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Subject: [theburmanetnews] BurmaNet News: May 13, 2000
______________ THE BURMANET NEWS ______________
An on-line newspaper covering Burma
______________ www.burmanet.org _______________
May 13, 2000
Issue # 1529
*Inside Burma
THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE): MYANMAR'S MILITARY ACCUSED OF USING
TEENS
THE STRAITS TIMES: YANGON DENIES ARMY USING THE UNDERAGED
*International
AFP: MYANMAR ACCEPTS ILO MISSION OVER FORCED LABOUR ISSUE
BURMA PEACE FOUNDATION: COMMENT ON "MYANMAR ACCEPTS ILO MISSION OVER
FORCED LABOUR ISSUE"
*Opinion/Editorials
USG: PRESS STATEMENT ON BURMA ELECTION ANNIVERSARY AND HARASSMENT OF
OPPOSITION
SSA NEWS: PEACE IN SHAN STATE STILL A DISTANT DREAM
*Other
NED: SECRETARY OF STATE ALBRIGHT TO SPEAK AT EVENT HONORING BURMA'S
DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
__________________ INSIDE BURMA ____________________
THE STRAITS TIMES (SINGAPORE): MYANMAR'S MILITARY ACCUSED OF USING
TEENS
May 12, 2000.
Human rights umbrella group says kids are also trained as spies,
porters and minesweepers. It is pushing for countries to ban use of
child soldiers
by JAMES EAST
IN BANGKOK
MYANMAR'S junta uses children as spies, porters and minesweepers, say
activists who are pressing Asia's armed forces to outlaw the use of
child soldiers.
Human rights workers say teenagers are routinely rounded up by the
military and sent off to the frontline to help fight the country's
armed ethnic insurgent groups.
On Monday, more than 150 human rights organisations will meet 15
Asian governments in Kathmandu, Nepal, in an attempt to persuade them
to outlaw the practice.
They also hope to boost international efforts to abolish child
soldiering.
The conference is being organised by the Coalition to Stop the Use of
Child Soldiers.
It is an umbrella group whose members include World Vision
International, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch.
There are about 300,000 under-18s soldiering in conflicts worldwide.
The coalition says scores of children are killed, maimed and left
emotionally traumatised by battlefield experiences in not only
Myanmar, but Indonesia, Afghanistan and Sri Lanka.
It wants countries to individually bar under-18s from fighting or
being conscripted. It also wants the bans incorporated into
international law.
Launching the Coalition's findings in Bangkok, spokesman Rory
Mungoven said: "We want to put the use of children as soldiers and
weapons of war on the same legal and moral footing that condemns the
use of chemical and biological weapons as beyond the pale."
Reserving particular criticism for Myanmar, he said: "Myanmar rivals
parts of Africa as one of the world's largest recruiters of child
soldiers.''
Teenagers were not only found in the country's armed ethnic groups,
the Karen National Union or the headline-grabbing God's Army militia
which is led by teenage twins Johnny and Luther Htoo, but also in the
armed forces.
"Not all children find their way to the frontline. They are used as
spies, couriers, sentries, messengers and even sexual slaves," he
explained.
Large numbers of under-15s were recruited, with street children and
orphans at particular risk.
The government of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has in the past
denied before the United Nations that it uses children in the army,
saying it only takes in over-18s.
But the Thai-based Karen Human Rights Group said it has documented
many cases of child deserters.
Speaking from the Thai-Myanmar border, group co-ordinator Kevin
Heppner, said: "In your average Burmese frontline unit, probably half
the soldiers are under 18. Most are 14 to 16 years old."
The regime had a policy of maintaining recruitment by barring
soldiers from leaving unless they signed up new recruits.
"No one wants to join so the soldiers hang around in the markets and
outside schools where they grab the children. The children are easily
influenced by tales of having money and a gun," he said. Youth
organisations also funneled youngsters into the military.
"It is true that the ethnic opposition groups use under-18s but the
main offender is the Burmese army," he said.
Once recruited the children endured brutal treatment.
They were beaten and abused, forced to steal food from villages and
had their pay docked by corrupt officers. An International Labour
Organisation inquiry into Myanmar's use of child soldiers found "men,
women and children, some as young as 10 or so, have been forced to do
portering for the military. "Others were used as human shields and
minesweepers."
A refusal to do so is absolutely inconceivable as it is
systematically met with physical punishment or fines. Countries
attending the conference include Thailand, North and South Korea,
Japan and China. Singapore is not. "We have been coaxing Burma to
come but so far we have not had a response," said Mr Mungoven.
____________________________________________________
THE STRAITS TIMES: YANGON DENIES ARMY USING THE UNDERAGED
May 12, 2000.
BANGKOK -- A Myanmar government spokesman said yesterday his
country's armed forces are "a voluntary army and underaged recruits
are not welcome."
He said that the well-publicized case of 12-year-old twin boys who
commanded a small band of Karen ethnic rebels made it "very obvious
that the armed terrorist groups are systematically conscripting
children to be soldiers."
The spokesman, who spoke on condition of anonymity, was responding to
charges that Myanmar "has one of the highest numbers of child
soldiers in the world, both within governmental armed forces and non-
governmental armed groups."
The non-government organisation, Coalition to Stop the Use of Child
Soldiers, has said that many of the children serving in Myanmar's
army are not combat soldiers, but rather support personnel, such as
porters. -- AP
__________________ INTERNATIONAL ___________________
AFP: MYANMAR ACCEPTS ILO MISSION OVER FORCED LABOUR ISSUE
MANILA, May 12 (AFP) - Military-ruled Myanmar has agreed to accept an
international mission to make it comply with global laws against the
use of forced labour, Southeast Asian labour ministers said after a
meeting here Friday.
Myanmar's Labour Minister Tin Ngwe told the meeting the request for
an International Labour Organisation (ILO) "technical cooperation"
mission was made "without preconditions," a statement issued after
the talks said.
The 14th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) labour
ministers meeting was briefed on the "outstanding issues" faced by
Myanmar in complying with an ILO convention on forced labour, the
statement said.
An ILO commission of enquiry in a report issued last August found
compulsory labour in Myanmar was practiced in a "systematic manner
with a total disregard for the human dignity, safety and health" of
the people.
The ILO had blasted the Myanmar authorities for failing to amend any
laws in line with commission recommendations, propose any new laws or
take steps to punish those exacting forced labour.
The ILO governing body had ordered Myanmar's case to be raised at the
organisation's assembly in June, and in March invoked for the first
time an ILO article allowing it to recommend measures to oblige the
offending party to comply.
The ASEAN labour ministers welcomed Myanmar's decision to
admit the ILO mission, which they said should assist the country to
comply with the ILO convention on forced labour.
"The mission should be sent preferably before the forthcoming ILC
(International Labour Conference) so that the outstanding issues
between Myanmar and ILO could be expeditiously resolved,"
the statement said.
Apart from Myanmar, ASEAN comprises Brunei, Cambodia,
Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
Vietnam.
Myanmar's defiance of international laws against forced labour has
also indirectly affected the other Southeast Asian nations. The ILO
had informed ASEAN the grouping was excluded from
participating in and benefiting from ILO technical cooperation and
assistance programmes, the ministers said in their statement.
They also "expressed regret" that the ILO had discontinued its
commitment to support the implementation of two priority ASEAN
projects on labour -- on human resources development planning and
industrial relations.
The two-day ASEAN labour ministers meeting also discussed regional
projects, including training and efforts to stem socio-economic
problems caused by the Asian financial crisis.
____________________________________________________
BURMA PEACE FOUNDATION: COMMENT ON "MYANMAR ACCEPTS ILO MISSION OVER
FORCED LABOUR ISSUE"
May 12, 2000
Regarding the report on AFP that Burma will accept an ILO
mission,tThe ILO has seen the AFP wire, but has not yet (5.20pm GMT,
12 May 2000) received any official notification of the request for
an ILO mission.
Accepting an ILO technical mission implies that the SPDC
* accepts the report and recommendations of the ILO Commission of
Inquiry (which it had previously rejected), and
* is requesting assistance in carrying out these recommendations.
This is the only condition under which the ILO could send such a
mission, since at its 87th session (June 1999) the ILO Conference
decided that " ... the Government of Myanmar should cease to benefit
from any technical cooperation or assistance from the ILO, except for
the purpose of direct assistance to implement immediately the
recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry..."
Presumably, therefore, the ILO would be unable to send a technical
mission unless the SPDC made it very clear that the purpose of the
mission would be direct help in the immediate implementation of the
recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry.
No doubt, if an ILO mission does go to Burma before the ILO
Conference (30 May-15 June),
this will strengthen the hand of Japan and the ASEAN countries which
are arguing for
more "dialogue" with the SPDC rather than the more punitive measures
implied by the
invocation of Article 33 of the ILO constitution.
David Arnott, Geneva
____________________________________________________
BANGKOK POST: DRUG-PRODUCING WA ARMY SEEN AS TOP EXTERNAL SECURITY
THREAT NEED FOR HARDER LINE AGAINST NEIGHBOURS
Post-May 12, 2000.
Kanjana Spindler
The flood of methamphetamine-based drugs from United Wa State Army-
run areas of Burma is Thailand's top external security threat, the
army commander said yesterday.
Gen Surayud Chulanont, who was at a post on Doi Kiew Hoong,
overlooking Mong Yawn, the Wa town built on drug profits, expressed
frustration at the inability to stem the flow. His remarks came on
the eve of an inter-agency meeting called by the Foreign Ministry
which may signal a strengthening in government efforts to shut off
the supply, estimated at 600 million pills this year.
The talks will be chaired by M.R. Sukhumbhand Paribatra, deputy
foreign minister, and include representatives from the Office of
Narcotics Control Board, National Security Council, Interior Ministry
and Gen Wattanachai Chaimuenwong, the Third Army commander.
M.R. Sukhumbhand said the Foreign Ministry stood ready to support any
such efforts even if they "affect our good relations with some of our
neighbours".
This comment reflected a growing realisation that a harder line was
needed with countries harbouring drug factories. One army source said
cross-border strikes may be a viable option.
The May 1999 drug summit in Chiang Mai between Prime Minister Chuan
Leekpai and Gen Than Shwe, the Burmese premier, produced a joint
statement on greater co-operation but little more. Rangoon conceded
subsequently its inability to rein in drug-producers such as the Wa.
While the ministry has kept suppression as the main item on the
agenda with Burma, Cambodia and Laos, drug enforcement sources
believe Thailand should also seek co-operation from China and Taiwan.
China has considerable influence in Burma, and Taiwan is often cited
as a major source of chemicals and equipment used to make
methamphetamines.
Inter-agency co-operation was welcomed by William Simpson, head of
the Thai branch of the United States Drug Enforcement Administration.
The involvement of the military showed Thailand was serious.
"But they have to work as a team," he said. "In the US, the military
is in a support role, not the lead role."Gen Surayud agreed the
police should lead with the army in support. Army units were
receiving good intelligence from Border Patrol Police and were
expanding support for a civilian programme to relocate some border
villages and launch income-generating projects.
Dismissing charges the army had razed some villages, he said: "We
soldiers read the constitution as well, you know."According to Lt-Gen
Wattanachai, Richard Hecklinger, the US ambassador, had promised to
ask for US army personnel involved in operations against Colombian
drug cartels to share their experience with the Thai side.
____________________________________________________
XINHUA: MYANMAR, VIETNAM SIGN THREE AGREEMENTS
Story Filed: Friday, May 12, 2000 8:53 AM EST
YANGON (May 12) XINHUA - Myanmar and Vietnamese governments reached
three agreements here Friday, state-run Myanma News Agency reported.
The agreement on avoidance of double taxation and prevention of
monetary misappropriation was signed by Myanmar Minister of Finance
and Revenue U Khin Maung Thein and his visiting Vietnamese
counterpart Nguyen Sinh Hung.
The agreement on cultural cooperation was endorsed by the two
countries' Ministers of Culture.
The agreement on enhancement of investment and mutual protection was
inked by Myanmar Deputy Minister of National Planning and Economic
Development Brigadier-General Zaw Tun and his visiting Vietnamese
counterpart Lai Quang Thue, the report said.
The three Vietnamese high government officials are accompanying their
Prime Minister Phan Van Khai on Phan's three-day goodwill visit to
Myanmar.
At the invitation of Senior-General Than Shwe, Chairman of the
Myanmar State Peace and Development Council and Prime Minister, Phan
arrived here Friday morning on his second leg of three-nation
Southeast Asian tour. Before coming to Myanmar, Phan paid a four- day
friendly visit to Thailand and will proceed to Laos after ending his
Myanmar visit.
_________________OPINION/EDITORIALS_________________
USG: PRESS STATEMENT ON BURMA ELECTION ANNIVERSARY AND HARASSMENT OF
OPPOSITION
THE UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF STATE PRESS STATEMENT ON BURMA
Press Statement by Richard Boucher, Spokesman,US State Department May
11, 2000
Burma: Election Anniversary and Harassment of Opposition
This month marks the 10th anniversary of Burma's 1990 elections,
which the democratic opposition, led by the National League for
Democracy (NLD), won by an overwhelming majority. We deeply deplore
the fact that Burma's military regime refuses to follow through on
the results of those free and fair elections and has thwarted all
attempts to convene a parliament and form a democratic government. We
further regret that the regime has chosen to commemorate the
anniversary with yet another wave of mass arrests of democratic
opposition party members. We reject the regime's latest gambit of
associating the National League for Democracy with terrorist plots
and view these arrests as a further act of repression against Burmese
people engaged in the peaceful expression of their political beliefs.
Charges that the National League for Democracy is linked to alleged
terrorist groups are a malicious fabrication. This political party
has demonstrated for more than a decade that it seeks non-violent
political change in Burma.
____________________________________________________
SSA NEWS: PEACE IN SHAN STATE STILL A DISTANT DREAM
[Abridged]
May 10, 2000
SSA ambushed SPDC's convoy in central Shan State
By: Ai Tai (SSA-S)
On 9th May 2000, 757th Brigade of SSA ambushed one of the SPDC convoy
on the highway between the town of Khunhing and Tar Kaw in central
Shan State. The battle took place between the villages of Kali and
Nam Maw Ngern. The convoy was commanded by Col. Thein Kyi of the
932nd transport battalion and included men from 247th and 296th
Infantry Battalion stationed at Tar Kaw. The two sections of SSA
troops involved in the armed clash are from 991st battalion led by
Lt. Phaw Ka and 151st battalion led by Cpl. Gandama. All 4 trucks in
the battle field were completely destroyed and burned. At least, 7
deaths and 5 wounded were reported on the side of the SPDC troopers.
The Shan State Army has proposed "to solve our problems by peaceful
means" in the 1/2000 statement on 25th Jan 2000. And in 2/2000
statement on 6th March 2000, which included a deadline date as the
end of March, stated "failure to respond by the end of the deadline
will means the resuming or continuation of war". Furthermore, a
letter sent on 10th March 2000, addressed to Senior General Than
Shwe, the Head of the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC),
stated "to have peace and tranquilty for our people."
The SSA-S's proposal for genuine peace for our people have not only
been rejected by the SPDC, it has also used 20 infantry battalions to
wipe our troops out from the central Shan State, even during the
period of ceasefire. The SPDC troops have been pursuing and harassing
our troops, day and night, but our troops had tried to avoid
conflicts and only hit back when it was necessary to protect their
lives. On top of that, they preyed on the innocent villagers and
engaged in looting, rapes and extrajudicial killings, when they could
not find our troops.
They also spread propaganda among the people saying "Because of SSA-S
we have to harm you, without them we won't even need to come".
Ironically, the SPDC troopers still continue to commit all sorts of
human rights violation, even without one single SSA soldier in sight.
Apart from pitting us against our own people and trying to erode our
support base, the SPDC sent messages to our troops, secretly and
separately. These messages were sent to battlions and brigades, but
not to the SSA Supreme Command. Its "divide and rule" policy,
together with its plan to dismantle and absorb SSA-S piece by piece,
could only be viewed that the SPDC is not interested in genuine peace.
_____________________ OTHER ______________________
NED: SECRETARY OF STATE ALBRIGHT TO SPEAK AT EVENT HONORING BURMA'S
DEMOCRACY MOVEMENT
National Endowment for Democracy
www.ned.org
Date: May 11, 2000
For Immediate Release
Contact: Brian Joseph, (202) 293-9072
Washington, D.C. - Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and a
bipartisan group of members of Congress will pay tribute to Burma's
National League for Democracy (NLD) and its Secretary General, Daw
Aung San Suu Kyi, at a Capitol Hill luncheon on Tuesday, May 16.
This month marks the tenth anniversary of the May 27, 1990 landslide
victory by the NLD in national parliamentary elections and the
subsequent rejection of the results by the country's military rulers.
The luncheon, sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED)
in cooperation with the Open Society Institute/Burma Project and the
Institute for Asian Democracy, will take place at noon in Room B-369
of the Rayburn House Office Building.
The event will also feature a videotaped message from Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. A statement of
support for Burma's pro-democracy movement signed by a dozen Nobel
Laureates will be read.
Members of Congress participating in the event will include Senator
Mitch McConnell and Representatives Tom Lantos and John Porter, who,
along with Senator Daniel P. Moynihan plan to introduce a joint
resolution commemorating the 10th anniversary of the election and
supporting restoration of democracy in Burma.
In honor of the NLD, the Endowment will dedicate a small-scale
replica of the Goddess of Democracy constructed in Tiananmen Square
during the pro-democracy demonstrations in 1989. The replica was
carved in Nigeria, another country whose election results were
rejected by the military rulers (though power was subsequently
returned to civilian rule). If you would like to attend, please RSVP
to Melissa Lanning at (202) 293-9072.
NED is a private, bipartisan grant-making organization created in
1983 to strengthen democratic institutions around the world through
non-governmental efforts. It receives an annual congressional
appropriation from which it supports pro-democracy groups in Africa,
Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America, the Middle East, and
the former Soviet Union. NED has provided assistance to Burmese
democrats since 1990.
_______________
Acronyms and abbreviations regularly used by BurmaNet.
AVA: Ava Newsgroup. A small, independent newsgroup covering Kachin
State and northern Burma.
KHRG: Karen Human Rights Group. A non-governmental organization
that conducts interviews and collects information primarily in
Burma's Karen State but also covering other border areas.
KNU: Karen National Union. Ethnic Karen organization that has been
fighting Burma's central government since 1948.
NLM: New Light of Myanmar, Burma's state newspaper. The New Light of
Myanmar is also published in Burmese as Myanmar Alin.
SCMP: South China Morning Post. A Hong Kong newspaper.
SHAN: Shan Herald Agency for News. An independent news service
covering Burma's Shan State.
SHRF: Shan Human Rights Foundation
SPDC: State Peace and Development Council. The current name the
military junta has given itself. Previously, it called itself the
State Law and Order Restoration Council.
________________
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