------------------------- BurmaNet --------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 24 APRIL 1995 Issue #155 -------------------------------------------------------------- NOTED IN PASSING: Under the terms of our current policy in Burma, any businessman who contacts a U.S. Government official to discuss business prospects in Burma is briefed on the documented violations of human rights in Burma. For investors considering projects in extractive sectors and projects of longer duration, the U.S. Government officer will emphasize the strong possibility that a successor government could cancel an arrangement made with the current Burmese government. U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher Contents: -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT REQUESTS USG: WARREN CHRISTOPHER'S LETTER TO AFL-CIO SCB: PORTLAND DEMONSTRATION APR. 29 BURMANET: LETTER--"PLAYING POLITICS" JAPAN TIMES: LETTER--"THERE IS NO DILEMMA IN BURMA" THE NATION: THAILAND SEALS BORDER STRETCH WITH BURMA THE NATION/AFP: BURMA CLASH SENDS 500 FLEEING INTO THAILAND THE NATION: DEFECTORS KIDNAP KAREN REFUGEES, BURN 30 HOUSES BKK POST: THAI TROOPS CLOSED BURMA BORDER IN 3 NORTH PROVINCES BKK POST: LETTER--CHUAVINIST THAILAND IS AN OPTION BKK POST: LEADERS TO SEE NON-MEMBERS IN PRE-ASEAN SUMMIT MEET BKK POST: SLORC SENDS MUSLIM BUSINESSES OUT OF THE CITY INTO THE WILDERNESS BKK POST: BURMESE 'BEING REFUGEES HARASSED NATION: THAILAND SEALS BORDER STRETCH WITH BURMA BKK POST: BURMA CLASH SENDS 500 FLEEING INTO THAILAND BKK POST: BURMESE REBELS DECLARE HOLY WAR AGAINST GOVT BKK POST: INTRUDERS THREATEN TO ATTACK KAREN CAMP AP: INTERNET USED IN FIGHT FOR FREEDOM BURMANEWS-L MAILING LIST IS ON-LINE BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST -------------------------------------------------------------- o-------------------------------o The BurmaNet News is an | | electronic newspaper | Iti | covering Burma. Articles | snotpo | from newspapers, magazines, | werthatcor | newsletters, the wire | ruptsbutfea | services and the Internet as | r.Fearoflos | well as original material | ingpowercor | are published. | ruptsthosewhoare | The BurmaNet News is | subjecttoit...Theef | e-mailed directly to | fortnecessarytoremain | subscribers and is | uncorruptedinanenvironm | also distributed via | entwherefearisanintegralpar | the soc.culture.burma | tofeverydayexistenceisnoti | and seasia-l mailing | mmediatelyapparentto | lists and is also | thosefortunate | available via the | enoughtolivein | reg.burma conference on | statesgovern | the APC networks. For a | edbytherule | free subscription to | oflaw...fear | the BurmaNet News, send | is ahab it. | an e-mail message to: | Iam | | no | majordomo@igc.apc.org | taf | | ra | In the body of the message, | id. | type "subscribe burmanet-l" | Aun | (without quotation marks) | gSa | | nS | Letters to the editor, | uu | comments or contributions | Ky | of articles should be | i. | sent to the editor at: o-------------------------------o strider@igc.apc.org In Washington: Attention to BurmaNet c/o National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma (NCGUB) Information Office 815 15th Street NW, Suite 609 Washington D.C. 20005 Tel: (202) 393-7342, Fax: (202) 393-7343 In Bangkok: Attention to BurmaNet c/o Burma Issues PO Box 1076, Silom Post Office Bangkok 10500 Thailand Tel: (066) (02) 234-6674, Fax: (066) (02) 631 0133 The NCGUB is a government-in-exile, formed by representatives of the people that won the election in 1990. 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. -------------------------------------------------------------- CONTACT REQUEST 003 If there are any Kachins or students of post-Colonial Kachin history, please contact burmanet@igc.apc.org (attn Contact 003). -------------------------------------------------------------- USG: WARREN CHRISTOPHER'S LETTER TO AFL-CIO [The American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations is the largest trade union congress in the United States--editor] April 5, 1995 Mr. Lane Kirkland President, AFL-CIO 815 16th Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20006 Dear Lane: Thank you very much for your letter of February 6 in which you urge trade sanctions for Burma as a response to continuing human rights violations by the Burmese junta. We share your concern about the policies of the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) of Burma. The SLORC continues to rule Burma with a heavy hand. We were troubled by the Burmese Army's recent attacks on the Karen minority at Manerplaw and Kawmura. The White House and Department of State issued public statements on these attacks, and we made our views clear in two tough diplomatic approaches to the Burmese authorities in Rangoon and one here in Washington. The U.S. Government maintains a range of sanctions against Burma. We have refrained from sending an ambassador to Rangoon, have suspended our aid program, do not provide trade preferences, and have refused to certify Burma as a country cooperating with us to suppress narcotics. Moreover, we have led the international fora to condemn human rights abuses by the regime and have urged the UN to conduct a political dialogue with the Burmese leadership. Under the terms of our current policy in Burma, any businessman who contacts a U.S. Government official to discuss business prospects in Burma is briefed on the documented violations of human rights in Burma. For investors considering projects in extractive sectors and projects of longer duration, the U.S. Government officer will emphasize the strong possibility that a successor government could cancel an arrangement made with the current Burmese government. In addition, important U.S. Government programs that have the effect of encouraging investment and U.S. exports, e.g., OPIC insurance and Eximbank financing, are not available in Burma. Burma is clearly a country where there is a substantial political risk to investment. In addition, Burma lacks the most basic infrastructure, such as a functioning phone system and a competent international banking system for smooth trade financing. Thus, the absence of United States Government programs to insure investments and facilitate trade and project finance is a formidable practical barrier to many investors, and almost certainly restrains investment and business between Burma and the United States. The United States is also required by law to vote against assistance to Burma from international financial institutions. Partly as a result of this factor, Burma receives very little in the way of project assistance from international lending agencies, and this fact also militates against U.S. business or investment in Burma. You urge a full trade and investment embargo against Burma. To be effective such an embargo would need international backing. We have regularly explored whether there would be support for such an embargo with our allies, and with Burma's major trading and investment partners in Asia. We have found no interest in a UN embargo. Indeed, many of Burma's largest trading and investment partners argue for more trade an investment and profess to believe that more interaction with the world economy and with states where political diversity is respected will encourage change for the better in Burma. I remain interested in sharing ideas with you as we continue to pursue the difficult issue of how best to promote democratization and respect for human rights in Burma. Sincerely, (signed) Warren Christopher -------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION: THAILAND SEALS BORDER STRETCH WITH BURMA April 23 Agency France-press The Thai military has sealed off a 500 km stretch of the border with Burma to prove Thailand does not support any of the ethnic groups fighting the Rangoon government, a senior officer said yesterday. Maj Gen Pairoj Wannatrong announced the border closure as a spokesman for the Karen National Union [KNU] said he had reports that renegade Karen guerrillas had sneaked across the border and abducted five refugees from a camp in Tha Song Yang district of Tak province . Pairoj, a member of the Naresuan Task Force, said that the unit had closed all legal border crossings in the three provinces it patrols- Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Song . Thai soldiers began closing the check-points in keeping with Thai government policy after members of the Maung Tai Army [MTA] of drug warlord Khun Sa attacked the Burmese border town of Tachilek on March 20, Pairoj said . Some of the fighting between the MTA and Burmese troops garrisoned at Tachilek spilled over onto the Thai side of the Mae Sai river, and some of the rebels crossed into Thailand in a bid to get behind the soldiers . Thai soldiers promptly disarmed the guerrillas and sent them back to Burma . Thai merchants along the border have protested the closure of the crossing points, saying most of their clients are Burmese and keeping them away is bad for business. -------------------------------------------------------------- SCB: PORTLAND DEMONSTRATION APR. 29 soc.culture.burma brischmidt@aol.com To all friends of Burma: The Pepsi-Burma Boycott Committee is holding a boycott demonstration in front of Pepsi owned Kentucky Fried Chicken, 21st and West Burnside, April 29 at 12 noon. We'll have signs and pass out flyers to people (no plans to do the shouting stuff, we want to get information out). Please come to hand out info or just to talk, make signs if you want (using humor is great even if we're dealing with life and death). RSVP if you want but not needed - you can just show up. Hope to see you there! -Brian Schmidt Pepsi-Burma Boycott Committee -------------------------------------------------------------- LETTER TO THE EDITOR: "PLAYING POLITICS" Date: Sun, 23 Apr 1995 10:42:38 -0700 From: "Simon M. Khin" Dear BurmaNet Editor, I am pleased to know that General Bo Mya sent letter to Reconciliation committees set up by SLORC and called on SLORC to be sincere in peace negotiation as previous rounds of talk always failed to yield positive result. On the other hand when I read about the remarks made by Deputy Foreign Minister Nyunt Swe to reporters after meeting with Thai Foreign Minister Kra Chana Wonge, I do not feel much optimistic about the negotiation. Nyunt Swe said that it was not nececessary to have Thai mediator in negotiation and warned the Karen Garilla and opposition parties not to play politics. In that case I am wondering how you can make negotiation without politics. My understanding of negotiation is the discussion of the political future of the people involved and in the process we make bargains, compromise, give and take till all parties reach agreement. Without politics involved I am not sure if I would call it negotiation. Another thing that worry me is that the SLORC did not want any mediator or any third party involved in negotiation process. Due to the edge in military superiority at this time and wihtout mediator, SLORC may be tempted to coers, intimidate, blackmail and demand which will not be acceptable to the other parties. Finally, SLORC will walk out from the negotiation table and say that the opposition parties are not sincere and brandishing them with "playing politics". Then the SLORC will start offensive against the gerilla and opposition troops and the circle of mistakes will be repeated again. I therefore, earnestly call upon SLORC to rethink about the wisdom of negotiation and make use of the best opportunity at hand to achieve true reconciliation and lasting peace for the people in the Union of Myanma. Yours Sincerely, Saw Aung Khin -------------------------------------------------------------- JAPAN TIMES: LETTER--THERE IS NO DILEMMA IN BURMA Sunday, April 23 The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency needs a new script ("Time to attack drug lords in Myanmar," March 27). It has just cast the Golden Triangle's Khun Sa to replace Panama's Manuel Noriega and Colombia's Pablo Escobar as the newest villain in the DEA's oldest farce: "If We Just Get This One Bad Guy, We'll Win the War on Drugs." Khun Sa is certainly a bad guy, but he is neither the richest nor the most powerful element in the Golden Triangle drug trade, only the most visible and expendable. What's more, he owes his career to the people who now say they want to end it: the Burmese military junta. In 1963, this half-Chinese opium trader was one of many to accept this offer from Rangoon: Turn your guns against the political opposition in Shan State and we'll let you use government-controlled roads for your opium convoys. Using weapons funded by the opium trade, Chang Chifu did the dirty work of the dictatorship and in the process adopted the role of Khun Sa, Shan freedom fighter. Quite a performance. Nor is the U.S. government clean. During the Cold War, its covert support of remnants of the Kuomintang in Shan State set in motion the vicious circle of arms-for-drugs, drugs-for-arms that plunged the once peaceful region into anarchy. Opium thus became the major export of the Golden Triangle as a result of decades of conflict and foreign intervention. Why then is the DEA proposing as a solution more conflict and foreign intervention? Why is the agency asking American tax-payers to aid a regime that has profited from the drug trade for more than three decades? The choice between human rights and antinarcotics efforts in Burma is a dilemma only in the minds of drug officials desperate to salvage their budgets and reputations. Only when the Burmese government responds to the grievances of its ethnic minorities will farmers in Shan State be able to abandon the poppy fields in the barren mountains and return to the paddy fields and fruit orchards in the fertile valleys. If the U.S. must launch air strikes in Burma, let the target be SLORC, the junta that has stubbornly refused to honor the will of the people, not Shan villagers who have suffered long enough under both the Burmese Army and Khun Sa. Carol Schlenker Aung Thu Ibara, Okayama -------------------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION/AFP: BURMA CLASH SENDS 500 FLEEING INTO THAILAND 24.4.95 A Renewed clash between Burmese troops and opium warlord Khun Sa's personnel Army has forces some 500 refugees to cross to Northern Thailand, Thai television said yesterday. The refugee, mostly ethnic Shans, Akha and Muser hill tribesmen, abandoned Pang Dao Tai village in northeastern Burma and headed south for Thailand sfter Rangoon's attack against the Maung Tai army (MTA) on Friday, Channel 7 said. The refugees took shelter at Mae Mo village in Mae Fa Luang sub- district of Chaing Rai province. The Burmese troops started attacking an MTA outpost on Par Chan mountain and moved north to Pang Kai Nua and Pang Kan Tai villages, Channel 7 said without specifying how many troops were involved. The firefight took place six kilometers from the Burmese-Thai border and was clearing heard on the Thai side, it reported. A Thai rangers attached to the 18th Ranger Detachment from the Pak Thong Garrison were dispatched to fortify the border area and block further influx of refugees.(AFP) -------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION: DEFECTORS KIDNAP KAREN REFUGEES, BURN 30 HOUSES 22 April 1995 Five Karen refugees were kidnapped when a group of 20 Karen guerrilla defectors sneaked across the border into their camp in the northern province of Tak early on Wednesday, local officials said yesterday. The abductors also burnet down 30 houses at the Baan Mae Teun refugee camp in tha song Yang district and threatened more violence if the Karen asylum seekers, who are mainly Buddhist, refuse to return to Burma, they said. The fate and whereabouts of the five hostages, including two ex-soldiers of the Karen National Union (KNU), was unknown as of yesterday. Border intelligence sources said the 20 armed KNU defectors, led by Kya Pho, sneaked into the camp about 6 am while Thai security forces were absent from the camp. The abductors, who are followers of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Organization (DKBO), wanted to force the Buddhist refugees to support or join their new rival group which was established in late December by a group of armed KNU Buddhist troops who were unsatisfied with Christian-led KNU leadership, the sources said. The DKBO intruders were believed to have crossed the Moei River into Thailand at night waiting for the right time to dodge into the camp, according to the sources. In a separate incident on April 6, two DKBO soldiers were killed and two assault rifles seized when a DKBO team clashed with Thai security forces at Bann Mae Sarid refugee camp in Tha Song Yang district. Sources said the DKBO have been terrorizing the camp for several months, including kidnapping KNU refugee chiefs. This forced thousands of refugees who had taken refuge in a dozen border camps between Mae Hong Son and Tak to return to Burma. About 100 refugees from Baan Mae Teun had already returned home, fearing violence and harassment by the DKBO if they continued to stay in Thailand, the sources said. Associated Press adds: A Burmese Muslim lawyer has been sentenced to five years in prison for holding a meeting on the government's order to relocate an Islammic cemetery, student rebels said yesterday. (TN) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: THAI TROOPS CLOSED BURMA BORDER IN 3 NORTH PROVINCES 22 April 1995 Thai troops have closed a 500-kilometre stretch of the Thai- Burmese border in Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Mae Hong Son provinces, Naresuan Task Force commander Lt-Gen Thanom Wacharaput said yesterday. Thai border traders were effectively shut down more than 30 illegal crossing Thais and Burmese, he said, "but this ordered by the Government which intends to prove that Thailand does not support any Burmese ethnic minority group." Lt-Gen Thanom said traders had asked him to re-open temporary border passes to facilitate cross-border trading but he told them only the Government could decide on the matter. Although Burmese were reportedly in dire need of consumer products, the Naresuan Task Force could only alow sick Burmese to cross the border for treatment in Thai hospitals, he said, adding that they had to return to Burma as soon as they recovered. Clashes between Burmese government forces and minority groups were going on near the border and heavy fighting could be felt in Chiang Rai, Lt-Gen Thanom said. It was believed both Burmese government forces and opium warlord Khun Sa's Mong tai Army were beefing up strength in preparation for another round of fighting before the start of the rainy season, he said. The Naresuan Task Force was set up six months ago by the Third Army Region in the face of increasing security problems in the border areas of Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son due to weapons smulling activities, drugs trafficking and illegal immigration, Lt- Gen Thanom said. The task force has so far seized large numbers of summgled weapons, ammunition, rice and fuel from ethnic Burmese minorities who were preparing themselves to fight Rangoon troops, he said. Meanwhile, a number of border traders in Mae Sai District of Chiang Rai calle yesterday for an end to the border closure which was hurting their businesses. The total amount of money in circulation locally has decreased by 50 per cent following the border closure, according to veeraSouthawatsunthorn , assistant manager of the Mae Sai branch of the First Bangkok City Bank. "The gem business has been afected as we cannot easily import gems fro m Burma. We have about 10 kilogrammes of Burmese gems now, compared with a hundred kilos before," said Thawatchai Anampong, chairman of the Gems wholesalers of Mae Sai. Mae Sai used to be a big gem-trading centre which drew thousands of people in the business from Chanthaburi, Trat and Kanchanaburi, said Mr Thawatchai, a former Chanthaburi MP. "If the border remains closed, we may have to return home," he added. Many groceries in Mae Sai have reportedly shut down. "Opening shops during a border slosure is not profitable but incurs expenses on sales staff," said the owner of Wannee grocery in Mae Sai. "All my clients are Burmese. Now fewer than ten of them visit my shop daily. They also bought only small amounts of goods," she said. "Our sales have dropped by 90 per cent since the border closure. We used to earn tens of thousands of baht a day, but the income has dropped to only a few thousands of baht now," said the owner of Santi Panich Namjaroen, a major wholesaler in Mae Sai. The shop owner said she exported slippers to China via the Mae Sai-Tachilek route in Burma. "Now my business has come to a stop and will have to wait until the border re-opens," she said. Singapore and China might replace Thailand as suppliers of consumer products to Burma if Thai authorities fail to push fot the reopening of the Thai-Burmese border, she said. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: LETTER--CHUAVINIST THAILAND IS AN OPTION 24 April 1995 Did Burmese soldiers enjoy themselves when on April 2 they shot in the back and killed an incocent Thai on Thai soil? For more than 30 years I've been hearing about Burmese atrocities, about the murder and rape of tens of thousands of non-Burmese ethnic groups. The hundreds of thousands of refugees and illegal workers from Burma living in Thailand are testimony to this fact. The ethnic cleansing policy of the Burmese is causing hardship for the ethnic minorities, who are spilling into this country. Burma's State Law and Oreder Restoration Council was worsted in the recent fighting with the Mong Tai Army last month. For this the Burmese burned more than fifty houses belonging to tha Tai. In public in Tachilek, they tortured innocent Tai people. They cut of their ears and tongues. Recently Slorc mined the Mae nam sai river bank, without giving any warning to the public. The mines killed two Tai villagers. What kind of monsters are running the Burmese army? For years Thailand has been a good neighbour of Burma. Regardless of UN resolutions condemning Slorc for gross human rights violations, Thailand has practised a constructive engagement policy in the hope that economic progress in Burma will make Slorc more humane. We closed the border at mae Hong son, thereby causing economic hardship to the local population. In spite of this favour to Slorc, thailand was criticised by Lt-gen Khin Nyunt for not being a good neighbour. Perhaps we should be more pragmatic. Perhaps we should stop giving favours to Slorc and trade with all our neighbours, no matter what ethnic group they belong to. If the Slorc wants to know what a chauvinistic Thailand can do, we can give material aid to our Tai brothers and to the Karen and Mon. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: POLICE SEIZE STOLEN CARS 24 April 1995 Mae sot district police yesterday seized nine modified pick-up trucks suspected to have been stolen from nearby districts. They were seized at the border village of Ban Mae Kon Ken. Police had approached vehicle owners who were about to cross into Burma to deliver timber. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: LEADERS TO SEE NON-MEMBERS IN PRE-ASEAN SUMMIT MEET 22 April 1995 The leaders of the Association of southeast Asian National will officially meet their counterparts from Cambodia, Burma and Laos as part of the Fifth ASEAN summit set for December 14-15 in Bangkok. Senior ASEAN political and economic officials held their first joint Consultative Meeting have yesterday to prepare for the forthcoming summit. A second meeting to finalise the agenda had been set for June in Bangkok. "We agreed to meeting between the ASEAN leaders and the CML countries (Cambodia, Myanmar, and Laos), which was proposed at a recent ASEAN senior officials' meeting in Singapore," said Sarooj Chavanaviraj, deputy permanent secretary for foreign affairs. Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam are part of the ten-country southeast Asia, envisioned by the founding fathers of ASEAN. The Thai delegations submited a number of options for the meeting between ASEAN - by then a seven-member association with newcomer Vietnam - and Cambodia. Burma, and Laos. A Thai Foreign Ministry told the Bangkok Post before the meeting that one of the options was for ASEAN to meet the three countries one morning or afternoon, as part of the two- day summit. Thailand' as host of the summit, is responsible for drawing up an agenda for the talks in December and at Yesterday's meeting threw in a number of ideas for the summit, including for the Vision Statement for the 21st Century. ASEAN secretary general Dato Ajit Singh told the Post many of the proposal are yet to be finalised. "The JCM mechanism is like a clearing house of the ideas of member countries from both the political and economic viewpoints," he said. The same source said a proposal for the vision statement, as it is tentatively called now, is to reaffirm the "ASEAN identity" in a dramatically changing world, politically and especially economically. Examples of dramatic changes are the creation of the World Trade Organisation, borderless globalisation, and the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation, which joins "economies" and not countries. The source said that at the last summit in Singapore in 1992, the ASEAN Regional Forum was formulated, "this time there may be no new mechanism, but ASEAN is likely to deliver a statement that reaffirms its identity in a changing world. The process of consulations will continue at the foreign ministers' level as well as at their annual meeting in Brunei in July and also at the ASEAN economic ministers' meeting to be held a few weeks before the summit. The source commented that any statements or resolutions at the summit will reflect the wishes of all the seven ASEAN members, including Vietnam which will be officially admitted to the association this July. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: BURMA TO ISSUE NEW BANKNOTES NEXT MONTH 23 April 1995 Burma's Central Bank plans issue new 10- and five-Kyat currency notes next month, the official media reported yesterday. The new notes will be part of the King Lion series that the government inaugurated on March 27 of last year with denominations of 500, 100, 50 and 20 Kyats. The series is used along with the 200, 90, 45, 15, 10, 5 and one-Kyat notes already in circulation. The New Light of Myanmar daily said the new, small denomination Lion notes would supplement the old ones, not replace them, and would not increase the volume of money in circulation. The Lion series was one of the economic reforms introduced by the current military government when it switched to a market-oriented economy. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: BURMESE 'BEING REFUGEES HARASSED Gas pipeline adds to woes of Mons 23 April 1995 Mon refugees seeking sanctuary in Thailand from the civil war in Burma are being harassed by Thai authorities to facilitate the construction of an oil pipeline between the two countries, according to US refugee workers in Bangkok and Mon relief officials. Pressure on the Mon, one of the many indigenous Burmese minorities involved a five-decade crusade against the ruling Slorc (State Law and Order Restoration Council), has increased steadily since the Thai and Burmese governments reached an agreement on the passage of the natural gas pipeline through Mon territory, according to Phra Wongsa Pala, a Buddhist monk and chairman of the Mon National Relief Committee. Human Rights Watch/Asia reported in December last year that Thailand's treatment of Mon refugees falls far short of international standards. In 1994 Thailand forced more than 6,000 Mon refugees back into Burma who were subsequently attacked by the Burmese military. The report suggests mistreatment of refugees is almost certainly linked to economic and security concern about development projects in Burma, including the projects in Burma, including the proposed natural gas pipeline. Unocal, A US company, is one of the companies named in the report as being involved with the natural gas project. Harassment now includes daily and nightly police raids on Mon temples along the Burma-Thai border, and persecution of the sick and disabled, the reports said. In raids authorities arrest men, women and children, torture victims, war wounded, and seriously ill refugees, including those with UNHCR (United Nations High Commission for Refugees) recognition, a special status accorded by the UN to political refugees, the reports alleged. There are also threats to repatriate all ethnic Mon Buddhist monks back to Burma. Pressure is being placed on the little people, says Marryknoll Mission Association of the Faithful coordinator Vicki-Armour Hileman, of Davenport, Iowa. Hileman spent six years as a missionary in Asia including two years working with Mon refugees in Thailand. The Unocal pipeline, which the Burmese are trying to force through Mon territory, would mean an economic boon for Thailand. By rounding up the helpless, they hope to force the Mon into signing a peace accord and agreeing to the pipeline, Hileman said. The Mon who occupy the area that is largely virgin jungle, are strongly opposed to the pipeline which they say will destroy their habitat, exploit their labour, and directly benefit the Slorc financially. They have voiced their opposition in several letters to Unocal. Repeated raids are spreading panic among refugees, many of whom have been tortured in Burma and are terrified of arrest. In the last year, three have been seriously injured trying to avoid the police. During an April 19 raid, Maung Kyan, a severely handicapped ethnic Mon refugee in need of serious ongoing medical treatment, was arrested by Yan Nawa police and put into detention with his wife and two small children. Maung Kyan and his family all have UNHCR status, which in most countries assured protection until a safe return to their homeland is possible. Thailand however, is not a signatory of the UN Protocol. Maung Kyan, who lost his eyesight and both arms in a land mine explosion ten years ago, has recently had a cornea transplant and required daily medication and monitoring. The Mon National Relief Committee fears that without proper medical care and a clean environment, he could lose his eye. The US embassy, the UNHCR, and various refugee groups have expressed concern over maung Kyan's welfare, but have been unsuccessful in obtaining freedom for him and his family. The Mon National Relief Committee has asked the US State Department and concerned US groups to call for his release and an end to the harassment of Mon refugees. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: SLORC SENDS MUSLIM BUSINESSES OUT OF THE CITY INTO THE WILDERNESS 23 April 1995 Burma's Slorc has long exploited Muslims and ethnic minorities. Approaching Visit Myanmar Year 1996, the practice continues and minority groups, including hard-working businessmen, are being moved into remote areas in preparation for the influx of tourists. Ralph Bachoe reports. Since March 2, 1962 when the Burmese army wrested power from a democratically elected civilian government of the Union of Burma it had the cherished ambition of eradicating Muslims and ethnic minorities of Burma and has been carrying out its plans slowly but systematically. The Burmese Buddhist masses have never been prejudiced against Muslims, Christians, Hindus or any of the numerous ethnic minorities professing different faiths living in Burma. They are basically kind hearted and tolerant people and have always lived in harmony with their fellow citizens of different ethnic and religious backgrounds. But since the 1962 coup, non-Buddhists, and Muslims in particular, have been persecuted for their faith in the from of business and racial discrimination whether they be of the subcontinent or of Burmese origin. This, according to Muslim and other sources in Burma, has been going on for the past 33 years under military dictatorship. It's doesn't mean people belonging to other faiths have been spared the wrath of the xenophobic military rulers who have continued to use the religious factor to divide and rule as was once practiced by their colonial masters, the British. For instance, inside sources say, apart from Buddhist monasteries and pagodas, building of churches, mosques, Chinese temples and places of worship of other religions are banned in the satellite towns located outside Rangoon. The country has seen Burmese-Muslim and Burmese-Chinese riots instigated by the military to divert the attention of the populace from the true ills of the country caused by an inefficient military governance. The latest is the breakup of the Karen National Union where religion was again exploited to the hilt to the benefit of the Slorc (the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council). Muslim sources claim to this day that they are still bearing the brunt of Slorc's discriminatory practices destroying their from of livelihood and making life unbearable in the country, all in the name of national interest and general welfare of the populace. Recently Slorc issued notices to nearly 2,000 shopkeepers in Pabedan Township in the heart of Rangoon to wind up their businesses before the end of this month. They were reportedly ordered to move their shops to a township called Sawbwa Gyi Gone which is about 10 miles from rangoon-proper. Sawbwa Gyi Gone is located near the Mingaladon Airport where military personnel have been allotted plots of land at a token price. The newcomers could either purchase those plots of land at exorbitant prices or relocate to an undeveloped satellite township called Dagon. The area, also in the outskirts of Rangoon, lacks electricity and proper transport facilities. Pabedan Township is the biggest trade centre in Rangoon. Seventy per cent of the people staying in Pabedan are Muslims and 80 per cent of business is owned by them. This has always been a thorn in the side of the military junta, who despite their claim of now promoting private industry in the country, is still suspicious of non-Burman businessmen. The reason given by the Slorc for the relocation of the predominantly Muslim business community is that the area is an eyesore to tourists. The country is busy preparing to spruce up the appearance of Rangoon in time for the 1996 Visit Myanmar Year. The Muslim community claims otherwise. They say tourism is being used as a smoke screen to persecute Muslim businessmen. Pabedan Township stretches from China Street (now Shwe Dagon Pagoda Street) to Sule Pagoda Road. It has always been a wholesale and retail business centre with shops selling hardware machineries, tolls and implements, construction materials such as cement, roofing sheets, pipe and fittings, glass and aluminum frames. There are also a good number of small printing presses that churn out letterheads, visiting cards, brochures and receipt books for businessmen in the area and the city. However, not all of the Muslim businessmen have been ordered out of Pabedan Township. Sources say these are the people who have managed to bribe the Yangon (Rangoon) City Development Corporation in the form of a donation to various development projects. Some, though, have refused to play believing it to be a temporary respite before the whole community is evicted from their present location. The sources cited the case of Oaksu Ward in Tamwe Township, Rangoon Division, as an example of how a middle-class Muslim community was given the short end of the stick when the Slorc confiscated prime business locations and land at the beginning of last year. About 80 per cent of the 3,000 families residing there were Muslims, mostly petty traders, hawkers, skilled workers like electricians, plumbers, carpenters, masons and white collar employees of the private sector. Tamwe Township is about three miles from the city. It has good transport facilities, and because of the expansion of Rangoon it has now become the junction between Thuwanna, Okkalapa, Mingala Taungnyunt and Bahan townships where its residents could commute easily and quickly to any part of rangoon. The concentration of Muslims in one area, or any other group of people for that matter, has always worried the paranoid military regime for obvious security reasons of their own. And this little community at Oaksu Ward was no exception. Their land was nationalised and all its residents ejected to far off satellite towns where there are no proper facilities like transport, schools for their children, hospitals or electricity. The sources cited the case of what happened after the Slorc confiscated 13 acres of prime land from a prominent Muslim family in Rangoon. They say that not only the land was taken from the family, the theirs apparent were also arrested. They were later released after being threatened with imprisonment should they lay claim to the property. The confiscated land was later handed to a firm called Asian Express, of which it is believed Slorc members, or people with close connections with the military, have a stake interest in. Four years ago two other Muslim-dominated business centres were removed. One was Kyettan, a scrap-iron market, in Pazundaung township in the east of Rangoon. The market was well known as a source for obtaining scrap iron and parts for most machinery, including those for marine engines and electric generators. Most Muslim traders who own more than 80 per cent of about 1,000 shops at the busy and prosperous trading centre lived in nearby lower Pazundaung which is walking distance from their shops. Thus deprived of a place to trade these Muslim businessmen, which comprised of 75 per cent of the lower Pazundaung population, were forced to disperse to other areas to earn a living. Another well known and busting market called Than Zey, which deals specifically in automobile and other machinery spare parts, also suffered the same fate. The market was near the Myenigone Mosque in Myenigone township, and the majority of the traders were Muslims. The Muslims were thrown out of the area and part of the land was given to children of high-ranking military officers who built Rangoon's biggest department store the Yuzana. The remaining plots of land were distributed among building contractors upon condition they give free of charge a specific number of rooms after the building was constructed. These were then passed on to military officers and their families. Most businessmen in Burma complain that while Slorc propagates privatisation of trade and industries such oppressive measures directed in particular at ethnic and religious minorities is common practice in that country. They believe that no matter what the military government says about opening up the country to free trade, the stigma economic insurgents will always remain with the business community. Our advice to the foreign investors is: Be wary of Slorc's devious business practices. By any code of ethics is it justified to wipe out a group of business concerns to replace it with other, especially those which the military has a vested interest in? Like they are now drawing up a constitution to ensure perpetual rule of the country, it seems the junta is also determined to keep the major share of the nation's wealth in their hands. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- NATION: THAILAND SEALS BORDER STRETCH WITH BURMA 23 April 1995 The military has sealed off a 500-km stretch of the border with Burma to prove Thailand does not support any of the ethnic groups fighting the Rangoon government, a senior officer said yesterday. Maj Gen Pairoj Wannatrong announced the border closure as a spokesman for the Karen National Union (KNU) said he had reports that renegade Karen guerrillas had sneaked across the border and abducted five refugees from a camp in Tha Song Yang district of Tak province. Pairoj, a member of the Naresuan Task Force, said that the unit had closed all legal border crossings in the three provinces it patrols Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai and Mae Hong Son. Thai soldiers began closing the checkpoints in keeping with Thai government policy after members of the Muang Tai Army (MTA) of drug warlord Khun Sa attacked the Burmese border town of Tachilek on March 20, Pairoj said. Some of the fighting between the MTA and Burmese troops garrisoned at Tachilek spilled over onto the Thai side of the Mae Sai river, and some of the rebels crossed into Thailand in a bid to get behind the soldiers. Thai soldiers promptly disarmed the guerrillas and sent them back to Burma. Thai merchants along the border have protested the closure of the crossing points, saying most of their clients are Burmese and keeping them away is bad for business. (TN) BKK POST: BURMA CLASH SENDS 500 FLEEING INTO THAILAND 24 April 1995 A renewed clash between Burmese troops and opium warlord Khun Sa's personal army has forced some 500 refugees to cross to northern Thailand, Thai television said yesterday. The refugees, mostly ethnic Shans, Akha and Muser hill tribesmen, abandoned Pang Dao Tai village inn northeastern Burma and headed south for Thailand after Rangoon's attack against the Maung Tai Army (MTA) of Friday, Channel 7 said. The refugees took shelter at Mae Mo village in Mae Fa Luang sub-district of Chiang Rai province. The Burmese troops started attacking an MTA outpost on Pa Chang Mountain and moved north to Pang Kai Nua and Pang kai Tai villages, Channel 7 said without specifying how many troops were involved. The firefight took place six kilometres from the Burmese-Thai border and was clearly heard on the Thai side, it reported. Thai rangers attached to the 18th Ranger detachment from the Paik Thong Garrison were dispatched to fortify the border area and block a further influx of refugees. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: BURMESE REBELS DECLARE HOLY WAR AGAINST GOVT 24 April 1995 A Burmese Muslim rebel group will call for a jihad (holy war) against the military regime in Burma in retaliation against alleged atrocities committed against Muslim in Burma. Chairman of the All Burma Muslim Union (ABMU), Abdul Razak, did not elaborate on how his rebel group intends to launch the jihad, but said it could be done in the same manner as many Arab nationals who had volunteered to fight alongside the mujahideen fighters inn Afghanistan against the former Soviet Union. He said he would report the plight of Burmese Muslims at the hands of the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) to international Muslim organizations. Charging the Slorc with human rights abuses, he said Burmese troops had seized mosques near the Three-Pagoda Pass and turned them into military outposts. Muslims have been banned from gathering to perform religious activities, he added. Informed Muslim sources said several Arab volunteers and mujahideen (Muslim fighters) who had previously fought in Afghanistan were still in Pakistan and anxiously looking for a jihad (holy war) to help their Muslim brethren. some had travelled to the Philippines to join Muslim rebels from the Abu Sayyaf group in Mandanao, the sources added. The Islamist party in Pakistan, which is eager to join a holy war, is the Jamaat-e-Islami, sources said. The leader of another Muslim rebel group, Col Kyaw Hla, said he disagreed with the call for a jihad against the Slorc' Chairman of the Muslim Liberation organization of Burma said his group would concentrate on pushing for the improvement of human rights. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- BKK POST: INTRUDERS THREATEN TO ATTACK KAREN CAMP 24 April 1995 A bout 400 foreign troops claiming to be members of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) yesterday crossed the border into Thailand and threatened to attack a karen refugee camp within five days if the refugees do not return to Burma. Informed military sources told the Bangkok Post yesterday the heavily-armed intruders also warned a Thai para-military ranger unit posted to guard the refugee camp to move further inland or face attack. The brazen incursion by a large number of the pro-Rangoon renegade Karen Buddhist took place yesterday morning in Tha Son Yang District of Tak Province. The DKBA troopers who came from captureed Karen National Union (KNU) based at Nawta, Kawdae and Htee Kler Ki waded across the Moi River which separates Thailand from Burma and landed at Ban Mae Por and Ban Mae Lor. The renegade karens quickly set up road blocks on the Tha Son Yang-Mae Sariang highway leading to Ban Mae Por, Ban Mae Lor and Ban Mae Woei. According to the sources, the intruders took three Karens and six Thais of Karen-origin hostage and seized a pick-up truck heading toward the three villages. The leader of the intruders announced that they wanted KNU Forestry Minister Pado Aung Sann who has been taking refugee about 1,500 Karen refugees at Ban Mae Woei refugee camp to return to Burma and to cooperate with the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) regime. The minister and the refugees were given five days to decide, failing which their camp would be attacked, said the sources, adding that the renegade Karens also threatened Mij Puvodol Kamsom, commander of a ranger company, to pull his 30 troopers away from the refugee camp otherwise they, too, would come under attack. (BP) -------------------------------------------------------------- AP: INTERNET USED IN FIGHT FOR FREEDOM Associated Press by Grant Peck-AP News (23 April 1995) BANGKOK, Thailand - In the jungles of Eastern Burma, opponents of the country's military junta find themselves outmanned and outgunned. But in cyberspace, the realm of the Internet, the rebels have computer technology on their side. "The Burmese regime has gotten away with so much because they control the information," said "Strider," the pseudonymous moderator of the BurmaNet electronic mailing list. "They can't do that anymore." Armed with computers, modems and Internet accounts, hundreds of social and political activists around the globe are waging propaganda wars on the authoritarian regimes of Asia. Groups elsewhere are also active, such as Palestinians opposed to Israel and Saudis opposed to King Fahd. The voices of Asian dissension circulate via electronic mailing lists, which deliver messages to subscribers quicker and more often than printed publications. The information also is distributed through Usenet electronic forums that most internet users can check at will. Recently, activists have started electronically archiving their information so it can be read using Internet search tools such as "gopher" and the World Wide Web. Because closed societies usually lack the latest technological tools, exiles, expatriates and foreign friends are manning most of the electronic front lines. But more locals are becoming involved - both as pushers of their causes on the Internet and recipients of hitherto unavailable information. Strider's BurmaNet mailing list, begun last year, tilts at the military junta that seized power in Rangoon in 1988 and exhibits little inclination to restore democracy. On a more-or-less daily basis, BurmaNet's 250 direct subscribers in 15 countries - and several thousand people who recieve its reports via Usenet news groups - can read Strider's dispatches culled from Bangkok newspapers, communiques from rebel groups and on-the-spot reporting. BurmaNet's reports are also smuggled on diskettes into Burma where they are printed out and distributed clandestinely. There are no connections to the Internet inside Burma. While Communist die-hard North Korea is still off the screen, Internet connections in China and Vietnam have expanded recently in tacit concession to the realities of doing business in the modern world. China opened its first Internet link just two years ago, and now perhaps a dozen sites are connected. Plans for a domestic educational network, to connect 100 universities in 10 cities by 1996, will extend the links considerably. China's phone company announced April 12 it will begin processing applications for Internet connections in May. Robin Munro, Hong Kong director of the New York-based group Human Rights Watch-Asia, does not think dissidents inside China make wide use of the Internet. But it is conceivable that "some brave souls log on from time to time," she said. In Vietnam, a shoestring e-mail operation, Vietnam Academic Research and Educational Network, has been joined by a second service, Netnam, "funded by foreign aid money and geared towards international companies," according to the Hanoi newspaper Vietnam Investment Review. "The Chinese and others want Internet because it is such a valuable business tool," Strider said. "But if they open up to business they cannot keep out news." INTERNET ACTIVIST GROUPS Information on computer mailing lists operated by Asian democracy activists is available at following e-mail addresses: BurmaNet: strider@igc.apc.org Usenet news groups in Internet: soc.culture.burma -------------------------------------------------------------- BURMANEWS-L MAILING LIST IS ON-LINE April 24, 1995 Dear burmanet-l subscribers, The news-only version of the BurmaNet mailing list is now operational. BURMANEWS-L is essentially the same as the current BURMANET-L except that it is a moderated, news only list (no discussion and no one except BurmaNet can post to it). WHAT YOUR OPTIONS ARE: BURMANEWS-L A moderated mailing list carrying news about [news only] Burma. If you think something should be posted to BURMANEWS-L, please email it to: strider@igc.apc.org BURMANET-L An open mailing list carrying news and some [news+discussion] discussion about Burma. To post to BURMANET-L, send a message to: reg.burma@conf.igc.apc.org HOW TO SUBSCRIBE/UNSUBSCRIBE: All requests for subscription and unsubscription should be addressed to: majordomo@igc.apc.org The text of the message should contain either the subscription or unsubscription command, and the name of the appropriate mailing list. Majordomo will recognize any of the following four commands: subscribe burmanet-l subscribe burmanews-l unsubscribe burmanet-l unsubscribe burmanews-l Note: It would make absolutely no sense to subscribe to both lists. One further reminder--majordomo is a machine and has not an ounce of imagination or flexibility. It will not understand "please unsubscribe," nor can it deal with typos or spelling errors. If you send it a message with anything but the commands above spelled exactly as above, it will bounce your message back with a note that essentially says: "does not compute." If you have difficulties in subscribing or unsubscribing, please contact BurmaNet at: burmanet@igc.apc.org -------------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST BurmaNet regularly receives enquiries on a number of different topics related to Burma. The scope of the subjects involved is simply too broad for any one person to cover. BurmaNet is therefore organizing a number of volunteer coordinators to field questions on various subjects. If you If you have questions on any of the following subjects, please direct email to the following coordinators, who will either answer your question or try to put you in contact with someone who can: Arakan/Rohingya/Burma- [volunteer needed] Bangladesh border Art/archaeology/: [volunteer needed] Campus activism: tlandon@u.washington.edu Boycott campaigns: tlandon@u.washington.edu Buddhism: Buddhist Relief Mission, c/o NBH03114@niftyserve.or.jp Fonts: [volunteer needed] History: [volunteer needed] Kachin history/culture: 74750.1267@compuserve.com Karen history/culture: [volunteer needed] Mon history/culture: [volunteer needed] Naga history/culture [volunteer needed] [Burma-India border] Pali literature "Palmleaf", c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org Shan history/culture: [volunteer needed] Tourism campaigns: bagp@gn.apc.org "Attn. S. Sutcliffe" World Wide Web: FreeBurma@POBox.com Volunteering: "Volunteer coordinator", c/o burmanet@igc.apc.org -------------------------------------------------------------- Information about Burma is available via the WorldWideWeb at: BurmaNet News webpage: http://taygate.au.ac.th/web/michael/bnn/bnn.htm BurmaWeb http://www.uio.no/tormodl FreeBurma website http://199.172.178.200/freebrma/freebrma.htm. [including back issues of the BurmaNet News as .txt files] -------------------------------------------------------------- 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