**************************BurmaNet*************************** "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ************************************************************* The BurmaNet News:30 March 1995 Issue #135 ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ NOTED IN PASSING: Contents: ***********************IRRAWADDY************************* *************************THAILAND************************ BKK POST: NYUNT SWE: WE DON'T NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE BKK POST: THAILAND, BURMA TO DEMARCATE DISPUTED HILL SLORC-KAREN PEACE TALKS IN PROGRESS, CONFIRMS RANGOON *************************SHAN***************************** ***********************INSIDE BURMA************************* THE NATION:MON REBELS READY TO RESUME TRUCE TALKS BKK POST: BURMESE DELEGATES TO DRAFT NEW CONSTITUTION ************************************************************** The BurmaNet News is an ********************************* electronic newspaper * Iti * covering Burma. 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Burma Issues is a Bangkok-based non-governmental organization that documents human rights conditions in Burma and maintains an archive of Burma-related documents. Views expressed in The BurmaNet News do not necessarily reflect those of either NCGUB or Burma Issues] ************************************************************** NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET: ABSDF: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT AMNESTY: AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL AP: ASSOCIATED PRESS AFP: AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE AW: ASIAWEEK Bt.: THAI BAHT; 25 Bt. EQUALS US$1 (APPROX), BBC: BRITISH BROADCASTING CORPORATION BF: BURMA FORUM BKK POST: BANGKOK POST (DAILY NEWSPAPER, BANGKOK) BRC-CM: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-CHIANG MAI BRC-J: BURMESE RELIEF CENTER-JAPAN CPPSM:C'TEE FOR PUBLICITY OF THE PEOPLE'S STRUGGLE IN MONLAND FEER: FAR EAST ECONOMIC REVIEW GOA: GOVERNMENT OF AUSTRALIA IRRAWADDY: NEWSLETTER PUBLISHED BY BURMA INFORMATION GROUP KHRG: KAREN HUMAN RIGHTS GROUP KNU: KAREN NATIONAL UNION Kt. BURMESE KYAT; UP TO 150 KYAT-US$1 BLACK MARKET 106 KYAT US$1-SEMI-OFFICIAL 6 KYAT-US$1 OFFICIAL MOA: MIRROR OF ARAKAN MNA: MYANMAR NEWS AGENCY (SLORC) THE NATION: A DAILY NEWSPAPER IN BANGKOK NCGUB: NATIONAL COALITION GOVERNMENT OF THE UNION OF BURMA NLM: NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR (DAILY STATE-RUN NEWSPAPER,RANGOON) NMSP: NEW MON STATE PARTY RTA:REC.TRAVEL.ASIA NEWSGROUP RTG: ROYAL THAI GOVERNMENT SCB:SOC.CULTURE.BURMA NEWSGROUP SCT:SOC.CULTURE.THAI NEWSGROUP SEASIA-L: S.E.ASIA BITNET MAILING LIST SLORC: STATE LAW AND ORDER RESTORATION COUNCIL TAWSJ: THE ASIAN WALL STREET JOURNAL UPI: UNITED PRESS INTERNATIONAL USG: UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT XNA: XINHUA NEWS AGENCY ************************************************************** NYUNT SWE: WE DON'T NEED YOUR ASSISTANCE 30 March 1995 Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister Nyunt Swe again said yesterday his country did not need Thailand to help settle conflicts with ethnic minorities. "We have our own programme to solve our problems. If we need help from others, we ask. Until now we have no problem. We can solve (problems) by our own ways and means," he told reporters after a 60-minute meeting with Foreign Minister Krasae Chanawong. U Nyunt Swe is in Bangkok to co-chair the second meeting of the Thai-Burmese Joint Boundary Committee with his Thai counterpart Surin Pitsuwan. Thailand has extended an offer to mediate peace talks between the State Law and Order Restoration Council and the Karen National Union following attacks on the Karen headquarters in Manerplaw early this year. Dr Krasae said until now the Burmese had not yet made any request for Thailand's intervention. The Burmese deputy foreign minister said his government was still waiting to begin talks with the KNU, adding there has already been some direct contact at local level. Dr Krasae quoted U Nyunt Swe as saying the Burmese Government would avoid causing border problems to help the relationship between the two countries. U Nyunt Swe was quoted as asking for Thailand's cooperation to suppress the world's biggest drug warlord Khun Sa. But the two ministers did not discuss the issue in detail. "It's not only Burma that wished to tackle this problem. Thailand also regards Khun Sa forces as an outlawed grouping for their narcotic-related activities," said Dr Krasae. (BP) THAILAND, BURMA TO DEMARCATE DISPUTED HILL 30 March 1995 Thailand and Burma will begin demarcating the disputed frontier on Chumphon Province's Hill 491 this year, according to the director-general of the Foreign Ministry's Treaties and Legal Affairs Department. Krit Garnjina-Goonchorn said Burma will be ready to demarcate the border line after it finishes work on demarcating the frontier with India. Mr Krit was speaking after Thai-Burmese talks in preparation for the Joint Boundary Committee, when senior officials of the two countries agreed on the demarcation. The one-day meeting of the committee starts today. Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan co-chairs the meeting with his Burmese counterpart Nyunt Swe. The two ministers will 491 broke out late in December 1992 when Burmese troops seized the hill in the southern province. Thai and Burmese armed forces agreed to withdraw from Hill 491 and demarcate the Thai-Burma border line. But the lack of manpower in Burma has caused the demarcation to be delayed, Mr Krit said. "Burma has only three officials on the legal aspects and lacks enough officers to talk with Thailand, and it has been demarcating its borderline with India, which finished this year," he added. The two countries have to conduct a joint survey at the hill to decide which area they should demarcate first, and the demarcation will use the watershed along the hill which Burma has never surveyed, the senior Foreign Ministry official said. The Government allocated 21 million baht for the demarcation at the disputed location two years ago. (BP) BURMESE DELEGATES TO DRAFT NEW CONSTITUTION 30 March 1995 More than 600 delegates, most hand-picked by Burma's military government, met yesterday to resume work on writing a new constitution which some diplomates dismiss as more from than substance. The 633 delegates, dressed in national costume or military uniforms, attended the opening meeting of the National Convention to draft Burma's third constitution in the grounds of the Presidential Place in central Rangoon. Some delegates do not expect to see a quick conclusion to the convention, which met first in January 1993 with the goal of writing and adopting a constitution that authorities say will allow a democratically elected government. "What's the hurry" one army delegate asked Reuters. "This constitution might be the last one we have. We want to make sure it's good. "We have a saying here: 'If you want the best quality, you must take your time.' That's our theme," the delegate added. Rangoon-based diplomats do not hold out much hope regarding the constitution, saying even if it is completed it is not likely to be followed. "My views on the constitution are that it is not worth more than the paper it's written on," said one diplomat. After the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) assumed power in 1988 following a brutal suppression of a national pro-democracy uprising, it promised to hold elections "as soon as law and other have been restored." Though a 1990 election resulted in a landslide victory for the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), Slorc did not accept the outcome. Afterwards, Burma's powerful military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt said the body elected was not a parliament but a "constituent assembly" with powers only to draft a new constitution. When the National Convention was first summoned in january 1993, only 107 were elected members of parliament and 49 were party representatives. The military hand-picked the rest. The convention has adjourned three times because delegates were unable to agree on certain issues. Delegates say the main stumbling block deals with Burma's many ethnic groups and their rights of self administration. (BP) MON REBELS READY TO RESUME TRUCE TALKS 30 March 1995 Ethnic Mon separatists fighting the ruling Burmese State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) have decided to resume negotiations on a military ceasefire with Rangoon. Nai Tin Aung, the New Mon State Party (NMSP) official in charge of foreign affairs, said the party's central committee decided in a meeting which ended last week to resume the talks. Previous rounds of negotiations held last year were suspended by the NMSP because of a disagreement over the zones of control to be allocated to the Mon insurgents. "The NMSP will resume talks with the Slorc," Nai Tin Aung said. "We have not yet fixed a date, we need to contact the Slorc first, but they will probably be held in April." He said he also expected the new negotiations, a with the previous rounds of talks, to take place in the coastal city of Moulmein. Asked whether the Mon would also seek a political settlement, or the payment of a tax for the construction of a gas pipeline slated to run through Mon-held territory, the Mon official only said that discussions on a ceasefire would come first. "Negotiating a military ceasefire is the first step in the dialogue," he explained. "All other matters, including a political settlement, will come later." Nai Tin Aung said he is optimistic that Slorc would come forward with a new position on what areas the Mon separatists would be allowed to control. The Slorc's previous offer to allow the Mon to hold twelve small areas in southeastern Burma was deemed unacceptable by the NMSP. "I don't think they will offer the same thing again," he said. "The deadlock has lasted one year already. So I am hopeful they won't take the same position." The Karen National Union, another ethnic separatist group which has been in battle with Burma's central government for decades, also announced Monday that it would seek ceasefire talks with the Slorc. But Nai Tin Aung said he had not previously been aware of the KNU's decision. Mon and Karen troops are both active in southeastern Burma, where a pipeline is to be constructed to transport gas from Burma's Gulf of Martaban into Thailand. Both the KNU and the NMSP have said they opposed to the construction of the pipeline under the current conditions of the project. Reuter reports from Rangoon: More than 600 delegates, most hand-picked by Burma's military government, met yesterday to resume work on writing a new constitution which some diplomats dismiss as more from than substance. The 633 delegates, dressed in national costume or military uniforms, attended the opening meeting of the National Convention to draft Burma's third constitution in the grounds of the Presidential Place in central Rangoon. Some delegates do not expectto see a quick conclusion to the convention and Rangoon-based diplomats do not hold out much hope regarding the constitution, saying even if it is completed it is not likely to be followed. "My views on the constitution are that it is not worth more than the paper it's written on," said one diplomat. After the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) assumed power in 1988 following a brutal suppression of a national pro-democracy uprising, it promised to hold elections "as soon as law and order have been restored". (TN) SLORC-KAREN PEACE TALKS IN PROGRESS, CONFIRMS RANGOON 30 March 1995 The Burmese government is currently holding low level discussions with the Karen National Union (KNU), Burmese Deputy Foreign Minister U Nyunt Swe said in Bangkok yesterday. He told reporters after a meeting with Foreign Minister Krasae Chanawongse at the ministry that his government was still waiting to see what progress could be made. U Nyunt Swe said progress would be made in the talks between Burma's State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) and the ethnic guerrillas. Talks began, between low-level officials, following last week's announcement by the KNU Defence Minister Gen Bo Mya for his troops to cease miliatry operations against the Burmese army in an attempt to test Slorc's reaction to whether both sides could enter a peace dialogue. U Nyunt Swe said that the Burmese government had offered the same dialogue to all groups resisting Slorc's authority. "It is going well and, so far, we are talking to 14 groups. Only one or two are still holding out. We are following the same line with these last few. Everything will work out," he said. He said if politics could be left out, peace was achievable. "If we do not play political games, I think they (the ethnic groups) will listen," U Nyunt Swe said. U Nyunt Swe turned down Thailand's offer to mediate between the Slorc and the KNU, saying Burma has its own peace plan. "We have our own programme to solve our own problems. If we need help from others we ask for it. We can solve our problems our way," he said. Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai had earlier said that Thailand was ready to mediate between the Slorc and the KNU to bring peace to the area. Krasae said that believed the only way to solve the problem was through development. He said that Thailand's policy was more in favour of the Burmese government. He believed that the development and well-being of the people would eventually lead to democracy, and the human rights issue would have to be sorted out. He saidthat relations between Thailand and Burma were good and he did not want Burma's internal problems to upset this friendship. Thailand would cooperate with a Slorc request to help depose drug warlord Khun Sa. Krasae said that the drug trade was an international issue and not just a problem for the Burmese government. He said that with respect to extraditing Burmese accused of criminal activities, Thailand's legal system would try them. "If they are found guilty, they would be sent back," Krasae said. U Nyunt Swe co-chairs a two-day meeting on the second Thai-Burmese Joint Boundary Committee, with Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan. The meeting, which ends today, was held in Bangkok. (TN)