Subject: The BurmaNet News February 25, 1997 Date: Mon, 24 Feb 1997 20:25:39 -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 25, 1997 Issue #649 HEADLINES: ========== ABSDF: INDO-BURMA BORDER NEWS BRC-JAPAN: BORDER UPDATE -FEB 23, 1997 THAILAND TIMES:ARMY PORTERS SENT ACROSS THE BORDER THE ECONOMIST: THE BRAVE FACES OF THE KAREN THAILAND TIMES:HAWKE TELLS WORLD TO LINK WITH BURMA SPEECH FOR CFOB: JOHN RAULSTON SAUL ASIA TIMES: THAI GENERAL PREDICTS FALL OF KAREN REBEL THE NATION: ALLIES LOOK ON AS KAREN TAKE BEATING THE NATION: OPTIMISM ABOUT ENTERING ASEAN THE NATION: HARSH TREATMENT OF DETAINED STUDENTS THE NATION: PRICE CUT TIED TO INCREASE IN GAS PURCHASE ANNOUNCEMENT:BAY AREA BURMA ROUNDTABLE -------------------------------------------------------------- ABSDF: INDO-BURMA BORDER NEWS February 24, 1997 From: "ABSDF (WB)" On 1st Feb 1997 Township Law and Order Restoration Council chairman of Leshi township, Saggaing division, Naga hill tract U Mya Han sent a letter to the command of (222) Burma Regiment mobile column Maj. Aung Swe Oo to call civilian porters for carrying ration for (1000) soldiers. Therefore Maj. Aung Swe Oo ordered the villagers from the following villages to come to Leshi town without failure. Name of the village Number of porters 1. Summra village 130 2.Kuki village 125 3.Phontharet village 85 4.Pansat village 115 5.Ngachan village 100 6.Kokailong village 108 These porters have to carry ration from Leshi to the places where the soldiers are deployed inside Leshi township.But there is no car road between Leshi and Summra and on foot it takes two days journey. The villages were informed that they would not get any wages and for food they have to arrange by themselves from their homes. Villagers are busy at hill-side cultivation at the moment and due to that the village chiefs requested to the army to reduce the number of porters. But Maj. Aung Swe Oo replied that if the villagers can not fulfill the number of porters that they had been asked, the villagers have to supply the ration for (1000) soldiers. Thus they had to send their full quota of porters to the said place. Due to this forced porterage the villagers from respective villages had to leave Summer season hill-side cultivation. News and information unit A.B.S.D.F. (Western Burma) ****************** BRC-JAPAN: BORDER UPDATE -FEB 23, 1997 February 23, 1997 From: Ken and Visakha Kawasaki Three camps in the Umphang area were evacuated to a place between Mae Kong Mai and Umphang, about two kilometers from Umphang itself. For the camps in the Pai Khlao area -- Lay Pho Hta, Mae Ta Raw Khee and Kwee Lae Ter, a camp will be set up near Der Lwe (bell) Village. Nobody will be allowed to go in or out of the camp. Dupalaya District SLORC is making IDs for all the people In Kyeik Don area. Some people from Chogali area evacuated to the Thai side, but went back. SLORC and DKBA obviously intend to identify and control local people completely. Refugee camps on the Salween are under threat by the DKBA. Lar Lah camp is thought to be the most likely to be attacked but Mae Yet Hta is also threatened. The monastery in Mawker was burned a week ago. http://www2.gol.com/users/brelief/Index.htm ******************************* THAILAND TIMES: NINE BURMESE ARMY PORTERS SENT ACROSS THE BORDER February 24, 1997 TAK ; Nine Burmese villagers, some of them still in their teens, who had fled to Thailand after having been forced to work as porters for Burmese troops were yesterday sent back across the border by Thai military officials, according to a Thai army source. Unlike their compatriots who also fled to Thailand following the Burmese offensive on rebel Karen National Union (KNU) bases last week, the nine were not granted permission to remain. The men, who crossed over to Thailand last week, presented a sorry sight as they returned to their homeland. On the point of starvation, they showed visible signs of the hard work they had been forced into. Thein Swe, 25, told of how together with 200 other Myawaddy villagers he had been force to carry food and heavy ammunition on the grueling journey between the Burmese town of Pa Kant and the border area opposite Tak's Phob Phra district, according to the army source. Earlier, accounts have detailed how the villagers were rounded up by the Burmese troops as they were going about their everyday business. ******************************* THE ECONOMIST: THE BRAVE FACES OF THE KAREN February 22, 1997 Umphang, Thailand Half a century seems long enough for any war; long enough to have been born into the conflict and to have brought children and grandchildren into it. But the thousands of refugees from Myanmar's Karen ethnic group who have fled into Thailand this month still do not expect to see peace soon. About 3,500 are camped in ditches along the road from the Myanmar border to the Thai town of Umphang. IN makeshift shelters of bamboo, banana leaves, matting and blankets, they are waiting to be moved farther from the border. Many have fled before, but this time do not expect to go home. They have brought all the belongings they can carry through the jungle Some led their cattle, now snapped up by Thai traders. They fled when they heard the mortar fire of the advancing Burmese army. It has been waging an offensive against the Karen National Union (KNU), the biggest and oldest of the ethnic insurgencies along Myanmar's borders. The KNU-controlled market town at Sakan Htit fell to the government on February 12th. The group's temporary headquarters at Htiker Pler was abandoned and burned the next day. The KNU has been in insurrection since 1949. In the dry season, the military junta in power in Yangon often attacks. Some 80,000 refugees were already in Thailand before the latest assault, which KNU officials say is the biggest since it lost its headquarters at Mannerplaw in `995. They insist they will continue to fight, waging what they call a "defensive guerilla war". But after the current campaign, directed at KNU pockets of control dotted along the 1,500 mile (2,500 kilometre) border, they are likely to be bereft of territory in Myanmar, and hence of a source of funds. There are also signs of a split in the movement's leadership. Some senior members criticise its veteran leader, Bo Mya, for being too uncompromising. It was the collapse, on January 31st, of peace talks that seems to have led to the latest offensive by the junta. Others believe it may have been provoked by meetings in January of the KNU and several other ethnic groups, seeking to rekindle a united front against the junta, and voicing support for the opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi. The junta has signed ceasefire agreements with 15 ethnic groups. Some are likely to break down soon. That threatens the junta's ability to entrench army rule across the country. For the new refugees, however, the prime concern is security. Even in Thailand they may not be safe from the junta's soldiers and members of a group called the democratic Karen Buddhist Association. It broke away in 1995 from the KNU, many of whose leaders are Christian. In January, soldiers from the breakaway group crossed the border and burned down two Karen refugee camps near Maesot. Thailand has provided shelter, but, as relations with Myanmar improve, seems reluctant to offer protection. Nor do the refugees want to contemplate life back home under the junta, which is widely accused of atrocities against those it defeats. As Em Marta, a KNU leader, puts it: "For the civilians, there is no future really; but we have to keep on struggling for our national survival." ************************************* THAILAND TIMES: OZ'S HAWKE TELLS WORLD TO FORM LINKS WITH BURMA by Rutchanee Uerpairojkit SYDNEY ; Former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke lent his support to Thailand's policy constructive engagement policy to wards Burma's military junta, urging the world community not to isolate the regime. Foreign Minister Prachuab Chaiyasan said yesterday. Speaking to Prachuab on the first day of his official visit to Australia, the former Australian leader turn businessman said democracy can only be achieved in Burma if the country is lifted from poverty. "I am in complete agreement that cutting off aid to Burma or preventing it from joining the world community will lead nowhere," Prachuab quoted Hawke as saying. Hawke, now a successful businessman, has vested interests in trade links with Burma, as he is planning to invest in a dam construction project in Burma's Salawin river. Together with other members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations ASEAN Thailand is eager to forge ties with Burma's dictators, but has come under a barrage of international criticism for its stance. Australia's former premier has long held an interests in the Southeast Asian region. As prime minister, he approved Australia's proposal to donate money for the construction of the Thai-Laos Friendship Bridge, a decision for which Prachuab yesterday expressed his thanks. Prachuab questioned Hawke about his predictions for the future of China following the death of Chinese paramount leader Deng Xiaoping. Hawke voiced his confidence that Jiang Zemin has inherited Deng's political mantle and that the stability of China, where Hawke also has business interests, is not in doubt. Together with Commerce Minister Narongchai Akraseni and a team of officials, Prachuab relayed Hawke's comments to participants at a seminar entitled "Capturing New Opportunities in Thailand" hosted by the Australian Business Chamber. ************************************* SPEECH FOR CFOB: JOHN RAULSTON SAUL November 16, 1996 From: Canadian Friends of Burma "TO BE FREE IS TO BE ABLE TO DO WHAT YOU THINK IS RIGHT", Aung San Suu Kyi excerpts from a speech by John Ralston Saul at a CFOB reception in Ottawa on November 16 1996. I'm a moderate on foreign policy questions. A moderate and a realist, and I think in fairness we have to say that Canada has been grasping for a way to have a stronger foreign policy in Burma, but it isn't clear that there is a real decision to go all the way. However, I believe that this is one of those cases where what's required is enormous clarity, blinding clarity. Burma does not have a government by Asian or Western standards. It's a tyranny by Asian and Western standards. The SLORC is at war, actively at war with the West through drugs. The SLORC has hijacked Burma. It holds power by violence, by drug money and by foreign investment. Violence, drug money and foreign investment. Without those three, it's not in power. What we're dealing with is thugs, criminals and drug dealers. Not people that you should have in your office if you are a publicly elected figure, elected by the Canadian people. Canada's response to this sort of situation has been to say, "Well, you know, we're a small country. We don't have that much influence." First of all, I want to say that we actually do have a great deal more influence than we say we do. When you look at the import figures from Burma, they're little figures, but the economy in Burma is very small. Canadian trade has moved from eight million dollars imports to Canada in 1993 to close to 20 this year. But our real influence comes from our role in the world, in dozens and dozens of organizations where we have a reputation, where we have cards to play. We have influence on the way those organizations, and therefore the world, will treat Burma. WHAT ARE OUR STANDARDS? But the primary question isn't actually what influence do we have or even what effect could our policies have. The primary question is what do we stand for ? What are our standards? That's where you begin building policy, particularly in these unusual cases of rogue governments. Because if a very few countries with a good reputation, even small to medium-size countries, take a clear, strong stand, it creates an astonishingly solid pole of attraction. Suddenly, everybody else has to be measured against you. Suddenly, a form of reality has been created. I found a wonderful quotation of Aung San Suu Kyi when she was asked about her house arrest. She said: "I think to be free is to be able to do what you think is right." This is a woman on her own. If we in Canada can't even believe that to be free is to be able to do what you think is right, then we are not as strong as a single woman. That is a very depressing thought. I'm not making idealistic statements. I haven't got a romantic bone in my body. If we don't reflect our reality in our foreign policy we destroy our reputation bit by bit. It's all very well to say that Canadians are caring people - wonderful people in regular editorials, in newspapers across the country. If we don't reflect that in our foreign policy, we're not those things. Smaller countries actually need reputations more than big countries. Big countries have armies. Small countries need their reputations. That's their capital. That's how they live in the international political arena. So with a clear strategy I believe that others will actually come to us. We already know that Scandinavia is ready to go down that road. They were in the same kind of, "We want to do the right thing but we're not quite sure how far to go" situation, until their honorary consul James Leander Nichols was murdered in June 1996 by the SLORC in prison. We know that they're already trying to take actions in the European Union. THE NEXT TWO YEARS We also know that the United States is closer to taking clear action than it's ever been. You have a president who's in his second term. He's not under any pressure. He'd probably like to make some good gestures. The next two years are the time when the good forces will be able to do something in the United States, before the next election campaign begins. Take a look at CFOB's Dirty Clothes, Dirty System report, at its list of the 13 leading investors in Burma. Seven are members of ASEAN. Four are members of the EU, and both North American countries, Canada and the United States. Five of the seven G-7 are among the 13 leading investors in Burma. This is a group which is perfectly moveable, if we have a clear position. These are our allies. What's lacking to make them move is clarity. So let me run through what I think are a series of things that we can do: We have to stop treating the SLORC as if it were the government of Burma. If the Canadian government decides that, then suddenly SLORC no longer gets the benefit of the doubt or the respect due to governments. Suddenly they are no more than rogue criminals. A TOTAL BLOCKAGE IN TRADE We have to move from there to a total blockage in trade. Frankly, it is not that difficult to accomplish in Canada or in the United States. These mechanisms are easy to put into place, to cut off investments and to cut off trade. There's no point in asking for less. Burma has no major economic links with the West - except, that is, for its sale of heroin, which is its principal contribution to Western civilization. Then we can begin seriously pursuing Burma in all the international institutions where they are still getting money indirectly, the World Bank or the Asian Development Bank to name two. Once we take a firm stand, we can create, with the Scandinavians, an almost impossible wall to get by whenever those institutions want to give money to Burma. We must deal seriously with the drug question. The more we go out there and say SLORC is the principal supplier of heroin to Americans, the more the US government is going to have to act. And the way they will act is the Trading with the Enemy Act and the indicting of the members of the SLORC. We have to start talking seriously to the Swiss about bank accounts. The Swiss are one of the few Western governments who are for more or less normal relations with Burma. Draw your conclusions. THE G-7 AND SLORC Again -- we get the G-7 to come to terms with the SLORC as the source of heroin, and then we have to turn to ASEAN and say that because the SLORC is not a government, even by Asian standards, the normalization of ASEAN's relationships with Burma is unacceptable to us. If we take a strong stand in North America and Europe, it will be very difficult for corporations in the ASEAN countries to deal with Burma. How much is Burma worth to ASEAN in pure financial terms if they're going to start losing in terms of their alliances, their friendships, their cooperation in the West? It's not worth much if the G-7 says no. They'll say, hey, how much are we making out of this? Not enough to have the G-7 against us. Finally, rogue juntas fall because they fail. If you take a tough stand, you'll find that there are moderates in the Burmese army. There are some mid-level officers there who are just trying to have a career, who will respond when the need for change becomes apparent inside Burma. They would be happy to see the legal government of Aung San Suu Kyi in power in Burma. But because we are directly and indirectly propping up the SLORC in the West and in ASEAN, those moderates are not getting a chance. Some cases need simplicity. You need to be tough. You need to be direct. That's the only way that we'll be able to unleash the various initiatives that can bring down the SLORC. -------------------------------------------------- On Buddhism and the SLORC, further excerpts: What are the five precepts of Buddhism? 1. I vow to abstain from taking life. Think about the SLORC, this famous Buddhist regime. I vow to refrain from taking life. There aren't many regimes which actually send regiments into the street to open fire with machine guns. It is actually relatively rare, much rarer than one would think. 2. I vow to abstain from stealing. By serving only themselves, they have literally brought the country financially to its knees and filled foreign bank accounts. 3. I vow to abstain from sexual misconduct. Prostitution and child prostitution are very important questions in Burma today. Talk to people in Thailand about young girls being sent out of Burma and then going home with AIDS. Talk about the exploding AIDS problem in the poorest villages of Burma as a result of prostitution. You know that AIDS is at its worst on a per capita basis in northern Thailand, which is where the young Burmese women come out, make a little money in prostitution, then go home and spread AIDS. It is estimated that there are already 400,000 people infected with AIDS in northern Burma. This is almost entirely the result of prostitution brought on by poverty. It's the SLORC which is the master of poverty in Burma. They are responsible for that happening. 4. I vow to abstain from false speech. Well, that's obviously not even worth commenting on. 5. I vow to abstain from intoxicants that cloud the mind and to encourage others not to cloud their minds. Burma is capable of supplying the total heroin demand of the rest of the world. Since 1962 production has continually grown so that it generally supplies somewhere between 50 and 80 per cent, with the direct collusion of the SLORC, who get a percentage of the money that's made by the drug armies. Since the creation of SLORC in 1988 drug production has more than doubled. John Ralston Saul is 1996 winner of the Governor General's award for non-fiction for his book The Unconscious Civilization and 1995 CBC Massey lecturer. The full text of his speech is available from Canadian Friends of Burma. ****************************** ASIA TIMES: THAI GENERAL PREDICTS FALL OF KAREN REBEL GROUP February 24, 1997 Thomas Crampton and Vissuta Pothong, Asia Times Mawker Refugee Camp, Thailand The Karen’s 50-year battle for autonomy from Yangon will end in a crushing defeat within four weeks, predicts a Thai general overseeing security in Thailand’s Tak border province with Myanmar. Sommai Wichaworn said some 10,000 guerrillas of the Karen National Union (KNU) battling Myanmar government forces along the Thai border would soon surrender or flee to Thailand. On Sunday morning Myanmar’s state radio broke its silence on the military’s latest massive offensive against the Karen to claim its troops had killed 41 rebels and seized 293 weapons along with 270,000 rounds of ammunition. Another 243 weapons and 70,000 rounds of ammunition were brought in by 511 officers and soldiers who surrendered following disagreements with the ‘extremist leadership’ of the guerrilla movement, the broadcast said. The KNU is the last major insurgency yet to reach a ceasefire with the ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council. Since 1989, 15 other groups have agreed to terms with the Yangon junta. The proximity of the fighting to Thailand has raised fears of confrontation between the troops of Myanmar and Thailand which in the past has used the various ethnic guerrilla armies along the border as a buffer against Yangon. Thailand allows fleeing KNU fighters to take refuge in Thai territory, but on condition they surrender their weapons. ‘In the past we allowed armed Karen rebels into the camps. They went out at night to fight, coming back by dawn pretending to be refugees. Now, however, they must surrender weapons if they want to come into the camps,’ Lieutenant General Thanom Wacharaput, commanding general of the Third Army Corps said. He added that the camps would be amalgamated and moved 10km away from the border. For the first time movements in and out of the camp would be tightly controlled by Thai soldiers, he said. There have been several incursions into Thai territory by Myanmar-backed Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) troops intent on torching the refugee camps. At the end of January the DKBA burned and looted two of 17 camps along the border, leaving more than 7,000 refugees homeless, apparently with the support of Myanmar government troops. Thailand hosts about 90,000 Karen refugees. Since the offensive began on February 11, Myanmar troops have swept through Karen territory opposite Umphang district of Tak province, sending at least 7,000 more refugees into Thailand, according to the Thai military. ******************************** THE NATION: ALLIES LOOK ON AS KAREN TAKE BEATING February 24, 1997 Slorc's offensive against the largest resistance group has highlighted the weakness of the smaller ethnic armies as well, Aung Zaw writes. The National Democratic Front (NDF), a collection of ethnic groups opposed to Rangoon's rule, ended its fourth congress on Feb 15 with the release of a statement that ''strongly condemned" the use of arms by the government against the Karen National Union (KNU). But apart from angry words, it became apparent at the close of the congress that the NDF could do little to stop the Rangoon-directed onslaught against the KNU, its most powerful member. The NDF was set up in 1976 at the KNU headquarters by the Shan State Progressive Party, the Palaung Liberation Organisation, the Lahu National United Front, the Karen National Union, the Palaung State Liberation Organisation, the Karenni National Progressive Party and the Arakan Liberation Party. Later the New Mon State Party, Kachin Independence Organisation, Chin National Front and Wa National Organisation joined the group. However, the Kachins and Mons returned to the ''legal fold" a few years ago while the remaining groups, with the exception of the KNU are all small and have little political influence. The main purpose of the recent NDF congress was to re-invigorate the group after it fell into inactivity following the formation of the Democratic Alliance of Burma in 1988. At last week's congress the group released a 10-point statement. The main point being a call for the establishment of a genuine federal union. The statement denounced the Slorc-sponsored national convention, and rejected Slorc cease-fire agreements as a tactic to divide and rule the ethnic groups. The congress also welcomed opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi's speech on the 50th anniversary of Union Day on Feb 12 in which she called for all nationalities to join hands and establish a genuine federal union. Additionally, the congress' statement strongly stated that a tripartite dialogue is the most appropriate means to solve Burma's political problems. Internal problems But the congress isn't also without its own troubles. The Karenni National Progressive Party (KNPP), which hosted last week's meeting, submitted resignation papers at the congress. The reason: The KNPP's fight to be recognised as an independent state. ''Karenni state is not a part of Burma," said Able Tweed, a KNPP foreign ministry official said. Still, he stated, ''We are ready to join the NDF if there is a genuine federal union. And we will continue to support the NDF from outside anyway." At their jungle hideout in Karenni territory the NDF delegates discussed Burma's future federal union and urged their KNPP comrades not to leave the band. Overshadowing these matters, however, was Slorc's major offensive against the KNU. Khun Okker, president of the Pa-O People's Liberation Organisation, which was founded in 1991, said the attack did not come as a surprise. ''We all knew that Slorc would attack the KNU." Khun Okker reasoned the military government wasn't happy with a seminar held in a Karen-controlled area in January which was attended by the Kachin, Mon, and Wa, groups which have all reached cease-fire agreements with Slorc. At the seminar many ethnic groups expressed their frustration about the current political situation, complaining that the peace promises made by the junta had not been kept. ''We built up solidarity at the seminar," said Khun Okker, The Pa-O leader said the KNU's outright rejection of Slorc's ''peace demands" was another contributing factor behind the attack. ''The Burmese army is very powerful so they could take over land in the KNU area but our struggle isn't over," he said. Slorc has shown that it could not solve the existing political problems through peaceful means, he said. ''The Slorc's victories will only be temporary because the regime has failed to politically win over the KNU," he said, adding that the show of military might against the Karens was also intended to frighten the other ethnic groups. NDF strategy So what will be the NDF's strategy to counter Rangoon now that one of its most powerful allies, the Karen, have been beaten? Khine Soe Naing Aung, an Arakanese leader and secretary of the NDF said, ''We will resist if Slorc applies military pressure." He declined to elaborate further saying only that the NDF had a secret plan. For the current offensive, he had few words: ''Slorc is politically defeated." In fact, apart from the KNU, the NDF has little military power to flex and does not pose a major threat to the ruling junta. ''The NDF has shown its weakness as it has no well-organised plan on how to withstand the offensive and support the KNU," said on observer of the congress. Some of the delegates also said they should be more pragmatic. ''We have to be realistic. We have little military power and it is impossible to attack the junta," said one delegate who declined to be identified. Moreover, since the NDF ethnic leaders cannot travel to many areas inside Burma except for a few areas along the border, few people among the general population in Burma know of their resistance. As the Rangoon generals step up their military campaign to wipe out the decades-old Karen insurgency the future for the NDF is looking increasingly uncertain. Nevertheless, as long as the junta refuses to address the underlying ethnic issues and the demands for a federal union the ongoing civil war that is being waged by the poorly organised border-based groups is likely to go on. ''The strife will continue," said one delegate. ''But for how long? The people have suffered enough."(TN) ****************************************************** THE NATION: NATIONS EXPRESS OPTIMISM ABOUT ENTERING ASEAN February 22, 1997 By Yindee Lertcharoenchok PATTAYA ­ Cambodia, Laos and Burma expressed full confidence last night that they would all join Asean this July, as their senior officials are now working out the final details for their admission. In separate consultations yesterday with representatives from Asean and the Asean Secretariat the three prospective members described the progress they have made in preparing to join the regional forum and exchanged views on how to best integrate with ongoing Asean economic schemes. During the meetings, delegates from Cambodia, Laos and Burma appealed for further technical assistance from Asean members to help ease their entry into the group. The most urgent need, according to their representatives, is to train officials to handle economic integration with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) under the Asean Free Trade Area (Afta). Speaking in separate interviews yesterday, officials from the three prospective countries expressed high hopes that they would join Asean this July, in time for the commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the group's founding. The head of the Laotian delegation, Somphet Khousakoun, who is the director general of the Laotian Foreign Ministry's Asean Department, reiterated his country's determination announced in 1995 that it would join Asean this year. ''I'm fully confident that it [Laos' entry into Asean] will be this year," Somphet said. You Ay, the director general of the Cambodian Foreign Ministry's Asean Department, showed similar confidence in her country's readiness to join, saying Cambodia was in the final stage of preparation for Asean membership. She said even though Cambodia lacks the personnel to handle the Afta programme and Asean affairs, the country is ready to join the tariff reduction scheme right after it is admitted to Asean. All new members would have to begin the tariff reduction scheme, called the Common Effective Preferential Tariff (Cept),beginning on Jan 1, 1998. U Nyunt Maung Shein, the deputy director general of the Burmese Foreign Ministry's Political Department, said his country has high hopes of being admitted this year. All new members will have 10 years in which to implement their tariff reduction scheme. Except for Vietnam, Asean members will complete the Afta scheme in 2003 although efforts are being made to move it up to 2000. Somphet and Maung Maung Yi, the Burmese director general of the Ministry of Planning's Direct Trade, Investment and Company Administration Department, stressed that their countries had no problem with the 10-year time frame to cut down to five per cent their tariffs on goods under CEPT. During the consultations, each of the three countries has to inform Asean officials about their future product lists to be put under tariff cuts when they join Asean. The Asean Secretariat is currently drafting three key documents that the prospective members will have to sign on admission day. The documents are a declaration of admission, a protocol of accession to key Asean agreements, and a protocol of accession to other economic agreements. Officials of Burma, Cambodia, and Laos are studying the legal implications of about two dozen Asean declarations, agreements and treaties that they have to abide by as members. Countries who join Asean must set up embassies in each Asean country and be ready to abide by all Asean agreements and documents. They will also have to meet financial commitments. All new Asean members must contribute US$1 million to the Asean fund and become a member of the CEPT. Once they are members, citizens of their countries can travel freely in other member countries without visas. However, this arrangement still faces problems, as Vietnam, since its admission in 1995, has not yet completely followed the voluntary arrangement. Indonesian President Suharto, currently touring the three countries, told Cambodian and Laotian leaders earlier this week of his strong support for their admission into Asean this year. ''President Suharto is the most senior political leader in the region and Indonesia is a big country ... It's important that he is visiting the three prospective countries. His visit is a reflection of support [for their membership bid this year]," Nyunt Maung Shein said. Nyunt Maung Shein said Burma would meet all Asean requirements including the setting up of an Asean affairs department in the Foreign Ministry, the opening of an embassy in Cambodia and Brunei, and allowing officials from Asean countries and the Asean Secretariat to travel to Burma without the need for an entry visa. Burma's Asean Department is expected to be operational on April 1, the beginning of the new fiscal year, according to one Asean official. (TN) **************************************** THE NATION: HARSH TREATMENT OF DETAINED STUDENTS February 23, 1997 Letter to the Editor Shwe Hla , President, Burmese Students Association Since before 8.8.88, the date of the People's Uprising, until now Burmese students and youths have been sacrificing their precious time and lives ­ inside and outside of Burma ­ for democracy and human rights. Burma has been controlled by the Burmese military junta from 1962 till today. Many students and youths have been killed and tortured or detained by this illegally ruling fascist military regime. In 1995, one of many student detainees died in the Special Detention Centre, Bang Khen, in Bangkok. Last Wednesday, Moe Pyan (UNHCR NI No3378), under the care of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), died in the same centre. Neither of them received sufficient medical treatment nor were they hospitalised in time. Inside and outside of Burma, the conditions of all Burmese students and youths worsen day by day. They have been getting very painful lessons because they love democracy and respect human rights. No one can predict what will happen to them today or tomorrow. To stop these situations and ill treatment, they need the sympathy of the international community, UNHCR, and especially, the Thai government. (TN) ****************************************************** THE NATION: PRICE CUT TIED TO INCREASE IN GAS PURCHASE February 22, 1997 By Watcharapong Thongrung THE Petroleum Authority of Thailand (PTT) is set to begin negotiations with the Burmese government to purchase an additional 150 million cubic feet of natural gas per day from the Yadana field, providing the price is reduced by 15 per cent. Piti Yimprasert, president of PTT GAS, a unit of the state-owned oil and gas company, said unless the Burmese government agrees to a lower gas price, PTT will delay the additional purchase and look instead to other sources such as Natuna of Indonesia or Cambodian gas fields. The Yadana gas developers are committed to supply 525 million cubic feet per day (mmcfd) of gas, at US$3 (Bt78) per million British Thermal Unit (BTU), to PTT from July 1998. According to the Yadana gas sales contract signed in February 1996, a swing supply volume will allow the gas supply to be increased by 150 mmcfd. The Yadana gas developers comprise Total of France, Unocal of the US and PTT Exploration and Production Plc. The PTT GAS president said it is not unreasonable to ask for a lower price for Yadana gas' additional volume since the resulting production costs would be minimal. Recently, there was final confirmation from the Burmese government that the proved reserve of the Yadana gas field is now 9.6 trillion cubic feet (TCF), up from 5.7 TCF, Piti said. Piti said it has been confirmed that the Cambodian gas deposits in the Gulf of Thailand contain very good quality gas and PTT will shortly kick-off its negotiations with Cambodian authorities. (TN) ****************************************************** ANNOUNCEMENT:BAY AREA BURMA ROUNDTABLE-FIRST HAND ACCOUNTS OF OPPRESSION February 22, 1997 From: "dawn star (Euro-Burmanet)" For further information or to arrange interviews, contact: Jane Jerome 408/467-2721 Dan Orzech 510/528-0653 On Wednesday, February 26, four Burma experts based in Thailand with first-hand experience from Burma's front lines will speak at Unitarian Fellowship in Berkeley at 7:30 p.m. Two Thailand-based activists from Earth Rights International, Ka Hsaw Wa and Katie Redford, will bring with with them the first-ever photographs of the notorious natural gas pipeline being built in Burma by Los Angeles-based Unocal and the French oil company Total. Two leaders of the All Burma Student Democratic Front (ABSDF), the foremost student group advocating democracy in Burma (Myanmar) will report on attacks upon student activists in December 1996 and the role of US based activism in supporting freedom. The ABSDF speakers, Dr. Naing Aung, vice chair, and Aung Naing Oo are both elected representatives of the organization's Central Committee. Redford and Ka Hsaw Wa will also bring recent photographs of the refugee camps inside Thailand burned in late January by the Burmese military. Katie Redford is one of the attorneys in the pioneering human-rights lawsuit against UNOCAL and SLORC (Burma's notorious State Law and Order Restoration Council), which was filed last October in Los Angeles. A member of Burma's Karen ethnic minority, Ka Hsaw Wa has been working for democracy in Burma since the massacres of democracy activists there in 1988. Ka Hsaw Wa directs ERI's Indigenous Staff's field work and gathers evidence of the abuses associated with foreign investment in Burma. Both were involved in the publication of Total Denial, a July 96 document of human rights abuses accompanying the Unocal/Total pipeline authored jointly by Earth Rights International and Southeast Asia Information Network. The Unitarian Fellowship in Berkeley, is located at 1924 Cedar @ Bonita. *******************************