------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------ "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies" ---------------------------------------------------------- The BurmaNet News: May 12, 1997 Issue #718 HEADLINES: ========== BURMANET: REQUEST FOR PRIVATE MESSAGES TO STAY PRIVATE BURMANET: NEW SUBSCRIPTION POLICY AFP: UN ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL MEETS BURMESE MUL PRESS RELEASE: SLORC INTRUSION INTO REFUGEE CAMP BORDER SOURCE: REFUGEE SITUATION UPDATE AFP:BURMESE "FAMINE" PROMPTS 5,000 REFUGEES TO FLEE KNU: INNOCENT CIVILIANS TORTURED BY SLORC REUTER: THOUSANDS OF KAREN REFUGEES LEAVE THAI AFP: NORTH KOREA SIDES WITH ASEAN OVER US SANCTIONS REUTER: POLITICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS TARGET L'EVENEMENT DU JEUDI: THE BURMA BOYCOTTS L'EVENEMENT DU JEUDI: OUR INDIGNATION THAILAND TIMES: KIDNEY TRANSPLANT PERFORMED ANNOUNCEMENT: BURMESE REFUGEE CARE PROJECT WEB ANNOUNCEMENT: NEW ENGLAND BURMA ROUNDTABLE ----------------------------------------------------------------- BURMANET: REQUEST FOR PRIVATE MESSAGES TO STAY PRIVATE May 11, 1997 Lately, there have been a lot of messages going back and forth on burmanet-l attacking various individuals. 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If this is unclear, you can e-mail strider@igc.apc.org with questions. - BurmaNet Editor ******************************************************* AFP: UN ASSISTANT SECRETARY GENERAL MEETS BURMESE OFFICIALS, OPPOSITION May 10, 1997 RANGOON, May 10 (AFP) - A senior Burmese junta member met UN assistant secretary general for political affairs Alavaro de Soto on Saturday following his discussions with the opposition, official sources said. De Soto wrapped up his four-day official visit by meeting the junta's first secretary and military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt Saturday morning, the sources said. The UN official Friday met Aung San Suu Kyi, head of the National League for Democracy (NLD), which swept 1990 elections to a parliament never convened by the junta, and her executive committee, party sources said. No information was available on the content of the discussions. On Friday, De Soto met with Htun Oo, chairman the ethnic Shan Nationalities League for Democracy (SNLD), an unrelated political party which also won seats in the election. Htun Oo told AFP they had a very fruitful and interesting discussion, in which SNLD executives had a chance to brief the UN official on the prevailing situation and the position of the ethnic minorities. Informed sources said a document passed to De Soto and representing the views of the elected representatives of ethnic minorities in Burma called for a tripartite dialogue among democratic, ethnic and military forces. The goal of the dialogue should be a democratic and federal union, according to a copy of the document obtained by AFP. The document rejected the National Convention set up by the military's ruling State Law and Order Restoration Council (SLORC) to draft a new constitution. "At the convention only 15 percent of elected members were included and the rest were hand-picked," it said. The Nationalities' demands for democracy and self-determination under a federation were ingnored, while the military presented guidelines preserving for itself a leading political role in future state affairs. The military was trying to control state and executive powers from the central all the way down to the township level, and those few political parties which had not been declared illegal were prevented from carrying out political activities, the document said. De Soto also met Rangoon-based diplomats, Burmese Foreign Minister Ohn Gyaw, Chief Justice Aung Toe and other members of the National Convention convening commission. Aung San Suu Kyi's NLD withdrew from the convention after a percentage of seats in any future parliament was reserved for the military, saying it was useless to attempt to influence official drafts through the process. ********************************************* MUL PRESS RELEASE: SLORC INTRUSION INTO REFUGEE CAMP May 12, 1997 M O N U N I T Y L E A G U E SLORC'S MILITARY TROOPS INTRUDE INTO MON REFUGEE CAMP (HALOCKHANEE) AND THE SITUATION OF REFUGEES IN MERGUI REGION, SOUTHERN BURMA About 200 armed troops from the SLORC's No. 106 Infantry Battalion led by Major San Lwin have intruded into Mon Refugee Camp (Halockhnee) on the 10 May 1997. The camp is situated about 60 kilometers southwest of Sangkhlaburi district, Kanchanaburi province, Thailand. It was once attacked by the SLORC's military troops in July 1994 and the makeshift huts and refugee's belongings were burnt down while ASEAN ministers were holding a meeting in Bangkok. This time the refugees are extremely frightened by the sudden arrival of SLORC's armed troops into the camp and their occupation of the refugees' rice store. These refugees were formerly oppressed by the SLORC's military troops when they were living in their native villages inside Burma, which caused them to flee Burma and use the Thai border as a haven. Unfortunately, they were not accepted by the Thai authorities as refugees and who forced them to leave Thai soil. Following a variety of pressures by the Thai and Burmese authorities, the New Mon State Party, NMSP, had to agree to a ceasefire with the SLORC on 29 June 1995. One of the conditions in the gentlemens' agreement between SLORC and NMSP was that SLORC's military troops would not enter into the Mon refugee camps. However, in practice, SLORC is still carrying n its aggressive action and human rights violations in Mon State, without regard for the ceasefire agreement and protests from the NMSP. Due to growing dissatisfaction with the ceasefire agreement, a faction in Merguie region, southern Burma, known as the Mon Army, has split from the NMSP and no longer abides by the terms of the agreement. Fighting resumed immediately after the Mon Army's separation from the NMSP in late 1996. Following the military attacks by the SLORC's troops Infantry Battalion No. 262, No. 358, and No. 324 commanded by Col. Aung Khin from 13 to 27 April 1997 in Mergui region, more than 2,500 Mon people including 21 Buddhist monks have become homeless, scattered in the jungle and facing food shortages. SLORC's military troops set two Mon villages with schools and monasteries on fire on 27 April 1997. Meanwhile, on the other side of the border, the Thai authorities have blocked all kinds of communication to the refugees and destroyed the road linked to that area. Mon refugees in Mergui region, opposite Prachuab Khirikharn province of Thailand, are now facing gross hardship, having their homes and belongings burnt, and shortages of food, medicine, and clothing. At the same time the refugees in the Halockhanee camp, opposite Sangkhlaburi district, Kanchanaburi province, have become hostages held under gun point and vulnerable to attack by the SLORC's military troops at any time. **************************************************** BORDER SOURCE: REFUGEE SITUATION UPDATE May 12, 1997 KANCHANABURI PROVINCE Thu Ka After the assault on the area surrounding Thu Ka refugee camp and the exodus of refugees to Thailand on 12.4.97, the SLORC troops have now retreated to Taung Chang (Taw Klo), Htee Kler Hta and Kho Chaung. These three sites are very close to the old Thu Ka area. There is a car road running between Htee Kler Hta, Kho Chaung and Thu Ka. The refugees, now on the Thai side of the border, see this as a tactic of the SLORC to convince them to return to their villages. Many fear that by spreading the news that the SLORC troops are no longer in the Thu Ka area, the Thai authorities could attempt to repatriate them as soon as possible. Tired of being shifted around and hesitant to move to the unknown site at Maw Raka, some distance away, many former refugees from Thu Ka have disappeared. There are only around 900 people remaining. Pu Muang The population now stands at 2,469. Conditions remain the same as previously reported, the residents are still sheltering under plastic, although many have built simple, low, bamboo platforms to raise themselves off the ground. The plastic sheeting is now frayed due to the combined action of the sun and the wind. Heavier grade plastic sheeting for the whole camp was supplied by 8.5.97. Cooking oil has also been supplied to the camp, with a ration of 1 liter per person per month. The main concern of the refugees remains their uncertainty over whether they will be moved to a new site. The biggest benefit of being moved to the new site at Htam Hin, along with two other camps, would be to unite divided families. Since the rains will start as early as the end of May, the camp committee sees it as important to have a clear decision regarding their future as soon as possible. Refugees are not allowed out of the camp and vendors are not allowed in, therefore the residents are unable to purchase vegetables or other small comforts. All lights must be out by 9pm every night. RATCHABURI PROVINCE Huay Sut The population has remained stable during the 10 days. The residents' main concerns are the same as at Pu Muang, i.e. the deteriorating plastic sheeting used as roofing, the imminent onset of the early rains, and the uncertainties of the expected move to the new site at Htam Hin. As at Pu Muange, the refugee committee would like to start to plan some form of education for the children in the camp but the possibility of a move in the near future makes advance planning difficult. Normally children would resume school at the beginning of June, after the summer break. The diarrhoea outbreak has abated and now the main medical problem is malaria. Most of the cases are Falciparum malaria, in the last week three deaths due to cerebral malaria have been reported. The intense heat sitting under the plastic sheeting undoubtedly contributed to the rapid dehydration of young children suffering malaria. Heavier grade plastic will be brought in by next week. As at Pu Muang the refugees here also receive cooking oil to make their yellow beans ration more palatable. Within the last week four new families have arrived from Kwee Waw Wah. These people were cut off on the western bank of the river by advancing SLORC troops and have only now made their way to the border. Ban Bo Wi The situation at this camp remains the same as during the writing of the last report. On 10.5.97 45 new families arrived from Bu Thaw Plaw, Si Praw Hta, and Toh Teh Tah, all belonging to Ler Mu Lah township. This morning (12.5.97), another 7 families arrived in the camp, and there are said to be some 300 more displaced persons near the border who have not yet entered the camp. Some of the people who left earlier to return to Burma have re-entered the camp. The population of the camp is estimated at around 2,400 PRACHUAB KIRI KHAN PROVINCE Htee Yaw Kee The population at this site is now 936, with 690 on the Thai side of the border and the remaining 246 still on the Burma side. Those on the Thai side reside near the place known as Suan Thanon, though both places are now referred to by the Karen as Htee Yaw Kee camp. The Thai authorities officially claim that no refugees are in the area, and therefore NGO visits are discouraged. SLORC troops of the Infantry Battalion 103, 44th Division, are said to be only 2 days from the site. There is still no medical assistance available to this considerable population which is said to include 27 pregnant women and 10 handicapped persons. Mu Kho Paw The SLORC battalions IB 101 and LIB 224, both of the 44th Divison, attacked the Mon base Chaung Chi, near Mu Kho Paw, on 27.4.97. The base was overrun and about 784 Mon refugees fled over the border to Thailand. They are now located about 1 kilometer from the border, near the Thai village of Huay Kai Tor. Nine truckloads of SLORC trucks are said to have arrived at the former Muslim base camp ready to attack the only remaining Mon camp at Huay Pak. In the same vicinity, on the Burmese side of the border, the ABSDF 8888 camp and the Karen Muslim camp were formerly located. These fell to the SLORC on 21.4.97 and 22.4.97. Due to difficulties of access, it is not clear how many people were displaced to the Thai side from these two groups. There are reportedly about 167 Karen at Mu Kho Paw camp as of the date of this report. It is still not possible for NGOs to get permission to deliver assistance to this place. CHUMPHON PROVINCE Kho Theh Loo The population now stands at 278 refugees on the Thai side of the border. It is not clear how long the Thai authorities will allow them to stay before they are asked to go back to the Burmese side of the border. Access has been good for NGO assistance and relations with the Royal Thai 4th Army are said to be good. Kho Thet Loo is located between Chumphon and Thap Satae. ***************************************************** AFP:BURMESE "FAMINE" PROMPTS 5,000 REFUGEES TO FLEE TO BANGLADESH: REPORT May 10, 1997 DHAKA, May 10 (AFP) - Five thousand Burmese Moslem refugees have crossed into Bangladesh in the past few days fleeing famine in western Burma, a report here said Saturday. The Moslem Rohingya refugees defied tight border security to enter the country because of a "famine" situation in Burma's Arakan state, the Bhorer Kagoj daily said. However, the Bangladeshi military, which maintains a heavy presence on the Burmese border, said the report was baseless. "The Burmese have mined the border and it is not so easy to cross over with heavy patrols on our side." Colonel Wali Ullah, commander of the paramilitary Bangladesh Rifles (BDR) in southeastern Cox's Bazar district told AFP. "Let them (newspapers) produce 100 to prove they are right," he said, adding that several families who had tried to enter Bangladesh for economic reasons were immediately deported. Other Burmese refugees detained over the past few weeks had also been deported, he said. Ullah said troops were checking all incoming boats on the Naaf river on the border and residents had been warned against sheltering foreigners. A 30-year-old Burmese man died in a mine explosion Friday on the border, he said. Two others were also killed in earlier explosions. The reports of a new refugee influx came amid continuing repatriation of Rohingyas who fled their homes in 1992 alleging prosecution by Burmese troops. Rangoon has denied the charges. Of the 250,000 refugees, 21,800 are still in the process of returning home. A source with links to the World Bank said in Dhaka recently that a recent study made it clear that economic reasons were behind attempts by refugees to enter Bangladesh. Aid agencies have poured in millions of dollars to feed Rohingyas still awaiting repatriation under UNHCR supervision. ***************************************** KNU: INNOCENT CIVILIANS TORTURED BY SLORC May 9, 1997 From: So_Nou@sala.icn.net (So Nou) Thaton district, Karen State On May2, 1997, SLORC LIB 230 intelligent officer Tin Ngwe, arbitrarily arrested Mayaing Kone villager Saw Maung Kyaw and severely beat him. On the same day he arrested another two villagers, Myint Kyaw Eh and Tee Pa Kya, age44, and took them to the LIB 230 commander major Thet Win at Noke ka Toke military camp. On May 3,1997 the intelligence officer Tin Ngwe again arrested another villager, Tee Pa Ler. He ordered the villagers to dig a pit and he forced Tee Pa Ler to lie down in the pit. Then he shot and wounded the poor villager in the pit. When the poor man struggled for life, he ordered the villagers to cover the pit to bury the poor villager alive. While he did this, he forced the whole village to come and see it. He took the remaining two villagers, Myint Kyaw Eh and Tee Pa Kya and stabbed them and wounded them. Then he tied them and dragged them on the ground in the village all day for all the villagers in the village to see. These two villagers were not released yet. KNU Information Center ******************************************** REUTER: THOUSANDS OF KAREN REFUGEES LEAVE THAI CAMPS May 9, 1997 UMPHANG, Thailand, May 9 (Reuter) - Thousands of Karen refugees who fled from fighting in Burma have disappeared from camps in Thailand, and officials say they have either returned home or slipped away to work in Thai cities. A Thai army source said thousands of Karen refugees living in the sprawling camps in Mae Sot and Song Yang districts in Tak province had left. ``The young men and women have escaped from the camps to find work in the big cities,'' the army source said. He said a Thai government move to allow Asian workers, especially from Burma, to work legally in 43 of Thailand's provinces had encouraged the refugees to escape from the camps and seek work. ``Only old people and young children are in the camps at the moment -- the young and strong people have gone,'' the source said. At least 15,000 Karen refugees have disappeared from the camps, he said. A further 1,500 refugees who fled from a Burmese government offensive against Karen rebels earlier this year went back home to Azin and Jaidong villages in Moulmien, Burma, on their own accord in April, a refugee official said. An additional 1,200 have informed refugee officials that they are willing to return to Burma. ``We will begin to repatriate these people back to their villages from May 20,'' U Zaw Hlae, deputy chief of Nu Po refugees camp, told Reuters. About 11,000 refugees now live in Nu Po camp, many of whom may decide to return home later, Zaw Hlae said. About 100,000 Karen refugees, including followers of the Karen National Union (KNU) guerrilla group, have lived in camps in Thailand since they began fleeing fighting in Burma in 1984. The refugees have been a target of attacks by a rival Karen group since 1995 when a Buddhist faction of the predominantly-Christian KNU defected to Burmese troops and began to fight against the KNU. The KNU, which was formed in 1948, is the last major rebel organisation still fighting against Burma's military government. So far 15 rebel group have reached ceasefire agreements with Burma's government. ************************************************* AFP: NORTH KOREA SIDES WITH ASEAN OVER US BURMA SANCTIONS May 9, 1997 (abridged) SEOUL, May 9 (AFP) - North Korea has sided with the Association of South East Asian nations (ASEAN) in opposing a US ban on investment in Burma, according to a dispatch monitored here Friday. "Sanctions and pressure cannot be a solution," the North's Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) quoted a foreign ministry spokesman in Pyongyang as saying. "We consider that the ASEAN nations' position supporting Myanmar's (Burma's) ASEAN membership reflects their independent determination to reject other's interference and solve their problem by themselves," the spokesman said. *************************************** REUTER: POLITICAL, ENVIRONMENTAL GROUPS TARGET TEXACO May 9, 1997 NEW YORK, May 9 (Reuter) - Environmental groups, Burmese political activists and the Reverend Jesse Jackson's Rainbow-Push Coalition plan to descend on Texaco Inc's annual shareholder meeting in Rye Brook, N.Y., on May 13. The Westchester People's Action Coalition, New York Student Environmental Coalition and Wetlands Environmental and Social Justice Centre said that they will organize a protest outside the meeting. The Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility, a church shareholder activist organisation, will address the shareholder meeting. The environmental activists said they are targeting Texaco's environmental record in Ecuador. A legal case against the company was rejected by a New York State Federal Court in White Plains and a motion for reconsideration is under appeal following a submission to the courts by the Ecuadorean government. Texaco has until May 12 to make a response in the case which seeks $800 million to $1.0 billion from the oil major for allegedly polluting rivers and land and displacing Amazon Indians. The Free Burma Coalition, a student organization, will also be represented at the annual meeting to protest Texaco's participation in Yetagun gas field in the Andaman Sea, some 125 miles off the Burmese coast, in which it holds a 42.9 percent stake. Activists charge that U.S. companies which invest in Burma are prolonging the life of the country's military government. Father Joe LaMar of the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibilty said that Texaco could avoid the opprobrium which has attached to another U.S. oil company involved in Burma, Unocal Corp, by pulling out now. "They indicated to us that they were not necessarily committed to Burma. They can get out with a profit now," LaMar said. Last year, Texaco shareholders rejected calls to pull out of Burma at the annual meeting by a large majority. Since then, the U.S. has imposed economic sanctions on new investment in Burma and New York City and some public sector and state pension funds have indicated they are considering divesting stakes in companies which invest there. Texaco has always said it will abide by U.S. law in its dealings in Burma. Jesse Jackson is also expected to attend the annual meeting to protest against Texaco's treatment of black employees, other groups said. His office could not be reached for comment. Texaco has been a target for Rainbow-Push since the company lost a racial discrimination lawsuit last year. Texaco settled a suit brought by black employees last year for $176.1 million but faces a new race suit in a Manhattan federal court. *************************************************** L'EVENEMENT DU JEUDI: THE BURMA BOYCOTTS START TO PAY OFF May 8-14, 1997 (in France) by Patrice Piquard Notwithstanding the boasting and buffoonery of the Burmese junta which after the ban on new American investment in Burma declared that it was "sorry, but all deals go to firms from countries with coherent foreign policies", Burma is very sick. Inflation has topped 30%; the price of rice has doubled in a year; foreign exchange reserves have dropped to their lowest level since 1988, the year the military seized power; exports are down and the national debt has already reached 8 billion francs. The diagnosis of the IMF is that Burma must devalue its currency by 99% and initiate long-awaited structural reforms. Behind the dictators' seeming confidence lies an economy in tatters, held together only by drug trafficking and the black market, which are largely controlled by the authorities. Despite rosy official figures, foreign investment is declining outside the oil and gas sector (where Total plays the leading role) and tourism. But hotel construction will pay the price of the failure of the "Year of Tourism", since only the French and Italians are visiting Burma without a twinge of conscience. In other sectors, the primitive infrastructure and fear of boycotts deter punters from touching the Burmese market. The advice of the resistant Aung San Suu Kyi not to invest in Burma has led thirty American cities and states to refuse contracts to firms which have a presence in Rangoon. To these official boycotts (against which the European Union has threatened to file a complaint at the World Trade Organisation) must be added the informal boycotts of human rights organisations. We must therefore conclude that if the Europeans, especially the French, began a boycott of Total, the pressure on the junta would become irresistible. (unofficial translation by dawn star