley, and
radically alter habitats downstream of the dam.
In the reservoir, species of the riverine ecosystem are likely to be replaced by other aquatic
and water-dependent species able to survive, and even thrive, in the degraded habitats of
the reservoir area. Along the edges of the Ta Samg dam's reservoir, stagnant pools of
water in a large expanse of bare, moist land will be exposed in the area where the reservoir
water levels rise and fall on a periodic basis. Known as the "draw-down" area, this new
habitat is an ideal breeding ground for malarial mosquitoes. Several forms of the world's
most virulent, treatment-resistant malaria are already endemic in areas of the Salween
River Basin, including the proposed site of the Ta Sarng project.
All of these impacts would severely affect the means of livelihood security of communities
living along the Salween River. Evidence from large dams built in Thailand indicates that
the impacts of large dams on the means of livelihood security of communities living
upstream and downstream of large dams is in many ways negative, reducing food supplies
and opportunities to generate income from farming and fishing and resulting in serious
impacts on the health of local people, particularly women, children and the elderly.
Inevitably, these same impacts will occur if the proposed Ta Sarng hydroelectric dam is
built on the Salween River.
How to violate human rights
In the Shan culture, the Salween is called the "Nam Khong". The importance of the river
for the Shan people is illustrated by a popular Shan song by writer Sai Khorn Fah which
includes the phrase, "As long as the Nam Khong flows, we will have Shan State."**
The site of the proposed Ta Sarng dam and the lower area of the reservoir are located
within an 18,000 square kilometre area of central Shan State in which more than 300,000
people have been forcibly relocated by SLORC's [recently renamed the State Peace and
Development Council] army. While the forced removal of local communities from their
homelands in a proposed reservoir area is required by the construction of large dam, only
the proposal, and project studies for Ta Sarng have provided the SLORC/SPDC with the
incentive to forcibly relocate tens of thousands of families living along the Salween River
where the dam and reservoir may be located.
A recent interview with an ethnic Shan village person forcibly relocated from the proposed
reservoir area illustrates the close relations between local people and their natural
environment in the Salween basin and the connection between forced relocation and the
Ta Sarng project.
Question: Did many people in the area of your village catch fish in the river?
Answer: Everyone fishes in the river! At least one person from every house goes out to
catch fish to eat and to sell in Kali [a nearby market town)...There are so many fish in the
Nam Pang! [tributary of the Salween There are lots of "ba moong". These are big fish
which people like to eat. It is so easy to catch fish. In one day you can easily fill your
canoe with fish.
Q. Have you heard that the Burmese government is planning to build a dam on the
Salween River at Ta Sarng?
A. Yes, I have heard of this. People in Kunhing [relocation site] are saying it will definitely
happen. The authorities have said so. Everyone from Kengkham [township] is so worried.
Q. How would you feel about your village being underwater?
A. I can't express what I feel. It would be worse than the death of my mother and father.
As the project proponent, GMS Power apparently hopes that the Electricity Generating
Authority of Thailand (EGAT) would purchase most or all of the predicted 23,000
gigawatt hours (GWh, 23,000 billion kilowatt hours) that the Ta Sarng project could
generate. However, EGAT is not in a position to justify the signing of a power purchase
agreement (PPA) for Ta Sarng as more than 30 per cent of its generating capacity
(hydroelectric dams, natural gas-fuelled plants, ete.) is presently unused due to major
reductions in the country's demand for electricity. In the absence of a PPA, it is unlikely
that GMS will convince international commercial banks to provide the financing for the
US$3.5 billion dam in the near future.
Nevertheless, with feasibility studies completed and detailed design planning soon to
begin, a delay in the commencement of constructing Ta Sarng as a result of reduced
electricity demand in Thailand promises only to be temporary. Successive Thai
governments and State agencies have consistently proven their willingness to do business
with private-sector companies investing in Burma and to attempt to appease the
SLORC/SPDC with the profits of large-scale infrastructure. Only time will tell if Thai
society will refuse to allow Thai governments, State agencies and private companies to do
business with the brutal military dictatorship of the SLORC/SPDC and to condone the
human rights violations and environmental destruction caused by "development" projects
like the proposed Ta Sarng hydroelectric dam in Burma.
Endnotes
*For comparison, Thailand's tallest dam is the 154 meter Bhumibol dam, while Vietnam's
Hoa Binh dam is 128 metres in height.
** SWAN, Shan Women's Action Network Newsletter, No.1, September 1999.
___________________ INTERNATIONAL _____________________
MIZZIMA: TWO BURMA REBEL LEADERS KILLED BY UNKNOWN
ASSAILANTS IN MANIPUR STATE
New Delhi, March 24, 2000
Mizzima News Group
Two leaders of a Burma rebel group were killed by some
assailants in a village in Manipur State of India last
month, according to a statement of Chin National Front
(CNF).
Lt. Kam Do Dal and Sgt. Suan Do Hen from Chin National Front
were
arrested and killed by a group of people in the evening of
February 27 in Behiang village of Churachandpur District in
Manipur State, says the CNF statement.
The statement dated March 22 further said that it pledged to
find out
the real culprits behind this "unlawful manner" and it
appealed to local people to help to solve the Behiang
incident peacefully.
The duo, Kam Do Dal and Suan Do Hen, have been operating in
the area
with CNF's duties for nearly two years. Kam Do Dal is a
member of
Central Committee of CNF.
The Chin National Front, being based in India-Burma-
Bangladesh triangle border areas, has been fighting against
the military regime in Burma for more than a decade.
_______________________________________________________
ECONOMIST: TEA PARTY
March 25, 2000
FOR a Supreme Court determined to assert and expand states' rights, it sounds like the
dream case. Little Massachusetts is once again standing up for the democratic values
which it so boldly asserted before the American revolution. Then it boycotted English
imports, and its residents famously chucked a few cases of tea into Boston harbour. Today
the state of Massachusetts is boycotting companies which do business with Myanmar, the
country formerly known as Burma and now run by one of the world's harshest military
regimes. Who could be against that?
Well, to name a few, dozens of American and foreign companies, an ex-president, two ex-
secretaries of state, some 20 members of Congress, plus Japan, the European Union and
the Clinton administration. So far, two lower federal courts have ruled that
Massachusetts's well-intentioned foray into foreign affairs is unconstitutional. In an oral
hearing on March 22nd, the National Foreign Trade Council, and its stellar array of
supporters, asked the Supreme Court to do the same, and to bring to a screeching halt the
proliferation of local and state selective-purchasing laws. Massachusetts, supported by a
long list of churches, human-rights groups, dozens of city and state governments, and its
own even larger band of congressmen, asked the court to uphold its law.
Massachusetts passed the law in 1996 in a fit of self-righteousness. It bars state agencies
from buying goods or services from most firms, foreign or domestic, which do business
with Myanmar. At the time this seemed like little more than a harmless bit of gesture
politics. But, to general amazement, Apple, Kodak and Hewlett-Packard soon pulled out
of Myanmar, citing the Massachusetts law. The state's blacklist included European and
Japanese firms, among them Toyota, Sony and Siemens.
This, in turn, provoked an angry reaction from Japan and the EU. They first protested to
Washington, and then took the more serious step of launching a formal complaint at the
World Trade Organisation in Geneva, charging that the Massachusetts law breached the
obligation of the United States under the WTO's agreement on open government
procurement.
All sides agree that Myanmar is ruled by a bunch of thugs. The United States, the EU and
Japan have all imposed sanctions against Myanmar. But should lowly Massachusetts have
the same right? In striking down the law, the federal appeals court in Boston found that a
state has no authority to regulate conduct beyond its borders and that the Massachusetts
law "interferes with the ability of the federal government to speak with one voice." The
National Foreign Trade Council adds that the constitution clearly gives the federal
government the exclusive right to conduct foreign relations and to regulate foreign trade.
It also claims that the state's law conflicts with the federal government's own sanctions.
Massachusetts disputes all these points. It argues that its law does not regulate anything,
but only disassociates the citizens of Massachusetts from a vile regime by spending their
money in a way that they approve of. "Nothing in our federal constitution denies to the
states the right to apply a moral standard to their spending decisions," the state argues in
its legal brief. As for the idea that it contradicts federal law, Douglas Kmiec, a law
professor at Pepperdine University in California, points out that Congress passed its anti-
Burma law three months after the passage of the Massachusetts law, was well aware of it,
and chose not to pre-empt it explicitly, which even Massachusetts agrees it had the power
to do. So why should the court now do what Congress declined to do?
Mr Kmiec, who served as an assistant attorney-general in Washington in the 1980s, says
that the Reagan administration had a fierce internal debate about whether to oppose
similar local laws aimed at South Africa. Ronald Reagan disliked anti-apartheid sanctions.
But he disliked the idea of constricting states' rights even more. Mr Kmiec helped to
dissuade the administration, on federalism grounds, from challenging in court any of the
23 states and 80 cities that had anti-apartheid purchasing laws.
The Supreme Court could be equally torn. At the oral hearing Massachusetts's assistant
attorney-general faced sceptical questions from the liberal justices who have opposed the
expansion of states' rights. And yet after further consideration, they could be swayed by
the human-rights goals of the state's law. On the other hand, a few of the five conservative
justices who have backed states' rights in recent years, most notably Chief Justice William
Rehnquist, have also supported the view that foreign affairs should be pre-eminently
national in scope.
If the court does find in Massachusetts's favour, it will present the next administration with
something of a dilemma. The EU and Japan could revive their WTO complaints, which
they let lapse after the Massachusetts law was struck down by a lower court. The Clinton
administration had said it would vigorously defend the law against the WTO complaints.
That will be a difficult thing for any administration to do, now that the federal government
is asking the Supreme Court to strike down the law.
_______________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST SEARCH ON TO LOCATE NEW TRANSIT ROUTES
March 24, 2000
Influx of 600 million speed pills expected
Anucha Charoenpo
Narcotics fighters are trying to pinpoint new drug routes as
traffickers are believed to have switched from traditional
ones along the northern Thai-Burmese border to other parts
of the country, sources said yesterday.
Intelligence reports that as many as 600 million
methamphetamine pills could be smuggled into the country
this year has caused the Office of the Narcotics Control
Board grave concern, the sources said.
The northern Thai-Burmese border had been the traditional
transit point for drugs from the Golden Triangle, which
straddles Burma, Laos and Thailand. But last week's record
seizure of 4,354,000 speed pills in Prachuab Khiri Khan
province indicated the main traf ficking route might have
already changed, the sources said.
They said the seized shipment originated from drug factories
opposite Chiang Rai in the North but was sent through
Burmese territory to Koh Thaung before being smuggled into
Ranong province in the South.
The ONCB has ordered its suppression units nationwide to
seek more information on potential drug routes in their
areas.
Sorasit Saengprasert, ONCB secretary-general, said besides
switching routes drug dealers have also moved production
bases to Bangkok and other central region provinces,
including Petchaburi, Lop Buri, Ratchaburi and Pathum Thani.
Sixteen "kitchen labs" were raided in these provinces last
year.
Mr Sorasit said he was uncertain whether there were still
any such labs left in the country, but ONCB officers and
police were told to seek and destroy them. Precursors and
other chemicals used in producing methamphetamine pills also
were being smuggled out of the country, the sources said.
Theeraphat Santimethaneedol, the ONCB's deputy secretary-
general, said most drug production bases in Burma were under
the influence of the Wa ethnic minority group based opposite
Chiang Rai and Chiang Mai. Methamphetamines bearing the
orange-coloured letters "WY" were from the area, he added.
In Laos, methamphetamine production bases were in Bo Keo,
Oudomsay and Xayabourey. Products from these areas were
smuggled into Thailand through the border at Chiang Rai,
Phayao, Loei and Ubon Ratchathani provinces.
In Cambodia, methamphetamines were produced in Koh Kong,
opposite Trat and Aranyaprathet district of Sa Kaew
province.
_______________________ OTHER _________________________
FORUM ASIA: LETTER TO THAI PM ASKING INVESTIGATION OF
RATCHABURI SHOOTINGS
AHRC - Human Rights Solidarity Magazine - March 2000
THAILAND
Investigation on Brutal Resolution of Hospital Siege
(Ed. Note: The following is an open letter to the Prime
Minister of
Thailand Chuan Leekpai signed by six civil groups. The
signatories
demand investigation on the shootout.)
Your Excellency:
We, the counter signatories of this letter, would like to
congratulate the government in its ability to resolve the
problem of the seizure of the Ratchaburi Central Hospital by
the so-called "God's Army", who took patients and physicians
hostage during 24 to 25 January, 2000. They belonged to a
Karen resistance group which has fought the Burmese
government in their attempt to demand for their right of
self-determination. Those who seized the hospital came from
their stronghold located along the Thai-Burmese border at
Suan Pung District Ratchaburi Province. With the ability of
the Thai authorities, no hostage was injured or endangered.
However, we regret that some of the authorities were injured
and all the terrorists were killed for we had expected that
the situation would be resolved without the loss of life or
bloodshed in any party.
The violence which occurred at this time and at other times
along the
Thai-Burmese border have stemmed from the political violence
in Burma in which its junta has carried out its cruel and
inhumane suppression of democratic activists, opposition and
minority groups. As long as the Burmese junta refuses to
revive its democracy and negotiate a peace settlement with
opposition group, the violence along the border will
continue and increase until it spills into the Thai border.
In order to prevent such an occurrence, we would like to
propose our ideas to Your Excellency as follows:
1. The Thai government revises its foreign policy towards
Burma by seriously applying the flexible engagement as announced by
H.E. Foreign Minister Dr. Surin Pitsuwan in co-operation with the
international communities. ASEAN member countries should
support and urge the Burmese government to start negotiating among
all factions in Burma to create sustainable peace in the
country.
2. The Thai government should implement the policy of
temporary shelter and provide humanitarian aid to the
injured civilians, children and women which seek refuge in
Thailand from the fighting with the Burmese military as has
been the usual practice of Thai and
international authorities. The Thai troops should strictly
play a neutral role in the conflict and there should not be any
action indicating that the Thai troops have joined hands with the
Burmese in suppressing those minorities. If the Thai government is
unable to clarify the allegation that it has cooperated with the
Burmese junta, we fear that image of Thailand will be damaged in the eyes
of the international communities while creating doubts in the minds
of those minority groups. This may pose a threat to the peaceful
situation along the Thai border in a long run.
3. The photos and news which have been widely published both
in the local and foreign press showing the way the authorities
did not send the terrorists' bodies to the Forensic Department for post
mortem, together with interviews given by some hostages, infer that
some terrorists were killed after their surrender or having been
disarmed. If it is true, Thailand will be condemned as violating the
Thai law and obligations it has with the international law. This will
tarnish the history of the country regarding human rights, in which
Thailand has been praised and set as example beyond recall.
With the application of violence in the a long term will not
solve the problem but lead to continual and endless
violence. The country will suffer the consequence.
In order to obtain the truth to wipe out such allegation, we
would like to propose a setting up of an independent and
neutral committee
consisting of members from various parties. The task for the
committee is to conduct a fact finding investigation into
the incident. The information obtained from the finding will
serve as a basis for preventing such an incident to repeat
itself.
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Friends without Borders
Union for Civil Liberty (UCL)
Thai Action Committee for Democracy in Burma
Foundation for Women
Migrant Assistance Programme
***
Lethal Operation to Mend the Fence
On 25 January elite commandos stormed a provincial hospital
seized by ten young Karen rebels of a fringe group known as "God's
Army". There was no casualties among hundreds of hostages and just eight
officers injured. All the gunmen were killed. According to some
eyewitness reports some of the Karen rebels did not fire back the
assault.
In a similar incident last October, five gunmen sized the
Myanmar embassy in Bangkok. The hostages were released unharmed but
the gunmen were allowed to go free. The junta in Yangon was
enraged and promptly closed its border with Thailand.
Analysts believe that Thai government has taken a tough
stance to please its neighbour and reassure its citizens
against being caught up in future sieges. Human rights
groups are worried.
________________
The BurmaNet News is an Internet newspaper providing
comprehensive coverage of news and opinion on Burma
(Myanmar).
For a subscription to Burma's only free daily newspaper,
write to: strider@xxxxxxx
You can also contact BurmaNet by phone or fax:
Voice mail +1 (435) 304-9274
Fax +1 (810)454-4740
________________
\==END======================END=======================END==/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
GET A NEXTCARD VISA, in 30 seconds! Get rates as low as 2.9%
Intro or 9.9% Fixed APR and no hidden fees. Apply NOW!
http://click.egroups.com/1/936/4/_/713843/_/953904360/
------------------------------------------------------------------------
To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
theburmanetnews-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxx