-------------------------- BurmaNet -------------------------- "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" -------------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: 30 APRIL 1995, Sunday Issue #161 NOTED IN PASSING: More recently it was decided by those who plot Thai strategy that Thai-Burmese relations would be better enhanced by engaging Burma economically. And Thai military leaders quickly became some of the most ardent advocates of the policy in both their professional roles as soldiers and in their private lives as businessmen. In pursuance of this policy, refugee camps, with their links to the ethnic resistance groups became an enemy of sorts. Their continued existence was living proof that all was not well in Burma... The Nation, o------------------------------------------------------------o BURMANET: KHWAY KA LOKE CAMP THREATENED, REFUGEES FLEE REUTERS: THAIS THREATEN BURMA OVER REFUGEE ATTACKS THE NATION: PM ORDERS ARMY TO PURSUE INTRUDERS NATION: THAILAND THREATENS 'RETALIATORY ACTION' NATION: TIME TO GET TOUGH WITH BURMESE BORDER INCURSIONS KYO-USA: REGARDING SLORC INCURSIONS INTO THAILAND REUTERS: BURMA'S KAREN REBELS SAY THEIR PEACE MOVE FAILS BURMANET: LETTER--"DR. CYNTHIA'S SAFE?" CENTRE DAILY TIMES: PENN STATE STUDENTS WANT PEPSICO OUT OF BURMA HIID: HARVARD FORUM ON US BURMA POLICY SCB: FIRE DESTROYS 700 HOMES IN BURMA o------------------------------------------------------------o 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.Fearoflosin | well as original material | gpowercorrupts | are published. | thosewhowielditand | The BurmaNet News is | fearofthescourgeofpowe | e-mailed directly to | rcorruptsthosewhoaresub | subscribers and is | jecttoit.Theeffortnecess | also distributed via | arytoremainuncorruptedinan | the soc.culture.burma | environmentwherefearisanint | and seasia-l mailing | egralpartisnotimmediat | lists and is also | elyapparanttothose | available via the | fortunateenough | reg.burma conference on | toliveinstates | the APC networks. For a | governedbythe | free subscription to | ruleoflaw... | the BurmaNet News, send | Fearisahabi | an e-mail message to: | t.Iam | | no | majordomo@igc.apc.org | taf | | ra | In the body of the message, | id. | type: subscribe burmanews-l | Aun | [news only mailing list], | gSa | or, for the news+discussion | nS | list, type: | uu | subscribe burmanet-l | Ky | | i. | Correspondance and letters o-------------------------------o to the editor should be addressed to: strider@igc.apc.org o------------------------------------------------------------o BURMANET: KHWAY KA LOKE CAMP THREATENED, REFUGEES FLEE BurmaNet has a report that at least refugees from Khway Ka Loke village near Mae Sot are fleeing the camp because of a threat from SLORC/DKBA forces to burn the camp today. According to the report, the refugees are hiding deeper inside Thailand. Another report indicates that two elderly female Karen refugees were seriously injured in a mine explosion near Morkel [possibly Mawker?] camp opposite Um Phum. Khway Ka Loke is home to several thousand refugees and at least one foreign volunteer English teacher. The camp is situated three kilometers from the former Karen military base at Kawmoora, which was recently overrun after an artillary bombardment using phosphorus and some kind of (probably legal) chemical weapon. o------------------------------------------------------------o REUTERS: THAIS THREATEN BURMA OVER REFUGEE ATTACKS Keywords: urgent ACategory: international BANGKOK, April 29 (Reuter) - Thailand has warned Burma of tough retaliation against troops it alleges are attacking Karen refugee camps in Thailand, but said there was no need for a United Nations presence along the troubled border. In a stern letter to Burma's military government, Thailand said it would no longer tolerate territorial violations that it said had been increasing over the past four months. ``The royal Thai government will no longer tolerate any such acts of infringement and will take appropriate retaliatory action in the strongest form to safeguard Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity,'' said the letter, a copy of which was obtained by Reuters on Saturday. The letter was delivered to the Burmese Embassy in Bangkok on Friday and another copy was handed directly to Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) in Rangoon, the Thai Foreign Ministry said. The warning came after a series of incursions and attacks on Karen refugee camps strung out along a 170 km (110 mile) stretch on the Thai side of the frontier. Thailand has blamed Burmese troops and members of a Karen guerrilla splinter faction allied to Burmese government forces for the attacks. At least one woman refugee was burned to death on Friday as the raiders attacked and torched hundreds of houses in at least two separate attacks on camps in northwestern Thailand. The raiders have forced hundreds of refugees, including women and children, back across a border river into Burma, relief workers said. Security officers on the border say the raiders are combined forces of Burmese soldiers and members of the Karen splinter faction, which broke away from the Karen National Union (KNU) guerrilla group late last year. Many of the 74,000 Karen refugees in the Thai camps are supporters of the KNU, driven from their homes by Burmese army offensives against the autonomy-seeking guerrillas, or family of KNU officials and fighters. Relief workers and KNU sources say the raids are aimed at cutting the KNU off from its civilian support base by either forcing the refugees back to government-controlled parts of Burma or by pushing them off the border and deeper into Thailand. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on Friday expressed concern about the situation and said it was asking Thailand for access to the camps. Thailand does not classify the Karen as refugees but as temporarily displaced people and the UNHCR has only limited access to the camps. The secretary-general of the Thai National Security Council, Charan Kullavanijaya, told reporters late on Friday that there was no need for the UNHCR to have a presence in the camps. ``I have received repeated requests from the UNHCR for access but for the moment we don't need the UNHCR to go into the camps. We can still handle the situation,'' he said. The UNHCR also suggested moving the refugees to new camps further away from the border, something which Thai government and army leaders also say should be done. Security forces in northwestern Thailand on Saturday said according to early reports there were no major incidents on Friday night. Hundreds of Thai troops, border patrol policemen and defence volunteers, supported by helicopter gunships and armoured personnel carriers, have moved in to guard the 23 Karen refugee camps. THE NATION: PM ORDERS ARMY TO PURSUE INTRUDERS 29.4.95/THE NATION MAE SOT - The Army has been given the green light for " hot pursuit " operations after an estimated 1,000 armed Karen and Burmese intruders blatantly ignored all warnings and rampaged through five more Karen border camps in Tak province Yesterday. The intruders opened fire on a Thai border patrol , took a border policemen prisoner , burnt down camp buildings and a Thai sentry post and seriously injured a number of refugees. Prime Minister Chun Leekpai described the assault as " a blatant violation of Thai sovereignty " and said he had ordered the Army to take " drastic action " . The new series of attacks , which began in the early morning , sent tens of thousands of Karen refugees fleeing into the surrounding countryside in fear of their lives. The raids took place only three days after armed Karen intruders burned two camps in Tak and Mae Hong Song provinces early on Tuesday . Relief workers described the situation yesterday as " extremely chaotic" and " out of control". The attacks came only one day after Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai gave a stern warning to the Burmese government and Burmese and Karen intruders that Thai forces would retaliate harshly if they continued to violate the country's sovereignty. Chuan yesterday met Army Commander -in-Chief Gen Wimol Wongwanich and said he had ordered him to take strong military action against any future intruders, including hot pursuit of fleeing forces. Local authorities , Karen and aid workers said separate groups of 150-200 gunmen invaded the five camps - Baw Naw [ a section of Maetamaw camp]. Shoklo, Klerkho, Kamawlaykho and Mae La . All the camps are in Tha Song Yang district and 160-180 kilometres north of Mae Sot . Baw Naw was attacked about 7 am and then Shoklo about 10 am , sending 7,000 refugees fleeing in all directions. Separate groups of armed intruders then hit Klerkho, which housed 3-4,000 refugees, Kamalaykho, and Mae La. They said the frightened refugees had scattered all over the rugged border area. Reports said many of the refugees were " forced at gun point " to cross back into Burma. At Baw Naw , the camp which was worst hit, about 150 armed men, supported by heavy mortar shelling , crossed the Moei River and set about 800 houses ablaze. About 20 Thai Border Patrol Police from Task Force 34 in Mae Sot , supported by a v-150 armoured personnel carrier, were sent to the scene . They clashed briefly with the intruders but were outnumbered and retreated . Pol Lt Col Dharmmavudh Gadsrinuch, chief of 344th Border Patrol Police unit in Tha Song Yang, said his men were unable to defend the camp as they were outnumbered in terms of manpower and military equipment. He said Sgt Thawat Janond had been taken captive and taken across the border into Burma . The missing man's where abouts and condition were unknown at press time. Dharmmavudh said one Karen woman, Kamoephaw, was killed by mortar shrapnel, and four others wounded including a young girl. Task Force 34 responded to the assault on Baw Naw and on the border patrol by deploying more troops, heavy artillery and equipment to the area. The retreating Karen and Burmese forces fired several rocket propelled grenades and M 79 rockets from inside Burma at a Thai L-19 reconnaissance plane . The APC was also fired upon and damaged . Dharmmavudh said the intruders stole an M-16 rifle , two 11 mm pistols, two walkie-talkies, a pair of binoculars and other equipment from a sentry box before setting it on fire . The sudden raid on Baw Naw not only scared about 70,000 Karen refugees who have been living for the past several months in constant fear of violent harassment by the renegade forces of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army [DKBA] and the Burmese army, it also shocked senior Thai military and government authorities in Bangkok and in Tak . Chuan said he had instructed Army Commander- in- Chief Wimol to ensure the refugees' safety and to prevent further incursions into Thailand. The premier said he believed the best way to control the situation was to relocate all the refugees deeper inside Thailand so that the intruders could not go after them . Wimol yesterday addressed a monthly meeting of senior officers from to retaliate with military force in the event of further territorial violations. He said that if necessary they were to " pursue the foreign forces according to the situation". It is the first time the armed forces have been given the green light to pursue the DKBA and Burmese troops, who have been violating the 300 km long stretch of border from Tak to Mae Hong Song since December. Wimol ordered 3rd Army Region Commander Lt Gen Surachet Dechatiwong. who is responsible for the northern provinces, to reinforce the western border in preparation for military action. He was also to cooperate with the Interior Ministry in reassembling all the refugees at one site for their own protection. Surachet was told to take " assertive measures " to prevent a recurrence of yesterday's raids. Army spokesman Col Phalangkul Klanarn said a Thai Army delegation led by Surachet had raised the issue of intrusions by DKBA forces during the just -ended meeting of the Thai- Burmese Regional Border Committee. o------------------------------------------------------------o NATION: THAILAND THREATENS ' RETALIATORY ACTION' 29.4.95/THE NATION Thailand has officially warned Burma that it will no longer tolerate any infringement on its territory by the Burmese and will take appropriate " retaliatory action" in a letter submitted to Rangoon yesterday. Foreign Ministry Spokesman Suvidhya Simasakul yesterday said Thailand called the repeated incursions on Thai territory and subsequent burning of refugee camps in border provinces " unacceptable" and " deplorable" crimes. " Such activities are unacceptable and deplorable as they are crimes against innocent people seeking safety for their lives from the armed fighting across the border ," Suvidhya quoted the document as saying . The Foreign Ministry sent officials to deliver the letter to the Burmese Embassy because Burmese Ambassador U Tin Win was unable to pick up the document himself from the ministry . Concurrently, Thai Ambassador to Rangoon Poksak Nilubol was assigned to submit the letter of protest directly to the Rangoon government, Suvidhya said. The letter stated that a series of crimes violating Thailand's security and integrity have been committed by Burmese, and referred to incidents on April 19,23,24,and 25. " In view of the increasing violations of Thailand's sovereignty in various forms over the past four months, the Royal Thai government will no linger tolerate any such acts of infringement and will take appropriate retaliatory action in the strongest form to safeguard Thailand's sovereignty and territorial integrity, " Suvidhya read from the letter . The government requested Rangoon to take necessary measures to prevent similar incidents from recurring in the near future . In Geneva, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees [UNHCR] expressed concern yesterday about reports that armed men had crossed from Burma into Thailand and abducted " hundreds" of Karen refugees. The agency said it had yet to receive a government reply. o------------------------------------------------------------o NATION: TIME TO GET TOUGH WITH BURMESE BORDER INCURSIONS 29.4.95/THE NATION With justifiable , if belated anger , the government has demanded that Rangoon explain repeated violations of Thai territory by a marauding group of ethnic guerrillas which is sponsored by the Burmese military . Branding the border incursions " a violation of Thai sovereignty", Deputy Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan has called on Rangoon to give Bangkok an assurance they would not happen again. While it waits for a response from the junta, the government might do well to ask the Thai military some equally tough questions about the attacks on refugee camps which are well inside Thai territory . Repeated crossings Since the fall of the Karen National Union bases at Manerplaw and Kawmoora in December and February , the Burmese and their Karen allies , the DKBA, have repeatedly crossed into Thailand to attack and kidnap Karens who have taken refuge from fighting across the river border . According to reports from aid workers the raids have picked up in intensity since April 19 to the extent that they have almost become daily occurrences . Thailand's generals have expressed their " extreme fury " at these frequent violations of the border but at the same time they seem powerless to stop them . What is most alarming about the attacks is that they are not just mere across the river hit-and-run sorties. Tuesday's attack involved a group of around 200 Burmese and DKBA troops who crossed into Thailand from the north , and attacked Mae Ra Ma Luang camp in Mae Sam Lab district . Unlike the other camps which are close to the river, this is a new camp five and half kilometres inside Thai territory . The army has claimed that since the attacks take place at night there is little they can do to prevent them. Again this not the country. The target of the Burmese operations are well known the refugee camps - and the border area , with its long history of fighting is one of the most heavily manned pieces of land in Thailand. Most Thai citizens , who pay a large sum in taxes to ensure the upkeep of the military , couldn't be faulted for expecting their soldiers to perform a little more effectively. Of course , it is not fair to heap all the blame on the military for the problems along the border . Trying to read Thailand's foreign policy in regards to Burma has never been easy given the hundreds of years of suspicion if not outright hostility between the two countries .Historically, the Karens have been regarded as a useful buffer between Thailand and Burma . But now we have Karens fighting Karens, Karens allying with the Burmese and Karens looking to make peace with the Burmese. More recently it was decided by those who plot Thai strategy that Thai-Burmese relations would be better enhanced by engaging Burma economically . And Thai military leaders quickly became some of the most ardent advocates of the policy in both their professional roles as soldiers and in their private lives as businessmen . In pursuance of this policy, refugee camps, with their links to the ethnic resistance groups became an enemy of sorts. Their continued existence was living proof that all was not well in Burma , and then there was also their role as an impediment to the steam-rolling of the resistance groups in east Burmese border areas . Areas which needed to be pacified if mutually beneficial projects like the Tavoy gas line were to go through. But getting rid of the refugees has proved to be a better idea in theory than in practice . The Thai military's efforts earlier this year to force refugees across the border while a full scale war was raging drew an enormous amount of bad press and international condemnation. For the thick skinned military junta in Rangoon , international condemnation has never really been much of a factor in policy making. Neither really has concern for the feelings of its neighbours remember Hill 491 and the Arakan border flare up. Now Burmese soldiers and their allies are rampaging through Thai territory in pursuit of their goal to crush all resistance to their rule . The Rangoon junta has never been one for civil or principle arguments , although it well understands the power of the gun. When civil or principled arguments although it well understands the power of the gun. When Cambodia's warring groups have taken their scraps into Thai territory the Thai army has been quick to keep them in line with a few strategically placed shells. It would appear come similar principled resolve is needed to reinforce the western frontier and Thai foreign policy as well. o------------------------------------------------------------o KYO-USA: REGARDING SLORC INCURSIONS INTO THAILAND The Karen Youth Organization of the United States of America (KYO-USA) is deeply concerned with the increasing human rights violations which are being carried o ut by the SLORC army and its allies. The KYO-USA views the current situations with alarm and concern. The following are some present incursions carried out by SLORC troopers. Gray Hta Refugee Camp, Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province: On the evening of April 18th, the SLORC troopers and their allies enter ed Gray Hta from the northern ridge of the surrounding hills, firing into the camp. The camp is largely deserted now and the remaining residents are in the process of moving out. Mae Lor Hta Refugee Camp, Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province: A force of 300-400 SLORC troopers crossed the Moei river on Sunday, Apr il 23rd, attacking Mae Lor Hta and Mae Woei refugee camp. On their way back, fighting e nsued at Mae Woei Klo with reports of one SLORC soldier killed and two refugees wounded or killed. Mae La Ma Luang Refugee Camp, Bob Moei District, Mae Hong Song Province: On the 25th of April at 3:00 PM local time, between 200-250 SLORC troop ers entered the northernmost section of Mae La Ma Luang (Mae Ra Ma Klo) refugee camp. This camp is approximately ten kilometers inside Thailand. Seven refugees including one female were seriously injured by these attackers. After burning refugee camp, the intruders reportedly abducted a number of refugees including women and children to act as "human shields" to protect them on their return march to Burma. Kamaw Lay Kho Refugee Camp, Tha Song Yang District, Tak Province: On the night of April 25th, more than 50 SLORC troops entered Kamaw Lay Kho and burned down approximately 200 houses and one thousand sacks of rice stocks in t he refugee camp. Hundreds of refugees were abducted and taken across the border. The remaining refugees are said to have fled into the surrounding countryside. The United States and the United Nations security council must act to protect these refugee camps. The strongest possible protest must be lodged against Burma. We also request the Thai government to reexamine its border security policies. If the incursions and attacks directed against the refugees continue, the hostility and conflict will spill into Thail and. This will result in the lost of more lives including Thai nationals. April 26, 1995 Karen Youth Organization-United States of America P.O Box 608 Bakersfield CA 93302-608 USA. Tel./Fax (805) 397-9242 o------------------------------------------------------------o o------------------------------------------------------------o REUTERS: BURMA'S KAREN REBELS SAY THEIR PEACE MOVE FAILS By Somchit Rungchamratrasmi MAE SOT, Thailand, April 28 (Reuter) - A senior commander of Burma's Karen National Union (KNU) rebels said peace overtures to the country's military government had failed and set a May 5 deadline for a resumption of offensive operations. The KNU, one of the world's oldest rebel groups, declared a unilateral suspension of attacks on March 24 and said it was ready to begin peace talks with the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC). But SLORC responded by making approaches through intermediaries to individual zone commanders, not to the KNU leadership, in what the guerrillas said was a clear attempt to split the organisation. "The KNU has set May 5 as the deadline to resume fighting if the SLORC fails to contact us by then," senior guerrilla commander Major General Thaw Hla told Reuters in an interview late on Thursday. "The peace overture seems to have failed since the SLORC chooses to use a divide and rule policy towards us," he said on the border south of the northwest Thai town of Mae Sot. The KNU has been fighting Burma's central government for greater autonomy since 1949. Moves to open peace talks started last year after the guerrillas dropped several pre-conditions, but the process became bogged down over a locaton for the negotiations. SLORC then launched an offensive against the guerrillas and captured their headquarters at Manerplaw in southeastern Burma at the end of January and their last major base at Kawmoora a month later. The military government has reached ceasefire agreements with 14 guerrilla groups, including the powerful Kachin rebel army from northern Burma and the fragmented remnants of the Burmese Communist Party. The KNU, the strongest guerrilla force still opposing the SLORC, was rocked by a mutiny last December when several hundred of Buddhists mutinied against the predominantly Christian leadership and joined forces with the SLORC army. The mutineers formed their own Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which has since been accused of joining Burmese troops in attacks on Karen refugee camps in Thailand. Burmese troops and DKBA members crossed the border and torched 300 buildings in one refugee camp on the Thai side on Tuesday night, the most serious incident in a recent upsurge of attacks on the 70,000 Karen civilians in camps in Thailand. On Friday one Thai border patrol policeman was wounded in a clash with intruders from Burma, a border police officer said. Angry Thai leaders have demanded that Burma explain the "unacceptable" incursions and ensure they were stopped. Burma has denied its soldiers were involved in the cross-border raids, saying the incursions were the responsibility of the DKBA. o------------------------------------------------------------o BURMANET: LETTER--DR. CYNTHIA'S SAFE? I've been reading the stuff on the net about the border situation and it's sounding a little hairy. The reason I'm concerned is that I contacted Dr. Cynthia over a year ago to do some volunteering at her clinic in Mae Sot this summer. As much as I want to do the medical volunteering, I'm not too enchanted with the idea with some half-wit with a gun using me for target practice. What have you or your correspondents heard about the situation for health care workers in the area? Regards, [Name withheld] Editor's reply: There is no simple answer to your question because it depends on how you define "safe." With camps up and down the border burning, it's an area one would be hard pressed to call safe. That said, it isn't as risky as you might think. That border is the last place you'd want to be if you were a Karen and even the Thailand is realizing that it isn't safe to live next to a Burma governed SLORC. But as a foreigner, you are protected by the color of your skin and your passport. The Burmese army has shown itself extremely reluctant to harm anyone but their own people and the occasional Thai. As for the Thais, they are, Gen. Charan and a few others excepted, a civilized people with a relatively benign government. You'll be at no risk from that quarter. Given that you have a skill which is much needed over here, please don't let the current situation deter your travel plans. As long as you don't venture too far from the clinic, which is after all, in Mae Sot and not some remote camp, you are unlikely to encounter any great danger. o------------------------------------------------------------o HIID: HARVARD FORUM ON US BURMA POLICY Forum: "Should the U.S. Have a Diplomatic Roadmap for Burma?" Monday, May 1, 1995 6:00 P.M. Institute of Politics/JFK School of Government/Harvard University 79 JFK Street Cambridge, MA USA Co-sponsored by the Indo-China Program, Harvard Institute for International Development Speakers: David Dapice Professor of Economics, Tufts U. Mimi Myint-Hpu Humanitarian Activist Nay Htun Asst. Sec. Gen., U.N.; Asst. Administrator and Regional Director, Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, UNDP William Richardson U.S. Congress (D-NM) Thomas Vallely Director, Indo-China Program, Harvard Institute for International Development Graham Allison (Moderator) Director, Center for Science and International Affairs; Director, Strengthening Democratic Institutions Project, JFK School of Government For information call (617) 495-1380 o------------------------------------------------------------o CENTRE DAILY TIMES: PENN STATE STUDENTS WANT PEPSICO OUT OF BURMA By Scott Andron, Centre Daily Times, State College, Pa. Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa.--Apr. 27--A group of Penn State students is asking the university administration to stand behind human rights organizations that want Pepsico Inc. to stop doing business in Myanmar, the southeast Asian country formerly known as Burma. Pepsico shareholders are scheduled to discuss the Myanmar issue at their annual meeting next week, and the students note that Penn State is a Pepsico shareholder as well as a customer. The students, calling themselves the Penn State Coalition for a Democratic Burma, will demonstrate at noon today in front of Old Main. "What we really would like is for Penn State to take a stand encouraging Pepsico to divest in Burma, since the university is such a large consumer of Pepsi products," said Rolla Chaung, a graduate student in civil engineering and one of the protest's organizers. The university has a contract with Pepsico, giving the company monopolies on campus soft-drink sales and advertising, and owns a small amount of stock in the company. Pepsico shareholders will meet on Wednesday at the company's headquarters in Purchase, N.Y. On the agenda is a resolution submitted by some of the shareholders calling for company management to consider human-rights violations when deciding in which countries to invest. Human rights abuses in Myanmar were one of the reasons the resolution was created, the authors of the resolution said. Myanmar is governed by a military dictatorship, which human rights groups and press accounts have frequently accused of human-rights abuses. The military government was voted out of office in free elections in 1990, but the regime refused to relinquish its power. Human rights groups say the government killed thousands of people who protested its refusal to step down. The government also jailed the winner of the elections, Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1991. Several U.S. companies, including Eddie Bauer and Levi Strauss, have stopped doing business in the country because of its human-rights record. But Pepsico spokeswoman Elaine Franklin said her company believes in being firmly nonpolitical. Pepsico's board of directors is recommending that shareholders vote against next week's resolution. "We do not agree with the actions of governments of every place we operate," the board said in a printed statement to shareholders. "However, due to the long-term nature of Pepsico's businesses and the inevitability of political and social change, we long ago concluded that it is neither prudent nor appropriate for us to establish our own country-by-country foreign policy." Penn State's roughly $1 billion in investments include about $43,000 worth of Pepsico stock, chief university spokesman Roger Williams said. Administrators have looked into the students' concerns about Myanmar "at some length," talking with faculty experts and U.S. State Department officials, Williams said. "The conclusion we reached at that point was that probably it would do more harm than good to the people of Myanmar if Pepsico were to withdraw from operations in that country," he said. "That's not to say we're not in any way resistant to reassessing the situation and learning more." Williams also said it is his understanding that Pepsico is actually competing with the Mynamarese government for soft-drink sales. Pepsico's Franklin said her company is the first private soft-drink maker to open up shop in Myanmar. Pepsico shares joint ownership of a bottling plant with a Myanmarese businessman, she said. Before Pepsico arrived, the government held a monopoly on soft-drink sales, she said. "In fact we're in competition with the Burmese Government," she said. "We're taking money out of the government's pocket." Penn State's contract with Pepsico will generate $14 million for the university over 10 years. Of that, $8 million is "new" revenue, and of that, 6 million will go toward the Bryce Jordan Center, a basketball arena under construction near Beaver Stadium. The remaining money will be divided among the university libraries and other programs. This week isn't the first time soft drinks, big business and international politics have mixed to form controversy at Penn State. In 1987, following repeated student protests, Penn State's Board of Trustees banned administrators from investing university money in companies that do business in South Africa. The Coca-Cola Company was mentioned frequently during the controversy, but the trustees' policy didn't affect Coke because the company didn't do business directly in South Africa, instead licensing and distributing its products through companies there. Ethical quandaries such as those in Myanmar and South Africa are becoming increasingly common, said Philip Cochran, a Penn State professor of business administration who teaches business ethics. Cochran said if he were a consultant in this kind of situation, he would probably advise his client to pull out of the offending country, for ethical and public relations reasons. But he said he can see both sides of the issue. During the South African controversy, he even spoke to an executive with one of the largest banks in the United States who believed that both the carrot of American investment and the stick of human rights pressure were helpful. "He thought they were helping by staying in, but he thought the protests were also helping," Cochran recalls. "It's an incredibly difficult issue for business." o------------------------------------------------------------o SCB: FIRE DESTROYS 700 HOMES IN BURMA moe@ori.u-tokyo.ac.jp soc.culture.burma 12:37 AM Apr 29, 1995 Content-type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit FIRE DESTROYS 700 HOMES IN BURMA Rangoon, Burma-- A huge fire gutted more than 700 houses in the city of Pegu, 50 miles north of Rangoon, state broadcasting reported Friday. No casualties were reported. The fire, fanned by strong winds, spread quickly and destroyed 745 homes. The city, also known as Bago, was the capital of Burma in the 16th century. (Excerpts from the Nando Times World Reports, April 28, Friday.) o------------------------------------------------------------o INFORMATION ABOUT BURMA VIA THE WEB: Information about Burma is available via the WorldWideWeb at: FreeBurmaWWW http://199.172.178.200/freebrma/freebrma.htm. [including back issues of the BurmaNet News as .txt files] BurmaWeb: http://www.uio.no/tormodl Burma fonts: http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~lka/burmese-fonts/moe.html Ethnologue Database(Myanmar): http://www-ala.doc.ic.ac.uk/~rap/Ethnologue/eth.cgi/Myanmar BurmaNet News (most recent issue only): http://taygate.au.ac.th/web/michael/bnn/bnn.htm o------------------------------------------------------------o CONTACTING BURMANET BY SNAILMAIL, FAX OR PHONE: 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 NCGUB email: ncgub@igc.apc.org 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 Burma Issues email: durham@mozart.inet.co.th 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. -------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS SOURCES REGULARLY COVERED/ABBREVIATIONS USED BY BURMANET: -------------------------------------------------------------- ABSDF-DNA: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT [DR. NAING AUNG] ABSDF-MTZ: ALL BURMA STUDENT'S DEMOCRATIC FRONT [MOE THEE ZUN] 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 o------------------------------------------------------------o