Daily News-July 07 - 2001- Saturday

  • Burma's secret talks spark frustration among dissident ranks
  • Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing meets Burmese finance minister
  • Opposing commanders put their faith in golf diplomacy
  • Myanmar Makes Efforts in Fight Against HIV/AIDS
  • Z-crafts for Paper Mill Project
  • Myanmar Seizes Large Amount of Stimulant Drug in Border Town
  • Burma releases last political prisoners held at Rangoon "guest houses"

    • Burma's secret talks spark frustration among dissident ranks

    BANGKOK, July 6 (AFP) - A Myanmar rebel group Friday added its voice to the growing number of dissident groups expressing frustration over the secrecy surrounding talks between opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta.

    The Karen National Union, one of the few ethnic militias who have not signed a ceasefire with the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), demanded to be included in the fledgling national reconciliation process.

    "Though dialogue between the SPDC and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been going on for nearly a year now, no one has a definite knowledge of the content and development of the dialogue," it said in a statement. "It is impossible for us to designate it as a meaningful and genuine dialogue. It is still necessary for the dialogue to... develop into a tripartite dialogue that will resolve all the basic political problems."

    United Nations envoy Razali Ismail, who is credited with acting as a catalyst for the talks that began last October, is believed to have pushed in recent months for the ethnic minority groups to be drawn into the process. However, most commentators agree that the contacts between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi -- the first since 1994 -- are still too fragile to be exposed to public scrutiny or the involvement of other groups.

    Confidence in the process has been boosted by the release over the last few weeks of dozens of senior members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), in line with a demand from Aung San Suu Kyi.

    But the Karen National Union lashed out at the junta Friday, saying that even as it released the prisoners and allowed NLD offices around the country to re-open it continued to commit gross human rights violations.

    "There are still thousands of NLD members and political activists in jail and their lives in prisons are said to be deteriorating," it said. "The SPDC... still forcefully restricts the legitimate existence and activities of the NLD. It still continues to vigorously wage war against the ethnic nationalities and ruthlessly oppresses the people. "All these acts are diametrically opposed to the goal of resolving the basic political problems justly by political means."

    In the last few months several other dissident groups have criticised the pace of the talks and the failure to include ethnic minorities whose support will be crucial in any move to end four decades of military rule.

    The Thailand-based All Burma Students Democratic Front (ABSDF) said last month that the secret talks had failed to make any head way and should be immediately opened to public scrutiny. "The current talks are not open. People are frustrated waiting for information while human rights abuses and forced labour are still occurring inside the country," it said.
    Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing meets Burmese finance minister

    BBC Monitoring Service - United Kingdom; Jul 6, 2001

    Text of report in English by official Chinese news agency Xinhua (New China News Agency)

    Beijing, 6 July: Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing met here Friday [6 July] with U Khin Maung Thein, minister of finance and revenue of Myanmar [Burma]. The two sides exchanged views on Sino-Myanmar relations and issues of common concern.

    Present at the meeting were Chinese Finance Minister Xiang Huaicheng and Governor of the People's Bank of China Dai Xianglong. U Khin Maung Thein is visiting China at the invitation of Ministry of Finance.
    Opposing commanders put their faith in golf diplomacy; Defence minister reschedules trip

    Bangkok Post - Thailand; Jul 6, 2001
    BY WASSANA NANUAM

    Opposing army commanders along the Thai-Burmese border will get to know each other better on the golf course tomorrow, ahead of next month's official meeting in Pattaya. Third Army commander Lt-Gen Watanachai Chaimuanwong and Burma's regional triangle commander Maj-Gen Thein Sein will tee-off together and then have lunch in Tachilek, across the border from Mae Sai.

    Lt-Gen Watanachai said he would give Maj-Gen Thein Sein a miniature Phra Buddhachinnarat image and invite him for another round of golf in Chiang Rai on July 23.

    Problems between Thailand and Burma will be saved for discussion at the 19th Regional Border Committee meeting to be held in Pattaya next month, he said. Burma was determined to continue construction of a lignite-fired power plant in Tachilek, which it claimed would use modern technology to prevent pollution, he said.

    The military earlier stopped a truck convoy carrying the generating equipment from crossing the border following protests from local people. But the Third Army chief said the miltary had no authority to stop further shipments.

    Defence Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh has rescheduled his visit to Burma from July 28-29 to July 19-20, to fit in with the Burmese leaders' plans, a source said. The minister accompanied by permanent secretary Gen Thawat Ketangkul, Supreme Commander Gen Sampao Chusri, army chief Gen Surayud Chulanont, navy chief Adm Prasert Boonsong and air force chief ACM Pong Maneesil would visit Vietnam from July 18-19 before flying to Rangoon.
    Myanmar Makes Efforts in Fight Against HIV/AIDS

    YANGON, July 5 (Xinhuanet) -- HIV/AIDS, a national concern in Myanmar, is recognized by the Myanmar Ministry of Health as one of the three priority communicable diseases -- malaria, HIV/AIDS and tuberculosis (TB). The UNAIDS has identified Myanmar along with Thailand and Cambodia as the priority country in Southeast Asia where taking of urgent action is called for to prevent the spread of the epidemic.

    In face of the threat posed by HIV/AIDS, the Myanmar government is taking various measures to prevent and halt the rapid spread of the epidemic, using all its available resources.In 1989, Myanmar formed a high-level and multi-sectoral National AIDS Committee, chaired by the Minister of Health to oversee the National AIDS Program in the country.

    It also established in the year the National Health Committee (NHC) with ministers from various government ministries as members and chaired by First Secretary of the Myanmar State Peace and Development Council Lieutenant-General Khin Nyunt.The NHC, which is the highest policy-making body in Myanmar with respect to health, provides policy guidelines to enhance HIV/ AIDS prevention and control activities in the country.

    Myanmar began conducting active surveillance for HIV and AIDS in 1985 and bi-annual HIV sentinel surveillance in 1992 in nine sites, which was expanded to 27 to cover all states and divisions in 2000.Moreover, behavioral surveillance was introduced in the country in 1997 with these sites covering all urban areas and some border areas considered to be high risk.

    Meanwhile, under limited international assistance, Myanmar has implemented a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS prevention and control program with health education as priority, which was geared towards behavioral change, care and compassion for persons with the disease.Besides, prevention of mother to child transmission (PMCT) was implemented in 1998.

    A school basic healthy living and AIDS prevention education, which is a co-curriculum for school children from 4th to 9th grade, has also been introduced, covering 1.5 million students and over 7, 000 school teachers in 50 townships.Moreover, a pilot 100-percent condom use among targeted population program has been launched in the focus townships.

    In late 2000, Myanmar's 8th National AIDS Committee meeting established the multi-sectoral Special Strategic Committee to enhance and upgrade countrywide HIV/AIDS prevention and control activities.In early 2001, Myanmar's National AIDS Program and the UNAIDS drafted a joint action plan for prevention and control of HIV/AIDS in Myanmar, reflecting the cultural characteristics and the priorities of the country.The plan contains technically sound strategies and is comprehensive in nature, covering preventive, curative and rehabilitative aspects.

    A report said that sentinel surveillance figures indicated prevalence rate among sex workers in Mandalay, the second largest city of the country, rose from 4 percent in 1992 to 57 percent in 1999, while that in male conscripts in Yangon and Mandalay went up from 0.4 percent in 1993 to nearly 2 percent in 1999.The report said that 30 percent of officially reported HIV cases in the country are attributed to intravenous drug use and 68 percent to heterosexual transmission.Estimation, jointly made by the UNAIDS and the World Health Organization in 1999, shows as high as 530,000 HIV positive cases in Myanmar.

    With regard to financial resources in Myanmar's HIV/AIDS prevention and control efforts, the U.N. system in the country is the only principal source of external funding in the absence of other significant bilateral aid.Until 2001, the combined budget of the Myanmar government, U.N. system, local and international NGOs was estimated to amount to about 3 million U.S. dollars annually.

    Currently, the Myanmar-UNAIDS joint plan of action to prevent and control HIV/AIDS in Myanmar is reportedly being implemented on a small scale as only 28 percent of the funding is so far available. It is said that there requires a total of 16 million dollars over a two-year period to undertake all the activities contained in the plan.The country has expressed its most willingness to collaborate and cooperate nationally, regionally and internationally with partners to find the best ways of halting the spread of the epidemic and reversing it.
    Z-crafts for Paper Mill Project

    Information Sheet- N0. B-1876 ( I ) - 5th July, 2001

    The Z-crafts, Maung-Myanmar 1 and Maung -Myanmar 2, built by Myanma Annawa Swan-ar-shin Company, will be used in transporting pulps and fuel oil for the project, which is being implemented by Myanmar Paper and Chemical Industries (MPCI) in Thabaung Township, Ayeyawaddy Division.

    The boats, each measuring 150 feet in length and 35 feet in width, can carry 450 tons of freight and 100,000 gallons of fuel oil.Installed with two 350-HP engines, the draught of each boat is 5 feet when loaded and two feet when unloaded.The company built the boats under the contract it had signed with MPCI.
    Myanmar Seizes Large Amount of Stimulant Drug in Border Town

    YANGON, July 5 (Xinhuanet) -- The Myanmar authorities seized 1.65 million tablets of stimulant drug in Tachilek, eastern Shan state of the country, last month, according to Myanmar's Central Committee for Drug Abuse Control Thursday.

    The seizure was made by a combined team comprising local intelligence unit and the police force when they searched a vessel anchored at the Wampon Jetty in the area on June 10.In June, the Myanmar authorities also confiscated 541,600 more tablets of stimulant drug in the state, according to an earlier official report.

    Official statistics show that in 2000, the Myanmar authorities confiscated 26.6 million tablets of stimulant drug along with 1.52 tons of opium, 158 kilograms of heroin and 590 kilograms of marijuana.

    Besides, during the first four months of this year, the authorities exposed a total of 1,017 drug-related cases, seizing 391.7 kilograms of opium and 23 kilograms of heroin and punishing 1,435 drug offenders, the statistics show.
    Burma releases last political prisoners held at Rangoon "guest houses"

    Rangoon, (AFP)

    Burma's ruling junta Friday freed the last seven opposition MPs held at government "guest houses" in Rangoon since a late 1990s crackdown on Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy (NLD).

    The release of the NLD MPs -- elected in the 1990 ballot which the military regime refused to recognise -- brought to 33 the number of political prisoners freed over the past few weeks.

    "All the remaining NLD MPs staying at government guest houses in Yangon have left the guest houses to return home to their families. They are all in good health," said a spokesman for the military government.

    Diplomats said another 34 NLD MPs remain in jail where they are serving sentences for subversion, and that a handful of other senior party members could still be detained without charge at guest houses outside the capital.

    Even though they, and hundreds of other dissidents, remain in custody, the recent releases have been welcomed as a sign of progress in talks between Aung San Suu Kyi and the junta which began last October.

    The pro-democracy leader is believed to have demanded the regime reverse the 1998 closure of the party's branch offices and the detention of dozens of its senior members as a condition for the talks to progress.

    Last week, her cousin and closest aide Aye Win was also freed from Rangoon's notorious Insein prison where he served a five-year sentence.

    The military government has said the concessions reflect "understandings" established in the fledgling dialogue, which observers hope will pave the way for a fully fledged national reconciliation process.

    Five groups of MPs have now been released since United Nations envoy Razali Ismail visited Rangoon in early June on a mission to bring new impetus to the talks -- the first between the two sides since 1994.

    Razali is credited with acting as the catalyst for the contacts, which appeared to have run into problems several months ago.

    UN Secretary General Kofi Annan welcomed the releases and called on the international community to support the dialogue process which may end four decades of military rule.

    However, opposition and dissident groups have become increasingly frustrated with the secrecy surrounding the talks, and the fact they have so far been excluded from the negotiation process.

    The Karen National Union (KNU), one of the few ethnic militias who have not signed a ceasefire with the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), added their voice to the chorus Friday.

    "Though dialogue between the SPDC and Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been going on for nearly a year now, no one has a definite knowledge of the content and development of the dialogue," the KNU said in a statement.

    "It is impossible for us to designate it as a meaningful and genuine dialogue. It is still necessary for the dialogue to... develop into a tripartite dialogue that will resolve all the basic political problems."

    Razali is believed to have pushed in recent months for the ethnic minority groups to be drawn into the process.

    However, most commentators agree the contacts between the junta and Aung San Suu Kyi are still too fragile to be exposed to public scrutiny or the potentially problematic involvement of other groups.

    Despite the releases, the KNU accused the junta of hypocrisy, saying that even as it freed the prisoners and allowed NLD offices around the country to re-open it continued to commit gross human rights violations.

    "The SPDC... still forcefully restricts the legitimate existence and activities of the NLD. It still continues to vigorously wage war against the ethnic nationalities and ruthlessly oppresses the people.

    "All these acts are diametrically opposed to the goal of resolving the basic political problems justly by political means."