Subject: The BurmaNet News February 21, 1997 Date: Thu, 20 Feb 1997 21:40:16 -0800 (PST) From: strider@igc.apc.org Reply-To: Conference "reg.burma" To: Recipients of burmanet-l ------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: February 21, 1997 Issue #645 HEADLINES: ========== THE NATION: THAI FORCES GEAR UP FOR INCURSIONS BKK POSTS: US SLAMS ATTACKS ON KAREN FORCES STRAITS TIMES: UN OFFICIAL IN MYANMAR FOR 'LOW-KEY' TALKS NDF: STATEMENT OF THE 4TH CONGRESS AFL-CIO: NEWS RELEASE-CALL FOR SANCTIONS STRAITS TIMES: KARENS SURRENDER ARMS TO GOVT TROOPS THAILAND TIMES: LAND MINES THRUST BACK KAREN RENEGADES KNU & NCUB: PRESS STATEMENTS FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: HIGH ON DRUGS REUTER: MYANMAR REBEL CHIEF 'FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL' ASIA TIMES: YANGON AIMS TO CLEAR PATH FOR INVESTORS KYODO: MILITARY TV STATION TO BROADCAST VIA ASIASAT-2+ NEW WEB PAGE: BUSINESS IN AND OUT OF BURMA ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NATION: THAI FORCES GEAR UP FOR INCURSIONS February 20, 1997 CHUMPHON ­ Thai Army forces and paratroopers have mapped out a plan to deal with incursions by Burmese forces as the threat to the Karen rebels' southern strongholds drives more refugees, mostly children, into Thailand. Over 200 Karen recently fled across the border through Chong Kamiew, some two kilometres into Thai territory. Of these 129 are children and three are new-born babies. The refugee group included several expectant mothers. Chong Kamiew, or Kamiew Pass, is in Tha Sae district in southern Chumphon province. Local Chumphon authorities are providing assistance to the refugees and a health unit has been dispatched to the shelter site. Maj Thira Daewa, an Army's Dhep Satri Forces' strategic officer in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, said yesterday that Karen fugitives had told him that they do not want to surrender or return to Burma. The ethnic Karens weredetermined to fight for their survival rather than give themselves up to what they described as a certain death sentence at the hands of the Burmese authorities, he said. Thira said the situation on the Burmese side is very tense as Burmese troops are expected to attack the strongholds of the Karen National Union's (KNU) 11th and 12th battalions at any time. According to the officer, six Burmese Army battalions from Kawthaung under the command of Brig Gen Chit Maung are closing in on KNU forces under the command of Maj Simon. Local Chumphon authorities are concerned that if an all-out Burmese strike occurs, the fighting could adversely affect the Phetkasem superhighway, which connects central Thailand with the southern provinces. The Burmese Army's reported military target is located about 34 kilometres from the superhighway. ''If the fighting begins, it could be very dangerous for us [Thailand]," said Thira. Maj Gen Niphat Dhepmongkol, commander of the Dhep Satri Forces, said the Thai side has already prepared for the impact of the fighting and that troops from the 41st Border Patrol Police and the 4501st, 4502nd and 4503rd Paratroopers had already been sent to the frontier to retaliate if either the Burmese or the KNU violate Thai territory. Thira said although the tension had mounted since last Wednesday, the Thai side did not know exactly when the Burmese offensive would begin.(TN) ********************** BKK POSTS: US SLAMS ATTACKS ON KAREN FORCES February 20, 1997 The United States yesterday condemned Burmese govnerment attacks on Karen military forces along the Thai border. The US State Department has urged Burma to stop the offensive and start talking with ethnic minority groups and the opposition party to bring about national reconciliation. "We call upon the govnerment of Burma to halt its military attacks and return to negotiations to achieve national reconciliation with the ethnic minority groups and the democratic political opposition," said the department. (BP) ***************************** STRAITS TIMES: SENIOR UN OFFICIAL IN MYANMAR FOR 'LOW-KEY' TALKS February 20, 1997 (AFP) YANGON -- A senior United Nations envoy has held talks with Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw and other Myanmar officials in Yangon, official sources said yesterday. A Foreign Ministry source said the visit of Mr Francesc Vendrell, director for East Asia in the UN's political affairs department, was essentially "low-profile" and confined to "official calls". In New York, a UN official said on Tuesday that Mr Vendrell was in Myanmar to try to set the stage for talks between the government and opposition leaders. However, no meeting was scheduled with opposition figures. The envoy was the first UN representative to visit Myanmar since Deputy Secretary-General Alvaro de Soto's trip in late 1995. Last year, the UN and Yangon were unable to agree on the terms of an official mission. The state-run New Light of Myanmar reported yesterday that Mr Vendrell and another UN official had also met Mr Than Aung, Secretary-General of the Union Solidarity and Development Association (USDA), a pro-government mass organisation. Mr Than Aung explained USDA operations and its efforts to promote "stability, peace and tranquility and development of the state", and answered relevant questions, the aily said. Yangon Mayor Ko Lay and other officials also attended the meeting, the paper said. Mr Vendrell arrived on Monday and leaves on Sunday.(ST) ************************** NDF: STATEMENT OF THE 4TH CONGRESS February 15, 1997 The Fourth Congress of the National Democratic Front (NDF), was successfully held along the Thai-Burma border from February 7th until February 15, 1997. Fifty-three representatives from various nationalities, parties and organizations belonging to the National Democratic Front as well as observers attended the congress. Representatives from Shan United Revolutionary Army and ethnic representatives from the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma also attended the Congress. The Congress participants held frank and earnest discussions regarding the situation of members of the National Democratic Front, as well as other national resistance groups who are facing similar oppression by the SLORC. These discussions were for the purpose of establishing stronger unity to better consolidate the NDF in carrying on the struggle or victory against the SLORC. The following has been agreed upon by the Fourth NDF Congress: - To abide by the agreement reached at Mae Tha Raw Hta (Ethnic Nationalities Seminar) in January 1997, and to strive to implement that agreement. - To continue striving towards the establishment of a Federal Government which has always been an objective of the National Democratic Front. - To collectively resist the SLORC’s Ethnic Cleansing Policy and to recognize each other’s cultural uniqueness and ethnic identity. - The Congress rejects the cease-fire agreements arranged by the SLORC with various ethnic groups as nothing but divide and conquer tactics. The agreements do not lead to real and lasting peace but only propagate ethnic cleansing programs as they provide the SLORC with greater freedom to operate in the ethnic areas. - The Congress strongly condemns the use of arms by the SLORC against the Karen National Union while the latter are striving for an end to the civil war and achievement of internal peace through negotiations. - The Congress acknowledges the scourge of narcotics production and trafficking to generations of ethnic peoples in the ethnic nationalities areas. The Congress agrees to establish an organization for total eradication of narcotics and to establish a viable crop substitution program. The Congress invites all groups involved with narcotics to work with us for an appropriate solution to this problem. - The National Convention currently convened by the SLORC is a sham. It is merely an instrument to prolong the SLORC’s hold on power and to more deeply entrench the military dictatorship. This NDF Congress will use all means available to oppose it. Foreign investment does not help the ethnic nationalities, or any other citizen of Burma. In fact it helps to prolong the SLORC’s hold on power and makes it possible for the SLORC to continue violating human rights. Therefore the Congress is strongly opposed to all foregin investment at this time. - The Fourth Congress of the National Democratic Front welcomes Daw Aung San Suu Kyi’s speech on the 50th anniversary of Union Day in which she mentions that all nationalities join hands in the establishment of a genuine federal union. The NDF joins hands with the democratic forces led by Aung San Suu Kyi to bring an end to the military dictatorship. - Tri-partite dialogue is the most appropriate means to solve the political problems of Burma. Hence, the Fourth Congress of the NDF strongly urges the international community to put increased pressure on the SLORC to agree to tri-partite dialogue. February 15, 1997 *************************************** AFL-CIO: NEWS RELEASE-CALL FOR SANCTIONS February 19, 1997 Pamela Wellner Posted to the Web by Free Burma: No Petro-dollars for SLORC OCAW AFL-CIO Oil, Chemical & Atomic Workers Int'l Union, AFL-CIO News Release For Immediate Release contact Joe Drexler or Rod Roger February 19, 1997 303- 987-2229 AFL-CIO LEADERSHIP CALL FOR IMPLEMENTATION OF SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMA'S MILITARY REGIME President of Energy Workers' Union Introduces Resolution The Executive Council of the 13.9 million member AFL-CIO today passed a resolution introduced by the Oil, Chemical and Atomic Workers International Union (OCAW) condemning the current military government in Burma and urging "the Clinton Administration to implement economic sanctions without further delay in accordance with the law." "We hope that we have stuck another nail in the military's regime's coffin with this resolution which expresses the leadership sentiment representing millions of U.S. workers," said Robert Wages, OCAW President, who sponsored the resolution. "Maybe now the Clinton Administration will do what Congress intended it to do and quite making excuses for refusing to impose these sanctions," he added. Wages commented further that continued and increasing repression in Burma provides clear evidence that the conditions granted by Congress to the President to impose sanctions have been met. The resolution also call on U.S. corporations to withdraw their investment in Burma and encourages unions to mobilize members to pressure the Clinton administration and Congress to take whatever steps necessary to restore democracy and civilian rule in Burma. In addition, the resolution encourages unions to support selective purchasing legislation barring the expenditure of public funds with companies which do business in Burma. Selective purchasing laws have been passed in nine cities, one country and one state. Unocal, Arco and Texaco are singled out in the resolution for special scorn by the labor body for "providing it the (military regime) with large amounts of desperately needed hard currency" at the same time oil companies are engaged "in severe downsizing and cost-cutting which has compromised worker and community safety and is resulting in significant loss of high-skill, high-wage jobs in the United States." Also receiving special attention is the production and sale of heroin, which is attributed to being the military regime's largest source of capital beyond that provided by the oil companies, and widespread use of forced labor. We're soon going to find out whose side the Clinton Administration is really on--the oil companies and drug dealers or the workers." said Wages. According to Wages, OCAW is planning a "Three Days for Burma" campaign to take place sometime in the Spring in which the 90,000 member union will be fully mobilized throughout the country to enlist union members to exert pressure on the Clinton Administration and Congress to take whatever steps are necessary to restore democracy and civilian rule in Burma. ---------------------------- AFL-CIO EXECUTIVE COUNCIL STATEMENT Burma When the omnibus appropriations bill was signed into law last September by President Clinton , a clear line was drawn defining a new course for U.S. policy toward Burma. Sanctions will be invoked if conditions in Burma deteriorate and the military regime which goes by the acronym SLORC (State Law and Order Restoration Council) has "physically harmed, rearessted for political acts, or exiled Aung San Suu Kyi or has committed large-scale repression of violence against the democratic opposition." Since the bill was signed into law, the situation has gone from bad to worse. Hundreds of opposition leader and activists have been arrested and Aung San Suu Kyi remains virtually imprisoned in her own home and subjected to increasingly severe forms of harassment. Freedom of association is absolutely denied. There are no independent unions in Burma, and all attempts to organize them are brutally suppressed. Only within the past three weeks, SLORC has mounted a new military offensive against the Karen, one of Burma's ethnic minorities, resulting in thousands of new refugees. Refugee camps along the Thai-Burmese border have been attacked and burned. Furthermore, if anything, the widespread and systematic use of forced labor by the SLORC to rebuild the country's decrepit infrastructure has increased during the past year as SLORC has promoted tourism in a desperate attempt to attract hard currency. The International Confederation of Free Trade Unions has estimated that 800,000 men, women and children have been utilized as forced laborers, many in connection with the construction of an overland gas pipeline by SLORC which is in joint venture with Unocal and its French partner Total. So great have been the abuses that SLORC has been singled out by the International Labor Organization, the UN Commission on Human Rights, the European Union, and the US Congress as one of the world's most notorious human rights violators. The growing international consensus to isolate Burma has led to the withdrawal of European companies such as Heineken and Carlsberg. Earlier, under pressure from campus and consumer activists, such U.S. companies as Levi Strauss, Eddie Bauer and Liz Claiborne pulled out all production out of Burma. Recently, PepsiCo announced that is is severing all commercial ties to Burma. Recognizing that foreign investment contributes directly to the strengthening of the military regime and the continued repression of civilians, Aung San Suu Kyi has repeatedly called on international business to suspend investment until the country is democratic. U.S. corporations that continue to do business in Burma cannot deny their complicity in keeping the regime in power. This is especially true for U.S. based oil companies which stubbornly continue to prop up the military regime by providing it with large amounts of desperately needed hard currency. In addition to Unocal, ARCO and Texaco are engaged in exploration that may provide SLORC with significant additional capital. This is occurring at the same time that oil companies are engaged in severe downsizing and cost-cutting which has compromised worker and community safety and is resulting in a significant loss of high-skill, high-wage jobs in the United States. Beyond revenues provided by major oil companies, the production and sale of heroin is SLORC's largest source of capital. Under SLORC, Burma has become the largest source supplier of heroin in the world and 60 percent of the heroin seized in the United States comes from Burma. There is a growing body of evidence that the Myanmar Oil and Gas Enterprise, Unocal's partner in Burma is serving as a front for drug money laundering. The AFL-CIO urges the Clinton Administration to implement economic sanctions without further delay in accordance with the law. We call on all U.S. corporations still doing business in Burma, to withdraw all investment, licenses, franchises, contracts, goods and services. We encourage our unions to actively support selective purchasing legislation at the local, state and federal levels which bans contracts or the expenditure of public funds with companies that do business in Burma. And finally, we encourage our unions to mobilize members to exert the necessary political pressure on the Clinton Administration and Congress to take whatever steps necessary to restore democracy and civilian rule in Burma. ****************************** STRAITS TIMES: KARENS SURRENDER ARMS TO GOVT TROOPS February 20, 1997 Reuter MYAWADDY (Myanmar) -- Myanmar army officers said yesterday that about 400 Karen National Union (KNU) guerrillas had surrendered their weapons to Myanmar troops as the government continued an operation to secure control of all Karen-held territory near the Thai-Myanmar border. The officers told reporters that the guerrillas handed over 280 rifles and 15 mortars at the border town and dispersed without being detained. "They did not surrender but merely gave us the weapons because they were fed up with fighting," a Myanmar officer said. A KNU spokesman disputed the number, saying only 70 guerrillas had surrendered their weapons. He also said that the rebels had quit the KNU because they had committed crimes. "Yes, there are some 70 of the guerrillas who committed adultery and other wrongs who know that they cannot stay with us and have defected to Burma," KNU spokesman Ner Dah told Reuters by telephone. The latest development follows reports from some senior sources within the KNU of policy differences between hard-line KNU leader General Bo Mya and his moderate deputy General Swe Seing over how to deal with the military government in Yangon. Gen Swe Seing wants to soften the KNU's stance against Yangon and start negotiations for peace with Myanmar, the sources said. The KNU was formed in 1948 to fight for greater autonomy from Yangon and is the last ethnic rebel group which continues to reject Yangon's peace overtures. The ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) said that at least 15 rebel factions had already reached ceasefire accords with the government. Mr Mahn Sha, a confidante of Gen Bo Mya, said the KNU still commanded more than 15,000 guerrillas and continued to fight against Myanmar troops. Myanmar troops last week sacked several key KNU mobile camps operating inside eastern Myanmar in an operation which caused more than 20,000 Karen refugees to flee into Thailand. The attacks were part of a major military operation by Yangon to secure control of the entire 2,500 km border with Thailand. Authorities in the Thai province of Tak have prohibited the residents of five districts from going near the Thai-Myanmar border along the Moei River between 6pm to 6am to prevent possible danger from fighting in Myanmar. Army personnel have been deployed to tighten security along the border. Meanwhile, the US State Department yesterday urged Myanmar to halt its military operations against the Karens, saying it was "deeply disturbed" by events. A statement released by the US Embassy in Bangkok said: "The United States is deeply disturbed by the Burma army's attacks against ethnic Karens living near the border with Thailand."(ST) ************************** THAILAND TIMES: LAND MINES THRUST BACK KAREN RENEGADES TO BURMA February 20, 1997 by Assawin Pinitwong TAK ; Pro-Rangoon Karen renegades who yesterday attempted to cross into Thailand with the aim of torching a refugee camp were forced to retreat when land mines set by Thai soldiers killed five of their men, said a Thai border patrol police source. Working under cover of darkness, around 50 soldiers form the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) tried to ford the Moei river in order to land them in Mae Ramard district's Ban Huay Bong village, not for from Ban Huay Bon refugee camp, the source said. He said he was in no doubt that they were set on razing the 90 houses still left in the camp following a DKBA arson attack last month. Stationed nearby, the 345th Thai border patrol police heard the exploding mines and immediately responded by bombarding the area, said the source. However, darkness prevented them from proceeding further. At first light, border patrol police moved in to survey the scene, where they found blood stains indicating that five bodies had been towed back to Burma, the source added. Bo Ye Mya, leader of Ban Huay Bong camp, said the Karen refugees living in the area had been afraid that such an assault was on its way after hearing reports that DKBA leader U Thuzana was intent on reducing the camp to ashes. He said about 50 male refugees in the camp had been assigned the task of acting as security guards to gather information on DKBA activities and monitor people coming in and out of the camp. The Thai police have also stepped up security in the area, with 345th border patrol police's Platoon 3452 now stationed at a hill near Ban Huay Bong camp form where they are afforded a comprehensive view across to Burma. Dialogue between Burma and Thailand on the repeated cross-border incursions received another blow yesterday, when the Thai side's Thai-Burmese local border committee indefinitely postponed the meeting of the committee that had been scheduled for February 20. ***************************************************************** KNU & NCUB: PRESS STATEMENTS All Burma Students' Democratic Front February 20-21, 1997 PRESS RELEASE No. 1/97 FROM THE KAREN NATIONAL UNION ON THE 1997 SLORC OFFENSIVE February 20, 1997 1. The massive military offensive against Karen National Union Headquarters at Hteekerpler in KNU 6th Brigade area, began on February 2nd 1997. The offensive has now extended to the KNU's 4th Brigade of Mergui-Tavoy District area. Simultaneous offensives against the KNU are also occurring in KNU Brigade areas 1, 2, 3, 5 and 7. 2. In this general offensive against the KNU human rights abuses such as arbitrary arrest, portering, rape, torture, murder, looting, and the destruction of property, have been perpetrated by SLORC troops against thousands of civilians in the various front-line areas. Many of these civilians are trapped inside these brigade areas and have been unable to cross the border into Thailand due to the overwhelming presence of SLORC troops. 3. Within days of the start of the offensive against the KNU 6th Brigade area, an influx of over 20, 000 refugees into Thailand has occurred. Many more refugees are expected to cross the border into Thailand. Although international relief organisations are assisting some of these refugees at present, further assistance such as shelter, sanitation, clean water, food, medicines, medical assistance, are urgently needed. 4. The SLORC is not only conducting an all-out military offensive against the KNU, but its Psychological Warfare Department also waging a propaganda campaign by spreading false rumours amongst the people in these areas to discredit the KNU. These false rumours state that there is a split between the President of the KNU, General Bo Mya, and the vice-president of the KNU General Shwe Hser, and that there has been a massive surrender of KNU troops to the SLORC side. 5. The basic policy of the KNU is to resolve the political problems between the KNU and SLORC peacefully by political means through dialogue, but the SLORC has responded with a massive military offensive. Therefore the Karen people and other united ethnic groups of Burma and pro-democracy forces will now have to continue to wage a war of resistance against the SLORC. February 20th, 1997. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- PRESS RELEASE NO (3) ON EMERGENCY SITUATION OF THE KAREN REFUGEE Clarification on Information Currently Circulating on Radio, wire services and TV 1. The NCUB would like to make it clear that the Karen National Union (KNU) chairman General Saw Bo Mya has been taking a leading role in the affairs of the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), and members of all Alliance troops in launching a resistance war against the SLORC. General Bo Mya has not been receiving medical treatment at a hospital in Bangkok as described in media recently. 2. The fact which recently appeared in the media saying that there is now a conflict and disunity among the KNU leadership is totally groundless and is merely a psychological attack against the KNU by the SLORC. 3. Kawkareik's KNU township Chairman, Saw Mahn Yin Sein, was abducted by the SLORC and did not voluntarily join the SLORC or Democratic Kayin Buddhist Army (DKBA). 4. We confirm that KNLA Battalion No.16 commander and 30 KNLA soldiers surrendered to the SLORC. However, final reports state that some of them were forced to surrender and have managed to escape by fleeing back to KNLA troops. 5. We also would like to clarify that news release by Thai TV Channel 7, stating that Brigadier General Mu Tu surrendered to the SLORC is false news and he is continuing to actively resist against the brutal offensive launched by the military junta. 6. The National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) would like to encourage the international community to consider the fact that there are a lot of rumors and propaganda ploys currently being created and disseminated by SLORC and other individuals with the intention to disregard the struggle for peace, democracy and a Federal Union. 7. NCUB would like to recommend that journalists contact Pado Mahn Shar (KNU), Khun Teddy Buri (NCGUB), Aung Saw Oo (NLD-LA), and/or U Tin Maung Win (DAB), in order to check details or to obtain accurate information regarding the situation, before disseminating further news, in order to avoid factual errors. Information Committee, National Council of the Union of Burma (NCUB) February 21, 1997 ******************************* FAR EASTERN ECONOMIC REVIEW: HIGH ON DRUGS February 20, 1997 Opium production in Burma's northernmost Kachin State is increasing rapidly. The state was declared an "opium-free zone" by the rebel Kachin Independence Organization in the early 1990's, and American satellites subsequently recorded a decline in poppy cultivation. But the anti-opium scheme seems to have fallen apart after the KIO signed a ceasefire agreement in 1993 with the Rangoon junta. The regime appears to have encouraged local farmers to grow poppies in the areas it controls, and the Kachin rebels have been unable to sustain their anti-drug campaign. Increased production has been observed especially in the northern and western parts of Kachin State. What looks like official connivance in the drug trade in Burma is also noticable elsewhere: There are now four heroin refineries in Mandalay, the first evidence of refining activity taking place inside a major Burmese city. ******************** REUTER: MYANMAR REBEL CHIEF 'FIGHTING FOR SURVIVAL' February 20, 1997 UMPHANG (Thailand) -- Myanmar's rebel Karen National Union (KNU) leader Bo Mya is using Karen refugees as a human shield to buy time to try to avert a looming split within his ranks, rebel and Thai border officials said yesterday. The KNU may be near the brink of collapse because of serious policy differences between the hardline General Bo Mya and moderate Vice-President Swe Seing. The reports came as Myanmar troops moved against the last areas of south-eastern Myanmar, held by Karen guerillas after successful strikes against rebel positions further north. Myanmar government troops were approaching a strip of territory more than 200 km long, adjacent to the border with Thailand, held by the fourth brigade of the Karen National Union (KNU), reports said. About 2,000 refugees have crossed into Thailand's Kanchanaburi province ahead of the advance, Thai television reported late on Monday. They join the more than 20,000 other Karen refugees who arrived in Thailand after fleeing fighting last week between Myanmar troops and KNU guerillas inside eastern Myanmar, and the 70,000 Karen refugees who have been camping along Thailand's western border with Myanmar since 1984. The rift within the KNU has created uncertainty among the Karen refugees. Myanmar troops destroyed several key KNU mobile camps inside their soil, which ruffled rebel ranks and led to charges by some that Gen Bo Mya's hardline stance had brought about the guerilla group's recent string of setbacks. The predominantly-Christian KNU was formed in 1948 to fight for greater autonomy from Myanmar's central government. It was wracked by a major internal split in 1994 and lost all bases and headquarters on the Myanmar side in March 1995. But it is still one of the last holdouts among Myanmar's dozen ethnic rebel groups, most of which have recently signed peace pacts with Yangon after having fought the central government on and off since the country's independence from Britain. Gen Bo Mya, 71, KNU's head since 1976 but now leader of a smaller group of guerillas, has vowed to fight the ruling Myanmar State Law and Order Restoration Council (Slorc) and refused to lay down arms despite Yangon's peace offers. But a more moderate and powerful faction lead by KNU Vice-President, Gen Swe Seing, wants to soften the group's stance and start some negotiations for peace with Myanmar, KNU sources said. "The KNU is about to collapse because of the internal conflict. That is why a certain group of people who are very selfish have decided to use the civilians as the shield for survival," said a top KNU official who declined to be named. The official said he was referring to Gen Bo Mya and his loyalists as the group of people fighting for survival. Gen Bo Mya "was supposed to be finished since 1995 and be replaced by Swe Seing, but the old man is too selfish and people are too scared of him", he added. He estimated that 70 per cent of KNU guerillas who used to be under Gen Bo Mya were either living in Thai border towns or among the refugees in the camps. Given reports of Myanmar attacks on their mobile camps and the tension that followed, some KNU guerillas had taken the opportunity to join in the new influx of refugees and live under the patronage of international aid agencies, he added. "We have nothing left now. No forests, the Burmese are everywhere, and so the only place to live and survive in are refugees camps in Thailand," a senior KNU official said. The Myanmar-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA), which caused the KNU split in 1995, has accused KNU guerillas of hiding in refugee camps and sneaking out to launch surprise sabotage and attacks on them inside Myanmar soil. Myanmar has vowed to clear out all KNU guerillas from its eastern border, saying they posed a major security threat. -- Reuter. ************** ASIA TIMES: YANGON AIMS TO CLEAR PATH FOR INVESTORS February 20, 1997 Vissuta Pothong and Thomas Crampton, Bangkok, Ethic Karen along the Thai border now under heavy attack from Myanmar government troops stand in the way of hugely lucrative energy and trade projects. On Wednesday some Karen National Union (KNU) guerrillas reportedly began surrendering their weapons. According to the Myanmar army, 400 guerrillas surrendered their weapons to Myanmar troops, but the KNU said that only 70 were involved. Myanmar previously vowed to clear out all KNU guerrillas from its eastern border. Economics played no decisive role in the decision to launch the annual dry season offensive which resulted in razed villages and sent more than 20,000 refugees across the Thai border in the past week. There are, however, several key projects on both sides of the border that stand to benefit from the surrender of the Karen. "There are a whole host of things that have been talked about if the [KNU] was not in the way, hydroelectric dams, the importing of water. The Karen can potentially be an economic threat," a Yangon-based Western diplomat said. Myanmar's Ministry of Energy advisor Pe Kyi insisted the fighting with the Karen would "not in any way" affect progress of the Yadana gas pipeline. However, a Yangon-based employee of Texaco working on the project said he had no confidence in Myanmar's ability to protect the pipeline. "You can have soldiers every five feet, but you just need one crazy man and anything can happen." The controversial pipeline - which will provide an annual income of US$600 million for 30 years - is just one of a series of projects in the wedge of Myanmar formerly occupied by the Karen located between Thailand and the Andaman Sea. The Yangon government recently granted a licence to Thai companies MDX and Ital-Thai and Japan's Marubeni to carry out a feasibility study on a 150 megawatt hydroelectric dam on the Mae Kok river near Tha Ton, opposite Thailand's Tak province where the refugees have fled. A Yangon-based Asian diplomat said: "Right now the gas pipeline is the country's major economic interest and for the first few years of operation it will be the largest source of hard currency. "They want to eradicate the KNU so there won't be any problems negotiating peace or any problems with the gas line, which in the past the KNU has attacked," the diplomat added. Over the past few years the Karen have launched several attacks in the pipeline region but all - bar one in 1995 - have stopped short of the construction zone, according to Yangon-based officials of the Petroleum Authority of Thailand. The gas companies have managed to set up a headquarters and start laying pipe without undue KNU interference. Also straddling the area is a project to turn the undeveloped Tavoy into a deep seaport to give Myanmar desperately needed access to export markets in South Asia, the Middle East and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. Linked to Thailand by road and rail, Tavoy would be the first port in the Andaman Sea that could transfer goods from Europe and the United States without stopping at Singapore or traveling into the Gulf of Thailand. At present, the undeveloped site is an abundant source of fresh seafood which is flown daily to Yangon before being air shipped around the region. Contractors have not yet been selected to upgrade the port to serve 120,000 tonne vessels, but Japanese investors have already shown a great deal of interest in developing a nearby industrial estate, according to Ital-Thai president Premchai Karnnasuta. Ital-Thai had also planned a road link connecting the industrial estate with Thailand, Premchai added. Thai investors appreciated the potential of the project so much that last month they upset Myanmar officials by trying to outbid each other. "Overwhelmed with separate project proposals, Development Minister David Abel said that Thai investors should not struggle with one an- other to get into Tavoy but should work together with cooperation, dividing up their strengths," Manu Sattayateva, director in charge of the Western Seaboard, said. Eager to import Myanmar's natural gas to generate much needed electricity and act as a gateway for goods from Tavoy, Thailand has been developing the Western Seaboard development scheme. The final Western Seaboard study, to be presented on March 8 by the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, will be the basic strategy for the development of sub-regional linkages for Thailand with Myanmar by the year 2011. Among other initiatives, the scheme encourages the use of illegal immigrants and refugees near the border as low-wage factory workers. Thai investors in Kanchanaburi have also urged the government to construct a railway to the proposed deep seaport at Tavoy. "If you have peace along the border, everyone can enjoy the economic benefits," Thanin Pa-em, of Thailand's National Economic and Social Development Board, said. "The pipeline projects are the deciding factor for the success of other projects." Pe Kyi of Myanmar's Ministry of Energy stressed the Karen could never attack the Yadana gas pipeline and it was on schedule for a July 1, 1998 start up. However, Thailand's economic advantages could be offset by both the cost of dealing with refugees and also the prospect of facing Myanmar's troops for the first time in 50 years without the benefit of the Karen rebels acting as a buffer, a Bangkok-based analyst said. (AT) ********************************** KYODO: MILITARY TV STATION TO BROADCAST VIA ASIASAT-2+ February 20, 1997 YANGON, Feb. 20 Kyodo - Myanmar's military-run television station Myawaddy Television (MWD TV) signed an agreement in Yangon on Wednesday with Asia Satellite Telecommunication Co. to use the Hong Kong company's Asiasat-2 transponder, state-run newspapers reported Thursday. The agreement was signed between Brig. Gen. Aung Thein of the Defense Ministry and Sabrina Cubbon of Asia Satellite Communication Co., the Hong Kong-based firm's subsidiary in Yangon. MWD TV began airing programs in March 1995 for four hours in the morning, in addition to programs shown on the same channel for seven hours in the afternoon by the state-controlled Myanmar Television and Radio Department (MTRD). MWD TV will soon broadcast in the afternoon through Asiasat-2 using a separate channel operated by the MTRD, the newspapers said. -Kyodo ************************ NEW WEB PAGE: BUSINESS IN AND OUT OF BURMA 13 February, 1997 I've finally set up a primitive web page showing the total size of markets that are either lost to businesses involved in Burma or where those businesses face a handicap in competing with ethical businesses. The address is: http://www-leland.stanford.edu/~schmidtb/burma.html This is just the big money page so far- any new government, university or organization that sets up barriers to businesses in general (not just one business), and has a budget over US$1,000,000 should be added to this page. I also plan to set up a linked page for smaller markets - same conditions as above except the minimum budget would be $10,000. Please send any information you may have on organizations that qualify to me at Please include either verifying information source or a way to reach a contact person to verify the info submitted. ************************