Daily News-November 28 - 2001- Wednesday

  • Malaysian Razali in Myanmar on 6th visit to end deadlock
  • U.N. envoy Razali arrives on sixth visit to end Myanmar political
  • ICFTU: 39 US companies named for continuing involvement in Burma
  • Bangladesh, Myanmar Agree to Explore Air, Highway Links with China
  • Chinese police nab endangered animal-hide smugglers
  • UN envoy optimistic on secretive Myanmar talks
  • Locals tell PM to stop Burma plant or face the consequences

    • Malaysian Razali in Myanmar on 6th visit to end deadlock

    The Star (Asia)

    YANGON, Myanmar (AP) - A United Nations special envoy trying to broker an end to the political deadlock between the ruling generals and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi arrived Tuesday for a weeklong visit.

    Razali Ismail, a Malaysian, is on his sixth visit to Myanmar since he was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His last visit was in August. He did not speak to reporters on his arrival.

    Razali is expected to again meet with government leaders and Suu Kyi, who have been holding closed door talks since October 2000 in a bid to bring democracy to this Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma.

    Razali, a former Secretary General of the Malaysian Foreign Ministry and Malaysian envoy to the UN, is credited with kickstarting the talks, the first in six years between the regime and Suu Kyi, who has been under virtual house detention since September 2000. The contents of the talks have been kept secret by both sides for fear of derailing them and have shown no sign of a breakthrough.

    The most tangible results of the talks, still thought to be at the "confidence-building'' stage, have been the release of some 190 political prisoners, virtually all from Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy party, and the government's allowing the party to reopen 27 branch offices in the Yangon district.

    Brig. Gen. Than Tun, who has been liaising between the junta and Suu Kyi, told reporters recently that the talks were progressing well and cited the prisoner releases, the reopening of NLD offices and permission given Suu Kyi to receive visitors.

    The current group of generals came to power in 1988 after crushing massive pro-democracy demonstrations that left hundreds dead. In 1990, the junta called general elections but refused to honor the results that gave the NLD an overwhelmingly victory. Myanmar has been under military rule since 1962.

    On Tuesday, Malaysia's opposition Democratic Action Party said Razali should urge ruling generals on Myanmar's State Peace and Development Council to free Suu Kyi to speed up the democracy talks.

    "Razali should convince the SPDC to abandon its attitude that the secret talks is a timeless process,'' said Lim Kit Siang, the party's chairman The slow pace of progress in the talks risked reinforcing international suspicion that the junta "is just playing games and not serious about national reconciliation,'' Lim said.

    Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who met with Gen. Than Shwe earlier this month, has said Myanmar's military regime is committed to pursuing democratic reform, but at its own pace. - AP

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    U.N. envoy Razali arrives on sixth visit to end Myanmar political

    YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A United Nations special envoy trying to broker an end to the political deadlock between the ruling generals and opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi expressed hope Tuesday that some progress could emerge from their talks by next year, a Myanmar politician said.

    U.N. envoy Razali Ismail arrived Tuesday for a weeklong visit, his sixth to Myanmar since he was appointed by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan. His last visit was in August. He did not speak to reporters on his arrival.

    However, at a meeting with representatives of ethnic minority political parties Tuesday evening, he said that his visit was meant to speed up the ongoing talks.

    "Mr. Razali told us that he has been blamed for the slowness of the talks and he would try his best to speed up the talks between the ruling military government and Aung San Suu Kyi," Khun Tun Oo, chairman of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, told reporters after the meeting.

    "By 2002, he (Razali) hopes there will be a roadmap for national reconciliation with the participation of ethnic minorities," he said.

    Razali had a one-hour meeting with leaders of Shan, Chin, Mon and Arakan ethnic minority political parties at the hotel where he is staying. Earlier he met Foreign Minister Win Aung. He is due to meet the junta's number-three ranking member, Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt, on Wednesday and will meet opposition leader Suu Kyi at her home Thursday.

    Razali, a former Malaysian diplomat, is credited with kick-starting the first talks in six years between the regime and Suu Kyi, who has been under virtual house detention since September 2000.The contents of the talks have been kept secret by both sides for fear of derailing them and have shown no sign of a breakthrough.

    At their meeting with Razali, the ethnic leaders reiterated their desire to participate in the talks at an appropriate time and also suggested he urge the junta to allow the ethnic political parties to meet with other ethnic groups to prepare for a future trilateral dialogue, and release political prisoners as well.

    Asked how the ethnic leaders feel about the ongoing talks, Shan leader Khun Tun Oo replied, "Of course we are frustrated. Everybody's frustrated."

    Brig. Gen. Than Tun, who has been liaising between the junta and Suu Kyi, told reporters recently that the talks were progressing well and cited the prisoner releases, the reopening of NLD offices and permission given Suu Kyi to receive visitors.

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    ICFTU: 39 US companies named for continuing involvement in Burma

    39 American companies are on the list of multinational enterprises that continue to do business in Burma, despite the country's continuous use of forced labor. The Global Unions have released a list of 250 companies with business links to Burma. More companies are to be added later.

    The list includes US-based corporations such as Caterpillar, Chevron, Marriott, DHL Worldwide Express, and PriceWaterhouseCoopers, in addition to well-known Burma investors such as Unocal, Amerada Hess and Halliburton. >Global Unions demands that all companies sever their ties with the country and its brutal junta.

    "Any international business involvement in Burma is an accommodation with tyranny. It supports a corrupt and repressive military regime that has never been granted any legitimacy by the people of Burma", said an International Confederation of Free Trade Unions(ICFTU) spokesperson.

    The list has been published to coincide with the release of ILO Governing Body's conclusions that forced labor has not been eliminated. The Brussels- based labor group claims that the publication of this list could encourage companies to pull out of Burma, thereby pressuring the junta to comply with the International Labor Organization (ILO) standards which treat forced labor and slavery as crimes in international law.

    According to the Global Unions, it is impossible to conduct any business relationship in Burma without directly or indirectly supporting the Burmese military dictatorship, which is responsible for the extensive use of forced labor, as well as other serious human and trade union rights violations.

    Over the last 8 months, about 310 companies have been approached and asked to comment on their links to Burma. More than 60 have replied, while some denied their involvement, other admitted their presence. A number of companies have been removed from the list as a result. Others have been removed temporarily due to a process of ongoing dialogue.

    Link to the database, evidence, and correspondence where available as well as background information on this initiative:     http://www.global-unions.org/burma

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    Bangladesh, Myanmar Agree to Explore Air, Highway Links with China

    DHAKA, November 27 (Xinhua)--Bangladesh and Myanmar have agreed to explore the possibility of Beijing-Kunming-Yangoon-Chittagong air and highway links for mutual benefit of the two neighboring countries.

    The agreement came when Myanmar Ambassador to Bangladesh U Ohn Thwin made a courtesy call on Foreign Minister M Morshed Khan at his office here Tuesday, accorfkng to the United News of Bangladesh.

    During the meeting they underscored the need for strengthening sub-regional economic cooperation to harness economic benefits for the people of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

    Morshed Khan emphasized on joint cooperation in the areas of agro-based and dry-fruit processing industries, technical centre for human resource development of both countries with the possible assistance of European Union and Japan.

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    Chinese police nab endangered animal-hide smugglers

    BEIJING (Reuters) - Police arrested three men smuggling the pelts of endangered tigers, leopards and sea otters over the border from Myanmar into southeast China's Yunnan province, state television said on Tuesday.

    China Central Television (CCTV) showed the men, two Chinese nationals and one from Myanmar, standing handcuffed next to the hides of rare Bangladeshi tigers discovered on their truck. The men pretended their cargo was jellyfish, CCTV said.

    Forest police in Baoshan city, 350 km (200 miles) from the provincial capital of Kunming, caught a Chinese driver but allowed him to proceed to neighbouring Xiaguan city in order to catch the buyers meeting the truck, according to CCTV.

    It said police found the hides of 23 tigers, 33 leopards and 134 sea otters, which fetch high prices as luxury items at illegal markets in Chinese cities. A policeman shown clutching a tiger hide with an eye-shaped bullet hole said: "This shows the criminals killed it by very cruel means."

    China's rising living standards and border corruption have created added incentive for poachers of big cats, coveted for their skin and body parts used for medicines to cure problems from rheumatism to impotence. Coats with collars made of shiny, black sea otter fur have come in vogue in China.

    CCTV did not say what charges the men faced in the case, which was still under investigation. China had launched a new crackdown on the illegal trade of endangered wildlife owned as pets or consumed as gourmet dishes, CCTV said.

    Authorities have launched similar campaigns in the past but organised criminal networks, particularly on China's borders with Southeast Asia and Russia, have diversified into what is seen as a relatively low risk business.

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    UN envoy optimistic on secretive Myanmar talks

    YANGON, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The United Nations special envoy to Myanmar said on Wednesday he was "optimistic" that secretive talks between the ruling military and pro-democracy opposition would lead to national reconciliation.

    Razali Ismail arrived in Yangon on Tuesday amid signs of growing frustration among opposition and ethnic minority groups with the talks, which began in October last year.

    "I can tell you to be optimistic about the eventual outcome," Razali told reporters after meeting members of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) and ethnic minority groups on Wednesday. "We had very useful talks and exchange of views. The future is very encouraging," he said.

    Critics say the military has shown no sign of loosening its grip on power, which it has held in different guises since a coup in 1962.

    But Razali told reporters the talks were still on track. He was also due to meet powerful military intelligence chief Khin Nyunt later on Wednesday.

    On Thursday, he is scheduled to meet Aung San Suu Kyi, the nobel peace laureate who led the NLD to victory in parliamentary elections in 1990, but who has spent much of the last decade under house arrest.

    Although restrictions remain on Suu Kyi's movements, the military says it has made several concessions to the opposition since talks began in October 2000, including the release of dozens of imprisoned opposition politicians and the reopening of many NLD offices.

    "SPEED IT UP"

    But leaders of Myanmar's main ethnic minorities said on Wednesday that Razali was aware the reconciliation talks needed more urgency.

    "(Razali) said he was criticised for the sluggish progress of the ongoing talks and he promised to try to speed it up," Khun Tun Oo, leader of the Shan Nationalities League for Democracy, told a press conference.

    Khun Tun Oo said Razali had proposed that ethnic minorities be included in the talks next year. "Mr Razali said there will be a road-map to the national reconciliation with the participation of all nationalities in 2002," Khun Tun Oo said.

    "He meant that bipartite talks (between the government and NLD) will grow into tripartite talks with the inclusion of ethnic groups, and he asked us if we were prepared for it, if we have reached a common ground for it," he said.

    "We told him we must be allowed to meet freely without any discrimination, pressure and restriction. Only then will we reach common ground." The ethnic minority leaders also asked Razali to put pressure on the military government to release more political prisoners.

    "We also requested him to arrange...for the release of some ethnic politicians and for allowing some registered major ethnic political parties to function freely," said Naing Tun Thein, Chairman of the Mon National Democratic Front.According to Amnesty International, more than 1,500 political prisoners are still in Myanmar's jails.

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    Locals tell PM to stop Burma plant or face the consequences

    The Bangkokpost
    Theerawat Khamthita

    Local residents want Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to convince Burma to scrap a planned coal-fired power plant on the border or take responsibility for environmental damage.The Rak Mae Sai group has been active in demanding a halt to the construction of a lignite-fired power plant in Tachilek town, which borders Mae Sai.

    In April, Mae Sai residents blocked a convoy of 44 trucks carrying Chinese-made power plant parts, sold to Burmese contractor Golden Triangle Hydro-Power Plant.They feared emissions of sulphur dioxide and other toxic substances from the coal-fuelled plant would be a hazard to their health, like the Mae Moh plant in Lampang.The trucks were forced to return to Bangkok.

    Burma reportedly sent a letter to the Foreign Ministry recently saying the contractor guaranteed the generators met international industrial standards.Pollution Control Department chief Sirithan Pairojbariboon also said checks found the generators used newer technology than the Mae Moh plant. And because the Burmese plant would be 200 times smaller than the Thai plant, impact on the environment should also be minimal, the chief said.

    Prapan Sriwichai, secretary of the Rak Mae Sai group said safety to health and the environment remained a major concern.Mr Prapan said the group would soon propose to the government that it sell cheap electricity to Burma to stop construction of the Tachilek power plant.The government may instead opt to ask Burma to move the plant 30km away from the border, he said.

    Thailand could sell cabling and power poles to the contractor at specially low prices.Mr Prapan said if attempts to halt the project failed, the prime minister would be held responsible for any damage caused by the plant.

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