------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: November 28, 1995 Issue #290 HEADLINES: ========== KNU-SLORC NEGOTIATIONS LOOK SET FOR NEXT MONTH ANDAMAN CLUB JOINS BANGKOK AIRWAYS TO PUSH ISLAND RESORT SUU KYI TO SHUN MILITARY-BACKED CHARTER MEETING UN-BURMA TALKS ETHNIC GROUPS URGE BOYCOTT OF BURMA MEET KAREN IN BID TO ROB THAI POLICE KNU, SLORC NEGOTIATIONS LOOK SET FOR NEXT MONTH SUU KYI TO SHUN MILITARY-BACKED CHARTER MEETING UN-BURMA TALKS BURMA BANK OFFICE BURMA STUDYING INDONESIAN SYSTEM DECISION TO QUIT AS SHAN LEADER MAY BE MERELY A 'SHOW' TEXACO PROVIDES UPDATE ON ITS PLAN FOR GROWTH. EUROPE BUILDS TIES WITH BURMA *************** THE NATION: KNU-SLORC NEGOTIATIONS LOOK SET FOR NEXT MONTH November 28, 1995 Yindee Lertcharoenchok After nearly five decades of armed revolt, the Karen guerrilla forces are now set to enter ceasefire negotiations with the ruling Burmese junta, scheduled for next month. The Karen National Union (KNU) and the junta, known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), have agreed during a secret rendezvous in Mae Sot on Oct 11 to start the truce dialogues, but the two sides have yet to fix the actual date, venue, and respective negotiating teams, said a senior KNU official. "The talks will take place soon. It could be the second week of next month," said the Karen official, who asked not to be identified. Speaking over the weekend, the Karen official revealed that the KNU had already appointed a four-member negotiating team led by Maj Gen Maung Maung when the group held its congress in August. The KNU, he said, is awaiting a reply from the Slorc as to its delegation, venue and date of the meeting. While the KNU wanted the talks to take place in Rangoon, the Slorc proposed the Mon State capital of Moulmein as the meeting site. The official said both sides could eventually agree to meet in Pa-an, the capital of Burma's Karen State. He said the KNU was "very happy" with the Oct 11 meeting between KNU leader Gen Bo Mya and a three-member delegation led by Lt Col Kyaw Thein of the Directorate of Defence Service Intelligence. Kyaw Thein was one of the key Slorc participants in Rangoon ceasefire talks with 15 other ethnic groups. The Karen official added that the Karen group on Oct 10 held a meeting with a group of six mediators. During the meeting, the Slorc team assured the KNU that Rangoon would not launch a military offensive against Karen strongholds but said small skirmishes might take place because both sides still have troops on patrol, noted the Karen official. "The [Oct 11] meeting is the very, very first stage of peace talks. The Burmese team spoke very frankly... We are very happy with it," he said. The Karen group, he said would not rush the negotiation process and would try to proceed step by step. He added that the KNU has learned from the experiences of other armed ethnic groups that have already reached ceasefire agreements with Rangoon. The official accepted that the KNU was struck a serious blow when it lost its 21-year-old Manerplaw headquarters in January to the Slorc, but said the group bounced back and remained united as an ethnic front. He added that several Karen leaders and the Karen population had initially blamed Bo Mya for the fall of Manerplaw but realised afterwards that the incident was a Slorc conspiracy. "Everybody blamed him [Bo Mya] for the fall of Manerplaw and had doubts in him, but everything was later cleared up... KNU leaders and the Karen people were all sad about it, but the most unhappy person was Gen Bo Mya. In fact, he sacrificed so much for his people and chose to stay in the revolution," he added. (TN) *************** THE NATION: ANDAMAN CLUB JOINS BANGKOK AIRWAYS TO PUSH ISLAND RESORT November 28, 1995 Nongsuda Tirawatanawit Andaman Club Co Ltd, a Thai company investing in a Burmese island, plans to set a joint marketing promotion with Bangkok Airways Co to attract foreign tourists from Samui and Phuket Islands to its newly-opened resort. The company, an affiliate of Ves Group, owns the 205-room low- rise Andaman Club resort on Thahtay Kyun Island (Richman's Island) in Burma, near Thailand's Ranong province. With a 30- year land concession for the 1,800-arce (about 3,000 rai) island from the Burmese government, the company plans to make the resort the centre of marine tourism destinations in the nearby islands of both Burma and Thailand, said Vikrom Aysiri, the company's president. "In the future, when there is no further political conflict between Thailand and Burma, this resort island will also become another major destination for travellers between the two countries," Vikrom said. Vikrom said he is negotiating with Bangkok Airways, the only airline operator at Ranong airport, to promote the resort as an extension of Phuket and samui Islands. Currently, Bangkok Airways files four flights a week from Bangkok to Phuket, via Ranong, using 70-seat ATR72-200 aircraft. >From a private pier in Ranong, the resort's speed boats and a yacht take guests to the island within 10-15 minutes. The joint marketing with Bangkok Airways is expected to help the resort attract foreign tourists from two prominent destinations in Thailand. So far, Thai tourists are the major group of clients at the resort, and they are mainly lured by existing joint packages. The three-day package costs Bt6,800 per head for single occupancy or Bt5,250 for double occupancy, and includes round- trip air tickets Bangkok-Ranong on Bangkok Airways, two nights stay with breakfasts and immigration fee. Accommodation is contained in 191 room and 14 suites. Other hotel facilities includes a duty-free shop, Chinese restaurant, lounge, cocktail bar, cafe, and two games rooms equipped with gambling machines. The investment for the resort's accommodation was around Bt660 million. Vikrom said he is also building an 18-hotel golf course and a marina on the remaining part of the island. The golf course, which will cost around Bt50 million, will be completed in the next two years. He claimed his company is one of only two foreign investors to which the Burmese government has granted land concessions to develop resorts in the islands. The other is a Malaysian firm which has a licence to develop a resort on Burma's Pulo Basin Island. Andaman Club was established five years ago with a registered capital of Bt200 million in Thailand. Vikrom, who is also a major shareholder in Chiang Rai Island Resort Hotel Co which owns Dusit Island Resort Chiang Rai, and his family, hold the majority stake in the Andaman Club. Krung Thai Bank Plc holds five per cent share of the company and provided the financial support. Previously, Vikrom had two investment projects in Burma; a wood cutting concession which has expired, and a jewellery factory in Rangoon called Myanmar Gems Enterprise Co which is a joint venture with the Burmese government. Meanwhile, the company is also negotiating with Myanmar Holding Co_ a company owned by the Burmese government that controls development of Burmese islands in the south_ to hire and develop small chalets on another island-called St Lux. (TN) *************** BKK POST: SUU KYI TO SHUN MILITARY-BACKED CHARTER MEETING November 28,1995 Reuters, Rangoon Burmese opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said she would stay away from a military-sponsored National convention drafting a new constitution for impoverished Burma but that her party would attend the opening. "I am not involved in the National Convention as an individual," the 50-year-old secretary-general of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party said yesterday at her lakeside Rangoon home. Suu Kyi was freed unconditionally by the ruling military junta in July after serving six years of house arrest. "The NLD will be attending the opening ceremony tomorrow to find out what the National Convention convening committee has to say," she said, adding the party would then decide whether to take part in the process. Suu Kyi had previously threatened that the NLD would boycott the convention if it continued in an "undemocratic" manner. Nearly 700 delegates, mostly hand-picked by Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc), will assemble today for the fifth session of the convention, which has been meeting sporadically since January 1993 to draft guidelines for a new constitution. Many diplomats had hoped Suu Kyi and the NLD would make a definitive statement on its participation before the opening. They said if the party did not make a decision, it could be playing Slorc's game. The junta, they said, was hoping Suu Kyi would forgotten or dismissed as ineffective if nothing came of her repeated but unanswered calls for dialogue. In previous constitutional talks, some NLD members and other "elected representatives" participated in a very limited way, making up only about 15 per cent of the total delegates. Aye Maung, a member of the National Convention convening committee and director-general of the Multi-party Democracy Election Commission, said yesterday only the people previously appointed as delegates could take part in the process. he and two other commission members said Suu Kyi was not recognised as the leader nor even as a member of the NLD. The party stripped her of the post of secretary-general in 1991 after it came under intense pressure from the military. She was later expelled from the party altogether. n 1991 the junta passed a regulation that froze the number of members and makeup of executive committees for all parties. "As far as the commission is concerned, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Kyi Maung and U Tin Oo were expelled from the party and remain so," said Aye Maung. Kyi Maung and Tin Oo were two other former senior party members who were released from prison in March and recently reappointed to top party jobs. Suu Kyi said the NLD feels the convention as its stands is not democratic. "We do not think the National Convention in its present from is going to help achieve either national reconciliation or multi-party democracy or a constitution that people can support and trust." Suu Kyi, who previously had called the convention process a "sham", said the NLD had always felt frustrated by the lack of democracy in the constitution- writing process. (BP) *************** BKK POST: UN-BURMA TALKS November 28, 1995 A United Nations delegation has met a senior Burmese junta member in Rangoon to discuss the repatriation of exiled ethnic minorities, according to state-run Burmese radio. The senior officials from the United Nations' High Commissioner for refugees and the UN representative to Burma talked with Burmese Immigration and Population Minister Lt-Gen Maung Hla, Radio Rangoon said without elaborating. The delegation would offer to monitor the voluntary repatriation of about 20,000 Mon refugees from Thailand, the UNHCR representative to Thailand, Ruprecht von Arnim, said in Bangkok last week. Mon refugees fled attacks by Burmese troops under the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council. The Mon and other ethnic groups in Burma's border areas have resisted central rule by military governments for more than four decades. (BP) **************************************************************** ETHNIC GROUPS URGE BOYCOTT OF BURMA MEET YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK The Nation/28.11.95 BURMA'S armed ethnic groups yesterday urged all parties concerned to boycott the National Convention which today resumes the task it started in early 1993 of drafting a new national constitution. In a statement released yesterday, the National Democratic Front (NDF), an umbrella organization of about 10 ethnic groups, urged the junta, officially known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), to abandon the "sham" national convention "which was held against the aspiration of the masses". It added that the NDF shared the view of Burma's pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi who last week called the convention "totally unacceptable" and threatened that her party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), might boycott it. "This declared attitude of the National League for Democracy is just and right. In addition, it is also in accordance with the aspiration of the ethnic nationalities and colleagues of democracy that oppose the military regime," the NDF statement said. The NDF, which was formed in 1976, has called for a "tripartite dialogue" involving the SLORC, pro-democracy forces and ethnic groups, saying that there exist today two political problems in the country _ the question of equality and self determination, and the question of human rights and democracy. "To resolve these two problems, the NDF reckons that one has to adopt a 'tripartite dialogue' policy that has been accepted both at home and abroad. Only then, the problems shall actually be resolved," said the statement. The NDF urged the SLORC to "think over seriously" and decide whether to follow the path that would end the country's five- decades of civil war, or the path that would deepen the war and bring agony and poverty to the country and the Burmese people. "As for the NDF, it shall stand shoulder to shoulder with ethnic nationalities and democratic forces and every organization that opposes the SLORC, to make a synchronized struggle and urge all parties concerned to strike against this sham National Convention by various means," it ended. The Karen National Union (KNU), also an NDF member, yesterday released a separate statement expressing its opposition to the National Convention, a gathering held on and off since January 1993 of about 700 SLORC-picked delegates to draft a constitution. It urged the SLORC to abolish the body and pave the way for a genuine national convention by declaring a nationwide ceasefire, scrapping all unjust laws and orders, and starting a "tripartite dialogue". The KNU said the SLORC-organized national convention had gone against the people's will and had no public support. "During the procrastinating period of nearly three years, in convening this convention that has no one's support, many delegates were put into custody and some delegates abandoned this convention due to loss of confidence in it and came to the revolutionary areas," it said. ***************************************************************** KAREN IN BID TO ROB THAI POLICE The Nation/28.11.95 MAE SOT -- One day after a grenade attack on a tourist bus, a group of unidentified armed Karen forces yesterday attacked two Thai policemen in an attempt to rob them. The violence yesterday was the fifth incident in the past month and took place one day after a grenade, hurled on to a passing coach by a group of unidentified people, killed one and wounded 10 passengers on board. Lt Col Sombat Buareung, deputy police chief of Tha Song Yang police station, said yesterday that a group of armed Karen forces assaulted Sgt Paiboon Srisopha and Sgt Viraphol Khongyod while the two stopped their car on Tha Song Yang-Mae Sariang highway. The group was trying to steal the police walkie-talkie equipment and pistols which Paiboon put in the car when he saw the attackers, who then opened fire on the police. One attacker was shot dead in return fire. Sombat said he believed the attackers were Karen and not Burmese because they spoke Karen language. In Bangkok, Police Department Chief Gen Pochana Boonyachinda yesterday pressed his concern about the frequent attacks that take place along the Thai-Burmese border in Tak province. ***************************************************************** KNU, SLORC NEGOTIATIONS LOOK SET FOR NEXT MONTH YINDEE LERTCHAROENCHOK The Nation/28.11.95 AFTER nearly five decades of armed revolt, the Karen guerrilla forces are now set to enter ceasefire negotiations with the ruling Burmese junta, scheduled for next month. The Karen National Union (KNU) and the junta, known as the State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), have agreed during a secret rendezvous in Mae Sot on Oct 11 to start the truce dialogues, but the two sides have yet to fix the actual date, venue, and respective negotiating teams, said a senior KNU official. "The talks will take place soon. It could be the second week of next month," said the Karen official, who asked not to be identified. Speaking over the weekend, the Karen official revealed that the KNU had already appointed a four-member negotiating team led by Maj Gen Maung Maung when the group held its congress in August. The KNU, he said, is awaiting a reply from the SLORC as to its delegation, venue and date of the meeting. While the KNU wanted the talks to take place in Rangoon, the SLORC proposed the Mon State capital of Moulmein as the meeting site. The official said both sides could eventually agree to meet in Pa-an, the capital of Burma's Karen State. He said the KNU was "very happy" with the Oct 11 meeting between KNU leader Gen Bo Mya and a three-member delegation led by Lt Col Kyaw Thein of the Directorate of Defence Service Intelligence. Kyaw Thein was one of the key SLORC participants in Rangoon ceasefire talks with 15 other ethnic groups. The Karen official added that the Karen group on Oct 10 held a meeting with a group of six mediators. During the meeting, the SLORC team assured the KNU that Rangoon would not launch a military offensive against Karen strongholds but said small skirmishes might take place because both sides still have troops on patrol, noted the Karen official. "The [Oct 11] meeting is the very, very first stage of peace talks. The Burmese team spoke very frankly.... We are very happy with it," he said. The Karen group, he said, would not rush the negotiation process and would try to proceed step by step. ***************************************************************** SUU KYI TO SHUN MILITARY-BACKED CHARTER MEETING Rangoon, Reuters Bkk Post/28.11.95 BURMESE opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi said she would stay away from a military-sponsored National Convention drafting a new constitution for improverished Burma but that her party would attend the opening. "I am not involved in the National Convention as an individual," the 50-year-old secretary-general of the National League for Democracy (NLD) party said yesterday at her lakeside Rangoon home. Suu Kyi was freed unconditionally by the ruling military junta in July after serving six years of house arrest. "The NLD will be attending the opening ceremony tomorrow to find out what the National Convention convening committee has to say," she said, adding the party would then decide whether to take part in the process. Suu Kyi had previously threatened that the NLD would boycott the convention if it continued in an "undemocratic" manner. Nearly 700 delegates, mostly handpicked by Burma's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC), will assemble today for the fifth session of the convention, which has been meeting sporadically since January. 1993 to draft guidelines for a new constitution. Many diplomats had hoped Suu Kyi and the NLD would make a definitive statement on its participation before the opening. They said if the party did not make a decision, it could be playing SLORC's game. The junta, they said, was hoping Suu Kyi would be forgotten or dismissed as ineffective if nothing came of her repeated but unanswered calls for dialogue. In previous constitutional talks, some NLD members and other "elected representatives" participated in a very limited way, making up only about 15 percent of the total delegates. Aye Maung, a member of the National Convention convening committee and director general of the Multi-party Democracy Election Commission said yesterday only the people previously appointed as delegates could take part in the process. He and two other commission members said Suu Kyi was not recognised as the leader nor even as a member of the NLD. The party stripped her of the post of secretary - general in 1991 after it came under intense pressure from the military. She was later expelled from the party altogether. In 1991 the junta passed a regulation that froze the number of members and makeup of executive committees for all parties. "As far as the commission is concerned, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, U Kyi Maung and U Tin Oo were expelled from the party and remain so," said Aye Maung. Kyi Maung and Tin Oo were two other former senior party I members who were released I from prison in March and recently reappointed to top party Suu Kyi said the NLD feels the convention as it stands is not democratic. "We do not think the National Convention in its present form is going to help achieve either national reconciliation or multi-party democracy or a constitution that people can support and trust." Suu Kyi, who previously had called the convention process a "sham", said the NLD had always felt frustrated by the lack of democracy in the constitution-writing process. ***************************************************************** UN-BURMA TALKS Bkk Post/28.11.95 A United Nations delegation has met a senior Burmese junta member in Rangoon to discuss the repatriation of exiled ethnic minorities, according to state-run Burmese radio. The senior officials from the United, Nations' High Commissioner for Refugees and the UN representative to Burma talked with Burmese Immigration and Population Minister Lt-Gen Maung Hla, Radio Rangoon said without elaborating. The delegation would offer to monitor the voluntary repatriation of about 20,000 Mon refugees from Thailand, the UNHCR representative to Thailand, Ruprecht von Arnim, said in Bangkok last week. Mon refugees fled attacks by Burmese troops under the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council. The Mon and other ethnic groups in Burma's border areas have resisted central rule by military governments for more than four decades. ***************************************************************** BURMA BANK OFFICE Bkk Post/28.11.95 THE Banque Francaise du Commerce Exterieur opened a representative office in Burma on Friday. The staff of nine will handle business with Burma that was previously carried out by the Bangkok office. Compiled from Agence France Presse and Radio Vientiane. ***************************************************************** BURMA STUDYING INDONESIAN SYSTEM REPORT: Agence France Presse and Associated Press Bangkok Bkk Post/28.11.95 INDONESIAN DEFENCE Minister Gen Edi Sudrajat met top Burmese military leaders during a four-day visit to Rangoon last week. The minister, who arrived on Wednesday, held talks with senior Burmese junta members including its chief, Gen Than Shwe, state-run Burmese radio said. Gen Than Shwe, head of the Burmese Defence Services, is also prime minister and chairman of the State Law and Order Restoration Council, the official name of the regime. The meeting at Rangoon's defence ministry was attended by SLORC vice-chairman Gen Maung Aye, chief of staff (army) Lt-Gen Tin Oo, military intelligence chief Lt-Gen Khin Nyunt, Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw and Indonesian diplomats in Rangoon, Radio Rangoon said in a broadcast monitored in Bangkok. It gave no details of the meeting, which was also attended by military attaches from both sides. Burma's leaders are believed to be studying Indonesia's form of government, in which the military has a dominant political role, with the intention of adapting it to their own country. Indonesia will host the foreign ministers' meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations next year. Burma is expected to attend as a guest of the host country, as it did at two previous annual meetings. The Burmese foreign minister was guest of Thailand at a meeting in Bangkok last year and guest of Brunei at a meeting last July. Rangoon acceded to ASEAN's Treaty of Amity and Cooperation in Brunei. Burma's accession enables the country to apply for ASEAN membership. Burma's National Convention, which been meeting on and off since 1993, reconvened on Monday last week to resume work on drafting a new constitution. The convention has been criticised by many quarters, including pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, as a stage-managed affair designed to enshrine military rule. The basic principles for the proposed constitution included some which were not in line with a truly democratic state, Suu Kyi, who was released from six years of house arrest in July, said on Wednesday. At issue is a clause which guarantees the military a "leading role in the political life of the nation". Military leaders have said the clause is non-negotiable. ***************************************************************** DECISION TO QUIT AS SHAN LEADER MAY BE MERELY A 'SHOW' (Khun Sa puzzles pundits) REPORT: Subin Kheunkaew and Nussara Sawatsawang Ho Mong Bkk Post/28.11.95 IT'S DIFFICULT to believe Khun Sa's announcement last week that he will no longer lead the Shans' independence struggle. Analysts are split over two theories: that Khun Sa is staging a show to test the loyalty of his followers; and that new factors, domestic and international, have forced him to reconsider his position Khun Sa said he was stepping down because of the defection of a close aide, Gun Yod, along with a significant number of soldiers from his Mong Tai Army, and because he was branded a Chinese. These reasons are hard to swallow because of his charisma, power and wealth. He is estimated to spend 200 million baht a month to maintain his headquarters at Ho Mong. On the day he stepped down, during a religious ceremony to mark the completion of a new "Solidarity of the Shan" pagoda in Ho Mong, no one took his place . Khun Sa's top aide, Zao Gun Jade, chairman of the Central Executive Committee which apparently took over the Shan State Restoration Council three months ago, was ill, conveniently. So Khun Sa handed over power "to the people and the Buddhist monks". But an insider confirmed the rift between the Chinese and Shan factions of the Shan liberation movement had affected Khun Sa, who is half-Chinese, half-Shan. What has affected him even more is his seemingly decreased commitment to the struggle for independence. Gun Yod's defection earlier this year has reinforced feelings among the Shan that 40 years of struggle is a long time, especially when there is no freedom in sight, and that perhaps Khun Sa is In the struggle for other reasons. "For a period, he has not mentioned the struggle for Shan independence, and people noticed it," an observer said. Khun Sa admitted during an interview with Inside Indochina that 1,000 soldiers defected with Gun Yod, another 2,000 went to the Shan State Army and just over 2,000 more to the Wa. He was estimated to have 8,000 soldiers before the defections. The Shan State Army is a breakaway from Khun Sa's Shan State Restoration Council, while the Wa are a long-time rival in the Shan State. A few years ago, the Wa began challenging his drug dealings with their own. "People and soldiers got confused. Who is the leader and who is on the right side?" the same observer said. Zao Gun Jade has reportedly been sent to Khun Sa's outposts in the northern part of the Shan State to boost the morale of soldiers and followers, and also to try to persuade Gun Yod to return. Another observer said that whether or not Khun Sa was staging a big show, he realised international pressure on him and his drug trafficking was serious. The Thai Army has sealed the border with the Shan State, which previously served as a supply route, and the United States Drug Enforcement Administration has opened a small office in Rangoon. A few months ago, another close aide of Khun Sa went to Germany and the US to lobby for help from members of Shan com munities who are known to have connections with politicians and high-ranking officials in those countries. The communities believe these officials could help in their struggle against Rangoon. The one condition made clear was that the Shan liberation movement must clear its image by dissociating itself from Khun Sa and drug trafficking. In response, Khun Sa formed the 11-member Central Executive Committee, with Zao Gun Jade as chairman, to take over the Shan State Restoration Council and its military arm. The committee sent letters to the United Nations and the Thai government, seeking help to put an end to drug trafficking and expressing its readiness to put its administration and army under the UN. Last month, it also sent a letter to the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council calling for a temporary ceasefire. None of these letters have drawn a reply. With Zao Gun Jade reportedly in hospital in Thailand, and unable to attend last week's power handover ceremony, it appears the show is partly over. "It was a win-friends party," one of Khun Sa's subordinates told Inside Indochina. But it was satisfying for Khun Sa to see that donations of yellow robes to the monks came from Hsi Paw, Lashio and Pang-long, cities where Gun Yod has been trying to establish himself. The subordinate said that, in the end, Khun Sa's money talked most effectively. Khun Sa has always claimed he is not an active drug trafficker, but that he collects taxes. He has many times offered to stop all dealing if the US can pay him and help him set up an independent Shan State. In the interview with Inside Indochina, he predicted that if he was not around someone else would take over the lucrative trade in opium and amphetamines. Khun Sa forecast the leadership question in the Shan State would be settled in 5-10 months. For the time being, the absence of horses on the dirt roads of Ho Mong is a stark reminder to Khun Sa of the increasing difficulty he faces in obtaining supplies. ********************************* TEXACO PROVIDES UPDATE ON ITS PLAN FOR GROWTH. (Company Cites Strides in Achieving Objectives) DATELINE: WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. Nov. 28--Texaco Inc. Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer Alfred C. DeCrane, Jr., said that, through the combined, determined efforts of its employees worldwide the company has shown significant progress in achieving its primary objectives to increase earnings and shareholder value. DeCrane, along with members of Texaco's senior management team, addressed more than 200 security analysts at the company's executive offices today, and said that the company has made substantial gains towards meeting the goals outlined in its plan for growth -- a plan designed to double pre-tax earnings before the end of the decade to almost $ 2 billion dollars, and to achieve a return on capital employed of 12 to 13 percent. When we developed and announced our plan for growth in mid- 1994, we knew that 1995 would be a critical time to build the momentum we need and to make certain we were on a solid course to achieve top quartile performance," said DeCrane. "At the end of our first full year of this effort, I can report that our plan has been translated into actions -- actions which have led to earnings improvements and significantly increased value for our shareholders." Citing specific examples of growth and improved performance, DeCrane noted: - Production is some 36,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day ahead of last year's aggressive target for 1995, with a 35 percent-plus increase targeted from 1.1 million boepd to some 1.5 million boepd by year 2000. - Total cash costs have been reduced by about $ 1 billion in the last three years, reflecting operating efficiency gains, sales of non-core assets and a reduction in overhead expenses of more than $ 400 million. - Non-core assets that were not competitive and did not offer the prospect of becoming competitive were sold for more than $ 1.4 billion. - Realized cash from the sale of those assets is being redirected to focused areas of growth, including expanding core oil and gas fields, focused exploration drilling and targeted marketing initiatives. DeCrane also stressed that one of the key components to Texaco's improved profitability is its use of innovative technology. By using proprietary 3D seismic imaging and 3D visualization and employing advanced horizontal drilling techniques Texaco is reducing its upstream development and production costs. Noting that Texaco continues to be an industry leader in reserve replacement at fully competitive finding and development costs, DeCrane highlighted some of the high-impact prospects the company is now exploring and delineating, including: the Tarim Basin in China, OFFSHORE MYANMAR, the Gorgon and Chrysaour fields offshore Australia, the deep water in the Gulf of Mexico and offshore Angola. Commenting on the downstream aspects of the business, DeCrane said: "By broadening the marketing of CleanSystem3 to Latin America, we have improved our sales by more than nine percent, exceeding that region's current demand growth. And our joint venture in Scandinavia (Texaco/Norsk Hydro) also is a success, with earnings already more than 100 percent above what the two companies alone would have produced." DeCrane pointed out that while the company's refining efficiency and reliability has improved, the excess supply throughout the world continues to keep downstream margins suppressed. "We know we must approach this problem differently. In fact, we must make our own margins -- through joint ventures, strategic alliances and different sourcing and selling of raw materials and products. "We have made great strides in meeting the goals set forth in our plan for growth, but we know we have more to achieve," DeCrane added. "Our plan shows us where we intended to be and where we need to go. We are proud of our progress and confident of our future. Texaco has a new spirit, reflected in the plans and performance of all of our employees." CONTACT: David J. Dickson, 914-253-4128 J. Michael Trevino, 914/253-4175 Cynthia B. Michener, 914-253-4743 Yorick P. Fonseca, 914-253-7034 Copyright 1995 The Financial Times Limited; ********************************* EUROPE BUILDS TIES WITH BURMA BYLINE: By TED BARDACKE DATELINE: RANGOON Several European countries, including the UK, France and Germany, are promoting trade and investment with Burma, despite official EU and UN condemnation of the regime's poor human rights record. The UK government has appointed new staff to its Rangoon embassy to deal with increasing interest in Burma shown by British companies. UK companies are now eligible for financial assistance to participate in official trade missions to Burma. The UK is the sixth largest foreign investor in Burma with nearly Dollars 70m of actual investment. The French government has been helping oil company Total with its Dollars 1.2bn gas pipeline project from the Andaman Sea to Thailand and Germany is considering the resumption of official loans to assist German companies competing for Burmese government contracts and concessions, according to Burmese officials. The increased activity follows the release of democracy activist and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi in July after nearly six years of house arrest. At the weekend she urged foreign investors to proceed cautiously and to consider only investments that will benefit the Burmese people rather than help the regime. Copyright 1995 The Financial Times Limited; ***************************************** FOR REFERENCE: 1994-5 PUBLICATIONS ON BURMA November, 1995 From: "Moe K. T." 1994 PUBLICATIONS ON BURMA TITLE A Burmese appeal to the UN and US AUTHOR Win, Kanbawza. PUBLISHER Bangkok : CPDSK Publication, [1994?] 59 p. SUBJECT United Nations--Burma., Burma--Politics and government. Burma--Economic conditions. TITLE A Report on the location of Burmese artifacts in museums AUTHOR Blackburn, Terence R. PUBLISHER Gartmore, Stirlingshire, Scotland : Kiscadale, 1994., 79 p. SUBJECT Art objects--Burma., Burma--Antiquities--Catalogs. TITLE Australia's relations with Colonial Burma : 1886-1947 AUTHOR Selth, Andrew. PUBLISHER Clayton, Victoria : Centre of Southeast Asian Studies, Monash University,1994. iii, 22 p SUBJECT Australia--Foreign relations--Burma., Burma--History--1824-1948. TITLE Burma debate. CORPORATE Open Society Institute. Burma Project. PUBLISHER Washington, D.C. : Open Society Institute, 1994-v. SUBJECT Burma--Periodicals. TITLE Burma : encountering the land of the Buddhas. AUTHOR Everarda, Ellis. PUBLISHER Stirling, Scotland : Kiscadale, 1994., 114 p. : ill. SUBJECT Burma--Description and travel--Pictorial works. TITLE Burma in revolt : opium and insurgency since 1948 AUTHOR Lintner, Bertil. PUBLISHER Boulder : Westview Press, 1994., xv, 514 p. SUBJECT Minorities--Burma., Opium trade--Burma.,Politics and government--1948-Burma--History--Autonomy and independence movements., Ethnic relations. TITLE Burmese crafts : past and present / Sylvia Fraser-Lu. AUTHOR Fraser-Lu, Sylvia. PUBLISHER Kuala Lumpur ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1994. SUBJECT Art objects--Burma., Art objects, Buddhist--Burma. TITLE Comparative study of the two military juntas: Thailand and Burma : a Burmese perspective. - 2nd ed. AUTHOR Kanbawza Win. PUBLISHER Bangkok : C.P.D.S.K. Publications, 1994. 74 p. : ill. SUBJECT Military government--Burma., Thailand. TITLE Culture shock! : Burma AUTHOR Saw Myat Yin. PUBLISHER Singapore : Times Books International, c1994. 207 p. : ill. ; SUBJECT Etiquette, Description and travel, Social life, customs in Burma TITLE Hard travel to sacred places AUTHOR Wurlitzer, Rudolph. PUBLISHER Boston : Shambhala, 1994. v, 161 p. ; 20 cm. SUBJECT Wurlitzer, Rudolph--Journeys--Cambodia, Thailand, Burma. Buddhism--Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, Description and travel. TITLE Inked over, ripped out : Burmese storytellers and the censors AUTHOR Allott, Anna J. PUBLISHER Chiang Mai : Silkworm Books, 1994.,124 p. ; 19 cm. SUBJECT Burmese fiction--20th century--History and criticism. Authors, Burmese--20th century--Political and social views. Burmese fiction--Authorship--Political aspects,Psychology in literature, Censorship, Burmese fiction--20th century--Translations into English.,m Burma--Politics and government--1988- TITLE Mandalay : travels from the Golden City. AUTHOR Strachan, Paul. PUBLISHER Gartmore, Striling : Kiscadale Publications, 1994., xii, 226 p. SUBJECT Burma--Description and travel. TITLE Mawchi : mining, war and insurgency in Burma AUTHOR Crozier, L. A. CORPORATE Griffith University. Centre for the Study of Australia-Asia Relations. PUBLISHER Queensland : Centre for the Study of Australia-Asia Relations, Faculty ofAsian and International Studies, Griffith University, 1994., 113 p. SUBJECT Crozier, L. A., Australians--Burma., Insurgency--Burma--Mawchi-- History. Mawchi (Burma)--History., Burma--Politics and government--1824-1948. Burma--Politics and government--1948- TITLE Mountbatten : the private story AUTHOR Hoey, Brian. PUBLISHER London : Sidgwick and Jackson, 1994., x, 272 p. SUBJECT Mountbatten of Burma, Louis Mountbatten, Earl, 1900-1979. Admirals--Great Britain--Biography., Viceroys--India--Biography. TITLE Return via Rangoon : a young chindit survives the jungle and Japanese captivity. AUTHOR Stibbe, Philip. PUBLISHER London : Leo Cooper, 1994. xv, 232 p. SUBJECT World War, 1939-1945--Campaigns--Burma. World War, 1939-1945--Prisoners and prisons, Japanese., World War, 1939-1945--Personal narratives, English. TITLE Thailand and Burma handbook. PUBLISHER Bath, England : Trade and Travel Publications, 1994-v. SUBJECT Thailand, Burma--Description and travel--Guide-books. TITLE Twilight over Burma : my life as a Shan princess, foreword by Bertil Lintner. AUTHOR Sargent, Inge. PUBLISHER Honolulu : University of Hawai Press, 1994. xxiv, 216 p. : SUBJECT Kya Seng, Sao, Sargent, Inge., Shans (Asian people)--Kings and rulers--Biography. Shan State (Burma)--Politics and governemnt. 1995 PUBLICATIONS ON BURMA TITLE Burma the golden AUTHOR Klein, Wilhelm., Pfannmuller, Gunter. PUBLISHER [Bangkok] : Insight Topics, 1995. 168 p. : col. ill. SUBJECT Buddhism, Description and travel--Pictorial works. Religious life and customs--Pictorial works. TITLE Constructive engagement in the Burmese context AUTHOR Kanbawza Win. PUBLISHER Bangkok : CPDSK, 1995., j, 210 p. SUBJECT Burma. SLORC, Democracy--Burma., Politics and government--1988- TITLE Cultural sites of Burma, Thailand, and Cambodia AUTHOR Dumarcay, Jacques. Smithies, Michael, 1932- PUBLISHER Kuala Lumpur ; New York : Oxford University Press, 1995. xi, SUBJECT Monuments, Antiquities, Civilization--Burma.Thailand.Cambodia. TITLE Freedom from fear : and other writings foreword by Desmond Tutu ; edited with an introduction by Michael Aris. - AUTHOR Aung San Suu Kyi. Aris, Michael. PUBLISHER London : Penguin Books, 1995., xxxi, 374 p. SUBJECT Aung San suu Kyi, Burma--Politics and government. TITLE Norman Lewis omnibus AUTHOR Lewis, Norman. PUBLISHER London : Picador, 1995. 834 p. SUBJECT Lewis, Norman--Journeys--Asia. Indochina--Description and travel. Burma--Description and travel, India--Description and travel. -------------------------------------------------------------- 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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