The BurmaNet News: December 3, 1999

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The BurmaNet News: December 3, 1999
Issue #1415

Noted in Passing: "The British colonialists enacted Rangoon University Act
meant for the limited few who would contribute towards the colonial
administrative system, thereby restricting the rights of the majority of
national youths to pursue higher education."  - Senior General Than Shwe
(see New Light of Myanmar: 79th Anniversary of National Day)

HEADLINES:
==========
AFP: OPPOSITION CALLS FOR REOPENING OF UNIVERSITIES 
REUTERS: GENERALS UNMOVED AS VETERANS URGE TALKS 
NLOM: 79TH ANNIVERSARY OF NATIONAL DAY 
REUTERS: WEST EXAGGERATING MYANMAR AIDS PROBLEMS 
SHAN: CHINESE AND KOKANG FLOCKING TO THAI BORDER 
AFP: MYANMAR EMBASSY GUNMEN DENY TERRORISM CHARGE 
REUTERS: UNOCAL TO BOOST THAI NATURAL GAS INVESTMENT 
TBC UK: HIGH COURT PAVES WAY FOR SANCTIONS 
***************************************************

AFP: OPPOSITION CALLS FOR REOPENING OF MYANMAR UNIVERSITIES 
2 December, 1999 

AFP Yangon, 2 December 1999. The youth of Myanmar are facing a bleak
future, the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) warned Thursday,
calling for the reopening of universities closed three years ago.

The NLD, led by Nobel peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, said while the junta
closed most universities in 1996 amid fears of a pro-democracy student
revolt, military-run institutes remained open.

"The fact that the military is providing selective education is a matter of
grave concern for the nation's future," said an NLD statement issued at a
ceremony marking Myanmar's National Day.

The NLD accused the junta of trying to create an exclusive ruling class by
sending children of the rich and powerful to be educated abroad, while
students in general faced an uncertain future.

"We therefore urge all classes of people including the military as well as
the nationalities to work for the unconditional reopening of all
universities as we approach the next millennium," the statement said.

National Day commemorates a student boycott 79 years ago in protest at
restrictive university regulations imposed by the then British colonial
rulers.

Meanwhile, junta leader Senior General Than Shwe issued a National Day
statement calling on the public to crush "neo-colonialists ... wearing the
cloaks of human rights and democracy."

"The national people ... must with full patriotism and union spirit,
oppose, condemn and crush neo-colonialists and internal axe-handles
subservient to external elements," said the statement.

Aung San Suu Kyi is often lambasted as an "axe-handle" in the official
press, a reference to the government's view of her as a tool of foreign
powers keen to destabilise Myanmar.

The NLD won an overwhelming victory in a 1990 general election never
recognised by the military. 

***************************************************

REUTERS: MYANMAR GENERALS UNMOVED AS VETERANS URGE TALKS
2 December, 1999 

YANGON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Veteran politicians in Myanmar called for
national reconciliation talks on Thursday but the ruling military appeared
to dash such hopes, attacking opponents as tools of ``neo-colonialists.'' 

The veterans, led by one of the country's independence heroes, Bohmu Aung,
marked Myanmar's National Day with a call for three-way talks between the
military, opposition and ethnic minorities. 

In a statement read out at a ceremony at the Yangon headquarters of the
opposition National League for Democracy (NLD), the group urged ``practical
discussions as soon as possible, discarding mistrust, suspicion and
grudges.'' 

Bohmu Aung, 89, is one of the four surviving members of Myanmar's ``Thirty
Comrades'' who led the country's fight for independence from British
colonial rule in the 1940s. 

The military has rejected calls for three-way talks and efforts to
encourage a dialogue between it and the NLD, which it has kept from power
despite a landslide 1990 election win. 

[ ... ]

The NLD ceremony was attended by about 350 people, led by party leader Aung
San Suu Kyi. 

NLD Vice Chairman Tin Oo called the closure of universities and colleges
around the country since student protests in 1996 an immeasurable national
loss. 

``(They) have never been closed for such a long time like this, even while
the country was a British colony,'' he said. 

National Day coincided with a visit by former Japanese premier Ryutaro
Hashimoto, who in a meeting with military leaders on Wednesday urged the
reopening of universities and colleges as soon as possible. 

Brigadier-General David Abel, a minister in Than Shwe's office, responding
to questions by Japanese reporters, said 75 percent of classes had already
restarted and arrangements were underway to reopen those remaining at the
beginning of the new academic year starting next April. 

Hashimoto, Japanese Prime Minister Keizo Obuchi's senior foreign policy
adviser, came to Myanmar to discuss a recent offer by Tokyo to resume aid
if the generals move towards democracy. 

His visit follows summit-level talks between Japanese Prime Minister Keizo
Obuchi and Than Shwe in the Philippines on Sunday, the first between the
countries in 15 years. 

The tightly controlled state media has made no mention of Hashimoto's
visit, which is officially described as ``private.'' 

***************************************************

NEW LIGHT OF MYANMAR: 79TH ANNIVERSARY OF NATIONAL DAY
2 December, 1999 from mg_myanmar@xxxxxxxxx 

Message from the Chairman of the State Peace and Development Council Senior
General Than Shwe on the 79th Anniversary of National Day

The following is a translation of the message from Chairman of the State
Peace and Development Council Senior General Than Shwe on the 79th
Anniversary of National Day:

To all the national people,

Today is the 79th Anniversary National Day, the day on which a milestone of
national movement was erected in the history of the struggle for Myanmar's
Independence. After Myanmar became a British colony, youths with modern
education motivated to strive for race, religion and Sasana founded Young
Men's Buddhist Association (YMBA) in 1906 and carried out nationalist
activities. When it gained strong membership, it developed into General
Council of Burmese Associations (GCBA) and stepped up nationalist
activities as a front of national unity. At that time the British
colonialists enacted Rangoon University Act meant for the limited few who
would contribute towards the colonial administrative system, thereby
restricting the rights of the majority of national youths to pursue higher
education.

Patriotic youths with strong nationalistic and patriotic spirit launched
protests against Rangoon University Act and demanded a better university
education system. With the help of GCBA, the movement grew and gained
success, and awakened and raised the nationalist spirit of the entire
national people. Later, Dobama Asiayone stepped up nationalist activities
and progressed to the stage of waging the struggle for national
independence. As the nationalist movement was the one that sounded a
clarion call for the anti-colonialist national Independence struggle of
Myanmar national people, this day is marked as the National Day and
commemorated every year.

Myanmars are people who safeguarded lineage and ancestry, upholding,
maintaining and uplifting patriotism throughout successive periods of
history. Myanmar people have great traditions and high cultural standards
and they have always fought back without taking it with bowed heads
whenever there was aggression perpetrated by alien nations many times in
various periods of history. Because of lawless aggression and occupation by
the British, Myanmar Naing-Ngan lost her sovereignty but Myanmar people
regained independence by means of their nationalist might of dynamic love
for their own country and nationality.

After regaining of Independence, the nation was formed with States and
Divisions and nationalist spirit was to be fostered along with the Union
spirit. However, due to divide-and-rule policy of colonialists, national
solidarity had been weak during the past 40 years. Union spirit is the
spirit of oneness and unity of the entire people irrespective of area of
inhabitation in the country under the same flag of administration. It is
the spirit based on patriotism, being of one mind, loving, cherishing,
valuing one's own community and the sum total of communities, namely the
motherland, one's nation, with the will to safeguard it and strive for its
development. In other words, Union spirit is united patriotism, the will to
live closely together in amity through thick and thin, weal or woe among
the national races residing on the same land, drinking the same water, for
aeons of time, having been born of the same ancestry.


Upholding our Three Main National Causes, namely, non-disintegration  of
the  Union, non-disintegration of national solidarity and perpetuation of
sovereignty as the nationalist policy, the State Peace and Development
Council is endeavouring hand in hand with the people, building a peaceful,
pleasant, modern, developed discipline-flourishing democracy nation in
accord with the State's political, economic and social objective. It will
be seen that due to combined endeavours of the government and the national
people, national re-consolidation has become firmer and national growth has
gained high momentum.

On the other hand, neo-colonialists and their subservient negativist
internal axe-handles, wearing the cloaks of human rights and democracy, are
violating all kinds of laws, moving to incite anarchy and interfering in
internal affairs of the nation, and are even perpetrating terrorist acts
transgressing the sovereignty of the State. The national people who cannot
permit anything detrimental to stability, peace, tranquillity and
development of the country must with full patriotic and Union spirit
oppose, condemn and crush destructive acts of neocolonialists and internal
axe-handles subservient to external elements.

I hereby make an emphatic call on all to strive with full nationalist
fervour and vigour for emergence of a new peaceful, pleasant, modern,
developed nation, that is the nationalist goal of the State and the
national people, accepting as noble national duties the objectives of the
79th Anniversary National Day, namely

(1) to strengthen nationalist patriotic spirit, 

(2) to safeguard lineage and ancestry, 

(3) to strengthen national solidarity, and 

(4) to perpetuate independence and sovereignty in honour of the historic
National Day, the day on which a milestone was erected prominently on the
pages of the history of anti-colonialist struggle of the nation.

***************************************************

REUTERS: YANGON SAYS WEST EXAGGERATING MYANMAR AIDS PROBLEM
2 December, 1999 

YANGON, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Military-ruled Myanmar, described by U.N. experts
as being in denial about a serious AIDS epidemic, has said it can control
the disease and accused Western countries of exaggerating the extent of its
problem. 

``Some Western countries are making baseless exaggerations concerning the
AIDS problems in Myanmar,'' the official Myanma News Agency (MNA) quoted
the health minister, Major-General Ket Sein, as saying at a World AIDS Day
ceremony on Wednesday. 

``Necessary control measures were carried out as projected basing on the
reports and constant studies. Thus, the nation can manage to control the
dreadful disease with a certain success,'' he said. 

Ket Sein said the national anti-AIDS effort focused on disseminating
knowledge about the disease but he gave no figures on the extent of AIDS
and its precursor, the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). 

The government has said in the past that fewer than 25,000 patients have
tested HIV positive in the last 10 years. 

World Health Organisation experts estimate the actual number is several
times higher and the U.N. Children's Fund (UNICEF) has estimated that in
1997, 15,000 children in the country were orphaned by the disease. 

Neighbouring Thailand, where many Myanmar citizens work in the sex
industry, is estimated to have more than one million people who are HIV
positive. 

According to official Myanmar data released earlier this year, tests in
September 1998 indicated 0.7 per cent of blood donors in Yangon and 0.97
per cent in the northern city of Mandalay were HIV positive. 

UNICEF estimated last year that one to 2.4 percent of the adults among
Myanmar's 47 million population were HIV positive, which it described as a
``very high'' rate. 

U.N. agencies say Myanmar, along with Cambodia and Thailand, have the
highest rates of HIV infection in the region, but only Thailand has
implemented effective programmes. 

U.N. officials have said Myanmar appeared to be in denial about the disease
and could face an epidemic of Africa-like proportions unless effective
programmes were implemented.

***************************************************

SHAN HERALD AGENCY FOR NEWS: CHINESE AND KOKANG FLOCKING TO THAI BORDER
2 December, 1999 

Wa, Chinese and Kokang settlers are coming to the border areas opposite
Thailand in droves, said an informed source who recently returned from
Kengtung, the capital of eastern Shan State.

"Altogether 15,000 settlers are due to arrive in Mongyawn and Mongmai
(formerly Banhoong) from the beginning of December to mid-December from the
north", said the source who requested anonymity. "Some of them will
resettle in Mongtoom and Monggarn, opposite Ban Hintack, Mae Faluang
District, Chiangrai Province".

Although 7,000 of them are registered as Kokang and the rest as Wa, the
majority is believed to be Yunnanese Chinese, he said.

Another batch of 50,000 settlers is expected to travel to the area during
the next year.

It was reported earlier by S.H.A.N. that the Wa leadership in Pangsang had
applied to the military government in Rangoon for the inclusion of Mongton
and Monghsat townships in the "Wa Autonomous Region". (see SHAN, Big Power
Play in the Wa Region, 20 August 1999) "Another reason for the exodus",
said the source, "is the UN's drug program in the Wa areas along the
Chinese border. As it is becoming difficult for the people to grow poppies
in the north, many have opted to move and are moving out to friendlier areas".

The overall poppy cultivation, and output, therefore, would not change
much, he added.

[For further information, please contact S.H.A.N. at shan@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
S.H.A.N. is a non-profit making, independent Shan media group. It is not
affiliated to any political or armed organization.]

***************************************************

AFP: MYANMAR EMBASSY GUNMEN DENY TERRORISM CHARGE
2 December, 1999
 
BANGKOK, Dec 2 (AFP) - Gunmen who stormed Myanmar's embassy here in October
have denied they are terrorists, styling themselves as fighters for freedom
in their military-ruled homeland.

In a handwritten statement obtained by AFP on Thursday, rebel leader Kyaw
Oo apologised to Thailand for staging the 25-hour siege but pleaded the
group needed to attract global publicity.

"We are not terrorists and we will not go the way of terrorism," Kway Oo,
leader of the Vigorous Burmese Student Warriors (VBSW) said in the
statement, penned in broken English.

"We do not want to break international law. However, we have to apologise
to the Thai authorities for our high operation in Bangkok," he wrote.

The five gunmen were tracked down by reporters of the Thai Rath newspaper
in the southern Myanmar jungle adjacent to Thailand's Ratchaburi province.

They were living in a group of huts along with around 200 militia fighters
of a group identified as "God's Army," the reporters said.

God's Army is a religious splinter group from the ethnically-based Karen
National Union.

The gunmen escaped to the area after Thailand provided them with a
helicopter to reach the border in a deal which led to the release of their
38 hostages and the end of the siege on October 2.

Thailand's tactics enraged Myanmar's military rulers who closed its borders
with Thailand in protest, as relations between the two neighbours soured
sharply.

In the statement, Kyaw Oo said the VBSW was determined to overthrow
Myanmar's military government and promote democracy and human rights but
apologised for acting on Thai soil.

"Hopefully, (the) Thai government, Thai people and international
(community) may forgive on our action."

VBSW was formed in September by students, local people and youths
struggling for "peace and justice," the statement said.

"Our main aims are to overthrow military government in Burma and to achieve
democracy and human rights."

"We and God's army will continue to struggle for peace and justice in Burma."

Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, has demanded the group be treated as
terrorists by Thailand and has been adamant the men were sheltering on Thai
soil.

Thailand has promised to try them if they are found in the country.

The statement claimed Thai authorities had contacted the gunmen several
times asking them to surrender. It also accused Myanmar troops of arresting
100 villagers near the headquarters of "God's Army."

It promised both groups would fight to the death as they believed
"Democracy for Burma" was not far away. The statement ended with the words
"Brave will never die."

The Thai/Myanmar border was only reopened last week after Thai Foreign
Minister Surin Pitsuwan visited Yangon. Myanmar has also pledged to look
again at the cancellation of licences for Thai fishermen.

The border closure had also complicated Thailand's attempt to deport
hundreds of thousands of illegal workers, mostly from Myanmar.

Human rights groups slammed the crackdown amid reports Myanmar troops had
raped some deportees and threatened to shoot others.

***************************************************

REUTERS: UNOCAL TO BOOST THAI NATURAL GAS INVESTMENT
2 December, 1999 by Ekarin Petsiri 

BANGKOK, Dec 2 (Reuters) - Unocal Thailand, a unit of Unocal Corp, said on
Thursday it would invest another $125 to $150 million in its Thai projects
next year, mostly in natural gas exploration and production.

"In Thailand, we have so far been a strong investor, having invested over
$200 million in 1998, about 125 million this year, and next year somewhere
between $125 and $150 million," Randy Howard, Unocal Thailand president,
told Reuters.

More would also be spent on an independent power generation project in
eastern province of Chonburi, a joint venture with the country's largest
refiner Thai Oil and U.S.-based Westinghouse, he said.

The gas-fired power project has a planned generating capacity of 700
megawatts (MW) and would become operational by the end of this year.

Currently, Unocal produces about 1.075 billion cubic feet per day of
natural gas and about 38,000 barrels of condensate from its 13 offshore
fields in the Gulf of Thailand.

UNOCAL KEEPING UP WITH THAI PTT'S DEMAND

"We are keeping up with the Petroleum Authority of Thailand's (PTT)
demand," Howard said. PTT is the sole distributor of natural gas in
Thailand and buys Unocal's gas output.

"We are pleased to see the Thai economy rebounding in the late half of
1999. We've seen PTT's natural gas demand increase 10 percent this year,"
he added.

"We will continue to see strong growth in 2000," he said, but declined to
elaborate.

Howard added that the company's total natural gas reserves in the Gulf was
now about 10 trillion cubic feet.

"But it continues to grow every year. When we started the business 20 years
ago, we thought we had only two trillion cubic feet, but now we have 10
trillion," he said.

In August, Unocal started up production from its offshore Pailin gas field.
Production was expected to reach 165 million cubic feet per day by the
fourth quarter.

"That as well can be added to our reserves," he said.

The company said in October it had also discovered crude oil for the first
time in Thailand in Yala 3 well, in the Pattani Basin in the southern part
of the Thai Gulf.

"We are excited about it," Howard said.

A feasibility study would be carried out early next year and the company
would drill six exploratory wells in the area. Results of the study should
be known around mid-year, he added.

MYANMAR YADANA WORK CONTINUES

Asked about Unocal's future plans in Myanmar, Howard said Unocal had no
plan for new investments there, but would continue with its existing
offshore Yadana gas project.

"We abide by the (U.S government's) sanctions (on Myanmar). There will be
no new investment projects in Myanmar for the time being," he said. "But we
have a pre-existing project that we will continue to participate in."

Unocal is the operator of Yadana, which was developed before the U.S
slapped sanctions on Myanmar, accusing its military government of
widespread human rights abuses and curbing democracy in the country.

The Yadana field is operated by a consortium led by France's Total and
includes Thailand's PTTEP, a Myanmar partner and Unocal.

The firm has come under much criticism for its involvement in Myanmar, but
has forged ahead with its involvement there nevertherless.

Natural gas from the field is contracted to be supply to Thailand's largest
western Ratchaburi power plant, which is scheduled to commence operations
in the four quarter of 2000 and will consume about 525 million cubic feet
of gas per day.

***************************************************

THE BURMA CAMPAIGN UK: HIGH COURT PAVSE WAY FOR SANCTIONS AGAINST BURMA
2 December, 1999

A High Court case has today paved the way for the Government to ban
investment by British companies in Burma. Burma's ruling military regime
has one of the worst human rights records in the world and was recently
described by the UN as 'at war with its own people'.

The Burma Campaign (TBC) brought a judicial review against Robin Cook, the
Foreign Secretary, over his approach to investment sanctions against the
military regime in Burma.  In opposition, Labour supported sanctions but in
Government said, that for legal reasons, it could not impose them.

This was because, under the European Union treaty, a member state can only
go it alone with an investment ban if the situation in the country in
question can be described as 'urgent'.  Mr Cook accepted that the human
rights situation in Burma is appalling but said that it was not urgent
because it had been appalling for such a long time.  TBC has argued
throughout that 'urgent' simply means 'needs addressing quickly'.  The long
history of oppression in Burma does not detract from the urgency but rather
adds to it.

This morning Mr Cook conceded that he was wrong.  He also accepted that the
Government could introduce legislation banning investment in countries
where the human rights situation is urgent.

In 1990 Burma's regime ignored the election which gave an overwhelming
victory to Nobel Peace laureate Aung San Suu Kyi's National League for
Democracy (NLD).  In a statement given to TBC before the case, Aung San Suu
Kyi said she strongly supports investment sanctions against her country. So
does Archbishop Desmond Tutu and a host of other world figures.

John Jackson, a TBC director said: 'We applaud Robin Cook for being willing
to accept that his original legal advice was wrong.  The way is now clear
for the Government to take a lead on Burma and bring real pressure on the
regime.  The immense suffering of the Burmese people deserves immediate
action from Britain.'

Notes

1. The Burmese regime has been condemned in the strongest terms - as
recently as 12 November by the United Nations for its widespread use of
torture and other forms of repression.  The International Labour
Organisation recently accused it of a 'crime against humanity' - the most
serious breach of international law - for its systematic use of forced
labour of millions of people (including women and children).  Hundreds of
thousands have fled to Thailand and other neighbouring countries, posing a
threat to regional stability and peace.  In addition Burma is one of the
largest exporters of heroin and Regime leaders are principal beneficiaries
of traffiking.

2. The EC treaty provision in question is article 60.2 (added by the
Maastricht treaty), which allows member states to impose financial
(investment) sanctions unilaterally if there are 'serious political reasons
and on grounds of urgency'.  The Government did not dispute that serious
political reason exist.  The issue centred around the meaning of 'urgency'.
It was common ground that trade sanctions can only be imposed by the EU as
a whole.

3. The Government has unilaterally imposed measures short of sanctions on
Burma, such as withdrawing support for trade missions. It discourages
tourism. It therefore clearly believes economic pressure is justified and
potentially effective. Indeed, Mr Cook, in his Labour Conference speech
this year, said that a policy of isolating Burma was justified given its
appalling human rights record, and castigated the Conservatives for not
backing sanctions against apartheid South Africa. Twice this year, Mr Cook
has publicly urged Premier Oil (see below) not to proceed with its
investment in Burma.

4. Premier has a 27% stake in the Yetagun gas pipeline which will supply
Burmese gas to Thailand. The pipeline costs well over $700m. There are
well-documented human rights abuses associated with the Yetagun pipeline
area and the construction of a parallel pipeline by Total and Unocal. The
military benefit hugely from major infrastructure projects of this sort,
while the people of Burma get progressively poorer. The people of Burma, a
country rich in natural resources, remain near the bottom end of human
development tables.

5. In 1997 President Clinton banned new investment by US companies in Burma.

6. Judge Lallah, the UN Special Rapporteur on BUrma, told the UN on 4
November: '...at the very worst, we are faced with a country which is at
war with its own people. At the very best, it is a country which is holding
its people in hostage'.

For further information contact:

John Jackson            tel: 0171 281 7377      mobile: 0961 357 391

Yvette Mahon            tel: 0171 281 7377      mobile: 07957 301 346

***************************************************




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