------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: October 19, 1995 Issue #255 Noted in Passing: I think the dialogue is not terminated now. It is still waiting for another opportunity to come up. - Yozo Yokota, the UN rapporteur on human rights in Burma. (quoted in: BKK POST: UN OFFICIAL EXPECTS MORE TALKS IN BURMA) HEADLINES: ========== FEER: KHUN SA, DRUGS AND THE CHINESE CONNECTION THE NATION: ETHNIC MON GROUP ASKS FOR THAI HELP THE NATION: KHUN SA'S MEN CAPTURE THREE WA VILLAGES BKK POST: UN OFFICIAL EXPECTS MORE TALKS IN BURMA BKK POST: INDIAN BUSINESSMEN SEE BURMA AS NEW INVESTMENT ANNOUNCEMENT: BURMA SUPPORT GROUP NYC MEETING ANNOUNCEMENT: TWILIGHT OVER BURMA ---------------------------------------------------------- Produced with the support of the Burma Information Group (B.I.G) and the Research Department of the ABSDF {MTZ} The BurmaNet News is an electronic newspaper covering Burma. Articles from newspapers, magazines, newsletters, the wire services and the Internet as well as original material are published. The BurmaNet News is e-mailed directly to subscribers and is also distributed via the soc.culture.burma and seasia-l mailing lists and is also available via the reg.burma conference on the APC networks. 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Look under the International Political Economy section, then select Geographic Archive, then Asia, then Burma. ---------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET SUBJECT-MATTER RESOURCE LIST BurmaNet regularly receives enquiries on a number of different topics related to Burma. If you have questions on any of the following subjects, please direct email to the following volunteer coordinators, who will either answer your question or try to put you in contact with someone who can: Arakan/Rohingya/Burma- Michael W. 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S.Sutcliffe" World Wide Web: FreeBurma@POBox.com Volunteering: christin@ksc.net.th [Feel free to suggest more areas of coverage] ************************ FEER: KHUN SA, DRUGS AND THE CHINESE CONNECTION October 19, 1995 By Bertil Lintner in Chiang Mai From: brelief@gol.com (Ken and Visakha Kawasaki) Drug lord Khun Sa's troubles are mounting THE NOOSE TIGHTENS KHUN SA FACES A DAY OF RECKONING It's as regular as rain. Each year, with the advent of the dry season, Khun Sa's demise is predicted. Then a few months later, the Burmese army's counter - insurgency drive grinds to a muddy halt amid reports that the Sino - Shan opium warlord is down but not out. And then the Golden Triangle gets back to business for another year. This time, however, Khun Sa's survival won't be a matter of course. Burma's military rulers have ordered a massive troop build - up next to his territory, after first isolating it by striking a series of ceasefire deals with other ethnic rebel groups. Khun Sa's supply lines from Thailand are also at risk, with Bangkok pledging last month to cut them off. In addition, his movement has been weakened by ethnic tensions, expressed in the recent mutiny of a top lieutenant. Military intelligence sources say elements of 20 government battalions have entered the area between the Salween River and the Thai border since the beginning of June. These units could total nearly 10,000 troops when fully deployed. They have already set up firebases on the southern flank of the territory controlled by Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army, or MTA. The deployment was made possible by a March ceasefire agreement between Rangoon and ethnic Karenni rebels, who control the deployment area. With an additional 2,000 government troops concentrated north of Doi Lang, another MTA stronghold, most observers of the situation in the Golden Triangle expect major military action, maybe even before the rains end in November. The Burmese army will face an MTA that has been economically weakened by a nearly two - year government blockade of Salween River ferry crossings north of Khun Sa's base area of Homong. The blockade has pinched supplies of the MTA's lifeblood: opium from the fields of northern Burma, which it refines into exportable heroin in labs near the Thai border. Now, Thai officials say, those labs are cranking out amphetamines or heroin mixed with amphetamines. "The MTA's been strapped for cash for more than a year," says a narcotics official in northern Thailand. "They're switching to amphetamines, but they mix it because it's of poor quality, as it's getting harder and more expensive for the MTA to hire good chemists. The area has become a war zone." Khun Sa's most important remaining supply routes, through Thailand, now may also be at risk. Though Thailand has been protesting for years that it can't seal off its long and porous border with Burma, Thai Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchayudh led a military delegation to Rangoon in September and promised to try to do just that. Burma has kept the main Tachilek - Mae Sai border crossing shut since March, when it accused the Thais of letting the MTA attack Tachilek from Thai territory. Chavalit, with a view to reopening the border and normalizing the lucrative trade between the two countries, promised to cut the MTA's supply lines from Thailand. The MTA's problems aren't all external. Tensions between the circle of ethnic Chinese businessmen who control the MTA's economy and its more nationalist Shan rank - and - file erupted into open mutiny a few months ago. Led by veteran fighter Bo Dewing, a Shan who was once the MTA's nominal commander, and Kan Yawt, a young former member of a Shan State literary movement, the mutineers are said to number between 1,000 and 6.000 men -- depending on the source's bias for or against Khun Sa. The breakaway group, which calls itself the Shan State National Army, declared that it was opposed to "Chinese businessmen using the Shan national cause to conceal their involvement in the drug trade." This was an obvious reference to Khun Sa himself, who is half - Shan and half - Chinese, as well as to his Manchurian - born chief of staff, Chang Shu - chuan. The mutineers also criticized the MTA for summarily executing villagers and recruiting very young boys into the force's ranks. They further accused Khun Sa -- whom they referred to by his Chinese name, Chang Chifu -- of having ordered the assassination of many Shan national leaders. While sources close to Khun Sa may be right in claiming that Burmese military intelligence had a hand in the split, many Shans concede that the underlying grievances are real. These developments augur poorly for Khun Sa, but they don't necessarily mean the drug trade will suffer. Other ethnic armies stand ready to take the warlord's place -- armies that don't have Rangoon to worry about. Since June, nearly 3,000 Wa, Akha, Kachin, Lahu and Palaung troops -- mostly forces of the former Communist Party of Burma, which made peace with Rangoon in 1989 -- have agreed to join the Burmese army's campaign against the MTA. A fierce battle took place near Doi Lang on September 19. The alliance between the Burmese army and these forces, which are Khun Sa's rivals for control over the trade, has raised questions about Rangoon's intentions. "There are now more heroin refineries in the former CPB area than under Khun Sa's control," says the Thai narcotics official. "Most of their business is being conducted through China, but if they manage to snatch Doi Lang from Khun Sa, they'll have a secure route down to Thailand as well." So the Golden Triangle may indeed get back to business after the dry season, even without Khun Sa. As the narcotics official put it: "They'll just be another cast of characters running the trade." THE CHINESE CONNECTION Twenty Burmese battalions may be enough to bottle up Khun Sa, but they can't change the law of supply and demand. The bulk of the Golden Triangle's heroin production is now making its way to market via the Chinese province of Yunnan, courtesy of the United Wa State Army, narcotics officials say. The 15,000 - strong Wa army is the main remnant of the former Communist Party of Burma's guerrilla force. The communist army received massive amounts of military aid from China before it fractured into four ethnic groups in the late 1980s, with the hill - tribe rank - and - file chasing their old leaders into exile. Most Western observers had assumed that China's contact with those armies ended then. They were intrigued, therefore, by the inclusion of a man named Lee Hsu - le, or Aung Myint, in recent Wa army delegations to Rangoon. Officially vice - chief of staff of the Wa army, Aung Myint is an ethnic Chinese from Kawlin in upper Burma. He fled to China in the wake of Burma's 1967 anti-Chinese riots and was trained by Chinese intelligence before returning in 1968 to the Burmese communist "liberated area," where he became personal advisor to the party chairman, Thakin Ba Thein Tin. When the Wa rank - and - file revolted against the party leadership in April 1989, he escorted Thakin Ba Thein Tin into exile in China - only to return to Burma a few months later to join the mutineers. An Asian intelligence official speculates that the Was' growing role in the drugs trade, together with their troop strength, makes them too important for the Chinese to ignore. "After all, the Was have more troops along the Chinese border than Khun Sa has along the Thai frontier," he says. **************************** INDEPENDENT REPORT: SLORC WHITEWASHING TEAM TOURS GERMANY From: Niko Reichwald October 18, 1995 Dear friends, The Slorc embassy in Bonn unusually invited some active members of the democratic forces to a meeting in Bonn on 14th.Oct. in order to discuss some changes and developments in Burma with the members of the Slorc white- washing team, composing of U Ba Thwin (Foreign Ministry), Dr. Htun Shein (Investment adviser), U Set Maung (Economist) and U Tin Tun ( ex-ambassador and adviser to FM). The discussion was led by U Win Aung, the present Slorc ambassador in Bonn. The very first question raised by our democratic forces was precise and clear: Why Slorc failed to honour the will of the Burmese people, clearly shown in the 1990 general elections? This 2-minute question was tried to answer by Set Maung, Tin Tun and Win Aung, taking more than 20 minutes, by just beating about the bush. The same question was again put up in more clear form: The Burmese people said loud and clear that they do not accept the military dictatorial system by giving their votes of over 80% to the Aung San Suu Kyi's N L D party. Why Slorc is pretending not to under- stand the people's will? U Win Aung's answer was as usual: The Slorc leaders are now in the process of democratisation and the national convention is still going on with more than 80 elected representives (out of about 700 delegates) in order to fulfill the needs of the people. We, the democratic forces, declared that we totally rejected the national convention held by the Slorc with the reasons # the Slorc has no mandate and hence no legitimacy to convene a national convention to draw a consti- tution,# the guide-lines laid down in the national convention by the Slorc steering committee are entirely not in agreement with the international basic democratic principles and # even the United Nations do not recognize such process of national convention. The Slorc whitewashers are, however, seemed to be well prepared concerning investments and open economy, although the laws and regulations, which they used to quote with paragraphs and sections, are completely different in their applicability as well as practicability in Burma.( Be sure that you are dealing with substantial, political questions than wasting much of the time with their investment lectures). Finally, they do admit that they are merely Slorc's servants having no authority to decide, but what they could only do is to relay our opinions to their 'higher authorities'. We told them that such kind of open discussions with freedom from fear should be done more frequently inside Burma with the people than wasting foreign currencies abroad. The whole meeting, from the beginning to the last word, was well documented by video, recording cassettes and photos. Nwe Aung / Burma Bureau (Germany) Fax: +49 2173 83364 ******************************** THE NATION: ETHNIC MON GROUP ASKS FOR THAI HELP TO RESETTLE REFUGEES October 18, 1995 Yindee Lertcharoenchok An ethnic Mon guerrilla group has urged Thailand to help in the repatriation and resettlement of 18,000 Mon refugees in camps along the Thai border, a six-month operation which will begin next month. The New Mon State Party (NMSP) has also asked the Thai government to open a permanent checkpoint at the Three Pagodas Pass and to allow a five year import tax exemption on agriculture, fishery and wood products from Burma to encourage about 200,000 illegal Mon immigrants working in urban Thai provinces to return home. In a letter dated Aug 1 to National Security Chief Gen Charan Kullavanija, the NMSP President Nai Shwe Kyin thanked Charan and the Thai government for having guided and advised the Mon group in its ceasefire agreement on June 29 with the Burmese junta. Nai Shwe Kyin, in his lengthy five-page letter, obtained by The Nation, explained that under the peace pact, the Mon group would control 12 deployment areas with eight others remaining under its supervision for six months. Mon troops were to operate within a five miles radius of their controlled territories. The NMSP, he said, also agreed to halt all its political activities and wait for the development on the drafting of a new constitution by the National Convention, "which we might be allowed to attend as observer". The letter, which was signed and dispatched before a six-week trip to Burma, said the group was sending, at that time, a delegation to discuss economic and business activities with the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc). Both Slorc and the Mon group would work together to rehabilitate the southern Mon State and to eliminate the chronic poverty suffered by the local people because of the protracted guerrilla war, now put on hold, he said. The Mon leader then explained in detail the group's resettlement and repatriation plan for about 18,000 refugees from temporary border camps either side of the Thai border to nine new villages in Tavoy and Mergui districts and areas in Bee Ree and Three Pagodas Pass. The refugees would be resettled at the rate of 3,000 per month starting next month. Nai Shwe Kyin urged the Thai government to act as a central body for donors who want to assist in the resettlement programme. He also attached a list of materials and basic necessities, including food and medical provision, needed for six months. The Mon leader, however, did not mention the need for cross-border assistance, using non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in assisting the resettlement, nor international monitoring of the returnees' safety. In separate interviews, Mon and foreign refugee relief workers have expressed their surprise that Nai Shwe Kyin did not express those points in his letter to Charan, and wondered if he raised them with Slorc leaders during his trip to Burma, his first since 1963. A senior official of the UN High Commissioner for refugees said his office's main concerns were about the willingness of the refugees to return and the monitoring of their safety. The UNHCR has an office in both Bangkok and Rangoon and could monitor the return from either the Burmese side, if Slorc agrees, or the Thai side, he said. The official said the differences between the NMSP and the Mon National Relief Committee on the repatriation and resettlement of the refugees should be settled and agreed upon by both sides before the repatriation begins. In September's monthly report, the Mon relief committee said misunderstandings existed over the duration of external assistance to the returnees. Many NGOs and other international organizations were dissatisfied with Nai Shwe Kyin's letter concerning assistance to refugees, it said. The report said the National Security Council and the Mon guerrilla group had earlier agreed to a one-year assistance programme and Nai Shwe Kyin's request for six months of aid could complicate the passage of supplies to the refugees. The report said the issue was sorted out only when Nai Shwe Kyin explained that his six-month request was directed to the Thai government and not related to the one year for private relief groups. In his letter to Charan, Nai Shwe Kyin said his group would urge Slorc to discuss the opening of the Three Pagodas Pass in Kanchanaburi with the Thai government to become a permanent checkpoint for cross-border trade. He said he also wanted the Thai government to reduce or provide a five-year import tax exemption on agriculture, fishery and wood products from Burma. (TN) ===== item ===== THE NATION: KHUN SA'S MEN CAPTURE THREE WA VILLAGES October 18, 1995 Opium warlord Khun Sa's Mong Tai Army has captured at least three Wa villages near Kengtung in the southern Shan State and has asked four divisions of Wa forces to withdraw from the frontline opposing MTA bases. Chao Ruenkham, an MTA coordinator, said he did not know if the MTA would use force to dislodge the Wa troops but that the best option would be to negotiate for cooperation between the two groups. The Burmese junta, which mobilized the Wa forces to attack the MTA, deliberately allowed Khun Sa's troops to advance and capture the Wa villages to create misunderstanding between the MTA and Wa groups, he said. Ruenkham said about 300-400 Wa and Lahu forces recently defected from the United Wa State Party and joined the MTA at Doilang opposite Thailand's Chiang Rai province. He said it was true the MTA was trying to establish a new base near the Chinese border, and that the area is under the control of the Wa. Pol Maj Gen Siriwat Thompithak, deputy commander of the Border Patrol Police, said the Thai side has prepared itself in case of impact from the fighting between the MTA and the Burmese and Wa forces, but said he expected any effect to be minimal. He said the only problem could be an influx of refugees into Thailand. Thailand usually allows refugees to stay on a humanitarian basis but they must leave after the fighting dies down, he added. Wiwat Sirichangkhapattana, president of the Chiang Rai Chamber of Commerce, said he does not think clashes in southern Burma's Shan State would have any effect on the ongoing negotiations between Thailand and Burma for reopening of the Tachilek-Mae Sai crossing. Wiwat said the Burmese junta had taken measures to protect Tachilek from raids by the MTA. He expected the crossing to be reopened next month. (TN) ===== item ===== BKK POST: UN OFFICIAL EXPECTS MORE TALKS IN BURMA October 18, 1995 Rangoon, AFP A senior UN human rights official wound up his annual visit to Burma yesterday saying he was optimistic the junta and the opposition led by Aung San Suu Kyi would resume their dialogue. Yozo Yokota, the UN rapporteur on human rights in Burma, told a news conference: "Both sides are still showing their willingness to re-start or continue the dialogue." He declined to give any details of the meeting he had with Khin Nyunt, the first secretary of the military government, or the two rounds he had with Aung San Suu Kyi, but said he found them in general agreement over objectives. "How to approach the final goal appears to be somewhat different, but once you agree on the objective, there is ample, ample opportunity for them to discuss and agree on concrete steps to be taken," he said. "I think the dialogue is not terminated now. It is still waiting for another opportunity to come up." Yokota, who will address the UN general assembly in late November, said he was careful to look for both positive and negative developments since his last visit. (BP) ===== item ===== BKK POST: INDIAN BUSINESSMEN SEE BURMA AS NEW INVESTMENT DESTINATION October 18, 1995 By Dinesh C Sharma, New Delhi As political relations between New Delhi and Rangoon improve, more and more Indian businessmen are looking to Burma as a new investment destination. Indo-Burma relations will see a further upswing in the coming months as direct air links are established between the two countries, after a break of over two decades, and a second point is opened for border trade in India's North-East at Champahi, in the State of Mizoram. The first point for border trade was opened in March in Manipur, which links with Tamu on the Burmese side. This was a significant landmark in the economic relations between India and Burma which dropped after the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) assumed power in Rangoon seven years ago. Reopening of airlinks with Rangoon after a long gap also would greatly boost trade and business links. In the absence of suck links, Indian businessmen have been flying to Rangoon from Singapore or Bangkok. Indian Airlines (IA), the domestic airline, is slated to link the two capitals directly from November 1. The IA's Calcutta-Bangkok flight is to offer a weekly stop at Rangoon for both outbound and return trips. Myanmar Airlines will link Rangoon with the south Indian port city of Madras. The flight is initially likely to be twice a week. Firm schedules are expected to be announced shortly. Several Indian industrial houses are keen to step up exports to Burma and also set up local production units there. A few have already taken off, while others are at drawing board stage. The Ahmadabad-based Core Parentals is one such company which has set up a turnkey project in Rangoon to supply intravenous fluids to the Burmese defence ministry. The Bangalore-based liquor giant, United Breweries headed by Vijay Mallya, is another Indian group active in Burma. UB's subsidiary, UB Global Trading Corp plans to set up a $16-million brewery-cum-distillery unit in Rangoon. It is already exporting UB's popular brands there, besides acting as a trading agent for other Indian companies like Ashok Leyland and Bajaj Tempo. Grasim Industries of the Aditya Biral Group, which has several joint ventures in the region, is also conducting feasibility study to establish a rayon-grade pulp factory. It has signed a memorandum of understanding with the ministry of national planning and economic development to use local bamboo plantations. Industry sources say it will take some more time for actual operations to start, as rules and regulations are not yet fully industry friendly. The Indian embassy, in its effort to boost Indian investments in Rangoon, has set up an India Business Club. (BP) ******************* ANNOUNCEMENT: BURMA SUPPORT GROUP NYC MEETING BURMA SUPPORT GROUP NEW YORK There will be a meeting of the BSG on Monday 6 November* at 7.15pm at the Puffin Room, 435, Broome St. (2 blocks East of Broadway) Dr Sein Win, cousin of Aung San Suu Kyi, and Prime Minister of the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma will speak on "Why US Companies should stay out of Burma". The discussion afterwards will touch on such issues as Selective Purchasing Legislation, and what New Yorkers can do to help restore democracy and respect for human rights in Burma. Further details from Tel (212) 338 0048 * Anyone who received the flyer announcing the meeting as the 16th of November should note that this was a typo. ************************ ANNOUNCEMENT: TWILIGHT OVER BURMA Twilight over Burma by Inge Sargent, Univ of Hawaii Press, 1994, 240pp with 25 illustrations and maps, is available from the following: University of Hawaii Press Order Department 2840 Kolowalu Street Honolulu, HI 96822, USA Phone: (800) 956-2840 from USA only; Others: (808) 956-8255 Fax: (800) 650-7811 from USA only; Others: (808) 988-6052 Price: $14.95 (paperback) plus $3 for the first book, $1.00 for each additional book in USA. Outside USA $4.00 for first book, $2 for each additional book. VISA, MASTERCARD accepted. "A gripping tale from beginning to end...A touching memoir that would read like a fairy tale were it not for the unfortunate ending."---Booklist "To marry a prince should portend living happily ever after in a kingdom filled with tranquility and love. Sargent's 'ever after' with her Shan prince lasted little more than a decade: in a 1962 coup d'etat by Burmese Army General Ne Win, her husband, Sao Kya Seng, the Prince of Hsipaw...was executed. An Austrian by birth, Sargent records in a tender, affecting manner their courtship and her introduction and adaptation to the varied social and cultural aspects of Shan life."----Library Journal Posted by Professor U Kyaw Win win@cccd.edu (Editor's Note: Twilight Over Burma is also available in Thailand from Silkworm Press)