Daily News- March 14- 2002- Thursday

  • European Union mission visits Myanmar
  • Myanmar watchers puzzling over bizarre coup conspiracy
  • Rebels kill six Myanmar soldiers near Thai border
  • Surakiart evades Burma question
  • Coup-related arrests of military personnel, civilians continue
  • EU delegation meets Myanmar junta amid coup revelations
  • U.N. Envoy Welcomes Release Of 195 Female Prisoners

    • European Union mission visits Myanmar

    YANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ A European Union team arrived in Myanmar Wednesday on a three day mission to encourage political reconciliation, that will likely include a meeting with detained opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

    It's the third such EU mission since July 1999, reflecting its interest in helping end the deadlock between Myanmar's military government and its democratic opposition.

    Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy won a 1990 general election but was not allowed to take power. It members have suffered severe repression and Nobel peace laureate Suu Kyi has been under house detention for the past year.

    The EU mission is seeking firsthand information on the progress of closed-door talks between the military leadership and Suu Kyi, said a Yangon-based foreign diplomat, speaking on bondition of anonymity. It will also express the EU's hopes and expectations for Myanmar's future, the diplomat said.

    The visit comes at a time of heightened political tension in Myanmar. The military government said over the weekend that some military officers were linked to a suspected coup plot hatched by family members of former dictator Ne Win. The alleged plot is not relevant to the EU mission, said the diplomat.

    Dr. Rafael Conde, director general for Asia and the Pacific in the Spanish Foreign Ministry, is heading the EU delegation, which like previous missions is expected to meet senior government officials, opposition figures including Suu Kyi, and diplomats.

    The European Union imposed trade, diplomatic and financial sanctions after the military crushed pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988 and refused to recognize the National League for Democracy's election victory. It is also critical of the junta's human rights record.

    Myanmar's third ranking military leader on"Tuesday denounced as politically motivated Western allegations of human rights abuses by the junta. Lt. Gen. Khin Nyunt said in a speech to foreign ministry officials that powerful nations were "interfering in the internal affairs of other countries under various pretexts in order to mold the smaller nations according to their wishes."

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    Myanmar watchers puzzling over bizarre coup conspiracy

    YANGON, March 13 (AFP) - Myanmar watchers puzzled Wednesday over the junta's announcement that it had scuttled a plot to kidnap its top generals and mount a coup, and said many questions remain unanswered in the affair.

    The arrest of four relatives of former dictator Ne Win, two press conferences to announce details of the alleged conspiracy, and sackings of top military figures have captivated the capital Yangon since the weekend.

    Newspapers are selling out in record time, and the prices of gold and gasoline have shot to record highs -- signs of uncertainty as the nation waits to see the repercussions of the scandal.However, there is no sign of unrest on the streets, and few citizens lamented the downfall of Ne Win's family who earned widespread dislike for their questionable business practices and thuggish behaviour.

    Ne Win's son-in-law and three grandsons were rounded up last Thursday at a restaurant where they were allegedly discussing the plot with a senior commander who betrayed them to the authorities.The 92-year-old autocrat and his favoured daughter Sandar Win, implicated in the conspiracy for the first time Tuesday, remain at their lakeside home behind a heavy military guard.

    "They (the family) resented the economic and political changes this government has been implementing to turn this nation into a democracy," deputy chief of military intelligence Major General Kyaw Win said Tuesday."They had political aspirations but they will have no political future in this country," he said, adding that they had grown frustrated over the lack of economic privileges being extended to them as Ne Win's influence waned.

    The Yangon rumour mill has worked overtime in recent days, with a number of theories circulating over the motivation for the strike against the prominent family, who had been seen as untouchable.

    But most analysts agreed that while the clan were unlikely to have been able to pull off a successful coup, with their extensive business empire and contacts in the military they could have posed a significant threat to the notoriously paranoid and secretive junta.

    "Certainly the family was a threat, and an embarrassment. But whether it's quite as dramatic a threat as they portrayed we don't know," said one Yangon-based diplomat. "They were always capable of trying to use Ne Win's position and there may have been some suggestion of some way in whch they were capable of translating that into reality."

    With Ne Win growing increasingly frail -- he travelled to Singapore last year to have a pacemaker fitted -- they could have been jumping to consolidate their position before the patriarch's demise.

    However, the diplomat stressed that far too little about the affair was known to make a definite conclusion as to the junta's motivation.Seasoned analysts in Yangon and Bangkok also noted with surprise the military regime's open and relaxed manner of releasing news of the alleged coup.

    Despite perennial talk of destabilising splits within the junta's top-three leadership, the approach indicated that the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) is very much in control.

    "I would even describe them as confident," one observer said. "This has got all the earmarkings of a very well planned and coordinated response by the SPDC." "I've never seen them deal with something in such an open way, even to the extent of putting this news on the television."

    In proof of the relaxed mood in Yangon, a high-level European delegation was permitted to continue with its planned mission starting Tuesday, and UN envoy Razali Ismail is still expected to visit later this month.

    In the confused aftermath of the death of junta number-four Tin Oo in a helicopter crash last year, all visits were scrapped and Yangon remained a diplomacy-free zone for several months.

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    Rebels kill six Myanmar soldiers near Thai border

    BANGKOK, March 13 - Separatist ethnic Karen fighters attacked a Myanmar army outpost close to the Thai border on Wednesday, killing six Myanmar soldiers, Thai military sources told Reuters.

    They said around 80 fighters from the Karen National Union (KNU) attacked Myanmar troops on Wednesday evening near the border town of Myawaddy. Heavy fighting was still going on late into the night, the sources said.

    The KNU is one of several ethnic armies fighting for independence from the Yangon military government. Yangon accuses the insurgents of being heavily involved in the production of opium and methamphetamines. Thai military sources say the KNU may have timed its attack on the outpost to take advantage of confusion in Myanmar following the government's claim that it had foiled a coup being planned by the family and cronies of former dictator Ne Win. The Myanmar government has arrested the son-in-law and three grandsons of Ne Win, who ruled the country for more than 25 years until he stepped down in 1988. It says investigations into the coup plot are still under way.

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    Surakiart evades Burma question

    The Nation

    Foreign Minister Surakiart Sathirathai was caught off guard yesterday by a demand from outspoken Opposition lawmaker MR Sukhumbhand Paribatra to explain whether the Burmese junta had indeed "apologised" or merely express "regret", over a recent article in the state-run New Light of Myanmar that was deemed offensive to the monarchy.

    Surakiart was asked to either take back his statement or go on the record as saying the Burmese junta had apologised for the offensive article. "Please explain so it will be news tomorrow," Sukhumbhand said.

    Instead, Surakiart turned to the chair of the meeting, Suchart Tancharoen, saying that he had already said what he wanted to say. Democrat Sukhumbhand's point was that the Burmese junta must be held accountable for the content of the article because the publication was an official mouthpiece.

    Sukhumbhand, a former deputy foreign minister, blasted Surakiart for not taking tougher action against the Burmese, saying the least government could do was to recall the Thai ambassador in Rangoon to Bangkok.

    Instead, the Opposition politician said the Thaksin administration had bent over backwards to please the military junta of Rangoon, despite it being just a year since troops from both sides were engaged in cross-border shelling following Burma's incursion onto Thai soil.

    Surakiart said the ministry had summoned the Burmese ambassador to Thailand to give him a warning over the article.

    On the issue of Thailand's international standing, Sukhumbhand blasted the ministry's effort to push through an "empty" mechanism, the Asian Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) scheme, aimed at turning Thailand into the meeting point for East Asia and the subcontinent.

    Surakiart responded by insisting that major powers, including the Asean bloc, had already stated that they would support the Thai initiative. He pointed to Australia, China, India and Pakistan as having already confirmed their commitment to the ACD.

    Sukhumbhand accused the Foreign Ministry of misleading the public about its accomplishments in the past year, pointing to Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's trip to the US where both sides had different views about how the Thai contingent had been received. Surakiart shot back, saying the premier and the delegation were treated properly, that they were allowed to stay at Blair House like other foreign VIPs and that all their expenses were paid for by the US government.

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    Coup-related arrests of military personnel, civilians continue

    Text of report by Democratic Voice of Burma on 13 March

    There have been continuing arrests in the aftermath of the coup attempt by U Ne Win's family, which has roused great interest domestically and internationally. DVB correspondent Myint Maung Maung filed the following dispatch.

    [Myint Maung Maung, recording] Northern Military Command commander Brig-Gen Maung Maung Swe is being interrogated in relation with the coup plot. Further, one colonel from No 502 Air Force Base, two lieutenant-colonels from No 506 Air Force Base, No 1 Company commander Maj Kyaw Thein from Mergui-based Military Intelligence Battalion 6, and No 3 Company commander Capt Aung Kyaw Thein from Kawthaung Military Intelligence Unit were all summoned to Rangoon and detained.

    In addition, the director of Military Communications, the secretary of Industrialists Association, a deputy director from the Trade Ministry, the executive officer of Rangoon Port Authority, and 12 officials from Mingaladon Airport were all detained and interrogated. Moreover, Lt-Gen Tin Tun [former deputy prime minister and Air Force commander-in-chief] and Lt-Gen Tun Kyi [former trade minister and central command commander], who were both removed from their positions, are reported to be under investigation. Many private entrepreneurs from Tenasserim Division who have business links with U Aye Zaw Win and Daw Sandar Win have been arrested as well.

    Burma War Office stops military, police officers crossing border

    The War Office in Rangoon has issued a directive to all border security posts prohibiting all gazetted military and police officers from leaving the country through the border gates. The War Office should be immediately informed if any military or police officer requests permission to cross the border gate. The directive also noted that special permits will be issued by the War Office for persons who need to cross the border gate for special duty or official duty.

    DVB has learned that the directive was aimed at preventing some senior military officers who played a major role in the failed coup attempt by U Ne Win's family members from leaving the country through the border checkpoints.

    Since departure through Rangoon International Airport is virtually impossible, the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] is concerned that they might slip through the border gates using their high rank and influence and flee to neighbouring countries.

    It is also learned that security members, together with military intelligence personnel, are thoroughly searching every passenger car and cargo truck leaving the border checkpoints for Thailand, India and China.

    Junta reportedly detains commanders from coastal region command

    Senior military officers from Coastal Region Military Command have been reportedly detained by the SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] for their involvement in the failed coup by U Ne Win's family. Among those arrested were MOMC [Military Operations Management Command] 8 commander Col Htein Win, MOMC 13 commander Col Khin Maung Yin, MOMC 20 commander Col Tin Maung Tun, No 1 Strategic Command commander Col Soe Thet, No 2 Strategic Command commander Col Kyaw Swa, and No 3 Strategic Command commander Col Khin Win. They were all detained at No 6 Military Intelligence Battalion in Mergui.

    The commanders were all ordered to come to Coastal Region Military Command Headquarters for a strategy meeting last Wednesday [6 March] and were detained by the military intelligence once they had all arrived in Mergui. A team of military intelligence officers from the Office of the Defence Services Intelligence in Rangoon arrived in Mergui yesterday to interrogate the detained commanders.

    Similarly, the Directorate of Defence Services Intelligence in Rangoon has taken into custody Coastal Region Military Command Commander Maj-Gen Aye Kywe, together with Military Intelligence Battalion 6 commander Maj Thet Tin. Furthermore, some officers from battalions and units under the Triangle Region Military Command have been arrested in connection with the failed coup. One major and some captains from Armoured Battalion 2 based in Hmawbi have been reported to be under interrogation.

    According to the latest reports, a colonel who allegedly played a major role in the coup attempt has absconded and the SPDC military intelligence is searching for him. The identity of the colonel remains unknown.

    Junta reportedly freezes assets, financial accounts of Ne Win's daughter

    The SPDC [State Peace and Development Council] has begun freezing the assets, economic enterprises and financial accounts of Daw Sandar Win, the favoured daughter of former Burmese dictator U Ne Win. The Business Centre at Nawarat Hotel has been closed and interrogation of employees has begun. Similarly, maritime voyage permits have been refused for boats from the fisheries enterprises in Tavoy, Mergui and Kawthaung jointly owned with coastal region commander Maj-Gen Aye Kywe. Meanwhile, boats offshore have been ordered to return to the ports.

    U Paw Kywe, director of Tenasserim International Company Ltd who has a fisheries partnership with U Aye Zaw Win, and the board of directors of Htoo Htoo Toe Company, jointly owned by Daw Sandar Win and Maj-Gen Aye Kywe, have also been arrested.

    All bank accounts of Daw Sandar Win, her husband U Aye Zaw Win, and the three sons [Aye Ne Win, Kyaw Ne Win and Zwe Ne Win] have been frozen. Furthermore, investigations have been carried out on former senior officials of the BSPP [Burma Socialist Programme Party] and family members who are friendly with Daw Sandar Win and have become her business associates.

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    EU delegation meets Myanmar junta amid coup revelations

    YANGON, March 14 (AFP) - A European Union (EU) delegation on Thursday held meetings with Myanmar's ruling junta which recently announced it had scuttled a plot to kidnap its top generals and mount a military coup.

    The high-level team was expected to be briefed on the shock events of last week by Foreign Minister Win Aung and the junta's influential number-three, Lieutenant General Khin Nyunt.

    Sources close to the mission said they were also scheduled to see deputy chief of military intelligence Major General Kyaw Win, who announced on the weekend that relatives of former dictator Ne Win had orchestrated the plot.

    The ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) has been unusually open in its confirmation of the arrests of Ne Win's son-in-law and three grandsons, and the sacking of other top figures linked with the conspiracy.

    Observers in Yangon said they expected the junta would now seek to reassure the visiting Europeans that the situation in Myanmar remained calm despite the apparent averted coup attempt.

    Both Ne Win, who ruled Myanmar for 26 years until 1988, and his daughter Sandar Win have been implicated in the conspiracy and remain at their lakeside home behind a heavy military guard.

    The EU trip is the first of its kind in more than a year, and follows a January 2001 Swedish-led mission to Yangon which tried to encourage the junta and the democratic opposition to break their decade-long political deadlock.

    The current team has been promised free access to dignitaries including Aung San Suu Kyi. A visit to "The Lady" at her Yangon home was set for Friday, according to an unofficial itinerary.Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), has been kept under house arrest since September 2000, a month before starting historic talks with the junta.

    The four-member EU team includes Rafel Conde, director general for Asia at the Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Pierre Amilhat, head of the policy planning unit at the directorate for Asia of the European Commission.Spain currently holds the presidency of the European Union.

    The mission was also due later Thursday to meet with ambassadors from the EU and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, before talks with representatives of Myanmar's ethnic minorities and other key diplomats.

    On Friday they are to see the head of the International Committee for the Red Cross, Michael Ducroix, as well as UN agencies, the NLD's decision-making central committee and opposition ethnic groups.The delegation is to travel to Bangkok late Friday where they will give a media briefing on the result of their mission.

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    U.N. Envoy Welcomes Release Of 195 Female Prisoners

    UN Wire, Thu 14 Mar 2002

    Paulo Sergio Pinheiro, the U.N. Commission on Human Rights' special rapporteur on the situation in Myanmar, today welcomed the release during the past three weeks of 195 women prisoners in the country, including 136 with young children and 59 expectant mothers, who had been detained on criminal charges.

    Pinheiro stated in his to be reviewed at the next commission session that female prisoners with children and those who are pregnant constitute one of the most vulnerable groups in the prison population. He said he is "encouraged that the government of Myanmar is beginning to address this concern."

    Pinheiro added that he hoped this positive step, taken shortly after his visit to Myanmar last month, would be followed by the release of all political prisoners in the near future (U.N. releaseMarch 13).

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