------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: October 25, 1995 Issue #260 Noted in Passing: It's an ethnic conflict, not an ideological one, in which the parties are unable to reconcile by political means. - former Thai Deputy Foreign Minister, Surin Pitsuwan on the conflict in Burma SLORC, Aung San Suu Kyi or others, they are all Burmese. We (Thailand) cannot side with any particular party. - Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Suvidhya Simaskul (both quoted in: BKK POST: THAI POSITION ON RANGOON CONTRASTS WITH STAND ON CAMBODIA) HEADLINES: ========== INDEPENDENT LETTER: ON FORCED LABOUR ANNOUNCEMENT: FREE BURMA COALITION HOME PAGE IS UP ASIAWEEK: MYANMAR -- THE SOUND OF SILENCE NATION:SLORC RULES PARTY LEADERSHIP ROLE FOR SUU KYI ILLEGAL NATION:NATIONALISM, OPIUM TRIGGER BURMA GUERRILLA CLASH NATION: FRANCE LEADS IN BURMA BKK POST: THAI POSITION ON RANGOON CONTRASTS WITH STAND ON CAMBODIA BKK POST: RIFT MAY ASSIST KHUN SA'S RETURN NATION: ADB OUTLINES ENERGY PLAN FOR MEKONG AREA ---------------------------------------------------------- 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. 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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] ************************ INDEPENDENT LETTER: ON FORCED LABOUR From: Michael Beer From the mid 1980s, Indonesia helped reinforce this effort by hosting a series of peace talks known as the Jakarta Informal Meeting. Later, peace initiatives from France, Australia and five permanent members of the UN Security Council culminated in the Paris peace agreements. The Vietnamese invasion posed a direct threat to Thailand and, by implications, its neighbours in ASEAN _ then Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, the Philippines and Brunei. Vietnam joined ASEAN in July this year. At its peak, Vietnam maintained 180,000 troops in Cambodia. UN agencies and international non-government organisations spearheaded assistance for more than 35,000 refugees who flooded across the border and were kept in camps in Thailand. Vietnam withdrew its troops from Cambodia in 1989 and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees repatriated the Cambodians in time for that country's elections in May 1993. Foreign Minister M.R. Kasem S. Kasemsri noted that the UN was instrumental in bringing peace to Cambodia by persuading all rival factions to sign the peace pact. Under the agreement, the United Nations Transitional Authority in Cambodia _ which included civilians and peacekeepers _ saw the country through to general elections and left after a coalition government was in place. But the success in Cambodia has not inspired Thailand to make effective use of the UN to solve the problems of its western neighbour. Some observers have advocated that Burma should be taken up as a regional or even international issue, after nearly half a century of civil war in the country between the military government and ethnic groups. The strife has spawned human rights violations, forced labour and displaced persons along the Thai-Burmese border. The ethnic rebels, including the Mons, Karens and Shans have called for autonomy since the end of the British colonial rule in 1947. Pro-democracy forces inside and outside the country also demand democracy. The Burmese military rulers have remained indifferent. The State Law and Order Restoration Council, the ruling junta, came to power in 1988, held elections in 1990 but refused to hand over power to the winners _ the National League for Democracy. It claims a new government will be formed after the so-called national conventional completes drafting the constitution. Representatives hand-picked by the junta have gathered for the task since early 1993 and there is no end in sight for their work. Thailand will not raise the Burmese issue before the UN for a variety of reasons. First, it regards the issue as strictly an internal affair, among various forces with their own vested interests. The Burma issue lacks the international dimension of the Cambodian problem _ there is no foreign occupation. "It's an ethnic conflict, not an ideological one, in which parties are unable to reconcile by political means," Surin said. Different rebel groups followed divided lines in their political struggles against Rangoon, he said. Foreign Ministry spokesman Suvidhya Simaskul agrees, saying the Burmese will have to settle their own problems. "SLORC, Aung San Suu Kyi or others, they are all Burmese. We (Thailand) cannot side with any particular party," he said. Suu Kyi was recently reinstated as secretary-general of the NLD after the junta released her from six years' house arrest without trial or charges. M.R. Kasem S., who served as Thai Ambassador to the US during the Cold War, said that super powers were involved in Cambodia, but there were none in Burma's case. He said that China and the United States, while having different goals, used the same approach by exerting influence as permanent members of the UN Security Council to push for their interests in Cambodia. China supported the Khmer Rouge which was ousted by the Vietnamese army in late 1978, while the US maintained its position in the bi-polar world against the former Soviet Union which supported Vietnam. As for the Karens who fled persecution in their homeland and took refuge in Thailand, the Thai government has denied access to UN agencies to monitor the situation, claiming that the Karens are "displaced persons" and "economic migrants", not political refugees. During the Cambodian problem period, Thailand housed Khmer refugees and displaced persons in camps along the border. These people were the "population base" of the Cambodian government in exile which Thailand supported. Suvidhya said the Thai government did not want to put Burma before a regional or internationals forum because doing so would open the way for outside powers to dictate the country's direction. Apart from having a special rapporteur nominated by the UN Human Rights Commission observe the situation in Burma since 1992, the UN General Assembly has passed resolutions about problems in Burma. However, this kind of pressure is far from effective. The resolutions steer clear of internal affairs which are the root cause of human rights violations. Since the assembly's resolutions were non-binding, UN members need not abide by them, unlike those issued by the Security Council, the director of the UN Information Centre in Thailand, Khaled Khali, said. "Once the decision is made and the resolution is passed by the General Assembly, it's up to the member states whether to implement it," he said. "What's happening in Myanmar (Burma) is internal." But the UN could express concern, unlike in the case of Cambodia which became internationalised after the Vietnamese invasion and Cambodia's calls for help from the organisation, he said. Thailand, on the other hand, has to look after its own interests. Surin said that every year Foreign Ministry officials worked hard to tone down the assembly's; resolutions on Burma, which were initiated by Scandinavian countries, the United States and Australia. "Instead of 'condemn' we sometimes push for 'concern' in the resolution to show our sincerity toward the Burmese government and to help our communications with it," he said. Suvidhya said disputes, including those involving the Khmer Rouge, which pulled out of the Paris peace pact, and fighting in Burma, could be resolved within the countries concerned or under the newly established regional mechanism. ASEAN last year formed a regional forum involving 18 countries in the Asia-Pacific region and the European Union to find ways to guarantee security and stability in the region. Surin said the world has moved away from armed conflict to trade wars, exploitation of natural resources and information competitiveness. The UN should think beyond the "traditional" agenda and focus on these new issues. "The image, prestige and legitimacy of the UN still exist in the region and so there is a need for the UN to foster closer cooperation," he said. ***************************************************************** BKK POST: OPIUM AND RELATIONS WITH SLORC TRICKY ISSUES FOR NEW COMMITTEE October 24, 1995 Report: Subin Kuenkaew Rift may assist Khun Sa's return ONLY TWO months after taking over Khun Sa's Shan State Restoration Council, divisions are emerging in the new central executive committee led by Zao Gun Jade, raising fears the charismatic drug kingpin may return to power. The division stems from two crucial policy issues in the Shans' 50-year struggle for self-determination: opium and relations with the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council, according to reliable sources. The overwhelming majority of the committee's members favour giving up drug trafficking, which has been the main source of income both for living and for the fight against Rangoon, but which has given a bad name to the Shan, killing any chance of international assistance. About 80 per cent of the Shan support the majority view, but a few committee members ask two questions which cannot be answered effectively: What is the alternative to drug trafficking and what will the people eat? These members, although a minority on the committee, are comparable to its bankers. Without them the new leadership will soon run out of cash, opening the way for Khun Sa or another drug warlord to take over, repeating the vicious cycle that has trapped the Shan for decades. Zao Gun Jade and committee members who favour giving up drug trafficking thought about the issue before taking over from Khun Sa, according to sources. But it is no easy matter to build development in the Shan state which has known only subsistence living and drug trafficking. Soon after taking over, the committee sent a letter to United Nations' secretary-general Boutros Boutros-Ghali informing him of the changes in the leadership of the Shan movement and expressing hope the new leaders would be internationally acceptable. The UN was asked to help deal with drug production and trafficking. The committee pledged to put its entire administration and its army under UN command for the purpose. There ate no reports of a reply from the world body. Burmese Ambassador to Bangkok Tin Winn described the letter as "very funny" during an interview last month. The letter's main purpose was to answer a long cherished need of the Shan to be accepted internationally as an ethnic group with the right to self-determination, the sources said. But the new leaders were realistic enough to know the UN would not, indeed could not intervene, even though they cherished some hope it would. Drug trafficking in the Shan state, long infamous as the main source of narcotics to the United States, has spun out control since Khun Sa stepped down. Small groups, some of 50-60 people, have begun to buy raw opium from villagers scattered around the state and then refine it in the jungle for export through China, Vietnam and Cambodia, the sources said. The amount reaching refineries set up by Khun Sa very close to Mae Hong Son on the Thai border is dwindling. The SLORC is aware of the change in trafficking patterns but is turning a blind eye, knowing that it affects the Shan, among the last ethnic groups standing strong against the military, according to the sources who believe the SLORC may even get a share of the income. The committee still has to decide on a policy toward the SLORC. Three options have been proposed: to fight the SLORC as enough weapons have been stock-piled, to open negotiations or just continue as usual. Since he stepped down months ago, Khun Sa has remained in his headquarters at Hua Muang, patiently watching the new central executive committee struggle to establish itself. While it can only be speculated that he nurtures an ambition to return to power, he is well a that he, too, will have to an the same crucial questions o future of the Shan movement. One of the major reasons he had to step down is that the Shan grew tired of drug trafficking and, after nearly half a century, there seems to be no end in sight for their struggle for self-determination. The committee is suffering from a leadership crisis as Zao Gun Jade, known for his military wit, and other committee members cannot raise the Shan people's confidence about their ability to deal with these is according to the sources. Suggestions have been that Zao Chang, a Shan exiled in Canada who retains the respect of many people, be asked to return to lead the movement. But observers suspect he would decline the offer. ************************ THE NATION: ADB OUTLINES ENERGY PLAN FOR MEKONG AREA October 24, 1995 The Asian Development Bank will continue to fund hydropower projects in Laos until its government has received enough income to fund them itself, bank official Noritada Morita said yesterday. However, the bank was only interested in supporting relatively small hydropower projects, not larger than 200-300 megawatts (MW), he said. Morita, director of the ADB's Programmes Department (West), said the bank would not fund the Nam Theun 2 project, which was slated to generate 681 MW. The Project was considered controversial because it would flood the Nakay Platelu, a prime wildlife habitat and conservation area. "We are trying to discourage governments from big, 'dream' projects," he told reporters at an investment forum on the Greater Mekong Sub-region held yesterday in Bangkok. Hans-Gerd Fischer, a general manager for the Australia-based Transfield Corp and project director for Nam Theun 2, also said the World Bank was unlikely to fund the project but may support it with a "political risk guarantee", basically an insurance programme for privatized infrastructure projects. Project implementors would have to pay a premium for the guarantee. The Lao government has approached Thailand's Export-Import Bank to supply it with a loan for the project, Fischer said. Speaking at the forum, he warned investors that anyone interested in putting forward hydropower projects would have to "go through the motions" of a complicated environmental assessment process. Concerning other energy projects in the region, Mortia confirmed that the ADB has been approached unofficially by Thailand to finance a pipeline being built to import gas from Burma. "The Petroleum Authority of Thailand have been sounding out several potential donors for the [Thai segment of the ] pipeline, including the ADB and bilateral agencies," he said. Financing for the Burmese segment of the pipeline was expected to come from overseas. "We have to see the terms and conditions before deciding whether to fund the project," Morita said. "The project is essential for Thailand, as well [as Burma], considering the energy supply situation here." The Burmese government, meanwhile, appeared to be talking a renewed interest in generating hydro-electric power from the Salween River. "We are interested. The project has great potential, up to 3,000 MW," said U Thinn Maung, an official from the Myanmar Investment Commission who was attending the forum. "But I don't think one country or company can handle the project alone. "And we also have to worry about the environmental impact," he said. "If we divert the water from the Salween, it may have an impact on the river's ecology and navigation." The gas pipeline and the proposed Salween Dam were also considered controversial because of their possible social impacts. The Burmese government has been accused of using forced labour to build its infra- structure projects. Morita said the ADB has not been approached recently by Burma about hydropower projects for the Salween River, although it did fund a pre-feasibility study several years ago. (TN)